2 Months

I can hardly believe that it has already been 2 months since we stepped into the Toronto airport. I have not been a good blogger. Nor do I intend on being one. I guess I mainly set up my blog to keep people updated on the progress of our adoption. I have found that I do not enjoy blogging. I reminds me to much of my english classes. I have always been bad at journaling. My poor kids won't have too much written down about their growing up years. I have taken a lot of pictures though.
Things have been going well with Eyob (all things considering). We had been home only 2 weeks trying to set routines and adjust to each other when my husbands mother took a turn for the worse. I had mentioned her in a previous blog. She developed a blood disorder about 7 years ago and it was only a matter of time. My prayer was that she would meet Eyob. That prayer was answered- thank you God. She went into paliative care in her home and that meant we wanted to spend as much time with her as we could. The next 2 weeks were a blur of visiting and helping take care of her. Eyob was bounced around between their house, friends houses and staying home with my older kids. I must say he was somewhat miserable at times. He did end up bonding a lot with aunts, uncles and cousins. One of his favorite's was his grandpa. And so many days he was able to get his grandma smiling dispite all the pain she was in. He literaly was a gift from God. All those times in the summer when I wondered about God's timing. My questions were all answered. He was the LIFE in a time when there was so much pain and ultimately death. Everyone loved having him around just to listen to him and watch him. On November 8th my dear mother-in-law went home to be with her savior. We made Eyob a part of the crazy days to follow. Everyone wanted him around just so we could smile. He was the positive energy (if I can say that??) at the visitations. He was the joy at the funeral (wierd to say that). When my husband went on stage to say the eulogy, Eyob wriggled out of our seat and went up on stage to hold his daddy's hand. Oh how that touched everyone.
We are now about 2 1/2 weeks post funeral and I finally feel like we are finally getting our groove. Eyob has an amazing ability to make everyone laugh. He freely gives hugs and kisses to everyone in the family. He loves to play with his siblings and farm with his daddy and grocery shop with his mommy. ( And yes there are times when he frustrates me beyond belief). He just seems like a very typical almost 3 year old.
All those times I felt like giving up on the adoption. I think of everything I would have missed out on. It blows my mind that I almost didn't have this amazing blessing. I know there will still be challenges ahead. We don't have all the answers. I have raised 4 kids and know that they can all be unpredictable and all have their seasons where they go through tough stuff. We expect no different from Eyob. We know that we will experience great joys and also great frustrations. That's all part of growing and we hope and pray that he will grow into a strong young man.
I probably will not post a whole lot after this. I am not quite ready to loose my connection with all my cyber friends I've made. I hope to rejoice with some of you when I hear of your referals and when your kids become part of your families.
I pray that you will all have a blessed Christmas with friends and family. Hold tight to God.

I'm having a hard time uploading some new pictures. Crazy internet out in the country. I'll try and get some new ones soon.

4 weeks

I can't believe that we have been home 4 weeks today. It seems to have gone so fast and yet it seems like we have had Eyob forever. Eyob seems like a well adjusted typical 2 yr old. One moment he can frustrate me and the next moment he has me rolling with laughter. This evening seemed like one comedy routine after another. In Ethiopia we ( that's you as well Ashleigh) assumed that he was a calm mild mannered boy. He is anything but. He is busy, funny and stubborn.
We have been battling with food issues. He does not want eat a lot of the things we make. I totally expected this but am still frustrated by it. Lately he has been putting different things in his mouth and testing them. If we would let him eat cereal 3 meals a day he would be a happy camper.
Another struggle that just surfaced over the last few days is wearing winter gear. He HATES his winter coat and hat. It could be a long cold winter for him if he doesn't give in on this one. Wait until we try the snowpants. Hmmm. That could be interesting.
On the whole he is a happy delightful little guy. He sleeps through the night. That happened about the second week with a bit of training from me. I know a lot of people bring their little ones (especially newly adopted children) into bed with them but I can't do it. I'm an insomniac on good days and to have a squirming toddler in bed with me means no sleep at all. I need to be a refreshed good mom during the day. He also has naps every day. That makes an "old, exhausted" mother happy.
He LOVES his siblings. It's so fun to watch them all interact with him in different ways. I get a kick out of watching our 17 yr old son sit down and look at car magazines with him. He cries every morning when they go off to school. He loves to go on outings. So far he's an amazing little shopper. He loves all the big farm machinery he gets to go in with his daddy.
I'm in awe that this little guy was entrusted to us. God allowed us the privilege of raising Eyob and our other 4 wonderful bio kids. I think that about sums up my feelings at this moment.

