Leaving on a jet plane!

I don't know about you, but I start singing that line like Steve Buscemi in Armageddon. Makes me giggle every time. 

Ok. Catch up time friends! 

I'm typing this while sitting at the airport in DC about to board a 15+ hour flight to Ethiopia. 

My last post was on January 30th. We had FINALLY gotten our positive recommendation letter. 

We had expected our court date the following week. However, the judge was out of town from Wednesday to Friday and we found out on Friday. Haha! 

Then, surprise surprise, our coordinator Mrs. J called me at 7am on Monday morning. Our court date was scheduled for the 19th! Only 10 days away. 

We jumped into what my sister called "survival mode". KC and I wrapped up work on Monday, ran last minute errands and spent a lot of time with the boys Tuesday, and hopped on a flight to DC on Wednesday, my birthday. 

Our flight to Ethiopia didn't leave until Thursday morning. (PS. Our TSA agent lady wished me a belated birthday after checking my passport. Hehe!)

So here we're sitting, waiting to fly to our daughters birth country. 

So many emotions! 

We'll arrive at 7am tomorrow. We'll get acclimated over the weekend, and will travel to the orphanage Mon...

Sorry. I was interrupted by my 7 year old texting me videos through wifi using our spare iPhone.  Haha!

We will travel to the orphanage on Monday, stay overnight, and head back to Addis on Tuesday and have 1 day of time before our court date. And she'll be officially a Collins. 

Eeek!

We are so thankful for you guys and for all the prayers. We couldn't have made it to this point without you guys. We can't wait to share pictures with you after next Thursday!! 

Negative recommendation letter número dos

Yes friends, you read that right. Haha!

 

MOWA issued us another negative recommendation letter because we didn’t have a certain form in our file. An original form that has never been requested before, but is now required as part of their new processes and procedures.

 

Our file looked great! It’s just that form that they now need.

 

The good news is, that original form with all original signatures is in the office in Ethiopia and Mr. F will be taking it to court tomorrow.

 

And now, for the bad news:

 

It will still take a few days for the head of MOWA to review the document so that our positive recommendation letter can be issued. Then, it will be at least a day or two before court will give us our court date.

 

They should review our file and give us our letter the same day. So at least we won’t have to wait days before we get the letter (hopefully).

 

Best case scenario, we’re looking at getting an official court date sometime late next week.

 

Worst case scenario, it could still be another 2 weeks.

 

We’ll know more tomorrow when we find out what “court date” MOWA is given to review our file.

 

At this point, I don’t think we’ll be traveling much at all with the Clarks.

 

Right now, we’re looking at a court date the first or second week of November.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

It has been 8 ½ months since we first saw our girls face. It’s been almost a month since she found out who we were and that we were coming for her.

 

This. Is. HARD.

 

I don't want to stop going. I want to keep singing no matter what comes against us. 

 

Right now, I still am, but it feels like it’s more of a whisper or a hum.

 

He is still good. And He still has me.

 

But, gosh, this keeps getting harder...

 

------------------------------------------------

 

“Still my soul will sing Your praise unending….

 

One more week may not seem like a long time, but when you’ve heard “should be next week” for 6-7 weeks now, it gets kind of difficult to make it through each day.

 

But guys, we’re in no way giving up.

 

Not on her.

 

And definitely not on Him.

 

Still, we’d love to continue to receive your prayers. Lord knows our hearts could use them.

 

And thank you, for fighting this battle alongside us. You are appreciated more than words could say.  ❤️

 

 

{“Lord, You know the hopes of the helpless. Surely You will hear their cries and comfort them” -Psalm 10:17}

 

 

(Oh, and please forgive me if I burst into tears at random moments. I try to avoid it, but sometimes a thought comes into my head and it forces those tears out. Haha! I’m definitely appreciating the fact that my office is in the back corner of the building on days like this.)

 

 

All you can do is chuckle...

Well friends, we have some “yippee!” news and some “ugh, darn it” news.

 

First, the good news! Our dossier has been translated and is ready to be reviewed by MOWA!

*Yipppeeeee!!! Yahhhoooooo!!!!*

 

Now, we’re just waiting on MOWA’s positive recommendation letter AND a court date!! Eeeek!

 

……………………………………

 

BUT.....

That’s when the "ugh, darn it" news comes in.

 

Guess who is out on vacation all week?

 

The judges secretary.

 

Why does that matter?

 

Because that’s who schedules MOWA reviews and then the court dates.

 

I know, I heard your collective “Gah! Seriously?!”….

 

Yes, seriously guys. All I could do was laugh when I read that information from our coordinator.

 

I mean, our dossier got to Ethiopia and translated in record time! We could’ve known our court date by tomorrow!

 

And then…… 

VACATION   *said in Seinfeld’s voice as he says ‘NEWMAN’*.

 

 

Honestly, you just laugh, and then kind of bang your head on your desk. Rinse and repeat.

 

Hahaha! Seriously. I have a pillow in my office for this exact situation (and other work related issues, but that’s another matter entirely…).

 

A part of me is beginning to get crazy and antsy and is thinking zany thoughts while making funny faces in my office. Kinda like this.

 

 

The other part of me is just chilling, leaning back in my chair and propping my feet up. Because, we’re pros at this point guys.

 

PROS.

 

I feel like Jesus is crazy proud of me for trusting Him and not F-R-E-A-K-I-N-G  O-U-T!!!

 

He’s like “Hey! That’s ma girl! You got this cuz I got this!"

