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!!!