I Never Realized....

I never realized that it would be this sweet.
I never realized that I spend hours just staring at your little face.
I never realized you would completely capture the love of the whole family.
I never realized that God would save such a precious little boy for us.
I never realized that it would be this sweet.

Just a quick update. We are doing well. Eyob has captured the hearts of everyone inculding my teen son. He has been a delighful little guy. He seems to be doing well in bonding with us. He is trying new foods and new english words. He plays well with the kids. He does not like our animals but that is improving as well. We feel so blessed to have him in our family. He can be so silly at times. He can also be a typical 2 yr old which is good to see. ( Maybe not so good at times).:) All those years of waiting, I can't imagine any other child with us now. The best part is that he is so huggy and snuggly.

MEET EYOB

Hey Everyone,

I haven't posted for a long time. I wanted to wait until everything was definite and there were no more setbacks. We just came home from picking up our new son.  Last time I posted we had not even passed court. Well we were able to pass court on Aug 5th. Everything went quickly and smoothly form there on. We received the visa call Sept. 19th and were on a plane Sept. 21st. Our "Gothcha Day" for Eyob was Sept. 24th.  He's a sweetheart and we are so blessed to be able to welcome him into our family.
We arrived in Ont. late Thursday evening. Our kids are so excited to be able to get to know him. He has had a bit of a rough start here. We already took him into the clinic with a double ear infection. he's having a hard time adjusting to the new time. Thank you everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement throughout this long wait to bring Eyob home. In hindsight we have seen God work through this whole process. At the time we wondered what he was doing. God provided us with a huge miracle and because of that we have Eyob home with us.
I hope to write more of our trip later. At this time we are all adjusting and are happily tired most of the time.

Small Miracle

At this point I will take any good news I can get. I found out that MOWA has sent in their supporting statement and now it needs to go back to the judge to be signed (a formality) and then they give us a new court date. This all should be done within the next couple of weeks. I was told that they are now booking court into mid Oct. and that seems like an eternity away especially since we have waited so long. Pray that we will get one before that. It's a possibility since we have already done the birth family court . I'm not sure how it works but I'm guessing that those with mid Oct court dates are that late because they have to do birth family court before that and court only resumes Sept. 26th. Please pray with me that we will get a early court date.
2 more months!!!!! It seems like forever but it isn't really.
I received this info today while in the car and was listening to a Christian radio station. A few minutes after the call a song by Downhere (I think that's the name) came on and the few lyrics that stood out were "HOPE, IT IS RISING.....". So suitable for the moment. It does feel like hope is bubbling up and that there is possibly an end in site.

Downer Posts

I've noticed that most of my posts recently have been fairly depressing. Although the news we have been receiving has been grim, we do have wonderful things happening in our lives. With this blog I just tend to focus on my adoption which has been facing many hurdles recently. The wonderful things in our lives are named Kyle, Rachel, Kelsey and Zach. Our children are what keeps us going. God has blessed us with amazing kids. Not perfect- but amazing. Our oldest (16) has switched jobs this summer. Instead of working in a grocery store stocking shelves he is doing construction and learning new skills. He has gotten his license and has become very independent. My grey hairs have tripled since he bought a motorcycle. Rachel (15) is busy working as a cashier at our local pharmacy. Loves her job and loves interacting with the elderly. I still have to chauffeur her around a lot. My other 2 are working on the farm hoeing some peppers and keeping busy having as many friends over as possible. Summer for kids is a magical time.

I've also been trying to focus on some positive things with Eyob.
-yes he is still in the orphanage but he is being taking care of and being loved. I've heard great reports about this orphanage. I'm thankful that with all the drought and starvation that is happening in Ethiopia, my little guy is being fed.
-in the big scheme of things, a few months won't matter that much. Yes, it is torture right now but in the end it will be worth it.
-knowing that we won't make court somewhat relaxs me. There is nothing we can do about it now and I don't feel this pressure that I had before.
-I do have a referal. At the rate referals have been coming in I need to be greatful that I have Eyob.

