Wow - the past 48 hours have flown by. It looks like Todd will be able to go with me for about half the trip and we will take our daughter Lydia Grace,9, as well so she can meet her sister (who again, won't be able to travel home with us at this time).
We will probably be leaving Sunday, November 29th - Todd will stay about a week and then my mother or mother-in-law will come over and stay with me the remaining time. We have to stay a bit longer in the country because we have a waiver that has to be approved before our son can travel. I don't know when I will travel home but hopefully the week before Christmas.
There is a slight chance this won't all go through - if we've messed up the paperwork in some way, but if that's all a go - we're on our way. We found out Thursday that we needed to fed-ex our paperwork to Ethiopia because it needed to be there 2 weeks before the embassy date which is Wednesday December 2, 2009. So, that was a bit stressful for me. But we got it done, now just hope we did it correctly.
We had an Africa fellowship night with friends from our with Ghanaian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, and South African cuisine. Well, actually we had semi-Ethiopian food because I tried to make it and was so distracted by all that was going on that I didn't cook it correctly, but it ended up being rather mild, which is not typical and which, was a bit better for the kids.
One of our new friends has an 18-month old son (dad is Kenyan, mom is American). I took such pleasure watching him as he reminds me of Adam! Fun to see what my son is doing right now - or probably doing since he is 16-17 months.
Okay, thanks for following - I'll try to post updates as I remember.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Going to Ethiopia November 30 - bittersweet trip
Well, there's good news and bad news.
Adam Samuel Emory, our new son, 16 months old passed his court in Ethiopia on November 5, 2009 and officially became an "Emory". His big "sister-to-be" had a court date a week later and didn't pass. The day that we learned she didn't pass, they offered us a December 2nd embassy date if I wanted to go ahead and bring him home. We weren't thinking along those lines, but decided we would try to go ahead and bring him home - 6 weeks before we anticipated and have her escorted when she passes court.
Wow! So much to do - like I said I wasn't exactly ready to jump on a plane. Now we have a bit of trouble getting out of town as this is the weekend after Thanksgiving and we may need to drive to Houston to be able to get out of the country. No way to get to D.C. to take Ethiopian Air, the preferred carrier, because there are no flights from Tulsa that way.
Also, plenty of paperwork to fill out. I'm not a procrastinator, per se, but I guess I just thought I had more time.
If I have time, I'll post a photo of Adam, but it may be a little while. Okay, so good news is we'll get to spend some time with big sister while we are there to get Adam and this will help with the transition, for sure. For all of us. Add one now, hopefully add big sister in another month or two. That will be nice I'm sure.
And Adam will be home for Christmas - of course, mommy might be a bit exhausted, but I think it's worth it for that prize.
Okay, off to do paperwork! Love ya! Faith
Adam Samuel Emory, our new son, 16 months old passed his court in Ethiopia on November 5, 2009 and officially became an "Emory". His big "sister-to-be" had a court date a week later and didn't pass. The day that we learned she didn't pass, they offered us a December 2nd embassy date if I wanted to go ahead and bring him home. We weren't thinking along those lines, but decided we would try to go ahead and bring him home - 6 weeks before we anticipated and have her escorted when she passes court.
Wow! So much to do - like I said I wasn't exactly ready to jump on a plane. Now we have a bit of trouble getting out of town as this is the weekend after Thanksgiving and we may need to drive to Houston to be able to get out of the country. No way to get to D.C. to take Ethiopian Air, the preferred carrier, because there are no flights from Tulsa that way.
Also, plenty of paperwork to fill out. I'm not a procrastinator, per se, but I guess I just thought I had more time.
If I have time, I'll post a photo of Adam, but it may be a little while. Okay, so good news is we'll get to spend some time with big sister while we are there to get Adam and this will help with the transition, for sure. For all of us. Add one now, hopefully add big sister in another month or two. That will be nice I'm sure.
And Adam will be home for Christmas - of course, mommy might be a bit exhausted, but I think it's worth it for that prize.
Okay, off to do paperwork! Love ya! Faith
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The photos
Here are a few photos of our fall.
Our new friend Kendi, home from Ghana in September. with Todd & her daddy.
Lydia in her Rose Hill outfit for the trip to the one-room schoolhouse.
Todd & Faith's trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for our 15th anniversary.
Pumpkin Patch with the kids.
Elise's 7th Birthday party at home.
Jogathon at school.
Essie
Our new friend Kendi, home from Ghana in September. with Todd & her daddy.
Lydia in her Rose Hill outfit for the trip to the one-room schoolhouse.
Todd & Faith's trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for our 15th anniversary.
Pumpkin Patch with the kids.
Elise's 7th Birthday party at home.
Jogathon at school.
Essie
Oops!
Hi, I accidentally put some photos of our new kids on here and had to take them off since I'm not allowed to do that. But I hope to put a small photo snapshot album on here, so you can see what the Tulsa Emorys have been doing. But again, if you'd like to email me privately I believe I can send you a photo privately just can't post on the blog.
We were logged into court last week and are waiting on a court date. I'll post as soon as I find out more news about that.
Bye now!
We were logged into court last week and are waiting on a court date. I'll post as soon as I find out more news about that.
Bye now!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Early October and some "good" news
We got word yesterday, I believe, that Lydia's paperwork is ready to go to court. Samuel's was already ready. So, maybe soon! Court opens back up around October 13th. Of course, there will be a backlog and then we'll need to wait 8-10 weeks after we pass court to travel.
But, at least one step finished! But yeah, if you run those numbers, the earliest we could possibly travel to get them would be January. That's with a favorable first court date. Let's pray for that!
I know it's in Someone's hands!
