Family Picture

Sorry about the lack of updates. I've intentions to consolidate my Facebook posts into one long blog post. I'll edit them, add to them, etc.

Until then, here's our first family picture:

Facebook

I am having a hard time updating this blog here. I have to update via email and that's just not working well for me. So, keep a lookout on Facebook for updates. I think most of you are friends and should be able to see the updates.

I can't upload pictures (files too big and the connection times out), sorry. I promise picture and video will go up as soon as possible when we make it back home.

The Eagle has landed

I don't actually know if the Ethiopian Airlines 767 we took from DC to Addis Ababa is called the Eagle; in fact, I'm pretty sure it's probably not, but the point is that, like the Apollo 11 Eagle, we've landed safely. The suite we are staying at is very nice. A bedroom, living room, kitchen, bath (with really hot shower, yay!) and plenty of room for us to be comfortable. And all for a very reasonable rate. We're just about to leave to go pick up our precious little Chloë and things couldn't be better.

We also received word first thing when we arrived that all the paperwork snafu from last week has been rectified and everything is a go. There should be no problem at all on Monday's Embassy date.

We're exhausted, as you could imagine. First, get Chloë, then out to exchange our USD into Ethiopian Birr, then back to the guest house to get situated, then sleep (if Chloë will let us). Perhaps dinner in there somewhere.

Keep checking here for updates, pictures and possibly video during out stay.

That's all for know. We've something very important to do soon.

30 hours and counting

Boy, do things move fast, or what? Wow.
We got both our senators on the issue we spoke about yesterday, and it paid off. They were able to get the addendum expedited (our request for expedition was initially rejected) and we picked it up today and FedEx'd it overnight for delivery in the National Visa Center tomorrow morning. Everything should be fine from here on out. Worst case scenario (or so we were told last night by the executive director/founder of our adoption agency) is that we might have to have a second trip to the embassy on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, not a big deal. And, now, that's likely not needed. Let's give a big "WHOOP WHOOP" for senators acting on the behalf of their constituents. Thank you Senators Hatch and Bennett! :)

Tonight we pack, double-check our lists, have a few celebratory drinks (which will also help calm our nerves and maybe allow a few hours of sleep), and check our lists one last time.
We received our in-country itinerary today. Every day has a travel excursion we can participate in (i.e. to museums, or to the government center, or to the largest open-air market in all of Africa), and dinner at traditional restaurants. We're travelling with 2 other families, who will be staying in the guest house as well.

We've been told the guest house has wireless internet, but we're a little skeptical of that. They also mentioned that there was a computer in the lobby for our use. Either way, keep your eyes on this blog as we intend to post at least one update from Addis Ababa. When we return, we'll change this to a "Living with Chloë" blog and will post our likely-to-be-nearly-infinite number of pictures, and probably some video.

Now is the time where we'd like to extend a big thank you (complete with hugs and kisses) to all of you for your continued support. Often it was a little comment, or an ear you let us bend, or a kind email. Even by reading these updates, you've connected with us and we appreciate it. It's been one helluva journey. 11 months from start to finish. Lots of late nights. Even more tears. Some yelling, our fair share of fear and frustration, lots of hope and anxiety. You've shared it all with us, and we thank you.

We know it will be worth it in the end, and we hope you stop by every now and again to check up on us and Chloë.

We love you,

Justin and Julee

57 hours

We're just under two and a half days out.

You'd think the drama would be over, but not with this adoption. It's gonna go all the way until zero hour. Our adoption agency has seen to that.

On Monday, our US Embassy appointment in Addis Ababa for Monday the 29th was confirmed. We're set there, a big relief. But, last week we were told we needed to fill out an addendum to our immigration adoption paperwork (allowing us to bring an orphan into the US) saying that we're okay with adopting a 1 year old since we initially requested a baby under 6 months. This was something we were unaware was needed (and are still unsure why it's needed. We requested under 6 months, but didn't say anything about rejecting over 6 months...plus we were matched with Chloë back when she was only a month old). It certainly could've (correction: should've) been filled out anytime in the prior 6 months (hell, we officially accepted her when she was 7 months old, that seems like a perfect time to file such an addendum). But, we weren't informed of it until last week. Someone screwed the pooch. You'd think our files would be reviewed more often, or further out from travelling than a week.

The addendum needed to go to the Salt Lake immigration field office. It was overnight Friday and got there yesterday. It was requested to be expedited, but even that doesn't seem to be fast enough as things haven't progressed at all in a day, and now our adoption agency has contacted one of our senators for help.

