Court Date!!

I am happy to report that we received our court date this week! July 7 is the big day!! I was pleasantly surprised as the date was actually a little sooner than I anticipated - that's the kind of surprise I like!

We are optimistic about passing the first time, but also want to remember that our chances are about 60%. (40% of families do not pass on their first try for a variety of reasons....paperwork, a necessary party not making it to court, judge wanting further investigation into the case, etc.)
As I have told you before, our case is an abandonment case. For about the last 2 months, Ethiopian courts have not been approving abandonment cases because of an ongoing investigation. Well.....great news......they will once again hear these cases as of July 2!! So, we will be one of the first families to go through court with an abandonment case after the investigation. We hope that all will go smoothly, but are mindful that this adds an unknown element to the whole thing. We are thrilled, though, that the courts will be again hearing abandonment cases before our court date - what a blessing!! (if they hadn't, they would have temporarily closed our case on that day and we would have had to wait for a new court date)

Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us, so while we sleep on Monday, July 6, a judge will hear our case in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Please pray with us that everything will be in place and that we will have a successful first court date. We appreciate all of you that take the time to read the blog and follow along and especially those of you who will join us in prayer to bring Elijah home!!

Assuming we pass, we will hope to travel at the end of July!! WOW!! We'll also get to share pictures of his cute little face with you.....can't wait!!

Elijah

I have been trying to formulate this post in my mind for the last several days. Trying to find a way to explain the myriad of emotions I have felt since we received our referral. Joy of course, is at the top of the list; as well as gratitude and excitement.

I have stared at these 3 precious pictures we have of our baby for the last 9 days. I know them inside and out. I have fallen completely in love with this little one and I am in awe of how God can weave a child into your heart that you've never seen with your own eyes. Never touched his skin or heard his cry. But he is mine. I feel it in my heart and I know it deep down. I would go to the ends of the earth for this child.

This love I already feel is a gift. It makes me excited beyond words for the day I can hop on a plane and go hold him for myself. (so far, I haven't so much been looking forward to the travel - now I can't wait!) It makes it so fun to plan for his arrival, buy his little clothes, pray for him, and dream about the day he comes home and sleeps in the room we've prepared for him.

It also makes it hard. Hard to look at his little face and miss him. Hard to wonder when exactly we will be able to go get him and wish it could be sooner. Hard to wonder about his well-being and ache to be the one who holds him and kisses him goodnight. Hard for me to think about a court date and hope with everything in me that we will pass in time to go get him before the court closures. I find myself riding a roller coaster of emotions. Excitement and anticipation one moment; nervousness and concern the next.

We have decided to name our little one "Elijah" which means "the Lord is my God". Very fitting, I think. You see, He is the one who will see us through it all - every emotion, every roller coaster, every possible hurdle and joy. And for today, I am trusting in that.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

We are so excited to have received a referral for a beautiful baby boy yesterday! He is approximately 5 months old and we are in love with him. His medical report says he is somewhere between 11-12 lbs. and about 22 inches long; so he's kind of a little guy right now, but he appears to be healthy. He was slightly malnourished and is receiving higher calorie formula to help him gain weight.

So, what's next you ask? Well, we sent in our referral acceptance today and when our agency receives it they will request a court date in Ethiopia for us. We do not attend the court date, our agency goes for us. We hope to receive a court date in July before the courts close in August. (remember, they close from August - October every year) Then, we hope to pass the FIRST TIME!! Please pray with us about this.

Our agency also told us that ours is an abandonment case, meaning we do not know our child's birth family. If you remember, recently the Ethiopian courts have not been hearing abandonment cases. We have been told by our agency that the investigation that halted abandonment cases is coming to a close and they are now able to request court dates for those children who have these types of cases. We are confident in our agency and trust that they would not have given us this referral if we weren't able to take it to court. They also told us, though, that we will be one of the first families to go through court with an abandonment case after the investigation; therefore we don't know how easy or difficult it will be for us to pass court. Please, please, please, pray with us that we will get through court easily and we will pass the first time. We really want to pass court BEFORE the court closures in August......otherwise we will wait until October for another date.

Lastly, I SO wish I could post a picture of his cute little face, but I can't yet. We have to wait until we pass court to do that. I can't wait to share him with you, though!!!

Eight Months and On Deck.....

We have now been waiting for our referral for eight months.....can you believe it? AND we received our "On Deck" email this week! Most of you are probably wondering what that is.....when you are 1-2 months from a referral, our agency sends you an "on deck" email to tell you that you better get yourself together - your referral is coming! It was so exciting to receive this email! This is actually beginning to feel real.....like it may actually happen!
The good news is that a referral is coming in the next couple of months (unless, of course, something unforseen happens); the bad news is that we will probably receive our referral right before courts close in Ethiopia and will have a long wait between referral and travel. We'll see how all of that pans out...no sense in worrying about something you can't control, I guess.

We had a huge garage sale this weekend, too. We are using the money we raised towards our adoption fees (again, the cost of this adoption will be $25,000+). Many, many generous family and friends donated towards our sale and we were able to raise $1400 in one day in our very own driveway! The sale happens tomorrow, too. Hopefully we'll get rid of a bunch more stuff!

Please continue to pray for us and our baby as we wait for our referral.....we're getting closer!!