Court Update

Unfortunately, we did not pass court on Tuesday. While the adoption process is so complex, this is what we have deciphered is the issue-more paperwork. The courts need more accurate information about the kids history. They want to make sure that they have been relinquished/abandoned and that any living family members are aware of their situation. We were always told that both of our children do not have any living parents, which we don't have any reason not to believe, but unfortunately, the kids were brought to Bethel with NO paperwork, which makes things tougher.

Right now, our cases have been left OPEN on the court dockets. This means that if our agency can find what the courts are asking for and it satisfies the judge- they will hear our case again and hopefully approve the adoption without having to re-assign us another court date. If within the next few days our agency can't get the information needed to the courts it is likely that we will be assigned a new court date and go from there.

Our agency director seems confident that the kids will come home to us. He has asked us to be patient and know that they are doing everything they can to make this happen. He leaves for Ethiopia next week and says dealing with our cases is a priority.

We asked if this would happen before the next court closures/rainy season (end of summer)and he said that he hopes so. He is hoping and praying that this will all be resolved soon.

We truly believe one is not given more than they can handle. For whatever reason, we have been given this challenging adoption journey. WHY? It's hard to tell right now, but we know eventually we will see the big picture. We have learned many lessons along the way, made new friends and have grown tremendously in our faith. Of course we are heartbroken we did not pass, but more important and bigger than us, we just want our kids to have a home full of love and not grow up in an orphanage. We are optimistic this will happen.

Thanks you for your support, prayers and encouragement and we will keep you posted!

Love,
Lisa & Dave

3rd Time a Charm-Hopefully!

Tomorrow is technically our 3rd court date (January 30th, April 6th and April 28th). We are hoping and praying that the 3rd time is a charm!!! It has been a long, hard, but also an enlightening 16 months of waiting. We have learned so much about ourselves and life during this time and we have also learned to have a lot of patience! We know that we will have our children soon and this will be a distant memory. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for our court case tomorrow. We hope to be able to start a new chapter in this journey-the most exciting part-building our family!!

Love,
Lisa & Dave

Home Stretch....

It's Thursday, April 23rd...5 more days until court. Thinking positive and hoping the third time is a charm! We should know sometime Tuesday morning about our case! Last court date (which was on a Monday) we stayed home all weekend and couldn't stop thinking about it-barely slept. Well-not this one! I am leaving tomorrow with a group of my girlfriends for a fun girls weekend in Orlando! Will be back Sunday-really looking forward to it! Dave will have some "Man" time with his guy friends too...golf and whatever else guys do! Life is good...we will bring our kids home soon!

Lisa & Dave

Our Due Date!

Had to share-This is kind of funny and ironic!! The other day Dave and I were in Michaels getting something framed and after picking out the frame, matting, etc.. I asked the girl when it would be ready. She checked a few things in the computer and turned to us and said "Your due date is April 28th". We both looked at each other and smiled and said-"yes,it sure is"! It was funny-she really had no idea what we were chuckling and smiling about or how significant her comment about our due date was! So-there is it...our Due Date is April 28th-let's hope and pray this is our final date with few labor pains and we can officially say that we are the proud parents of Danny and Yordanos (and finally post some pictures)! 10 more days!

Lisa & Dave

Time Off!!

We are on spring break this week and enjoying some much needed time off! Sometimes you don't realize how much you go, go, go until you stop! It's going to be hard to get back going again on Monday!

Some good news...3 families passed court this week and 2 of them have been waiting a very long time (over a year). We are always happy to see families pass-especially when their kids have been waiting for them for so long. Our old-timers list (those in our agency who have been waiting over a year)is dwindling-just a few of us left so we hope the list will be gone by the end of the month. Less than 2 weeks until court!

I finally finished an album I have been working on. I did an album of pictures of the kids from our first referral picture (11/07) to now. Boy-have they changed and grown so much-which we are grateful they are healthy-just wish they were growing with us :(! It is amazing how many pictures we have and just to look at all their different expressions-they are so funny! These pictures will be real special when they grow up!!

Off on the boat...to RELAX!!!

Lisa & Dave

Ethiopian Connections

We spent the day in Orlando with a family that just returned from adopting their daughter in Ethiopia. Their daughter was at the same orphanage as our children so we were very excited to connect! We received letters from our kids as well as some new photos! It was so wonderful to see new pictures and just be with a family who was recently with our kids. We also met another mom, Dedra who adopted 3 sisters form Ethiopia last year. Dedra is also the founder of EthioAmerican Family Services, a non-for-profit organization with a mission to educate, empower, and enrich the lives of Ethiopian orphans and their adoptive families. Her organization supports programs in Ethiopia for orphans, provides educational programming, and cross-cultural opportunities that are vital to the development of Ethio-blended families. Their web-site is: http://www.ethioamericanfamily.org/home. They just recently opened an orphanage outside of Addis! We hope to be able to visit their orphanage when we travel to pick up our kids! We really enjoyed visiting with both of these families and hope to continue our connections!

Happy Easter and god bless

Lisa & Dave

Our Journey Continues

Well...it certainly wasn't the court news we expected or hoped for yesterday. No recommendations were made from MOWA so our court date was moved to the 28th of April. Basically, our case (or any of the other cases) was not heard and has been rescheduled. Maybe because of the power outages going on in Ethiopia-we are not really sure. After the crazy range of emotions we experiences yesterday - anger, frustrations, sadness (you name it-we experienced it) we toasted to the 28th and the fact that it is not too far away. International adoption is so unpredictable and we are just so blessed to even be adopting our kids. We will bring them home soon-just not in the time frame we were hoping and praying for. Soon...

A friend of mine (Thanks Jackie!!) sent me this poem-it's a tear jerker-but so special. Hopefully we will not be "blowing kisses in the wind" much longer.


KISSES IN THE WIND (The Waiting Child's Lullabye)

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

© Pamela Durkota, written for Josh

Keep us in your prayers for the 28th.

Love,
Lisa & Dave

1 More Day!!

Tomorrow is our big day-Court! It is also my nephew's birthday and holy week so we have lots going for us!! This morning I went out to let the dogs out and in our backyard was 4 little bunnies-thought that was kind of special! I feel like we have been waiting for this day forever-well about 16 months! Believe it or not-we are pretty calm, just anxious to move forward and bring our kids home. Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us so we hope to hear news early on Monday. Most people hear pretty early-at least before 12:00 noon. One of the families who passed in the last 2 weeks told me she got a phone call at 6 AM!! Not sure if we will be able to sleep tonight listening for the phone or stalking e-mail!

Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts for a successful court date for Daniel and Yordanos!

Lisa & Dave

A Glimmer of Hope and so much more...

I was looking at a few blogs of fellow Hopesters (Thanks Sandee...) and found this You Tube video...Glimmer of Hope! Thought it was fitting for our situation with our court date coming up on Monday, April 6th. We do have a Glimmer of Hope (and much more...) about passing on Monday and finally bringing our kids home in May!

This is a very touching and real video about the plight that people in Africa face daily. The Glimmer of Hope Foundation seeks to make a sustainable difference in the lives of people living in poverty, specifically Ethiopians. There are so many resources that we often take for granted-see how the simplest of resources- "Fresh, Clean Water" makes a difference in the lives of thousands! Check out the video and their website: http://www.aglimmerofhope.org/