We arrived at the Hilton!

We arrived last night at 11:00 pm and went straight to bed. It was a long 34 hours of travel time. We got up this morning and had a wonderful cup of Ethiopian coffee. Now we are ready for the day. We are meeting us with the other 2 families in an hour and going to the guesthouse. It is a mix of beautiful people, beautiful area mixed with alot of devastation. Looking forward to the week ahead. Thank you for all you prayers. Both Mark and I are feeling great!!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

We are leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow. I can't wait to hold our baby girl. Here is our schedule for our week there.

Fri-Sat - Fly 30 hours to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Sun - rest and shop
Mon - Orientation
Tues - 3 hour drive to see Faith, 2 hours with Faith, 3 hour drive home
Wed - Court Date
Thus - Birth Family Meeting - hopefully meet Faith's Mom
Fri-Sat - Fly Home 30 hours

Cry all the way home............

Updated Paperwork in Ethiopia!

I just found out that our updated dossier-paperwork made it to Ethiopia today. Hopefully that will be enough time for our court date on January 12th. I was just praying that God would show His mighty power and allow us to pass court on the 12th without any delay for paperwork. I thanked Him for already doing it and then we got this news the next day. God is so awesome to show us His power!!

Dossier is Done!!

We completed the dossier paperwork and it is off to Ethiopia. Praise God!! He moved mountains for us. We were thinking of a middle name and with Christmas right around the corner, how does "Faith Noel Tarikua Rodriguez" sound?? I just wish she was home for Christmas. She is home in our hearts though!

Updating the Dossier again in 5 days

Well we have run into a bit of a snag. Since we have waited so long for the referral our dossier is too old and we need to update it. I only have 5 days to do it in too. It is very stressful especially when our lives are completely full right now with School, Christmas, visitors, Musicals....Please pray that we are able to get it done and still be able to see Faith in January. God is good and we have to remember that He is in control of all things including paperwork.

Measles Outbreak in Addis Ababa

Well today we got a notice that there is an outbreak of measles in Addis Ababa. Please continue to pray that Faith and all of the other babies in her orphanage will remain healthy and safe. I guess they don't vaccinate them for measles there!

Court Date January 12th

Well we got our 1st court date which is January 12th. We will go to Addis Ababa for a 4-5 day trip. We will travel south 3 hours by bus to meet Faith at Hosanna Orphanage. We will get to spend about 3 hours with her. Then we might possibly meet some of her family members in Hosanna. The next day we will go to court and go before the judge in order to make Faith ours forever. She will legally become ours after the court hearing. We will then leave to go home without her. This will be the hardest part of our whole journey. Just knowing she is there waiting for us and wondering why we left her?????? We will be home for 4-6 weeks and then go and get her sometime in March. Yeah!! I can't wait only 10 more weeks until I can hold her in my arms.