We had our first homestudy meeting on Thursday and surprisingly, it was pretty fun. Our case worker just asked us questions about our lives and how we want to raise our children. I think it went really well.
This coming week will be a busy one, we have a transcultural education meeting to attend and 2 homestudy meetings. Also, we need to get all of our references rolling on writing in their letters to be submitted to the agency. We also have to make Dr's appointments and get letters from our health insurance provider as well as our police department. Who knows if we'll get it all done, but we are rolling right along.
There has been some dissapointing news coming out of Ethiopia right now that I think I should share. The courts have put a temporary halt on all abandonment cases out of the capitol city, Addis Ababa. I won't go into a lot of detail, but this is because of speculation of some unethical practices at a couple of specific orphanages. LOTS of families who have already received their referrals are now standing in very uncertain waters because there has been no time frame given by the judge on how long this investigation will last. Please pray for these families if you don't mind, I can't imagine getting a referral and then not knowing if and when you will finally get your child. Because of all of this, I'm not sure if the situation will ultimately impact our journey, my first thought is that it likely could lengthen our process, but we're hopeful that is not the case. We will just have to wait and see and hope the Ethiopian authorities take take care of the problem so these children can come home.
As for everyday life, we ran the Riverbank 25K last weekend, and both Mark and I did better than we expected, especially with all the rain. I'll post a few pics soon, but I can tell you that we looked HORRIBLE after it was over, wet and gross! We are also getting ready to lead a venture group at church, we've decided to do a runners group, so hopefully we'll get a good turnout! Email me if you are interested in being in it, you don't have to go to our church to come, we will be meeting at our house on Wednesday nights. We also became members at our church this week, which we should have done a long time ago. We're very happy that's done. I also went to Detroit and got to spend time with my sister and my beautiful niece before going to a wedding shower for a very good friend and sorority sister on Saturday afternoon. My sister also introduced me to "Mom to Mom" sales which I am quite certain I will be taking advantage of in the future! Then on Saturday night, Mark and I spent time with some of our good friends from college which is always great for lots of laughs and good times. Lastly, my best friend Tara is also ready to have her baby girl any minute now so we are anxiously awaiting her arrival! Here's some pics from last night with our college friends.
Whew, sorry this is so long! I will try to blog more this week so I don't have such long updates on Sundays.
