Days 5-6-7 (Wed-Fri)

Busy around here with Thanksgiving...hope all of your days were wonderful! It was a nice break from work for me and was great to be around the girls! Wow....I'm completely outnumbered!

Wednesday in Ethiopia was a lazy day, and by lazy I mean we didn't go anywhere. What I do NOT mean is it was an easy day. We hung around the hotel all day and she was B U S Y! I had the option to go back to Hannah's Hope, but didn't know if it was time for Juniper to see the special mothers again. We played with soccer balls in the exercise room, took pictures, and hung out on the porch with other families.

That night was the cultural dinner. I was a little hesitant to try the traditional cuisine, but I wanted to be able to tell Juniper (and Jana) about it when I got home. It was actually delicious. I wouldn't enjoy it for every meal, but it was a great taste of traditional food. It's not as spicy as Indian food, but the tastes are equally intense. Oddly enough, I hated Indian food before the trip, but we've had it twice since I've been home and I love it! It reminds me of my time in Ethiopia...

2 of the 3 meats were identifiable: chicken and goat....the 3rd remains unknown!
*UPDATE*: According to Andrew Zimmern, of the show "Bizarre Foods", the 3rd meat was most likely tripe (stomach). Oh wow.

The dinner started after Junie's bedtime, so she was warm and comfy the whole time!

Thursday was our final day in Addis. It was my 2nd favorite day of the trip because another family put us in contact with Ephraim, a local man who used to work for an adoption agency and now is a driver/guide. It was absolutely incredible. He looked at our paperwork (me and two other families, Jay and Chad) and found our kids all came from the same government orphanage! He took us there and we met with the assistant director who pulled all of our files and gave us more info about the birth moms, a complete tour of the facility, and a look at the day to day operation of the place! Incredible. While we were there, a van pulled up with 2 goats tied to the roof that had been donated by Hannah's Hope for the New Years Celebration. They were tied to a tree in a 2 foot by 4 foot patch of grass to graze until that night when they became the celebration meal! The government orphanages get funding from the government, but a lot of the support comes from agency orphanages like ours.

We drove around the city a bit and then back to the hotel to drop the 3 of us off and pick up my father in law. Ephraim took him back to the orphanage for him to see as well, then they went to a few lesser-known shopping areas. It was great. When we go back with the girls, I'll definitely do it again.

Cooking in the Government Orphanage

We said goodbye to some of the families leaving earlier in the day and then packed in the afternoon. We went by Hannah's Hope to say goodbye and get a few more pics of the Special Moms and Junie's room. The same little girl who was screaming because of me on Monday was screaming because she didn't want to leave me to be held by the Special Moms again! So...apparently we had bonded a bit!


We left for the airport at about 6:00 p.m. for a 10:45 flight! Yes, LOTS of time at the airport. Fortunately, we got right in and up to our gate. It was New Year's Eve for them (different calendar) so it was neat to see people out and about getting ready to celebrate. Even in the airport, the lounges and shops had long grass clippings spread over the floors and had coffee ceremonies going on! (Both traditional celebrations!)

Juniper slept almost the whole first flight, except when the flight attendant (is that the PC term?) made me take her out of the Moby wrap and facing her forward to put a pointless, silly, and completely unnecessary belt thingy that didn't offer any protection whatsoever. However, she did fall back to sleep and was just waking up as we were landing in Amsterdam. We were behind schedule, so the 6 hour layover was only about 3 hours. The airport is nice, so it wasn't too bad. I could send Jana pictures and video of Junie for a little sneak peak, which was great. They even had an art museum, so Junie and I got to see a real Rembrandt while we waited. Pretty cool.

Junie and I at the Amsterdam airport

The flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis was a little tough. She was busy once again. Fortunately, everyone was great about it. We made it through customs in Minneapolis and I had just time to get my belt back on after the security screening (about 45 minutes because Junie was in the Moby wrap again!!!), walk to our next gate, and it was time to board our LAST flight home! The hour flight to Lincoln was spent wrestling her into a cute dress (Jana's term...) for her homecoming.

We had great friends and family waiting for us in Lincoln, and they even let Jana come to the gate to see her. (The first guy said no, but was shoved aside by a woman who said "Absolutely...I was adopted too." Amen!!!) It was so wonderful to see Jana, Paisley and Majil.

"Are you watching for them girls?"

"There they are!"

"Daddy and Junie are home!!"
thanks to Missy for the airport pics!!

