"DELIVERED"

According to the courier tracking information, our documents arrived in Nairobi at 9:13am this morning and were signed by "James".

We are officially waiting for Seth's visa. FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!!! Did I say FINALLY!?!?!

I have decided to go into this final wait with no expectations...we just feel so grateful that we have gotten to this point that asking for anything more just seems selfish. Seth's visa will come when it is ready and that is when we will be ready too...NOT - I will be obsessed, consumed, fixated, etc. every second of every day until that phone rings. We have waited long enough and I don't want to wait a second longer. We want him home NOW!

I have had several people ask me "So when do you THINK you will be going?", unfortunately, I haven't the slightest idea and can't even begin to guess - the problem is that the only thing predictable about visa time lines is that they are completely unpredictable. Last October visas took up to 5 months to be issued, in December they were coming within 3 weeks, in April it was back up to over 3 months, and most recently it was approximately 2-5 weeks.

Let me hear ya - VISA VISA VISA!!!! COME ON VISA!!!!

Our baby is 2-years-old today!

It has been almost 11 months since we first saw Seth's beautiful face. We were certain that we would be celebrating his second birthday with him at home. We have watched him grow from a baby to a boy through pictures... And on this special day, instead of giving him birthday cuddles, we are blowing kisses to him from across the ocean.

We may not be with him today, but that is not going to stop us from celebrating his birthday! Sara and I are about to make very special birthday cupcakes, and Sara's instructions are very clear for the decorating - "The cupcakes will have LOTS of candy hearts on them so Seth knows how much we love him. And I'll eat two cupcakes, one for me and one for Seth - I think he would want me to do that for him, right?"

WE LOVE YOU BIRTHDAY BOY!

SOON BABY SOON!

BACK ON TRACK - Pinch me please!

We are officially BACK ON TRACK! Pinch me please!

We received a very surprising and amazing message last week, telling us that the letter we had been waiting for since January had been issued and that we could finally apply for Seth's birth certificate and passport. Our agency had exhausted all their "friendly" options of retrieving this letter over the past several months, so we were left with no choice and had hired a lawyer and were preparing our case to be filed in Ethiopian high court. So this news was truly a shock - a great big amazing shock!! We don't know what or why the letter was finally issued now after all these months, but to be honest, all that matters is that it was.

After everything that has happened over the past few months, we have been a little gun-shy about announcing any milestones too soon. BUT now that we know FOR SURE that ALL of Seth's documents are in the right hands, we are able to do a little happy dance to celebrate the final wait to bring our son home. We found out today that the last of Seth's documents were finally issued and ready to be sent for his visa to be finalized.

GET READY NAIROBI - CUZ HERE WE COME!!!!

Adoption Magazine

Check out Adoption Magazine and you could win!!! I might even have a post or two published...

Very serious beep-beep loving boy!

My wonderful, amazing friend was able to kiss my baby for me this week!! And sent me this note:

He is walking! He is super healthy! He is really big - in a sturdy, strong type of way :). He was babbling words in Amharic. They say he is very serious. He loves cars and he likes Solomon-the-driver because he drives the van! He says "beep-beep" for the word 'car'.

Look at my very serious beep-beep loving boy! Oh man, do I ever love him!!!

I NEED him HOME - like right NOW!!!

Guess how much I love you?

I love you THIS much! Or it could also be - "Guess how long I have been waiting? - This long!"

And a cute little smile for you too!