2 weeks & 2 days

Well, we are now in the final countdown. We are booked to leave for Ethiopia on Saturday the 16th of May. Our flight leaves Austin at 12 noon. We have a 4 hour lay-over in Washington DC where we board Ethiopian Airlines to Addis Ababa Ethiopia. We arrive there at 7:00 pm on Sunday evening. We are going to stay in a hotel near the airport the first night and will get to go meet Abate and Fantu on Monday. We have our Embassy appointment on Wednesday the 20th to complete their VISA application. The VISA won't be issued until Friday morning and we fly out on Friday night. We arrive back in Austin on Saturday afternoon. Should be a fun, hectic adventure. I've still quite a bit of stuff to get done before we go. I'm tackling the bathroom this weekend and am going to try to get it complete. I went today and bought all the materials I need. Mostly mouldings and a bit of paint. My weekend is going to be busy. We are also collecting toys at our church to take to the kids at Kidane Meheret Orphanage. We can take at least 2 big suitcases full and will consider paying to take an additional one if there is a need. I think it will be successful if the response I had from people after mass on Sunday is any indicator. Apologies for the long paragraph, but for some reason lately this blog won't let me begin a new one. I hit enter and the cursor just disappears. So that's the latest news for now - ABATE AND FANTU AND AFRICA HERE WE COME!

Ethiopia - Here we come!

Well we got a "tentative" travel date to Ethiopia today. Our appointment at the US Embassy is scheduled for the 20th of May. That means we will leave Texas on the 16th or so. I'm still trying to work out flights. The agency doesn't want us purchasing our tickets yet as it could easily change. They are waiting to see how soon the kids new birth certificates get issued. The office that issues them has been in the process of re-locating and hasn't issued any for the past 2 weeks. They are to open at the new location today. They need to see what the backlog is before they can confirm our travel dates. So we make "tentative" arrangements all subject to change. If this date falls through then we will most likely be re-scheduled to the 3rd of June, a 2 week delay. So I have either 3 weekends to get everything finished up around the house or 5 weekends. Should be interesting.
Alan and I got our 2nd Hep B shots this week. Not sore at all. Big difference from the last shots we got. Alan got his on Tuesday, I got mine yesterday. Caleb went with me. I thought he might like to get some shots too - he was pretty sure he didn't. LOL. We also went shopping. I needed to get the kids a lightweight jacket or sweater. Not something stores stock in summer in Texas. Got lucky though and found some on clearance at Old Navy.
Well that it's for this post. So much to do!

The newest Hennessys!

Meet Fantu Hennessy, our beautiful 9 year old daughter.

And this is Abate Hennessy our handsome 10 year old son.

Today, April 16th 2009 the adoption was finalized in the Ethiopian Courts. It's been a happy, joyful, stressful, journey to bring these two kids into our family. Alan and I are ecstatic! We are waiting to hear when our appointment will be scheduled for the VISA appointment at the US Embassy so we can make our travel arrangements to go pick them up. We expect it to be 6-7 weeks.

Well it's time to celebrate! YIPPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I am going to burst I am so happy!

2 days til????

What happens on Thursday is still a big unknown. The Power of Attorney issue still hasn't been resolved (as of this posting), but our new one should be there now anyway. We just don't know if it will be at MOWA in time for them to complete the paperwork before court on Thursday. I am a nervous wreck today. On one hand I really want to be optimistic and think that YES everything will be just fine and we will pass through the courts without issue. Faith tells me this is how we should feel. But the events of the past three weeks have brought a very pessimistic outlook that hovers over me. I don't want to get my hopes up knowing so much can go wrong and that the odds are probably against us passing through court this week. I have emailed Merrily at AAI for an update and to see what our chances honestly are on Thursday. I hope to hear back from her quickly.
So while I wait I'll list some of the activities we hope to do with Abate and Fantu once we get them home. These aren't in any particular order - just how they come to me.
1. Take them swimming (teach them to swim if needed)
2. Teach them to play golf (this is one Alan is looking forward to).
3. Work in the veg garden and cook meals together.
4. Trips to the Zoo
5. Trip to Austin to visit Andre, all the sights there, and hopefully meet up with the Austin Ethiopia adoption group.
6. Join the Boys and Girls club.
7. Day trip to Glen Rose to see dinosaur footprints, and go to Safari Park. ( You can tell I love zoos)
8. Go to the Library - often! I love our library and I really want to encourage reading.

Well I just heard back from Merrily, GOOD NEWS! Our Power of Attorney form is there and MOWA should have the letters written and in the file for court. She is currently not aware of any other issues with our case. So our odds have improved. I'm still a nervous wreck, just a happier bit more confident one!

Caleb - Our 3 y.o. grandson at the Easter Egg hunt at the Library.

Caleb looking at the Easter card he made at storytime at the library. It has a pop up bunny inside!

Caleb sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap. If I were a kid I'd be terrified of this bunny!

