At 11:04 a.m. our time, the BEST phone call we’ve gotten in quite some time and quite possibly the BEST EVER came!   We were told by our caseworker, Jessica that we passed court and that we are officially the parents to two more boys!  

Today is the day we have been waiting almost 15 months or 17 months for (depending on how you look at it)!   We officially started the adoption process in March of 2008, signed on with our current agency in July 2008, were told about and shown pictures of the boys in August 2008, received their official referrals in October 2008, and have finally passed court!   The waiting is just about over and we will soon have them home! 

This morning I was getting out of the car to come into the house, knowing the call would come soon.  The last song I heard on the radio was “How Great is Our God.”  That about sums up the day!   On top of the wonderful phone call, we received updated pictures and measurements of the boys as well!   I will post pictures on the blog as soon as I can.  For now, if you have Facebook, I have a ton on there.

We are thrilled and overwhelmed at the same time!  There is now SO much to do, but we have a good start.  I’m going to call to get the remainder of my shots this week.  Rick is finished with his.  We should have an embassy date confirmed later this week or early next week and once we have that we’ll know when we will be travelling.  It will either be over Dec. 8th or 22nd, probably the later one.  When we have this, we can book our lodging and flights.  We also need to start buying the rest of the items on the packing list that we don’t have.  We’ve been working on this!   We have to pack for ourselves and for the boys.   We have our donation bins practically ready- just have to weigh them again, tape them up, and write contact info on them.

Today many prayers have been answered!  Asebe Getahun and Tesfaye Getahun are now officially our sons, though in our hearts they have been this whole time!   They will be called Elijah Asebe Henningfeld and Jonah Tesfaye Henningfeld.   We just went from two boys to FOUR!  I know what you’re thinking and I often find myself thinking many of those thoughts…don’t worry!   There will be difficult moments, but we have been blessed and I’d like to think about the wonderful moments that will soon come to be!  Our house will be FULL of love, energy, and even more happiness!  And someday, yes, someday I will get my little girl and if we don’t biologically, well- we’ll be adopting two then!  

Now is a great time to thank all of you- thank you for your support, encouragement, advice, listening ear, and most importantly, prayers!  We couldn’t have done this without you.   We appreciate you, our family and friends, more than you know and are so thankful and lucky to have you all backing us in everything we do and throughout this journey, or rollercoaster as it often felt like, known as adoption!

Happy adoption day, Elijah and Jonah!  We’ll be there soon!

Love,

Mom and Dad….Evan and Landyn too!

Well…today was supposed to be a great day!   Sadly, it is not!

I waited on pins and needles today for Jessica to call. I didn’t get the call until at least noon. The three times prior my phone rang today I was a wreck- my heart was beating so fast and it wasn’t her! I didn’t go to bed last night until after the courts opened in Ethiopia. I have been praying a lot for the boys’ birthfather!  I pray that he has peace in his heart.   A hard day for him could be a very happy day for us and that is bittersweet!

We’ll start with the GOOD: The birthfather appeared in court and signed off/did what he needed to do. He will not need to make another court appearance! Hallelujah and one BIG prayer answered. I continue to pray he has peace!

The BAD: Remember way back when- maybe Jan/Feb when we got a call that there were 2 older siblings showing up on the paperwork and that they potentially could have been available for adoption? Well they did go live with an aunt/uncle in Addis and now the dad has decided to keep the two older ones…which is also actually another positive!

However, when he first relinquished the kids at the AWOP orphanage and filled out the papers, he listed all four of the kids and that was what was on the papers at court today, not just the two boys! I don’t know whose mistake this is, but it’s a BIG one! It’s sad that because of this, the boys now have to wait even longer, which leads me to:

The UGLY: Jessica has no idea why they needed this much time for one piece of paperwork to be changed from 4 to 2 kids, but they re-scheduled us for NOVEMBER 16th!!! This is bad for many reasons- we had our caretakers lined up for our two boys at home for the week of Thanksgiving- had to cancel that and get them to cancel those who were going to work for them.  A few other bad things- the two embassy dates in Dec. are the 8th and 22nd. From Nov. 16th to the 8th is only 3 weeks and I’ve read in many places that you need 4-6 weeks from court to embassy date. 

