Making the News

Last week I read, on our CHSFS online forum, that an article about a family who had adopted a child from Ethiopia, was published in one of the local Milwaukee newspapers. After opening the link I found that the woman interviewed is the same person Michael & I met with in September - a friend/work acquaintance of his. We had lunch with her at the West Milwaukee Chili's to learn of her recent adoption of a toddler and her recommendations on international agencies. She was very helpful and had only the best things to say about her family's experiences. Now she will be able to educate many other families through this recent publication. To read the article, go to this address: http://www.mkeonline.com/story.asp?id=1401609

A Race to the Finish

What a wonderful weekend! Michael and I enjoyed the near 80 degree weather in Evanston - my old grad school stomping grounds. It was a perfect way to get away and spend some time together. We took a walk on Northwestern's lake shore campus, enjoyed outdoor lunch/drinks/dinner, had great people watching and good conversation. Thanks to my parents for the fantastic lodging, at Hotel Orrington, as well!

After coming home we found that we have moved up on the "list" as well. We are now number 16! A while back Michael and I had made statements as to what/where on the list we would celebrate. I had made my milestone marker a while back - which was not needing to scroll down to see our names. However, Michael's significant moment was going to be when we reached 17 - his favorite number. Since we moved up two places while we were gone, we went straight from 18 to 16. He missed his milestone. Oh well, guess the next point of celebration will have to when we get to the top and get that call :)

The "Looks" of a Referral

I ran across an interesting article, written by a woman who has adopted several children from Ethiopia. It describes what a referral typically "looks like" - meaning the information we can expect to receive when first learning about a child potentially matched with us. This is a question we frequently get asked, so I thought it would be worth while to post the article here.

Pictures:

Usually you will get at least a photo or two of your child. Some agencies will also share a short video clip of your child. Don't be too distressed if your child looks sad or confused. An orphanage is a stressful place for a child to be, especially for toddlers and preschoolers.

Medical:

Your child's medical information will most likely include a page or two of notes taken by a doctor at a medical exam. With an infant, you may receive records from several different doctor's visits, so that you can see how the baby has been growing. Sometimes this record will mention immunizations your child has gotten since he or she came into care. Other times you will not get that record until you travel to Addis to pick up your child. Your child will be tested for HIV and hepatitis before his or her referral is offered to your family. If you have any questions about the medical information, make an appointment for a consult with your child's pediatrician or an international adoption specialist.

History:

This section varies greatly from child to child. Some children or their birth family may have been able to tell social workers a fair bit about the child's past.Other times the info is sketchy at best. In the case of an infant who was abandoned, the only thing you may ever know is where and when the child was found. It can be sad to realize that you may never know much about your child's past. But this is a reality for many children being adopted from Ethiopia. Another thing that you should be prepared for is not knowing your child's birthday. Birthdays are just not a big deal in Ethiopia, and in the majority of cases,agency workers guess the child's age and pick a date.If the child does a lot of catch-up growth right after homecoming, and you become convinced that the birth date is very wrong, you can change it at home when you go to court to re finalize your child's adoption in court.

Summer Vacation

Last weekend 10 of my Marquette girlfriends got to share a little vacation to Lake Geneva. We typically get a chance to get away and reconnect every fall, at my friend Jenn's parents' Door County home. But a new tradition started last year with spending the weekend at a B&B in Lake Geneva. It was a great weekend for strolling around the downtown, eating "al fresco" (who knows the spelling for that), and sharing some cocktails on our porch that overlooked the lake. At one point during the weekend, we played our standard Q & A game with the newly posed question being - "What about you are you most surprised about, since graduating college?" We got a wide variety of answers - from "Still living in Wisconsin" to "Lacking the energy I used to have". But my friend Maira's response was great, she said "I never would have thought that 11 years after graduation we would be able to get so many of us together (travelling as far as from the West Coast to the East Coast) to spend a weekend together."

Speaking of vacations, it looks like Ethiopia's courts will soon be taking a summer break of their own. Michael and I had previously heard that the Ethiopian courts shut down for a time during the summer months, so the following information does not come as a huge shock to us. However, due to the fact that there recently have been a lot of referrals (we now are # 20) we thought that our news might come mid-June. This now puts us right at the new cut-off date of referrals "pausing" on June 15th. However, we did envision traveling to Ethiopia in the Fall... which could still be the case if we get our referral after the re-opening of the courts in September. I have to admit that I am now a little more compulsive with checking to see how many new referral are coming in each day! But I guess everyone gets more anxious as the near their "due date"!

This is the information we received from CHSFS's newsletter last Sunday:

"As many of you know, the Ethiopian courts close every year. The closure typically lasts from the end of July or early August, until mid September. During this time the judges have vacation and a new schedule is made for the upcoming year.Due to the closure referrals will not be given after June 15th. Anyone who receives a referral before June 15th is expected to get through the court system before closure. We will resume the referral process approximately September 15th."