Trip #1 Tickets BOOKED!!!

Wow! What a whirlwind! After lots of going back and forth with a few different travel agencies, we finally have our tickets BOOKED!!! It is nice to know what day/time we are leaving and coming back. It is a lot easier to start making plans for our girls etc...We are so thankful for Grandma and Grandpa that are going to take care of the "big sisters" when we are gone. We are also super thankful to Auntie Heather for being willing to transport us to and from the airport. Things are slowly falling into place. I think I'm finally catching my breath. Ahhh...stress city!!! We have to get to Ethiopia and then our agency takes care of us from there. What a relief!

Booking tickets

Wow! What a long, crazy, head spinning day. I was waiting to hear back from 2 different travel agents in regards to flight options. One thing that is nice is that our agency says we are to be there the night of Feb. 27 and will be leaving the night of March 2. We still weren't sure what day we would leave due to flight times, etc...I heard back from "C." In fact, due to me being in school, we emailed quite a bit today. (It wasn't a very productive school day...good thing it was Friday) She emailed us some prices. We finally got it worked out so that we could get in on the Ethiopian Air BOGO sale. Woo-hoo!!! After much research, questioning, thinking, etc...we had an idea of what we were going to do. When I got home, I called "C." Turns out she forgot to check to see about black out days in regards to the sale. Sure enough, we can't use it b/c we need to fly home on a Friday or Saturday and they won't allow that. Sad!!! We had an idea of what ticket prices would be. Then all day we were hopefully we were going to save hundreds of dollars, just to have the day end at the price we started with. Big bummer. By this time of the day (and week) I was pretty spent. My brain was turning to mush. We have a super good friend that said these ticket prices were high. However, the other agency didn't return any calls. I left messages with 2 different agents. :( Someone else told me tonight that "C" was the best price when they called. I'm sure it all changes all of the time. Ugh! What do we do? We currently have tickets "on hold" with C. We have 6 days to book them. I did email our agency to see if they approved of the current plan. They did. Even if we end up not going with this travel agent, I needed to be reassured that we would be "approved." Our agency would like us to get to ET at night, but we will get there in the am. We will not get to meet our little one any earlier and we will have a whole day to hang out at the hotel. What do you do?! So...I was finally feeling some relief until I sat down and studied the flight details. I looked at our seating arrangements. Quite a few times, there is a seat in between Jason and I. What is up with that???? I'm not okay with that especially for a 13 hour flight!!! So I emailed our travel agent back. I debated and debated and debated about calling the number listed on our flight plan. It says if something is wrong with the date or the names to call them ASAP. I know this isn't a huge deal so I didn't call, but it is a huge deal for me. This trip is going to be hard in so many ways. I do not want to be away from my husband. ;) It is certainly time to go to bed. My brain is mush and I just need to be done with it for now. Nothing can be done now until Monday anway unless I hear back from C. We will not book our tickets until Monday anyway. We will see if I hear back from the other travel agency or not. Since our tickets are on hold, our price is locked in. That is nice.

On a fun note, I got to talk to E that just got back from Ethiopia on Wednesday of this week. That was great! We talked for about an hour. Amazing how you can feel so connected with a stranger. ;) We have so much in common. She gave me many, many pointers and might be changing her phone number and email before we leave for this trip. :) Once again, so thankful for our AGCI family.

Until later.....

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!

