WE PASSED COURT!!

Yesterday we passed court and Saturday, my Mom and I are leaving for ETHIOPIA! The Embassy appointment is on Aug 27th and I hope the decree and birth certificate are ready! This is an extremely tight deadline.
My coworkers donated a lot of things for me to bring to the orphanage! My friend Stacey also contributed items and helped me sort through a ton of Maia's old clothes to get ready for Miss Amara Danielle Selamawit Fisher!
I better start packing! lol

New Court Date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a new court date!!!!! July 28th!!! Wow, that is coming up FAST! I was so happy when Molly told me that I couldn't speak! I just couldn't stop crying happy tears. I was really starting to think that it would be Thanksgiving before we could bring her home. IF we pass court on July 28th, we will be traveling at the end of August to go get her!!!!!

still delayed....

Yes, our court date has come and gone. We are still caught in the delay of abandonment cases. We don't know when the investigation will be finished and when they will start to hear these cases again. We are sad about it, but we want to make sure that everything is done ethically with all ET adoptions. We trust that she will come home when its time!

Probable court delay

We just found out that our court case will most likely be delayed. We are sad about the delay, but we are also glad that the government is investigating the spike in abandonment cases.
This is from our agency:


Rumor surrounding court outcomes for “Abandoned Children from Addis Ababa”:

We have received confirmation from BFAS-Ethiopia that the Ethiopian Court have been working to safe guard the Ethiopian Adoption Process. As of last week, a large group of children being processed in the courts for adoption finalization were listed as "abandoned". This prompted the courts to cease hearing cases involving children listed as "abandoned in Addis Ababa". The court is not failing these cases necessarily, it is simply investigating this issue right now. The court has so far not given any information as to how long this process will take. There is a possibility for some court dates to be delayed. Children abandoned in other areas of Ethiopia are still having their cases heard, as are children relinquished by family members and children orphaned for other reasons such as deaths of the mother and father.

This has affected some of our clients, as well as many clients with all other agencies that are processing Ethiopian Adoptions. Please understand that this is one of the “unknowns” we speak about throughout the FAQ’s and during your application process. BFAS is doing all that we can to remedy this situation for our clients that have children under this category. We have spoken to all families that have received referrals to this point, and updated them as to rather or not this will affect their particular adoption case. We ask that you pray for these families during this difficult time until a solution can be found. We will keep you as up to date as possible as this issue continues to develop.

COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a court date! It's June 4th! This means that our adoption case will be heard in Ethiopia that day (unless it's cancelled or something). We do not have to be there for the court case.
If we pass court, they will give us an Embassy appointment. We will be travelling the week of our Embassy appointment. The 2 dates for embassy appts after June 4th are June 18th or July 2nd. I am guessing that we will probably get the July 2nd Embassy date. We won't know, though, until we pass court and they give us the date.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!

Second Care Package

We sent Amara her second care package. It's a cute pink sleeper and some socks with rattles on the toes.

BFAS Guesthouse

This is the BFAS guesthouse where we will stay when we go to Ethiopia.

Hanna's Hope House

This is the BFAS Care House where Amara is living! Isn't it beautiful?

Family name...

We found out that our daughter's name is Salmawit Daniel. This is very cool because my middle name is Danielle and my Dad's name is Daniel! I cannot imagine the pain her birthmother felt in making this very difficult decision, but I feel like this baby's soul was meant to be with us. There have been some crazy signs and things that have happened in our journey that are pulling us toward her.
So, it looks like she will have 2 middle names! We are debating these choices: Amara Salmawit Daniel Fisher; Amara Salmawit Danielle Fisher; Amara Danielle Salmawit Fisher.
By the way, Haile at our agency told us that Salmawit or Salamwit means "peaceful one".

First care package!

We have put together a care package for our new baby. Our adoption friend Sarah is taking it to Addis for us next week, when she goes to get her new baby. In the care package, I put a soft photo album with pictures of us and Maia and all the grandparents plus Aunt Sarah. We included Maia's old "snuggly", which is a super soft bunny head attached to a super soft cloth. We also included a little pink bunny sleeper that Maia wore when she was a little baby. We know that there is a chance this care package might be lost, and we're ok with that. Here are pictures of the contents! BTW, as you can see, I need help getting the photos to go where I want them! grrrr...

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday the 13th is my LUCKY DAY!
We unofficially accepted a referral for a baby girl. SHE IS AN ANGEL and we are soooooo over the moon happy right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
details to follow.

No referral yet....

No, there is no referral yet. I called BFAS yesterday and Angela said that there is a referral identified for us, but that they are working to get her "paper ready". sigh.... In the meantime, here's a photo from Christmas.

In the meantime....

No, I don't have any news yet. Well, a little news. Our agency said that there are referrals coming very soon and that they are getting all the paperwork together right now. That doesn't mean that there will be any infant girl referrals, but it will be nice to see SOME referrals.
ANYWAY, in the meantime, I'll post a few pics from Thanksgiving. We went to Dubuque to Steve's parents' house.

In the meantime.....

maybe next week....

So, Agitu is in Ethiopia and getting all settled in. It looks like there may be referrals next week, but probably not this week. And even if there are referrals next week, there may be no infant girl referrals.... *sigh*

still #1... come on, DECEMBER.

OK, so I found out today that there probably won't be any new referrals until December (which is only a week and a half away). Agitu (the agency founder) is going to Ethiopia and she will be assisting in giving referrals while she is over there.
I was hoping to be able to tell the everyone all about our referral at Thanksgiving, but I think I will have to wait until Christmas now... that's ok, though. I am only a little disappointed.
I trust what my adoptive friend Sheryl told me (I am not "religious"(whatever that means), but I truly believe the words she told me). She told me that "God will give us the right child. The one that is planned for us. Everyone who is supposed to be at the dinner table will be there. "
Even as I type that, I am thinking of the son we lost. Apparently he was not supposed to be at our dinner table. His soul belonged to someone else, somewhere else.

maybe this week...?

I am so anxious and nervous and excited and all that stuff. I THINK we are now first in line waiting for an infant girl. There may not even be infant girl referrals this week, but if there are, I might be getting "the call". We might see our daughter's face this week. We might get a picture that we will look at a million times. A picture that we will memorize every little detail of. I am dying to know what she looks like, who she is, how old she is. We requested a girl 0-12 months at referral and up to 15 months at placement. So, she could be a tiny baby, or she could be a year old. We have no idea yet, but we are on the verge of knowing! It's all I can think about!

Movin on UP....

I think we're either #1 or #2 in line for an infant girl.
All the phone lines and internet lines are down in Ethiopia. I guess sometimes they go down for days. Our agency said that there are referrals this week, but they need to wait for the phone/internet lines to come up so they can get the medical histories and photos.
So, maybe we will get a referral this week. Or maybe not until Christmas. I am not getting my hopes up (ya, right).

CIS Approval and Movin' On Up!

Update: We received CIS approval (Dept of Homeland Security/Immigration) AND, I think we are now #4 on the waiting list for a baby girl!

Miss Maia

I haven't posted a picture of Maia lately, so here she is!