Submitted!

In all of the preparations to bring Yordi home, I completely neglected to write that we were submitted to embassy last week! I woke up to the email on Wednesday (July 19th), and that has sparked a new sense of urgency to get everything ready for her to be home! We've been painting her bedroom, setting up her furniture, researching home school curriculum...so much to do! It's actually starting to feel "real" that this is actually happening.

The embassy typically takes ten business days to do their initial investigation, and then they'll issue a response on the next steps in our case. We're praying that response is, "You're cleared to travel!" ...but we're preparing ourselves for the embassy to request an interview with Yordi's birth family. This happens in about 90% of cases with living birth relatives. That interview could take two to four weeks to schedule, so it could still be over a month before we're cleared.

August 1st will be the tenth business day since our submission, so we're hoping to get GOOD news that morning.

On our last day with Yordi, our agency representative told her that we would be back in about two months. Of course, her next questions to him was, "What is the date today?" He said, "June 15th." She started counting on her fingers and very directly said, "July, August...August 15th, they will come!". Of course, he tried to explain to her that it would be around two months, not exactly two months. She smiled and told him again, "August 15th, they will come!"

Praying we miraculously meet her deadline!

Missing Her

Its been twenty nine days since I've seen my little girl.

That's twenty nine days without smelling her hair, without seeing her dusty little toes peeking out of her too-small sandals. Twenty nine days without watching her run toward the orphanage gates when she sees our rusted blue van pull into the compound. Twenty nine days without feeling her arms tight around my waist and her breath in my ear as she whispers, "Love you mommy."

Twenty nine more days of her life that I've missed.

The reality is that we still have a while longer to wait. We don't know if it will be weeks or still months until she gets here, but we know without a doubt that this separation will eventually end.

....and I'll once again be smelling her clean, braided hair, and painting the nails on those toes that once peeked out of too-small sandals. There will be a day when I get to feel those arms around my waist every morning and when (lets face it) she'll be sarcastically whispering, "Love you mommy." thorough clenched teeth when I won't let her go to that PG-13 movie with her friends.

I may have missed many days of her life, but we have so many days left to live out together. I will never take that blessing for granted.

Help complete our family puzzle!

Its no secret that adoption is expensive. In most circumstances, the fees are due in increments over a long period of time as you progress from step to step through the process slowly. This makes saving for each due date a little more manageable.

Because Yordi's adoption has moved with lightening speed (which we're so very grateful!), we have been submitting large sums of money nearly every week. Combining that with the fact that adopting again so soon after bringing Kad home WAS NOT in our financial plans, we've been honestly struggling to save the last amount that we need for Yordi's travel costs home.

We've been praying about how we can stretch our budget even more (and we will certainly continue to make big sacrifices), but we've also been so humbled and blessed by many people honestly WANTING to help.

We know that not everyone is in the position right now to add a child to their home, and there are some people who have such a heart for adoption yet don't feel that its God's plan for them to adopt themselves. There are other people who have just, flat out, fallen in love with our little girl (which we TOTALLY understand) and really want to play a part in this incredible story that God is writing for her!

When we were visiting with Yordi, we told her that there are lots of people in America who love her and can't wait for her to come home. She got the biggest smile on her face, and she wanted to know names!

Yes...she wants to know exactly who loves her and wants her home. So, we heard about this awesome fundraising idea and thought it would be the PERFECT way to help raise the last $5,000 that we need, and to let Yordi see all of the names of the people who helped bring her home.

So...today, we're kicking off a "Puzzle Fundraiser"!

This fundraiser has the potential to raise $5,000 towards the final agency fees and travel costs, and here’s how it works:

We have created a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle out of a picture that we took while in Ethiopia with Yordi. It’s going to be great to display in her bedroom.....but we won’t be able to put the pieces together without your help!

For every $10 dollars that is donated for this fundraiser, you will be contributing 1 piece to our puzzle. We will then write your name on the back of the piece to symbolize your partnership in making Yordi a part of our family forever. When she comes home, we will put the puzzle together as a family and display it in a double-sided glass frame in Yordi's room as a constant reminder of all the people who have helped bring our family together.

Your piece to our puzzle can be any size!
$10 = 1 piece
$50 = 5 pieces
$100 = 10 pieces

...or please feel free to donate more if that's on your heart! (smile)

You can donate via this Chipin link (click on the small yellow bar at the bottom of the image to be directed to the secure chipin site):




If you would rather donate via check, please leave a comment and I'll email you our address.

Thank you so much for blessing our family with your love and support...and for being a piece of our family puzzle!

July 4th

We had a great time celebrating Independance Day with our good friends. Kad had a blast playing in the park and eating more junk food than he ever has in his life (its a holiday, right?!?)

No matter how much fun we had today, our hearts are still so broken without our sweet Yordi here with us. Praying that she'll be joining us at the park on the next 4th of July...amazed at the fireworks, and eating more junk food than she has in her life.

For now, here's a picture of our "American Girl" from the day she bacame a "Williams"

Happy July 4th from our family of FOUR!

What Happens Next?

Now that we're back in Washington and settling back into "normal" life, I thought I would take the time to fill you in on what's happening in Ethiopia while we're waiting to bring Yordi home.

First, our agency will work to get the official court decree from the judge stating that Yordi is, in fact, our legal daughter. That court decree will then be translated from Amharic to English.

Once the decree is processed, the goverment body in Ethiopia will issue a birth certificate for Yordi...and her legal name will be "Yordanos Williams" (chills!)

While this paperwork is pending, Yordi will have a medical evaluation by a clinic in Addis that is approved by the US embassy. They will make sure that she is free from communicable illnesses (such as TB) and she will get a series of vaccinations. (welcome to America, sweet girl!) If the doctor is satisfied with her current medical condition, then he will issue a report stating that she is medically approved to immigrate to the United States.

Once our agency has the translated court decree, birth certificate, and medical results, our agency staff will take Yordi to the immigration building in downtown Addis and apply for her passport & visa. It typically takes a week to to get the application approved and the passport issued.

When the passport and visa are received, our agency will submit our case file to the US Embassy for review. An official from the embassy will complete a full evaluation of Yordi's file to ensure that she is truly an orphan by US standards and that the adoption process was completed ethically by all parties (agency, orphanage, adoptive family, birth family, etc). They will respond with their findings within ten business days from submission. That response could be that they need more documentation, that they would like to interview the birth family, or....that we are cleared to travel!

Once the embassy clears our case, we will book flights and go get our little girl!

Obviously, this is a very invloved process that typically takes 2 - 3 months to complete at best. We're hopeful to be back in Ethiopia by the end of the summer, but we're preparing our hearts for the possibility that it could be much longer.

We'll keep you posted as we progress through this post-court paperwork phase, and please pray for everyone who is working so hard to get our Yordi home!

Goodbyes

Goodbyes are never fun, but yesterday was the WORST.

We had to say goodbye to our little girl and leave her in an orphanage while we travel back to the US and wait for the emabssy to clear our case. We're praying this time apart will be no longer than eight weeks.

Our family feels like it has a huge gaping hole that only Yordi can fill, and nothing will feel "right" until we're back together.

It may be a little while before I'm able to talk about our time in Ethiopia without breaking down in tears, so I'm just asking for a little grace as we try to return to normal once we get home. It doesn't in any way mean that we don't want to gush about our beautiful daughter...it just means that I'm a little bit a huge mess without her!

INTRODUCING....

We passed court this afternoon, and are THRILLED to be able to introduce you to our daughter:


YORDANOS ("Yordi") WILLIAMS

We are so blessed to now be Yordi's legal parents in the eyes of Ethiopia, and can not wait to bring her home!