Wow, I just realized how long it has been since I have blogged. To be honest, there really hasn't been much to report up until now!
It has been 57 days since we left Ethiopia after passing court. 57 days since we had to say goodbye to our sweet boys and not know when we would be back for them. By far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Our boy's adoption file was submitted to the Embassy a long 4 weeks after we passed court because the staff at Hannah's Hope was trying to gather as much evidence and information about the boy's as they could in order to hopefully lessen the amount of additional information the embassy may request as they look through and investigate the boy's case.
For 4 additional weeks we heard nothing from the embassy besides that they had recieved our file (that was encouraging, at least it wasn't lost) and that they needed us to update some more paperwork. We quickly did what they asked but did not get a response back.
Finally, last Wednesday night my hubby and I just had this strong urge to email the embassy ourselves. Now, a little background is that our adoption agency generally does not recommend that families email the embassy as they have apparently had negative responses and increased wait times when adoptive families have emailed them in the past. We did not ask our case manager's permission, we just did it! It was very short and polite. I simply listed our boy's case numbers and respectfully asked for the current status of their case.
We sent that email and then went to bed knowing that the embassy office in Addis would be opening shortly.
I couldn't sleep. But I prayed.
I was tossing and turning, dreaming about the embassy emailing us with a response to our request.
At one point I woke up in the early morning and realized I had been sleeping with my phone in my hand, just ready to receive an email!
At about 5:30am I awoke, checked my email again and was feeling so deflated as there was nothing from the embassy and it was now 4:30pm and the office was about the close.
I started getting ready for work and then came out to the living room where my hubby was sitting on the couch. He was looking at his email. I asked him what he was looking at and he calmly (in a typical Andrew way)said he was reading an email from the embassy that just came through.
What? THE EMBASSY? Here I couldn't sleep all night due to constantly checking my inbox and he just wakes up and checks it for the first time and its there?
Well, I was too excited for words! I was SOOOOO glad that we took a chance and emailed them when we did. When it really comes down to it, these boy's are legally ours and we have to do what we feel is in the best for them and that is to GET THEM HOME!!!
The email from the embassy was requesting a birth mother interview and is now scheduled for the 29th of this month. This is a very good (and usually last step) before the boy's are cleared to home home.
So when do we get to actually go and get our little ones? We still do not have an official travel date but our case manager said that her best guess would be within a few days of the birth mother interview!
Most recently cases have been cleared with a day of the birth parent interview so we are just praying that is the case for us!
We are specifically praying that God will allow everything to go smoothly and that we will be en route to Ethiopia the first week in March to bring home our boys!
It has been 57 days since we left Ethiopia after passing court. 57 days since we had to say goodbye to our sweet boys and not know when we would be back for them. By far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Our boy's adoption file was submitted to the Embassy a long 4 weeks after we passed court because the staff at Hannah's Hope was trying to gather as much evidence and information about the boy's as they could in order to hopefully lessen the amount of additional information the embassy may request as they look through and investigate the boy's case.
For 4 additional weeks we heard nothing from the embassy besides that they had recieved our file (that was encouraging, at least it wasn't lost) and that they needed us to update some more paperwork. We quickly did what they asked but did not get a response back.
Finally, last Wednesday night my hubby and I just had this strong urge to email the embassy ourselves. Now, a little background is that our adoption agency generally does not recommend that families email the embassy as they have apparently had negative responses and increased wait times when adoptive families have emailed them in the past. We did not ask our case manager's permission, we just did it! It was very short and polite. I simply listed our boy's case numbers and respectfully asked for the current status of their case.
We sent that email and then went to bed knowing that the embassy office in Addis would be opening shortly.
I couldn't sleep. But I prayed.
I was tossing and turning, dreaming about the embassy emailing us with a response to our request.
At one point I woke up in the early morning and realized I had been sleeping with my phone in my hand, just ready to receive an email!
At about 5:30am I awoke, checked my email again and was feeling so deflated as there was nothing from the embassy and it was now 4:30pm and the office was about the close.
I started getting ready for work and then came out to the living room where my hubby was sitting on the couch. He was looking at his email. I asked him what he was looking at and he calmly (in a typical Andrew way)said he was reading an email from the embassy that just came through.
What? THE EMBASSY? Here I couldn't sleep all night due to constantly checking my inbox and he just wakes up and checks it for the first time and its there?
Well, I was too excited for words! I was SOOOOO glad that we took a chance and emailed them when we did. When it really comes down to it, these boy's are legally ours and we have to do what we feel is in the best for them and that is to GET THEM HOME!!!
The email from the embassy was requesting a birth mother interview and is now scheduled for the 29th of this month. This is a very good (and usually last step) before the boy's are cleared to home home.
So when do we get to actually go and get our little ones? We still do not have an official travel date but our case manager said that her best guess would be within a few days of the birth mother interview!
Most recently cases have been cleared with a day of the birth parent interview so we are just praying that is the case for us!
We are specifically praying that God will allow everything to go smoothly and that we will be en route to Ethiopia the first week in March to bring home our boys!