We won't know if he'll be able to assist us in any meaningful way until this afternoon at the earliest, and likely not until tomorrow. I suppose we can only prepare as if we're flying out in two days and hope everything can get squared away between now and than. There's a pretty good possibility we'll be travelling to Ethiopia before anything gets resolved, and perhaps even land in Ethiopia before we'll know for sure if we're good to go. Julee's mom arrives tonight (she's staying with our dog so he won't have to be kenneled since he's so old now) and we're hoping it wasn't for naught.

The last time we were overjoyed about this thing was back in May when we were matched with her. It's been nothing but a nightmare since. Seems we still can't catch a break.

My guess is we get on that plane in two days. And will not really know if things are good to go until we land in Ethiopia. We can only hope that everything gets worked out and we're able to proceed, and not told to fly back home. That would be really bad.

Keep your eyes peeled on Saturday for any kind of international incident occurring in Addis Ababa. If you hear of something to do with an American couple misbehaving at the Addis Ababa airport that might just be us being told we need to fly back home.

The last weekend

Some might be tempted to do as much as possible for their last childless weekend, and that's certainly a valid option. But, we've decided to do as little as possible, instead. Our thoughts are that we'll have the rest of our lives to do the things we like to do, and will eventually be able to even bring Chloë with us for most of that, but we won't have many weekends where we will be able to do nothing at all. And those truly are the best weekends, aren't they? Sleeping in, parking your butt on the couch and watching whatever ridiculousness is on HGTV or Food Network or TBS, and enjoying every wasted minute of it. Weekends of nothing, we will miss you.

T minus 106 hours.

Single Digits?

Is it possible? Can it really be?

Yes, we are 9 days out. We leave Thursday evening. So, really we can't count Thursday. And the weekend doesn't count. So, it's really 6 days. Scary.

Of course, there has to be drama. We're scrambling to get last minute things (that we didn't know we needed to have, but which the new liaison in our adoption agency (oh, didn't we tell you that the one we had got fired last week? Of course!) says we should have to avoid any trouble...why didn't she tell us this 8 months ago?). Anyway, I'm trying to get a letter from my work saying I'm employed there still, which sounds easy but isn't when work for a huge pharmaceutical company and the home office is in California, etc. etc. Lots of paperwork to fill out. Plenty of worrying to do.

But, it's single digits. My stomach just cramped. I'm gonna go throw up now.

A Milestone

We are now closer to having Chloë in our arms than we ever have been. Two weeks ago today we found out that our US Embassy date was incorrect and had been moved back 2 weeks. With that drama over, we are now, today, right now, closer to getting her than at any time before.

Each moment we are closer.

Even closer now.

And closer yet now.

And now.

T-minus 14 days

Adoptions--especially international adoptions--are like navigating a mine field (one you have to pay for the privilege of traversing, no less). Some adoptions are such that not a single step lands on a mine and everything goes smoothly. These are rare. Others start out with an explosion from the very first step, then bombers start circling overhead, dropping their payload. Next, mortars from places unseen begin landing. It's a perilous journey. Some, and these are the true horror stories, have been nuked along the way; everything lost. Most adoptions fall somewhere in between, a few missteps, but generally mostly fluid.

Our adoption has been more of the what-else-can-go-wrong variety. Each step is difficult. More often than not we've landed on a mine. The mortars are bursting around us, sending blooms of dirt into the air, and we are vigilantly searching the skies for the Enola Gay. We've even had glimpses of her chugging over the horizon on occasion.

If it can happen, no matter how rare, it's happened to us. Yesterday, we dodged a bullet. The Ethiopian government has decided that they are going to require both parents to be present at the court date (instead of a liaison from the orphanage), which means parents will now need to travel twice. This new requirement is effective immediately. We missed this decree by one month. Phew. We feel so bad for those prospective parents who've been affected by this. I can't imagine another $4000 in costs just for flying out there. Plus time off work.

This new requirement is an attempt by the Ethiopian government to stop (or at least slow down) the number of parents who pass adoption court only to never come to pick up their children. I have no idea why people don't pick up their children, especially since the vast majority of the money has already been paid, but it happens, apparently, and often.

Today, we also received copies of the court decree declaring us legal parents of Chloë, as well as Chloë's passport and the contract between us and Ethiopia. The hard copies will come soon. This is all the documentation we've been waiting for. Everything is looking up.

We find out March 22nd if in fact we are 100% confirmed for our embassy date on the 29th. If so, and there should (SHOULD!) be very little reason why we aren't, then we fly out the 25th and finally get the beginning of the end on its way. We'll be keeping our eyes to the sky until the 22nd.

