alright folks

it looks like we will be flying to addis ababa on monday morning!  i am planning on updating this blog during our trip so that folks can follow along if they want.  the schedule of events will go something like this:

court date (july 10)
court decree issued
MOWYCA letter written
birth certificate issued
passport issued
visa medical completed
submit to embassy
embassy interview

this process is predicted to take 3-8 weeks.

while we are there, we plan on doing a lot of eating.  if you're interested in what and where we are eating (and of course, what we think about it all, or more accurately WHAT DAVE THINKS ABOUT IT) check out dave's food blog:
berberecoffeeinjeraplease.blogspot.com

so off we go on our own magical mystery berbere tour. . . wish us luck :)

we have a court date!

amazing! we found out today that we have a court date.  in two weeks!

on hold again.

AGAIN!!!!!!! our entire process is on hold again until MOWCYA comments on our paperwork and they aren't doing comments now. . . . nothing is going to happen until we get the 'comments.'  so.  we wait. again.

and just like that . . .

our adoption process is moving forward!!!!! slowly, but surely.  our PAIR docs are at the embassy in Addis Ababa!  if you look back at the post i put up on jan. 1, we are in between step 3 and 4.  yay!

 a month ago, i wrote that i was going to stop blogging about this adoption. . .  and i was doing my version of 'running away' when times get rough.  that is what i do.  when shit sucks, i hide from the world.   i'm not proud of it, but that is how i process things.  i prefer to figure out how i feel about things and what i want to do about it without 'everyone' else's input.  i am an extreme introvert, especially when it comes to crisis situations.

but i strongly believe in not missing out on an opportunity to celebrate.  and this is definitely an opportunity for celebration -- even if there is snow on the ground right now.  so please celebrate with our little family this week.  however it is you do it:   drink champagne with breakfast, let your kids watch tv, book some plane tickets somewhere fun, dye your hair blue, get a tattoo. . . . 

no more blogging about this adoption

i do not plan to blog about this adoption anymore. . . not that i was really doing much.  we got an email today from our agency telling us about some problems with paperwork blah blah blah.  unfortunately we have been in this position before and didn't seem to learn from it. this has made it clear to me that i have once again become attached to the idea of a particular child and a particular future.  neither of which were/are mine yet.  and that is dangerous and sad. . . . so no more blogging about this.  

good things happen when you nap

we have made some progress on the long list of things that need to happen to finish this adoption process!!  while i was napping on monday afternoon, we received our PAIR documents via an email from our agency.  we applied for our PAIR letter yesterday.  yay! now our next step is to wait the estimated 3-4 months to get our PAIR approval letter in the mail.  we still have a long way to go but at least we are moving now. . .  

what's happening

So.  its jan 1, 2014.  when we got our referral back in august we figured we'd have our little dude home by now or be preparing for our final trip to ethiopia to bring him home.  but that is not the case.   since our referral, a lot of changes have been made to the adoption process (by the United States) in Ethiopia and so our adoption process has essentially been at a stand still for 6 months. 

when we adopted luther in 2010, it was much simpler. . . the process was referral, court date (we didn't need to travel to Ethiopia for the court hearing back then), and then travel to Ethiopia a few months later for the US embassy interview, and fly home with our child. 

things are much different now and here is what (from my limited understanding) needs to happen before this adoption will be complete:  

1. referral (woohoo! we have this part done!)

2. receive Pre-Adoption Immigration Review (PAIR) documents from Ethiopia (this is what we have been waiting 6 months for. . . if you are interested in what this is all about, check it out here: http://www.uscis.gov/adoption/country-information/adoption-information-ethiopia

3. apply for PAIR letter from USCIS

4. receive PAIR letter from USCIS (this is predicted to take 3 months! ugh!)

5. send PAIR letter to Ethiopia

6. our file will then be submitted to court and we wait a couple more months

7. court date assignment

8. travel to Ethiopia to meet child and go to court (this trip should be about 10 days long)

9. come home (this is a requirement by our agency --  we have to return to the states after our court hearing)

10. wait for the US embassy in Ethiopia to schedule an interview to give our child a visa to travel to the US (this can take a few months also)

11.  travel to Ethiopia, take custody of the child, go to embassy interview and fly home

we talked with our agency yesterday and they expect us to get the PAIR documents by the end of January.  they also think that we could be through the entire process in 6 months. . . that is obviously an optimistic estimation based on the predicted timelines for each of the above steps.  but maybe the PAIR process will speed up the final steps.  at this point, we are just hoping for Luther's little bro to be home before christmas 2014.  doesn't seem too outrageous to ask for that, right?

in the meant time, happy new year!  2013 was a fantastic year for us.  and we expect the same and more from 2014.  cheers to that!