Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Answer to our prayers

The U.S. Embassy has finally decided to allow HIV+ children to begin their TB sputum tests before they get their birth certificates and passports. This means we travel 8-9 weeks earlier!!! We've been praying for this. Rahel will be in the first group of children to do this. AHOPE will be getting theirs done on the 26th. We will travel at the same time the "healthy" children's families travel. The only problem is that the electricity problem is getting worse and is slowing down the adoption timeline for everybody. We are praying that our case makes it through court at least before mid-august.
It has finally hit me that we will have a kid in 2 months!!! When I was pregnant with Faith, it didn't hit me until 1 or 2 months before delivery that I wasn't just pregnant. There would be a baby in the house which triggered frantic nesting and preparations. This seems exactly the same. We're trying to get the house ready to function for a bigger family, looking for a bed etc... This is really happening! Finally! Hooray!!!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Good news, Bad news

Poor neglected blog...I've been on vacation.
Good news - we have been placed in our court group!!! Group N. Group M's court date is on June 30, so ours should be mid-July. Our group's travel date should be the first of August, but since Rahel is HIV positive, we have to wait an additional 2 months for her TB test. Still good news!!! We're nearing the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally!
Bad news - Ethiopia is having severe drought issues which effect everything. They depend on water for their electricity and have done without electricity about once a week in the recent past. As for now, they only get electricity a number of hours every day. Businesses are shutting down due to this, and food isn't able to be refrigerated. Gas pumps are powered by electricity.....
http://en.afrik.com/article15813.html
Here is an article on the situation in Ethiopia right now. They are in Hungry season and aide isn't as available as it should be. The UN is having to cut back rations even more now than ever. We're praying for rain for Ethiopia. Lets hope that those starving now won't suffer long. Harvest isn't for 3 more months. - sure puts things in perspective for us. We feel so picked on with the economy dive etc., but at least we have food to eat even if we don't have a job. We're not starving.