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The O'Connor Clan Eliza Catherine Yu (Lizzie) Egan Patrick Chaka & Elinor Margaret Mengyi (Ellie) |
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Stories 7/14/10 - The internet has been running really slow here, causing several lost entries.....sorry for the delay!
Last Friday was a bad day, a really bad day. It was our day to leave Hangzhou. First, our travel plans left no time for a nap, then Ellie's passport was not ready (making getting a Visa and the ability to leave the country most difficult), then we got to spend 3 1/2 hours waiting for our flight due to a UFO sighting at the airport. But the most "unfun" experience of all was figuring out "the hard way" that Ellie gets carsick...twice. So at 10:30 at night, we pulled up to the 5 star White Swan hotel, exhausted, cranky, and covered in vomit. Good times.
But luckily, things have been nothing but pleasant since then. Despite the oppressive heat and humidity, we have shopped, swam, toured, and strolled around this lovely island. Ellie has really come out of her shell and has become an expert waver to familiar and unfamiliar faces alike. We have also started to pilfer some bread each morning from the famous (and delicious) White Swan breakfast buffet to feed the koy on our morning walk. Walking into Lucy's or the Cow and Bridge for lunch or dinner is kind-of like walking into the dining hall of summer camp. Lots of familiar faces and conversations with "friends" that we would never have met or spoken to in the real world but because of this shared experience, suddenly feel like we have so much in common with.
Ellie actually has quite a bit of hearing and apparently was speaking in her native tongue. She actually had very few "home signs" since she could point or articulate her needs. She is not picking up on the signs as quickly as we had hoped because she can get what she wants without using them. But she has learned and uses the signs for milk, more, eat, drink, finished, boat, fish, bird, bus, baby, shoes, stop, and no. I am using more signs with her and she is starting to also learn signs for dog, cat, trash, bathe, walk, wait, calm down, slow, gentle, careful, please, and thankyou. So a pretty good start.
This morning we painted our nails and it is pretty clear that we have a girlie-girl on our hands. She had to take her shoes off at the restaurant to show off her pedicure to our fellow traveler, Gary. He appropriately oohed and ahhed, adding to the glowing smile that adorned her face. I have to say that Ellie's pictures do not do her justice. She is constantly smiling and hamming it up until I pull out the camera; then suddenly she becomes very serious. The most frustrating thing is that, like a typical 4 year old, she loves looking at her picture after it is taken. So I take a picture of this serious looking little girl, then she looks at the digital image and breaks out in a huge grin! She'll get the hang of it soon enough, and like Lizzie and Mommmy, learn how to "strike a pose" when she sees a camera!
I was really dreading the long stay in Guangzhou at the beginning of the week, but things have really gone well. Ellie's passport has finally arrived and our visa appointment went off without a hitch (thank goodness- the first time in three adoptions we didn't hit an INS glitch!) Just one more day and then we begin the long, long, long trip home. I am not looking forward to the extensive airplane ride with Ellie, or the two 4+ hour layovers we have scheduled; but at the end of the trip we get to see Sean (or Baba, as Ellie calls him). That is a sight I am anxiously anticipating!
7/7/2010 We arrived at our Hangzhou hotel at about 10 pm on Sunday (much later than planned due to our flight being delayed for several hours) anxious to get our cameras charged up for the "Big Day" on Monday. But when I plugged our adapter in, there was a loud POP and we suddenly found ourselves in total darkness. After plundering about in the dark for a bit, I managed to contact the front desk who flipped a switch/ replaced a fuse and got us up and running again. I pulled out adapter number two, plugged it in, and POP! darkness again. Of-course by the second go round it was clear I was not only wipng out our electricity, but everyone nearby on our floor as well. Needless to say, they asked us not to use the outlets which has been a problem for recharging things, and subsequently I didn't update sooner. Sorry!
