Gotcha Day - May 26, 2010!

The judge said yes - yesterday to be exact! We are over the moon and so happy to introduce our little one! We are hoping to travel to Ethiopia at the end of June for early July embassy date but it may be later in July. We'll just have to see. In the meantime, thanks for all of your support and kind words. We'll continue to need them!
Love, Amy & Patrick

Phoebe Ayele FitzGerald
Birthday - June 20, 2009
Gotcha Day - May 26, 2010

Pins and Needles

So very nervous about tomorrow but at the same time surrendered to what is supposed to happen. Seems like everyone passed on May 12th and one family did not pass today with a court date rescheduled for 3 weeks. Its not so much the wait, but our Immigration fingerprints expire August 10th and you cannot predict how long that will all take. We must have those in shape to travel. But just keeping hopeful and positive! Its going to be a long 24 hours or so while we wait for the news!

Last Vacation?

Okay so maybe this past weekend was the last big vacation hoorah for Patrick and myself. A nice relaxing time in the Outer Banks shared towards the end with Katy and Ted (Pat's brother and his wife). We find out on Wed if we passed court and hopefully, we'll soon find out about Embassy date and travel. We hope to travel early so we can head south to Tembaro region where our little one is from. We want to have as many photos and knowledge of her birthplace as possible to share with her one day. I have to remind myself that not everyone makes court on first go around so trying to be open to all possibilities.

Unofficial Mother's Day Celebration

While we haven't passed court date yet, I am still going to celebrate Mother's Day this weekend. My agency had some new photos of our little baby "A" and I did not think she could get any cuter. These were about a month newer than our last. She had a cute little dress on and in one photo, she was sitting in a complete split. Maybe she'll be a gymnast or a little yogi! Pat and I are still contemplating names. We will keep either her first or last name as her new middle to preserve her family history. I also ordered copies of all of the photos I have of her from other folks's photo albums. Need to see if I can find some more from last fall as she was residing in the IAG care center. Want as many as I have to document her 1st year for her. She looks so happy and healthy and like she loves to laugh - that will be very important in our household!

Court Date!

Wow, everything seems to be going really fast now. We received our referral last week, Tuesday to be exact. And today we received our court date. I thought it would be towards the end of June but its May 26th - an entire month before. There is a chance that we may have 1,2, 3 or even four court dates but roughly 50% make it on the first try.

Funny how our adoption journey had so many roadblocks and I felt as it we were pushing and pulling, but things seem so right and so smooth right now. We'll see what happens next, but we could be in Ethiopia but June/July?

Baby A's first care package

Funny to call our little one "A". That was my Dad's nickname for me. "A" or "Little A." I miss my Dad and wish he could have been at our wedding or meet my daughter. But I know he is around me whether up above and looking down or reincarnated into a pretty high being! I love you Dad!

So will need to post a photo of care package. The one I have now has her photo on it and I have to wait until court date to post those! Pretty little green sundress, a pink "lovie" with a teddy bear head (aka security blanket) and a photo album that she can chew on and look at with photos of Mamma and Pappa and her new home, the cool playground across the street at Project Enlightment and some other family photos.

Lots of positive and then some negative stuff from folks. A dear older friend of mine and his wife have been trying to talk us out of our adoption. Telling us about articles and television shows they have seen with scary adoption stories. Deep down, I know they love and care for Patrick and I completely. And want to protect us in some way. But it is border line rude and I am just trying to be as polite as possible. And some of this was at a funeral today, no less. Geez people. Give me a break. I hope they don't push me to the edge. Again, more yoga. Practice in patience, love, compassion..... maybe more practice for being a Mom. Just breathe.

On the sweet side.................My brother who I love so much sent me the nicest email. So I have to post it so it doesn't get lost in my email and I won't forget it. It brought me to tears.

I was picking up a sandwich at the café and heard in the background the lyrics to the Natalie Merchant song “These Are the Days”----“we are blessed and lucky”----it reminded me that good fortune such as Maya coming your way involves both a blessing and luck (as well as a lot of patience)! Anywho, at the risk of seeming cheezy and sentimental, the lyrics of this song resonated with me today in the context of your great news --- and I thought I would share them with you..

never before and never since,
I promise
will the whole world be warm as this
and as you feel it,
you'll know it's true
that you
are blessed and lucky
it's true,
that you
are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you
these are days you'll remember
when May is rushing over you with desire
to be part of the miracles you see in every hour
you'll know it's true,
that you
are blessed and lucky
it's true,
that you
are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you
these are the days
that you might fill with laughter
until you break
these days you might feel a shaft of light
make its way across your face
and when you do
you'll know how it was meant to be
see the signs and know their meaning
you'll know how it was meant to be
hear the signs and know they're speaking to you
to you

Referral!

We are over the moon! We got a referral yesterday for a little girl "A" - I have no idea how to pronounce her name! And it does not matter - she is beautiful. Ten months old and living in the Addis Ababa Care Center in Ethiopia. She is a chunky little thing with huge eyes and elfin ears. You can just tell she is Ms. Personality!

Of course, the first thing I did was to begin thinking about court and if we will we make it before the rainy season begins. I can already see my tendency to begin thinking of the worse which will make the next couple of months - this entire summer to be exact - unpleasant. I cannot do that to myself.

So here is the deal. We should get a court date in the next week or two - the date that is - with the actual court date 6-8 weeks into the future. Then we hope and pray, we only have one court date. Over 50% of families have 2, 3 or 4 court dates if pieces of paper or information is missing from the file - some comes from agency and some from Ministry of Women (MOWA). Court dates can be close together or far apart and then several weeks before the embassy date where we will be with our daughter (I like the way that sounds). At best, 3 months, at worst 4 months or more. So will just try to remain positive. I need to practice that some more.

For now, I am just enjoying googling at the photos and video of our daughter. We have had several referrals before but this felt completely right..... for me and for Pat.

Feeling incredibly blessed today!