Snow Fun and Update...

Well, this is what it feels like to know that we are now #2... A fellow waiter received the referral of a lovely 2 year old little girl last week... That moves us up the list. We also received a group email to all of the 'waiters', from the director of our agency. She stated that there are several babies in the care center at this time, but that they will be waiting to make referrals until the babies have been in care for at least 6 weeks. If you remember, there were around 4 babies that had been referred last year, that died, before the families could take the case to court and become thier parents. This new '6 week rule' is to curb that from happening... most of the babies that died, were very young (only a few weeks) and very frail... this extra time, will hopefully mean that the babies are older and stronger...
This new 6 week wait, before referral, will mean nothing to the already imposed Ethiopian Government '3 Month rule'... where the babies must remain in the care of an orphanage or agency care center for 3 months before having their cases heard in court. So, esentially... if our baby is in care right now, and we have to wait the 6 weeks for referral, it would be another 6 weeks after that, that her case could be heard in court, and we could travel to pick her up...
Let's pray that she is there now.


On another note.... Jon was able to make it home a week early on Saturday. It was a great surprise, and here he is enjoying the winter with Leyton... Sorry, I didn't get more (or better) pics.... it was getting dark and then my camera battery died!

Another week gone...

Yep... you read that right... we are still waiting. It has been a long week, hoping to hear something about the babies we were told about... and then we did. We were told there were no girls... all boys. The last 10 or so babies have all been boys.

I also received a secret email recently hinting that there will be more babies brought into care later this week, but no news on gender/ages. SO, I have decided to go back into 'Try not to obsess about it' mode, because I have driven myself crazy all week waiting to hear something about the last group.

Jon remains in the field, for what seems like an eternity, give the fact that he will be deploying soon. They are supposed to be receiving some nasty weather the next few days, so that will probably mean a longer stay. We will see....

We received about 6" of snow last night, and it has been falling all day (probably about 3-4" on top of the initial flakes)... Leyton is dying to go out and try out his new saucer... so stay tuned for some pics of the first snow of winter 06/07.

This has been a crazy emotion-filled week... Still no news, but knowing that it could be any day, or in the next week or two, has snapped me out of my 'try not to obsess about it' phase.... I'm now officially obsessing....

I finally got in the mood, to work on the 100 Good Wishes quilt.... I've spent the past few days cutting squares, arranging and rearranging... I haven't actually started stitching yet, but I plan to begin tonight. I will post a pic when I have it together.

I'm having a little bit of 'leaving Leyton behind' angst.... He is so excited about his new sister, and tells me everyday how much he misses her, and how he wants to come with Jon and I to visit her. This has been a long-time struggle for me. I really want him to be a part of the process... I would love for him to come with us to Africa. I think it would be a great experience for him. But there are always two sides to the coin....

I'm afraid of exposing him to some disease, that he is too young to be vaccinated against. I'm afraid that he is a little bit young to get the full experience, and to be able to comprehend the poverty and sickness that we will surely see. After viewing the video above, and hearing from families who have traveled that there are NO SEATBELTS in Ethiopian cars... I'm a little bit worried about certain death in an auto accident!

My mom has volunteered to come and stay with Leyton while we are gone for the visit trip.... And then Jon will be home with him, when I go to pick her up, or we will have her escorted to us here. This has been the plan off and on since the beginning of our journey last spring. But now, it is coming down to it, and I don't know what to do. Jon wants to leave him here, but I really want to bring him.... And I know that my mom will have a hard time getting off work at the drop of a hat.... We will only have a week or so notice before we travel.
Ah, well... I'm sure there will be more discussion on this point.... and I will let you know what we decide.



Here are a few pics of my love(s).... Leyton with his new bike.... A dirtbike, of course... He is very excited that it looks and sounds like his cousin Nicky's....




And here he is, 'helping' daddy pack for the field....

WEEK 33.... And a Spark of Hope...

No, you didn't read that wrong... and I didn't get the numbers mixed up.... It really is week 33. Jon is in the field, Leyton started back to school yesterday, and I resumed work today... Life is moving on....
We are still in the wait limbo, but much to my amazement, I received an unsolicited email from our agency today.... she confirmed that we are #3, and that there are several new babies being admitted to the care center. (of course she didn't say the makeup of boy vs. girl) She did say that it was looking like the list could take a "QUICK" turn for the better, and our wait could be over very soon!

VERY SOON.... those are words I've been longing to hear for quite some time now!

She said that most likely we will have our referral by the end of the month. That is only a few weeks away, so you can imagine my excitement!

With all that said, Please remember, okay... this reminder is really for me....
Nothing the agency lady said is set in stone. However, it is odd to receive such an email....

Thanks so much for your thoughts/prayers... they seem to be working!

WEEK 32

(p.s... The snow in this snowglobe is more snow than we have seen this winter... I can't believe it is January, and we haven't even had ground cover....)

No news Week 32.... Well, it has been a long 8 months, since we were officially put on the waiting list and registered in Ethiopia. I am really starting to get concerned that Jon will be sent off before the baby gets here.... Every day we wait, puts us closer to that time frame. Even if we were to receive our referral today, it is likely that the baby would need to stay in the care center for at least 3 months before the case can go to Ethiopian court... This is due to the "3 month rule" put in place by the Ethiopian Government last year, to allow birth family time to reclaim children who are in the age range of 0-3 years. If by chance, our referral has been in another orphanage for all or part of this time, the time she would need to spend in our agencies care center would be less.... This would be great, since it still takes about 6-8 weeks to get through the court process and get a US Embassy appointment.
As if this process hasn't been stressful enough.... Jon is leaving for a month in the 'field' on Friday.... he will be gone 30 days, and will come back for a week, and head out to the 'field' again.... another month.... that means, all said, he won't be home till the middle of March.... and the unit is supposed to pack up in May for the trip south of the boarder. (By the way, the trip south will be a one year tour.)
We did find out some encouraging news, if we have our little one home before Jon is scheduled to leave, he will receive 21 free leave days, as well as 4 months stabilization from deployment.... Of course he will have to work everyday, most likely all day, everyday, but at least he will be here, with us....
If our sweet girl doesn't make it home before he leaves, he loses these benefits. They won't bring him home. He might receive the 2 week R & R sometime in the middle of his tour, but that isn't time that is guaranteed.... He will miss the whole first year, again.
For those of you who didn't know, Jon left for Iraq when Leyton was just over a month old. Leyton and I spent about 6 months of that time, visiting family and friends in the States, but this time, it will be too much.... I really want Leyton to have some stability this time around.... There will already be so many changes with daddy gone, and a new baby.... I really want him to keep active in school and sports with his friends. We will definitely come home once or twice, We haven't been home since December 2005...and that isn't acceptable to me! I miss my family.... and shopping... and it is nice to have some convenience once or twice a year.... lol
Well, I guess that is enough of that.... Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, And hopefully we will have some good news to post soon!!!