Submitted!!!

We finally got the email that we've been submitted to Embassy!!!! Woohoo!!!.

It's been 5 long months since we left our daughter and two months since passing court. Hoping this last phase of the approval process goes without a hitch and we can soon reunite.

Hiccup..

It's not international adoption, well, adoption in general without hiccups, right? Found out last week that our court decree has to be re-written. Sigh. More delays. But we soldier on to bringing our daughter home.

Hope the next update will be of better news...

Exhale.

For the past three months(since our court date), I've felt like I've been holding my breath, in regards to our adoption, but today, I can finally exhale, because WE PASSED COURT!!!!!

We've had some major bumps along the way, still expecting some bumps but I'm in awe of HIS faithfulness in this journey!!!

Here's introducing our daughter, Zola Atemuchi, who just recently turned one. Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!!

Still here..

Still here...Still waiting on our case to be finalized...Sigh

Hoping to get some concrete answers this week on our status.

Funk...

I know I've been bad about blogging about our trip to Ethiopia, but I still cannot put it in words...yet

We are still waiting for our MOWA letter with two days to go before court closure. The not knowing is putting me in a funk and also other news from our agency that there might be complications with our MOWA letter..NOT what I wanted to hear!!!

Just praying that things are resolved & we can bring our little girl home.

Lately....

Not so good news...Our preliminary court date was on July 4th, and like we had anticipated, the opinion was not issued, but are still holding hope that it will be issued soon (hopefully before the courts close)

In a more happier note....We leave in less than 72 hours for Addis. We are so excited and still trying to pack for the trip. We can't wait to meet our little one and love on her....

Counting down the hours...

Court Date!!!!

I.am.speechless

Just found out today of our court dates!!!! I really wasn't expecting this so soon but beyond thrilled!

Our preliminary court date(which we don't need to attend) is on July 4th and the second one, which we do need to attend is on July 14th!!!

34 days away. We get to meet our daughter. Woooohooooo!!!

The wait after the wait...

I finally get it. I used to wonder why other PAP said the wait after the referral was HARDER. Now I get it!!!!!
After almost a month after our referral, this wait is painstakingly SLOW. Every moment I look at her picture, I can't stop imagining what she's up to. Is she sleeping? awake? feeding? playing with the other kiddos?...what milestone has she achieved that I will miss..and the list goes on.

I know she's in the best care but this doesn't lessen this agonizing wait.

Happy 7 months baby girl...

The Call...

I started my morning @ work with the usual blog stalking and checking the Gladney board to see if there had been any referrals or any opinions issued. After a while, I got back to work and at around 9.45am, my phone started vibrating.
You see, I had instructed my hubby not to call me on my cell during work hours, but on my work phone coz we do talk often and I didn't want to jump out of my seat every time the phone rang. And there, in small print, was the 817 #. I think I squealed and jumped out of my chair, said hi to Kristin and told her to hold as I dashed my way out of the office to take the call (we work in cubicles).

Me: Hey Kristin, Please tell me this is our referral call????

Her: Yes, it is. I can't wait to tell you about your daughter. Do you want me to conference in Nick?

Me: Can I call you right back after I figure how we'll do these..... Click.

We had discussed how we would take our referral call. Nick would drive to my work place and we'd take take the call together but that went all out the door. He works about 70 miles away from me and with LA traffic, forget about it!! So, I told Kristin, I'd call her right back once we figured the logistics out.
I called my hubby and I think I was totally incoherent. We decided we'd just take the call and meet later. I told him I'd call Kristin and she'd conference him on the call.
Luckily, I had my older cell, so I took my two phones and dashed to the Starbucks across the street and that's how I got to meet our daughter. One phone on the ear and the other frantically scrolling up and down. I must have looked like a lunatic with tears rolling down my eyes... but hey!gotta do what you gotta do!!!

PS: Word to those who use the Iphone. It doesn't open zipped files, so I could only open the PDF file that had the pic with her write up, but not all the other pics. So while, my hubby was oooing and aahing, on how cute she was at his desk, I was simply frustrated!!!!lol.

From now on, Tax day, will be associated with "meeting" our daughter and not the frustrations of filing our taxes :-)

Another PS: I cannot express how glad we picked Gladney as our agency. For all waiting families, they really do take great care of the children in their care and our daughter is proof of that.

817!!!!

Yes, you guessed right! We got our referral today...

6 month old adorable girl.

Details to follow, once I get a chance to process all the info...

On cloud 9..

Breathe...

Just breathe,
You gotta let it go,
Let it go,
So you can grow.
You gotta let it go,
Let it go,
Breathe... (The Floacist)

This is my mantra lately with all this ups & downs in our adoption journey...I believe things will get resolved (soon).

Until then...

Asra-and

Today marks eleven months on the wait list and how can I describe my feelings lately?? Anxious, Frustrated, Tired (of the unknown)...and the list goes on.

Pause..

With this "pause'', I really need to stop looking @ the FBI list, every couple of hours, as though miraculously it will change :-)

Need a new obsession.