Our guide Peter took us to the Civil Affairs office Monday to get Ellie. We walked in the door and I saw the cutest little two-year-old sitting on a chair. I quickly did a double-take when her face looked so familiar and was astonished to realize that the little peanut was not a two year old, but our little Ellie. She looked so frightened, so small, so very solomn.
I sat down next to her and the social worker from the orphanage shared some information with us, among the news was that Ellie does have some hearing and can speak some of the local dialect. The social worker got right in front of Ellie and shouted several things at her, I suppose to explain. It did not seem to comfort her.
I patiently took my time slowly increasing our interactions. About 30 or 40 minutes in her lip started quivering and she began to cry. The social worker suggested I pick her up, which I did, but it did nothing to soothe her. However within minutes I realized she was pulling at herself. I took her to the bathroom, and sure enough, that was the problem. It turned out to be just what we needed. The fact that I was able to help her when she needed it was the first step for her to trust me and let down some of her walls. Shortly there after, she was leading me around and pointing to all of the things that made her happy or she found astonishing: the water cooler, the bicycles outside, the rice crackers, the bright colored buses. We were all good!
Coming back to our hotel room must have been like Christmas morning to her. She opened all the drawers, went through all the luggage. She was very excited when I showed her the clothing I brought for her and promptly pulled it out, folding each tiny pair of underwear with a smile. ANd of course she wanted to use the bathroom about every 5 minutes- I now consider it our "bonding time!"
Tuesday morning brought a little confusion and insecurity when Ellie opened her eyes. But it was amazing the speed at which she seemed to remember and find comfort with us. We headed back to the civil affairs office and completed the official adoption and then filed all the paperwork for her passport. After a long and much needed nap for all three of us, we ventured out into the streets of Hangzhou to do a little shopping and find something to eat beyond the hotel restaurants.
We wandered around (a little aimlessly I must admit) but we finally found a store that sold children's shoes. The shoes that Ellie had when we got her were far too small. The shoes we brough we just a hair too big, but enough so that she would not keep them on her feet for more than five minutes. After our grand success with the shoes we were brave enough to go into the book store to buy some Chinese children's books for Lizzie and Ellie and then find dinner. It was at dinner that Ellie realized her shoes lit up. I could not pay enough money for that smile- it was priceless. It was a great little outing and left us feeling very successful and continental!
Today was all about site seeing and touring the beautiful lake at the center of the city. It was really stunning, like traveling through a postcard. But with all the sites and views to behold, it seems that Barbara and I were still more exciting to many of the local tourists and posed time and time again for photographs with and for the Chinese tourists! Ellie was not happy at all with all of the Chinese people that came up to her and wanted to talk, one who even picked her up and stuck her on her lap for a photo before I could stop her! But it was very clear today that Ellie looks to Barbara and I for comfort and security, which is really exciting news.
I am a little nervous to jinx us, but it has been the best transition we could have ever hoped for. I even joked to Barabara earlier that I have always said that God gives us each what he knows we can handle and He must not think I can handle much because He has made each of the transitions for my kids so easy!
7/2/2010 So Barbara and I are finishing up our last days in Beijing. It has been hot, hot, hot, according to the themometer, around 100! We have spent the last few days getting over our jet lag, stretching our legs after the long, cramped flight, and getting to know our fellow Bethany families (who have been awesome). I am a little sad in that, since it is summer, many of the families have brought their children on the trip, dtwo little girls who had been adopted from China, both close to Lizzie's age. It just makes me miss Lizzie and Egan so much more and I am glad that I have my little photo album of pictures to get me through.
We put a serious dent in our pocketbooks today at the pearl factory. It was a lot of fun and Barbara even flexed her bargaining skills. I left with one heavy bag and one big smile!
Tomorrow night we fly out to Hangzhou, which we will do by ourselves, as each family heads to the individual province from which their new child is from. I'm admittedly a little nervous; Shiyan has mentioned three times that Ellie's deafness is liable to make our transition and time in province the most difficut of all the families in our travel group. I have known this in theory for quite some time, but have been blissfully hoping for the best, something I am still prayful for.