Birth Cerftificate

We received a scan of Chloë's birth certificate by email today. We should receive the original in the mail sometime soon.
It turns out Chloë's birthday is actually April 6 and not April 7 as we were originally told. Not a big deal except this makes her one day older than we thought.
Also means she'll be visiting the doctor on her birthday. We arrive back home on the night of the 3rd, so we'll have two days back before it's her birthday. That week back will be crazy.

It's nice to finally have the birth certificate with Julee and I named as the parents. A little chilling, even. In 2 1/2 short weeks we'll have her. Finally.

A Child-Proofed House

We hadn't gotten around to it during the long hold, but we finally child-proofed the house today. Cabinets and drawers secured, which is a serious pain in the ass (to both install and have to live with), electrical outlets plugged, furniture corners bumpered.

We lowered the crib today, too. When we first assembled it, we assumed we would be bringing home an infant (which we would have had all this drama not occurred). Now, she's a toddler and the mattress needed to be lowered.

Not so bad. It's nice to get into doing these things again. We assembled the crib last June. Seems like forever ago.

February Update

Let's hope this is the last update we receive, but the February update (with two new pictures) just came in. It is the tenth such update we've received from them. Hard to believe it was ten months ago when we got matched with a beautiful, little month-old baby girl.

A little piece of sad news is that Chloë now has four teeth (two upper, two lower). We kinda wanted to be there when her teeth came in. There'll be others, I know, but the first is always the best. Oh well.

She sleeps through the night, eats well, and is crawling. She's looking so old now, too. She's a 4 month old in our minds, since those were the pictures we looked at the most. She'll be one week shy of her first birthday when we pick her up, three weeks from now. We're hoping we no longer have to rewind the countdown clock. T-minus 21 days. One more time.

Pictures:

And the saga continues

It was two weeks from yesterday we were to fly out. Well, scrap that.

Because things have worked so smoothly from day one, we were due for just a little bump in the road, right?
Well, to add insult to injury, our embassy date was moved back 2 weeks to March 29th. We have no idea why. Not one. Of course, they tell us this less than 2 weeks before we fly out (we just found out). We will now fly out March 25th. I guess they figure if we're willing to wait 10 months, they'll be willing to wait another 2 weeks. The good news is we've been told this is final. It will not change again. YEAH RIGHT! Anyone willing to put even money bets on that one?

They also admonished that this is why we must make sure our plans are flexible. Yeah right. Because THAT'S possible. Yes, we've purchased refundable airline tickets, but refundable tickets still come with a hefty cancellation price. And that is just something we're going to have to absorb. Also, there's arranging things with work (FMLA for Jules, etc.) and the flights of others who are coming to visit. Sometimes, people just need to know when things are, and need time before they change. I suppose next time, we'll wait until the day we fly out to purchase our tickets and just hope nothing changes in the 2 days it takes to get to Ethiopia.

So many plans to change. So much more work to do.
At least we have two more weeks now to get it all done!

3 Weeks

21 days from today we fly out. It's almost unbelievable.

To say we're excited it to put it mildly.

I got my third and final Hepatitis B vaccination today. Also picked up prescriptions for all sorts of stuff (just in case): a cream for scabies in Chloe has that, antibiotics for Julee and I, antibiotics for Chloe, and those pills that make flying just a little bit less terrifying (for me).

The amount of crap we have to bring just in case is boggling. Nix for lice, just in case. Pedialyte, just in case. The above antibiotics, and the scabies cream, decongestants, Benadryl, cold medicines, all just in case. We'll be a traveling pharmacy for crying out loud.

Anyway, just 3 weeks left. And weekends don't count right?

It's practically nothing.

Latest update

We received Chloe's latest height and weight measurements. As of February 2, 2010, Chloe is 27.6 inches long and 20.7 pounds. She's not yet teething but has begun imitating sounds and babbles.

T minus 24 days.

Tickets, and two new photos

We've purchased our plane tickets!

This all seems to final, now. Much more final than we thought it would ever be. It's both nice and scary. Calming and exhilarating. Strange.

I knew Ethiopia was far away from Salt Lake, what with it being 9 hours ahead of us and all, but does it really take THAT long to fly there? Layover in LA, then DC, then Rome, then final leg to Addis Ababa, for a total of about 36 hours travel time. Yikes. The way back is similar (except from DC to Atlanta and then back home) but with the extended layover in DC (for customs) it balloons to a 41 hour travel time. Nearly 2 full days. With a toddler. Who we just picked up. Talk about an adventure.

We just received new photos of Chloe taken last week. She's looking older. It's a little sad. Already sitting up. Hopefully she won't take her first step until we get her. Seems we'll be needing to get her a prom dress before too long.

Anyway, enjoy:

Phew!

It's been a long 9 months. Long.

