Breaking News!

We got a call from Natalie, our Gladney caseworker, this morning! WE HAVE A COURT DATE PEOPLE!  Nearly 14 weeks of waiting to hear the words "I have your court date!" Matt and I exchanged hi-5's after Natalie told  us April 23rd would be our court date in Ethiopia.

We also found out that my blogger buddy, Heidi ALSO got the SAME court date! We've been wishing and hoping for MONTHS that we'd be traveling together to get our kiddos, and we were so excited to share this happy news today! We're one step closer to those sweet little people in Ethiopia!
We are absolutely are hoping and praying that things go smoothly on the initial court date. We are also preparing ourselves for the reality/possiblity that there are often delays. Sometimes related to the case, sometimes completely unrelated to us our our case. Delays don't always occur, but they are not uncommon.  We expect to get a call sometime on April 23rd with results of our court appointment.

We are praying for:
-Favorable opinion from MOWA on April 22nd.
-Safe and smooth travel for the staff member from the original orphanage in Gondar who is also bringing a needed family member to our court appt along with all needed documentation
- A quick and easy FINAL decision from the judge ON April 23rd!
-Travel as soon as possible following our finalization in court! We are hoping for mid-May.

Play...

Today was a very low key day at the Kesler house. It's a very rainy spring break here in the PNW...Yard Work was on the menu for the week, but it just didn't happen today.

I did get some laundry done, my hubby worked on our budget spreadsheet, and I got my grocery shopping done.

They boys played really well together today, and for hours this afternoon, they played "Adoption". It was too cute. They gathered up all kinds of animals, and baby dolls of all colors. Hayden was the "daddy" and Jack was the "mommy". Jack found my date night purse (the fanciest thing I own...a Coach purse that my friend gave me) for his diaper bag :) They propped up their babies all over the living room and took care of them for a few hours...it was really funny.

Hopefully tomorrow, we'll be able to get back to our yard work...it's really REALLY soggy right now. :)

i am in love...

with these precious fingers. can't get enough! thanks so much, gail!

Good News!

My previous post was This is shaping up to be a good week. Scratch good. It was great!

Monday-Christy got her referral! SO happy for her, it was almost as good for me as getting our referral!
Tuesday (like I posted) - our needed document was received by Gladney staff in Addis Ababa, ET. Mom asked us to lunch to celebrate the good news! Hayden celebrated by puking all over the floor of Taco Time, so that was fun:(
Wednesday-Hayden was still a sickie, but I enjoyed another day of snuggles and laying low with my boys.
Thursday-more good news! Our file was submitted to the courts in ET! That means we'll only be traveling ONCE to ET. I'm relieved that we will only have one round of travel expenses, and will be able to bring the little lady home the first time we meet her :) And, my boy was finally feeling better.
Friday-Mom and I hit up Kohl's and Starbucks. Scored some good deals on some comfy travel clothes :) Thanks Mom, for sharing your extra 30% off with me! I LOVE my friday morning routine...Send the boys off with Nana for some fun time at the local library and fun with Nana, while my mom and I make our friday morning rounds to Starbucks and Kohl's in search of great deals. I also got to see my sweet friend Jen, who moved to Michigan this fall (boo-miss her so much!) BUT the happy news is they are coming back the Couve in a few months! Yay!
Saturday-The President and CEO of Kesler Enterprises (my hubbster) declared Spring Break yard renovation week! Yard work is very near the bottom of my life priorities. BUT, he's been wanting to give our kids a nice space to play ever since we moved in here, almost 3 years ago! As a family, we shoveled a truck load of dirt into our truck, and Matt and the fellas worked outside, while I ran errands. I forgot that I LOATHE that part of home improvement projects. The 10,000 trips to the store for this or that that you forgot you needed. BUT I DO prefer shopping to shoveling, so I'll take it! :) We take tomorrow off from yard work, and hang with the fam and do the church thing...then Monday, we're back into yard work.

