Tickets are booked!

We finally have tickets for our trip. It was no small job and one that nearly drove me to drink!

We are leaving on November 5 with a layover in London and arriving in Addis on Monday November 8. We will meet Fisher on the 8th and be able to play with him for 2 hours -- cannot wait -- it is finally time. Peter and I are going to take 2 days and nights to go to Lalibella, something we have wanted to do for years before the thought of adopting ever entered our minds. We come home on November 14. Very sad we are going to be gone for Tate's birthday but I promised him a party at Pump It Up and he seems game!

So excited to have it become so real!

Tentative Embassy Date

Our coordinator from IAN just called and said we had a tentative Embassy Date of 12/15. For this date to happen we have to pass court, get all our paperwork in and approved.

This would be the most wonderful Christmas present ever!

Pictures....

Today we went to JCPenny's as the kids were off of school for some pictures. I was just going to take some fun snapshots as we have not been in so long and used to go monthly. Harper must have over 60 8x10s in her book. I thought these pictures turned out fabulous and love the one of the 3 of them together. I promised myself I would not get a picture of them together because it did not seem complete without Fisher but they wanted one and I love the black and white one so much. So, I ordered a small 5x7 of it and will have it framed for our big hallway and tuck it in somewhere.

We are saving special space for the picture we have waited so long for, one of 4 of them.

Court Date

We have a court date and it is so much sooner than we thought. We were thinking it would be in December but it is November 12th! Peter and I are leaving on Saturday November 6 and coming home on November 14th.

We will miss Tate's birthday but he seems fine with it as long as he can have a party with all his friends at Pump it Up before we leave and that we can do!

Fun Day

Today was a day devoted to fun. We had brunch after RE with Grandma and Grandpa and after we were done we decided it was a perfect day to go to the Museum of Science and Industry and use our Groupon! On our way home we stopped along the lakefront and it was so so windy and cold we only lasted about 3 minutes but at least we got some pictures. Enjoy the crazy order of these pictures and videos.

Hanging by a thread

Tate lost his first official tooth. Even though his front teeth have been missing for years I am not sure it really counts as they were knocked loose. This one was real! It was hanging by a thread for over a week and we finally convinced him to have some help in taking it out. Peter was the help while I was the papparazzi and the girls were his cheerleaders. Poor Tate was so nervous it was going to hurt. He was so shocked when it came out and did not hurt. I am sure his speech evaluation at school they are doing for him when he turns 7 will not be affected by him missing his 3 front teeth.

Before

Getting ready for help.

Shock!

Here it is!

We need a court date!

I have to admit I thought this process would be a lot easier than it is. When people say the waiting is hard, they are not kidding.

Court opened on September 28 and I thought for sure we would get a court date right away and we did not! I have even taken to checking on a very very regular basis every group and blog I know of that will give information on the courts handing out court dates. I have heard nothing!

I did speak with our agency and they did not think any court dates would be handed out until next week.