I also got to Skype with Sean, Lizzie and Egan for the first time tonight. It was awesome to be so far away but still be able to hear them and see their faces. Egan was about to bust with excitemnet when he saw me and wouldn't stop attacking the screen- a site to make even the most weary traveler smile.
I was hoping to get some pictures up tonight but I am having a few difficulties with the website. I hope to have these worked out by tomorrow and some pictures in place to help share our journey very soon.
Ellie's Timeline:
1/04/07 - Officially began adoption #2!
6/04/07 - DTC: Documents mailed to China
7/13/07 - LID: Documents logged in China by the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs)
1/28/10 - Decided, whole-heartidly, to switch to a Special Needs/ COP
2/09/10 - Mailed off all of our COP paperwork
3/25/10 - Got "The Call," Ellie's Referral!
3/30/10 - LOI: Mailed off our Letter of Intent
4/01/10 - PA: Preliminary Approval by the CCAA
4/19/10 - LOA!!! Letter of Acceptance
4/28/10 - National Visa Center forwards our application to China
5/26/10 - We have our Travel Approval (TA)!!!!
6/30/10 - Depart for China
7/04/10 - Gotcha Day when we meet Ellie, destined to be an all American girl! 7/13/10 - Consulate Appointment to allow Ellie to enter the US- 3 years to the day when China logged in our adoption paperwork!
7/17/10 - Ellie will enter the US to meet her Daddy and her new family!!!
Hold on Ellie, we're coming!!!
5/21/10 - We have been waiting for our Travel Approval for 32 days, honestly, I thought we would have it by now and it has emotionally been a rough couple of days. We did celebrate Ellie' s 4th birthday in her absence, complete with a mango birthday cake and a pile of presents that Lizzie helped open. We even sang happy birthday to Ellie in sign language (captured on video). Lizzie was in great big sister mode until the zhu zhu pet was opened, and then she suddenly decided that some of the presents would be better used by Lizzie versus Ellie!
So while the end of another week brought some disappointment and tears that we have not been able to book our travel for June, we did get two updates this week. The first was in response to some questions that we had submitted, the second was unexpected, and while largely repeatitive, still had some new info and a new picture.
Ellie has grown quite a bit since her initial paperwork was done and now weighs 28 lbs, though based on custom, that is likely her weight fully clothed. We found out that she is close to her older foster brother, enjoys kindergarten, that she is allergic to pinapple, shellfish, and ironically, mango, and that the easisest way to make her happy is "give in to her demands!" Sounds like a healthy 4 year old to me!
I am having a hard time saving the picture they sent to my hard drive, but I find it ammusing that she is drinking out of a straw in the picture- an action she is doing in 2 of the 3 photos we have of her.....simply odd.
The newest buzz on-line is that several families with similar timelines as ours have been told to expect their TAs on Monday, so we are extreamly prayerful that we will hear something then as well and that it will give us enough time to still get a June consulate appointment and travel in early June. Please keep us in your thoughts, I know we are all anxious to get Ellie home
4/25/10 - So our lives continue to be busy as we prepare for Ellie's arrival. We spent the weekend in the first phases of "musical bedrooms": Moving the craftroom downstairs and moving the guestroom to the old craftroom. Now we can install new closet doors, repair some drywall, and paint the old guestroom to prepare it to become Egan's new "big boy" room which will be RAVEN's themed! This will then allow us to update the nursery to become Ellie's new room.