Jessica said she’d push like crazy, but who knows what will happen! This would also mean very little notice to again set up care for our 2 at home and to book flights- less notice equals more expensive!  She seemed confident we’d travel before the end of the year. I guess that has to be our number one prayer now!

So, that’s where we stand. I am going to email to see if Abdissa (CHI’s lawyer) can maybe push to move the court date up even one week so we have a better chance to travel the 8th, but not sure that can happen.  All we can do is try!

Rick is out of town, which is hard in itself!   I was so hoping for a GREAT day! I am trying to stay positive and look at the good, but boy is it hard!  I am quite sad- especially for the boys…they just keep getting older!

Thanks for your relentless prayers and continue to pray when you can!  Until next time.

Well….today was the day we were supposed to go through court and hopefully pass.  Then last week we get the call saying the courts decided to close for 2 more weeks for a training and that we’d be postponed at least two weeks.   We were SO close!  That was frustrating to say the least.

 Today we got the call that our new court date will be Wednesday, October 21st!   21 is my 2nd favorite number and I feel that it will be a GREAT day…or at least I pray it will!   Of course Rick will be out of town on that all important day so I will not have him to celebrate with or be sad with, depending on what happens…praying it’s CELEBRATING!   Last time we got big news when he was out of town it was terrible, so here’s to this time being WONDERFUL! 

I also heard today that the courts really only stayed closed one extra week (this week) and wouldn’t you know my luck:  it’s the one week of the year with OUR court date.  So everyone that has court dates next week didn’t have to be bumped- their court dates will stay the same.   Just the people with court dates this week will be bumped 2 weeks….bummer!  But, I am very happy for those other people that they don’t have to wait any longer…it’s a killer!  

What does this all mean you ask?   Well- this court date is about 5 weeks from the embassy date of November 24th.   You might remember me saying you need 4-6 weeks between passing court and traveling for your embassy date.  This means: IF we pass the first time on the 21st, they are going to push for us to be able to travel the week of Thanksgiving!!!   That would be so AWESOME because we already have care for Evan and Landyn lined up and Rick would only need to use 3 of his sick days instead of 5!   We are praying big time for this…don’t you think we deserve some good news after all we’ve been through in this adoption process?  You’d think, but it is in God’s hands and He does have a plan for us.   If we did not pass then we’d probably for sure be traveling in December.   There is still hope for Thanksgiving and oh what a Thanksgiving it would be!!!   We couldn’t be more thankful!

So 2 weeks from tomorrow we could be the proud parents of 4 little boys!   I never imagined in my life I’d have 4 boys!   Someday I’ll get my girls, even if it means adopting one or two!!

So in the waiting there is much to be done.  I need to get my shots when I’m done nursing, but at least 2 weeks before we go.   We need to look into flights and book travel after passing court.   We need to book a place to stay.   We need to pack.   We need to do a major cleaning of our house right before we leave.   We need to prep some meals so we don’t come home and have to cook, as we know we’ll be super tired and super busy with 4 boys under 3!

We have also started to collect donations from our church to take to the orphanages we plan on visiting.   Evan and I started sorting through what we’ve got so far and deciding which place will get what.   He was actually a good help- it was cute!  It got him pretty excited about getting the boys.  I think he thought we were getting them that day!  He gets this all and is pumped, but I think he thinks he gets to come with.  Boy will he be sad about that!  

Did I mention that 2 of the bins we take will be our 2nd piece of luggage, but that each additional bin we take could cost $200?  Isn’t that sad!   It will limit how many we take, but we’ll do what we can!  

Some people buy a puzzle that relates to their child’s country and sell the pieces for $2-$5 each and write the buyer’s names on the back and then put it together and frame it in a glass frame so the kids can have it in their room and see who helped bring them home.  I think that’s cute and I thought maybe we could do this but put the money towards the cost of getting the bins overseas since all of the things we are taking are so important and necessary to sustain the orphanages and the children in them.    But, my husband is not one to ask people for money to help support us, even though this is not supporting our adoption at all, but a good deed.   Maybe I’ll change his mind when he sees how many extra bins we might end up taking!

