Any News Is Good News....

 Eeeeek! So excited!! I saw an email last night just before going to bed (and with all my might said this blog post could wait until the morning!) that said  "Case Filed" in the subject line.  Our email shows the first couple words of an email before we actually open it.  I read 'Congratulations!' Oh boy, I couldn't get that email opened quick enough!

The words I read don't change anything.  We still don't have a court date and still don't know when we will go to court and travel to see our sweet baby girl.  However, at this stage in the process, ANY news is good news! It's just something to hold on to and know that things are progressing along. 

So what did the email say? 
Our case was filed with federal court on Thursday, January 3, 2012. We are now waiting for the Ethiopian courts to schedule our first hearing.  Our agency said we should receive the dates for our first hearing in about 2 weeks.  We do not need to travel for the first hearing.  From my understanding, this is the preliminary hearing and the director of West Sands in Ethiopia as well as a representative from the orphanage will appear to represent us.
And the best part of the email said this: "You should plan on traveling in as soon as 6 weeks."

YAY!!! :)

In other news....
Checked in to immunizations.  There are no safe vaccines for nursing mothers for malaria.  BUT, the lady at the Maricopa County Adult Immunization Center (so I'm assuming she's pretty knowledgeable) said that malaria mosquitoes only bite at night and there are none in Addis Ababa, which is where we will be sleeping each night.  So she said as long as we don't stay over night anywhere else, I should be fine.  The agency told us to wear 100 deet at night at 30 deet during the day.  Hep A is safe for both of us, so we will go to get those.  However, yellow fever is not safe at all for me either because that is passed on to the baby and can make their teeth black.  So, we'll be passing on that one too!




Printed off our 20 page packet for travel that the agency sent us.  We have lots of information including a packing list, information on cultural norms, weather, and what we can bring for Elliana.  We also will be taking an extra suitcase (or 2...just depends what the airline will allow) full of items for the children at the orphanages.  How fun!! If anyone has any children's clothes they want to donate or diapers, we would be glad to take them. (But check with me first so we can get a variety and don't have more than is allowed).



Stay tuned...