That makes us 9...ish

This one goes out to Tony Romo (the 3rd greatest Cowboys QB of all time) in honor of our new "unofficial" number (insert drum roll please)...................................9ish!!! We found out that there was another referral yesterday, this time for a 4 1/2 month old baby boy. The lucky family was on the wait list for 11 months and 1 week. Holy Cow!!! That's about as long as we've waited! Getting so, so close.

A quick recap of this week in referrals: 3 total; the 4 1/2 month old baby old mentioned above, a 4 1/2 month old baby girl, and the Salyers' 10 week old baby girl. What a great way to end the week. Let's all hope and pray that next week is just as good if not better!---Kris

Congrats Salyers & Sagers...

A big, hearty "CONGRATULATIONS" goes out to the Salyers and Sagers this week. The Sagers are OFFICIALLY the parents of Finley Melat Sager today. They just received word they have passed court and will be traveling very, very soon!

Finally, after 12 months and 1 week, the Salyers got their big call yesterday! We can't wait to see the pics once they pass court.

After following these families for months and months, it's really cool to see their ADOPTION journey's finally coming to a close. I specify "adoption" journey because the REAL journey is just beginning!

Tasfa-Hope

First of all, I would like to take the opportunity to dedicate this post to all of our wonderful friends and family! We love that we have such great friends and family who are just as excited about this journey as we are. Kris and I can not wait to get "the call" and share the great news with everyone. I know this journey has been hard on everyone, not just us.

Today marks 11 months of waiting. We've had two referrals, count-em....TWO referrals this week and both were for baby girls!!! A BIIIIIIG Congrats to the Salyers!!! By our count we are 10...ish on the overall list!

One of my very good and talented friends, Kim, is in the process of opening a new Etsy store and has graciously & generously offered us half of the proceeds to aid in our adoption/orphanage-supply expenses. She will be selling a variety of clothing items ranging from onesies & t's to hairbows & beanies. Kris's wonderful grandmother, Betty, will be crocheting the beanies (some of the cutest you've ever seen) so the next time your looking for that special little something for your special little someone, don't forget to check out her store *wink*wink* As soon as the Etsy site is up and running we'll post the link. Stay-tuned!

Kris and I spent the past weekend in K.C. for Ben & Lisa's wedding. It was beautiful and so much fun! It's always nice to hang with friends and family. Congrats guys!

To help us through the rest of our journey, we ordered our Hope-Tasfa bracelets from a fellow Missourian adopting family, the Kirksey's. The bracelets are the perfect little reminder during this part of the journey that it WILL happen. They are the coolest and the best part...the money helps a fellow adoptive parent! You can get your own Tasfa-Hope bracelet among other things, HERE. Until next time...
--Staci

Oh yeah, the change WORKED!!!

Well okay, maybe the referrals didn't pour in today but the agency did give 1 today. A sibling set including a 3 year old boy and a 3 month old baby girl. The couple waited just shy of 16 months because sibling set's in this age range are so few and far between. Congrats to the lucky parents! I think....THINK that we are number 11 on the list. I say "think" because there has been some turmoil in the Ethiopia program this past week. The turmoil being a couple of families losing their referrals due to some "differences" our agency was having with the orphanage director. Due to these "differences", our agency has totally quit working with the orphanage. It's a very sad situation for the children and the adopting families. Sure hope these families receive some good news in the upcoming weeks. If you guys are reading this, hang in there.--Kris

New Blog look....now COME ON REFERRALS!

As you know, the Ethiopia referrals seem to be coming in at a snail's pace here recently so in an effort to curb the rate of referrals, I've decided to give the blog a nice, new face lift. Now, I'm not an overly superstitious individual but it seems as though every time I change the blog's appearance, the referrals immediately start pouring in. So, here goes. Wish me luck!--Kris

Inspirational quote of the day...

Totally stole this from another blog:

We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands.

--Kristin Larson

Court closures and a REFERRAL today...

Just found out that the statement released from our agency last week saying that the Ethiopian courts would remain open during the rainy season this year was false. The courts will shut down August 21 and will reopen the first week of October. They say that this does not effect referrals but if memory serves me correctly there will little, if any, handed out last year during the court closure. While the court closures are very understandabe, it's still very discouraging for the weeks to pass by without referrals. We certainly could use some GOOD news regarding our adoption for a change.

We must keep in mind that while the rainy season may hinder the speediness of our adoption, it is absolutely essential to the well being of Ethiopia and it's people.

***POST UPDATE: JUST RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR STATING THAT A REFERRAL WAS GIVEN TODAY!!! A 2 MONTH OLD BABY GIRL!!! THE FAMILY WAS ON THE WAIT LIST FOR 12 MONTHS. HOPING WE SEE MORE REFERRALS THIS WEEK***

In case your wondering why courts close completely during the rainy season of Ethiopia, here are a few pics to better illustrate the impact the rains have on the country. Enjoy!--Kris

With the rain comes new life!

GREAT NEWS!!!

No we did not get our referral but close, just wanted to update everyone that the courts WILL NOT close this year for the rainy season!!!!! This is just about as good as a referral, because we are currently 13 on the wait list and if we get our referral in the next month or so we were going to have to wait until the courts reopened and then wait for court. Not now, once we get our referral:) we are assigned a court date, once we pass court we will travel in a few weeks.

Also today my cousin Angela and her husband Andy found out they are having a baby girl!!

Good day, good day!--Staci

Ban Lifted and Referrals.....FINALLY!!!

We just received some of the best news the past couple of days regarding the Ethiopia program. First off, let me back up to update all of you readers not currently adopting from Ethiopia. A while back, all adoptions and referrals from the capital city of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) regarding abandoned children were halted so the government could investigate some problems that had popped up. This left many families who had already accepted abandoned-children referrals in dissaray not knowing if they would ever be able to bring their children home. Well, long story short, the weeks passed and passed and finally, just yesterday, the Ethiopian government lifted the ban on abandoned children. Today, we found out that those families have finally received their court dates and will hopefully be traveling soon once they complete court. Congrats to those families!!!

Good news for us today. We moved up 2 more spots today. That puts us at #12 on the overall list , therefore, this post is dedicated to the 2nd best QB in the history of the Dallas Cowboys, #12, Roger Staubach (hence the picture). The agency actually handed out 3 referrals but only 2 of the families had been waiting longer than us. The 3rd referral was that of a sibling group ages 3 and 5. Who would have guessed when we started this journey a couple of years ago that we would still be waiting? Last May, when we made the decision to officially leave the Vietnam program and persue an Ethiopian adoption, the wait time was estimated at 6-10 months. Well, we eclipsed that mark last month and now it is estimated at the 1 year mark. Oh well, what's a few more months when you've been waiting over 7 years already?

Before she left CHI, our case worker, Toni, suggested that Staci & I take a vacation this year. Well, we kind of took that suggestion and ran with it. Last week we bit the bullet and booked a trip to Cancun with some good friends of ours, Steve & Wendy Preston! We will be going the last week of August which will be when we hit the 12 month waiting mark. Who knows, maybe we'll get the good news while in Cancun! How awesome would that be?!?!

A big CONGRATS to those lucky families today and all those families who waited for the ban to be lifted!--Kris

Update: I am a complete moron! Once again I've miscalculated our number. Must be those complex equations like 15-2=x. We are actually number 13 on the list but I'm still dedicating this post to Roger Staubach because, well......he's Roger Staubach!