Our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) was Fed-Exed off last week along with our Power of Attorney, since Sean is not traveling. We have confirmed that Sean's mom will be my travel companion and will start our visa applictation this week. We are really pushing ourselves to get things done with the hopes that we will be approved to travel with the June travel group that is arriving in Beijing on June 3rd. While this would require us to have a very speedy approval and also assumes that there are consulate appointments available for the June dates, it would be a huge blessing and relief to travel at that time. The alternative would be to wait until July. In addition to just wanting to get Ellie home ASAP, the July timeline would have me traveling when Lizzie and Egan are out of school (not ideal) and missing my brother Brandon's wedding. Unfortunately, at this point the timeline is out of our hands and we are just prayerful that we can accept with grace whichever date we are assigned.
If our lives were not busy enough, we celebrated the kids "gotcha anniversaries" recently. This is the first year that Lizzie has truly understood what "gotcha day" is (the day we got her in China) and she was really, really excited by it. She got a little tea-set that we purchased for her on our China trip and has been faithfully serving "real, Chinese, hot tea" every day since! Egan got a little drum made of some authentic animal skin, but he could really care less. He would much rather talk on his pretend cell phone or participate in popcorn popper races around the kitchen island. Life is pretty uncomplicated when you are only 21 months old.
Please pray for our travel date and our patience. Of-course we have Ellie in our prayers each day hoping that she's happy and being well cared for. Somehow I have started to love this litle girl that I have never met more and more with each passing day. My excitement is being tempered with tears of worry as I think about the confusion and fear that she is going to experience with this transition, knowing there will probably be very little communication to her to be able to explain what is happening. We just want her home, to love her, and give her a "new normal."
3/30/10- We sent off our LOI today, that is our Letter of Intent for the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs asking to officially be approved as Ellie's adoptive parents. Hopfully, if everything goes well, we should hear back from them in about 6-8 weeks with an LOA- Letter of Acceptance.
I can't belive it has been less than a week since our referral call. In five short days we have talked with our pediatrician (she gave glowing reviews based on what she could glean from the medical and social history), ordered a ton of ASL flashcards and support materials to improve our sign language, talked with the school for the deaf to get all the admissions information to enroll Ellie in pre-K next year, joined a yahoo group especially for adoptive parents of deaf, Chinese orphans, and purchased new beds for both Lizzie and Ellie. That doesn't even count our full time jobs, playing with our existing two love-bugs, and having our final post-placement visit with Debby, the final step for Egan's adoption. I'm exhausted just writing about it!
It is nice to have spring break now to catch up on our huge "to-do" list and enjoy some time with the extended family.
Easter is such a special holiday for us. Outside of it always being my favorite Christian holiday to start with, we were blessed to get Egan last year on Easter day and we got Lizzie the day after Easter 4 years ago. Now we have another Easter time celebration with the arrival of Ellie's referral. We are truly grateful.
3/25/10: We got "the call!"
Yay! I love being able to type that news! The CCAA (China's adoptive team) updated the list of available special needs kids last Friday and we had really hoped to get a call telling us that we were matched. But we hadn't. As days passed by I started to see people pop up on-line and share their referral news, none of which matched the criteria we had specified we were open to, but I was still a litlle sad. In-fact Sean and I just had a conversation about it last night.
And then today we got the call!
First, Debby called to ask us some very specific "clarifying" questions about specific handicapping conditions and ages that we were open to. I was hoping this was a sign that they had a child in mind for us, but was afraid to get my hopes up. But then, within the hour, she called back with our referral.
When we had talked with Debby a month or so ago and had completed our paperwork she had asked us if we wanted to put in a preference for deafness or a 3-4 year old because our paperwork and conversations seemed to lean that way so much. But we did not want to express a preference. I truly feel that God had matched us perfectly, TWICE, who am I to interfere?
But wouldn't you know that our little Ellie is turning four in just a month and a half and is deaf.
And unlike the two kids sleeping soundly in our house right now....she is shy! Finally, Sean has a comrade within the house!
Lizzie is so excited; she cluched Ellie's picture in her hand as she marched up the steps for bed tonight exclaiming, "I'm going to keep her picture close Mom, so that I don't forget my sister."
