A Cautiously Optimistic, Pretty Good, Not Too Bad Day

We got the call yesterday that we have a new court date: August 7th!!!

Whew! That's a huge sigh of relief. We obviously still covet your prayers, as we are not home free yet. We need for the weather to hold out, for the necessary people to issue a positive opinion, for the judge to appear on our court date, for the judge to show us favor, for all of our paperwork to be in order, and so on and so on. But we have hope!

In other big news, we decided on a name:

Myles E* Hollomon

(Yes, this is the name that won in our poll.)

Myles turned 4 months old yesterday. A sweet adoptive mom sent me pictures this past weekend from when she traveled to pick up her little one, and I can't believe how grown-up he looks! He's too cute for words. And he did NOT like the outfit we sent. :-/

We also got busy registering at Babies R Us, Target, and Amazon.com because we have our first baby shower coming up in only 11 days! It's a church-wide shower on Sunday, July 26, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in the World Cup Cafe. I can't wait!!! I love to go to baby showers, so I can't imagine how much fun it is to get presents for OUR BABY!

Thanks for everyone praying us through this past week. It was really, really tough. We can't wait to be able to share the news that Myles is legally our son!

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

We got some bad news today. Our court date, which was supposed to be two weeks from today, July 22nd, was postponed.

We are obviously so sad and disappointed. We were prepared not to get a court date in the first place, but we certainly were not prepared for this scenario. I, in particular, don't deal so well with surprises, and I'm extremely cautious about getting my hopes up. But when we got our court date last Tuesday, my hopes skyrocketed. I didn't allow myself to think about the "what-ifs," so this really hurts.

But this is adoption. It's unpredictable, it's emotional, and it's not easy. We know this. Ask any adoptive family.

But it still hurts.

Please pray for us and the other families who are affected by this. We need these mountains to move:
1. That we would get a speedy court date before the closures on August 7th.
2. That there will be no more obstacles in our way to passing court before the closures, from paperwork to judges being unable to appear to power outtages, and anything else I can't even think of.
3. If we're not able to pass before the closures, that we'll have a quick court date in early October.
4. That God will give us strength to make it through this tough time.
5. That Baby E will stay healthy and strong.

Court Date and Update!

We have been out of town all week at student ministry camp with no Internet access, but....

Our caseworker called on Tuesday to let us know that we have a court date!!!! July 22nd. Please continue to pray for us.

We also got an update and a new picture of Baby E:

“E* is such a happy and content little baby! He both smiles spontaneously as well as smiling whenever I held up the camera to take his picture. I went through his photo album with him and pointed out the pictures of his mommy and daddy and other family members and he smiled while I was doing that. He loves when you talk to him and he absolutely lights up. You can really tell that he loves to interact with people!”

In the new pic, E has a huge grin on his face. It is so sweet!

Can't wait to catch up on blogs to hear about some more good news!

Praying for a Court Date

I can't believe it's only been three weeks today since our referral — it seems like it was forever ago! Our friends the Hoods are in Ethiopia picking up their daughter, and they got to meet and spend some time with Baby E today. We got word that he is doing awesome and that he seems to be a favorite among the caregivers. That does my heart good! From what I understand, Amy took lots of photos and video for us, which I'm so excited about. But even more than the pictures, I'm excited to hear more about E's personality, whether he's laughing yet, how big he's getting, and all that good stuff.

Hearing more about E and seeing other families receive July court dates, I'm getting more anxious to hear about our court date. Most of you probably know by now that the Ethiopian courts close in August and September for rainy season, so we need to be assigned a court date and pass before then to have any hopes of traveling soon. Otherwise it will be late fall/early winter. And we want our baby home! Would you join with us in praying:

1. That we will be assigned a court date, and fast!
2. That all of the paperwork will be in order, that there's electricity, that all the judges are present, and that all of those other little details will fall into place so we can pass court on the first try and before rainy season.
3. That God will give us peace and comfort if we have to wait a little longer and that the waiting flies by.
4. That Baby E will stay healthy and strong while he waits for us to come get him.

Happy 3 Months, Baby E!