But, at least one step finished! But yeah, if you run those numbers, the earliest we could possibly travel to get them would be January. That's with a favorable first court date. Let's pray for that!
I know it's in Someone's hands!
Monday, September 7, 2009
September Update
Hi All,
I think I realized a few weeks ago that I hadn't updated you all about the fact that the courts did end up closing, but were open a bit longer than usual into the rainy season. The courts should re-open sometime next month to begin hearing adoption cases again. So hopefully we'll get our first court date in October since our paperwork will have been in Ethiopia for several months by then.
We got some good news about a week ago - three of the other children we had considered adopting have found families. This is really exciting! Maybe we'll get to meet some of these families when we travel, since it seems like we all may be at about the same point in the process. I really had feared they wouldn't find families and wanted to adopt them all myself!
We had our fund-raising garage sale last weekend. It was a lot of work! We started the day with someone taking/stealing our garage sale signs and having no shoppers for about 30 minutes. I had trouble not getting angry when I realized what had happened. Don't know if the city took them or just someone who wanted some nice signs to re-use for their future sales.
We were able to raise about $400 during the sale. I wasn't really bummed that it wasn't more - but garage sales really make you understand the value or should I say "liability" of having "stuff" - you can't get much money out of it when you sell it later. Definitely should make one rethink the purchases in the first place, eh? And I've admitted it might be my first and last garage sale - I really don't love the haggling. The same day as the sale, someone committed to giving us at least $500.00 toward the adoption, closer to our travel date. So that ended up being a really good fundraising day after all. :)
I've been blessed to have some opportunities now to make some extra money during the day when the kids are in school - so I think I'm done with fundraising for the present! At least garage sales, anyway :)
Our good friends here in town brought home their lovely two-year old daughter from Ghana today. She was a sweetie. I had a great longing when I met her to have my baby Samuel home to snuggle with. Didn't want to be jealous, - it definitely helps to stay busy so you don't think those thoughts too often! But so glad she's home. Good to be reminded that there is that joy at the end of the wait.
I've really been enjoying having my kids in school. We have a great neighborhood elementary school and I'm just glad not to have the responsibility for managing all their schooling this year. And I'm actually enjoying helping with the homework - lots of fun reading, like Little House on the Prairie. Just didn't seem to find the time to do much of that last year when we were homeschooling. And reading to my kids is one of my favorite times of the day, if I'm not too tired (yeah, I remember my mom falling asleep when she read to us at night too - I am that mom now!)
Oh, our fingerprints finally went through after various problems. Todd didn't have to drive to OKC again to re-do them. I guess they were "readable" - so that's good.
Okay, I hope I've covered all the new developments here. We might get some more new photos of the kids in the next couple of weeks as another family is traveling this week to pick up their new children.
I'm also hoping to start learning how to download my photos so I can post some new ones of the kids here - Lydia is doing "'pioneer day" this Friday and has a really great dress to wear.
So stay tuned - I will post something before Samuel and Lydia Sissay are home. :)
I think I realized a few weeks ago that I hadn't updated you all about the fact that the courts did end up closing, but were open a bit longer than usual into the rainy season. The courts should re-open sometime next month to begin hearing adoption cases again. So hopefully we'll get our first court date in October since our paperwork will have been in Ethiopia for several months by then.
We got some good news about a week ago - three of the other children we had considered adopting have found families. This is really exciting! Maybe we'll get to meet some of these families when we travel, since it seems like we all may be at about the same point in the process. I really had feared they wouldn't find families and wanted to adopt them all myself!
We had our fund-raising garage sale last weekend. It was a lot of work! We started the day with someone taking/stealing our garage sale signs and having no shoppers for about 30 minutes. I had trouble not getting angry when I realized what had happened. Don't know if the city took them or just someone who wanted some nice signs to re-use for their future sales.
We were able to raise about $400 during the sale. I wasn't really bummed that it wasn't more - but garage sales really make you understand the value or should I say "liability" of having "stuff" - you can't get much money out of it when you sell it later. Definitely should make one rethink the purchases in the first place, eh? And I've admitted it might be my first and last garage sale - I really don't love the haggling. The same day as the sale, someone committed to giving us at least $500.00 toward the adoption, closer to our travel date. So that ended up being a really good fundraising day after all. :)
I've been blessed to have some opportunities now to make some extra money during the day when the kids are in school - so I think I'm done with fundraising for the present! At least garage sales, anyway :)
Our good friends here in town brought home their lovely two-year old daughter from Ghana today. She was a sweetie. I had a great longing when I met her to have my baby Samuel home to snuggle with. Didn't want to be jealous, - it definitely helps to stay busy so you don't think those thoughts too often! But so glad she's home. Good to be reminded that there is that joy at the end of the wait.
I've really been enjoying having my kids in school. We have a great neighborhood elementary school and I'm just glad not to have the responsibility for managing all their schooling this year. And I'm actually enjoying helping with the homework - lots of fun reading, like Little House on the Prairie. Just didn't seem to find the time to do much of that last year when we were homeschooling. And reading to my kids is one of my favorite times of the day, if I'm not too tired (yeah, I remember my mom falling asleep when she read to us at night too - I am that mom now!)
Oh, our fingerprints finally went through after various problems. Todd didn't have to drive to OKC again to re-do them. I guess they were "readable" - so that's good.
Okay, I hope I've covered all the new developments here. We might get some more new photos of the kids in the next couple of weeks as another family is traveling this week to pick up their new children.
I'm also hoping to start learning how to download my photos so I can post some new ones of the kids here - Lydia is doing "'pioneer day" this Friday and has a really great dress to wear.
So stay tuned - I will post something before Samuel and Lydia Sissay are home. :)
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