Strep, 5 year Prep, and new Visa steps

Oh my has this been a difficult week! I finally found my daily rhythm last weekend and we enjoyed Saturday and Sunday with our friends. Beautiful weather enticed us outdoors and now we're all longing for signs of spring! On Sunday Kendall returned from a friend's house feeling pretty bad, her throat mainly. By Monday morning we were sitting in her doctor's office, diagnosis Strep Throat. Poor kid. It was miserable for her. But in the way that only kids can, by Tuesday morning and 2 doses of meds in her she was up and about and feeling way better. Love that medicine!! She went to school on Wednesday and I went to my doctor, for the same diagnosis. This stuff is wicked! Hoping I'll bounce back as quickly??
Sweet Mallory turns 5 this weekend. We are praying she won't be a victim of this junk! Prayer is all we have left since the precocious little girl refuses to stay out of our faces and insists on a hug even as we're running the other direction. Let's hope 5 gives her more self control than 4 did!
We received interesting news this week regarding our second trip back to Ethiopia. The way the US Embassy gives dates was based upon your agency. So for our agency we knew that they have a standing arrangement every other Thursday. Having been briefed on the steps needed to get our paperwork to the Embassy, the timeline had us believing we were good candidates for the March 3 court date. We were so sure we even made our lodging arrangements for that week. But then 2 hours after we made those reservations we received an update regarding the Embassy dates. The Embassy has decided to do away with set days for agencies. It's a free for all! What?!? Not really. The way we now understand it to be is that in an effort to move more cases through efficiently they have decided to alert the agencies as soon as each file has been reviewed and is cleared to have a Visa Interview. Our agency will still try to group families together so that we have a travel group. Though I know now from experience how wonderful such a group can be, I'm quite sure the agency needs to group us together in an effort to not overwhelm the in-country staff and the travel coordinator here in the states. I'm hopeful that our agency and the Embassy will find a 'groove' that proves to be most beneficial to the children and their families who are waiting to be united again. This first full week apart from Ty has been a roller coaster! Many tears have been shed in anxiety and the inexplicable weight of separation from our child. He is on our minds constantly and we find ourselves reaching out to the other adoptive families..it's our one true connection back to the days with Ty. We are grateful to hear from them and so very glad they want to talk about our babies together. One thing that helps is to know that though he may be miles away he sleeps under the same moon and wakes to the same bright sun that we do. And always, we are all under God's ever watchful eye, the most comforting thought of all.
One more bit of exciting news came this week. One of the traveling families had stayed in Ethiopia and was scheduled to leave on Jan 31st. They had contacts in Ethiopia and were able to extend their stay. We learned yesterday that they had been told to extend their trip because it was a good possibility that they would get to have their visa interview next week. We are so excited for them and pray that all goes well. If this comes true for them it is a good indicator that our paperwork may be close behind. We, too, could be getting an invitation to return sooner than we thought! It's all in God's hands, and as I've said before His timing is always perfect!

Friday with Friends

Another deep sleep night! Yay! Today is a busy ‘let’s get things for Ty’ day. I registered for an upcoming baby shower my sweet neighborhood friends are planning. I have to admit it is a whole different ball game registering for a one year old! It was fun to do and by focusing so much attention on Ty, I was totally excited about his arrival. After registering I did a little shopping and picked up a few clothes and snacks for the sweet little guy. We’ve been invited to dine with friends tonight, looking forward to a night out. I have a feeling we’ll be doing a lot of the talking as our friends are dying to hear details of our visit with Ty. Should be a good night.