Going Home

Well we weren't able to update everyone like we have hoped but we had an amazing week with our boy! We got to meet him on Tues. he is a chunky 23lb baby, no signs of malnutrition and he seems to be right on track, he is so sweet and calm. Very ticklish! We got to spend about 2 hours a day with him and had so much fun! Our court date went fine, there is still one paper they needed from his city of birth but they said that was not a big deal to get. We got to meet lots of different adoptive families and experience some of the Ethiopian culture.
We are currently at the Bole airport in Addis waiting to head home, such a bitter sweet day, its good to be going home but I wish we were able to take Liam (Tami) with us. We should  be able to come back and get him in 6-8 weeks which will be the longest weeks ever!

We have tons of pictures and videos, we will upload them when we get home.

Ethiopia

We arrived in Addis Ababa this morning at 7:00 (11pm EST). So far we have checked into our hotel The Yeka Guest house and are waiting on our agency to send our driver so we can go meet our baby boy! The hotel does not have internet access in the room, we have to use their computer so we may not be able to upload pictures or update the blog as often as we had hopes.

Almost time

It is hard to believe in one week we will be packing for our trip to meet our baby boy! We are beyond excited, I cannot wait. All of our paperwork is in order and ready to go, we just need to make copies of everything which we will do tomorrow. We have a very long trip, we are leaving from Bristol, TN on Sat. Dec. 10th at 2:30 but we don't arrive in Addis Ababa Ethiopia until Monday at 7:30am which is 11:30pm Sunday here in. We have an 11 hour layover in London which will hopefully give us some time to sightsee! We will leave Ethiopia at 1am Friday and get home at 11:30pm Friday. *8hour time difference* The weather is going to be great! In the 70's all week!

Once we arrive in Ethiopia our hotel The Yeka Guest House will pick us up and take us back to the hotel then Hope Adoption Agency Ethiopia will send a driver to pick us up from there, then we go to the agency and there we will get to meet Tamirat (Liam), we will also be able to finish the forms that we will need for the embassy appointment (the 2nd trip). We should get to visit the orphanage and find out more information about Liam during this visit. We are planning on taking half of the donations for the orphanage with us on this trip and the rest on the next visit since the agency thinks this will be easier then trying to ship everything.

We wont get to bring him home on this trip, this is just the court date which is on the 14th. We have to make a second trip in 6-8weeks to pick him up, and bring him home. The 19 hours of flying time should be great with our new toddler :)

The hotel has internet access so we will try to post pictures and keep everyone updated while we are gone. Please continue to keep us in your prayers! God has blessed us so much through this process, we are so ready to bring home our son!

Court Date

We have a court date on Dec. 14th!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be leaving on Sat. Dec. 10th for Addis Abba Ethiopia, however we wont be arriving until Monday morning due to layovers and the 8 hour time difference (fun fun). We are so excited, we cannot wait to meet our little guy! During the 2 days before the court date we will be able to go to the orphanage and meet him, we can spend time there with him but we cannot take him from the orphanage. Wednesday we will go to court which we understand to be like a custody hearing, this will make him officially a Wise :) We leave for the US Fri. at 1am and will be home late Fri. night. Then there is more WAITING......in 6-8 weeks we will fly back to Ethiopia and pick up our little man from the orphanage and bring him home! So we didn't quite make Christmas but we will hopefully have him home for Groundhog's day :)  I have a list of the things the orphanage needs if anyone would be interested in making a donation that we can take to them when we travel. 

We have also decided on a name(finally) Liam Abreham Wise Liam-unwavering protector and strong willed warrior, Abreham-is his part of his given name now. 

LT. Joshua Wise is home from BOLC!! He graduated on Thursday and made it home last night! So great to have him home! We have no idea where we will be going or when we will find out so keep us in your prayers that we will find out soon!

news!

