We are home!

Well we have been home for a little over a week, but this is the first chance for me to be able to post anything. Our trip was wonderful yet terrifying and saddening at the same time. We met some great people, but the best ones of all were the twins. Unfortunately I do not have video of our meeting but another family did get it on her camera so I'm sure when she gets a chance she will send it to me and I will post it. I will try and post pictures soon too. It has been quite hectic around here with two kids and all. Matt and I were sick for the first week back also that did not help matters any. Well I now have two extremely cute kids wanting to play so I will have to post more about our trip later. But just so everyone knows we are doing great and loving being parents.

Okay so I had a three day weekend and our computer at home was not working well at all so that is the reason for the jump from 6 to 2 on my countdown.

I also wanted to add that today the twins turn 13 months old. I am so glad we don't have to miss another birthday. This time next month they will be in our arms and home forever.

The countdown begins!

We are going!!

I just got an email from our agency that we have the August 9th embassy appt. We will really be going this time. Yay!! I am one happy camper. We also found a sitter for Tues. and Thurs. today. It has been a good day all in all. Now if only we could win the lottery so I wouldn't have to work. Of course you have to have the money to play the lottery first. LOL! Oh well for now I will work, but at least is only part time. I'm just glad that in one weeks and 1 day we will be boarding a plane that will take us to our babies. Finally the wait is almost over.

No news is good news?

So so far we have not heard from our agency that we will not be going to Ethiopia for the August 9th embassy date, but it is still early. We should know by this week if we are not going. Fingers and toes are crossed and prayers are being said. I keep saying that I am going no matter what, but realistically that won't be able to happen due to not being able to afford to stay in Ethiopia for that long. If we don't get the August 9th date we have to wait til the August 23rd date. But I am optimistic in getting the August 9th date now that all of the paperwork is in place. I think our agency director is also optimistic in us getting the Aug. 9th date. So that helps in being positive.

Matt's best friend, Adam, has been staying with us while he's been home visiting, he lives in Florida. He leaves on Wednesday so after he leaves we will be getting all the cleaning, packing, making baby food and freezer food and last minute home repairs going since we will only have a week til we leave. Matt's parents will be staying at our house while we are gone. It will be so nice knowing that the dogs will be with someone all day and that the house will be safe while we are gone. It will make for a much smoother and a little less stressful trip knowing all is well at home.

I can't wait to hold my babies! Soon very soon they will be in our arms and all the waiting, stress, and anxiety we felt during our journey to them will just fade away and all that will matter is that they are with us for the rest of our lives and we won't have to miss another minute of their smiles, laughs, cries, not any of it. Soon very soon it will all be over and we will be a family of 4, 6 if we count the dogs.

Our paperwork in at the embassy

I got an email yesterday from the National Visa Center that our paperwork had been transmitted to the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and then today I got an email from the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia that they have all the paperwork needed for us to have our embassy appt. WooHoo! Now we wait to see if we can get a confirmed appt. for Aug 9th. We should know if we have the appt. sometime next week. The embassy won't do anything until two weeks before the requested date. Our agency director is positive that we will get the Aug 9th date since we were originally in the bunch for the July 26th date but couldn't get it due to the missing paperwork, which they now have so I am staying optimistic that we will be in Ethiopia in two weeks so pick up our babies. Oh wow this is really going to happen. After wanting to be a mommy for my entire life it's finally going to happen. In two weeks I will be holding my children in my arms for the first time. Tears and goosebumps is all I can say.

We leave in two weeks...

Well after a very stressful phone conversation with Expedia.com we finally have a new travel itenerary. We leave on Wednesday August 4th out of Indianapolis and get to Addis Ababa at 6:50am on Thursday August 5th. We then leave Addis Ababa on Thursday August 12th and land in Indianapolis on Friday at 4:57pm, with babies in our arms I might add. And I will not be changing these flights so no matter what we will be in Ethiopia in two weeks and two days. Our agency seems pretty positive that we will get the August 9th embassy date as long as all of our paperwork is where it needs to be and it should be by then so it looks like this is for this time around. I am frantically trying to get my job all squared away before we leave. I can't stand having someone else do my job but it is for such a great reason that I am willing to set aside my control issues this one time. I went shopping yesterday for my clothes to take with us. I really needed some new shirts and some jeans so it wasn't just for the trip that I bought this stuff for. Now to do more job organizing so that it will be done correctly.LOL!

Change in plans

So due to the 171h update not getting done soon enough we will not be leaving on the 22nd of July for the July 26th embassy appt. We will now be leaving on Aug. 5th for the August 9th embassy appt. We are extremely disappointed about this but there is nothing we can do about it, so we will just keep going and leave in three weeks instead of one. It is all a part of International Adoption. The good thing is that now we have more time to get stuff done around the house that wouldn't have been done had we left on the 22nd. We now pray that all goes as planned for this date and we get to pick up our children on the 8th of August. We will land in Addis on Friday night and meet the kids the next day but we will not take them with us until Sunday. That way we can do some stuff that we wouldn't want to take the kids to do, like go the museum and going to an Authentic Ethiopian restaurant. That way we can do those things and not have to leave the kids with a nanny they don't know. But on Sunday we will be taking our babies with us and will have them with us for the rest of our trip. Til then we will be getting our house ready for babies. Thank you for all the prayers and positive thoughts thus far.