O Happy Day!

Today I am proud and (beyond) happy to announce our daughter, Kokeb Marcia Anderson.
Today we passed court in Ethiopia. Yes, we were in Ethiopia for our court appointment on June 30. However, the judge was missing a letter from the Ministry of Womens, Childrens, and Youth Affairs. Today we were told that the letter was received. Now we are considered the legal parents of Kokeb in Ethiopia.

Every day we pray for our daughter. Every day we wish she was home with us and not half-way across the world. Last night was my breaking point and God heard me. I feel like I have been pretty patient over the past 2 1/2 years, but now I am starting to get a little anxious.

Kokeb means "star". She is our star. Elijah and Mekebo love her already and they haven't even met her. Marcia (the "i" is supposed to have an accent over it) is after my mother. She has been so wonderful through each of our adoption processes. She even went with us to Ethiopia to see Kokeb in June. We are so thankful for wonderful, supportive parents.

What is next? We have to do some more waiting. We need to receive her birth certificate, visa and a US Embassy date. The time will seem long without her. To keep our time occupied Brian is going to Canada, the boys and I are going to Kansas to visit my brother, we are remodeling some of our kitchen, and we are reading books on attachment!

Thanks for all of your prayers. Please don't stop!

Court Decision.

I am writing this on Friday night in Ethiopia. Tomorrow we depart Bole Airport at 11pm. I can’t believe how fast the week went…how many things we did in one week.

Yesterday we had court and were presented in front of the Ethiopian judge. We went into the room in groups of 3 families. And the verdict… no MOWA letter. Yes, I cried. None of the six families passed. So, I was really bummed, but our CHSFS representative said that he was going to talk to MOWA. So, now we wait to hear when we get our letter for the rest of the paperwork to proceed. Thank you for your prayers; please continue to pray that we will receive our letter soon.

We transferred yesterday afternoon from the CHSFS guesthouse to the Ethio Comfort Guest House. We are definitely in middle class Ethiopia here. The shops and restaurants are much more Americanized.

Today (Friday) we spent 6.5 hours with our little girl at the Helawi Foundation in Addis. She was a little warmer towards us. I tried to feed her but she wanted none of that. She preferred Brian over me. She is going to be his little princess. I can’t wait to post pictures once we pass court! We tried to figure out what size she wears…the onesie she was wearing was newborn size and her pants were 4T. So, figure that one out! She showed us how she crawls. She also was talking to the nannies today. We were able to sit outside with her for about 10 minutes.

Eli and Mekebo, you are going to be able to make your little sister laugh and smile better than Mom and Dad I think. We can’t wait for you to hug and kiss her. She is going to be perfect in our family. We have waited so long for her to be a part of our family! We will see you in 2 days. Please remember that your little sister will not be with us. Next time…Have fun with Uncle Matt and Aunt Cathy.