Sunday, July 10, 2011

School Supplies!!

Officially started the school supply drive today!! Put a message on FaceBook in hopes that friends and family will donate extra school supplies to the Bright Hope School (see link) that is funded by Children's Hope International. I would love to show up to Ethiopia next week with a suitcase FULL of supplies for these eager kiddos!
http://www.blog.helpanorphan.org/search/label/Ethiopia

Saturday, July 9, 2011

T Minus 12 Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We FINALLY got a court date!!!!!!! We squeaked in with just a few days to spare!!! July 28th we will stand before a judge in Ethiopia and testify that YES INDEED we wish to adopt ((BABY)) !!!!
Sten and I have always worked well under pressure, God knows that, but sheesh do we have a crazy few weeks ahead of us!!
Just a few things to do before we leave:
Prepare our paperwork (notary, copies, certified mail, you know, nothing major for me!)
Gather Donations (doing a school supply drive for the Bright Hope School)
Pack for our trip
Pack the kids' bags for their stay in PA
Prepare for BEN"S 16th BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!! (Costco, Costco, Costco.....and Best Buy!!)
Work 24 hours this week
Gather borrowed luggage
Get my hair done. (Roots are looking pretty trashy right now!!)
Go to GYN appt. to get this pesky ovarian cyst checked out. I don't want it to swallow up my last ovary while in ET since the other one met the same fate! (But had the conveniences of a hospital to remove it!!)
Sten has to be in Kazakhstan the DAY AFTER court, so he is working like mad not only to prepare his work for the trip but to actually schedule the flights.....Apparently, not too many folks travel from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Almaty, Kazakhstan....go figure!!
And, on top of it all, I have THE WORST chest/head cold I have ever had. Of course.
But, we are still on cloud nine with the unbelievable news that we are going to court before the closure!! And, I have heard that even if our necessary MOWA letter (the one that "blesses" this whole adoption) isn't at court that day, it still can be processed by the clerk of the court during closure b/c the judge approved the case pending the letter. What I've heard, we will learn more once we are there!!
Another great thing that God has lined up for us is that my dear friend through all of this, Sarah, who is traveling with her husband Josh to appear in court the same day as us (what a coincidence!!) will actually be on the SAME FLIGHT as us!! WooHoo!!! Oh, I forgot to mention that Ben is going with us!!! Kinda a big deal!! We really felt it important for Ben to see his sister's beginnings and to start the bonding process now, since there is such a huge age difference and he will only be here for another 2 years, then off to college.
I apologize for all of my ramblings, it's all the snot in my head prohibiting me from thinking clearly. :-)