REFERRAL!!!!! (After 19 1/2 months waiting)

On Friday afternoon, I got the call. Only I didn't know I got the call because I was buying groceries, and my cell phone battery was dead. When I got home, there was a message on the phone machine from our specialist asking me to call her back. I knew it had to be big news because I had told her a few months ago not to call unless there was a really good reason :) I was freaking out, and I couldn't reach my husband for three hours because he was on a flight. So as it happens, my mom was the first to hear the news. Hubby didn't hear the news until after 6 pm. In some ways, it was nice to have the whole weekend to look through all the information, and pray about it all. But then again, I had to wait until Monday to let her know that we wanted to accept the referral.

So onto the part you really want to hear. According to her birth date, she is almost a year old, but she may be older than that. She is beautiful. They describe her as a happy and smiley girl. I wish I could show you her photo, but since we haven't gone through the court process yet, she isn't legally ours. She comes from the southern region of Ethiopia. We don't really know what the time line is going to be like because of the new two trip rule. The next step is for our paperwork to be submitted and to get a court date. We're praying for the court process to go quickly and smoothly, but mostly we're praying for Child #4, that God would give her peace and calm and keep her healthy.

I am really excited about traveling. I have never been anywhere outside the U.S., except Mexico, and I have been reading Lonely Planet and Bradt guides for Ethiopia for the last year and a half (the Bradt guide is awesome). We really want to see Lalibela and the beautiful churches there. I would love to see the castle at Gondar too, but I don't think we'll have the time given my husband's limited number of vacation days. Aaaahhhhh! I can't believe our time is finally coming! I'll post news as it comes.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I haven't posted much about the garden because I'm always forgetting to take pictures. I have grape tomato plants, yellow beans, bell peppers, eggplant, and lot of strawberries. Here are some pictures of the blackberry and grape plants that we planted three years ago. My blackberry vine is huge. I've gotten at least a pint of berries from it already. We finally have grapes!

Our grapevine takes over the trellis every year. Should I trim it or not?

Awesome Blog Post

This is kind of a long read, but so awesome. Anyone that is thinking of adopting or has adopted should read this post.

19 Months Waiting...

It is defenitely getting harder to keep track of time passing. It feels like the months are just running together now. I can't believe it's almost the end of another school year. We are very hopeful that we are getting closer to a referral. That could mean anything. I really think it will be in the next one to three months, so I am taking guesses on the date of referral again. I know we tried that back in the winter, and everybody lost. You can also guess how old she will be. Anything between 3-26 months is possible. Personally, my guess is June 9 and she will be 25 months old. Hubby is more optimistic about the date. He feels we might have a referral in the next few weeks. Of course, both of us could be way off, and I might still be posting in August with time estimates... I'm actually excited that I will have to go to Ethiopia twice. I was looking forward to the trip so much, now I get to do it twice! Hopefully, the price of tickets will be low, and we'll be able to figure out child care easily when the time comes. Praying that the details will all fall into place, and that God is taking care of her and her birth family everyday.