And I just feel...ready. This weekend we had an unseasonably, beautiful weekend, which we tried to enjoy to the fullest outside. After spending Saturday at the zoo, we spent Sunday in the yard, doing some much needed pruning. And as I sat there gardening with Lizzie in her mini-garden-gloves, singing show-tunes in tandem as Egan covered his grapes in soil, I thought, "I am living my dream: this is the life I have always wanted." And as corny as it sounds, it was so nice to be in the moment and appreciate everything that I had.
It is not that I feel that I need more. But I truly was enjoying my life so much in that moment that it made me realize, once again, how much we can offer another child and how our happiness will be built from each other, not a new car or fancier furniture (though I like those things too!).
So as Sean and I finish celebrating over our over-priced champagne (can you tell?), I just hope that we can hold on to this feeling of bliss as our lives become more harried and chaotic, and that we have enough bliss to share with all of our loved ones as well- your prayers and support have served us well.
Blessings,
Shannon, Sean, Eliza, Egan, and ELLIE!
2/25/10- So as I kissed my husband when he walked through the door last night, I was met by a sneaky smile as he said, "So what did Debby have to say today?"
Debby is our incredibly patient social worker who has been fielding my daily calls and emails as we tackle the newest change in our adoption journey.
Several weeks ago, after many months of discussions, Sean and I changed our China paperwork from waiting for a "healthy infant" to waiting for a "special needs toddler." We asked ourselved many questions and looked at any number of possible scenarios as we narrowed down what sorts of needs we could best handle and what age child would best suit our family. Now that we have made those choices and shuttled them off to Debby, we are back to the "anxiously waiting" phase.
When we had been waiting on our previous referrals it was easy to predict general timeframe windows in that the matching is done in a very linear fashion. If you are family 197, you are matched with baby 197. So as you wait and you see family 180, 181, 182, etc. get matched, it is easy to know that your referral will be arriving shortly. Now, since it is guestimated that there are still over 10,000 people waiting in line for China, those lines have become very long and the predicted time frames far off. If we were to stay in the "healthy child" line, based on where we are in line, it would likely be another 3 years to wait for our baby. And I should note, it is not the wait that has caused us to change our course. The decision to change was a complicated one, but we were pretty sure we didn't want another baby (we prefer a toddler), and we were really sure as both us and the kids get older that we wouldn't want a new baby three years from now!
So now we are waiting for our toddler who in the Bethany world is called a Child of Promise, or a COP child. With a COP referral, there really isn't a line. When our agency sees a child that matches the ages and needs that we felt open to they will call us with a referral. This could take 6 days or 6 months, the call could literally come at any time. Debby, our social worker, feels that our wait won't be long, which brings us to the frequent phone calls, emails, and questions that I have been perseverating over. Everytime my classroom phone rings I think, "This could be it," only to be disappointed when my secretary tells me that some poor sixth grader's lunch money has arrived!
So now you are all "in the know." At this point in time, you know as much as we do, though you are probably more relaxed about the waiting game. We will pass on news as it becomes available, but as always, ask for your prayers as we hope to be matched to the perfect little girl for our family!
2/8/10- So we are enjoying a few cozy days at home after 38 inches of snow has closed schools, side streets, and small businesses in the area. Luckily we stocked up at Costco, the grocery and liquor stores before the first flake began to fall, so we have enjoyed delicious meals, hearty wines, and even had neighbors over (who had no electricty!) last night to enjoy an amazing superbowl game. Unfortunately, the snow is too deep to really sled and play in, but we have gotten out to walk around and enjoy how the sun sparkles and gltters off the enormous, fresh banks of snow. It is lovely. We are fortunate that our street was one of the first and few to get plowed. We are using the time to catch up on some much needed cleaning projects, some adoption paperwork, and of course- Lizzie's favorite- brownie baking!
