Best Christmas Ever

I just had to write today because I have been reading everyone's blog to catch up and I am sitting here listing to my little Zoey Mahider singing to Hannah Montana (she is downstairs and I am upstairs) and it is SO great!! I am so happy and still floating since bringing the kids home. I had been so completely different this past year plus struggling through the up's and down's of this adoption and I am SO happy that it is over. You know, I don't understand why they have to make things so complicated some times... but it is over now.

Kemyla Fitsum is loving school... she is the only one who has started thus far. All of her teachers love her and say she is doing amazingly well. She is in 8th grade and recieved a 29.5 out of 30 on her first Algebra test. She loves art and math. She is sitting on the couch right now reading the first book of "The Twilight Series". I got it for her for Christmas. It is my favorite series I must say. I can't wait for the 4th book. Anyway, she started it last night and is more than half way through it.

All the kids are doing great and Ayden is in heaven and being spoiled rotten by the kids.

Finally

Well, we are back and beginning to settle. The kids are happy and our jetlag is wearing off. We came home last Sunday and have been pretty much taking it easy this week. I didn't spend much time with the kids in Ethiopia because of so much running around. But it is nice to be home and enjoy my wonderful family.

WOO HOO!!!

My heart is full, the kids are ours. The court officially declared the adoption official and the children ours at 2:15 a.m. our time!!! WOO HOO, YEAH, I am SOOOO HAPPY!! I am picking up the kids as soon as I get to Addis on Tuesday afternoon.... I will post pictures as soon as I can when I am there!
Thank you so much Angie and everyone who prayed for us to help make this happen, I love you!

1 day

Court is coming.... I am excited and nervous. My mom and I are headed to Addis Monday Morning. I so hope things go well in court so we don't have any delays. Ayalew (the father) is in Addis now and ready for court. Haile emailed me today and said that MOWA has given a positve response. I hope that is good. My anxiety has almost consumed me to the point I can not understand English! Last year before I went to Ethiopia I was so nervous and afraid to fly I wrote everyone "letters" in case anything happened to me. Flying is just scary and I can only do it for these precious little ones who are patiently waiting for me. I know Jordyn and Ayden will be well taken care of while I am away but I still worry... And I will miss them and my hubby so much.
Please ANYONE who reads this, pray that court will go well tonight... (which is tommorrow in Addis).
Thanks!

Almost there

Court is Friday... well, technically Thursday night. I am very anxious and nervous. I really, really hope it goes well and all the paperwork is in perfect order and everyone's ducks are in a row.
My daughter Jordyn, who is 11 1/2, keeps telling me everything is going to "be fine mom". She is so funny and I am so proud of her lately. It is hard to be 11 sometimes. I feel like I just woke up this past week and realized that kids have more "stress" than I ever had thought. They have so much more stress now days than I did when I was her age. School is hard for her and she has been doing so well this year but last week I visited her at school and spoke with her teachers and I am so proud at how hard she is actually working. I think she realized how important school is FINALLY. Yeah. I am happy. I need to remember to support her more and tell her that I do understand she has a lot of pressures at school and with her peers. Her teachers told me that she is a very compassionate child and is always concerned about others. She really truly is a genuinely good kid, and I am proud to be her mom.
Keep up the good work Jorgie, I love you!! Mom

The countdown continues

I wish I could be more excited about the court date that is coming in less than a week but today I am saddened by news that I read on some of the blogs I read almost daily. A lady named Jocelyn has been awaiting her court date which was scheduled the day before ours and her news today said that the birth parents changed their minds. This completely blows my mind. Having met the father of the children we are adopting, the grandmother and the uncle as well... To explain, when I went to Ethiopia last December a big part of that was so that my husband and I could make sure that Mahider's living family members would give us their blessing in this adoption and we were worried they would have reservations. When I met with them they were so grateful, I can't tell you the gratitude I felt from them that I was wanting to give this little girl the education and the future that she deserves. (At the time I was not aware of the younger siblings and told the older sister was too old to adopt). However, the point to my jabbering is just that I am so sad that the child that was so loved by Jocelyn will not be coming to her as soon as thought. In my heart I feel that the parents of the child if they cannot provide for the child will realize that she could have such a bright, beautiful future with the mother that was ready to recieve their precious child.
I feel so blessed that Mahider's father has given us his blessings and I do keep in contact with him and will continue to do so throughout his life. I know that we can not explain why things happen the way they do and that things do not always turn out the way we want them to. We just have to remember that things happen in the Lord's time... not ours. I do not know Jocelyn personally but her blog has been inspiring to me the past few months and my heart goes out to her and those in her life who are affected by this news.
Another blog I read... the court date was delayed. urgh. This is something I dread. I have waitied SO long already and if it gets delayed I think my heard will shatter into a million pieces. One more day, one more week, one more month, I can't bear it.

