Today is the day!

Got the call today that Ebrahim's TB test was negative, so now we can FINALLY buy our tickets. We will be leaving this Saturday and flying Emirates. We will fly out of Phoenix to L.A. then on to Dubai, Arab Emirates where we will have a 12 hour layover with a free hotel room and food vouchers. We will arrive in Addis Ababa on May 25th. On the 26th we plan to have a driver take us to Kombulcha to hopefully meet Ebrahim's grandmother. It will be a days drive up, a day to visit and a day to drive back. Then on the 29th we will finally get to meet Ebrahim! We will visit him for 3 days at the orphanage, then on the 4th day he will come to stay with us at the guest house. We will leave Addis on the 4th of June, spend one night in Dubai and then return to the US on the 5th. It is finally a reality! Tonight I am washing his clothes, because now I know he will soon be ours! We are busy readying his and Chandler's room. So much to do, so little time! I am in the nesting mode and I finally know my due date!

TB and Travel

We are hoping to have Ebrahim's TB test results on Monday. It's only been a little over 2 weeks since we passed court....but it's driving me crazy! We haven't bought our tickets yet and flights are starting to sell out. We are hoping to leave a week from this Saturday. We are going to leave a few days earlier in the hopes of traveling to meet his grandmother. Tonight I bought a few pair of pants and socks and underwear...oh and a toothbrush:)! It's getting so close and so much more real! I need to get some shirts this weekend too. I am also buying some clothes and formaula for the orphanage. Hope to have results and tickets on Monday! Wait...I haven't even finished painting his bed yet! Yikes! I have soooo much to get done!

We Passed Court!!!!!

Last night while we slept we became the parents of our new son! His name has been spelled a couple different ways, so I am not sure if one or both are correct.... kinda like Jon and John. We are pleased to introduce Ebrahim (AKA Ibrahim) Mohammed Orth. He name translates to Abraham. We are not sure if he or we will keep his given name. We will probably let him choose from some American names or his name. It is a bitter sweet moment as last night Ebrahim said his final goodbye to his grandmother and she gave her consent to the courts for us to adopt him. We have a precious gift now of a picture of them together....maybe the only picture he'll have of his life before now in Ethiopia. We now will try to finalize our travel plans. Since the U.S. has changed the visa medical guidelines, it is a little trickier process. Our in country rep will now get his new birth certificate with our last name and then with that he will get his Ethiopian passport. Once he has those documents he will have his visa medical appointment before being allowed to emigrate to the U.S. We had planned to leave May 20th, so we could travel some before picking him up, but these changes may not allow us to leave for 1-2 weeks more.

Shots, Shots and More Shots!

Today Chandler and I got our travel immunizations. I got 7 and he only needed 3. I got boosters for MMR, Polio,DpT and Hep A. I also got meningitis, typhoid and yellow fever. I had already had Hep B and part of Hep A. It is recommended that adults born after 1957 have boosters for MMR and Polio. Chandler only needed typhoid, yellow fever and meningitis. He just turned 10 and wil be due for a Dt next year. Kids under 11 aren't supposed to have the DpT, I guess. Meningitis is good to have though, even here in the US. I paid for the yellow fever and the typhoid (I was really suprised just how much the shots were!)and I am hopeful that my insurance will pay for the others as routine vacs. I thought it would raise a red flag if I submitted all of them and they don't pay for travel vacs. We also got scripts for doxycycline to take for malaria and antibiotic prescriptions in case we get ill there. Only 20 days till court! Can you tell I'm excited!

Updates and nearing dates!

Last week we received the much anticipated photo and video update of our Ethiopian son. The interview was so cute, but he was so shy that is responses were not really audible, so the translator had to repeat what he said. Our adoption coordinator said his eyes really lit up when he received our gift package. They said he would take everything out, examine it, then carefully place it back in the bag. Meanwhile he would check to see what the other children had received and then return to examine his again. I wish we could have seen that! He had probably never received anything like that before! I wonder what he thought when he looked at the photo album of us and our home? The coordinator talked to him about us and that there was a family in another country that wanted to adopt him and that he seemed to have an understanding of this already. That night I dreamed of him.....that we were there with him...so disappointing when the alarm clock went off! But at least the court date that was so far away, is now just 23 days away!

On another note Kenny has decided that he will stay home with the girls and our 10 yr old son Chandler will travel with me to Ethiopia. We hope that he will come to recognize the privelege he has and come to respect it. It will also be a great chance for him and his brother to bond. He initially didn't want to go because of the shots he will have to get. He decided that he would go though, if I hold his hand when he gets the shots....so cute! It will probably tear me up the most to leave our 2 yr old behind, because she misses me for just 8 hours, let alone 8-10 days. How do you explain that to a 2 yr old? It will be a challenge too for Kenny to juggle everything while we are gone. I feel bad too that he won't be there for the 1st meeting or to see his country...but he is at peace with his decision. We will be silent now again as we wait for the 28th of April to come and hope all of our hopes will come to fruition that day....so we can announce his name and share the pictures of this son we have waited so long for!

Tentative Travel Dates

We were notified that our esimated travel dates will be May 24th-June 4th to get our son. Although we would leave about 3 days earlier to see his country a little. We are very excited to see an end in site, but it seems so far away. We have been seeing court dates being moved up almost a whole month with other agencies, but our agancy said we would not be affected. Late May is the best time to travel, because I will be off for the summer, but it still makes me jealous and wish we could get him home sooner!

A gift for our son...

Our coordinator for Ethiopia is going their on March 7th. I am so jealous! We are so anxious to meet him and bring him home! We put a package together for him that included a Phoenix Suns shirt, 2 Matchbox cars, a coloring book, crayons and a small photo album with captions. Megan will hopefully be able to see him and give it to him in person. She will also get new pictures and some video. We can only imagine in our minds the long journey there and to finally see him and hold him. Where it will be real and not surreal.