Another storm is heading our way tomorrow night, probably keeping schools closed for the week. We are hoping things will be cleared up on Friday so that Lizzie and I can drive down to North Carolina and visit Nana. It has been about a week and a half since she donated her kidney and we were hoping to lift her spirits while she waits for Papa John (and his new kidney- yay!) to return home from the transplant site in Toledo.
Another day to count our blessings and enjoy our family and friends- Life is Good in Ellicott City!
2/3/10 It has been an emotional and heart wrenching week for us. As we have received so many prayers and kind words from our many friends and loved ones, I figured that we were due for an update on the website.
Sadly, we lost Sean's father, Paul, on January 22. He was an amazing man, father, and grandfather, and I think we all feel the loss of his physical presence in our lives. But, as we discussed with Lizzie and she is quick to remind us, Grandpa is an angel now who will always be watching over us, and that is an enormous blessing. Lizzie was able to fly with us to the Cape for the services and to spend time with Grandma, her Aunts, Uncles, and cousins, while Egan spent the week with his wonderful and uber-patient Godmother, Beth.
In the middle of the many emotions we struggled through and the many smiles we shared remembering what an awesome man Paul was, we had several really meaningful conversations about our family and what we needed to give and receive from our family to feel successful and fulfilled. I can't help but think that part of Paul's extensive legacy is the impact and influence his life shed on those conversations.
So after many months of being unsure about if we will pursue this third adoption in China, we discovered the file of a little 4 year old, special needs girl who we felt call to us and would be a wonderful compliment to our family. We applied to be her adoptive family, but sadly for us, she was matched elsewhere. What this event did solidify for us though, was our certainty that we did indeed have one more daughter waiting for us in China, and that she is most likely a toddler with some sort of special need.
This strange and sad series of events that had unfolded over the week turned out to open a door in our hearts and minds and provide clarity where there was uncertainty, direction where there had been ambiguity, and just reminded us that God works in mysterious but wondrous ways.
This is the journal entry I typed our first day in Ethiopia, but was unable to post while there. I have also gone back and added some pictures that coincide with the entry. Saturday 4/11/09: We have finally arrived in Ethiopia and it is everything and at the same time, nothing like what we expected.
We started the day waking from a brief nap on the plane to the most breathtaking sunrise above an endless, tumultuous, sea of clouds. It was awe inspiring and peaceful and made us realize how truly blessed we are to make this trip. We were able to befriend three other couples on the plane who are all adopting through AWAA. Having some new found friends to share the long ride with made the trip much more enjoyable: sharing adoption journeys, and swapping out our magazines. We were also lucky enough not to have a packed flight which allowed us to spread out and stretch a bit; overall for spending 17 hours in the plane, it was not bad at all. Our Bethany guide, Milkiyas, met us at the airport and navigated getting our cab and finding our guest house for us (I really don't think we would have gotten here on our own). The city is fascinating and totally unique. The roads here in the city seem to be, for the most part, in excellent shape [this was later proven otherwise!], the condition of the cabs and cars on the road however, not so much. But immediately beyond the asphalt roads is dirt, with very little grass to be seen. And the sheer number of people and livestock walking along these dirt paths along the major highways was staggering. I have already lost count of the number of donkeys we have seen, they seem to be everywhere in this capital city. There seems to be a tremendous amount of building being done as well, but it is hard to tell if all the construction is active or if some has been abandoned within some stage of the building process. In either case it is common to see newer structures, representing a huge variety of architecture, within feet of something that can only be described as a shanty; and again, almost no greenery. In general we are surprised that we have not seen more "pockets" of economic development, even though we had previously been warned repeatedly about the poverty. We now understand why the website for the guesthouse in which we are staying made such a big deal about their patch of grass- it is truly a unique and welcomed feature from what we have seen so far.
