Well, after several hiccups along the way, our first big travel group is in ET and they all have their children with them now!  There are 5 families and a total of 6 children!  It has been a blast to follow their journeys and see all of the pictures and videos they have posted!  We even think we saw our little Princess in one of the pictures!  Of course, we don't know for sure b/c all of our referral paperwork and picture were from September so she has probably changed so much that I'm sure I wouldn't even recognize her!   It's simply guesswork at this point and time.  We asked Duni about getting updated measurements and weight on her and she has requested that the nurse at the TH get those for us.  We are not sure when/if we will receive them but it will give us a better idea of how big she is now and what size diapers to start buying to stock up!  She will be under a year old when she comes home so she will still be on formula too.  LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!
Well, that's all for now!  Looking forward to hearing some great news tomorrow from Duni regarding our court date!!!

Mark calls and tells me to get to the computer and check my e-mail now!  This is what I find:

 NO STINKIN' WAY!!  I don't know what to think!  Could this really be happening this fast?  Is this the miracle we have asked for?
After the way things have gone the last few months, I find myself a little apprehensive to believe that this is really happening!  We were not expecting to hear any news regarding a court date for a couple of months and now 9 days after referral, we may be hearing of our court date?  Really, there are 5 families who just received their court dates (for Feb 8th) that have been waiting close to 3 months for this news!  How can this be? 

Well, it's almost been a week now and it's still hard to believe that we have a baby girl waiting for us half way across the world!!  It's slowly sinking in and becoming more real to all of us though!
We are busy making lists of what all needs to be done to prepare for this little one!  There's a lot to do!! 
We have finally decided on a paint color and will start painting the nursery this coming Saturday!  Still looking for a crib and other furnishings for her room.  We bought her crib bedding the week before we received her referral so that is checked off. And the list goes on!  Babyproofing, packing lists, etc.  
Sitting in the #1 spot on our ToDo list is to name this sweet girl!!  We keep getting asked what her name will be and we just don't know yet!  At this point, we can't seem to get everyone to agree!  I pray that this week we will make a final decision! 

We received word today that our agency received our acceptance paperwork and the Program Director, Duni, has asked the in country rep to request our court date right away!

Proverbs 25:25
Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.....

We are thrilled to announce that we finally received our long awaited call!  At 9:57am Tuesday morning, the phone rang and it was our Program Director, Duni.  She asked if this was a good time and I said, No, can you call back later?  JUST JOKING!! (I did have a dream about that though!)  I said, YES of course it is, and she told me that she had a referral for us!  Stunned!  We have waited 6 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days for this!!!!  She then began to tell me of a sweet little 7 month old baby girl named Frehiwot!  I asked Duni to repeat her name so I could hear how it is pronounced and at that point, all I could think about was what she must look like! I wanted to see this face that I had been dreaming of for so long!  Duni began to spell her name and pronounce it again and I was so excited that all I remember hearing after that was 20 minutes and e-mail!  20 minutes??  I was about to see the child God had chosen for us!!!
We waited.......and waited........and called.........and waited some more!  Two and a half hours later, we saw her sweet round face!  (Had some issues with how big the files were) It was worth the wait!  We had taken bets on hair/no hair, chunker/peanut, etc.  Well, we will just say, she is the sweetest baby I've seen in a long time! She has the biggest brown eyes, no hair, and is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!! Another miracle from God!!  We hugged, cried, laughed, called, e-mailed, and cried some more!  It never gets old!!

We will send off our acceptance letter on Thursday to the agency and from there, we don't know what to expect.  We will keep you posted on any news!

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR QUICK COURT DATES AND TRAVEL SO WE DON'T HAVE TO RE-DO OUR PAPERWORK! 

Thank you for your encouraging words and support during our wait, we are on the other side now and waiting again, just this time we have pictures of a beautiful face just waiting for us to pick her up and bring her home! 

P.S. - Wondering why there are no pictures??  We are not allowed to post her picture on the internet until we have had a successful court date and she is officially ours!  Patience!! 

So, Thursday evening, I was communicating via YG with another family,   The Harbaugh's, they have been waiting 7.5 months for two children, and we were discussing our paperwork issues.  Actually, BIG issues like our homestudy reports expiring in April and what we needed to do about it.  We asked for clarification from Duni and got a little more confused so I e-mailed Duni directly and asked her to please decipher her message for me.  This is what I got back: 

Hi Melissa,
I just meant that your HS is not expiring for another 3 months and we hope to have you done by thenJ
Blessings,
Duni Zenaye

WHAT!!! They hope to have us DONE by April??  Is that what she really meant to say?? And, did you see that little smiley face at the end of the sentence?? What does that mean??  Does this mean we will have a referral and be through court by April or just that they hope to have a referral for us by then?? Why is everything so complicated???  Can't there be any cut and dry CLEAR answers in this process?? I guess these are the "Labor Pains" that are talked about in adoption.    As my sweet friend Kari says, I am 9 months pregnant and I am about to "POP"!

So, we are praying that we will hear some great news in the coming week!!!

So, our new Program Director has officially been on the job ONE day and has already drafted a letter to all of us with some much needed information.  This is what we have all been asking for!  Communication!!  Much of the new info is different  from what we have been told over the past few months but we just have to let all of that go and start fresh with the new information.  This is not going to be easy but is necessary for us to move forward and all be on the same page.  So far, Duni is scoring a big fat A+!!  Thanks Duni!

Dear Ethiopia Families,

I have spoken to some of you in the past week but I would like to introduce myself officially and also let you know how honored I am to serve you as Program Director.

I understand I am coming into this position at a very critical time and that you expect much from me. I would like to apologize on behalf of all of us at America World if at times you felt like we were unavailable to you or you were left with a lot of unanswered questions.

I would also like to take the New Year as an opportunity for me to ask you for a clean start. I also humbly ask you for a renewed trust in us as your agent and advocate to facilitate your adoption and bring your children home.  Ultimately that is why we are here, to find children homes and we would never deliberately slow the adoption process. Below is a response to some of the questions and concerns that have been repeatedly raised. As I am just coming into this position I cannot speak for what happened in the past. My responses are based on what we will be doing under my leadership.  Please have patience with me as I transition into this role, recreate and change our program culture and train new staff. But I promise you that I will do everything in my power to work for Ethiopian orphans and place them with families that are so eager to shower them with love, parents like you.

I hope this answers some of your questions. Now I ask that you be patient with me as I work on changing some things and making it better for you and for those that will come after you. Please understand that if there is any news I will be sure to contact you. Otherwise please don’t send 3 or 4 emails at a time.  I understand your sense of urgency. I am a mother and know that parents want their children in their arms as soon as possible.  But also know that I wouldn’t be able to get any work done because I will be busy drafting e-mails to address each and everyone of you. I am sure you will all agree that I rather spend my time reviewing your files, speaking to country representatives, requesting referrals, and arranging court dates and not corresponding all day.

I also want to thank you for keeping us accountable.  Please pray for us and also for me as I come into this position. I am excited about 2008 and what the Lord is going to do in the Ethiopia program. Happy New Year! Attached please find our Ethiopia Newsletter.

Grace and Peace,