Confession Friday, April 8

Here's my second attempt at Confession Friday:

• I confess that I look at the pictures of Mebira ALL the time. I love to open the blog and just scroll through the pictures and analyze every little thing
  
• I confess that I'm so excited to have a date with my husband tonight!
• I confess that I can't wait until Easter. For the first time ever, Arvid and I are trying to limit our TV watching for Lent. It has been a lot harder than I thought. The idea was to spend time reading, talking or praying instead...although I confess that I haven't been quite as diligent with that as I had hoped, it has still been a good exercise...but I'm really looking forward to Easter!
• I confess that I've booked up the calendar pretty good for the next month or two...and I like it. It can get to be too much at times, but I want to keep busy so I don't go crazy waiting for our visa.
• I confess that I can't wait for all organized activities in our lives (piano, gymnastics, etc.) to be done. I look forward to getting the kids after school and going to the park or just hanging out in the backyard.
• I confess that we've been on a bit of a splurge the last few weeks, now that we've passed court. We've been waiting for that milestone before we bought some things, and it's been fun to finally get what we've had our eyes on for so long. Our existing kitchen table only has 4 chairs...so we bought a new table with 6 chairs and it should be delivered within a few weeks. We're also on the hunt for a "new" SUV. Although I love my XL7, we can't fit three kids in a row so we will be upgrading to an Expedition. I'm not sure how I'll be able to handle driving something so big, but it comes with back-up sensors, which should help! :-)

Anyway, I wish you all a great weekend!

Mebira's Name

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.

Updated pics of Mebira...Finally!

We finally got updated pictures of Mebira. I'm so excited to post them and show you what she looks like now. These are all pictures of her in the Transition House, opening the care package we left her.

I'm shocked that they didn't shave her head again (like I was expecting). Maybe they still will, or maybe I just need to get "brushed up" on how to do hair!!

We left her a backpack full of fun things, and put it in this big, blue bag. We were nervous it would get lost but I'm so glad she got it!

I love her cute smile!

Oh...the anticipation!

Cabbage Patch doll (above), crocs (bel0w)

Girly crafts (below) and a pink blanket we all took turns sleeping with.

Looks like she's getting into it now (below)

Stickers and felts (below)

A photo album with pictures of us and our home

I LOVE this picture. Her first glimpses of us...and the snow! :-)

We got her a Canada shirt and a dress...they weren't meant to be worn together, but oh well.

Playing with the mp3 player...I hope they put the earphones in!

Welcome to Mebira Hope Schimke

I am still so excited. Thank you to the many of you who have called, emailed, texted and posted. We are blessed!

I've attached the referral pictures we received. These were taken back in August or so, and she looks quite a bit different now. I hope to get new pictures that we can post next week.

I didn't write too much about Mebira the day we met her in Addis. I'll try to fill you in on what little we know about her. We do have some family background and the reasons why she was brought to the orphanage, but based on the reading we've been doing from various experts, we're not sharing any of that info until she is ready to do so herself.

The day we met her we noticed that she was quite shy. She wasn't totally in there with the other kids, but was a bit more subdued. Some of the kids were quite aggressive, trying to get as many balls/balloons as they could, but she stayed back a bit more. At one point, she either dropped her ball (or someone took it), and another boy ended up with it. She just stood there and cried...she didn't go right after him and pummel him, like some kids might have. Well, my momma bear instincts kicked in, I went to the boy, got her ball back and gave it back to her and she gave me a big smile in return.

Although we played with her quite a bit, she often kept disappearing into their little eating room/TV room/classroom. She seemed to like the TV, and the quiet of the room, instead of the chaos outside. I asked the caregivers about her, and if she had changed a lot since she was brought in. They said she was very quiet and reserved at first and mostly just watched and stood back, but that she plays with the kids now. She also came from the Wolayta region, and didn't speak Amharic. By the time we got there in February, she had already learned Amharic in those 4 months. So those are all good signs.

I know we got such a short glimpse into her personality, and that the longer she is in an institution the longer she can pick up bad habits, etc, and the true test will be when she experiences so much change in a few months...but we really enjoyed what we saw of her. She seemed to have a really sweet spirit. We can't wait to bring her home!

It's official - Mebira is ours!

I am so excited to be able to post the news that we passed court today!

While I was dropping off the girls at school I got a call from our adoption agency, saying that we had received the MOWA letter. I am sooo thrilled! I was able to pull the girls out of their classrooms and told them in the hallway while I broke down in tears.

I am at work now (good thing I have a very understanding boss who knows I need to tell the world before I get busy) so I don't have any pictures on this computer to post. I will be sure to do that as soon as we get home.