I heard this song on someone’s blog once and now it is becoming popular on the Christian radio.   I also just learned that it’s in the movie “Fireproof.”  It’s perfect for our adoption journey.  We’ve been waiting so long and soon the boys will be a part of our family!  I hope you enjoy the lyrics!  

“While I’m Waiting” By: John Waller

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it’s not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve you while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting on You, Lord

*We will continue to wait and He will give us patience.  We trust in Him that he has a plan for our family.   We will worship and serve Him while we wait!  :)  Peace!

It’s been a hard week!    Our family has had a couple of not so fun issues to deal with and then to top it all off- Jessica (our caseworker at CHI) called today and said the courts announced that they will remain closed for another 2 weeks.  Our court date was Oct. 6th (the day after they were to re-open), but now will be postponed…I am guessing for 2 weeks, but Jessica did not know yet.  She’ll let me know when she knows.  

The not so fun thing here- my mom has to give quite advance notice at work for taking off and she got people to work for her so she could watch our kids while we travel- the week of Thanksgiving.  Our sister-in-law has it in her plans too, but she can be more flexible.   That week was great too because Rick would have only had to take 3 days off work and not 5, having more sick days to use to be at home with us after we come home.   The embassy date was 7 weeks from our original court date, so there is still hope..but way less!  If we have a 20th court date- that would be 5 weeks from the embassy date.   Not sure if that will or won’t happen and know we can only pray about it.   You have to have at least 4-6 weeks from when you pass court. 

Please pray for a quick court date and for the boys!  Thanks ahead of time for your prayers!  The boys have been in an orphanage long enough.   I’m so upset today!

I’ll keep you posted.

Today we had our appointment to be re-fingerprinted in Milwaukee.  Besides the fact that Rick had to take a half day off work for this, the gas money and time getting there and back, and the quarter per 10 min. to plug the meter- all in all it went well!   They have re-done some things at the Milwaukee USCIS office and it made the wait a lot shorter!  We were in at 8 a.m. and out by 8:40 a.m.  Not bad compared to last time!   Our fingerprints were to expire at the end of October and we needed them to be good through our travel!

 Our court date is coming up!!!!   Less than a week and a half away- it feels a bit surreal after all this waiting!   October 6th is the magical day, although it is technically while we are sleeping the night of the 5th into the morning of the 6th since Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us!  Please be praying hard for us the next week or two!   We hope our next post is one of joy.  It’s hard to believe we’ll be the parents of 4 boys officially at that point if we pass.   If we do pass, we’ll likely travel the week of Thanksgiving to go pick the boys up and bring them home!   We have set up our plans for Evan and Landyn for the week.  Now it’s on to getting the remainder of our shots (Rick is done…lucky him) and checking into travel.   We are also collecting supplies at our church for the orphanages we plan on visiting while there.   I guess we’re getting busy again!  So much to do before they come home and the time is coming quickly!!   So hard to believe, but YAY!

Until next time….just 12 days to go!

I found this fun website where you can put words in and it will scramble them into the shape of something.  I did it with Africa and LOVED it!

I forgot to mention we need to be re-fingerprinted at the Immigration office in Milwaukee.  These prints expire 15 mos. from when you had them taken.  Of course they expire at the end of October and you need them to be good through your travel- possibly one month too soon!   So we are sending out a form to them tomorrow to get another appt.   We just have to take the appt. day and time they send us and head downtown and wait and wait and wait…hoping it won’t take as long as it did last time!   This is not a hold up, but needs to happen between now and when we go…the sooner, the better!

Thankfully, we do not have to update our immigration approval (I-600A).  That expires 18 mos. from when you received approval, which will not be until next April!  We are so glad we don’t have to re-do this, as it took MANY weeks to get approval in the mail!