Visit with the Pediatrician

Today, Paul & I spent much of the day with the Doctor...no really, I am serious.

I think we were there for over 2 hours asking questions and setting up a "game plan" for when we bring our son home. He set our minds at ease about some stuff (I had 2 pages of questions), and helped us think about things we hadn't yet. It is so goot to know that Nathaniel will be well taken care of!

Holly's Got An Owie...

...But Nathaniel is SO worth it!

2 Weeks to Court Date!

Just wanted to share. :-)

Travel Packet Received and other *stuff*

Yesterday we received our official travel packet for our trip to Ethiopia! Can this be real?! I still feel like I am in a dream!

I think I may have read all the info about 1000 times and have already faxed our travel coordinator the necessary stuff so she will have it first thing tomorrow. We still do not have tentative travel dates, but we do know travel will likely be 2 -3 weeks after our court date on May 5th!

Ok, I must confess...I went to JC Penney and bought several summer outfits, as they were 55% off AND I had a 20% coupon. I will post pictures later. I keep picturing the clothes on him and how amazing he will look with his chocolate colored skin in the colors I chose. My only concern is size...even with an approx weight doesn't really let me know for sure what size he will be (Rachel at the Transition Home said the weight isn't 100% accurate, because the scale is off and they have to prop the babies up on it to weigh them). I am just so glad that all the updates have stated that he is healthy!

This Tuesday we are meeting with our Pediatrician to go over some stuff and ask a million questions. I am looking forward to this meeting...another thing that is making this seem so real! Paul & I are going to sit down tomorrow evening and list out our questions so we don't forget anything.

I find myself excited and nervous all at the same time. My stomach has been on edge all weekend, especially when I think about the court date. I keep reminding myself of Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

Thank you, Lord, that I can place my trust in You.

Transition Home Updates!

Every other Friday we get updates from the Transition Home about our little Nathaniel!

We got another BEAUTIFUL picture of him (which I will show after our May 5th court date) and a short little paragraph:
"*Nathaniel is getting cuter and cuter all the time! (Not sure if that is even possible!) He is very alert, engaging, and makes great eye contact. He can locate sounds by turning his head in that particular direction. He continues to be very healthy and happy!"

*Name changed by me because of confidentiality reasons.

In other news, the AWAA program director left for Ethiopia today, and will be traveling in Ethiopia and Rwanda until mid-May. They are hoping to establish and strengthen relationships so they continue serving orphans in Africa. They will also be working with the in country staff to find ways to better the program as it grows larger.

I get excited thinking about the fact that Duni will get to meet our little Nathaniel! I so wish I was there right now getting to kiss his chubby little cheeks!

Happy weekend!
Love,
Holly

3 Weeks Ago We Saw His Face...In 3 Weeks YOU Will See His Face!!!!!

I just got the email about 20 minutes ago....
WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our court is scheduled for Monday morning, May 5th (which is our Sunday evening, May 4th). When I wake up in the morning on the 5th, we should know the ruling.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!
Love,
Holly

Steps to the Court Date

So, tomorrow will be 3 weeks since we saw our son for the first time. Lots of people have been asking, "What now?" or "How long until you go to Ethiopia?"

Here are the steps that have to be completed prior to us recieving our court date:

