From Old House to New House and COURT DATES...Oh My!

On the 12th of October we finally got to the end of our 5 1/2 month house selling ordeal....we walked into the title company and closed on both our old house AND our new house!  We started way back in April/May working feverishly to prepare our home to be put on the market.  We then we moved into the "house showing" portion of the process, and to tell you the truth, I really don't know which was worse....living in a construction zone or constantly cleaning, sometimes at the last minute, to accommodate prospective buyers.

We continued to pack our boxes and prepare for our "BIG move" for the rest of that week and then on that Sunday we walked into our new house for the first time as the owners!  We spent that day and all day Monday and Tuesday working in the new house cleaning and getting it ready for us to move in. After enduring three full days of dusting, washing walls, cleaning out cupboards, vacuuming, mopping...and....well, you get the picture....we were dead tired!

Then on Tuesday night I opened my computer to check my email.  As I was scanning through the MANY emails, I noticed one from our agency.....my heart stopped.  Could it be?!  I opened it and this is what it said:

"Two court dates have been scheduled for your family: November 11^th and December 13^th.  Previously, we were told that prospective adoptive parents were to appear at the second court date to consent to the adoption.  Now, however, our legal representative has informed us that you can elect to appear at the first court date or the second court date.

Please let me know if your family plans to travel for the first or second court date.  You are requested to arrive in Ethiopia two days before the court date and your family can depart as soon as the evening following your morning court appearance.  For the first court date, that would mean arriving in Ethiopia by November 9^th and departing Ethiopia as soon as the evening of November 11^th.  For the December 13^th court date, that would mean arriving in Ethiopia by December 11^th and departing as soon as the evening of December 13^th. 

Once your itinerary and plans for accommodations are finalized, please send me a copy so I can notify my co-workers in Ethiopia.  Attached is a travel packet that is sent to families before homecoming travel, although some of this information may also be helpful in planning your first trip to Ethiopia."

I was in shock....I just sat and read and re-read it over and over.  After two years of waiting....  It seemed pretty real when we received our referral, but then you go back to waiting mode and your brain does crazy things.  You have a pictures to look at... but..... "is it real"??  I don't think it fully hit me until I received this email......WE are GOING to ETHIOPIA!!  We are going to meet our new daughter...face to face.  We are going to be able to hug and kiss her and hold her and talk to her.....really.  In 19 days!!  Actually it's now 11 days....but who's counting??!  Ummmm....are you kidding me....I AM!!!  =)

So in the midst of packing more boxes and loading up the moving van and unloading the moving van, we made our travel arrangements, scheduled flights and booked our hotel.  On October 7th we will be stepping on board a plane in Grand Rapids that will take us to Chicago and then we will be boarding a Lufthansa fight that will take us to Amsterdam and on to Addis.  We will be arriving in Addis at 9:15 Monday night.....and we will get to see our baby on Tuesday morning!

It will be a long and tiring journey. 16+ hours actually on planes, and 11+ hours in airports = over 27 hours of traveling. We will pretty much be switching our "day for night" as we fly over there, so we'll be a bit messed up!  We will most likely be fighting jet lag, not enough sleep, and the altitude of Addis Ababa......but it's going to be soooo worth every minute.  Thank goodness it will be evening when we arrive and we will be able to go straight to our hotel room and TRY to catch up on sleep.  I say try because, really, who could sleep knowing that in just a few short hours you would be with your child....the one you've waited for....for two years!

I spoke with our agency yesterday to ask about the next steps.  I wondered when we might be receiving our embassy appointment.....that will be our second trip over.  Normally it usually comes about 6-8 weeks after court but with the new rule where parents can attend the birth family's court date, I wondered how that would affect our embassy date.  There is a good chance that we could receive an embassy appointment in December!  I had given up all hope to have "T" home by Christmas.....but this will now be a possibility!  The bad side to travel in December is that the month, in itself, is a very busy month and also the travel costs for flights in December can double or triple!  =(  So we will just have to wait and see what happens......our agency did say that we can elect to wait until January to travel over.....THAT would be a tough decision!

So here is a "Photo Story" of our last few days.....

We left this house.....

and moved to this house....

View from the deck off the back of our house, if you look closely you can see the pond through the trees...

Views of the pond....

AND.....soon we will be able to see these sights IN PERSON!

Yes.....this is our precious little girl.....well, at least part of her anyway!  =)

I'm off to unpack more boxes......

Have a great week!