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/

The Countdown...11 Days

Well...11 days and counting down! We almost don't want to bring attention to our court date just because of bad karma, but we are feeling very positive about April 6th. Good news from our agency this week-3 Old-Timer Hope Families passed court this week! Huge celebration-we are called Old-Timers because there is a small group of us who have been waiting a minimum of a year and many even longer. We are so excited that they passed and will be getting their kids soon! We plan to be in that mode in just 11 days!! There are so many ups and downs in adoption, and we all know this going into it, but the emotional toll is still very hard. It will all be worth it in the end!

One of the families from Hope will be going to pick up their little girl from Bethel (where our kids are) this weekend. While the kids have such wonderful care there, we are so excited for the first child to leave Bethel and be with their forever family! I am sure this will be emotional since the kids have been together for a long time. We sent some pictures and a letter for the family to share with Danny and Yordanos! Can't wait for some pictures-keeps us going!

Lisa & Dave

Saw this on another blog...had to borrow it....You'll see WHY...

"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid God might ask me the same questions".

~Anonymous

Never really thought of it that way...but it made me think of more things I can do to help...I see it as part of pur responsibility...no child or adult should have to live life this way...what can we do to help? Last week we sent formula and this week we sent $$ for a traveling parent to buy more formula to bring with her to Ethiopia. Every little bit helps!

Lisa

25 days....

Less than a month to go until our court date...Woo Hooo!!!! Every little step counts as we get closer to bringing our kids home! We are feeling very optimistic about our court date and being able to bring the kids home very soon.

Still keeping busy...I have been going through pictures lately and trying to organize into albums. I finally realized...no...I won't be able to scrapbook them all (it was all just a dream) so I am working on putting them into albums and then I can scrapbook what I want to. I have so many pictures of the kdis and their friends at the orphanage so am also working on an album that is in consecutive order from when we first started the adoption process. It is kind of sad to look at our first pictures from 11/07 and to see how much the kids have grown in the time frame that we have been waiting-16 months. Danny was a little boy 16 months ago and now he looks like a young man. Yordanos has gotten so tall. While we weren't with them during this time, at least we have pictures. Can't wait to close this part of the journey and begin our family journey!!

Also, just sent some of the donated formula we received with a family that is traveling to Ethiopia on Friday. There is still a major formula shortage so they were happy to take formula to the orphanage.

More later....

Lisa & Dave

36 Days 'Till Court!!!

Yes, 36 days until our court date!! Seems a lot closer now that it is March! We did have some very hopeful news this week. There are 4 families adopting children from the same orphanage as ours. One of the families passed court on Friday and this was the the first try! This is very good news for us because all of our paperwork was done at the same time so hopefully we will sail through on April 6th. We are definitely more hopeful now!

Lisa & Dave

The Countdown is on Again!!!

We got word this week that our new court date is Monday, April 6th! Not as soon as we'd like, but we are happy to be counting down again and actually have a date. I've heard of people with May dates so glad it is not then! There are 5 families from our agency who are in the same situation and we all have the same date. We've even started a countdown clock on-line-43 days-yes, waiting does make you crazy!!

Yesterday, we had to go get re-fingerprinted at the USCIS office because our fingerprints expire April 4th- 2 days before our court date. There are a few more paperwork issues we have to take care of because of the longer than expected wait, but nothing too major. It will all work out!!

Lisa & Dave

No news yet...but lots of blessings!!!

No news yet of a new court date. There were about 8 of us in our agency who had court dates postponed and one of the families got a new date for March 26th. We are really hoping to hear this week of our new date and to start the countdown again. While this has has been extremely hard and discouraging, we try to look for something positive to focus on-One of the families from Hope is visiting her daughter in Ethiopia and she spent some time with our kids last week. She explained and assured them that they have a family and we are coming for them soon, but the process is taking longer than expected. She shared they are doing well and are happy. We are so grateful that this has been shared with our kids. We often think about their perspective of adoption and how much they really understand and how confusing things must be. Once they are home, it will be a distant memory!

Another amazing blessing-the basketball team at Dave's school was putting together donations for us to bring to Ethiopia and one of the girls shared our story with her mom. Her mom shared the story at her workplace and they all got together and supplied us with tons of amazing donations for the children and orphanage. From shoes to medicine and clothing-truly amazing!! We are so appreciative of all of the support and graciousness of people, many whom we have never met, who are touched by our story and of the children in Ethiopia. These kids have touched many people's hearts and they don't even know it-how wonderful!!

Hoping and praying for good news this week!

Lisa & Dave

Thank Goodness for Good News!!!!

Yesterday was full of wonderful news and then unfortunately, a bit of bad news. Let's start with the good news!! My sister, Elizabeth had her twin boys yesterday-Patrick and Zachary!! It has been a long haul for her, an unlike our paper pregnancy she has been on bed rest since week
10 and in the hospital for the past month and a half-Ugh!! Mommy and baby boys are doing as well as expected, considering due date was in March! Patrick had a little difficulty breathing and had to go to another hospital that had a NICU so we are hoping he will be back with mom and Zachary very soon. He is showing signs of improvement hourly!! We are so excited to add them to our family!! Please keep them in your prayers!!

