She made it!

Yea! We are so excited that Claire made the high school tennis team! It's just one team (no JV or Varsity) and they only take 10 girls, so Claire is excited and relieved that she made it. This has been her goal for the last few years and all of those tennis clinics and lesson paid off. She gets her uniform today, so I'll post a photo of her soon. It's also Olivia's 7th birthday today, so what an exciting week we are having!

4 Months on the Wait List!

This week marks 4 months that we have been on the official waiting list with our adoption agency. To keep my spirits up, I purchased this adorable shirt and necklace. The shirt is made by a friend of mine who has also adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia. It's hard to see in the photo, but the pink material has giraffes on it and then where Ethiopia is located, she put a little pink rhinestone. The necklace was purchased from another friend of mine who has adopted 2 girls from Ethiopia. The photo is blurry, but it says "Born in my heart". Just little reminders that Ava will be home with us soon.

Our agency is really moving with the referrals. They had 17 referrals in January and 11 so far this month. That puts us about #17 for a baby girl and #41 overall. So we are still on track for a referral this summer. We just have to hope and pray that Ethiopia's government continues to process and move the adoptions along. That is the slow down at the moment. We started this whole process last April and I honestly thought we would be traveling to Ethiopia this spring.......but that is not the case. We are now hoping to have her home before Christmas. They are now estimating 9-11 month wait once the dossier is turned in, so next month we will be at the half-way point.

Let it Snow!

The kids have anxiously awaited the First Snow Day of this winter and today was our lucky day! We only have about an inch or two, but it was enough to make them want to put on snow pants, boots, coats and gloves. It is really pretty and if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow. So we celebrated the day by making waffles for breakfast. Everyone stayed in their jammies until noon and we enjoyed our "lazy day". Think we might get at least a delay tomorrow because they are expecting more snow and ice tonight.

Welcome 2009!

Things have been pretty calm as we enter the New Year. It has been very cold (oh, how I miss the warm California weather). The kids keep hoping for a snow day, but so far it hasn't happened. Claire is getting her braces on in two weeks......she is NOT excited about this, but she will thank us when she's older.

Our adoption agency has given out 13 referrals already this month! This is great news and it means we move up the list and get a little bit closer to bringing Ava home. This is the most referrals they have had in one month and I am hoping this trend continues. From what I can tell from the informal list we keep, it looks like we are about 26th in line for an infant girl. But, keep in mind, we are bunched in there with other families adopting infant boys, toddlers and older children, so it make the wait longer. We are still hopeful to receive a referral by late summer.

The big inauguration is next week. So many people (from other states) have asked us if we are planning to go into DC to see it. Although we are only 30 miles from DC, getting there would be a nightmare. All of the major roads into DC are closed that day and the metro waits are expected to be at least 3 hours. They are expecting millions of people and it's just a little too scary for me to imagine all of us wandering around (trying to find food and bathrooms). So, we will be watching it like the rest of the country from our warm family room. The kids are out of school that day which is nice. We actually don't know anyone who is going in to see it. I have to admit, it's kind of cool to be living here when all of this history is taking place. Hope the kids remember it!

Santa is Coming to Town!

Wow, December has been a busy month! Madeline had her 11th birthday on Dec 11th. She has performed with her dance troupe for numerous community events this month which has kept us busy. Olivia is very excited for Santa to come tonight. Her first grade class made gingerbread houses in school and they turned out so cute. Claire is happy to have a 17 day break from school.

As far as the adoption goes, things have slowed down quite a bit with our agency. They only had 3 Ethiopian referrals this month. This is disappointing for us because we are about 30th in line on the infant girl list. At this rate, we don't know if we will have Ava home next Christmas. Our agency is hopeful that the referrals will increase beginning in the new year.

We want to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

A good song with a good message

It was a very Happy Halloween at our house

October 31st was a great day! Not only did the kids have fun trick-or-treating, but we also found out our dossier was mailed to Ethiopia that day! In the "adoption world" we call that DTE (dossier to Ethiopia). Now we are officially WFR (waiting for a referral). Lots of new terms to learn along the way. It was such a great feeling to know things are moving in this process. We have officially been put on the "waiting list" for a baby girl and from what I can determine (through informal tracking), we are about 30th in line for a baby girl.

As we go along in this process, we learn more and more about the conditions and circumstances of the Ethiopian people. Right now, there is a severe shortage of formula for the orphans. Can you imagine that even happening here in the US? The problem is not that they can't afford it......it's that they do not have it at all! Families from our agency who have been traveling recently to bring their children home have been taking over formula cans in big rubbermaid containers. The cost is quite high to transport it as extra luggage, but still cheaper than shipping it over. It definitely puts things in perspective and makes me appreciate the abundance we have in this country.

So now we begin a new phase of the adoption process and we look forward to receiving a phone call one day next summer telling us our baby daughter is waiting for us to come and get her!