But, the hurdles have all been cleared and all the remains is a short sprint to the finish line.

In short, Chloe passed court today. We are now officially parents. It's surreal. It's exciting and wonderful and scary (a little) and we are so very happy.

Last night wasn't too bad. We stayed up as long as we could, then slept pretty soundly. We received an email this morning informing us that the court in Ethiopia ruled in our favor.

Next, we have an embassy date for March 15, where we will apply for a visa for Little Miss C. We will likely fly out of Utah on the 12th. We'll fly back home on the 19th.

Then, we can commence with the rest of our lives.

We don't know how many people read this blog. But, we do appreciate all of your support. It's been an arduous, and sometimes painful, 12 months, especially the last 9. There were times we didn't think this would happen. Times we were certain it wouldn't. Now that it has, we're unsure what to do with ourselves. For now, we're content just being happy and enjoying time with each other without stress and the specter of "the adoption" (dunh dunh dunh) hanging over our heads.

Thank you, all of you, for taking this journey with us.

Three Days

We're cautiously optimistic that we'll pass court on the 2nd. Is this foolish? Perhaps, considering the way things have gone the last 10 months, but what else can we do? Anything else would just drive us crazy. As it stands, we're anxious and concerned. (Anyone want to put any money on how much--and by much, I mean little--sleep I get on Monday?)

Three days. We've been waiting for so long now, it seems almost comical to be worrying about three days.

We're hopeful.

We'll put up a post on Tuesday either way.

Some Clarification

We finally found out why we didn't pass court back on the 18th.
And it just further proves the point that these adoptions are fickle (and that being a Barrett is often unfortunate).

It turns out that the family courts in Ethiopia have changed their rules--as courts are wont to do--but neglected to inform anyone of this change. This change required that a certain, specific document that the orphanages keep on premises be presented during their hearing. Since this document was never needed before (including just the week prior) our orphanage didn't bring the document--why would they? Our proxy pleaded for us to be allowed to pass since it would've been fine just last week. The judge said no (compassion and law rarely mix). Ergo, February 2nd.

But, the good news is this paper is all that is needed. Everything else was in order. The mother showed up and gave her testimony (which we worried some about). We should be good to go come the 2nd--fingers crossed.

Of course this happened to us. Nothing tragic, just more annoyance.

We've also heard a rumor that the courts are contemplating requiring the parents to be present during the court date, which would mean two trips for adopting parents, or one very long extended trip. We've dodged this bullet, at least.

Still no December update. We aren't receiving one, I suppose. If we do, we'll post the pictures.

And the saga continues

You had to know that it wouldn't be that easy, right? It wouldn't be as easy as just scheduling a court date, and everything being in order, and us passing just like that, right?

Well, that's exactly the case. We did not pass court. I get a sense this happens all the time. I get a sense that all initial court dates fail, just on principle. Unfortunately for us, our court date has been rescheduled for 2 weeks. February 2nd. I don't know if this is typical, but it's what we were given. So, we now have two more weeks to wait.

I don't do well with anticipation and anxiousness. I slept just under 2 hours last night. I suppose the same will be true of February 1st. Good to know that I stayed up all night for nothing.

We haven't been given much information on why we didn't pass. Something about documents or whatever. Who knows. If, in fact, all initial court dates are failed, then there isn't any reason necessary. I do know a letter from the Ministry of Womens Affairs (MOWA) is required, and these letters are often not written by the time the court convenes (which really makes no sense, but two separate gov't agencies communicating effectively will never happen), so it's possible this is what the holdup was.

2 more weeks. In geologic time, it's nothing. To us, it'll be a near eternity!

January 18

Five days. That's all we have left. Five days.

Our court date is set for January 18, and we're coming down the home stretch. It seems unreal, almost, like we're just waiting for some bad news to come down the pike; to have the rug pulled out from underneath us just one more time.

We've been freaking out a little, too, as we're getting close to the one year anniversary for some of our documents (most of which are only good for a year), and we're convinced they'll find something wrong at the court date (or the mother won't show...but don't get us started on that) and we'll have to start all over with the paperwork. So, we're trying to stay calm and positive.

Five days. We can do five days. It's been eight months since we were matched with Little Miss Chloe. Five days is nothing.

We just have to remember to exhale every now and again.

The last two pictures

Well, we've caught ourselves up to the present time. There are only two more pictures left, from November's update (though the pictures were taken the first week of December). We have yet to received the December update on Chloe, so the two pictures below are the most recent. This is how she looked a little over a month ago.

As you can see, she looks quite a bit older. I'm not gonna lie, it was tough to see. She's a toddler already!

Enjoy.