For the first time in what seems like forever I have news! This morning I received an email from Hope Adoption Agency informing us that our case had been filed in Ethiopia. The courts were supposed to open tomorrow 10/14/11 but that has been pushed back until the 24th (thank goodness for more waiting). Even though they are not open officially they are allowing agencies to file cases. So now we got another little piece of the "cookie"  :) When they have officially opened we should hear pretty soon about when our court date will be! This is so exciting because I am almost 100% sure Josh will be home from Ft. Leonard Wood by then an we will both get to go meet our little dude......we still haven't decided on a name but we are working on it.
Josh is doing great he will be finished in four weeks! The time has really flown by thankfully, I have managed to stay pretty busy here. We still don't really know where we will be going after he gets done with school but we have a few different direction that we can take.
Please continue to pray that we will sell our condo!!!!

waiting....

Well, it is the end of September! I think I am the only person in this area who is super excited about that :) we are still not very patiently waiting on a court date. In the past the courts have opened at the end of Sept. so I am really hoping they will open soon and that we will find out when our court date is soon after that. Josh is graduating from BOLC on Nov. 10!!!! I am so ready for him to be home! We are hoping that our court date will be sometime in mid Nov so he will be able to go with me, our agency thinks I will be able to go to court alone since he is on orders and cannot go but they are not 100% positive. If I do go without Josh I will not be going alone, our friend Kenny King is going to go with me which relieves a lot of stress since I wont be travelling alone. 

Tennessee is beautiful this time of year, the sky is so clear and the leaves are starting to change. I have really grown to love the mountains, it is sad to think that this will probably be my last fall here. More than likely but not for certain we will be getting transferred once Josh completes his school. I have no idea when, where, or even if we will be going....you have to love the Army lol. I am actually adjusting nicely to the Army life after almost 3 years I think I have the hang of it, my answer to everything about our lives is "I don't know yet" lol I know you have all heard it before. It is really hard for me because I have always been a planner but....I am working on going with the flow....I still have a ways to go though. 

Please continue to pray for us, for both the adoption and Josh being away. Also we have 2 houses for sale so it would be really great if 1 or both could sell soon! 

Referral #2

Today we received a new referral. His name is Tamirat Abreham, we are in the process of accepting the referral which is pretty much just sending an email that says we accept the referral and then we have to sign our contract and get it notarized and mailed to our agency. Tamirat is chronically malnourished so his weight and height are very low but other than that he is a healthy baby boy. His birthday is Oct.25, 2010 :) mine is the 4th and Josh's is the 31st. So he is gonna fit right in.
I am nervous, I hope that everything will go smoothly this time. We are going to wait until we go to the court date  to decide on a name this time. The courts should open at the end of Sept so we should find out when our court date is.

Very Bad News

On Wednesday our agency informed us they were having some difficulties filing our court case in Ethiopia, but they didn't give us any more information. Yesterday we received a phone call informing us that Isaiah has a father that has been out of the picture until recently and wanted to have custody of Isaiah. Because he is his father and would not consent to the adoption there is nothing that can be done. We will not be bringing Isaiah home..... He on the other hand has gained his own family in his own country and this is a great thing. His mother is still living, she was just not able to care for him on her own. Hopefully now with the help of the father they will be able to give him the care he needs.
We are devastated, we never thought this could happen. It is a strange feeling to be so heart broken over something that you never actually had to start with, it is hard to explain. We are confident that everything happens for a reason and we know that God is still in control. We prayed He would send us the child that He wanted us to have and the child that needed us, and we know that He will.  It is just hard to know how to feel right now.

What happens now......We are now waiting for another referral, our agency will be going through their databases to see if they have a boy that meets our profile. We don't have any idea how long it will take or really what to expect. Our paperwork is in Ethiopia, it has already been translated, it is totally ready.  So once we have our referral the process should be fairly quick. The courts closed on Friday and do not reopen until late Sept. or early Oct. I thought they opened in August so I was wrong. We wont be going to to court before then for sure, that is about all we know right now.
We are both pretty gun shy at this point and very anxious to know what is going to happen. Please keep us in your prayers.

Also I would like to add that our agency has been wonderful, Shimeliss, the owner who we have been working with went all the way to Ethiopia to meet with the court system about what to do about our case. I feel that he went above and beyond and had no control over the situation.

toddlers?????