There was a significant thunderstorm this afternoon with sheets of rain pounding off of the corrugated tin roofs all around us. That unique sound, along with the booming thunder temporarily drowned out the rooster that has been crowing outside our window since our arrival. After spending most of the day sleeping in our room listening to the strange melody of the storm, we had dinner tonight with a large group of college kids from Illinois who had been doing mission work in the area orphanages. They were leaving to head home after the meal but were clearly animated and changed by their experiences here. Their sadness at having to leave the children after only one week and the impact that the trip has had on them was very evident. We also met Holly, with her new 14 month old son Alizar, as well as Holly's mother Dianne, who is traveling with them. Alizar is adorable and has perfected the baby bird pose of opening his mouth as wide as possible in anticipation of being fed.... so, so cute. We are fortunate that they will be here with us all week, so I cannot wait until we can bring Egan back here to the guest home so they can have a play date.
Tomorrow we are told that we will start the day with church services, though thay are not celebrating Easter here as the Ethiopian calandar is a week behind ours. After that we will go with the other Bethany family to the Shalam transition house and meet Egan for the first time. I am so excited and anxious to meet him. My mind is flooded with questions: What does he look like four months after his original photos were taken? What is his little personality going to be like? How will he respond to us? Will he let us hold and snuggle him and smother him wth our love? Can we do all of that without crying and scaring the bejesus out of him? Ahhhh, we just can't wait! What a day! Tuesday in Addis Ababa: This is the first chance we have had internet access. We have been journaling up a storm but will have to add those once we have returned home. We have found that both electricity and running water cannot be counted on and are absent more often than they are present. But is has not kept us from enjoying our stay and all the wonderful people we have met, both American and Ethiopian. But on to the important stuff- Egan is AWESOME! He has the biggest eyes, huge cheeks, and two little teeth that are forever poking out. He loves to dance, just like his nannies had said and he is very, very laid back. We are having a great time together. We are having some paperwork issues here with the consulate and have an appointment today to hopefully get Egan's visa, if not we may have to extend our stay. We should know by tonight, so please keep us in your prayers. UPDATE: Our paperwork was received this morning so we are good to go! Today has been our best day yet with smile after smile and filled with great news about our visa and just good times in general. We did find out that Egan's birth certificate lists his birthday as July 20th, not April 20th- a pretty big difference. So we are anxious to talk with our pediatrician and see which date she thinks is more likely. This is all we can update tonight, they are about to switch the generator off and we will lose power. Odd, now that it is day 4, this just doesn't seem unusual to us! Thankyou for all of the prayers- they were heard and we are ecstatic!
4/10/09- Well we are currently at Chris and Lauren's cozy abode in Manassas for the evening as Lauren is driving us to the airport at 5:45 tomorrow morning. We have checked and double checked all of our luggage and honestly, it looks like we are heading overseas for the next month instead of the next week. At this point in time our biggest worry is that we have forgotten something vital- though with all of our frequent checks I can't imagine that happening. I would love to be hopping into bed right now (at 10:37 PM) but I am really too excited for that to actually happen. Soooo instead I am bonding with my bro, catching up on the masters, and snagging DVD's from Chris' collection to watch at the airport tomorrow. We will update if we can, but if not I hope we can assume that "no news is good news"! Blessings- Shannon, Sean, Lizzie, and Egan
3/30/09- Another great call today! I came home from the doctor today only to open the door and see Sean on the phone with our social worker! (of-course he immediately sent me into panic mode because of the stressed and concerned look on his face. It turns out he just does not understand all the abbreviations and acronyms for all of the paperwork, since I handle all of that, and Debby had him overwhelmed and confused with all of the information!) Regardless of whether we traveled this week, we were hoping to hear by today about the TB test and some hint as to our travel time. Turns out that Egan passed his TB test (thank God!) and that we will be traveling over Easter weekend to get him. We had hoped to travel this week, so this is a one week delay from our "best case scenario," but this gives us some much needed time to prepare and complete all of those last minute projects we had been procrastinating about. The funny thing is that we received Lizzie the day after Easter 3 years ago; and if everything goes as scheduled, we will get Egan the day after Easter as well! So this is great news and we are thankful, and ecstatic, and feel very, very blessed. More news to follow when we iron out our travel details! UPDATE: We booked our flights and we head out the Good Friday, 4/10 and will be returning Friday, 4/17. A pretty quick trip, just long enough to be totally jet lagged and disoriented, but we can't wait!
