Ethiopia Here We Come

Monday March 30, 2009 will go down in the Smith Family History as a glorious day. About a year ago we decided to adopt two kids from Ethiopia, and after 2 feet of paper work and lots of fingerprints and background checks we finally got our file complete in January. So from there it was going to be about an 18 month wait, so we just started waiting. In February we decided we needed to start praying for our kids in Ethiopia because more than likely they were alive and just waiting for us. So we did, and it was a little awkward at first, but than it got easier. Well, then about 3 weeks ago, I just kept getting this thought that we were going to get our referral soon, but I would just brush that off as wishful thinking, and remind myself that the wait was 18 months for referral...be patient. Well, Monday at about 3 in the afternoon the phone rang and I saw that it was our agency in Minnesota. I picked up the phone thinking I probably forgot to get something notarized or the likes. It was our case worker and she explained that our agency had just finalized a partnership with a new orphanage in Ethiopia in a village named Nazret, about 2 hours south of Addis Ababa, the capital. She asked if I knew about this, and I said, "yes", and than proceeded to tell me that she had a referral for us. I was speechless. Luckily she started telling me about the boys, so I could just sit, listen, and bawl. She explained it was 2 little boys 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 years old, and all their personality traits that the orphanage listed. Nathneal is the 4 year old, (Nathaniel in English, so we will probably call him Nate), and Dagim is 2 (pronounced Dageem, we will call him Dag most likely). They are so stinking cute and we couldn't be happier. I would post their pictures, but I found out after I had already emailed them to family, I wasn't supposed to yet, and that the agency will be sending me a photo that I can post as soon as they get our acceptance paperwork. Needless to say I spent the next two days crying myself to sleep. Our kids are ecstatic and Sam had an amazing spritual experience with it as well. Heavenly Father blessed me with an instantaneous love for these boys the second I saw their picture, and although we have never met I feel all the emotions of their mother. The first night I cried tears of joy, sorrow for their birth mom, gratitude for her, worry for them and that they are being taken care of good, and that they will want to be part of our family. I worry about the fear they will have when two white people (they've probably never even seen white people) march into their lives and take them away from everything familiar. Put them on this giant plane and take them to a foreign land, that smells weird, looks strange, and they don't understand a single word. Holy Crap! They are fighters though and in the pictures they still have gigantic angelic smiles on their faces. It really is a miracle, that we got our referral so quick...I guess out of the 350 families on the waiting list, they were all requesting under 48 months of age or a sibling group with girls. I'm delighted I won't have to learn how to braid hair...just a buzz for us. We really couldn't be happier. From here the wait time is between 8 and 12 weeks before we travel to pick them up. We won't know until about 2-3 weeks before, but I got lots to do before than. Bigger car, new beds, more life jackets, car seats, diapers...I love it. So from a family of 6 to one of 8 in a couple of months....EIGHT IS GREAT and we can't WAIT!