Let's Review

Still no word on our court date. We are hoping to hear something any day now and are trying very hard not to feel frustrated or discouraged. Easier said than done! So for those of you who keep asking what's going on, let's review.

We are waiting to be assigned a court date with the Ethiopian government. On that day, our agency's staff in Ethiopia will represent us in court and here Simon's case and our petition to adopt him. If all goes smoothly and we pass court on this first court date, we will travel approximately 4-6 weeks later to pick-up Simon. There are several things that could prevent us from passing court on the first try: the electricity could be out that day, sometimes a person who needs to be in court that day is unable to attend, there's lots of room for error in translating our English documents into the Ethiopian language of Amharic, etc. But hopefully, our case is successful on the first court date and we will then find ourselves waiting for our travel call.

In the meantime, we have been keeping busy! Simon turns 17 months today. From the last report we received, we know that he looks very happy and healthy and our hopes and prayers are that this continues to be so. We are hoping to get another update soon. But even if an update doesn't come, we know a family who should be traveling in the next few weeks to bring their son home. They have graciously offered to take a package to Simon for us. They are hoping to be able to travel to his care center and meet him and take photos for us. Knowing that they could be seeing him soon is so comforting. Thank you, Tom and Stacy!

Here's a glimpse of the care package for Simon:






We included a soft blanket, a recordable book that we read for him, and a little car.

We've also got one suitcase packed and ready to go! It is customary to take gifts for the nannies and many of the other people we will meet who will help us while in Ethiopia. Here's a glimpse of our gifts for the nannies:



We also made a blanket for the family of the little boy we sponsor. I'll write more about how you might be able to help us with this project later. But for now, here's a photo of the blanket we made. I never realized how easy it is to create one of these fleece blankets!



So that's the latest from here. Waiting, waiting, and waiting some more. I had fun writing this post ... maybe I should do this more often and it will help to pull me out of the funk I'm feeling!