 

Go ahead and chuckle. I enjoy being able to make you guys laugh. And anything to keep me from thinking too much about it and eating ice cream.

 

At this point, we’re just SO excited that we could be seeing our girl in about 3 weeks.

 

Plus, in case you missed it, we actually got our October update last week. We got to see new pictures of our dear Bertie. AND we had a minute and half video of her looking at our faces for the first time. I’m so beyond excited that they recorded her looking at her family and her house.

 

And man, hearing her say Mommy and Daddy put us on such a high…. I’m sure we’ll manage to get through the next week of waiting for a court date. We got this.

 

We should hear something early next week. As soon as we do, we’ll be sure to let you guys know. Until next time amigos!

 

 P.S. I'm eating a slice of coconut cream pie right now as I type this. 😁

 

Birth Relative Court Date

Well, we finally got the date for our birth relative court date...

July 23rd. 

Yeah, it's exciting to finally have that court date scheduled, but it's so far out. 

And our coordinator told us it's 4-6 weeks after that before we get OUR court date. 

At this rate, it looks like we might miss the cutoff for the court closure. Last year, they closed on August 9th through October 14th. 

Our coordinator doesn't seem to think that that will happen as they don't generally split court dates over the court closures. But it HAS happened before. 

KC and I found this out yesterday morning. We both were just so upset. We had just left the mall where we stopped by Candy Craze and got some yummies. 

We both sat in the van quietly and I felt like I was close to tears. This time it was KC who vocalized how tired he was of all the snags. I looked at him and handed him a chocolate almond and said "Here, have some chocolate. Chocolate loves you and doesn't judge". He laughed and took it. 

This is why I've gained 10 pounds so far this year. I'm an emotional eater. Ha!

We're praying that we have no more delays. At this rate, we're looking at early to mid-August to travel. I know it's only a month later than we thought and it doesn't seem like a big deal, but we're 3 1/2 years into this guys.  As of Monday, it's been 5 months since we first saw her beautiful face. We're ready to get there and hold her. 

As soon as this court date is over, we'll get our letter of recommendation from MOWCYA and then they schedule our court date so we can book flights! 

(The one good thing about a later court date, is that we have more time to save up for flights!)

Please help us pray that there are no more delays and that the next few weeks go by fast! ❤️

  

  

Not much…

We’re coming up on 3 weeks of waiting for a birth relative court date. I wake up early to check my email (like a madwoman) to see if we’ve received anything from Ethiopia. Nothing.

 

This is the point where KC and I are getting VERY exhausted. We feel downtrodden. 

We know that His timing is good, but it’d be nice to know something... anything.

 

This. Is. Hard. 

BUT, one positive is that it’s allowing KC and I to save a bit more money. We were still about 2500 shy of where we needed to be when KC texted me yesterday. Turns out, he got a “bonus” for training some new guy at work. To the tune of $1,000. Talk about wanting to shout from the rooftops!! 

That was a HUGE blessing. HUGE. It takes a big weight off knowing that we’re only $1,500 short of where we need to be. We’re praying that we can budget  some from next month (we’ve already budgeted moving over some this month).

 

So yes, the wait is hard; even excruciating at times. But He knows what’s best. And He’s already reminding us of His faithfulness.

 

That’s where we’re at. In the hard, but knowing He’s still keeping an eye out for our well-being. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.  ❤️

  

  

The calm...

It’s been a week since our file was sent to the Embassy in Ethiopia. And man, am I itching for some news. We should be notified when the birth parent/guardian interview is set up.  So since we haven’t heard anything, I’m assuming it hasn’t happened yet. And it’s driving me crazy! Hahaha!

 

We’re so sooooooooo close! I’m praying that we get a speedy answer. There are rare cases that are approved and sent back within 2 weeks. Since we’ve been the rare delay throughout this entire process, I’m hoping we’re the rare acceptance here at the end.   :-)

We’re praying we get USCIS clearance soon so that we still make the cut off before the courts close at the beginning of August (normally around the 10th-12th).  

 

ALSO, we found out that as soon as we are issued our PAIR letter, Ethiopia will issue a birth parent court date, or in Bertie’s case, a guardian court date first. This is normally 3-4 weeks out.

Here's the kicker. Since this new PAIR process has begun, we WON'T know we're traveling for court until 1-2 weeks before our court date. 

Yikes. 

This means ticket prices will likely be much, much higher since we won't have much of a heads up. The best time to buy the cheapest tickets is about 6 weeks out. 

It will be similar when we go for our embassy trip. Not much notice anymore. 

BUT, on the flip side, our agency is exploring the possibility of 1 longer trip. The time between our court date and embassy date is much shorter now too!

So there's good and bad to it. The mister and I are going to do our best to pump over even more to help offset those costs.

I'm trying my best not to freak out over finances and work. May is a crazy month with birthdays and end of year stuff at school, but June should be a better month for saving since we won't have pre-k costs. 

I know Gods got this, but it's easy to get caught up in all the big stuff. 

 

Please keep praying for us – for multiple reasons. We’re working overtime to add extra to our account and still make it day to day.

 

Please pray for me as well. I’m in this last-phase-burnout-mode, and my brain feels like it’s taking a vacation. DEFINITELY got some serious mom-brain going on. 

 

I’ll update you as soon as we hear anything, but I didn’t want to leave you guys hanging for too long. I know many of you are just as excited and anxious for news as we are. You guys are the greatest.