Court Date-YAY!!!

We found out today that our upper court date is January 30th!! We are so excited-can hardly believe it! On CLOUD 9!!! It was funny because we have been waiting to hear if we passed lower court and then got the news today that obviously we passed lower court and even have a date already for upper court! Communication in a third world county can be sporadic so sometimes we don't know what is going on. This is basically the final thing before we can travel. What makes it even sweeter is that Susan & Becky (other Bethel moms) have the same court date as we do. It would be so wonderful if we can all travel together since our kids have been together for a while (over 2 years) and we have all been on the adoption journey together! If we pass on Jan. 30th, then we will travel about 4 weeks later-probably the last week in February!!

Keep us in your prayers...we couldn't have asked for better news-we are truly blessed!!

Lisa & Dave

November Update!!

November has flown by and has been filled with good news for us!! About 2 weeks ago, we got word that all of the paperwork in Ethiopia is complete for Yordanos and Daniel and they were ready to file for a court date. The paperwork has been filed for about 2weeks, but we still haven't gotten a court date. Hope to hear this week. We know we have to go through lower court and then upper court and then we can travel. We are thinking February/March that we will travel to pick up the kids, but one never know until you pass court!

We also received some amazing new pictures of the kids from Heidi & Greg, who were visiting their new daughter at the same orphanage. They are growing so much-it is hard to see, but we are happy that they are healthy and doing well. Of course, we can't post them now, but as soon as we pass court, we will post some!

A few pictures I will post...my wonderful girlfriends and I decorated/decoupaged letters of the kids name for their rooms. They came out wonderful and we had so much fun doing it!!

Please keep us in your thoughts for a speedy and successful court date!!
Lisa

Top 13 for Adoptive Parents!!

Saw this on one of the Hope families blogs...thought it was cute! For those adopting-you will so relate!!

YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN ADOPTIVE PARENT WHEN...
1.The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of the population adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convincing to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
8. You have never taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
9. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
10. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
11. You know what the word "Dossier" means, and you can actually pronounce it!
12. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
13. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.
-Author Unknown

October Update...

No new major news on the kids! One of our fellow Hope families who is adopting a little girl from Bethel is traveling to Ethiopia on November 1st to meet her! She was nice enough to take a package to the kids for us! Since she lives in Germany-we sent the package out last week to be sure it gets there in time! We sent both Daniel and Yordanos an album wiht updated pictures from our trip in July! It was so neat to make an album for both of them with all pictures of the four of us! Also sent a few other things-doll, pencils, books-lots of fun stuff! We can't wait to get some updated pictures and information from her visit! Hopefully we'll have some good paperwork/court news by then too!

Ona sad note, one of our Hope families who recenbtly brought their 2 boys home from Ethiopia suffered a major tragedy this past weekend. Their youngest son Samuel is very critically injured. We met them while we were in Ethiopia in July.
This is from their blog:
Samuel was injured today in an accident involving the tractor. He was airlifted from the park behind our house to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee. We need prayers.
Currently he is still in surgery and will need many, many more. He has lost one leg below-the-knee and the other they are trying to save to the ankle. One arm is broken near the shoulder but the elbow is more critical - open fractures with tissue damage/missing.
His pelvis is also fractured on one side. His buttocks and back are injured and he needs a colostomy. If he continues to do well in surgery tonight that will be performed now.
His vitals are good. He was awake up until surgery where we were able to kiss him.They have set up a website where you can stay updated if you would like:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/samuelphillipson
Please join us in praying for this family and for Samuel. Samuel's picture is above.

Adopting Older kids...this is precious!

This poem was posted on my yahoo adoption group! It was written for one of our members about 10 years ago when she was adopting her older boy. It is really precious as we think of our kids, Danny and Yordanos who are now 6 and 8!


The Waiting Child
By Debbie Bodie
I saw you meet your child today You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her I pretended that you'd chosen me
I'm happy for the baby, yet Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by Does no one want a child of three?
I saw you meet your child today In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out I knew it wasn't my turn yet
I recognize you from last year I knew I'd seen your face before
But you came for a second babe Does no one want a child of four?
I saw you meet your child today But this time it was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand And then she gave my hand to you
Can this be true? I'm almost six And there are infants here, you see
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me!

