Leaving in the Morning!

It is really hard to believe that I will be in Ethiopia tomorrow night. My flight leaves from here at 5:45am, and we should land around 9:55pm. It is going to be a long day... but worth every second!

I just wanted to post a quick note to say Thank you so much for all of your well-wishes, and thoughts. Keep us in your prayers this week, as so much depends on a smooth Visa process!

I will post about our trip, when we return...

Less than a week... The countdown is on!

It is so hard to believe that in less than a week, I will be holding my sweet baby girl, and won't ever have to let her go! The trip is finally coming together... after a few weeks of uncertainty about where we were going to stay while in Addis, Alex, the friend we met there on our last trip, was able to find us a hotel. Thank goodness! I really thought that we would be spending the night sleeping on benches (or the floor) of Bole International Airport.

We will be staying at "The Beer Garden Inn".... (ahhh... a little taste of home all the way in Addis!) for the first night of our trip, and then will move to the Guest House after picking up Ava the next day.

Please keep us in your thoughts/prayers, that everything goes smoothly at the Embassy appointment... If not, I'm afraid that we might be in Addis longer than expected.... I found out yesterday, that the German Embassy, where we need to get a second visa for Ava, will be closed on Friday.... which means there could be some problems obtaining her German Visa... (It is supposed to be a two day process... and we can't file for it until we have the American visa. Hopefully it will all work out.

I've also just learned that chicken pox might be making its way through the care center.... Please keep Ava in your thoughts, that she doesn't come down with it, and that if she does, that she recovers quickly!

It seems like forever since we left Addis.... I sat and flipped through all of our pics today.... twice... I can't wait to be back there!

Ava's Room

Thought you might enjoy a pic of Ava's room.

Travel Plans!

We received word that our Embassy Appointment (with US Embassy to get Ava's visa) is on 4 April.... So I am packing my bags and heading down there on the 29th of March. I was hoping to get out of Germany sometime over that weekend, the 31st or the 1st of April, but everything was booked.... I ended up having to pay for Business class on the way back! (Although, I'm not totally complaining... )

A good friend of ours is going to make the trip with me, so that I don't have to go by myself... there is just no way that we can afford tickets for all 4 of us, now that they are so high...(I paid more now for just mine, than I did for the 3 of us to go last month....) And we are planning to make the trip home to America in May...
It is nice that he will be able to come along.

I can't believe that I will be there again in just over 2 weeks.... I can't wait to bring her home! I have so many plans for this trip, though I know I should probably just go with the flow... But, after being with Ava Sidisse on the last trip, I know that she is easy-going, and will adapt to whatever we do.
I really want to visit with our Sponsorship kids again. It was heart-breaking to visit them the last time, and I really want to take some clothes, and toys for them.

I would also like to make a trip out of the city this time around... Maybe to the Wetlands, Sodere Hot Springs, or to Awash National Park... Who knows? I guess we will just have to see!

IT'S OFFICIAL! SHE'S OURS!!!

For those of you following along.... It is official... I just received word from our agency's director, who is in Ethiopia right now, that our case passed court today.... We are legally Ava's parents! Of course this short note is cutting into my happy dance time, but I had to let you know!

We should know sometime next week when our Embassy appointment is, and then we can start making travel arrangements! Thanks for all of the good wishes and prayers!

Hopefully I will be posting travel arrangements soon!

Shower time...

A good friend of mine is throwing us a shower, to Welcome Ava.... This is the invite that she is sending out... cute, huh?

Court Dates... and travel plans!

Well, we finally received the word that our official Court date is 9 March. This will be the day that we are officially Ava Sidisse's parents. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, that everything will go smoothly!

Shortly after the 9th, we should receive our Embassy appointment. And once that happens we will be able to make our travel arrangements. At this point, it is looking like the last week of March or the first week of April, but it really depends on the Embassy date.

We are still not sure if Jon will be able to travel back for the pick up trip, or not... We will have to see what the dates are, and how good of a mood the command is in, when the time comes. He has already missed so much work/field time, with the visit trip, and my surgery...

Keep us in your prayers... I know that everything will work out, but it would be nice if we could make the trip together.