Today as we do every Wednesday for the past 2 years Caleb and I went to Storytime at the library. Today though was a special storytime as they had a visit by the Easter Bunny and a egg hunt. Caleb was so excited. He was just starving for Easter eggs! He had a fun time and found lots of eggs. He had quite a few more than some of the other kids so I asked him to share - he went and re-hid several of his eggs for them to find. What a sweet kid!

After lunch we had to take my Mom and her two dogs to the vet for the dogs to get their rabies vaccinations. Caleb was a big help holding them by their leashes and escorting them in and out of the exam room. My mom uses a walker to get around and she can't control them easily so he was really proud to be able to help. After that was done we went up to the church to do my weekly billpaying session with Fr. Robert. Caleb fell asleep in the car on the way, so I carried him in to the rectory when we arrived and he took a nice nap on Father's sofa while we worked and talked.

We received good news and bad news from Fr. Robert today. Before I share either news I'll give you a bit of Fr. Robert's background. He is a Priest from the order of the Missionaries of St. Paul. It is based in Nigeria, Fr. Robert is Nigerian and is in the USA on a work VISA. He has been our Parish Priest for about 18-19 months. For Alan and I though he is a very close friend. He has supported us since we first told him of our plans to adopt. He is really looking forward to being active in Abate and Fantu's lives. Alan and I know he will be a fantastic role model and mentor for them, plus being able to help them with their adjustment to living in Texas. He has really helped us with questions we have had about life and the environment of growing up in Africa. An example is I shared with him how Fantu's fear is of snakes. A very realistic fear - Alan and I both have this fear to some extent ( and yes we have them around our place). Fr. Robert explained how that fear among Africans is more intense due to the fact that if you are bitten by a poisonous snake there then it most likely will be fatal as there isn't access to anti-venoms. It is a very common and realistic fear. It is his knowledge that has opened Alan and mine eyes to the differences in just daily occurrences that will shape and define our children's future. So now the news.... bad news first? Fr. Robert told me today that with much sadness he is being transferred to a parish in Houston. He will be leaving Gatesville the end of June. He is very unhappy that he will not be here to be a daily part of Abate and Fantu's lives as he was really looking forward to it. He is also saddened by the distance that will separate our friendship. Alan and I feel a deep loss that he will not be here to be the mentor to Abate and Fantu, and the friend and Priest we feel so much for will not be close at hand. Now for the good news! He has agreed to be Godfather to Abate and Fantu! We have been planning to ask him for months and today was the right time. It assures he will be the mentor we wish for the kids, and will remain a close friend no matter the distance to our family. It really reassured him that we have and want to retain close ties with him. Houston, well it's about a 3-4 hour drive (depends if it's east side or west). That's not too bad. Is it?

Do I look good with my ears up or down?

This is one of Bugs Bunny's classic lines - usually when he's dressed in drag of course. It just came to mind because all this waiting and uncertainty has me feeling quite looney. One minute I'm up! the next I'm down. I try to focus on work, but am finding it increasingly difficult. I jump when Sylvester the cat spits out "You've got mail". Yes at work I have the AOL alert voice set as Sylvester - really raises some eyebrows. He has me well trained though, I get a mail and can have it open in record time. My boss is only wishing I were so productive when it comes to doing my job.
So moving on. No real updates on the adoption front. We haven't had definite news about Group G yet but they expect that none of the cases proceeded through court today due to the Power of Attorney issue. Not sure what this means yet for our group H , but I'm a bit discouraged right now. We are 9 days away and from what I understand our new Power of Attorney form hasn't even left Washington D.C. and according to the Fed-ex website it takes 7 days for a package to get from D.C. to Addis - and that's priority! I'm not sure if that's how AAI will send it, so I'm only guessing here at the time frame. So I'm not the most optimistic person right now.
Do you know that there is one Bugs Bunny cartoon where Elmer Fudd kills Bugs? It's " What's Opera Doc". It's a parody of several of 19th century classical composer Wagners operas. Bugs of course dresses in drag.

And the wait goes on.......

Not much happening this week. I got the new Power of Attorney authenticated and Fed-exed to AAI on Monday. Now we just wait and see if it will be required and if so will it get to Addis in time. We finally received the I-171H form that grants immigration to Abate and Fantu. I was starting to get a bit worried as it was taking longer than expected. Homeland security will now send their paperwork with the approval to the Embassy in Addis so that they will have everything there for when we go to pick up Abate and Fantu and go for their VISA appointment about 5-6 weeks after the adoption is completed (hopefully on the 16th).

Group G, the group that is just ahead of us has their adoption court hearings on the 7th ( Tuesday). We are really watching them closely to see how things go with them. Will there be issues with the Power of Attorney forms? Is MOWA getting the letters into the files? Is the new judge working out? How things go for them will be a barometer of how we can expect things to go for us. I'll try to post here next week when I hear something.



I got the medicine cabinet up in the bathroom finally, had to hang it a bit lower than I would have liked but the light is in the way to have placed it higher. We are finally able to now use the shower - 3 months of only being able to take baths, what a treat it was to shower. So things are progressing in there.

Sorry no pictures this week. Maybe I'll take some over the weekend.