Probably won't make court closure

We found out today that the response we are waiting for from MOWA has not come and will not for a while. In light of this we are certain that we will not make court closure and am trying to wrap my head around that one. 2 more months of waiting. Not that it matters if we had made court closure. We more than likely would not have had the MOWA letter and would have been left waiting for that which would have come sometime in Aug. Then the courts would have had to sign off on that which they could not do because they are closed.
THOUGHT- Do you think MOWA will be on the ball for a while when courts reopen. Would we still be left waiting for the illusive letter from them or would it be ready for our court date??? HMMM. For those that would have court end of Sept., would they sail through? MOWA could not be behind at that point could they?

No news yet!!!

For all those who are curious as to what happened on Tuesday, we are still actually in the same boat as you. CURIOUS!!  We have received no news. I talked to Steve yesterday and he said the dreaded words " we'll contact you when we have received any info" . Honestly, wouldn't they know something by now. In the adoption world I have come to associate "no news" with " bad news".
The good news is that I have received 2 updates on Eyob through friends that were at the orphanage. It is bittersweet. I love to hear things about him but it makes me more homesick for him. He sounds like a wonderful little boy who loves to play and smile. I am thrilled to hear that because our referral pictures show a serious and sad boy.

Quick Update

We found out today that we are still waiting for one more thing before they can give us a court date. The investigation was complete by the July 1st birth-mother court date and now they are waiting for MOWA to respond to an amended document which is supposed to be done by July 12th. They will then hopefully give us a court date. It would be a miracle if we get one before closure which is somewhere around the 7th or 8th of August. Pray that we can get a date before the closure.
Thanks also for all your encouraging comments and personal e-mails. I was in B.C. recently and able to have a visit with Claire and it meant so much to be able to talk about this with someone who understands. Thanks so much Claire. One day we'll be able to look back and know this was all worth it.

Another Delay

We are facing another delay of at least 2 weeks. They were not able to do the birth-mother-court on Wed. because of lack of important information. The investigation is not complete and I don't know when it will be. This is all because important information was left out of the initial documents when our little guy went into care. It is now all coming out. I am not mad at the birth-mother. It's so hard for these women in 3rd world countries. I am upset for us and for our little guy. Each delay means more time for him in the orphanage and more heartache for us. With this last delay I can't see us getting a court date before their 2 month closure so we add on an extra 2 months of waiting. It goes to show you that honesty is the best policy. This could have all been avoided if the truth were told right away. We could be waiting for his visa right now, instead I feel like I am back to square one. The months waiting for a court date were harder than the months waiting for a referral. And this time waiting for another court date is twice as hard as waiting for our first court date.

Prayer requests:

• That the investigation will be complete by July 1st - the next birth-mother-court date
• That we can feel some peace about this all
• for the safety and health of our little Eyob in orphanage care

*update: I asked my case worker about court before closure happens and he said they are trying to get that to happen. Another prayer request.:)

Today was the day!!

Today was going to be our court date. Sigh!! Haven't heard anything new from MOT. They were hoping to have something for me on Mon. (3 days ago) but so far nothing. I don't know what to think about that. I would have thought that if they were positive things would turn out well, they would have booked another court date right away. I know that if people don't pass court in Ethiopia they are booked another court date right away. My case is so different than anyone elses that I don't know what to think. It's been a hard week sitting here knowing I should be somewhere else. I guess all I can do is wait until birth mother court is done (June 15th).
Thanks also for all your encouraging comments on the blog and some personal e-mails.

Court Date postponed

2 days before our departure we were told that our court has been postponed. There were issues with the birth mother appearance and this needs to be resolved before they can have a court date with us. MOT is confident that this will be resolved . That doesn't help the fact that emotionally I am ready to go on Sunday and we are still unsure of what we can do with our tickets.
Timing it's possibly a blessing as this frees my husband up to plant his crops. I was told that when this gets resolved I won't have any worries about passing court so that next time I go I can go stress free. I was told that it will be resolved and that MOWA will have the letter ready for us when we come.
Don't know when that will be. Birth mother court is the 15th of June and we should get a new court date after that.
International adoption is not what I thought it would be.
Pray for us. I am taking this hard even though I know it will work out in the end. My kids are taking this hard.