Our First Two Sons . . .

I've been asked (by a new adoption buddy!) to please post pictures of our first two African sons, Kahi and Kala (Rhodesian Ridgebacks). I am happy to oblige!

Kahi is the the one with the dark face and happier expression. His full name: Kahi Kualono (roughly translated means The One Ridge in Hawaiian). Kala is the liver-nosed one who looks like he's in trouble in the bottom photo. His full name: Kai Kala (means Conqueror in Hawaiian).

Quick Update

Just a quick update on what's happened in the last 10 days or so:

1. We received notification last week that the courts were not closing for the rainy season (typically August and September), but received an update last night that the courts will close the third week of August through about the first week of October. This will hopefully help the court get caught up on its backlog so when it reopens in early October, there won't be a huge delay. What this means to waiting families? While the courts are closed, referrals are still given, just no final adoption hearings are held.

2. Also, a baby girl was referred yesterday. The family waited 12 months (waits for infant girls are running a little longer than infant boys).

3. A family that has been waiting since mid-October 2008 was told they are #27 on the overall list of waiting families. We've been waiting since late November 2008 so we can estimate that we're approximately in the mid to upper 30's on the wait list. That's about what we expected and are looking at receiving a referral in late October or early November if things continue as they have. Gwen was born on October 16th of 1984 . . . good things come that time of year it seems! :o)

4. We finally ordered our baby furniture . . . it should arrive in late August or early September which will give us plenty of time to assemble and finish the nursery when we return from our trip to Costa Rica in mid-September.

It's been mostly good news coming out of Ethiopia lately. All the positive thoughts and good energy my wonderful friends and family have been sending is certainly helping us as we approach the home stretch!

Does planting flowers count?

Good news reached our ears this afternoon:

After many weeks of swirling rumors and unsubstantiated information, we have heard from our agency that the ban on placing abandoned children from Addis Ababa for adoption has been lifted. No unethical practices were discovered in the orphanages and/or governmental agencies involved (just some bad administration and rule following). The waiting families will be getting court dates before the end of the month after almost two months of waiting to get their children!

And if this wasn't enough good news, there were also three (count 'em, THREE) referrals today: a 3-month of infant boy (the family waited 11 months), a 9 1/2 month girl (the family waited 12 months), and a sibling set of a 3 year old and 5 year old (the family waited 5 months).

On a personal note:

It's been a rough couple of months and the news is often disheartening on the blogs as people vent their anger, frustration, anxiety, [insert any other angst you can think of here] . . . and I've made a concerted effort to STOP reading all the blogs for my own mental health. I cheat sometimes though, and find myself reading them despite the anxiety it can cause. Or the alienation. Case in point: the latest thread was a call for 24x7 praying to "get the children home". Does it count if I pray to the universe rather than JC himself as they would want me to? Would planting flowers under a tree count? I haven't suggested this yet. And perhaps all that praying had something to do with the latest developments? Who knows.

I'll take peace wherever and however I can get it. Three more places forward in line. And the sun came out. Today feels good.

Referrals, Finally!

We just heard that two more families were referred children this week. One family received a sibling referral and a second received an 8 month old baby boy. Ironically, the family that received the baby boy was one I was emailing with just this last Friday lamenting on how long they had been on the list. They waited since July of last year! Just over 11 months . . . they are thrilled and so are the rest of the waiting families on their behalf!

No more news on the abandonment cases other than a rumor that we should hear something by July 2nd. Also, no new information on the status of court closure. Again, just rumors and rumors and more rumors!

Either way, with the referrals this week, we're just bounced up two spots on the list! Little yippees everyone!! :o)

As we hear more, you'll hear it too!

Crib Blanket & Wall Hanging

As mentioned in my post (below), here's the wall quilt I just finished. It's hand-appliqued wool and will be a wall-hanging in the nursery.


And here's the crib blanket I just got done quilting (it's cotton with flannel backing):

Where Does The Time Go?

I could have sworn I just posted an update until a friend asked me today why I haven't posted anything lately . . . can I blame the gorgeous weather we've been having?? For those readers not from the Pacific Northwest: we are having amazing summer-like weather here which we typically don't get to enjoy until after July 4th!!

On the adoption front (what you're all here to read about, eh?):

1. No referrals this week; although 2 twin girls were placed last week.
2. On the court ban issue: our agency reports that the investigation has been completed but the ban has not been lifted yet. Rumors abound as to when that will happen, but nothing official. If I was a betting person, I'd say before the end of the month. Fingers crossed for all the waiting families living in limbo on when they get to travel to get their babies/children!!! And the good news is that the reported problems of falsified abandonment paperwork appears to concern only a small group of individuals and is not as wide-spread as was the worry.
3. Our agency director is traveling to Ethiopia today and will be there until the end of the month. We're hoping she'll be able to get some good information while she's there.
4. Ethiopian courts are still due to close end of July through September for the rainy season, but I'm sending out positive energy that they'll decide to stay in session at least long enough to hear the cases of all those families waiting to travel. Wouldn't that be awesome??
5. We are officially inside of month 7 of waiting (6 months + 18 days to be exact) . . . wait times are running about 10 1/2 months right now for baby boys so we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
6. I finished the crib blanket and wall hanging for the nursery. I'll post some photos soon. Wall paint color has been chosen. Not painted, but chosen. I might start the full-on decorating process in August or so. Don't want to do it too soon. I know that seems silly, but I don't want to stare at an empty nursery for month on end.

Well, I think that's about it. Hopefully we'll continue to get positive information and what we get, I'll share! Have a great weekend all.

Just a Quick Update

Last week was slow for referrals . . . just one baby boy referred early in the week.

No news about the abandonment issue. Apparently the ban was lifted for three government-run orphanages, but our agency doesn't work with any of them so it didn't really impact us. The blogs were busy last week with people desperate for new information . . . and lots of speculation and conjecture, but we're trusting our agency to communicate verified and accurate information when it becomes available.

Another issue that's been discussed a lot on the blogs is waiting families wanting to know where they are on the wait list, i.e., how close to the "top" of the list are they. Our agency, as a policy, doesn't assign numbers because there are so many variables, and they don't want undue anxiety if a family thinks they are next on the list and then doesn't get the next referral because their request doesn't match (i.e., they are requesting a girl under 18 months and the referral is a 20 month old girl, etc.) That said, some of the adoption consultants will give out numbers to the families they are representing. We have not asked our consultant where we are on the list just because we are only 6 months waiting and it seems premature, but I did trade emails with another waiting family that lives close to us and discovered they are 48th on the list and their dossier was accepted just about 1/2 weeks behind us which means we're likely in the 40's as well. What does this mean??? Well, it means that approximately 40 families are ahead of us waiting for a referral. And this includes ALL families waiting: older children, toddlers, girls, boys, etc., which means if you divide those 40 families up, we might only have about 15-20 people ahead of us waiting for an infant boy. We can't really bank on that number, but it's kinda fun to think about!

I'll post again in about a week and hopefully will have some new information.