We're moving up!

According the list we are keeping on our agency's Yahoo Group, the Jarvie family is #3 for a girl!!!!!!!!! The referrals have started up again and it's very possible that we could be getting our referral next month. This is so exciting for us........we can't wait to see a photo of Ava's little face!

The agency will call us to tell us we have a referral, so I will be carrying my cell phone with me everywhere I go. Then they will email the photos and medical info. We plan to videotape our family seeing the referral email. I'll post that on our blog as soon as that happens. Unfortunately, we can't post Ava's photos on our blog when we get the referral because she won't officially be our child until we pass court. We have one week to accept the referral. Once we accept, we wait for a court date. It can take a while to get a court date.

In the meantime, the kids are enjoying summer vacation!

The Shots & Graduation Celebration

On Thursday, Bruce and I had our required shots for our trip to Ethiopia. We each had to have 6 shots and neither one of us are fans of shots, so it was a little stressful. That night we weren't feeling so great and by the next day, we felt awful. Glad we won't have to ever go thru that again. That same day Madeline graduated from Elementary school. Hard to believe she'll be starting middle school in September. Summer has officially begun!!!!!

7 Months on the Wait List

Wow, we have now waited 7 months on the wait list and are getting closer to our referral! From what I can tell, we are #15 on the list of families and #8 for a girl (the other 7 families are waiting for boys, either a boy or girl, or siblings). Our agency matched so many families with referrals between January thru April. Unfortunately, in early May, the Ethiopian government stopped all adoptions of abandoned babies due to concern about corruption and adoption procedures. I am happy that the country is vigilant about conducting adoptions ethically. However, this has slowed the referral process drastically and I am not sure how this will affect us. We are still hopeful about receiving a referral this summer and since the courts will close August-October, we will have to wait for a court date in the fall. So, in the meantime, we continue to get ready for Ava. This month I painted a dresser and found some cute knobs at a little antique store nearby. Here's a photo of my handywork........this was my first piece of furniture that I have ever painted.....took about 4 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint, but I loved the way it turned out. Just looking forward to putting her little clothes in the drawers!

6 Months on the wait list

So we have made it to the 6 month mark and are anxious to see our daughter's photo in the next month or two. While we are excited about the adoption, we are also saddened by the unbelievable malnutrition that exists in Ethiopia. If you click on the photo below it will take you to a website where a wonderful man named Tom Davis has started a fundraising project to collect formula for the infants who are specifically at America World's transition house. Children are brought from the orphanage to the transition house once they have been referred to a family. Ava will be staying at this transition house for several months because our court date will probably be in October or November. The need for formula is so urgent! Although it would be great if you felt a desire to donate to the fund, my main purpose for including the website is so that you can really understand how dire the situation is there. We have met Duni (Ethiopia coorinator for America World) and we know she is doing everything in her power to saves these children's lives. She wrote a moving letter on the website.

This dog looks familiar!

So the Obama's have a Portuguese Water dog! Of course, we think they are the greatest dogs in the world........then again, we are a little biased since we have Nazare. Yea for Portuguese Water Dogs!!!! I am happy they are finally recognized and people will see what an awesome breed it is. Now maybe people will stop asking me if Naz is a poodle! Of course, I have to include a photo of Naz ( who looks very similar to Bo).

5 months of waiting!

We have officially been on the wait list for 5 months! The time is flying by and I am thankful that it has. When we turned in our dossier last October, I wondered how I was going to wait so long to meet Ava, but now we are at the half way point or closer.

Another little tidbit of info I should share is that we expanded the age range by just a bit. Originally we had requested an infant up to 12 months and now we have expanded that to 18 months. That may not seem huge to people in the non-adoption world, but as I looked at the waiting list, I realized most families request children under the age of one. So what about those babies that may be over one, but still need forever families? My heart breaks for them and we all decided that maybe our Ava would be several months older than we originally planned. It adds a little suspense now...will she be tiny (3-9 months) or a little older? We should find out soon!

Our adoption agency has given out about 16-20 referrals this month and it's exciting to see our name move up the list. I think we are currently #29 overall (some families adopted siblings, so that's why my numbers from last month don't match up with this month). Since we have changed the age range we are #13 for a baby girl, but #5 for a girl up to 18 months. The other 8 families are requesting up to 12 months. I don't want to get too anxious, but if the agency keeps up this pace, we could receive a referral in the next few months.

We talk about Ava everyday and she has already become a part of our family. Her room is starting to look like a nursery......she has a crib, changing table, and dresser. We still need to hang some curtains and put the final touches on it, but my heart races everytime I walk into the room. I think about her......half-way around the world......not knowing about the family in Virginia who can't wait to meet her and love her forever.