Jana wasn't sure how Junie would take to her....


Apparently, just fine!


From that point until about 2 weeks ago is a blur. Just kidding....kinda.

Awesome opportunity

Today's the day.

Go here to donate $10.

From the website:

$10 will provide one person in Africa clean water for 10 years. It will literally change and possibly save someone's life. A mother. A child. A brother. A grandfather.

We are rallying together for a cause. Clean water. One day. $10. Asking everyone to let this be their first gift. Let water, let life be their first gift of the season.

Day 4 (Tuesday)

Tuesday morning was an excellent morning for one reason: the first smile at me! Junie woke up laying next to me (the crib in the hotel room made me nervous!), so she opened her eyes, looked at me, and gave me a crooked “uh, so that wasn’t all a dream?” smile. She got pretty serious afterwards, but was in a good mood. She spent the morning being hesitant about everything…picking up toys slowly, watching me as if to say “is this ok?”


We had a lazy morning and then got her in a cute outfit (which were sorted ahead of time by Jana, paired with things that match!) to head to our Embassy appointment.


We met the rest of our group downstairs and got ready to go. I was a little intimidated…like I’ve said before, Jana is the brains around here, so I went through the diaper bag about a bazillion times to make sure I had the essentials: bottle, diapers, wipes, change of clothes, passport, paperwork, etc. I don’t know what I was worried about; 9 other families surrounded me, 8 of which I believe had kids in diapers! I could have freeloaded the whole week if I planned right! Just kidding…Junie rode in the Ergo baby carrier (which was the easier to put on of the two we brought, but less comfortable in my opinion than the Moby wrap) and did really well.

We climbed aboard a bus and were off. No carseats or seatbelts (which explains the absolute loathing with which she viewed them once home!) It was neat to see the city again as we had during the shopping trip the day before, but this time I was WAY more self conscious. Whenever we’d stop in traffic, I wondered what the general population on the street and in other buses thought of our bus full of Americans and Ethiopian babies. Some sources say that it causes problems to be out in public because the citizens don’t want their children taken out of their native culture, which is completely understandable. On the other hand, there are 4.8 million orphans in Ethiopia alone. The Ethiopian culture is very focused on family; as a nation, they were once able to care for all the children who needed homes. Kids lived with aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc., but since famine and war have torn the country apart, there aren’t enough resources for all the kids to be provided for and the orphan rate has skyrocketed. I didn’t see any negative reactions about adoption, but we did get some strange looks just because we were American.

The Embassy is on the other side of Addis, so it was quite a drive. We waited outside on long benches, covered by an awning which was nice to have because there was a thunderstorm getting closer and closer. We went into the Embassy in groups and were led to a separate building that had a large waiting room and a TV in the corner. It cracked me up…Jana and I get hooked on Big Brother almost every summer, and on this TV there was a commercial for the show. I didn’t want to watch because I had been gone and didn’t know who had made the finals this season, until I realized the season they were advertising was about 3 years ago! I think they had some show like Extra or Entertainment Tonight on after that, which, given the condition of the city we were in, seemed absolutely ridiculous! Jon and Kate getting a divorce, blah blah blah….we’re surrounded by poverty, orphans, and an AIDS crisis people! No wonder Americans get a bad rap in other countries!

While waiting for our name to be called, Junie and I had some playtime. It was fun because she was trusting me more and starting to show a little of her personality. I put a blanket over Junie’s head and when I pulled it off, I received the biggest, most beautiful smile from her.

Our name was called and we went up a flight of stairs to a room with several windows. It was like a movie theater ticket window…you had to lean wayyyyy over to hear the questions they were asking through the little microphone, and even then I caught every 3rd word. The lady was very nice about it and was very patient. Everything was in order and we got her birth certificate and some other paperwork to take with us; that was it! We went downstairs where the rest of the group had taken to cheering when someone came back down. I wasn’t sure what the cheers were for; I realize now it was celebrating another step closer to being “official”, but at the time I thought, “Did they think I wouldn’t pass!? Do I look shady!? Do they think I’m on the border of unfit to parent!!!!????” Funny how your mind works in stressful situations…

That night, we had more time hanging out at the hotel and enjoying the other families and their new little kids. It was so great to be surrounded by such caring people who were going through the same experience.


The next day was a lazy day and the cultural dinner at night. More on that to come! Thanks for hanging with me!