• Step One - Upon acceptance of the referral, a Contract of Adoption is signed between the child's legal guardian (the Orphanage) and the adoptive parent(s), or the agency representative (Girmachew). If the legal guardian is also the agency that is processing the adoption, another licensed orphanage can sign on behalf of the child. This contract is the basis for the issuance of the adoption decree, which shows that the guardian or the orphanage has relinquished their parental or guardian right in regard to the adopted child. The contract must be taken to the Inland Revenue Administration office to be stamped. There is a nominal fee.
• Step Two - The parents’ dossier is returned to MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) . MOWA will then affix a summary sheet, on which will be noted items such as court decisions, background data on the adopted child or children, and the names of Adoption Committee members who will complete the form at a later date (see below). At this point, for private adoptions only, MOWA usually asks the U.S. Embassy to provide a letter of support for the adoptive parents.
• Step Three - MOWA submits the parents’ dossier to the Adoption Committee for review and approval to adopt. The Adoption Committee meets periodically, sometimes as often as every week, to review cases. The Committee either approves or rejects the prospective adoptive parent(s), based on Ethiopian guidelines for international adoptions. Given the volume of work before the Committee, it can take weeks before the Committee reviews a dossier. Further investigation into the parents' qualifications is done if deemed necessary, and a recommendation is made. Only if all the members of the committee agree, and sign the recommendation, is the request approved.
• Step Four - Once the Committee has approved the parents’ dossier, MOWA opens a file at the Federal First Instance Court to apply for an appointment date for the adoption hearing. The court date could be one to two months from the date of filing.
• Step Five - CYAO opens a file at the Federal First Instance Court to apply for an appointment date for the adoption hearing. The court date could be one to two months from the date of filing. The Court generally is closed between three and twelve weeks between July and October. The dates change every year.
• Step Six - A notice seeking any other claimants to the child is published in the local press stating the child's name and the name of the adopting parents. Anyone opposed to the adoption is requested to appear at MOWA by a certain date and time.
• Step Seven - When the appointed court date arrives, the prospective parents or their agency's local representative will be asked to appear in court. Final decisions can be handed down quickly, but delays of weeks are not uncommon. Adoptive parents must obtain at least two originals of the court decree. One will be retained by MOWA and one must be submitted to the U.S. Embassy for the visa application. The original submitted to the Embassy will be returned to the parents.
• Step Eight - After the adoption is complete, MOWA prepares a request to the city of Addis Ababa for the issuance of a new birth certificate, and a request to the Office of Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs for an Ethiopian passport for the child in its new name. The U.S. Embassy needs both the new birth certificate and the passport to complete the child's U.S. immigrant visa application process.
• Step Nine - The court decree must be translated into English. The original and the translation are submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for authentication. The authentication stamp, seals and signature are placed on the back of the translation. If the adoption contract was made in Amharic, it too must be translated into English and the original translation authenticated by MOFA.

According to our program director the entire process will take 6-8 weeks. This of course is ideal and not a guarantee. We are praying that we will hear when our court date is any day! The last group received notice of their court date about 3 weeks prior to it. At this rate, we may be traveling to pick up our son right around my 30 birthday in the beginning of June!

We are doing our best to use this time wisely to prepare our hearts and home for this little boy! I am reading "What To Expect The First Year", and I am learning a lot!

This week a wonderful family in our church bought us several ADORABLE baby outfits! We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Happy Sunday! Love you all!

Nathaniel's "Stuff"

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!!!

Nathaniel's crib (the blue elephant on the wall behind the crib was made for Paul when he was a baby.)

Nathaniel's changing table & giraffe rocker

Nathaniel's toy box - this toy box was built by Paul's dad for him when he was a kid. I repainted it for Nathaniel.

Nathaniel's high chair

Nathaniel's stroller

Nathaniel's Pack-N-Play/Play Pen/Travel crib & changing table

Clothes, clothes and more clothes! It is so much fun to shop for clothes!

2 Weeks!

It was 2 weeks ago today that we got our referral! This has been an amazing 2 weeks, but the best is yet to come...

Updates from the Transition Home do a Mama's heart good!

I found out Thursday morning that the bi-weekly updates from the Transition home were gonna happen today!!!!! Needless to say, the first thing I did when I woke up was check my email. What did I find? 3 MORE PICTURES!!!!

OK, so this little boy has stolen my heart. I melted when I saw his picture, and I will never be the same!

Our little was described as "...a delight! He is easy to make smile, and is a happy and content baby. His eating, sleeping, and bowel movements are all normal. He has beautiful brown skin and loves to be held!"

It was extremely encouraging to hear that he was examined by an American doctor on 3/15/08. Here is what the doctor said: " is completely healthy and has a normal development. The only issue is that he has a bigger than usual soft spot. The transition home nurse took him for an ultrasound, which showed no abnormalities. This is of no concern and it can take up to 15 months for a baby’s soft spot to close up."

We have been flying today with the pictures and good news!

In other news, I have finished painting and organizing the baby's room (pictures to come). My dad has been here since yesterday, (drove down from Washington) and he took us shopping for "supplies" for his grandson! It was so much fun! We now have a high chair, a stroller and a playpen, plus diapers and 3 new outfits! It was so much fun to put together (pictures to come).

Happy weekend to y'all!

I DO NOT *heart* the Ear, Nose & Throat Doctor!

So I don't enjoy the doctor's office much, but today was one of those don't-ever-wanna-go-to-the-doctor-ever-again kind of visits.

I have had 3 sinus infections since the beginning of 2008 and horrible nose bleeds. So my regular doctor referred me to the ENT.

I just expected a routine exam, possibly an antibiotic and a "game plan" of what to do next or even a clean bill of health...THIS ISN'T WHAT I GOT!!!