Still Waiting...

We received word this week that we probably won't have the kids home for the holidays. They have to first go through lower court (because they don't live in Addis) and then upper court. Lower court takes about 6 weeks and then they will apply for an upper court date and this will really just be a formality. They are predicting January-March the latest. So...we wait!

So...we are occupying our time with some new things while we wait! We just bought an Amharic 101-104 DVD that will teach us the kids langauge! This should be fun and will help us a great deal with communication when they come home! Also, we are finishing the touches on Danny (have to get used to calling him this-they call hime Danny in Ethiopia) and Yordanos' rooms. We just bought some letters (for their names) to hang on their walls. We are going to decorate them! My friend Jodie (master of everything) decoupaged one of the letters and it came out awesome! We are planning a girls day to decorate the letters-should be a blast! In October we are going to Dave's sister/husband, Cindy and Jim's place in Texas-we are looking forward to it!

The waiting is hard, but at least we know there is an end soon and the kids are well cared for in the meantime. Above is a picture of their school room at their orphanage. They attend school daily and are learning English, Amharic and Math! I was amazed at how much English Yordanos' already knew and could write!

Bethel Orphanage

Here is a picture of where our kids are, Bethel Orphanage in Ethiopia! Also a picture of the view from Bethel, which is located on a farm. It is an amazing view-so pretty!!

Update from Ethiopia

This week we receieved some awesome updates from Ethiopia on Daniel and Yordanos! One of the families from Hope was in Ethiopia for a month and she visited our kdis at Bethel! We were so excited about this-Thank You Jaclyn!! She took great pictures and spent some one-on one time with them both! This is what she passed on to us:
Lisa-
Yordanos or Yanenash told me that she was 8 years old, her favorite color is yellow and her favorite food is pasta!
Daniel said he was 6 years old, his favorite color is blue and he loves to eat mangos!
Both of your kids told me to tell you that they miss mom and dad and love you very much. They can't wait to see you again. I hugged them and told them that it was a hug from you and Dave and they gave me hugs for you guys in return. Daniel was quiet but he stood with Jeff quite a bit. You could tell he was missing his dad! They were wearing necklaces that I assume you gave them.

What a wonderful brithday present it was for me!!! She also sent us a picture that Yordanos drew that said, "Mom and Dad...I Love You"!!

It has been really hard waiting since we came back so this update was so wonderful to get! Wish we could post pics...not until we pass court!! We also heard from Hope that Shemeliss (founder of Hope Adoption Agency) met with Bethel and all is moving along with our adoption. He comes home from Ethiopia next week so we hope to get some more specifics. Courts are closed until October 1st...so hopefully we can get a court date soon after!!!

Reflections on our trip to Ethiopa

I had the best intentions of faithfully updating our blog...well didn't quite work out that way. For some reason, we couldn't upate our blog while in Ethiopia and internet access was pretty slow there anyway! After returning from Ethiopia, we went right back to work and it took quite a while to recoup from our trip! We were emotionally and physically exhausted and now know what true jet lag is!!
So here goes the readers digest version... sorry it took so long and so glad we kept a daily journal!

The flight to Ethiopia was quite long, but we were just so excited to meet our kids that it really didn't matter! The airport was quite a funny experience. We waited about an hour or so to get luggaage. The funny part was that we got swindled (not really-maybe out of $5.00 total) by a baggage carrier-it was funny because we thought we were so prepared-NOT!! There was a gentleman waiting for us (and others) outside and when we got to his car, we thought he was kidding because it was so tiny. We had 4 HUGE 50lb bags (we don't usually travel this way-only one had our stuff in it-the rest was donations) and we had no idea how this was going to work! It did-we had bags tied to the top and every space in the car had luggage in it! The whole way to the geusthouse, we envisioned our luggae falling off...but it made it! We stayed in a room at The NewFlower Guesthouse in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Helen, the owner as well as her workers were so amazing-they helped and taught us so much during our trip!