Sorry for the hassle!

Hello all!

So sorry for the hold up in posting, as well as the hassle of being a private blog. I'll write more later about why...but basically it stemmed from comments left by unknown people. We're excited to be on our adoption journey, especially now that we're home with our Juniper and want to continue sharing!

Going private

We’re making our blog private in the next week or so. If you’re interested in following along in our journey, please leave us a message with your email and we’ll gladly add you.

Wordless Wednesday

Birthday and Fall fun

We have to take a quick break from the trip report because somebody had a birthday:


Who could that be?

Our little Juniper turned 1 on the 15th! What a big girl!


She was the first of our three kids to actually eat her birthday cake in her highchair with her hands. Paisley fell asleep on her 1st birthday; Majil didn't want to get dirty, so she kept her hands away from that pesky cake. Junie? Dove in...full fist of cake, right to the mouth. The picture above was about the 2nd bite. It was totally worth it...until I tried to get her out of the seat. Do you know how much frosting can be absorbed in the webbing of the seatbelt thing?


Her birthday party was pretty low-key; the majority of our family (immediate and extended) were sick. All except Juniper! We elected to postpone her party until everyone was better to try to prevent her from catching it. However, she seems to be a total immunological champion. I don't know if it's the orphanage effect or something, but she's tough!

We also played outside today, which was a great change from a surprisingly cold few weeks of October and the nice weather helped the girls feel better than they have been feeling. They had a great time jumping in the leaves and we possibly got our Christmas card photo! In the past, it's always a challenge to get the girls looking cute, hair in place, BOTH looking at the camera for the picture. Now that we have 3, we have an automatic pass to use "artistic license" and have thrown all that out the window. Pretty...darn...cute...I'd say.


Also, I love this picture below. This was the first morning after I got home from Ethiopia.


More trip info soon!

Day 3 (Part 2-Gotcha Day still!)

After meeting our Juniper Tesfanesh, we loaded on a bus to go shopping. It was a strange experience; I wanted to stay at Hannah's Hope so much to see everything and take it all in, but because Junie's reaction was so scared and afraid, I thought it was okay to give her a break for a little bit!

We drove through the city to a small shopping area. This was probably the first time we were out in the city in the daylight. I've read of the poverty. I've seen pictures and videos. NOTHING can do it justice other than being there. Being surrounded by it. As we drove, my eyes darted from scene to scene, trying to remember everything I saw and process the situations that so many people are living in. There were tons of people everywhere; people in business suits walking alongside people in rags.


The worst was seeing people on the sidewalk stepping over piles of blankets. I thought this was weird until I realized that a person, a human being, someone created in God's image, was lying under those blankets. I caught a glimpse of some of their faces; hollow, sunken faces. Tired faces. And I'm on a bus with two cameras in my bag and 3600 Birr in an envelope to go shopping (side note: way too much shopping money, but the left over can be paid toward the hotel fee for those of you traveling soon!) all while texting my wife on a Blackberry the news that I met our daughter. What on Earth? Why such a difference in the world? I have NO reason to complain about anything. My heart was moved for these people. But I still struggle with how to help...


We went shopping for a short time. I don't know how long we were there because it was crazy busy. It was like using Monopoly money for things....a scarf was 40 birr...but I had no idea how much that was in US currency. (Later I figured out 40 birr is $3.30 or so, but the math in my head was just too much!) The AGCI staff encouraged bargaining with the shopkeepers, as most sales are negotiated, but I felt so bad trying to get something cheaper, I didn't do much negotiating. I had made a list of what I wanted to get for Jana, the girls, parents, nieces, etc. I had grand ideas of buying something for Junie's birthdays each year, for her wedding, etc. but I wasn't that organized. I did get several dresses of various sizes for the girls to wear, jewelry for everyone, candlesticks, a tablecloth, and some other things.

We went to an Italian restaurant/art gallery for lunch. It was great to sit down and talk with other families on such an important day. We had great pizza and my first Ethiopian Coke; it was good time.



We went back to Hannah's Hope where I saw Junie's room, met more of her special moms, and finally got to take her back to the hotel! She was finishing a bottle when I got there, so she was fairly happy until I picked her up. She started screaming and Almaz said..."You, go..." and, um, "escorted" me to the door of her room. I asked a few quick questions, things that I thought may come in handy, such as "is she on regular or soy formula?" and "how much does she eat?". Given the fact Jana nursed both our girls, I had NEVER given a bottle, nor did I know how to mix one. They said, "Yes, soy. Um...about 4 or 6 or 8 ounces, sometimes more..." and that was it. I had intended on talking with the special moms (even though they don't speak much English) about how to calm her down, likes, dislikes, etc. but this was cut short because of the constant shrieking that my little princess had started.

