Monday, February 23, 2009

We Have Our Court Date!


We have our court date: May 11

If that seems far away, it’s because the Ethiopian judges are currently only reviewing 20 court cases per day, which makes it impossible to have a court date any earlier than May 11th. There has been a slow down in their system since we started this process, but - like so many aspects of international adoption - we have no control over this. We will not be present in Ethiopia when our case goes before the judge. Instead, someone from our agency will be there to represent us. If all the paperwork is in order and the judge grants us a favorable ruling, our little peanut will officially be ours (we’ll post photos!) and we can travel to bring her home about 2 weeks later.

A couple of things to note about court dates:

1. •Roughly 30% of families do not pass court on their first issued court date. I am a "glass half-empty" kind of girl, and I am terrified of being in that 30%.

2. •If a family does not pass court initially, a new court date is usually issued approximately 1-1.5 months after the original court date.

We covet your prayers right now. Getting through court is incredibly sketchy, as so many things and people have to come together to make it possible to actually “pass.” So much is out of our control and our agency's control. Much of this relies on how well the orphanage and police processed paperwork. So please be in prayer between now and May 11th for:

1. •Haley's continued good health and growth.
2. •Haley's nannies as they continue to love and care for her.
3. •My heart! I find it increasingly difficult to look at her face and remain here helpless to do anything to care for her.
4. •AWAA’s in-country staff. Pray that they will do everything in their power to see that our court date is successful the first time around.
5. •MOWA. Pray that this government agency gets its letter of recommendation for us to court on time.
6. Our upcoming travel: funds, health, flights, stress.


Sunday, February 8, 2009

And Then We Were Four . . .

So on Tuesday night I fell asleep - late as usual - thinking to myself . . . I've got to get those new paint swatches for our son's room. You see, 4 days prior we had decided to switch all of our adoption paperwork to "either" gender. Because Ethiopia has more boys needing homes than girls, either has always meant a boy. So we broke the news to Hope, and she was pleasantly surprised and excited. Then I starting thinking through how to redesign the nursery since we had already finished it for a girl - paint and all. I walked into Gymboree and actually - shocking, I know - turned my head left. The boys section. Apparently it has been there all this time.

Then on Wednesday at 12:30, as I entered my dentist's office for an appointment, I got a phone call. THE phone call. I knew right away because it was our agency's number. I answered and said, "Wait!" (groundbreaking, yes). I quickly asked the receptionist to wait just a minute for me because I was getting my referral for our son!!! She took one look at my now sobbing, blubbery face and politely acquiesced. Then I told Anna on the phone, "OK, I'm ready!" She said,"I have great news. You have a little girl!" Now I'm screaming in the waiting area, the whole dental staff is at the window watching me, so I tell them, "O - it's a girl!" I stumbled through a few more words with Anna and eventually asked,"Din't you get our paperwork? We switched." And she said,"Well, you actually said 'either.' Is that still accurate?" I tried to get out a good solid yes, but I was crying too much. Later Anna explained that even though this has never happened before in the program, they were convinced that this little girl was the child the Lord had chosen for us.

Soooo, Anna then told me that she is 5 months old and so beautiful. She is slightly underweight but otherwise very healthy (we have no problem fattening people up here at the Heinrichs home). She shared more information (which will remain private) and then told me the docs and pics have been emailed to our house.

Great, now I have to go get my teeth cleaned instead of rushing home to see her and call everyone and their brother! That was the hardest cleaning of my life!!

David and I met at home and opened up the email together. I think my greatest memory is watching David's face as he saw her for the first time: he was choked up and kept saying, "She's so beautiful. She's so beautiful." We cannot post pictures until our court date. We are hoping for a late April date since that is the earliest possible at this point. If all goes well in court, we can travel 2 weeks afterwards.

And that is how a family grows.

It has been a long journey to mei mei, but we are now at the end. Or the beginning. :)