New Pics and Great News

We had another couple that is adopting from Ethiopia graciously take pictures for us last week of him.  He is the sweetest thing.  Jennifer, the girl that took the pics, said that he is a "kind spirited little boy."  She said he is crawling and sits up on his own (almost).  She says he smiles all the time and is very curious about what everyone else is doing all the time.  His pictures look SO different. They do grow SO fast. His hair is grown out a bit.  It makes you realize how much you miss when they are little.  She said though that he is so loved there in his orphanage not only by the caretakers, but by the older kids in the orphanage and the future parents that come to visit the orphanage.

On another note, we received some great news about Kendal today.  In the midst of all of our adoption excitement, we have been worried that Kendal could have something serious.  We were referred to a pediatric surgeon and had the appt. this morning.  She has, "benign active lymph nodes" and they are not to worry about at all unless they get larger.  So, we are not only blessed with great news about our little boy but our little girl as well.  They are both angels and we are so incredibly blessed that they are both happy and healthy.  Praise, praise God.

Ethiopian Bethany Workers in Zeeland!!

So, tonight we got to meet people from Ethiopia that work for Bethany.  They were travelling to the US for some training and we had the opportunity to meet them before we MEET them!  The man in the picture will be our driver to the court appointment as well as our Embassy appointment.  We were able to meet social workers, a foster care worker and the director of Bethany in Ethiopia (and his wife).  Everyone was SO nice and so excited for us.  I also asked to make sure we were pronouncing our little guy's name correctly and we were! 

We also met a couple that will be in Ethiopia and has the same court date as us.  The most awesome thing that happened was that we met a couple who is leaving on Monday for Ethiopia.  Their son is in the same orphanage as ours.  They said they would take pictures and send them to us (we have to get some paperwork going for them to do that).  We are so excited to get some more info about our little guy!  He is now ten months old!! 

Ethiopia Here We Come!

Oh my gosh, we just found out tonight that we get to meet our son on December 1st!!  That is seven weeks away (51 days to be exact).  We are sooooo excited.  Our court date is December 3rd and if all the paperwork goes through, he will officially be our son on that day!  We are so thrilled to meet this little guy that we can hardly stand it.  If you've seen his pictures, you know what I mean! 

We will then have to come home and travel back to Ethiopia 1-2 months after the court date to pick him up and bring him HOME! 

We've gotten some questions about if we're bringing Kendal to Ethiopia and the answer is, "no."  We would love to take her but we don't want to have to worry about her and she's too young to really understand and remember what is going on.  She is so excited though.  Her prayer tonight  was that she hopes God brings Hagirsa to our house tomorrow.  

So please keep praying that he remains healthy and that we have safe travels to and from AFRICA!!  Can't wait!

Getting Closer to Court Date

Our friends that submitted their dossier the same day as us and got a referral a few days prior to us, just got a court date for December 3rd!!  I am so hoping and praying we will hear soon.  His birthday is December 12th and we would LOVE to celebrate it with him.  Getting anxious to hear sooooooooooon!