Court Closures!

It's been a long 2 plus weeks that we have not heard anything about the adoption or referral process. I called our coordinator yesterday and was told that there are finally children being prepared for referral (med. tests, family history, age etc...). She feels confident that a referral will be coming soon. For those of you wondering, a referral means that we actually find out who our new little "Grace" is. We then must wait for a court date to actually call her ours. With that being said, today IAN (International Adoption Net) posted to their blog that Ethiopian courts will close August 21st and reopen again late September. The courts close every year for rainy season. This does not mean much for us, they still give referrals and MOWA still passes paperwork for adoptive children, they just will not have a court date until after the courts re open. This is exciting to me because I thought that courts were closed until October and typically begin the closure in early August. The wait is hard but I just have to keep telling myself that it is so worth it! We keep praying for Grace to be watched over, safe and feel of our love...wherever she may be. I will keep the blog updated and hopefully post with a referral very soon!

Rainbow Bridge - Lake Powell 2009

I finally figured out how to post a picture with a post. If I am not careful, I could spend hours on this blog trying to figure out how to do things...No change on the adoption list except that I heard that there will not be many referrals in the near future. Court is scheduled to close August first through October first for the rainy season. Referrals are still given but no court dates or travel dates are set. I am choosing to not get to impatient yet but the waiting process is not easy for me. I just pray that Grace is being well taken care of and will soon be in our lives. My friend that just adopted told me that when it's all over and you have that child in your arms it makes the wait worth it and you forget all about the frustration. That sounded a lot like being pregnant to me...I do know that it is in God's hands and out of mine!

Let the journey begin...

Welcome to our blog. I am very new at this and thank my sister-in-law for finally assisting me with creating this blog. I have a lot to learn but wanted to create a blog as a way of keeping track of our adoption process as well as the many wonderful and amazing things my family experiences along the way.

We just returned from an amazing trip to Lake Powell. I will attempt to post some pictures of the trip after this blog post. It was such a wonderful bonding experience for my family. We had amazing weather and the beauty of our surroundings was to say the least breathtaking. We just purchased a boat along with some friends and at first I was leery of the idea but after this trip I am 100% on board and totally excited about the purchase. When we left for Lake Powell on the 4th of July, we were #3 on the toddler girl list and #3 on the infant girl list. As of today July 12th we have moved to #2 on the infant list and stayed at #3 on the toddler list. What does that all mean? Well, at the beginning of this process we were #10 on the toddler girl list and #16 on the infant girl list. We have slowly moved up the list and when at #1 (sometimes sooner) we will receive a referral (an actual face and name). Our homestudy is approved for a 12-36 month old girl so we will not get a child younger or older than that. Shane and I both agreed on that age prior to the entire adoption journey. The other deal that we made was that he would not have to change any dirty diapers. We'll see how long that lasts... It has been a bit challenging for me to be patient and I am sure it will become more so but I do know that it is all in God's hands and out of my control. So, for now I will leave you with that information and at a later time when my family is not waiting for me to eat, I will continue with the McMillan family adoption story...