the next step

so now we are waiting for the court to issue us The Adoption Decree -- piece of paper stating the results of our court date. . . . once we have that piece of paper, then we can go to our little man's orphanage and get him out of there and bring him home to the guest house with us!  until we get that decree, we visit him every day!

on our first visit with him, he 'let' me hold him. . . it was a reluctant 'let' but better than not letting me.
on our second visit he laughed a little and we played some games.
on our third visit he smiled when he saw us coming and showed us his running skills!

making progress slowly but surely. . .

we LOVE being back in ethiopia.  it feels like home.

we passed court

and that means that there are officially 4 Kiyvyras on the planet earth!  and the other good news is that we made the little dude laugh today, and let me tell you, it was hard work!

now that we got your attention

here is something worth watching about adoption:

An Adoption Story by Jillian Lauren

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. . . .