OK so have you ever just realized that you have no idea what you are doing! I was walking around Babies "R" Us looking at things that we might or will need and I realized....hmmm.....what does a 15-18 month old need!?!?!?! Well the sales associated told me all about the car seats, then set me up to watch a movie about the safety1st baby equipment which she watched with me lol, it was helpful but a little awkward. (I should really learn to say no).  Anyway I recommend Babies R Us to everyone, they are so friendly and helpful!
I still have no idea what I am doing but I guess this is how every new mother feels. I did find the car seat that we want anyway.....now what, we have all of our baby furniture. But no clothes because we don't actually know what size we need, I know which stroller I want, but that's about it. Any suggestions for what a toddler needs?

Josh is doing great at BOLC (basic officer leadership course) he is staying very very very busy and running a lot! Wont get to talk to him until Sunday =(  that is a first for us, we always talk everyday.....1 more month and I get to see him for the weekend!!!!!! So excited! Hopefully by then we will have a court date too!

I think I am the only person in the world who is excited that summer is going by so quickly but I have 2 good reasons  for that.

Psalms 68:5-6 “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling, God sets the lonely in families . . .”

Dossier has Arrived

The Dossier has arrived in Ethiopia! It has been a long wait but its getting closer now we just get to wait some more :)
Josh has been in MO for 1 week, I have managed to stay pretty busy so far. I am going to Charlotte, NC Wed. to get my finger prints done for our I600a which is the petition to make an orphan part of your family. I have to go to the US Citizen and Immigration Service and apparently the closest one is in NC.
The Isaiah's room is almost finished, I need to do a few more things and then it will be completely done. We are going to have a shower but I would like to wait until we know more about his sizes before we pick a date.

Paperwork on the move

After weeks of waiting our Dossier is finally on its way to Ethiopia. Now we get to wait on the court date.....waiting is soooo hard! We are so ready to have Isaiah home so we can spoil him :) Hopefully we will find out when our court date is soon so at least we can have a date to look forward to!
We had a great church service tonight, our Wednesday night program is growing! Josh had 5 youth and I had 6 kids from 1st-3rd grade! I am so excited to see our children's program grow, they are such a blessing! God is so Good!! We are so blessed to have 2 great church families, one here in TN and one in KY.
Josh is leaving Saturday morning for Missouri. It is bitter sweet because he needs this school to better his career and it is a great accomplishment for him but he is going to be missed for 4 months and will probably miss out on getting to meet our son with me......but God has a plan and everything will turn out fine. Everything works to the good for those who love the Lord!
Please keep us in your prayers these next few months, we will need it.

The Assistant Stork

Our paperwork has successfully this time arrived at the Assistant Stork! They will be working on it next week, they have reassured us that we are not the only people who have messed up our paperwork and ours wasn't the worst mix up either! Thank God!
We are so excited that Isaiah's room is almost finished! We just need to put together our dresser and everything will be ready for him! Now we just need to hurry up and get our court date :) There is a slight possibility that he could be spoiled.....just maybe.
We are getting closer and closer to Josh leaving for school in Missouri. He will leave July 9th and be back in November......please keep us both in your prayers!

taking a deep breath

Well there is not much happening, just waiting on our paperwork to get to Ethiopia and get translated. After that we should hear something about a court date. We had a mix up with our paperwork...we sent everything to the Dept of State not the TN Secretary of State to be authenticated. This was supposed to be forwarded to The Stork but they wouldn't forward it, we had to fax them a letter giving permission for The Stork to pick it up and finally it got into the right hands. We had to get another copy of 2 pages and get it notarized again and sent to the TN Secretary of State, when we get it back we can then send it to The Stork, they will check everything and then take it back to the Dept of State to be authenticated and then send it on the Ethiopia. Wow what a mess! Today has been very very stressful, I am so glad we got it straightened out. Josh is so awesome! He is always so cool and clam under pressure, its a good balance from my panicking and stressing. Thanks Josh! :)
The Stork is a courier service that makes sure all of the paperwork in the dossier is correct and makes sure it gets to the right place. They have been so wonderful and have really gone above and beyond to help us. They reassured us that we are not the only people who have really screwed up our adoption paperwork.
On a brighter note, we have painted Isaiah's room wonder blue which I love! Our theme is going to be Winnie the Pooh so we ordered some wall decals. We are super excited, trying to get the big stuff done before Josh goes to his officer training in July.
Josh got pinned Lieutenant on Saturday during family day!!!! He will be leaving for training on July 10 and wont be home until November. We will be in KY June 24th this will be the last time he is home for awhile so we will try to see everyone that we can.