Our first day in Ethiopia, we traveled with Simara, a wonderful nursing student to Bethel Orphanage to meet our kids, Daniel and Yordanos. Traveling in Ethiopia is interesting...you share a road with goats, cattle, donkeys and anything else imaginable! There really are no road rules...just go and honk if someone is in your way! We opted to hire a driver anytime we wanted to go somewhere! It took about an hour to get to Bethel, which is on a farm outside the capital. The grounds of Bethel are absolutely beautiful-they have an amazing view of the mountains. The kids were all eating when we arrived. Once they finished, we all went into their living area and Simara told Daniela dn Yordanos that we were their "Mommy and Daddy" from America. Yordanos' face lit up and her jaw dropped. She had the biggest smile I've ever seen and she came running over to me and gave me a hug. Daniel was a little more reserved and he just smiled. But boy did he warm up in the next few hours. He wouldn't leave Dave's side the whole time we were there! We spent the enxt few hours with Daniel and Yordanos and the other 19 kids at Bethel. We gave them tons of donations (clothes, toys, school supplies, etc...) and they were all so appreciative and excited! It was funny-when the kids got clothes, they just whipped their older clothes off and put their new ones one! They were all so sweet! Some of the other families who are adopting kids from Bethel sent some stuff with us to give to their children. We were able to spend some one-on-one time with them and talk to them about their families (with Simara translating). One of the neatest things was that all of the kids had the photo albums that were previously sent to them from their adoptive families, including Daniel and Yordanos. They actaully told me that they sleep with these albums-how precious-this made me cry! We took lots of pictures and got tom know their personalities. Yordanos is very outgoing, smart, funny and bossy-she will be a great big sis to Daniel! Daniel is quiet, but very inquisitive and smart! It was so amazing meeting them...we were exhausted by the end of the day!

The next 2 days, we spent sightseeing and experiencing Ethiopian culture! We went to the weavers and saw how they weave scarves. We bought lots of souveniers and gifts for family and friends. We were able to buy gifts for the kids for their birthdays for when they come to America. Another adoptive mother had shared with me that she bought gifts from their country so that the kids would have an Ethiopian gift each year. Our driver, Ayeli was wonderful-he helped us in so many ways and was very protective-even though we never felt scared in any way-it was very safe in Ethiopia! We did have a scary experience that we now look back and laugh about! We were passing the US Embassy and I had my camera out. Ayeli quickly said, "don't take any pictures here", but it was too late. The armed guards stopped us and asked fus to pull over. They asked for our passports and camera. Luckily, I didnt actually take a picture, but that didn't matter to them. It was a scary 15 minutes-but they let us go! Lesson-don't even take out your camera when close to a US embassy!!

On Sunday, our 12 year anniversary we traveled to the country to visit Village of Hope (VOH)and Sheshemane-home of the Rastafarians! This was an awesome experience and we are so glad we went! It took about 4 hours to get there and it was so different from the capital. The village people are amazing, so self sufficient, welcoming and appreciative of everything! It is truly amazing what the Village of Hope is doing for that area-they are in the process of building a cultural recreation center for the village people. The best thing is that the people from the village are the ones building it-what buy-in! They have also recently supplied the village with clean water. This is so important because the village people used to get their water from the river...many were dying from disease. We spent some time touring the compound and at the VOH orphanage-it was wonderful! We stayed at the Lily of the Valley Hotel, which is owned by Rastafarians-it was really neat! We found out the significance of Ethiopia and Rastafaraians. Years ago, Jamaica was in a major dry spell, people were dying, etc... and Haile Selassie, the Emporer of Ethiopia at the time visited Jamaica and right after, the rains came! Haile is looked at as a Messiah in Jamiaca. Haile also set aside 500 acres of his personal land in Shashemene, Ethiopia as a "thank you" gift to the rastafarians, which is where many know live.

The next day, we spent the entire day at VOH Orphanage with the kids. We played soccer, volleyball, sang songs, danced, laughed, listened to the I-Pod, you name it we did it! The kids were amazing and so loving! One of the families with Hope (our adoption agency) is adopting 2 girls from VOH so we spent lot of time with them. I told the family, if they weren't adopting Talile and Basa...we would in a heartbeat!! They are wonderful teenage girls- we promised to visit them when they come to America! Definitely a life changing experience and we will cherish it!

