Best News Ever!

There have been two life-changing phone calls during this long process.  The phone calls are kind of like seeing a positive on a pregnancy test . . . and kind of not.  For one, this would've been a heck of a long pregnancy.  But of our two phone calls, the first was our referral. March 3, 2014, we were all at home for a snow day and it was a party!  

And then we did a lot of hurry up and wait. And wishing and hoping and praying.  As our waiting for a court date drew closer to the summer court closure for rainy season, it was hard to hope that we would get through before the courts closed, but even harder to imagine we wouldn't.  Then we got another call.  This time Matt was at work and Bo wandered off to play after I tried to explain that "This lady knows information about your brother" and then picked up the phone to hear, "How'd you like to go to Ethiopia?"

Yes, yes, I'd like to go. Next week? Sure. No problem. I'd go right now if you asked me to.

We got the call on Wednesday and we're getting on a plane this Thursday. Just a little hectic around here as we move work obligations around, get ready for my mom to come stay with Bo, and pack for Africa.  Matt's brother is getting married in Washington, DC on August 9th which is so exciting . . . and it just so happens that the most direct route from the US to Addis is through DC.  Which is convenient! We are excited to do it all.

The big day for us is August 5th, our court date.  On that day we will stand before a judge and legally accept responsibility of our son!  We can not WAIT for that day.  And beyond that, we can't wait to bring him home to us . . . but we'll have to wait another 4-6 weeks for that.  It will be so hard to come back with out him, but that is just how the game is played right now.  

We are coming for you little bud!  Can't wait!

so close!

We are in a season of suspense.  I feel as if I am just killing time until something happens, but life is still busy and events stack up that I can't seem to fully focus on.  Now, more than ever, there is an underlying current to every decision that we make and every case I pencil onto the calendar.  Sure, he's free then, but I hope I have to call and cancel this one.  Yes, we'll be here, but if we are I'm going to be really sad about it. We are so close.  SO CLOSE to having our son home.  And we are racing against the clock.  

We started the our adoption in January 2013 with an application to our agency.  After six months of paperwork, our dossier was sent to Ethiopia and we joined the wait list in August at fourth in line for a boy under two years of age, which is a great place to be!  With a larger agency you could start out at number 103.  By October, we were second in line.  And then... the 'drought.'  I had prayed for a referral - a match - by Christmas but that did not happen.  

There were some dark days as we heard rumors of a possible shutdown in Ethiopia.  I wondered if this would ever happen to our family.  We started to discuss other options.  The weight of that seasons was so heavy as I questioned everything I thought I knew.

Then, by God's grace, everything changed.  We had the first and only snow of the season and all three of us were home that Monday in March when my phone lit up.  The name of my program director flashed on the screen and Matt and I ran into another room to answer it away from Bo, who was watching a movie.  I have some exciting news for you . . . little boy . . . five months old . . . And I  cried and couldn't respond so Matt had to get on the phone and she told him the news.  Within the hour we had accepted the referral and suddenly this little big-eyed boy in Ethiopia was linked to me.

We were over the moon about the news of our referral but were asked to keep it off the internet for some time.  Even now I will not post any pictures until he is officially a Yezerski but we are so fortunate to receive a weekly update from his foster home that includes photos.  We've watched him grow through these weekly emails, searched the pictures for clues to his well-being. I fret about his weight and multiply the kilograms to convert them to pounds and mentally plot them on a growth chart. He's happy, smiling, holding toys.  He is ours.  We miss him.

Since March we've been following protocol and we have now achieved preliminary acceptance from the US government.  Our paperwork is speeding across the US right now, waiting to be authenticated and sent on to Addis Ababa.  We are waiting on two crucial last steps: the court dates.  The first date scheduled is the birth parent or finder court date, and then ours, the adoptive parent court date.  I am beyond anxious to hear when that might be.

And we covet your prayers!  We are begging for a court date soon, before August 15.  The Ethiopian court will close for two months during rainy season and we think that will be mid-August through mid-October.  If we don't get our court date before then, our son will turn one in Ethiopia without us.  To come this close but not get through . . . it's just too hard to imagine.  

Our specific prayer is that 1) the first court date would be scheduled soon and pass without incident and 2) that our adoptive parent court date would be scheduled before the cutoff on August 15.

Thank you all for walking through this with us!