Time to pack.

We have our court date! We leave for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 4th, and will give our consent to the judge to adopt Acacia on July 8th. If all goes as planned, we will return 6 weeks later to bring her home. With less than a month to plan for trip #1, we are just slightly freaking out. :) So hard to believe we'll be meeting our daughter in mere days.

We recently went to a travel clinic, and got our arms stuck full of vaccinations (5 a piece) and left with two only-if-needed perscriptions, and a card for our passports that deems us safeguarded against Yellow Fever. I think it took that appointment for it all to finally sink in; we're really doing this.

We've started some conversations with Zinnia about the trip and why we're going. She gets it, sort of. I think I'm more worried about her adventures without us than I am about our own distant travels. She will be in good hands, but I know I'm going to miss her like crazy.

2 weeks ago, Zinnia transitioned to her "big girl bed," which is actually quite tiny. Regardless, she can get in and out of it at will. I don't want to jinx us, but she's been a rockstar with it! It's a common occurrence to go into her room at 11pm and find her smack dab in the middle of it, curled up on the floor amongst a slew of stuffed animals... but she's happily asleep and is plunked back onto the mattress none-the-wiser, so who cares?!

The interesting thing is, there was no need to pack up the crib. So, as it once waited for Zinnia to make her entrance into the world and our lives, it now awaits little Acacia to fill it up.

This part of the wait has been a lot harder. Acacia is real now, and I often wonder what the heck she's up to, all those miles and time zones away from us. Just learned that Ethiopia begins potty training at 9 months; let's hope she's taking to it well!

Our next post will likely be coming from Africa - stay tuned.....

Happy Mother's Day!

"I was thrilled to have the opportunity to offer the only referral this week; a beautiful 8 ½ month old girl. The family waited just 6 ½ months to be matched."

That's an excerpt from last week's Ethiopia Adoption Update.... and that family is US! We got the call during the work day; and I can't tell you how exciting it was to get home and open up an email containing photographs of our daughter-to-be.

I am not permitted to share details over the WWW in any way, but I can tell you that I'm looking at her picture right now, and she's absolutely beautiful. She has large, wide-set dark eyes and very full lips. Upon review of her medical records by our pediatrician, she is deemed in great health, and hits the 50% percentile for both height and weight, which is awesome news.

We love her birth name, and have dubbed it to be her middle name (another detail I can't post). Now comes the hardest part... awaiting our court date. Families generally travel for court 2-3 months after the referral is accepted, but with all the changes to the program (see last post), it could take longer. Our adoption counselor was optimistic, however, that we wouldn't be too far off base for our date. Once we have that, it all becomes very real.

In the meantime, we are enjoying the new feeling of being a family of 4. Also, we want to thank everyone who's helped us get to this point. Whether it was writing a reference letter, purchasing a fundraising flower, or just taking an active interest; there's been a lot of support and we couldn't appreciate it more.

More soon, I hope. :)