So the nurse sprayed 2 different not-so-fun liquids in my nose to numb it and brought in the scope the ENT doctor was going to use to look inside. It was no wonder my blood pressure was unusually high. I think the scope was as long as my husband's 6'7" leg! And this was supposed to be put in my nose?!?!?! (Sorry for the TMI)

Despite the title of this post, my ENT doctor and everyone in the office were extremely kind. It was discovered that I have a deviated septum (which I am not taking care of at this time because it is not affecting my breathing, and everyone I know who has had this corrected was worse off). The Doctor also cauterized my nose (more painful than I remember) and prescribed a stronger antibiotic that I have to take for 2 full weeks. In 1 month I go back for for a CT scan of my sinuses.

I guess you can say that I got my monies worth today, but my head is pretty uncomfortable. Oh well, that's a Monday for you!

It was 1 week ago today...

...that we got the most amazing news of our lives!!!

I just wanted to remind you ! :-)

Naming Our Son

Prior to receiving our referral, Paul & I had tentatively decided on a name for our son. We wanted to wait until we knew the given name of our child before we made the announcement.

The name we have chosen is:

Natnael/Nathaniel - Amharic Biblical 'the gift of God'

We couldn't think of a better meaning for the name of our son. He truly is a gift of God. We are keeping his given name as his middle name (still not sure if I can share that until after the court date; better to be safe than sorry).

I am so thankful that God chose us to be this little miracles parents. We are so blessed!

Acceptance Letter is on it way to AWAA!

We received our official referral packet in the mail late yesterday afternoon. It was so exciting because there was a 2nd picture in there of our little boy that was not emailed to us. He is so amazingly beautiful!

Paul was so anxious to get it filled out last night, even though we couldn't mail it out yesterday. :-) By the time of this post, the Fedex people have picked up our Acceptance Letter and it will be in Virginia tomorrow morning!

We took a couple pictures to celebrate the event! Ok so we got a little silly with the camera. :-)

Love to you all.

Holly

The Call

So I thought I would give those detail oriented people (like me) a play by play of the "The Call".

This morning I woke up like normal and was getting ready. As I was putting my makeup on, I thought I heard my cell phone ringing. Because my husband & I sleep with a fan on in the bedroom I thought I was just imagining it and went on getting ready.

I walked out to the kitchen to pack my breakfast & lunch for work and I checked my phone. I had a missed call and voicemail. It wasn't until I read the phone number that I realized this could be it! I immediatly listened to the message. It was Terra asking us to call her because she had some good news for us!!!! I could hardly stand!

I ran into the bedroom and woke up my husband (trust me, Easter is probably one of the most draining Sundays of the year). I told him what the message said and he sat right up. I called Terra back and put my cell phone on speaker phone. She told us about our referral and said she was emailing us the information as we were speaking to her. Because the speaker phone wasn't the best quality, I couldn't quite understand his name, but I didn't care I just wanted to see him! Paul ran into the living room to start up the laptop while I listened to the rest of the phone call. Terra was very sweet and even mentioned how adorable she thought our little boy was. She even said that she wished she could keep him. :-)

I thanked her and hung up the phone. It seemed like our super fast laptop decided it was going to take forever doing anything this morning. We opened the email and went straight for the pictures. We downloaded them all and went to open the first one. We were on the edge of our seats until it opened....it was the AWAA logo! We laughed and laughed! Our yahoo mail puts logos like that as pictures. So we looked carefully and opened the one labeled pic 1.jpg.

We fell in love...instantly with this little face on the computer screen. He has such big beautiful eyes and a face that you can't help but love. I wanted to hug my computer, and I still try to pinch his cheeks on my laptop...it just isn't the same.

I haven't been able to focus for the rest of the day! It is a good thing that our school is on Spring break, and things are so quiet the day after Easter. :-)

Now is the beginning of my list of things to do to get ready for this little boy. My husband is thrilled about this one *love you, Honey!*

Tomorrow we will receive our official referral packet via Fedex. In this packet we have the documents we got by email (bio, medical, picture) and the official acceptance form. We fill out this form and return it with all the money we grow on the tree in our backyard (just kidding). :-)
After this is returned, the in country representative with AWAA will request our court date. This will happen in approx 4 weeks. Once the court date is approved, he will be our son! Then we can post pictures and our travel is scheduled 3 -4 weeks after that.

I can't believe that I am going to be a mom! :-)
Love,
Holly

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

WE GOT "THE CALL" THIS MORNING AT 8:11 AM.