In roughly one month, we will be loving on our little boy!! You read that right. We have a court date and are heading to Ethiopia!!!! :) Ahhhh....soooooo excited!!! I always have my cell phone on silent on my desk at school and randomly check it. About 2:45 today, I see I missed a call. My heart skipped a beat b/c nobody really calls our cell phone especially during school hours. Do you want to view now or view later? View now!! It was our case worker B. I didn't even know what to think. The only reason she was going to be calling us now was to tell us that our little one was sick or to give us a court date. I listened to her voicemail. She said she wanted to check in on me, answer some of my questions, and discuss a few things with me. Just what was that supposed to mean?!!?! Thankfully my kids were at library when I saw this missed call, so I could call her back. She says, "I have some sad news." Ugh....must be that our little one is sick. She continued, "You will miss me." (She is going to be in Ethiopia in March) I said, "I will? When? When are we going? Ahhhhhhh" She said, "You will miss me by about 2 weeks." I said, "Before or after you?" Before! As much I would LOVE to meet her and in Ethiopia of all places, I really want to see my baby!!! :) Our court date is March 1. We have to be in Ethiopia at night on Feb. 27 and will leave there at night on March 2. I had 15 minutes left in my school day before I could spread the news to Jason. After the kids got dismissed, Lexi started to walk towards my room. I told her to come with me to Dad's room. Micala and some of her classmates were in there doing some Math. Lexi and I came and stood there for a bit. Jason was kind of busy with these kids. I don't even really remember what I said to him. Oops! Our kids were so excited. One of Micala's classmates hugged all of us. Then we had phone calls to make and Micala had a ball game. I called 2 travel agents. One got back to me tonight, but couldn't give me any information until tomorrow. I'm still waiting to hear back from the other one.

I'm so happy that we will get to go and see our little boy. I had some things piled up to take, now I can seriously pack. :) This doesn't seem real, but we are pumped!!!!!! Knowing that we have 5-10 weeks in between trips and knowing our case will probably take closer to the 10 weeks...I wanted to get the ball rolling. The timing works well as far as possible time home for good early in the summer. Time will tell.

I do have to say that in our excitement, there is part of me that is sad as there is a family that has had a referral a month longer than us that still doesn't have a court date. We were told they don't take the files in any order, but this is still hard. This journey has been hard. We know the further we go, the harder it will get. I ask for your continued prayers as we prepare to go and meet our precious son. I ask for prayers for all involved with every step of the way. We know God's timing is the best, but that isn't always easy to accept. Thanks for your support. One more step closer to our little boy!!!

Travel Call

Today we had our "Travel Call." We were given four dates to pick from. Two of them were after we were out of school and two were during school. Of course we were going to pick one that was after we were out of school for the day. One was today and the other one was like the end of February. I wanted to get it done and over with. I don't like having things like that hanging over my head. Besides when we get a court date, I might have better things to do then to sit on the phone for an hour. ;)

Hats off to our agency once again. What a blessing!! They are so thorough. They are amazing and we are so blessed to be with them. The wait might be longer with them, but they are so good that it is worth it. So, what is next? WAIT!!! (Does that surprise you? ha) We wait for a court date which could come tomorrow or in 2 months.

It is hard to believe that it has only been 2.5 weeks since we got our referral. I'm telling you...it feels like forever. I think that will be the new norm. The days feel as if they drag on and on. I can't imagine how the days will drag after we are home from the first trip and waiting months to go back to bring our little man home.

It is hard to comprehend, but are "AGCI family" is a really close knit group. It is hard to be truly happy with our referral as others struggle with the heartache of waiting. We may have never met in person, but our hearts are knitted together. It amazes me how much everyone cares from our agency. It doesn't matter if they are someone that just got on the wait list or someone that has been home for years, there is so much love, care, support, and PRAYERS!! What a blessing!!!! God really does have His hand in getting these little ones into forever families.

We know with each passing day, our hearts (and arms) will ache more and more longing to bring our little boy home. Please continue to pray, not just for our family, but for all families that have had adoption placed on their hearts. It is NOT an easy journey. It has been a long, hard road for us so far and the hardest parts are yet to come. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. The end result will be more than we can ever imagine.

It's starting to look like a bedroom

I did the final touch ups to the paint today. We put the crib up. Micala was excited to put the bedding on. It looks like a bedroom now. ;) I am excited to share with you what we have done. I canNOT wait to share with you what will be coming.

A sneak peek

If you have been reading my blog, you would know that we were really excited to start painting the baby's room. I wouldn't paint until we had a referral. We have a referral so, we can paint! :) We have been working on the room, but due to the project we are doing, it is a tad bit time consuming. It isn't quite done yet, but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of the paint job. After the finishing touches are done, then we can move in furniture!! :) Oh the simple things!

