Our Adoption Journey

This is my first attempt at blogging. I've never done it before and am a bit wary about doing this, but have learned so much from others in their journey that I thought I'd give it a try. It's also a great way to keep people updated on our adoption journey, especially while in Ethiopia.

So, how did this all start?

Well...how far back do I go?

• 1996...met Arvid in 2nd year Engineering. He stood out because he got 100% on an exam I (and many others) royally failed...and I thought, I need to meet this guy. :-)
• 1997, 3rd year Engineering...Arvid and I became great friends and joked that if we were still single by the time we were 30, we'd get married.
• 1998, 4th year Engineering. We planned all of our courses and labs together. We were pretty much inseperable...8-5 at school, working on homework or hanging out in the evenings. At a Halloween party we kind of clicked...but decided not to date until after we graduated. It didn't quite work out that way...we started dating on Dec. 27.
• 1999, we both graduated in April from Electrical Engineering. YAH! Work began after one month off. We got engaged on Sep. 3.
• 2000, we got married on June 3 (well under age 30) on a beautiful, sunny day. YAH!
• 2002, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Grace
• 2004, gave birth to another beautiful baby girl, Elizabeth. She was born EXACTLY 2 years, to the day, after Grace. What can I say? We're both engineers and precise! :-)
• 2005-2007, 1 ectopic pregnancy and 3 miscarriages
• 2007, finally decided we wouldn't try for another baby. It took me a while but eventually I accepted being a family of 4 and grew to be perfectly content.
• 2008, attended a Haiti Children's Home fundraiser...saw the picture of orphans, saw the extra bedroom in our house, received an inheritance from Arvid's grandfather, decided to adopt!
• 2008, November...started the adoption process...paperwork and paperwork and paperwork
• 2009, May...our dossier finally makes it to Ethiopia, asking for siblings 0-5 years old.
• 2009, July, adoption agency goes under, then is miraculously revived after a few months
• 2010, May, changed request to allow for a single referral...at that current rate it would have taken decades to wait for siblings.
• 2010, Fall...losing hope...debating pulling out
• 2010, Nov 22 REFERRAL for a beautiful, 4.25 year old girl
• 2011, Feb 11 Court Date #1

What's next? Once we pass court, we wait for our visa...approximately 3-6 months from when we pass court.

We can't wait!