I tried to calm her down outside, but she showed how tough she could be. Most families walked their kids back to the hotel, but because our little lady was making such a commotion, Almaz came out and put me in a van! She couldn't keep this screaming up for long, right?

Yep. She sure could. 2 hours and 20 minutes to be exact. Once back at the hotel, I put her on the floor on a blanket and tried to play with her, change her, feed her, soothe her. Nope. No go. This crazy guy was staring at her and she wanted nothing to do with it! Finally, she would stop for a second, then look up at me and start crying again. These pauses were longer and longer until she finally fell asleep on me in our Ergo baby carrier. In true Dad form, I thought I'd just lay her on the bed and we'd all get some rest. Ha ha...yeah right, it started all over again!

After awhile, we went downstairs for some dinner and the walking around and the commotion of the restaurant entertained her until she fell asleep again at about 7:30 her time. That night, she got up 4 times and started her fearful cry again, but I would take her into the bathroom (we left the light on) and she'd look at me in the mirror, lay her head back down, drink a little more formula, and go back to sleep. I was so enamored with her, I didn't sleep between the 2nd and 3rd wakings. I just stared at her, amazed that I was laying next to our baby!



So glad you're home sweetheart!

Day 3! (Part 1-Gotcha day!)

We woke up earlier than we probably wanted to on Monday. We took our time getting ready since, after all, we were just going to do paperwork today and wait until Tuesday to meet our girl. Downstairs at the Union was a fun sight to see: a long table with all the AGCI families that had arrived Sunday evening/night. We met everyone and talked for awhile. It is so great to hear other families stories and how they came to adopt. Every story I heard struck me as amazing and wonderful; I was blessed to be in such wonderful company.

After eating another excellent breakfast (this time it was French Toast....absolutely incredible, like a triangle donut) we finally saw Almaz come to the door! It was kind of like seeing a movie star! I've seen pictures of her, read about her, and heard about her, but I got nervous when I saw her. She was great; she put us at ease while talking about paperwork, exchanging money, etc. I'd heard she would mention each child's name and something about them while talking, but everyone was mentioned except ours! Aaaah...my heart was almost beating out of my chest! (It dawned on me that I was sitting next to a female, so perhaps she thought I was with her?) Afterwards, I asked about Tesfanesh and how she'd react to me. She said, "It'll be hard. Good luck Dad." (!)

At some point, as she was filling us in on the rest of the day's activities (pretty much only shopping as far as we knew), she said "somewhere there's been confusion. We're going to get your kids in like 5 minutes guys, but I need you to listen closely to what I'm going to say next about the Embassy appointment." WHAT!? I was about to meet her? No way! Will she like me? Sleep okay? Take a bottle from me?

In true graduate student form, I took copious notes of the Embassy appointment, none of which were retained in my head the following day at the appointment, and sprinted up the stairs for cameras, batteries, etc. I don't remember talking to anyone or thinking of anything in particular; but suddenly I was on the cobblestone path leading up to Hannah's Hope to meet my daughter!

The Cobblestone Path

"Hey, take the picture vertically so we...CLICK" (Not thinking clearly; meeting daughter soon)

The famous gate

Walking through the gate

Gotcha Juniper Tesfanesh!

Yeah, I felt joy. She felt fear. Absolutely gripped with fear. I mentioned earlier that we were warned she was fearful of white faces. "Fearful" is what Jana is in line for a rollercoaster. "Absolutely gripped with terror" was appropriate for the moment. Poor girl. I held her for a second, but the special moms took her back because she was so scared. I was okay with it all; I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible, so I just prayed she'd warm up to me somehow.


I took some pictures of other families which was fun to watch and see. I admired our beautiful girl from a distance, trying to send the "I'm a good guy" vibe to her. I was thinking she got it, but then I tried to hold her again and she cried immediately. The special moms couldn't take it anymore and rushed her inside. (Funny thing is, that was Jana's first reaction to me!)

I enjoyed more of other families' gotcha day moments and we all had to say goodbye to the kids while we made a quick shopping trip....

More to come!

