Griffin

We are back from Africa and it was a great experience. We especially enjoyed visiting Griffin's hometown and meeting the man who found him and seeing the spot where he was abandoned. Griffin appears to be in great health and is scheduled to see our pediatrician for a full check up. He has a great temprament and is usually laughing, smiling or making noises. He has already become stronger and more alert in the week we have had him. I want to thank all of our friends and family who helped make the adoption possible and for all of the arrangements made for his homecoming. We feel truly blessed and consider our adoption to be part of Gods plan.

Preparing To Leave

We have finished the remake of Will and Griffin's room. We also have a pretty good head start on several baby supplies, clothes, accessories etc...We have also tied up most of the loose ends for our trip. We leave this Saturday and return the following Friday.

Updated Photo

The best picture yet I think. They recieved our gift package and he is wearing clothes we bought him and there is a picture of our family beside him. We have finalized our travel arrangements and leave September 20th.

Court Date

We recieved our embassy date today. We are supposed to be in Ethiopia on September 23 to meet at the embassy. We should be gone from the 21st through the 28th. Now we have to start making serious plans.

New Photo of Griffin

There was not any news with the photo but he looks good.

Court Hearing

We are glad to report that we passed our court hearing in Ethiopia on our first try and our adoption has been approved. We were approved on July 31st while on our annual family trip with the Swensons, Jacksons and Weisbergs(as previewed above). On Monday August 9th we will recieve our date telling us when we will need to be in Ethiopia for our embassy meeting. This will probably be around the 3rd week of Septmeber. We are now in the process of making our travel arrangements and getting our house ready for a baby. There is a lot of work to be done but we cant wait for Griffin to get here.

07-23-2009 -Court Date

We finally recieved our court date today. Our case goes to court on 07-31-2009 and we were told we would hear something back the same day. Our adoption agency has a reputation for getting through on the first try so we are hopefull. We were also told that people with a July court date usually travel to pick up their child in mid-September. We are very excited and it is startng to seem more and more real. We will post some new pictures as soon as we get them.

New Picture 06-23-2009

This is the newest photo from the orphanage.

I am not sure about the outfit but he looks great.

Possible Travel Timeline

Probably average to have the case file in court would be 4 weeks. Then another two or three before a hearing date is given. The last two groups have had hearing dates about a month from the filing date. I imagine you know that cases don’t always pass on the first hearing date. Travel is usually six to eight weeks after the case is approved. I hope that this helps. Merrily

Merrily Ripley
Adoption Advocates International

Baby Photos

He was born around March 16th. He weighs about 9 .lbs and is 52 cm long. He was found abandoned in Shashemene town, west Arsi zone, and turned over to the police. According to the Childrens Affair Bureau he was found by a man named Kedir Jamal. His lab reports indicate that he is free from Hepatitis and HIV. He is reported to have good neck and body movement and sucks and swallows well during feeding. His appetite is growing and he is getting stronger everyday. He has started to smile in response to voices and visually track his toys in the crib. He is welled loved by his nannies and has a sweet nature.

Latest E-Mail from A.A.I.

You are near the top of the list for a baby boy. Complete files have been coming to us more slowly as they are gathering more information before sending in anticipation of the courts continuing to be ever more picky. It is hard to wait for a referral but even harder to have a case that is not heard in court because they are now asking for more details. I hope it won't be too much longer.
Merrily RipleyAdoption Advocates Internationaladoptionadvocates.org

May 11th, 2009

Recieved a letter from the adoption agency today. Highlights from the letter as follows:

I like to send an update every couple of months to keep you informed of the progress of the waiting list.
For baby boys, we are referring to families whose dossiers went to Ethiopia the second half of January. Ours is dated January 15th so this applies to us.
There are new babies in the nursery whose files are not yet complete. As we recieve complete files we will be referring the babies and we hope the families will make their decisions quickly as possible in hopes of getting through court before it closes, which is usually early August. At this time families recieving referrals can expect to have their child in 4 to 8 months.
Also see http://www.aainews.blogspot.com/

Waitin List Update May 4th, 2009

We recieved another e-mail today from the adoption agency today:

Good afternoon:

Currently Merrily is making referrals of the next available infant boy files to Dec 08/Jan 09 families; and infant girls to September 2008 families.

She just returned from Ethiopia (first day back is today) and I am waiting for documents to complete infant files. She will probably start making calls again hopefully by the first of next week (once the power comes back up in Ethiopia and we can start receiving child documents again).

I am so exited to get this baby. I hope we will be the best family every for this little dude. Any way, my name is Lily Chappell and I am so happy to be a sister to a little brother. I want to name the baby Henry or Anoop.

April 14, 2009

I talked to the adoption agency today about the waiting list. I was told we might get a referral as early as 4-6 weeks. That would mean we would go and pick up our new son this summer. The courts in Ethiopia close for two months starting in August. Which means we would not have a court hearing until October. I was told the best case scenario is that he would be home for summer and the worst case scenario is that he would be here for Christmas.

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:3-4

I am Will the future brother/room mate of an Ethopian boy and i am pumped

Orphanage Support

Laurie and I read a book called "There is No Me Without You" which is the story of how the orphanage we are adopting from came into existance. The story inspired both of us. While I was reading the book it erased any doubts I ever had about adopting a child. We also decided to support a child at the orphanage by helping him financially. Here is his picture and a update on his status.

Habtamu is now in 7th grade. He is still in his previous school (Netesenet Chora Elementary school). His house and school are very close to each other so Habtamu doesn’t worry about transportation costs. He also started class in the past September it has almost been three months since he started class and so he is approaching to his mid term exam. Habtamu shows good interest on his studies, he has started studying well. Now that he has his own small house he has got ample time for his studies. Habtamu told me that he has had a difficult time as he was living with his uncle last year. The uncle never trusted Habtamu and mistreated Habtamu in the House. He added that he was not able to take part on group assignments because money was demanded for most of the work and the uncle took almost the whole sponsorship Aid and never gave Habtamu.
So poor Habtamu was afraid to tell us that and he passed a hard time. Now that he is with his brother they are sharing their money together. Although they have not much they share and try to live happily now. Habtamu hopes to score good this year. He also performs his house hold work. He has good social relationship with people living in his environment and at school. He was quite healthy in the past quarter that he didn’t need to pay a visit at the hospital.

Our help and assistance to such children is vital as it creates sense of love, belongingness and motivation. So lets us keep on helping poor children and influencing our world positively.

Miriam Tesfaye.
Habtamu

Latest Updates from Adoption Advocates Int.

A photo sent to us in March of some of the many babies at the orphanage

04-10-2009

We recieved a letter from the adoption agnecy in March that told us they were currently making referrals for families whose dossiers went to Ethiopia in December of 2008. I am not clear where that puts us but our dossier went to Ethiopia the first part of January 2009.

02-18-2009 email from adoption service

You are moving up as we make 10 referrals last week. You are about in the top of the bottom third if that helps!! Merrily

(no that really doesnt help at all)

02-05-2009 email from adoption service


I see that your dossier was just sent to Ethiopia on 1-16-09 and that you are approved for 1 child, of either gender, from 0 to 3years of age. Referrals are made in a chronological order according to the date the dossier was sent to Ethiopia . Currently Merrily is making referrals of infant girls to families whose dossier’s were shipped August 2008 and for infant boys, to families whose dossiers were shipped in September 2008. This gives you an idea of the time line of referrals. Merrily will be back from Ethiopia and in the office on Monday 2-9-09. Hopefully more referrals will be made next week and the list will start moving again.

Chappell Kids

Jake, Scout, Will, and Lily waiting for their new brother.