One Week....7 Days....Ethiopia Bound....

You read that right.  We are leaving in 7 days.   It hardly seems real.  People keep asking me how I feel, and I don't even know how to respond.  I usually just say I'm nervous.  It's not that I'm not excited, because I am.  But I feel like I will be able to feel more excited once we are in Ethiopia and have met our little ones, especially after we pass court.  I think I will breath a HUGE sigh of relief once we pass court.  Right now, all I feel is the anticipation of it all, and the last 5 years that have built up to this very moment.  It is scary, nerve-racking, and exciting all in one. 

I know you are secretly wondering why there is a little Norwegian doll on my shoulder.  In response, I say, "Why not?"

I have gotten a lot of questions about our trip.  I'm going to attempt to answer a few of those here.

How long will you be gone?

That depends.  If we pass court on January 18th (please be praying!), we will then have to wait for an embassy date.  That could come anywhere from 4-8 weeks later.  There is really no way of knowing until they assign us an embassy date.  Once we go for our embassy appointment, we will come home a couple of days after that.  We are hoping that will be the end of February.  We can only wait and see, though.

What happens at court?

This is the day when the birth family goes and officially terminates all parental rights.  On the same day we will go before a judge and say that we know and love these children, and promise to care for them and teach them about their birth country. Apparently it is not a big to-do.  It is a pretty easy process.

Will the twins stay with you in Ethiopia?
Short answer:  Yes.  As long as we pass court, a few days later we should be able to take the twins back to the guesthouse with us.  From then until our embassy appointment, we will be bonding with our babies, and getting to know each other.  THIS I am excited about.   :)

Where are you staying?
We are going to be staying at a guesthouse close to the University of Addis Ababa.  It is the Z Guesthouse, and we are very excited about staying here.  We will have a fully furnished apartment (queensize bed, separate living room and patio, kitchenette, private bath), and a nice secure outdoor garden area to relax and sit with the babies.

What will you be taking with you?
Everything!  Hahaha!  Well, that's what it feels like.  We are taking approximately 600 diapers (remember we have TWO babies to pack for!), 1500-2000 wipes, formula, clothes, toys, books, medications, toiletries, carriers, donations etc etc etc.  Please pray for mercy at the check-in counter at our airport.  When we booked our tickets we were told we could check 3 bags free each.  So we got a brand new set of luggage, we've packed five bags to the brim, and still need to pack our clothes in the 6th.  But now we are being told we can only check 2 bags each, and United told me that it would be $200 for EACH extra bag over the allotted 2.  ugh.  Well, I guess God will take care of this too.  He's taken care of everything else!  Why not this?  :) 

Why did their birth parents relinquish them?
This is something we know very little about.  We were given a little info on the birth family, but at this time we are choosing to keep that info a little more private (we are sharing with close friends, but not posting it on the blog), since it is very personal.

Will you meet the birth family?
Yes, it is our intention to do so, but it will depend on whether or not they are willing.  I truly hope we will be able to do this because I know how wonderful it would be for Alex and Eliana to even have a picture of their birth family so they can see who they look like, and a little bit of history.  There are so many questions I want to ask.  We will pray that they are willing to meet.

Okay, those are all the questions I can think of for now.   More posts to come this week before we leave.  Time is flying by!


*And for those of you who are worried or scared about what kind of delays or road bumps you may hit on your adoption journey, you should pop over to this blog.  They just got an embassy appointment way earlier than they expected, and it was a complete surprise!  Made me smile and feel all gushy inside, because God loves to surprise His children, just like we love to surprise the ones we love.