Long Overdue Update

Well, the past month has really been a busy one! Obviously, the usual Christmas business - but add on to that various tasks for the adoption (papers to gather, online classes to take, books to read, preparing for baby's arrival) and helping my mom get settled into a new and very cute home...and well, it makes for no time to update the blog, that is for sure!

But there have been some significant steps forward! Many of you probably already recieved my emails about the upcoming court date. Thank you for your many, many replies and good wishes. It is so encouraging to know so many people are "cheering" for us!

Basically - we had thought our court date in Ghana would be this week (no specific date was given); however, it was not. As the saying goes, TIA - This is Africa! Stuff happens and things get postponed for any number of reasons. But, our facilitator told our agency director today that we are "all set for the court date next week". Again, no specific date (TIA). So, it looks like L is going to be LoveBug instead of a JuneBug, after all!

One bit of good news is that we should be getting a "final order". I'm not entirely sure what our facilitator meant by that (it could have two meanings- both good), and I have a question in to our agency to clarify that. But, I think it means that rather than getting a "favorable opinion" and then have to wait two weeks for the final decree, we get our final adoption decree right then and there! That would be wonderful! Alternately, it can also mean that we would be granted a "Final" adoption rather than a recently common "interim" adoption (which then has to be finalized later) - that would be REALLY GOOD NEWS. Updated to add: We found out today the "final order" does mean that we expect to recieve a final adoption decree rather than and interim one! The interim adoption would have meant the adoption would not be finalized until the end of a 2 year period. While it might not affect our day-to-day life with baby - it could mean more atty's fees and other paperwork issues.

Another update is that we did finally recieve the medical report and all looks excellent! She is healthy, although very small. By American standards, she's in the 1-5 percentile for height and weight. Teeeenincey! At her medical appointment on 11/20 she was approximately 8lbs 13oz (converted from metric)...that is at just over 2 1/2 months! I suspect she'll gain some in percentiles in height and weight when she is home with us (most adoptees do), but she'll still be a small little thing. I estimate that she'll be in around 3-6 month sized clothes when she comes home (if that is by February).

So, that is our update. I'll post again as soon as we hear about the court date - or if we get a specific date...or anything else! :) Oh, I'm going to follow this post with a fun one with photos of her room!