Isaiah

This is Isaiah we are still working on a middle name :) He is a healthy, he will be 1 on June 3rd. We are so excited to go get him. Cannot wait to find out when our court date is. It will be sometime between Aug & Oct. hopefully Aug. Josh will not be able to go due to his class for the Army but we are pretty sure this will be okay. But it will have to be approved by the country, they may require us both to go. 

We are a little or A LOT nervous at this point there is a lot to do and not as much time as we had expected to  have to do it in. I think it has hit us now that we are going to be parents! So exciting but a little scary too. We just cannot wait to get him home! God is so good! We are so blessed. 

REFERRAL!!!!

Wow! What a day! We received a referral today for a healthy baby boy!!! He is almost 1, his birthday is June 3, 2010. We are excited beyond words! Cannot believe it happened so quick! God is so GOOD!

Finished!!!

Our Dossier is FINISHED!!!!!! It is on its way to be authenticated in DC and then sent to the Stork to be double checked and then finally off to Ethiopia. Today was a very very stressful day trying to get the last form notarized and everything mail.....apparently nothing opens before 10am on Saturday. So getting up at 7:30 was a real waste. But we finally got everything done and in the mail. Our I-600a for immigration is also completed!!! WoooHooo!!! Everything is starting to come together thank God! We talked to our agency today and he said everything looks good and we should be getting our referral soon. Soon to me is a few minutes from now....not sure what it is to him though. Back to waiting "patiently" :)
We are finished with all of our pre-adoption paperwork!! I hope! Now the next step is applying for grants!

Today is a sad day though because our friends/next door neighbors moved to back to Nashville. We will really miss you guys!

Possible Referral

We got our completed homestudy in the mail today!!!! I found out yesterday that our agency has a possible referral on hold for us!!! As soon as we get our dossier sent to the stork which will review everything and send it on to Ethiopia we will get to see our referral! We are soooo excited and very nervous, we were definitely not expecting this to happen so fast, but we are very happy! 

We are so close to having our dossier finished, waiting on a couple of things but hopefully they will be finished by Monday. It is even harder to wait when you know that there is nothing you can do to speed things up.... Just trying to stay busy. 

progress

Today we got a few of the final pieces of our dossier paperwork signed. Now we are just waiting on my medical form but good news, I talked to a different person at the Dr.'s office and she said there is a notary so all I have to do is drop off my form and she will have the Dr. sign it! YAY! The homestudy should be finished by tomorrow!!! Feels like we are actually making progress!!!! Now we have to start working on the I600a but it is pretty much already finished.
The weather has been horrible, I cannot believe all of the severe storms that we are already having, hope everyone is staying safe.

We are going to be in KY this weekend for a Ziga conference and next weekend for Kathryn's graduation!

paperwork

Now I am beginning to see why people call their adoption process their paper work pregnancy. We almost have everything together I just have to find a notary to go to my Dr's office with me to get a medical release notarized....fun lol. Apparently they do not have a notary in the building :(  We received our passports this week!!!!! I am sooo ready to go to Ethiopia, the waiting game is not our strong suit....
We are going to KY tomorrow for Easter! So excited! Can't wait to see everyone! Other than this nothing else is happening right now.

