Ok so there won’t really be any trains…but we’ve been making (tentative) travel plans!!! Yay!!!

We started looking at the calendar and thinking about travel. With Belane’s embassy appointment next week on Sept. 13, if her waiver is processed in eight weeks as the last two have been, that means it would be done around Nov. 8. Thanksgiving is early this year…it is on Nov. 23. Ideally, I want to go to Ethiopia and get Belane and be home all together for Thanksgiving. I do not want to miss Thanksgiving with our other kids and I really don’t want to have... more

This morning we got the call that our I600 has been approved. Woo hoo! (and a big thank you to our Senator’s office). We are now looking at our last hurdle…the HIV waiver, and then we can finally, finally travel to get our sweet girl.

I remember back when we started all of this, I wrote out the long list of “steps” in the process that had to happen before Belane could come home, and there were so many things that had to happen and so many variable time frames that it was overwhelming.

We heard all the horror stories about how the process... more

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As soon as I saw that padded envelope from Adoption Advocates in the mail box, I knew it was the camera from our welcome bag to Belane! I ripped the package open and held the camera…it was unreal to think that this camera which I had bought in our small town had traveled all the way to Ethiopia, spent a day with our daughter, and was now back in my mail box. Amazing.

A mad dash to the pharmacy and a very long hour waiting for the “one-hour photo”, and we had pictures!!! Unfortunately someone... more

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There are social complications…who to tell, who not to tell…protecting privacy vs. combating stigmas…educating those around you vs. opening yourself up to prejudice. There are many laws in place to protect kids with HIV…for instance, you do not have to tell your child’s school if you choose not to. Your public health office will tell the school district that there is an HIV+ in the school, and they will be instructed/reminded to take universal precautions, which they should do anyway.

This being said, we’ve been told by quite a few parents that they have been pleasantly surprised with the reactions of most people that they have disclosed to.... more

I have gotten several emails asking about adopting and parenting a child with HIV, so I thought I would make a post out of some of this…if this is not something that interests you, feel free to skip this post and the next, and there will be different topics coming asap. :)

Anyway, please keep in mind that since my Belane is not home yet, I do not really have any first-hand experience to share and I am not an expert, but I have spoken with quite a few parents of HIV+ children and several doctors and specialists, and I am more than happy to share with you and everyone else what I have learned.

The number one thing that we heard over and over is that a child (in the US) with... more

I figured it was about time for an adoption update. Things are moving along really well. Last week we found out that our adoption agency, AAI, had received our adoption documents from Addis (it was 2 ½ weeks after our court date) and had submitted them to our local USCIS along with our I600 application. If Belane was not HIV+, we could be traveling now and handling this at the embassy in Addis, but the embassy will require the HIV waiver, which will take weeks to process, and unfortunately, I can’t... more

Well, I wanted to share our excitement with knowing that Belane knows about her new family, but I have some other emotions to share as well.

I have to admit that it is different with Belane than it was with Benjamin. With Benjamin, he was in a very small care center, where all of the children got adopted. He was one of the children that had waited the longest to be matched with a family (and yet it was still under a year). When we were sending off his package and the photo album of his new family, we were SO EXCITED!! He had waited so long, and seen so many other children get their photo albums and seen so many other children come and go…we were so glad it was finally his turn.

With... more

Belane is also now waiting for that wonderful day when Josh and I walk through the doors at AHOPE for the second time and hold her in our arms once again...this time for keeps.

Of course at age two and a half, how much she understands about what is going to happen and how much her life is going to change is hard to tell, but she now knows she has a family that loves her. She knows she has a Mom and a Dad. She knows she has brothers and sisters.

On August 17, Denise, the most wonderful volunteer for AAI,... more

Today I am doing photographs instead of an un-photographable post.

I got some pictures today from an adoptive mom who was in Ethiopia and visited AHOPE and spent time with the little kids. She sent me a great collection of pictures of Belane and her friends.

I also got a few pictures from another volunteer who spent some time at “little” AHOPE. Although she didn’t know we were adopting Belane when she was there, she captured her in two fun pictures which she passed on this week after we connected on an email group.

This first... more

We spent a fun weekend at “Gramma’s house”, where we got to visit with Josh’s family and go to his cousin’s wedding. It was great to see all of our family and I learned that MY KIDS CAN DANCE!!! They had so much fun dancing at the wedding…they would have stayed all night.

I came home to an email from a great woman that just spent two weeks volunteering at AHOPE. She gave us quite a bit of information on Belane as well as pictures. The sad news is, poor Belane is freshly shaved. Ringworm is going around the orphanage (which for those of... more