Hi all. I apologize that I haven't written much lately. I have been in a bit of a daze. I just can't believe that we passed court and that she is ours. I keep thinking that something will come up to delay us from passing court...and then I realize that we DID pass court and it's such a relief.
The other reason I've been slow in writing is that we keep taking turns getting sick. I don't think I've ever been this sick before, and am getting so sick of getting sick! I'm hoping now that the snow is FINALLY melting, and we can FINALLY get outside, that we will be on the mend.
We received good news today. We received the second of four documents required for her Permanent Residency Visa. I'm so excited to get this news, as it is one other thing I can check off. (I'm all about checking things off...sometimes I make a list of some of the things I've already done, just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off the list!). We need four things for the PRV - medical (which was sent to Nairobi before we passed court), birth certificate (which we got today), and the passport and court documents, which we're still waiting for.
The funny thing about the birth certificate, is that it gives her a new name. Her given name is Mebirat. Mebirat means "light" in Amharic. There are a lot of thoughts out there on whether to keep or change the child's name when adopting. I appreciate and understand all viewpoints. For us, we wanted to stay as close to her given name as possible, but wanted to alter it slightly so that kids wouldn't pick up on the "rat" part and bug her. Also, some of the correspondence we've had, has listed her name as Mebrat. "Me-brat"...not the best start for a life in Canada. We decided, thanks to the brainwave of a good friend, to take off the "t" and make it Mebira. We pronounce it as Meh-BEER-a.
Now, on the birth certificate we received today, her name is listed as Mebirat Arvid Schimke. We knew this would happen, because children in Ethiopia receive the Father's name as their second name...but I have to admit that it looks a little funny anyway. We'll be changing her name to Mebira Hope Schimke when she comes home.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted as to our progress...so far things are moving along, which is great. We're still hoping to be able to pick her up in July or August.
SO glad to hear from you, Anita! Glad you have half of what you need for the PRV. Once you get the last 2, do they issue it right away or is that the start of the big wait? I haven't got around to worrying about that part yet! All in good time!!!!
ReplyDeleteHope the last 2 come quickly for you!!!!
Claire
Hi Claire. Once they get all of the documents, then the big wait begins. So we can't actually start counting until they get the documents...I'll post when everything is sent to Nairobi...hopefully not more than 2 weeks until we can officially start counting!
ReplyDelete2 weeks !!!! Can you imagine Anita, after all we been through in Ethiopia it wonderful to be almost at the visa level.... I am so happy. I agree with you choosing the name of our son was not easy. I a lot of people around us has giving us their opinion (even if we did not ask for) and we did not know what to do. In our case we decided to add a canadian name and depend of his reaction we will be using it as his usual name but we will also keep his two ethiopian name as a middle name so he can still use it later in his life.
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