Finally A Break

This weekend we fought the urge to work on everything and just spent some time together! It was soooo nice to finally relax even though we still managed to get a lot done. I am so thankful to have such an amazing, driven husband!!!!
We went to Knoxville Friday night to see Rush of Fools and Downhere in concert with the youth group well 1 kid but we are growing. Saturday we went looking for a rental house just in case we sell our condo, found a few nice places but looks like we are going to rent another condo...if we sell ours.
Today we went to church, Josh drove the bus and I rode with him because you have to have a copilot :) we broke down with 3 people still on the bus lol it was awesome! We had to call the the bus director to come and rescue us :) very exciting..... thankfully they got it working later, it had water in the gas tank.
It was awesome to have a break from last week and to get ready for next week.....

homestudy

Our homestudy is completed!!!! The social worker came here yesterday after we got off work to do our homestudy and our interviews, then we drove to Knoxville this morning to complete the "office" visit. The agency us actually in Nashville, TN which is about 4 hours from here so it was very awesome that she let us meet her at a Panera Bread in Knoxville which is only 1.5 hours from home. I was really nervous about the homestudy but Kelly was so easy to talk to and made us very comfortable! We are so excited because now we have actually done something to get the process started instead of just collecting paperwork. Thanks so everyone who have filled out a letter of recommendation!!!!
Kelly (the social worker) is also adopting from Ethiopia and just received her referral! This was so great to get to talk to someone who was actually going through the same process! I am so thankful for the way God puts people in our lives.
The people who look at our house for a 3rd time really like it and they are thinking about what type of offer they would like to make, hopefully we can get this place SOLD asap and get moved into somewhere bigger. We are going to rent since we will not know where the Army will lead us in the next couple of years.
Our next step is to apply to USCIS ( US Citizenship and Immigration Services). Now let the paperwork hunt begin again! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!
Remember the US Congress right now, pray they make a good and speedy decision on the federal budget for all of us who rely on a Federal paycheck each month!!!!!!

busy busy busy

We are soooo busy!!! Today after work I have to do my homework, cook supper, be on a webinar, talk to my director, and put on the baby locks!!!! WOW I am so excited!!!! We have been working our booties off but it is sooo worth it. I spent the weekend in Covington KY at a Mary Kay Career Conference I am so pumped up and I cannot wait to work my business and get my red jacket!!!!
God is so awesome, he gives us every opportunity to have a amazing life it is just about choosing to use what he has laid out for us.
Wed. we are showing our condo for a 3rd time!!! This is sounding good! I am worried about selling our house while we are trying to adopt, I think that we will have to do a revision on our homestudy but I don't know how this will affect the adoption process.
Our homestudy date is Thursday at 5:30 and the office visit is Fri at 10:30 in Knoxville. I am a little nervous but I am sure we will do fine. Please keep us in your prayers.

Lieutenant Wise

We found out today that Josh got selected as an officer!!! He will be going to school in Missouri from July - November. We are so happy, we were told that if he did not make officer we would be getting transferred so yay!!! we will be here until at least December! 

Not much has been happening, we received our information on our dossier (lots of paperwork). Our homestudy date is still not set, the social worker is on vacation this week so we won't know anything until next week. It is hard to find a date right now because we are both very busy in April but we will work it out. 

We were supposed to show the condo today but the people cancelled their appointment. We would really like a bigger house with a yard and to not have to worry about selling when we do get transferred......God is in control and everything works for the good who love the LORD, I have to keep reminding myself that He will take care of everything there is no reason to worry about things that I have no control over. 

Just for laughs: we went to Outback tonight to celebrate Josh's good news, he spent at least 30 minutes in the parking lot putting the top up on the Jeep so no one would be able to steal his speakers out of the back....when we went out of the restaurant we saw that he put the top on but left the back hatch wide open lol (everything was still there) but he also left the back passenger door unlatched..... I think he was hungry :)

homestudy email

I got an email today that we will be doing our homestudy the last 24,25, or 26th or March. We have to baby proof our house lol....I really feel weird putting child locks on our cabinet doors (we will never get them open) hahaha!!! We have to get fire extinguishers for every floor and I guess that is pretty much all. I am really nervous! For those who don't fully understand a homestudy, it is a study of your home :) there is a social worker who will ask us questions together and individually about why we want to adopt, how we were raised, how we plan to parent, questions about our past and present, and to inspect the home to see if it is fit for a child to live in. They take this information and write a 15 page report which will be turned in with to our adoption agency and then on to immigration. Lots to do!!!

I graduate with my BA in Health Care Administration from Ashford University in OCTOBER!!!!! I am sooooo excited!

We should find out this week or next if Sergeant First Class Wise will become Lieutenant Wise :)

Application Time!!!!

