Ethiopia- Adoption Advocates Int'l from Halle Project on Vimeo.
This is the place where D is right now!!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
What's Next?
Yesterday we officially accepted the referral for D. So the question we asked and others have asked is, "What's Next?" Well, we have A LOT of work to do. As far as paperwork goes, our agency is sending us an agreement to sign. They are also sending a document that explains to us what we can/should include in a welcome bag.
What is a welcome bag, you ask? Well, let me tell you. We will be putting together a packet to go over to Ethiopia for D. This is a one-gallon freezer bag that will contain a t-shirt, a letter from us, pictures (of the family, the dog, the house, her room), and maybe a couple of trinkets. We were told that the t-shirt is an important thing to those children. When she puts on the t-shirt all the other children will know she has a family and they will all congratulate her. We were also told that they will take pictures of her opening the packet and send them to us.
The agency told us that we will likely travel in mid-to-late October for the court date. While we are over there for court we will have limited access to spend time with D. This is to protect her from beginning to bond with us and then be let down that we have to leave without her. They said the time per day and the number of days will be limited. So we will probably stay for at least the number of days we can see her. During that trip she will become legally our daughter.
When we return home we will wait another 6-8 weeks before we return to bring her home. The reason for this is that there must be an appointment made with the US Embassy in Ethiopia to interview for D's visa. They are usually scheduled 6-8 weeks out, thus the wait time. During the time we are there to pick her up we will have our Embassy interview and then we have to return later that week to actually get her visa. Then it is time to come home.
We have so much to do between now and when she gets home. We have some projects around the house that we have been meaning to do and now want to get done before then. We are planning to re-decorate Faith and D's room. We are also going to buy a new kitchen table that will accommodate all of us since the family meal is an important part of our life.
So much to do and it seems like so little time to get it done. What a blessing! We pray that we can work hard but stay focused on the wonderful experience we are going through and not get caught up in the stress and anxiety of the process.
What is a welcome bag, you ask? Well, let me tell you. We will be putting together a packet to go over to Ethiopia for D. This is a one-gallon freezer bag that will contain a t-shirt, a letter from us, pictures (of the family, the dog, the house, her room), and maybe a couple of trinkets. We were told that the t-shirt is an important thing to those children. When she puts on the t-shirt all the other children will know she has a family and they will all congratulate her. We were also told that they will take pictures of her opening the packet and send them to us.
The agency told us that we will likely travel in mid-to-late October for the court date. While we are over there for court we will have limited access to spend time with D. This is to protect her from beginning to bond with us and then be let down that we have to leave without her. They said the time per day and the number of days will be limited. So we will probably stay for at least the number of days we can see her. During that trip she will become legally our daughter.
When we return home we will wait another 6-8 weeks before we return to bring her home. The reason for this is that there must be an appointment made with the US Embassy in Ethiopia to interview for D's visa. They are usually scheduled 6-8 weeks out, thus the wait time. During the time we are there to pick her up we will have our Embassy interview and then we have to return later that week to actually get her visa. Then it is time to come home.
We have so much to do between now and when she gets home. We have some projects around the house that we have been meaning to do and now want to get done before then. We are planning to re-decorate Faith and D's room. We are also going to buy a new kitchen table that will accommodate all of us since the family meal is an important part of our life.
So much to do and it seems like so little time to get it done. What a blessing! We pray that we can work hard but stay focused on the wonderful experience we are going through and not get caught up in the stress and anxiety of the process.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
A Little About D
I wanted to share a little more about D. She is 4 1/2 years old and has been at our agency's care center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia since March of 2010. She is about 3.25 feet tall and weighs around 35 lbs. She has big, beautiful brown eyes. The reports we got said that her favorite foods are spaghetti, burger with soft drink, and traditional Ethiopian food. She likes to play ball with her friends. She also likes to count, spell and try to read in front of her friends. The report stated that she is a favorite of the house mothers and she is a very happy child.
She comes from a remote region of Ethiopia where the language is different than Ethiopia's national language, Amharic. So when she came to the care center she needed to start learning both Amharic and English. The reason she likes some "American" food is because they start to introduce "American" things (food, language, culture, etc) since most of the children end up being adopted by American families.
Many people have already asked us about her background and how she came to the orphanage and then to the care center. Tami and I have decided that we are going to keep her story confidential so that we can share it with D some day and she will be able to decide for herself if she wants to share that story. So don't be offended if we don't answer that question, but we just feel like that is D's story to share if and when she wants to down the road.
The other thing we have been asked about is her name. Whether or not we will be keeping it, changing it, etc. We feel strongly that her name is the one her parents gave her and we shouldn't take that away. So we will be keeping it but probably will come up with a nickname that she will go by. We are still figuring this out.
The girls (Mom and Faith) have already begun to plan the re-decorating of the bedroom. We have already ordered a new bunk bed and we will be picking out paint and bedding soon. We also plan to buy a new kitchen table that will be able to seat eight as what we have now only seats six. The family meal is important to us so this is a must buy before D comes home.
She comes from a remote region of Ethiopia where the language is different than Ethiopia's national language, Amharic. So when she came to the care center she needed to start learning both Amharic and English. The reason she likes some "American" food is because they start to introduce "American" things (food, language, culture, etc) since most of the children end up being adopted by American families.
Many people have already asked us about her background and how she came to the orphanage and then to the care center. Tami and I have decided that we are going to keep her story confidential so that we can share it with D some day and she will be able to decide for herself if she wants to share that story. So don't be offended if we don't answer that question, but we just feel like that is D's story to share if and when she wants to down the road.
The other thing we have been asked about is her name. Whether or not we will be keeping it, changing it, etc. We feel strongly that her name is the one her parents gave her and we shouldn't take that away. So we will be keeping it but probably will come up with a nickname that she will go by. We are still figuring this out.
The girls (Mom and Faith) have already begun to plan the re-decorating of the bedroom. We have already ordered a new bunk bed and we will be picking out paint and bedding soon. We also plan to buy a new kitchen table that will be able to seat eight as what we have now only seats six. The family meal is important to us so this is a must buy before D comes home.
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