ALMOST THERE!!

Today George, LiLi, and I drove to Columbia. We had two documents that needed to be authenticated at the state level. After getting the documents completed, we drove straight to Kinkos and had our ENTIRE dossier overnighted to Dove Adoption International. When they receive it, the will check everything and then send the documents off to the Ethiopian Embassy in DC. When they return to Dove, they will immediately go to Ethiopia. At that time, the wait will begin. It feels so good to be finished with all that paperwork.

After we left Kinkos, the three of us had a picnic. We then spent the afternoon at The Children's Museum in Columbia. We had a GREAT day!


And we have decided on a name for our daughter from Ethiopia...Her name will be Bella!

WE RECEIVED OUR I-171H

Today we received our I-171H. This is our pre-approval from the US government to adopt our daughter from Ethiopia. This is the last piece of paperwork we need before our dossier gets sent to Ethiopia. We should have a picture of our daughter in about 3 months! :)

LiLi's surgery

We took LiLi to the ENT doctor last Thursday for a routine visit and hearing check. They found that she had a lot of fluid in her left ear which caused some hearing loss. That was the ear that the tube fell out of while we were in Hawaii in January (the doctors were waiting to put it back to make sure it was really needed). Today George and I took her to the surgery center at 0830. She had surgery at 0900 and we were at Ye Ole Fashion watching her eat ice cream when the doors opened at 10. She had tubes placed in both ears and had her adenoids removed. This was her 5th surgery..and once again she did remarkable. I think it is harder for George and I to watch her go through all these surgeries. We will have a follow-up visit on June 2nd and they will recheck her hearing then. Thanks for all the prayers!
Diana and George

Another Great Day in Philadelphia

This morning George had to work so LiLi and I went to Gymboree.

For lunch the three of us went to Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant. It is an authentic Ethiopian restaurant that I found a couple of miles from our apartment. All of their dishes are served with homemade injera. Injera is a soft unleavened crepe-like sourdough bread made of cereal grain known as tef. Tef is cultivated as a staple crop only in Ethiopia. Traditionally, one eats with their bare fingers using small pieces of the injera to wrap up the mouthfuls or 'gursha' of tyhe wide array of traditional meat and vegetable stews. LiLi ate with a fork but George and I had a great time eating with our fingers. The food was delicious and the ambiance made us feel like we were in Ethiopia.

On another note, our Vietnam adoption agency received several referrals yesterday. One family also received their approval to travel to Vietnam to pick up their child. What an emotional roller coaster. Everytime we think that our Vietnam adoption will not be completed, we get a glimmer of hope. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Not Looking So Good

VIETNAM

Today our agency made an announcement that they weren't sure how many more referrals will get processed at this point. I have been feeling this way for awhile but George's optimism has kept me positive so far. Now we are both feeling that our Vietnam adoption will not be completed. We are saddened by this but have to believe that there is a reason for this.

ETHIOPIA

We are moving right along with the paperwork. We have completed our dossier except for our approval from the US government. Our updated homestudy was sent to DSS a couple of weeks ago and will then be forwarded to CIS. We are very excited about bringing home our daughter from Ethiopia.

On another note, George, LiLi, and I are in Philadelphia for a couple of weeks. We are having a great time going to the Philadlphia Zoo, Childrens Museum, Horton the Elephant movie, and lots of walking arounf Center City Philly. We will take the Amtrak train home on the 9th..just in time for Anna's Sweet 16 Party.