The bad news...our court date has been postponed. I received an e-mail yesterday that MOWA (Ministries of Women Affairs) is moving this week so they are not making any recommendations and therefore they are not able to hear any court cases this week. We are hoping that we will be rescheduled quickly and that seems like the logical thing, so we will wait to hear something. Basically, it could be next week or in 4 weeks-we really don't have any idea. There were a bunch of us who had court dates this week (all of our Adoption Agency's old timers who have been waiting a LONG time) so we are all pretty upset about this news. Thinking positive and hopefully it will be real soon and we can put this behind us! We know once we have our kiddos at home, it will be a distant memory! So thank goodness for our wonderful family news today and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a speedy new court date.

Lisa & Dave

Pay It Forward!!!

What a heartwarming and touching day it was! The staff at Dave's school threw us a shower and collected TONS of donations for us to bring to Ethiopia-formula, medicines, school supplies, clothing, and lots of other goodies for the kids and orphanage! I think we may be able to fill a truck with all of the donations. They even made us shirts with our family picture with the kids-we can't wait to wear them on "Gotcha Day" when we pick up the kids!! It truly is amazing how caring and supportive everyone is! Thank you so much for your genorosity!

In the evening we went and spoke with a large group of kids from the local 4H club. They do a community project as part of their club and they wanted to collect donations for the kids and orphanage in Ethiopia as part of their service project. We shared about life in Ethiopia and how they don't have much, but they are some of the happiest people we have ever met! They asked great questions and seemed very touched by this opportunity. Each child is going to fill a ziploc bag full of goodies for the kids and we will bring it with us when we travel. It is so nice to see kids helping kids-it's contagious!!

We feel so blessed to have so many friends who support us and our mission to help those in need in Ethiopia. Winston Churchill said it best... "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

4 more days until court-please keep us in your prayers.

Lisa & Dave

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Daniel and Yordanos!!! So...today is Daniel and Yodanos' birthday of record. Since we don't have any record of their actual date of birth, Ethiopia gives them a birthdate, which is actually the date of their first medical exam for adoption-January 16th. Can't wait until we can celebrate with them!!

We also plan to celebrate "Gotcha Day"- this is the day that we actually get the kids! We plan to celebrate this each year by doing something special with the kids and also by giving them a gift from Ethiopia so they will remember their birth country and culture. We already have enough gifts from our first trip for both of them for about 8 years and will pick more up when we go again.

14 more days until court...Woo Hoo!!!

Lisa & Dave

Pictures!!!

We got some of the best pictures yet tonight!! A fellow adoptive parent just returned from Ethiopia and she was kind enough to go visit our kids and bring lots of donations that we sent with her. Well....she got the most amazing pictures!!! It was funny...I had so many things on my "to do" list for tonight, but nothing mattered once we started looking at the pictures. We looked at them a dozen times...since there was over 300-it took a while!! Daniel looks so different in these pictures-he is in tons of them and is always smiling, giggling and playing. Usually, he is pretty quiet and reserved, but not in these pictures-it is really cute!! And Yordanos...full of facial expressions as always!! Wish we could post a few, but not until we pass court!

16 more days until court...keep us in your prayers. January 30th is the big day.

Lisa & Dave

Come and Play!!!

Dave and a few friends built this swingset/fort for the kids in December-isn't it great? We can't wait to see the kids play on it! It's pretty neat-it has a fire pole for them to slide down and a pipe (dug underground) on both sides so they can talk to each other from both sides of the swingset!!

Thank you Tommy, Dave and Fred for helping build this-the kids will love it!!

20 Days until court....

Message from Ethiopia

We received a message today (below) from one of the adoptive parents from our agency who went to go visit Bethel Orphanage. How exciting-we can't wait until she comes home to get updated pictures and information!!! Boy do we miss our kids.... We'll be there soon!!

I was at Bethel today. I have lots of pictures to post when I get home. The kids had a blast trying on all the shoes and clothes. It was like a giant fashion show. They are all fantastic. The caregiver Mame is wonderful. If your kids are there, they are lucky. The air is clean, they have grass to play in and lots of open space. They are also all doing great in English.
Donna

24 Days until Court..but whose counting?

Yes-we are counting down the days-it felt so good to get below the 30 day mark!! January 30th is the big court day! Hopefully we will pass on the first try and travel late February! Keep us in your prayers!!

Today is the day that Christmas is celebrated in Ethiopia! Pretty neat-we got to send our kids as well as all of the other kids at Bethel Orphanage a Christmas present!! One of the families in our adoption agency was traveling to Ethiopia on 1/2/09 and she had room to take donations with her and was planning to go to Bethel. On our drive to NY for the holidays, we made a slight detour to Pennsylvania and dropped of 22 pairs of shoes and lots of shirts for her to take to the kids! Thank you Donna-we really appreciate it!! We were hoping to have our kids home for Christmas this year, but this is the next best thing! She was planning to go today to Bethel so we are anxious to hear how her visit was and of course to get new pictures of the kids!! It's amazing how content a picture and little information on your kids can make you (at least for a few days or so)! More later....

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