Good news :)

We got the report today from the Birth to 3 program. I have been anxiously awaiting this and it came with great news!

To quote:

"Peanut is developing within expected ranges in the areas of gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social-emotional, and self help skills"

Go Peanut go. She is right on track and within averages based on other children her age. She is most behind in communication but the evaluators felt she was doing really well considering she has only been hearing English regularly for a month.

The evaluators are coming back at the end of the month to discuss their report and the game plan. It doesn't appear that Peanut qualifies for services except maybe speech therapy. Peanut is VERY vocal yet not making sounds like 'ba, da, ga, etc'. Those I don't doubt will come in time. We read to her every day so that will help.

A huge sigh of relief has been let out here. I am glad baby girl is doing well and I can take some things off of my worry list. What a great way to start the weekend.

CONGRATS!!!

I couldn't be happier for these people. We started this process around the same time and they have waited so long and been through so much. Her blog was/is a lifeline for me. I have learned a ton from her and have no doubts that champagne corks are popping around the world. CONGRATS you two. You deserve it and we couldn't be happier for you.

WE MADE IT!

WE PASSED COURT!!!!! I am officially the mother to this beautiful baby girl. May I present to you the fabulous Miss Peanut. For privacy reasons we aren't revealing her name on my blog. But I can tell you her first name means "sweet face" and it is a name Dave and I picked for her. Her middle name is her birth name and it means "most beautiful one" and her second middle name is the same as my mom's and mine. This first picture is her referral picture. Isn't she precious?


This is may very favorite picture of her from the social report. You can see the love the nanny has for her. She has such a sweet face.

Tummy time in action :)

Now we wait for a birth certificate that lists us as her parents. Once we get that we are leaving on a jet plane to bring this sweet baby girl home. Hopefully we will have a birth certificate in the next 1-2weeks and then we can travel 2 or so weeks after that. This a very exciting time :) Is it too early in the day for champagne.

Much better

We got some reassuring news today about the new requirements for TB testing.

http://ethiopia.usembassy.gov/tb_testing.html

I cried. My despair and angst are gone. I am again filled with hope that we will not be delayed for this reason anyway in getting to our daughter. I looked right at my daughter's face today and cried. I can't wait to hold her in my arms and knowing this info brought my fears to rest.

There is still the issue of Embassy appointments being assigned to agencies every other week. I have been assured that if an agency needs more than 20 appointments per month they can request additional dates as needed in advance.

So now I just need to get on a plane and get back to the US before May 20th. That is the date our CIS fingerprints expire. I am sending in the request to ask for our one time refingerprinting on Monday. Our CIS office won't let you request to be refingerprinted until 60 days prior to the expiration date so hence I have had to wait. I sincerely hope we won't need to use these new prints. That is were a delay could occur. Getting our fingerprints from Milwaukee to the National Visa Center and then to the Embassy in Addis Ababa could be a timely process. We have hope as the Milwaukee office was quick the first time so we are hopeful we won't run into any issues.

On a side note there are some families in the adoption world that are having a tough time right now. I don't know the specifics of all of the issues but just that there are issues and it is causing a lot of heartache and delay. Please keep these families in your prayers. Hearing bits and pieces of stories makes me VERY grateful we chose and stuck with the agency we did.