Wordless Wednesday

Day 3-Sunday

Our first full day in Ethiopia was quite relaxing. The best part is, we were so tired from the traveling that we slept a full 10-12 hours and woke up at 8:00 a.m. Addis time. There you have it: adjusted to the time change! That was easy! (Don't laugh, it seemed that way. Then I came home....not so easy. Maybe still adjusting?)

We made our way to the lobby of the Union Hotel where the restaurant is located. I had heard good things about the pancakes, so I ordered that and a cup of coffee. The pancakes were pretty good, and the coffee was t h i c k ! The waiter brought it out in a small pot with a demitasse cup, a pitcher of milk, and some sugar. He filled the cup pretty full, so I just put a *hint* of milk and sugar in it and took a sip. The rest of the jittery first encounter with Ethiopian coffee went like this:

WHOA...that's strong! (More milk and sugar)

another sip

WHOA...still strong! (More milk and sugar)

and pretty much that way until I got to the bottom. I was glad I ate the pancakes first, or else I'd have had syrup splattered over my face from my shaking hands. It was incredibly smooth coffee though; unlike any coffee I'd had here in the States.


The hotel was pretty much empty except for one other AGCI family, so we had the whole hotel to ourselves. We spent some time on the porch watching people and traffic, took a nap, and tried to find Hannah's Hope from the 3rd floor window. I remembered HH being yellow, so I looked for a yellow brick building. Little did I know, the cute little RED brick building with the yellow front was where our Juniper was staying! AND, it was at the center of all our photos from that window! It was good I didn't know that our I might have headed over there!

Look how close I was to our little girl!!!

We enjoyed an afternoon thunderstorm (it's the rainy season) and finished the day with spaghetti with tomato sauce; my father in law had the roasted chicken. Both were great. Several other families had arrived (including Michelle and Chad's and Leah and Jay's families; I don't think the others had blogs), so it was great to meet them and wonderful to have company in the hotel!

We went to bed, prepared for paperwork the next morning with Almaz, the orphanage director. Our itinerary said we wouldn't meet the kids until Tuesday, so we all discussed a petition or something so we could meet our kids the next day rather than wait 2 days! (Fortunately, we were able to meet the kids on Monday!)

Day 1-2: Long travel day!

Leaving my family for a week was surprisingly harder than I thought. I knew I'd miss them, but I underestimated the depth of the emotions for them while I was gone. Jana and I haven't been away longer than about an overnight the entire 7 years we've been married, so this was pretty strange. We said goodbye at the airport, followed by about 15 minutes of her watching me while I tried to put my shoes and belt back on after the security checkpoint. Then, we were able to wave goodbye one more time.

My father in law and I flew to Minneapolis, then to Amsterdam. Can I say I knew the flight was 7 hours but didn't know what that was truly like? Sure, I watched movies and ate, um, delicious(?) rewarmed meals at crazy times, but it was pretty long. We had a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam which was just the right amount of time for me to figure out how much a Euro was at the various stores and not buy anything. If you look close, you might see some tulips. I think. It IS Holland, after all.

We flew then to Khartoum, Sudan and on to Addis Ababa. We were more than ready to get to our destination.

Khartoum, Sudan

At the airport, we waited in LONG lines for our visas, immigration, and finally to xray our bags again to get out of the airport. The most interesting part was I was the only one irritated by waiting....all the other people were just fine, talking and laughing together. I realized I was the outsider! Definitely a good wake up call for me. We claimed our bags and found our driver. We were lucky enough to arrive at the same time as another adoptive parent, so we waited for her and her friend and then off to the hotel.

We landed in Addis at 10:25 p.m., so we weren't able to see much of the drive, other than a TON of traffic (Saturday night, I thought was the reason....but there is always that much traffic) and people everywhere. In the streets, sidewalks, buildings, in between traffic, in the medians, etc. All over! As we got further from what seemed like "downtown", the number of people didn't change either. I don't know where they were going, but there were a lot of them.

Example of typical traffic and people (taken later in the week)

At the one and only stoplight I remember waiting for, I looked out the window at the median and saw a boy, about 13, sitting with legs crossed and sandals on his hands. He lifted himself up with his arms and swung his body forward to get closer. He held up a brush and smiled, speaking in Amharic, but since it wasn't "hello" or "thank you", I didn't understand. (I'm pretty limited on my Amharic.) I assume he wanted to wash the van for money, but I don't know. My heart broke for him; I wanted to help, but we were driving off before I could figure out what to do.

