DIAPER FREE.....and an adoption update!

Can we say diaper free?????????  Holy cow, this is exciting.  Gideon has done wonderfully!! Today marks one week since we really started working with him on potty training.  I seriously was not giving the boy enough credit.  Gee has not had a peeing accident since we started up again last Sunday.  Poo is a little more troublesome.  Sometimes he still kind of gets started a bit and then realizes, "oh nuts, I need to go" and then he still does most of his business on the potty. Sometimes though he totally catches it.  So, he doesn't really have an accident, kind of like an almost accident.  But besides that he is just doing amazingly.  Get this, he is even staying dry during naps and at night.  Now, I was impressed when he would do naps and stay dry but I was not expecting night time dryness to come for a long time.  Well, he has woke up every morning with a dry diaper and goes right to the potty and does his thing.  Last night I just left his undies on and yep, still dry this morning.  So, I am officially declaring us diaper free!

Our adoption paperwork is going beautifully.  I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but I tend to be a little "focused" when I get something on my brain.  Some call it "tunnel vision," others might call it "out of control," but I certainly prefer "focused."  So we have officially been signed on with both our agencies for a little under 3 weeks and our paperwork for both our home study and our dossier is DONE.  I am not trying to toot my own horn (toot, toot), but 3 weeks is very fast when all this work usually takes 2 to 3 months.  I will say though that our home study agency has been extremely accommodating to my craziness and they have moved at lightening speed.  

This is kind of a big week though.  My case manager at CWA (Christian World Adoption-our international placing agency) has to look over all our paperwork and a few things need to fall in place just right this week.  Friday we have to get fingerprinted in Columbus at 9:00 am.  This is required for the US government part of our adoption.  Once the USCIS has our documents (our completed home study, our birth certificates, our dollar bills, etc) and our fingerprints they will issue an 171H.  That is kind of a big deal and it is pretty exciting that we are going for our fingerprints.  Well, the State Department is few blocks from the fingerprinting place and that is where we have to go to get all our dossier documents authenticated.  So, our prayer is that all our paperwork is totally ready by then.  And, like I said, a few things need to fall into place for that to happen, so if you wouldn't mind saying a little prayer for us, that would be great.

I found out something pretty exciting this week regarding our soon to be son.  We might get our referral a little sooner than I was thinking.  After our dossier has been state authenticated if has to be couriered to Washington DC to be certified yet again (that takes 2 to 4 days).  After that our dossier goes back to CWA and they send it over to Ethiopia, at that point, we are put on the waiting list for our son!  I thought it would have to go through translation in Ethiopia and some other things.  I also thought that we might have to wait on our 171H to be complete (which could be another 4 to 8 weeks).  But nope, we could be on the waiting list in like 2 weeks!

CWA is estimating 1 to 3 months for an infant boy referral.  After you accept your referral, you get scheduled a court date in like 2 to 4 weeks.  Right now court dates are running 2 to 3 months out.  That might change a bit though.  Ethiopia was down to only 1 judge hearing adoption cases and now they are back to 2.  So, the hope is that we will see a pick up in wait times for court.  Anyways, CWA clients are passing court only 50% of the time.  Usually, you don't pass for some minor document problem (ick, that feels very familiar to our Guatemala adoption and getting kicked out of PGN).  If you fail court the first time, you just keep going back until you pass.  There's usually 6 to 8 weeks in between additional court dates.  (Just FYI, that is going to be agonizing for me).  After you pass court, the child is legally yours.  Most families travel to Ethiopia 3 to 4 weeks after court.  That is how long it takes to get the child's visa, etc ready.  The pick up trip runs 4 to 5 days in country plus travel.

So, let's look at best case scenario.  If we are put on the wait list at the end of March and it took 6 weeks to get a referral, that would be the beginning of May sometime.  Best case scenario court date would then be probably mid August (if they stay like they are).  Now apparently the Ethiopian courts shut down for the rainy season.  I hear that is like for 6 to 8 weeks in late August/September/early October?  If we passed court the first time and didn't get caught up in all of that, our little guy could be home sometime mid September.  Now, I realize that would be best case scenario and a lot of things would have to happen perfectly for it to go that smoothly. And, as Ryan and I know, nothing in international adoption goes as smoothly as you'd like.  But you know, I am going to be optimistic and pray our little guy home in September. 

Ok, one more thing.  This is also VERY exciting.  Anna and Gideon's adoption are going to be finalized March 23rd (Logan's birthday).  Although Anna and Gee are legally our kids we cannot get them US birth certificates until we finalize here in Ohio.  Plus there are lots of other things that need to be done with them(social security numbers, legal first name change, etc.) and it all starts with this finalization.  We actually go before the judge all official like and it is kind of a special thing.  I think we will probably even go out and celebrate afterwards.

Sorry to get so windy, I just had a lot to update I guess.

Julie