Drum roll please..... We introduce to you (many for the first time!) Aaron Israel McCumbee

We got the OK from WACAP to post pictures of our little guy......SO HERE HE IS!!!

We are told that he's not a big fan of the camera, he'll fit right in with the rest of my crew!!

The top picture is the latest and greatest (taken on 12.1.09)!!

The bottom is the one we received at the time of referral (10.28.09).

We're pretty excited to be able to share his picture finally!! Enjoy!! As you can tell he looks so different in each picture, I'm sure he'll change even more before we meet him on 1/8.

We'll be in ETHIOPIA on Jan. 8th

So we are going to have a crazy travel schedule getting to our little guys, but it'll be worth it.

Driving 2.5 hours to Raleigh, NC and leave at 6:30pm on 1/6

Raleigh to NY (JFK)

JFK to Dubai (Overnight in Dubai)

Dubai to Addis Ababa, ET ---arriving 1/8 at 10:30am

We'll be leaving Addis on 1/14 at 7pm

transfer through Dubai to JFK

JFK to RDU --arriving at 1:30pm on 1/15.

So we are pumped!! Ready to enjoy the holidays and not stress about travel plans. Everything is finished and we're going to sit back and enjoy some time with family and friends!! My last day at work is going to be 1/4 and I'll return full-time on 4/15 (or around there, not sure the exact date yet!). Shane's working out his schedule soon too, we are so excited to have some time off with the kids!! SO grateful for flexible employers!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

ONE STEP CLOSER----- WE PASSED!!

So I just heard from our agency and we passed court today!!! YIPPPEEE...

More to come after we book travel, but I'm hoping we can still get a ticket for arrival in ET on 1/8.

Our Court Date is finally here!!!

So 12/15 is our court date, but since Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us.....it's really tonight while we sleep or sometime early morning!! Thanks for the positive thoughts, we'll let you know as soon as we hear more!! If we pass, we book our tickets for 1/7-1/14!!! Prayers for passing the first time!!

Hopefully we'll post good news soon!

Baby Aaron Israel McCumbee is 4 months old today!

So last week we decided on 'baby brudders' name.

The little guys name is Aaron Israel McCumbee. Aaron (Shane's first name) and Israel (his given ET name, meaning 'Chosen one!'). We are so excited and the more I look at his pictures, the name is really fitting!!

So baby Aaron is 4 months old today!

Not only is today Aaron's 4 month bday, but it's also one week from our 12/15 court date! One week, only 7 more days until we can book our travel and confirm when our trip will be! I just can't wait :) The uncertainty of travel, craziness of the holidays and just pure lack of patience is catching up with me. I try not to sit down long enough to think about it, little ENERGIZER bunny over here....I'm going, going, going!!

We took Abby to Airlie Gardens to see the Christmas lights, Santa ('Ho Ho') and the trains! We had a blast. Abby really liked Santa, but only from a distance. She was NOT so thrilled when it was our turn to talk to him!

Hopefully the next post will be good news about our court date!! Have a great week!!

Just for Laughs!

Abby LOVEs cucumbers!! I try to avoid the produce section when she's shopping with me because she insists on eating them in the store! A lesson learned the hard way---she was in one of those 'car carts' and next thing I knew half the cucumber was gone. I asked her where it went 'In my mouth' was her response. Lovely!! I guess they sorta wash those things, maybe??

Build up that immune system girl!!

Update!!

It's been awhile since I last posted an update. We've been waiting (Shane patiently!! Me, well not as patiently!). We heard that our court date was moved from 12/13 (Sunday) to 12/15. The Ethiopian courts apparently scheduled 20 cases over the weekend, so ours was re-scheduled for 12/15 (two weeks from today!). We should hear the court decision within a few days and then we will be able to book our travel. Right now we are either looking at travel dates for 1/7-1/14 or 1/21-1/28. We will know which dates we will travel as soon as our agency receives our Embassy Appointment in Ethiopia. So if we travel on 1/7, our Embassy appointment would be 1/12. Take a look at our timeline on the right hand side of the blog----1/12 is the day we submitted our adoption application to WACAP in 2009. How awesome is that, we could complete everything in exactly 1 year!!! Everything has worked out so well.

So here are the next steps.
1. Pass Court on 12/15 ---- the little man is officially ours!
2. A court decree will be issued in which our name will be on his birth certificate
3. Ethiopian agency staff applies for his passport (He will have an ET passport until we get back to the states to finalize the adoption!)
4. We arrive in ET (hopefully on 1/7!)
5. We meet the little guy and somewhere around 1/12 or 1/26 we visit the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, ET to obtain his VISA so he can leave ET and travel home with us to Wilmington, NC!!!
6. The adoption will be finalized here in the states and that is when he'll become a US citizen

We should hear more about the Embassy Appt. within the next two weeks, hopefully before our court date.

We've received several updates on baby brudder. We have 3 pictures of him now and each one looks so different. Same kid--just different!! It's amazing to watch a child grow in pictures and not be able to meet him!! A little over a month and we could be holding him---praying for time to pass quickly!

Hopefully more info to come soon!!