As a recap for those of you who may have missed my last few posts, we now need to wait for the court documents, passport and birth certificate to get to Canadian Citizenship and Immigration in Nairobi (this will take about 4-5 weeks). After that, it's up to CIC to issue the visa. We're hoping this whole process will take 3-4 months, meaning that we'll be able to pick her up in June/July...I hope.

OK, I should get back to it here...thanks for your support through all of the ups and downs! This is definitely the best "up" we've had!!!

Court news

We got an email from Imagine Adoption this morning. As expected, we were able to "pass" the court part, but the adoption is not completed yet as we are waiting for an approval letter from MOWA (the Ministry of Women's Affairs). Recently, MOWA decided they would write only about 5 letters a day, which is significantly down from the 50 letters a day they said they were writing. Since it has been 11 days since this ruling, you can imagine the backlog. There have been rumors that MOWA will start clearing the backlog, or writing more letters a day but so far there has been no official announcement. We have not been given another court date - once MOWA writes the letter it is presented to the court and we are then officially Mebira's parents. So the good news is we don't have to wait for another far off court date, and the staff in Ethiopia think it won't be long (a week or two). The bad news is that there is no court date to put pressure on MOWA to write the letter...so we are even more at their mercy now.

What happens when we get this letter? Well, after a big celebration on our end, we can then post pictures of Mebira on our blog as she is officially our child. The court documents, birth certificate, and passport need to be sent to the Canadian embassy in Nairobi (which in recent cases took about a month, however, with the recent MOWA changes I have no idea), then, when they get to it, the Canadian embassy looks at our file and gives Mebira a permanent residency visa. Once we get this, we can immediately travel and bring her home. Taking a wild guess, we're hoping this will be about 3 to 5 months after we get the letter.

What about Mebira? A day or two after the MOWA letter is received, she will be moved to a Transition House, operated by our adoption agency in Ethiopia. They will be giving her the presents, clothes and photo album we left for her and telling her about our family. We will FINALLY start getting update pictures and measurements each month, and they will start to prepare her for the adoption and life in Canada.

I can't wait to bring Mebira home. The ups and downs have been more than I can take sometimes. I am glad we were able to check off another requirement in the process today, but this journey is still long from being over...thanks for journeying with us!

Tonight's the Night

Well, tonight while we're sleeping MOWA and the court will decide on our adoption. For details on our first court date, my friend Ruth has allowed me to link you to her blog. We all had court on the same day, and she described everything in great detail. So if you're interested, check it out here: http://ruths-rambles.blogspot.com/2011/03/judgment-day-of-court.html?utm_source=BP_recent

Do I think we'll pass tomorrow? Not really. If I took a guess, I would guess that the court will "pass" us, but that MOWA won't have our letter ready, which means the adoption won't be finalized and Mebira will not be moved to the Transition House yet. If it's better news then that, I'll be thrilled. But given the recent updates from Ethiopia, I think we'll be waiting for the MOWA letter, with no idea as to a timeline for its completion...

I mostly feel at peace right now. I have no control over this situation and have come to accept that. Feeling tense or angry or worried about it hasn't helped but to make me (and probably my family at times) miserable. I am choosing to accept that God is in control and is sovereign, and I have chosen to enjoy these days as much as I can. My previous focus was really on the adoption - on not passing court, or worrying about what it will be like when we bring her home. And I forgot to live in the moment.

Some of the things I'm thankful for:
- A great husband who has been wonderful through this adoption. From letting me vent, to dreaming with me, to speculating, to listening, he is amazing. He truly is my best friend. Just last week (when the State Department indicated delays could be up to a year) I was so frustrated...but he came home with a beautiful pandora charm and a nice, encouraging note. Isn't he a nice guy? :-)

- The girls. I'll admit, sometimes I can't handle the noise and need my breaks, but they are such a joy in my life. I love them to pieces. I am sometimes nervous about how this adoption will affect our family life...it will change for sure, so I'm trying to soak up every day.

- Friends and Family. We are surrounded by so many supportive people and it makes such a difference. People who have posted or stopped me or called or written cards and have said they're praying or sending positive vibes...all of you mean so much to me. Thanks so much!

- Our jobs. Arvid and I are blessed with wonderful jobs and wonderful places to work. Not only do we get paid, but we both enjoy what we do and who we do it with.

- Living in Canada. Ethiopia was beautiful, but man, life is good in Canada! Now if only Spring would start. :-)

Anyway, I'll update more tomorrow morning, as soon as I hear from Imagine.