Count down to court date

15 More Days!!

waiting is not fun

Waiting and waiting is not fun but when I look back at all of the blogs I have been following... time has really gone by quickly. I am so excited for Drew and Carey and it is so cool that David and Robin are on their way to pick up pickles. They are so lucky. :-) I feel like I have been waiting for soooooo long and I hope court goes well on the 16th.

Charley... if you are reading this... please update mosmo... ? What's up with that?

Court Date

Thank goodness I have a good friend in Ethiopia who double checked for me... the court date is really Nov. 16th. That seems right, Friday. :-) It seems SO far away.

We have a court date!!

We have a court date of November 17th! Yes, that is a Saturday... I have no idea why.. but that is the word from Ethiopia. But we do have a court date and that is what is important. I am very excited and I hope that word has been given to the children now of the court date so they can all be excited!
I should here about that tommorrow...

Long Labor

I would say that time has flown... but this has been the longest, agonizing, gut twisting labor I have had! According to my agency we should get a court date tommorrow. I don't want to rejoyce too soon because they have been wrong before. But I will hold my breath! (and push, ha ha)

Ayalew Family picture

I added a picture of the Ayalew Family that I took last December when I went to visit. I hope to get some more pictures of the family and their grandmother when I go back to pick up the kids. This waiting for news of a court date is almost painful for me. I am beginning to wonder if I will even know when the court date is or if they will just inform me when it is over. The agency we are using is new in Ethiopia so I don't really know.

Mesgana Dancers

Sorry, in my post yesterday I put the website wrong for Mesgana... it is http://www.mesgana.com/ and Mahider is the first girl on the second row. :-) Thanks Debbie.. and mom.. and Stef!

Overview of our Ethiopian adoption journey thus far

I wanted to start this blog by thanking all of you bloggers out there for helping me get through this anxiety of waiting for a court date in Ethiopia. I am not the most computer literate but once I found all of you... I have been following your journeys to get some idea of what is going on out there. Thank you so much.
My husband and I have two children living with us now... a daughter Jordyn who is 11 and a son Ayden who is almost 4... and more on the way from Ethiopia. I will take pictures and get them on here this weekend.
In June of 2003, my husband and I met Mr. Norm Perdue, founder of COEEF (Children of Ethiopia Education Fund) and began sponsoring a child in Ethiopia to go school. My mother had been sponsoring two children and my daughter Jordyn was writing letters to one, (Mahider) and my niece was writing letters to the other (Martha). My mother had invited us to a 'sponsor picnic' and the program was so wonderful and beautiful we signed up to sponsor. The child that we sponsor is Tigisti and she lives in Axum, which is Northern Ethiopia. Tigisti lives with her mother and her father is passed away.
In August of 2006 Norm brought the Mesgana Dancers to the United States for their first tour here and one of the 10 girls that came over was Mahider Ayalew. My husband and I had volunteered to let two of the girls stay with us during their time here and it was awesome! Mahider is one of the two girls that my mother sponsors and we were overjoyed to get to spend time getting to know her. I took the two girls to my 10 year old daughters' school and when I looked at Mahider at one point she had tears streaming down her cheeks. My immediate thought was... "I wish I could let her stay here to go to school." Mahider lives with her grandmother and I wondered about getting her into a school here in the U.S. on a student visa. Mahider returned back to Ethiopia and I began working on getting the school where I live I20 approved so that foreign students could come to it. During that process her mother passed away and I was told that she was now available to be adopted if I wanted to pursue that direction.
Last October I called an agency and began the homestudy process. I flew to Ethiopia in December... talked with MOWA and met the whole family and siblings that I did not know about. They had not lived with the grandmother until the mother passed. We are now awaiting a court date. If we pass court we will be bringing Mahider and her siblings: Fitsum, Bestelot, Hymanot, and Beruk with her. YES, you are reading me correctly... FIVE children.
This journey has definately been a 'Labor of Love' and at times very hard... but as one of my most favorite Ethiopian women, Serkaddis Seifu told me once... "Anything is possible."
I really want to say to anyone and everyone who is adopting from Ethiopia or anywhere... Never give up because it is so true that "anything is possible". There is always a way...
Mahider was here for the 2007 Mesgana tour and you can see her picture at www.mesgana.org. She is so beautiful. As are all of the Ethiopian children!
I am not very computer literate... but I love reading all of the stories out there about these wonderful adoptions and I wanted to put ours out there.
While I was in Ethiopia, I had the opportunity to go to Axum and meet Tigisti. It was an amazing experience that changed my life forever.
Everyone should go... it might change the world.