"Next Steps" Call

Friday we were on the phone for 1 hour and 15 minutes with our case worker. This was called the "Next Steps Call." It covered the basics of all that would happen between now and being home after trip #2 with that little one in our arms FORVER!!! It was a lot of information. My last post, I made reference to someone getting a super fast court date, while someone in front of them still doesn't have a court date. I asked B about this. There is no rhyme or reason as to when we get a court date. It could be next week or in 2 months. Normally we have about a month's notice before we go. There have been a few exceptions to that. I am trying to get some of our ducks in a row in case we don't have much notice. We were also told to expect it to be 4-8 months before we are home for good. We knew some of this, but hearing it is so much harder. I try to trust in God's timing and not let the human side kick in and freak out. It would be great to be home at the begining of the summer. If we get home late in the summer, I'll have to take off time from school. It isn't easy to miss the first part of a new school year, but it will have to be done depending on when we get home. We just hope/pray that things move quickly and that we can have patience while we wait.

We have started painting in the baby's bedroom. The green is finished. Now we have to wait a few days to re-tape and paint the brown. It still doesn't seem real. Last night I actually ordered a few things on line. I got a night light and switch plate cover. I also ordered some clothes since they were having such an amazing sale. I was able to get 2 piece outfits for less than $6.50 a piece!!!! I got 18 month winter clothes. Y will be 12 months on September 12. Right now he is pretty small, but I know he is already growing quickly. Guessing what size he may be when we come home is tricky...especially when it could be 4 months when we get home or 8 months when we get home or any time in between.

So you may wonder what is next. You will never guess...WAIT! We wait, wait, and wait some more. The waiting hasn't been easy and will continue to get harder. At least now, we have a precious little face to stare at when the days get long. We appreciate your prayers this far in this journey. We would appreciate the continued prayers until we are all home together as a family of 5!

Baby steps to our baby :)

Sunday--We finished all of our referral paperwork and got it all notarized.
Monday--Mailed referral paperwork! :) I had to email B and tell her we were going forward with Y! I guess they don't wait to get your paperwork. The ball is rolling! :)
Tuesday--A dear friend that is waiting for their Embassy appointment (trip #2) was told to expect to wait 5-10 weeks. UGH!! Punch to the gut. That is a long time. Also, it got me into a tizzy thinking about coming home in the middle of the summer instead of the beginning. By the time I went to bed, I was done freaking out and the logic was coming back. I looked at my little Y's picture and knew it would all be okay. :)
Wednesday--We had our "Referral Call" with E. We mailed Y's photo book to a friend that is going over for court soon. She will deliver it to our precious little boy. Thank you N. Even if Y doesn't know about it, I know he has it. It is a soft photo book that he can play with and chew on. He will be drooling all over his new family. HA!!!  I got an email from our case worker.  Hi Jason and Angie!  I hope you're day has been great!  I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that your paperwork for Y arrived today and all looked fantastic!  The form from your social worker also arrived today.  This means you are officially placed with little Y!  Congratulations! That was so fun to read!! : ) Also...the family that got their referral right before us on December 16, got a court date for next week! What in the world?!?! That is super quick and little notice. Wow! There is a family in front of them that is still waiting for their court date. :( So there is no way to predict anything in this journey. (even though we still try...ha) It all depends on paperwork especially on the Ethiopia side of things. There are some things that I need to do to feel a bit better about the possibility of a court date sooner than later. I can't imagine having 1-2 weeks before court. So I'll do a few things to ease my mind. Then we will wait another 3 months for court. (Just our luck..ha) Court has been going quickly, now if the Embassy would follow suit.  Micala and I primed Y's bedroom. The painting won't start until this weekend. Praying for all families in every step of this journey. It is not easy, but we know the end result will be AMAZING!!!!

