Paperwork update

Just got an email from our adoption agency that the Embassy has emailed them and stated they have the proper paperwork needed for our case for our Embassy date now. Yea!!!!!!!

Bonjourno

We made it to Rome! So far, we've spent most of our time sleeping. We had to wait a few hours to check into our hotel and we're so exhausted we were almost falling asleep on the stairs of a nearby church. We then decided to head to our hotel and look pathetic in the lobby so they would let us check in early. It worked! ;) The trek over here and the colds we have made us so tired so it's nice to have several complete hours of sleep. I'm just about over mine and we're hoping to fight these off before we leave for Ethiopia so we don't get the baby sick. The report so far on Rome is 1. The architecture is amazingly beautiful 2. The traffic is horrific (we saw a car hit a person on a scooter, but that appears to be an hourly occasion) 3. Gelato....is a must have. It's so good. The plane ride over was interesting. It was a nice practice run for adjusting to the flight home. There was a "situation" (as our flight attendants referred to it) on the plane. A woman went a little nuts and took some pills and started punching people. I kid you not! So, I suggest if you want to take a lot of pills and then start hitting people, to NOT do it when traveling internationally, as it''s not really going to work in your favor. It did keep us restless travelers preoccupied for a few hours. Well, off for some sight seeing....

And...we're off!

Well, the time has come. We are leaving for a journey of a lifetime. We think everything will get processed in regards to the paperwork that was missing. It's been resent and that's about all we can do, so we are moving onward.

Off to Rome till Sunday and then to Ethiopia. We are excited! However, we are both fighting awful colds. It's unfortunate with the timing. I wish we were more rested and feeling better, but not much we can do. I am overwhelmed with emotion right now. Our journey has been a little over a year in the making since we officially started the adoption process. I have been through every emotion possible during it. I've been brought to my knees with excitement, sadness, hopefulness, disappointment, frustration, joyfulness and on and on. We step forward in the next chapter of our lives not knowing exactly what we will face, not knowing exactly who this little guy is and not knowing really his history. We are traveling across the world to bring home this little soul that our lives have been shifted around. Sometimes just that complex thought stops my breath. We will make mistakes, we will do things right and we will get up when we fall down. Together as a family of 3, I can't wait to see what life holds for us from this point forward. However, we will not do it alone. I truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child. We have received so much love and support from family, friends and new friends we've made along the way. I am forever grateful to each and everyone for their well wishes and excitement. With our "village" of family and friends, I look forward to it all.

Gettin' there

A summer thunderstorm greets us early this morning and right as we were about to walk out the door to visit the immigration office again we got a call from the person that can help us with this. They are resending this super important document and we have confirmation it was already sent to the Embassy once. I have faith this will be resolved shortly.

Jumping through hoops

Well, that trip to the Immigration office did not get us anywhere. Apparently, the one and ONLY person in the United States of America that can help us right now left the office early today. Really?! We were told to come back tomorrow morning and "hopefully" this person can talk to us between their scheduled appointments. All the offices we spoke to on the phone directed us to the Immigrations office in KC and this person is our only hope right now to work this out. So, we're headed back up there bright and early tomorrow morning to try and get this sorted out. The entire day has felt like the movie "Idiocracy." Seriously. It's been a very trying day to say the very least. If we can't get this worked out tomorrow, we need to cancel our Rome plans and just plan on going straight to Ethiopia. I find myself wondering how in the world this happened? One tiny little thing overlooked in someone's office and here is the situation that unfolds because of it. Considering the inconvenience this has caused, we are taking this as best as we can. Today is our 9 year anniversary of being together and we just kind of looked at each other today and took a moment to high five each other in congratulations of our relationship and kept going. Haha. I know it will get worked out...it's just a matter of when. So, the rest of the day brings us to continuing our plans of packing. In the meantime, here are some photos of the baby's room. He's already packed!

Big, HUGE snag

We were informed today that the US Embassy in Ethiopia thinks our fingerprints are expired and a form desperately needed to complete our adoption was never received in their office (a form that the US Visa office is supposed to send to Ethiopia when they approve you to adopt.)

Big, major problem. We are headed to Kansas City to the Immigration offices to work this out as clearly this is a mistake and all of our paperwork states that our fingerprints do not expire until March 2011. In dealing with Immigrations in the United States NO ONE will help you unless you make an appointment to discuss your case IN PERSON. In fact, the KC Immigration office does not even list their phone number and any communication with them is online. Perfect. Right now, we are working the phones and the different angles we can to clear up this miscommunication. Since I know it's a mistake, I can only hope it can get cleared up before we leave on Wednesday. If it's not cleared up before our Embassy date on June 17, well....we won't be having an Embassy appointment if that's the case.

Extremely annoyed and frustrated right about now. I'll keep you updated.

Counting the days

Well, the flights are booked. We leave on Wed. June 9...next week! We were able to arrange it so that we spent 2 days in Rome. Our last few days as just the two of us. :)

We fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on June 13. We are there until Friday, June 18. The flight home to the states is 16 1/2 hours! We then have a LONG layover in Washington DC which is 7 hours and don't get home until Saturday, June 19. We will be exhausted to say the least. With the World Cup going on during this time, there wasn't much to choose from for flights home. I have to say, I am definitely NOT looking forward to the flight home. 16 1/2 hours on a plane with a baby who most likely will be having some serious diaper situations going on is an intense challenge to throw at new parents. It has been done before though. I am just anxious to get him home and get us caught up on some sleep so we can get to know each other.

I do have to say I am LOVING maternity leave so far. My thoughts are slowing down and my pace of life is already different. No rush to check my phone and email. Hey...I even lost my phone for an evening and I didn't care. It was exhilarating...haha! I am starting to see how rushed we have been over the last several years. Our jobs have been our priorities and everything else just kind of works around that. The change is going to be so good for us. So, this week brings us to finishing the baby room and a few things around the house we needed to get accomplished before the baby arrives.

Oh yes...and the name. You can thank Mr. Hunt for this, but I highly doubt we will be naming him before we meet him. I have a few names I love, but Josh is hesitant to settle on a name until we see him. I get it.