I have slacked off as of late when it comes to blogging. I will do better from now on.
Since the last time I posted we have been preparing for hopefully the arrival of a new member of the family sometime in the next month or two. Our court date is rapidly approaching, and with that nearing, we have thrown our preparations into overdrive. We have turned our guest room into Parker's room by repainting, installing crown molding, and refinishing the furniture we bought for him. I am very excited for the post that details these changes, I just want to wait until the room is totally put together before revealing the transformation. To no one's surprise, the room will have a sports theme. Mom and Dad were also nice enough to give us the globe that has been sitting on the other side of their basement for the last 20 years so that Parker can have that in his room. Thanks Mom and Dad! It looks very cool on his dresser.
While the big day approaches we are also trying to put the final touches on his wardrobe. We have found it very enjoyable shopping for our new little man. We have also found that we have quite an affinity for patterned shorts, whether it be plaid, patchwork, or any other kind of pattern.
The latest on possible time frames goes like this: Our court date is April 23rd, if we are lucky enough to pass court that date, Parker will be moved from Kamashi into Addis Ababa, where he will stay until we travel to pick him up. Upon arriving in Addis, he will be tested for TB. There is a new regulation that all children have to be tested before they can be allowed to come home with their parents. If his skin test comes back negative, there will be no further delays and we should be in Addis on either May 19th or June 2nd. If the skin test comes back positive, he would then need a chest x-ray to show whether or not he has, or is likely to have, TB. If the chest x-ray shows no signs of the disease, we are free to travel shortly thereafter. In the worst case, he has TB, he will need to stay in Ethiopia and be treated daily for 6 months. Obviously we hope that isn't the case, we want our little man home.
April 23rd is a big day! With Ethiopia being 9 or 10 hours ahead of us, hopefully once we wake up that day, we will know how court went.
We have purchased the equivalent to Amheric for Dummies, as we would like to be able to learn at least a little bit of amheric so that we can communicate with him when we meet him. We aren't even sure that he speaks that language, but that is the most common of all of the 85 languages spoken in Ethiopia. As I have found from glancing through the book and listening to the CD, it's not going to be an easy language to learn.
Our hopes are up right now that everything will go well on the 23rd and we will be packing to head over to Africa sometime in a month or so. We have found a couple of flights that look attractive to us. One of which gives us a day in NYC followed by a night in Dubai. Both places that we would love to be able to spend some time in during our travels.
One more thing we have been doing during our wait it gathering donations to take with us to Ethiopia. I had sent out an email to family, friends, and coworkers asking people to take a quick look around to see if there is anything they could sacrifice in order to help a little boy or girl in Ethiopia and the response has been fantastic. Sara and I are so pleased to be able to have such great people around us that really want to help the children that Parker will be leaving behind as he joins our family. We are grateful for everyones support and we will make sure that all of the donations make it to those that need it the most in Ethiopia. Thank you so much to everyone that has helped.
No comments:
Post a Comment