Please sign this petition

Adoption is a very expensive journey. The cost keeps lots of people from not adopting. There was a refund that adoptive parents could get on their tax return. There is a petition now to extend the Adoption Tax Credit Refund through 2013. This tax credit refund ended 2011. This tax credit is HUGE in helping cover the costs of adoption. Please consider signing it and passing it along. Thanks!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/make-adoption-costs-fully-refundable-in-the-2012-2013-tax-years#

A perfect summary of adoption

He Is Mine
A sweet adoption poem, acknowledging that our children are entrusted to us by God.
By Valerie Kay Gwin, from Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul
I tiptoed into your room one night.
          I watched you sleeping there.
          Your tiny body looked so snug
          Wrapped in peaceful slumber's care.
I thought of how you came to be
          The child we'd longed to know.
          I wondered at the sight of you:
          "How could she let you go?"
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I
          Felt the pain she must have known.
          For I will have to let you go
          Some day when you are grown.
A mother I might never meet
          Had given me her son.
          Yet, surely as you've filled my heart,
          A piece of hers you'd won.
"How could she let you go?"
          The question kept returning.
          And in the depths of my own heart.
          A question kept on burning.
"How can I ever let you go
          When years have come and gone?"
          I stood there by your crib until
          The nighttime turned to dawn.
And as the sun peeked through the shades,
          The voice of God broke through.
          "I trusted her to give him life
          And now I'm trusting to you.
"To show him what is right and wrong,
          to love him and to be
          The one who teaches him the way
          To come back home to me.
        "He wasn't hers to give, you know.
          And he's not yours to own.
          I've placed him in your life to love
          But he is mine … on loan."

IT'S A BOY!!!!

We got "the call." I just can't even believe it! We got "THE call!" AHHHHhhhhhh!!! We have a baby boy!! BABY BOY BISHOP!!! A 4 month old, tiny baby boy!!! I know that everyone is waiting to hear all about the details so I'll get to them. ;)

       

About 5:00 pm, Jason had decided to go to the Lumber yard to get some wood for the cornice boards we were going to be putting up in the baby's room. I was pouting because "I wanted to do something for the baby's room." I refused to paint until we had a referral, but there had to be something constructive I could do with my time. Jason left. About 5:15, the phones rings. Micala brought the phone to me and said, "All God's Children." Here is the glory people...I rolled my eyes and was kind of disgusted. I had recently sent our case worker "B" and email requesting for her to NOT call us for our January check in call. I didn't want the heart attack thinking it was the real thing and having it end up being a check in call. She was chit chatty like normal. Then she said something. Seriously she was so excited, I don't know what she said. Oh my gosh! This is it! Okay just that day I decided to settle in for the long haul. I asked B at what point Jason was to get involved. She said anytime. Well, he wasn't home. He was at the Lumber yard (remember?) I called him and said that B had called and we needed to call her back. He got home in record time! :) Funny thing..Jason has had a cell phone for about a week. We weren't going to pay for him to have his own b/c we didn't feel it was worth the money. Micala was told that if she got on the A Honor Roll, we would get her a cell phone. Poor kid has had to live until almost 14 to get a phone. ;) Sooo proud of her! So since we had 2 lines, it didn't cost that much to have the 3rd line. Great tming, huh!? So glad I was able to get Jason home as soon as possible. Micala was at the library and Lexi was playing at a friend's house. Jason called Micala on his way home and said to GET HOME and to call and get Lexi home. Micala's comment was, "I can't walk that fast!" Not that the girls had to be home, but I thought if it was possible, it would be nice. While I was waiting for Jason to get home, I called "K" who is right behind us on the list. I babbled a bit. She made me repeat it and then finally figured out what was going on. I'm sure it was confusing to her b/c I probably wasn't making sense telling her B had called and we needed to call her back as soon as Jason got home. Well...I tried. ;) Jason got home and we called B back. We had our hour long call going over every detail of our little man. Wow! Even at this point, we weren't feeling this was real. Keep in mind that it has been 23 months since our decision to adopt and 17+ months on the wait list. Now we finally see that face and hear all about him. Is this really happening????? I didn't react the way I thought I would. I think I'm pretty numb from all of it.


