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. :)