We have been soooo busy, but we have everything prepared for our homestudy! We are just waiting on our social worker to call me back to set a date. We have finally chosen an agency, after reading a great book telling us how to choose an agency we had an idea what we wanted and this made it so much easier. We are using Hope Adoption Agency in MO, they are small and only work with Ethiopian adoptions. The owner actually called us himself and answered all of our questions, he makes us feel very comfortable. I am mailing in our application tomorrow, we are so excited and so nervous!
Josh has started selling Ziga, it is an herbal supplement for overall health and weight loss and of course I am still selling Mary Kay. From this point on all profit goes towards bringing out baby home! We are also working on T-Shirts that we can sell to raise money..... any fundraiser ideas would be great!!!
Please Pray for those in Japan and the 143 million orphans in the world
(The Complete Book of International Adoption: A step by step guide to finding your child. by Dawn Davenport)

new job

Well it has been a few days, the plug/cord to my laptop quit working and I had to order a new one. I was sooo glad to see it outside my door this afternoon!! 

Josh had PRK yesterday morning. Its like lasik but is supposed to work better. We had to drive to Ft Campbell which is about 4.5 hours away. We spent the night is Nashville with some friends and then drove the other hour the next morning. The surgery went great but he is in so much pain today. He has been drugged and slept all day. 

I started my job today at Dr. Miller's office, it was a very slow day but I am really going to enjoy working there. Its monday - thursday 9:30-4:30 which is my kind of hours :) 

We got all of our paperwork to fill out for our homestudy! There is a lot to do, background checks, medical releases, marriage certificate, birth certificate, etc...... we are going to be busy getting everything together. I am so excited I wish we could just go get our angel now!!! I don't want to wait any longer. Everyone we know is having a baby or has just had a baby, it makes me even more excited. I have started reading books about Ethiopia, This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes is a great book about a Jewish doctor who devotes his life to helping those in Ethiopia with bad backs and cardiac issues. I would recommend it to everyone! It gives great insight into how great the need is in Ethiopia.

just another day

Today was a very busy day for both of us, Josh is busy tweaking battle assembly weekend and preparing to leave for NJ on Friday morning. I got up, delivered some makeup, and cleaned the house. I have been trying to figure out how we will fit another person into our 1100sq ft condo. I have moved my office; well the desk to the living room. Now I have moved the inventory around and made quite a bit more room. I know that we will have to get rid of the full size bed in the spare room and I am planning on only keeping the best sellers on hand until we can sell our condo and get a bigger house.
I am a planner, I have to have a plan for whatever happens. We should find out at the end of this month whether Josh has made officer or not and then we will have to wait until he gets finished with BOLC (basic officer leadership course) to know if he can stay AGR (active guard reserve). This means we have absolutely no idea where we are going to live this time next year.... We have our condo for sale, there are 6 in our association for sale, this is not looking good, we have had 2 showings in 2 years. Josh has a house for sale in KY but it is rented right now( Thank God). So it is a little stressful not knowing what will happen. Anyway this is making it hard for me to have a plan....
I know these posts are random and probably don't have any meaning to anyone else but it defiantly helps my stress level!!!! 

Day #1

Today is literally the 1st day of the rest of our lives!!! Today we faxed our application for our homestudy!!! We are not the most patient people in the world, we are used to instant gratifications so this will be a challenging process for us from day 1. An adoption for a child under 4 from Ethiopia takes about 18-24 months so we know we have a wait ahead of us. God has a plan for everything and the timing will be perfect! We are so excited, I actually said I was going to try to stop telling everyone about our adoption plans because I feel like that is all I ever talk about, so for those of you who have spend hours on the phone listening to me talk and dream about our soon to be child "thanks!"
We have no idea what to expect, I have talked to everyone I know that has adopted and asked them which agencies they used, what the process was like, but it seems everyone has something different so I am sure we too will have a different story to share in the end. So far we know we have to have a homestudy, we have to submit it and our application to US Immigration and then we have to decide on an agency. I googled agencies and requested an information packet from the top 7, we have started to compare timelines, requirements, fees, etc. We are praying very hard that God will lead us to the right one.
Keep Praying!!!!