Jason was to be somewhere at 6:00 and I was to be somewhere at 7:00. It took until almost 6:30 to get our pictures. While we waited for the picture email to come, I posted on the AGCI list serve and the AGCI FB group. I know after waiting for so long, that people really wait to hear good news. Things have been pretty down in the referral world. I posted in these 2 places knowing that our AGCI family would be happy for us and they wouldn't tell our secret! Then we FINALLY got pictures. Oh my gosh! We got pictures of OUR little boy! Wow! We made a few phone calls. Jason went off to his destination and I went to mine. I had a fun meeting to go to. It was awesome b/c it was with some of my very close friends. I walked into church and said, "Who wants to see a picture of our baby?" I think they were in disbelief too, but so extremely happy. So cool! So fun! We continued to contact people via phone calls and texts. Finally I got to make it public on FB. It is fun to see everyone so happy for us.

A special note: We have dear friends in Sioux Falls that are adopting siblings from Ethiopia. Our families had dreamed about our kiddos being at HH together. They have already been to ET on trip #1. It hopefully won't be long before they go on trip #2 to bring their precious kiddos home. I was seriously bummed thinking our kids probably wouldn't be together at HH. Well, God does have big and amazing plans. These kiddos are all currently in Ethiopia at HH together. They will travel all across the world and live in South Dakota. It warms my heart to have this special connection. God sure blessed us with the S family.

What's next? Get this...paperwork!! We have contacted an International Pediatrican. She will have to review all of Y's medical paperwork and let us know if there is anything that is a red flag, etc...We have a transition plan to do. We have lots of other paperwork to do. The sooner we get this paperwork submitted, the sooner the head of HH can start working on getting stuff ready for court. It will be 3 months 'ish' before our first trip. Then we come home and go back in another month'ish' to be our baby home!!! Any questions? Just ask!!

We thank you so much for your prayers. This has been a hard, hard journey. It still can be tough as we long to hold this little one and have him home. At least know, we can rest knowing he is safe and being very well taken care of.  Please continue to pray for all people in all steps of this amazing journey. It isn't easy, but we know it will be so well worth it.

What to say?

What to say? What to say? Today is the 3 week mark of being at the #1 spot. The excitement of being #1 has ended. The reality of how long we have been on this journey is becoming more and more evident with each passing day. I've really had my faith tested lots in the last few weeks. Finally I decided to sit back and expect to be in this place for a long time. That has helped some what, but my heart is still sad. It is hard to be so close and yet so far away. The inside news from HH is that there have been no new babies brought in for quite some time. :( I have a hard time comprehending this when there are so many children that need families. Our agency will NOT go out and search for possible children that need families. They wait until the families bring the children in. (which is the way it should go) That still doesn't make it any easier. I thought all of you should be updated that the wait can still be long even though we are where we are. I also bring up "God's perfect timing" b/c I know that will be the case. The human side of me struggles with that though. Hopefully soon we will be shown why we had to wait so long. Please pray for patience and strength. This is so very hard. Thanks for all of your love and support. It is appreciated.

To be honest

23 months ago we made the decision to adopt. We are into month 18 on the wait list. We have been #1 on the wait list for 2+ weeks. The key word in the adoption world is WAIT. There have been so much waiting. Waiting for the application to be approved, waiting for a certain document to come in, waiting on case workers, etc...Wait, Wait, Wait! Needless to say, we were pretty pumped to be at #1 knowing the next little one that comes into HH will be ours. The excitement has left. Now we wait, wait, wait. Last week all case workers were out of the office so we didn't expect a call. I was content. Not anymore. It sounds like there aren't any new babies at HH waiting for a family. :( There have always been certain things that we hope for. For example, when a certain family goes to HH they will take pictures of our little one. So many of this things have come and gone without us being able to act on these plans. I know....it needs to be God's plan, not ours. Even so it is hard for these things to come and go with nothing. Our call could still come soon or it still could be weeks yet. This is hard. We are so close yet so far away. I can't explain on much I long to see our child's face and to find out how old he is. Then after we get to see his face, we wait some more and then wait some more. It is a lesson in patience. Some days I'm content waiting on God's time. Other days...not so much. This mom is past ready to see our baby's face.