This is it....ONE MORE DAY!!!

**Picture Update** Just want to add that yesterday evening we received 6 new pictures of Marley bringing our grand total for the weekend up to 10 new pics plus one really awesome video! Thank you Salyers and Geddings families!!!

New pics yesterday!!!

Thanks to the Salyers family we received 5 new photos and an awesome new video of Marley yesterday afternoon. This is the first video we've recevied of her actually awake! It was pretty funny watching her. It's almost as if she's just discovering her hands. She's got her arms stretched straight out and every once-in-awhile she catches her hand out of the corner of her eye and she's like, "whoa, what's this?!" She is sooooo beautiful and already has a full head of curls! Can't wait to finally get our arms around her. Hopefully next week we'll be posting pictures. Our Court is scheduled for the 5th so needless to say, next Tuesday will be a very looooooooong day. The good news is that all families have been passing court their first attempt so hopefully that trend will continue into the future. Until next time, enjoy Marley's new 3 1/2 month "finger" picture!

The 5 cutest little fingers ever!!!

1 mo. referralversary gift: COURT DATE!!!

That's right, exactly one month after our referral, Staci and I received our court date today. The magic date? JANUARY 5th with possible visa appointment on February 4th. That means in about 6 weeks, we COULD be holding Marley!

Melkam Lidet Marley!!!

Happy 3 months baby girl!!!

Melkam Gena, Marley!!! (Merry Christmas)

Wow, the Christmas season is upon us already! I can actually say that I am almost done with my shopping, just a few things left then all done. It's been three weeks today since we first saw Marley's sweet face! Since our referral, we have gotten 2 new pics and a short video (thank you Hyman family). We watch the video daily even if she is sleeping during the entire thing. If everything goes as planned, we should have more pics shortly after Christmas (big thanks to the Salyers and Geddings)! The Salyers family is also delivering Marley's first Christmas gifts for us next week which include a new blankie and some onesies, one of which is very special since it was made by my good friend Kim. If you'll remember, Kim has her own Etsy store called River's Ribbons. You can check it out HERE. Even though she's not with us, this is still baby's first Christmas. I hope the blankie brings Marley many, many nights of comfort until we are able to comfort her in person.

We got our Christmas tree last year thinking that Marley would surely be with us by this time but it wasn't meant to be. While she isn't with us physically, you can bet that she is certainly with us in spirit this year. "Hope" has sort of been our running theme for the past 7 years hence our tree topper. I got this last year as a little reminder to, as the great Jon Bon Jovi put it, "keep the faith". This year it serves as a reminder of everything we have to be thankful for. Kris also bought this really cool Africa ornament for Marley. The family making them is also adopting a child from Ethiopia so the money goes for a really good cause. If your interested in your own, you can get them HERE. We totally can't wait for next Christmas! Now come on court dates!!!

Our Christmas Theme:

Marley's first ornament:

Marley's 1st Christmas package (It's amazing how much you can cram into a gallon sized plastic bag)

The sweetest little Cowboys fan ever!!!

Marley's first Cowboys get-up courtesy of daddy!

Oh what a feeling!

Well the day, the call, the moment has finally come! The call came about 11 am on Monday, November 16, 2009. I was sitting at my desk talking to Shelly when my direct line rang. I told Shelly to wait, that it was probably just Kris since he is the only person who calls my direct line. When I answered it was a female voice and she said "Hi Staci. This is Ashely!" (our adoption consultant) It didn't hit me until she said, "I have Kris on the other line!" It was precisely this moment that I lost it. She then went on to tell us all about our new baby girl, half of which I missed because I was a blubbering mess at this point. After we hung up, Kris and I ran home to see her pictures, read her reports, and spread the word. It was such a GREAT day and so much fun telling all of our family and friends who have waited right by our sides this whole time!

Our official wait time: 14 months, 2 weeks and 2 days for our baby girl, but these little fingers have been a dream of ours for the past 7 YEARS!!!


The Hyman family left this last weekend to pick up their baby girl so we sent a little care package with them for Marley. They are also taking new pics for us, we are so excited to see these new pictures and to see how she has changed. Our hope is to have as many traveling families take pictures for us as possible. At this point, pictures are the only thing we have to get us through the rest of our wait but at least we have a face now! And what a "beautiful" face it is!

Marley's first care package!So what's next???
The most popular question asked to us now is, "when do you get her?" For those of you out there in blogger world that aren't familiar with this process, here's what's next. After waiting over a year for our referral, we get to wait again. This time we're waiting for that all important Ethiopian court date. This is the court date that will make her legally ours through the eyes of the Ethiopian government. This court date is more than likely 2-3 months away. Once we pass court, it is usually a few more weeks before we travel. We will then be in Ethiopia for approximately 1 week before returning home with Marley forever. Hopefully this clears up a lot of the questions people were having regarding this process. It's a whole new waiting game now!