NEXT step, you ask? We are waiting for that magic date in Ethiopian Court. We expect to hear in the next few weeks what our court date is, which will likely be a few weeks out from that point. (so-3-6 weeks out from now, likely)...then, a few more weeks, hopefully before we travel. We are doing okay with this now, although we still can't believe it's now been a full 3 months since seeing our little gals face for the first time, and there's till no finish line in front of us. We know we're in the homestretch though...

It's shaping up to be a good week

Yesterday I started my day with my wonderful friend, Christy, calling me to tell me that after 10 months on the waiting list with her agency, SHE GOT A REFERRAL!!

Christy and I met via blogland, and get the priveledge of living near enough each other, that we actually get to spend time together occasionally. We went on our waitlists within 2 weeks of eachother, and both of us fully expected that she'd get her referral first, since she was waiting for a toddler boy, which typically come much quicker than infant girl referrals. So, when we got ours, we were both shocked that she had not gotten hers yet.

Christy and I have leaned on eachother alot during these past months for encouragment and support. It's gotten to the point where we've talked on the phone, or texted, or emailed, several times a week, if not daily :) It's been such a blessing to have a Godly woman to walk this journey with. When I'm down, she encourages me, and vice-versa. I am SO SO happy that they finally have seen little baby "B"'s sweet little face!

Also, go HERE to congratulate the Bottomly's on their wonderful news of a referral!!

In other good news (not as fantastic as a referral), we got word today that "the missing document" has been recieved by Gladney's in country staff! HOORAY!! Our little file should be arriving for submission in the Ethiopian courts sometime this week. What does that mean? It means within the next few weeks, we should finally hear what our courtdate is, AND that since our file will be submitted by April 9th, we should only be traveling ONCE. I'm very thankful for that...although it would have been fantastic to see little Miss Lucy's face sooner, I'm thankful to save the load of cash, and that the first time we travel, we'll be bringing her HOME.

I'm hoping that all of my other friends waiting for important news too (like file submissions, court dates, and of course REFERRALS!) will hear too this week. Let the GOOD NEWS START FLOODING IN!

I'm thinking...

About our daughter's story and how to document it for her.
About traveling to Gondar, Ethiopia (after the past few days of thinking, I think we've decided it's
REALLY important to do so.) (newsflash...sorry, Mom if you're reading it here first, it's too late to call!)(that's alot of parenthesis)
Enjoying this book from the Library (thanks, Lori Rooney!)

"If you can't say somethin' nice..."

"Don't say nothin' at all"- Thumper (from Bambi)


I feel like I should stop blogging until this blows over, so I don't scare away any newbies to adoption :)

But...it's real. It's the journey. It's life.

Right now, I feel like I'm working to manage my disappointment. Period. It's how I'm getting through. I'm trying to be real, taking it to the Lord, and letting Him carry it. But, honestly, sometimes I even have a hard time with that. Encouragement from friends who get it has meant SO much. Thanks for your kind words.

We did get a sliver of good news today...the "missing document" from our file is en route to Addis from Gondar...via express shipping. I wonder what that is in Ethiopia? I'm guessing it's not FedEx Overnight.

The news that was hard to hear, and honestly, very disappointing, was that once Gladney receives it and submits our file to the Federal Court, it will likely be 3 weeks before a court date is assigned to us. Currently the actual court dates are occuring 2-3 weeks out from that point. So...it will likely be another 5-6 weeks before the court date happens...and then 2-6 weeks after that for travel (assuming we pass the first time). That likely puts us into May for travel. It has nothing to do with Gladney...they are waiting just like us. I truly believe they work hard for us, and are very proactive on our behalf. But it is what it is. MORE WAITING. My friend, Heidi, is in the exact same boat. (only, she preceeded this current wait, with a long near 13 month wait on the wait list for a referral!)

It really felt like someone punched me in the gut...for the second week in a row. Knocked the wind out of me, punched in the gut feeling. U.G.H

Please pray for both Heidi and I, and our wonderful husbands, that doors would be opened, papers expedited, and ASAP courtdates to open up before the eyes of our Gladney staff as they work on our behalf to unite us with our children.