I have a date!

A court date, that is....for "Olivia" "Mame" Hiwot!

Yippeeeeee!!!!!

April 13th!

Maybe this fourth time is the charm! It will be a year and almost two months since our last (third) court date!!!


AND...I do not have to travel twice! What a blessing!!!!

What I found on the floor....

(N0, that is really not a picture of the floor of my car, or any floor in my house...hust a picture of papers on the floor, to illustrate a point...)

Junk mail and rapid schedules..... I get so much junk mail in my mailbox...those little newspaper flyers advertising this and that...and the mailbox is way down the lane, that I usually check it on my way driving in or out of our house....and then put it on the floor, to be dealt with later.

On Tuesdays I take the kids to a scouting program and the little boy, who is our new neighbor, goes with us. I had to give the van a good cleaning, putting back in extra seats since the move...so he would have room to sit. In the process, I saw this faded, flimsy little envelope with a forwarded mail label and barely visible stamped return address, underneath the Thomas Guide Map book and some junk mail newspaper ads.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed it was postmarked March 17, so not that old, and was from.....IMMIGRATION SERVICES??!!!!!!!

Quickly ripping it open, I thought, could this be my fretted over 171H..or a notice to get re-fingerprinted that I missed or ????. What if I had just grabbed it up with my junk mail and tossed it???!!!!

I had to read it twice and search the corner to find the form number and YES~ It was my new extended 171H sitting on the floor of my car for how many days???!!!!

EEEEEEEK..... sigh...but I have it. another milestone...and that much closer. So my side of the paperwork is allready.....

just waiting to hear of that new court date. (four more weeks of wait, by my guesstimation.) Maybe I will hear of my new date on my birthday.....and from all I am hearing, currently folks are not having to make the two trips..... The Ethiopian government has many details to work out first.....so praying I will make that window, before they get it all figured out and reinforced.

So a YIPPEEE day...I have my new 171H {barely!}

Hoping and a praying....

Feb 23rd is when I was supposedly filed for a court date, (although it may have been the week after)...and talking to other adoptive parents, they took 7 weeks between filing for the date and getting a date...

which would put me at my birthday week in April to hear something... and then their court date was a week after that.

So maybe the end of April, beginning of May.

There are conflicting reports that the two trip requirement has been rescended or put on hold....that too many questions and issues had not been figured out...other rumors that only if you hear about your court date before a certain date....

so who knows. nothing for certain. .... I am praying I will only have to make one trip (all I an afford)...and that we pass court on this next try.....

Would you join in with me? Sometimes all these logistics, plus, as a single mom, figuring out what my kids will do suring the summer, when school is out and I am working.....if the adoption time does not coincide......it makes my head swim. sigh.....

not the easiest of roads....but I wold not trade if for any others I have seen out there. :)....

because I love God and I love my kids....

Another bump in the road....

....looking for the blessing in disguise....

I just found out that Ethiopia has changed their adoptin regulations. They now require two trips in the adoption process. like many other countries do.

The first trip is at your court date, to give testimony as to your intent to adopt this child...in person. The second trip is for the embassy date to get your childs visa and bring her home.

I do not know if this goes into effect immediately or at some future date, but I am assuming it will impact me.

At first, I was heart sick, with yet another delay (perhaps) and more money to make the trip.

I have quickly moved to acceptance. (Although I HATE the more money part) and am trying to look at the benefit.I am hoping it will not delay my court date (we have filed for court am awaiting the date.) The only way I see it could, would be if this appearance is accompanied by more paperwork that needs to be done...or that the agencies need to figure it out first. Hoping there is not a delay.

There is the more money. Ugh. I hate to talk about money. It feels wrong to talk about money. But the money side of adoption is HARD, BIG, SCARY and often for many families, prohibitive. I am blessed that with some penny pinching, I should have the extra...... not what I planned on spending it on...(bye bye basketball hoop, laptop, camera and summer vacation trip).... but really, in the big scheme of things...the things are not important.

I don't like flying...so two trips away from my kids is a bummer...but I will just have to pray it all up. It is in God's hands, and He know all along this was coming down the pike.

So the good side:

Getting to see my Mame sooner and bringing her a suitcase full of goodies! Some clothes, and I will then be able to go back home and shop for her. Reassuring her of us....showing picture...visiting her country. I am hoping {thinking} the first trip for the court date could be shorter too....so maybe less expensive.... So that is a good side of it.

Also, with meeting her first, it changes what visa we bring her into the US with, and now, like Mary was, Olivia will become a US citizen the moment she touches US soil. So that is a good thing as well.

It will change my time off work..and give me one week less than what I had planned in the summer, but we can adjust to that.so...I am ok.

Thrown for a loop again....but ok.

I will wait and see what I hear from my agency.....I want that court date!

Another check mark on my road to being a mom of four....

Today I had my fingerprint appointment with USCIS...for my 171H extension! yea....another step closer...