We are so excited to announce that we have a referral of the most beautiful baby boy in the world! I never knew how much you could fall in love with a picture on the computer, but we are IN LOVE with our little boy!

Because of confidentiality, I am unable to share any details until the courtdate it completed.

Please continue to pray for us as we continue to work on bringing our son home.

Love,
Holly

I've Been Tagged!

Thanks Jill!

Here are the rules: Choose 5 people to tag and a reason you chose each person. Leave them each a comment directing them to your blog so they know they are it. You can't tag the person who tagged you. As a courtesy to the person who tagged you, please let them know when you have posted so they can have the sheer delight and extra work load of reading your answers. I've never been tagged but from what I have been told, I have to share 10 things about myself. Here you go!

1. My full name is Holly Tricia (Goodell) West
2. I was born and raised in Spanaway, Washington
3. I attended Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. I earned my Associate of Arts Degree and a Certificate of Christian Studies. I was just shy of 1 year from finishing my BA in Psychology. I stopped attending full-time to work my husband through his Senior year of college.
4. My husband & I own the full West Wing and Gilmore Girls series on DVD. We also have Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Full House, Get Smart and The Cosby Show on DVD. (Currently we are watching Gilmore Girls for the 100 billionth time!)
5. I have an adorable Jack Russel Terrier who is 1 1/2 years old. His name is Chewy Turkey (because we brought him home in November) West.
6. My husband & I are the lead pastors of Rogue River Assembly of God. We have pastored here since March 2004. Rogue River is my husband's home town. You can check out Paul's blog to find out more about our church.
7. I bite my nails when I am stressed and nervous (it is amazing that I even have fingers left after the week I have had).
8. I love to sing, but I have HORRIBLE stage fright! Just walking up on the stage to sing a special song may require my own oxygen tank. :-)
9. I think Mark Harmon from NCIS is extremely handsome!
10. I am an Americal Idol junkie! My favorite all time Idol contestant is CLAY AIKEN!!!! He should have been the winner of Season 2...sorry Ruben fans, but it is true!!! :-)

6 Months

Today marks 6 months since our dossier was sent to Ethiopia. We are exactly halfway in between to 5-7 month waiting period expected for a boy referral.

Paul & I have been in the car all day driving up and back from Portland (about 4 hours each way). We had to renew our fingerprints with the USCIS (Immigration for our I-600 Orphan Petition). Needless to say, we are exhausted from the travel, but what I love is the quality time I got to spend with my husband today. I had a wonderful time talking and laughing with my best friend without the distractions of life around. :-)

I must admit, my stomach has been on edge all week. Even though we haven't waited as long as some, we know we are close so it is a little stressful. We are trusting in the Lord with all our heart and leaning not on our own understanding...Prov 3:5-6.

Adoption Updates

So there have been several exciting things happening in our adoption world over the last couple of weeks!

Last Friday we had a 2 hour conference call with all the families and our director from the agency. It was an exciting call about all the advancement our agency is making in Ethiopia. We were very encouraged by it.

We were told by a recent adoptive mom, who just recently returned home, that there were 9 children transfered to the Transition Home while she was there. Because there hasn't been any recent referrals, the buzz is that these children were moved with the anticipation of referral being given out. It is exciting and nervewracking all at the same time. One of these children could be our future son...

Would you contiue to pray with us as we wait for God's perfect timing? Thank you!

Hi, My Name Is Holly and I Am A Blog Slacker...

So I have been home from my Road trip for over a week, and yet this is my first blog entry. Please forgive my slacking bloggerness. :-)

So our Road Trip was fun and successful. There is nothing like driving a 22-foot diesel moving truck across the country with your best friend! We had a wonderful time!

Inserting pictures here: This is the monsterous truck we affectionatly named Obi-Wan Kenobi, or "Obi" for short.

Yes, that is 22-feet of moving truck craziness.

This was the AMAZING group of movers and shakers that loaded the truck for Melisma in Jackson, Mississippi. They really are more like family...

Our last stop, was Melisma's Great-Aunt's house in Garden Grove, CA. Melisma's Grandma was visiting from the Philippines and she hasn't seen her for years. (Left to right: Melisma, Grandma, Great-Aunt, Cousin Vivian).

So yes, this is me in the happiest place on earth! Melisma's Great Aunt retired from Disneyland and has a VIP pass to get up to 3 people in for FREE!!! We got to take a break from driving and spend the day at Disneyland, and then went back to the house for some yummy Filipino food!

It is so good to be home, but life has been crazier than ever since coming back. I am finally feeling like a human for the first time!