Baby E is (unofficially) three months old today! The past week and a half since our referral has been a big, exciting blur. Chris and I can't stop staring at pictures of our little guy. I notice different things about him all the time. One picture shows a little scratch where he got himself with his baby fingernail. Another shows a tiny hint of a dimple. And much to our surprise, we already got our first update on E! The new picture shows a sleepy baby blowing bubbles while taking a sunbath. He's got the cutest little sparkle in his eye.

We still haven't decided on a name, although we've narrowed it down to two. It's just such a huge decision! I don't want to give him a name he won't like or that he'll be made fun of for having.

We did, however, choose bedding and paint for E's room. I'll post pictures once we're able to get everything together.

Other than that, we're just busy preparing for baby. A couple from our small group invited us over for dinner earlier in the week, and when we got there, SURPRISE! They had invited our entire small group over to celebrate our referral! E racked up some toys and books. It was so sweet and fun!

I'm still hoping and praying that we get a court date soon and pass before the closures. We can't wait to bring this guy home!

Kissable Lips

Ooh, Baby, Baby!

We're a little over 24 hours post-referral, and I'm already one sleep-deprived mama! After all of the excitement yesterday, I was only able to sleep for about 30 minutes between midnight and 1 a.m. Then it was all tossing, turning, and getting up to look at his picture again. :)

I'll preface our referral day experience by saying that I was NOT expecting the call on Wednesday. (So many people say the same thing, but it was so true!) I had been riding the adoption roller coaster mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I was on a high as we rose to the top of the unofficial waiting list, and I was on a low as April passed by without a referral. Then sometime in May I went kind of numb. It really felt like our referral was never going to happen. I realized that I had been in a perpetual holding pattern, afraid to do anything, to decide anything, to plan anything, just in case the call came. I was driving myself crazy. So I decided no more blog stalking or keeping my cell phone attached to the hip. I pushed adoption thoughts to the back of my mind as best as I could.

Cut to Wednesday, June 3, 2009. I woke up feeling light and peaceful, although I still wasn't thinking it could be our referral day. To be honest, there couldn't have been a busier day to get our referral (not that we minded!!!)

Abbey, our caseworker, called my office phone at 3:20 p.m. to tell us she had good news for us — and I missed it!!! I was getting ready to leave work for the day, so I went to check my mail on another floor of our office building and stopped to go to the bathroom before I left. I got back to my desk, still never noticing that I had a message. So, Chris called my cell a few minutes later to tell me that we'd gotten the call and I'd better hurry home! I was so confused because I kept thinking, But why did Abbey call you? I haven't missed a call. I was expecting the call on my cell phone, so it really threw me.

So I hurried to meet Chris at his office, texting illegally while driving and trying not to kill myself. I cried, prayed, and tried to wrap my brain around what was about to happen.

When I got to Chris's office, he had set up a video camera, his phone, and his laptop. He was ready! We called Abbey a few minutes after 4 p.m., and she answered right away, saying she had our referral! We had asked for an infant 0-12 months, but we were pretty much expecting an older infant. So when Abbey introduced us to 2.5-month-old E*, we were shocked and thrilled!!! Chris and I laughed and laughed because we wanted an infant as young as possible but we didn't think THAT was possible.

Abbey gave us the scoop on E, and we got to see some pictures of him. He's a doll, a tiny peanut of a thing, and totally healthy! The entire evening was so surreal. I couldn't believe that we were finally getting to see our son.

For those who are still waiting for a referral, hang in there! Something magical happens when you see that little face and you realize it was all worth it. I didn't believe it before when people said it, but it's the truth.

Next we begin our next wait for a court date. We really don't have a good guess as to when it may happen. For those who don't know, the courts close in Ethiopia in August and September because of rainy season. It's my understanding that electricity, internet, travel, etc., is sketchy then. We're praying for a super-speedy court date so we can pass before the closures, but we're also prepared that it may not happen until later this year. We're cautiously optimistic!

Now it's time to have some fun! We have to decide on a name! We'll keep his Ethiopian name as his middle name, but we'll give him an American first name. It's so hard to decide! And we've got to get some BABY baby stuff, since everything we have is for 12-24 months.

To paraphrase "Elf," we're in love, we're in love, and we don't care who knows it!

Praying for lots more referrals, court dates, and forever families soon!


*For family and friends who don't know, we can't post E's name or any pictures yet because he's not legally ours until we pass court. When he's officially ours, get ready!