Two Less...

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The day we learned of our court date...

We received the phone call that we received our court date, and I was in a meeting at work. After the meeting I had an email that notified us of our court. FINALLY! As mentioned earlier, it will be on St. Patrick's Day. Sam and I are both part Irish, so the day is always a celebration for us, but this year it will be the best St. Patty's day that we could ask for.

It was a Friday, late in the afternoon that we were notified. Sam, my sweet husband, knew that this was a day worth celebrating. He went to our favorite fish market and got some sushi grad ahi tuna to have for dinner (my favorite) and some super good bread, from my favorite bakery.

Here are some pics for us to remember the day that we were notified of when our kids will be ours forever!

IN TWO WEEKS WE WILL BE ON A PLANE ON OUR WAY TO MEET JACK AND HAYLEY FOR THE FIRST TIME. WE CAN'T WAIT!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Showers, Showers, Showers

I have some catching up to do! I have not even posted about my first baby shower in January. It was a beautiful shower hosted by my amazing friends Kathie, Elisha, Laura and Tara! Everything from the food, to the decorations to the cake was perfect. It was a showing of about 20 ladies including high school friends, college friend, work friends, and family. I want to thank everyone again for their generosity all that they have done in support of Jack and Hayley's homecoming!

Kathie, Elisha, Me, Tara, Laura

You can tell from the pictures we are keeping in classy here in MN. Yes, we were drinking wine from the baby bottles as one of the baby games.

On Friday my co-workers hosted a shower for me after work! We went to Zahtar, a bar in our work building. Katie and Sarah hosted the event and was perfect! The group came together and gave us a gift card so we can get our BOB stroller! How lucky are we! We also got some great books and gift card toward a photo setting from a great photographer who is also a co-worker! We are so excited. Sam met up with us later and a few of us head out on the town. As if the shower wasn't enough, I also finished my MBA officially on Friday. Sam, celebrated enough for the both of us that evening.

The following day we did some baby errands and Sam fell asleep at Babies'r'Us in a glider. As I was trying to show him an outfit I said, "Do you like this one or this one?" and a women walked by and said, "His eyes are still closed." Sam was pooped and his idea of fun did not included two Targets and Babies'r'Us.

We are headed to church shortly where they are doing a special service featuring African dance, music and food. We are excited to see what it is all about.

As we are getting ready to leave in 2.5 weeks, I am going to try to keep my blog update a bit better. My goal is to post something daily to keep everyone informed on our travel plans!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

1 Month Countdown

Christina and I leave on our first journey out of North America in one month. We look forward to our opportunity to broaden our thinking and seek to better understand other cultures. I'm excited for the adventure and time away from work. We will be in Amsterdam for two days and then take a trip North out of Addis and into Ethiopia. As if that wasn't enought, we then get to meet our children for the first time upon our return to Addis. Life's a crazy ride and we haven't even started some of the challenging parts. Christina and I do view our journey as an opportuntiy and not a challenge.

Thanks to all who follow and contribute to "Christina's blog." We appreciate it.

- Husband (Sam Skinner)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

I. Can't. Imagine.

This video is sure to shake you.

"It Began with Bale" from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Hugs, Hugs are Good

Soon, very soon, we will be able give our babies hugs and kisses and more hugs! Court date is March 17th! We can't wait to hug and smooch them to pieces!

Here is a video of hugs around the world for you to enjoy!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Good News and More Good News

We found out last week Wed. that our documents were sent to court for a court date. This usually takes two weeks and then we should find out when we travel and what our court date will be. We are still hoping for a date in Feb., but realistically it will be March. I can't wait to find out when we get to see our babies for the first time face to face! We got an update on the babies too, and both are doing well and are healthy. Jack is still a peanut and is only 10.1 lbs at 5 months old. Hayley is gaining like crazy, she is 12.7 lbs at 5 months! They are both so dang cute, I can't even stand it!

The other good news is that we got an update from our agency over the weekend stating that Embassy will now meet with agencies weekly to review files and assign Embassy Apts. compared to biweekly, which is current state. In most cases this should cut down on the time it takes from court to Embassy. Our agency recently told us it usually takes 10 weeks after court, so we are hoping now it will be closer to 5-6 weeks! All in all, we are hoping our kiddos are home by May at the latest! I can't wait!

I also just had a baby shower this weekend, it was fabulous, but more to come on that later....

For now, here are some pics from our holiday party. The theme was you had to wear a tree skirt or tree topper!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

So what is next?

Right now we are currently waiting for our documents to be prepared and sent to court to get in line for our court appointment. After everything has been submitted to court it takes about 2 weeks to just find out when our court date will be. It is frustrating to say the least that we have had our referrals for almost 2 months and our documents haven't even been submitted yet. At this point we are really really hoping for a court date by the end of Feb., but it realistically will be March. After court it is another 10 weeks before we will have an Embassy appointment and that is when we can take them home and they will be in our arms forever! Everything is this journey is taking longer than expected, and longer than 'average'. At some point we have to catch a break, right? Our agency is well aware that we are waiting, and waiting impatiently, but it seems to be out of their hands and control at this point as well. Hayley just turned 5 months old and Jack will be 5 months in a little over a week. We really really really hope that they will be home by May, April would be the best case scenario, but unlikely at this point.

On a brighter note, here are some pics from Christmas!