3/26/09- We just heard that Egan got his passport yesterday and that he was tested for TB today. Every little step has us bubbling with excitement. Unfortunately the US consulate changed their guidelines 3 days ago (!!!) and now all children must be retested for TB after they receive their passport but before they can be issued a visa. If a child should test positive then the child is required to stay in Ethiopia for an additional six months while they receive treatment. Needless to say, we are prayerful that Egan's test comes up negative; we should hopefully hear by tomorrow, Monday at the latest. If all goes well with the TB test then we should get the next available consulate appointment. We have finally kicked our rumps in gear and have been really productive this week getting all the last minute things completed. Really all that is left is a good spring cleaning and we are good to go, and boy are we ready!
3/24/09- So we did not get a call this week (it was a long-shot, but a small part of me was still hoping). But my heart and my gut is telling me that next week is going to be THE week! Keep your fingers crossed. If we can travel next week Egan will be home by Easter which would be just awesome, if not, we will probably be gone for Easter and Lizzie will have to celebrate without us :(
3/20/09- We just found out through another family that Egan made the 4 hour trip this week from Awassa to Addis Ababa. He is now staying in a small transitional home with the other children that were referred at the same time he was (which should be 2 infants close to his age and I think 5 older children). I am hoping this means that our consulate appointment is coming up and that we should get the phone call in one to two weeks! This is a lot of change and transition for our little guy, a step Lizzie never had to go through, and I pray that he rebounds well and that another transition in a short while to join us isn't too much for his little system and emotions. I can't believe we are so close. I have been trying to temper my excitement so that if we hit any more delays I won't be too disappointed, but getting this news just gave me tingles and made me realize we really are nearing the home stretch- thank the Lord!!! We have had so many people care for our family with prayers this week- it has been overwhelming, but we are so thankful and feel very, very blessed by the events and all of the good news we have received this week. Many thanks. 3/16/09- Well it has been about a week and a half since court and we are hoping to get our travel call within the next three weeks. Unfortunately, Lizzie has been under the weather...more than under the weather actually; she has been stuck home for the last week with pneumonia. But thankfully she was feeling better today so that both Lizzie and Mommy could go back to school. Nothing makes you appreciate a group of cranky pre-teen Middle Schoolers more than spending a full week locked inside the house with a cranky and feverish toddler! Shannon and Sean have also not been at 100%, so we are hoping by next weekend to get everyone healthy and moving to start making a dent in that dreaded project list we keep mentioning! 3/5/09- We PASSED court! Egan is ours! I can't even explain the overwhelming emotions of joy and gratitude at this news. Sadly, I do not think that all of our Bethany families received such joyous news about their court status, and our hearts break for those families that have experienced another delay before being able to be joined with their children. It is heartbreaking that the entire adoption process is so long and filled with so many obstacles. We are so thankful that we have made it past this hurtle and now we are simply waiting on travel. We still however are not suppose to publicly post pictures. Believe me, we are so excited to share his cute little mug with the world, but they recommend we wait until our consulate appointment. As I mentioned in previous posts, the current timeline trend is to hear about travel approximately 4 weeks after court, but then having to leave within days of getting the call. Shannon is now going into "list" mode which is going to force everyone into "worker bee" status! There is no rest for the weary! No time to relax! We have molding to hang, nursery's to clean, laundry to sort, and toddlers to keep entertained! (I guess what we are really trying to say is keep us in your prayers as the work and the wait are still not over!!!)
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