Out trip home the next day was really long-6 hours! We stopped on the way home at a Leopracy Hospital-it was neat. In this hospital, people diagnosed with leopracy make all kinds of things (scarves, souveniers, clothing, pocketbooks, etc...) for sale. We bought lots of souveniers in support of the hospital and people. The ladies even let me spool cotton! We were exhausted when we got back to the guesthouse. Sleeping in Ethiopia is quite an experience! There are lots of wild dogs and they bark ALL night!! Thank goodness we brought earplugs-but I thinkwe just got used to it!

The next few days we spent visiting Hope's Orphanage and we went back to Bethel where Daniel and Yordanos are. Hope's place had about 60 kids when we were there-they do such a great job caring for the babies and kids! We brought lots of donations and took lots of pictures and spent time with the older kids! We taught them songs and they taught us a few-took some video-it is precious!! I think all of the kids there are in the process of being adopted so that is wonderful! The kids were so happy and funny! Our last day there, we went back to Bethel. We brought tons of fruits (watermelon, bananas, oranges, etc...) and goodies! When we arrived, the kids were all dressed in their denim school uniforms waiting for us! They were so cute!!! We played games and had lots of fun! Yordanos and Daniel showed us their school books and all that they are learning! They are learning basic English and phonics skills-we were so excited about this! Yordanos could read some English words and they both know the alphabet! They told Simara to share with us that they are both first in their class at school--that is our kids!!! When it was time to go, we had some one-on one time with Yordanos and Daniel with Simara and the caretaker at Bethel. Dave and I bought Ethiopian cross necklaces for them. We gave them to them and said to always wear them to remember and think of us until we can come back to bring them home with us. Yordanos jumped up to say a prayer. It lasted about 5 minutes and was all in Amharic, their langauge. Simara started crying and shared what she was saying. She prayed and thanked God that we came to see her and Daniel, she prayed for our safe journey back and for Simara visiting and being able to translate. Lastly, she prayed that we would come back soon for her and Daniel. This was such an emotional experience....we were all crying. Maybe that is why it has taken me so long to post...because I couldn't write about it without crying. They are such amazing kids!!!

We headed out the next day...long flight...they lost our luggage and we missed our connecting flight...we could tell we were back in America!!

Ethiopia was truly amazing and certainly more than we expected! I'm not sure one can ever be prepared for a trip to a third world country. We read books, researched, viewed pictures and watched videos and movies and it was still very overwhelming. The easiest way to explain is that it is a "life changing experience"! We have already changed our ways, thoughts and actions. The poverty is really beyond belief. We will never forget our time there not just in meeting our children, but experiencing the people and life there. We were reminded daily how blessed we are in the America and how easy it is to take things for granted. We have no idea what it’s like to have absolutely nothing. We know that in addition to adopting Daniel and Yordanos, this experience will be with us forever. This has really been an eye-opening experience for us and while we can’t help everyone in Ethiopia, at least we can make a difference in the lives of two very special children, Daniel and Yordanos!

Our Adoption Process Journey

This is our journey so far...

July 16, 2008~We leave for Ethiopia to meet and visit (unfortunately not to take them home YET) with Daniel and Yordanos. We will also be visiting and taking donations to a few orphanages in Addis Ababa and Village of Hope. We hope to journal our trip (depending on internet availability) so stay tuned!!

July 8, 2008~Received some great pictures of the kids receiving a package that we sent them- Thanks Grace!! Each picture gives insight into their little personalities-we can't wait to meet them!! Sorry we can't post any pictures until we officially pass court and they legally become our children:(

April, 2008~ Received video of Daniel and Yordanos receiving first photos of us and being told they are going to be adopted-What a precious video!!!

March, 2008~Dossier arrived in Ethiopia, was translated and ready to go! Waiting on the kids paperwork in Ethiopia in order to get a court date.

January-March, 2008~Completed homestudy, adoption classes and all other paperwork (now I know why they say adoption is a paper pregnancy). What an accomplishment!!

November, 2007~Matched with Daniel and Yordanos from DVD

December, 2006-November, 2007~Researched adoption and agencies, chose Ethiopia, and started the emotional rollercoaster!