Happy Easter...Again!

"Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church follow a different calendar called the Ethiopian calendar or the Ge'ez calendar. This year Ethiopian Easter (Fasika in Amharic) will fall on April 27th in our calendar. Easter is celebrated after 55 days of fasting from meat and dairy products. During this fasting season people generally do not eat until after 3:00pm; except on Saturday and Sunday, when meals are eaten after the morning church service. Traditionally, people will attend a church service Saturday night that goes into Easter Sunday Morning. The service usually ends around 2:00am, and people will go home and break the fast with their family and friends."  -Gladney website, Ethiopia updates

Mary is Our Go-to Girl

Mark and I had our first phone contact with Mary, our Gladney Ethiopia Caseworker.  She will remain our primary contact from here on out.  At this time, all timeframes continue to hold as predicted, of course one never knows what will happen.  One factor that comes into play is the closure of the Ethiopian courts for the rainy season.  This year, it is estimated that the courts will close from the beginning to the middle of August through the end of September to the beginning of October (she gave us exact dates that I can't remember right now).  This means that all court activity stops at this time, and there is typically a bit of a backlog when the courts reopen.  So, if we do not pass court prior to this closure, our case will remain at a standstill until the rainy season is over.  If, however, we do happen to pass court prior to this closure it will have no effect on our timeline, as the embassy continues to operate during the rainy season.  

      

One Approval Down, One To Go!

Mark and I submitted all of our required paperwork to Gladney, and we were notified today that we have been approved to adopt through this agency!  Mark and I have left ourselves open to the possibility of a referral for one infant or a toddler-aged sibling group.  Wow - we both anticipate this with a very nervous excitement that just doesn't seem to diminish in the least as time goes by!  At any rate, Gladney will send a copy of our home study to USCIS and we should (hopefully) receive approval from USCIS in approximately six weeks.  Once we get this notice - otherwise known as the I171H, our dossier is off to Ethiopia for a match.  Gladney continues to estimate a period of 3 to 5 months for a match, and once we are matched, it takes approximately 1 to 2 months to get a court date.  Once our case passes court we are then assigned a travel date, which tends to be a couple of weeks thereafter.