We did not get the news we were hoping for. As is so dang common in international adoption, we have hit a delay. A necessary piece of paper was missing from our file, and so our case could not be approved at the hearing. I do not really understand why the paper was not ready since our case was submitted forever ago (back on October 7), but it wasn't, and our case wasn't approved, and so we wait so more.

Our agency rep called this morning and said that the agency person in Ethiopia was going to go into the government office on Monday to try and obtain the letter and that if they are able to get the letter, they might be able to get the case approved that day and we may not have to another... more

As I often say, adoption is an emotional roller coaster for adoptive parents.

The highs are high, the lows are low and the turns and changes come fast and furious, sometimes without any warning.

Right now we are at the sickening, nauseating part of the ride, where you are hanging; waiting and waiting to reach the top of the climb.

Tonight I am having a hard time focusing on much, as I know in just a few short hours, our case will be heard in the Ethiopian... more

In all things adoption, this is a very stressful week.

First off, our court date is on this Friday, December 21. That means if all goes well, Solomon Tsega will officially be our son! It also means that if all does not go well, all of the excitement and anxiety that have been building up towards this day for almost a month now will crash and burn, and we will likely have to suffer through another two to four weeks of agonizing waiting before we make any progress.

Our agency has assured us that they have gone through our paperwork and Solomon's paperwork and that as far as they can tell everything is in order and is correct, although you just never know what the courts may... more

We got some long awaited news today! Our court date for Solomon Tsega's adoption is December 21, which means that if all goes well, on December 21 he will officially be our son, and we will have definite travel dates assigned at that point for some time in January.

Our case was submitted to court back on November 7 and our agency thought our court date would be a little bit sooner than it is, but the Ethiopian courts have been backed up and moving fairly slowly since they reopened in October from the two-month rainy season closure. Many families have been experiencing... more

I have had a lot of people emailing me and asking about how our adoption is going, so I thought I would give you an update. I hope that by having others follow along on our adoption journey for Solomon by sharing our steps of the process, our experiences and our emotions, it will help give some of you out there an idea of what the adoption process can be like.

I know adoptive parents love time lines, so here is our time line so far:

Aug. 10, 2007 - Decided to adopt Tsega at AHOPE, and called AAI to verbally commit to him.

Aug. 13, 2007... more

I am not going to write these "a year ago today" posts all week. This is my last one for this week as the rest of the story is pretty stressful (and not anything that many families will experience), but I will have another "a year ago today post" on Nov. 4, which will be a year from when Belane finally arrived home (and I will have tips on surviving those early days home with a new child). If you want to reminisce and reread the posts from our first weeks together (and our drama in Ethiopia) you can follow the links at the bottom of the page.

But today I am thinking about... more

A year ago today, Belane was in my arms again. Most (if not all) adoptive parents spend a whole lot of time imagining (sometimes agonizingly so) about what that first meeting will be like, and what it will feel like to finally have that child you have dreamed about in your arms.

Sometimes, the parents only have one or two blurry pictures of their child, and do not even have a real accurate idea of what the child looks like. Many parents find that their child is either larger or smaller than they imagined, or has grown/aged a lot since that referral picture. Most adoptive parents do not have a very accurate idea of what their child's personality is going to be like, how he will greet... more

A year ago today we arrived, for the second time in 2006, at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In the wee hours of the morning on October 21, 2006, Josh and I drove out of our driveway, leaving my Auntie at our home with Marcus, Shane, Ben, Maggie and Amanda, and the other kids settled in at friends' homes. I remember that it felt very unreal to be on our way to Ethiopia again, as we had just done this trip back in February, and yet at the same time it felt like a life time had passed since we had met Belane.

I was beyond excited to be on my way to her. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve! At the same time there was a lot of stress, as we knew we were traveling... more

This week we were finally, officially matched with our Solomon Tsega. I say "finally", but it was less than two months from the day we decided to adopt him and started the process, and in that time we were able to apply to the adoption agency and get all of that paperwork done, apply to a new homestudy agency and get all of that paperwork done, get our new homestudy completed, file and be fingerprinted for our I600A, and complete our dossier for a(nother) Ethiopian adoption.

Our adoption agency, Adoption Advocates International, has been... more

While much of what determines how fast (or not) your homestudy will be completed lies in the hand of your social worker, the tips that I offered definitely do help speed the process along. I am thrilled to say that our homestudy is DONE. It has been written, typed, proof-read, corrected and sent from our homestudy agency to our placement agency, and our awesome placement agency, AAI,... more