We arrived at the hotel and the wonderful staff lugged our baggage (and 120+ lbs. of donations!) up 4 flights of stairs for us. I had one little bag on my shoulder and about had a heart attack climbing the stairs; Addis Ababa is about 8500 feet elevation! Our room was about 10 feet wide and 30 feet long, with a queen bed at one end and a twin bed at the other. A small crib was in between the beds (where my Juniper would soon be!) as well as a dresser and tv. I called Jana from the lobby phone and realized that we were somehow 4 hours (!) behind schedule. Jana had tracked our flight online to Khartoum, but then the website lost our flight, giving her an ominous "lost track of flight" message several hours before! It was so great to hear her voice and suddenly, I felt very far away from home.

Home away from home. Top right open window was our room!

After our conversation, I received our itinerary which showed nothing Sunday, paperwork only Monday, and then meeting the kids and going to the Embassy on Tuesday. Everything I had read before the trip showed us getting the kids Monday, so this was pretty sad to wait a whole extra day! I had no problem falling asleep that night, dreaming of meeting our Juniper Tesfanesh!

Welcome Home!

Juniper Tesfanesh
Born: October 15th, 2008
Gotcha Day: September 7th, 2009

More to come about our trip soon!

just a test...

I was assured by Verizon Wireless that Jana will be able to "hear me now" from Ethiopia, but I thought I'd check first from home. Since the service seems to be a bit...shall we say, shoddy? In town, on a clear day with no breeze, I think it's acceptable to be suspicious.

Hopefully the next update will be from Addis Ababa!

Girl, the Pasty Papa is riding to town!

Travel Confirmation!

We got confirmation of travel dates! FINALLY!!!! We're excited. Bringing home our little girl soon! We got an update; it's quite...."interesting" to say the least.

Here's what we read:
She is sweet and adorable, but she knows her special mothers really well and she is very attached to them. She does not willingly go to anyone she is not familiar with. Furthermore, she is pretty fearful to look at white faces, let alone go to them. We are prayerful that she will be able to transition smoothly with her adoptive parents. Otherwise, she is delightful, sociable, playful, and has a mind of her own. She is standing with support and has great coordination.

Did you read that? "...she is pretty fearful to look at white faces, let alone go to them..." Ummmm....I'm fairly certain this could be problematic for the return flight, which is a short 20 hours...

And then, from the orphanage director (we asked a different question, but this was tacked on at the end):
But please tell them that she is very fearful of white faces so their initial transition might be difficult. This is because of the bond that she currently has with her special mothers.

I get it...I'm gonna be the favorite guy on the flight(s) home.

If you were to assign a point value to "whiteness", I may possibly be the holy grail. The powerball jackpot-type level.

So, I guess if she learns to love me, all the other "white faces" will be much more manageable...

BUT, the major points I'm skipping over is that she's delightful, sweet, etc. How cool is that? We only know her face, but soon we will MEET her and her little personality!!!!

WE PASSED!

Amen! We passed court! Thank you for all of the prayers and encouragement! We cannot wait to bring OUR little girl home!

Psalm 118:23 "The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes."

Waiting

Psalm 27:14--
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. (KJV)*

And now we wait. There have been "waits" during this process....getting on the list, getting updated waitlist numbers, getting a referral, getting a court date. All of these could happen at any time in the future, and when they did, we rejoiced.

In THIS situation, the "event" has already happened. Now we're waiting to see the outcome. It's past tense now.

It's not uncommon to wait 1, 2, or even several days to find out the outcome. I suppose the court doesn't decide right there in front of the orphanage director. Once they decide, they issue a court decree which is delivered to the orphanage in a few days. If ours is there, we've passed. If it's not in the bunch, we wait.

So that's what we're doing. But we're still praying, pretty much constantly. Please continue to pray!

*Thanks to my high school friend Andrew for giving us the encouraging verse!

Court Tonight!

Since it's midnight, the title of this post is correct!

We have court tonight, August 11th here in the US, August 12th in Ethiopia. Please pray for us that we pass this first time through. We're prepared (not really) for not passing, but asking God for the miracle of passing the first time and bringing our little girl home.

Psalm 109:27
Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O Lord, have done it.

Paisley found Africa at the zoo:



Majil found a thing of lipstick, unattended:


Please pray with us and the other families going to court today and tonight! Thanks!