Yesterday we mailed off our second care package.  The Strange family from Texas will deliver it for us next week.  The first care package we sent over with Tim and Angi, is now with Tara Mowen in Ethiopia and she is going to deliver it next week as well.  Hopefully, we'll be getting new pictures next week too!
We were so excited to go shopping.  We never dreamed we'd be shopping for 0 - 3 months clothes!  We each picked out an outfit... I bet you can guess who picked what.  In this care package we are sending: Two outfits, a bottle (the same brand we used with River), vitamins, booties with rattles, a teething ring, and a photo album.

River has been waiting months to put pictures in this album.  We carefully chose four pictures to send.  Not that she'll know what she's looking at, but this will be the first she sees of us.
Everyone has been asking about her name, but we haven't decided yet.  I mean, we only had 16 months to decide!  Now that we've seen her beautiful face there is a lot more pressure to come up with the perfect name.  She already has an Ethiopian name, but we can't share it online until we have passed court.  

We have had the best week just staring at her seven pictures.  We are so proud of her.  

Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get a call about our court date.  We're hoping for late February or early March, but there are some missing documents that we'll have to have before we can pass court.  So please pray that all of her paperwork is taken care of quickly and we pass court on the first try.

Thank you all so much for your love, support and enthusiasm!
 
After 16+ months of waiting and 2 months of knowing that the phone could ring any minute... Thursday at 3:45 p.m. we finally got the call!  

She is absolutely perfect and has exceeded all of our expectations.  I can not wait until we can show all of you her picture.  Above is her teeny, tiny hand.  

She is only three months old.  We had imagined a much older baby and we are still a little bit in shock.  We can not wait to meet her.  We are hoping for a court date in late February or early March.  
 
We are vaccinated and ready to travel!  Now we just need a referral...
 
Tim and Angi Cooper passed court and are now officially the parents of
Aerie Paige Tseganesh Cooper! 
Aerie is NOT feeling well!  She has a fever, a runny nose and doesn't want to eat, because she's having a hard time breathing with the congestion.  They spoke with a doctor and Aerie has been put on an antibiotic.  Please pray that she will be feeling 100% better by the time Tim and Angi have to leave her this weekend.  It will be hard enough to leave her, they certainly don't want to leave her if she isn't feeling well.

Having spoken to Angi and our friend Tracy Wages who just got her referral for an 8 month old baby girl... I have two predictions about our daughter.  I think she will be chunky and bald!  The families who are in Ethiopia right now are telling us that the nannies at the transition home are overfeeding the babies.  Which, with so much malnourishment in the country, who can blame them!  And all of the children, young and old, boy and girl, have their heads shaved.  So we're going to be adding a big flowered headband to that care package! 
 
This time last year so many of us worked to make handmade diaper covers.  We were given almost 2,000 cloth diapers by a diaper service in Indianapolis and through the first half of the year we sent every diaper and cover to Ethiopia with adoptive families.  A majority of those diapers were delivered to KVI orphanage in Addis Ababa. 
Yesterday, our friends the Wages from South Carolina, received their referral for an eight month old baby girl who has been living at KVI since June.  No doubt, she benefited from those diapers and covers.  Wonderful!

Except just a few minutes ago I heard from Angi Cooper who is in Addis Ababa meeting her daughter Aerie this week.  They were at KVI orphanage just a few hours ago.  And there were no diapers.  None. 

They have 58 children and not a single diaper on anyone.  With 58 children, it's not hard to imagine that a few hundred cloth diapers didn't last long. 

So... what do we do now?
 
We got new pictures and an update on Ayalenesh last week! 

From Eyob:
Ayalnesh Hussien Yimer is working hard to feed her kid and herself. She has been working on selling check pea. She got 100 birr profit from it. She told us that its possible for her family to eat 3 times a day now. She has a dream to have big business in her area. She is so happy and thankful for all.
I can't wait to see how the photos and the information change over the next three years.  We are still hopeful that we'll be able to travel to Dessie to meet Ayalenesh in person when we travel to Ethiopia. 

There are still mothers in need of sponsors!  Contact Steffany here.  

Want to help the cause, but don't want to take on a three year commitment?  The $10 you give for one BEMM headband will buy one birthing kit for a pregnant mother in Ethiopia. 
Use our DONATE button on the sidebar and
specify which color/pattern you'd like.

Free shipping and I'll get it in the mail ASAP.

Or help us sponsor our mother with the purchase
of one of our Ethiopia Vehicle Decals on the sidebar. 

 
... but who's counting?
Our very first care package is going over to Ethiopia this weekend with Tim and Angi Cooper, with the hopes that we'll receive our referral before they head home on the 14th.  If we get our referral while they are in Ethiopia, they will be able to meet our daughter, take pictures of her and even hold her. 

I put in a rattle and two outfits.  One is 0 - 3 months and the other is 18 months, so odds are, neither one will fit!

Tim and Angi will meet their daughter Aerie on Sunday the 16th and will go to court on Wednesday the 11th.  They would appreciate prayers for their safe travel and for immediately passing court.