On the Way!!!

We got an email today from Agitu, the director of BFAS. She said:
...your dossier was forwarded from Washington, D,C, to Addis Ababa on Monday. BFAS in Addis Ababa will inform us when they receive it...The court will open on Monday, but BFAS has to have your dossier authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then have it translated into Amharic and have it authenticated by the Ministry of Justice for court filing....
So, good things are happening and we hope to get our court date soon and bring our little one home!! ~Melissa

OUCH...times 10

Today we had the pleasure of getting the necessary vaccines needed for our upcoming journey to Ethiopia. We went to the travel doctor with the thought that we would probably only need the REQUIRED yellow fever vaccine...boy were we wrong! After the consultation with the doctor it was determined we would each need 5 shots! YIKES. Scott was a trooper and went first. I had a hard time telling if it was hurting because he kept a very serious face throughout the entire ordeal. I asked if they could maybe just mix them all together into one shot, but was told that was not how it is done :-(. So, as soon as Scott was done it was my turn...in went the Hep.A, not bad just a little sting. Next was Typhoid, which we both decided was the worst and continues to make our arms sore even 12 hours later. The 3rd shot was for Yellow Fever, this one is required in order to get our Visa for Ethiopia. Then for FUN she decided to switch arms and finish off in my left arm with Polio and Meningococcal, I don't know if I was just getting used to them or if those just didn't hurt, but I was glad to be done. So $1200 and 10 shots later we are ready to travel...now we just need those courts to open back up on the 28th!!! ~Melissa

VACATION

We have a kind of Tradition of going on a New Years Eve casino bus trip with Scott's parents every year, but this year we should have a little one to take care of by then (God Willing). So, we decided to do one last get away with the 'rents and went on a bus trip to Iowa over the past 3 days. It happened to fall on Scott's birthday as well. We both had TONS of fun...didn't come home rich, but didn't come home broke either. It was nice to have a little time away and relax a little. Now it is back to getting this house in order for a baby! ~Melissa

It's a Boy!!!

Today we officially accepted our referral for a seven month old baby boy! We could not be more excited to welcome "baby M" into our family. We are not able to share any pictures until after our court date, when he will officially become our son, but trust us he is the most handsome boy ever! The courts will re-open at the beginning of October and we hope to get in soon after they open. God willing we will have our little one in our arms before Christmas!!~Melissa

Signed-Sealed-Delivered!

After months of paper gathering (again), finger prints, police records, doctor visits, social worker interviews, and other paper filing...we were finally able to send out our completed dossier today!! This is a huge accomplishment and we are very excited. Above is a picture of all the documents that were included in our dossier. We are hoping to have a referral soon and will let everyone know when we hear from BFAS!!! We are getting everything ready for our sweet baby to arrive! ~Melissa