Trip #2

Although the clock said otherwise, both Sue and I remarked how quick the trip seemed yesterday. Seeing Ella again was GREAT!!!! Although it had been 7 days since we had seen her - she appeared to recognize us.
Today we got to see her twice. More time playing with her kitchen, reading books, and playing with duplo blocks.
Tomorrow our adoption goes to the judge - we are hoping for a quick ruling (3 days). We are eager to have Ella join us in our hotel room and begin to bond as a family.

What's next?

In 48 hours we head back to MI!!!!!! Saturday night we hope to spend some time with Ella. Might be Saturday afternoon if I can get the Xterra up to 100 and avoid cops.
Monday we go to Adoption Associates and sign some more papers. Then our adoption request is sent to the judge. We hope by Friday of next week he officially places Ella with us!!!! Sometime around that Friday we will begin transitioning Ella to our family. Ella has been through a lot and it would not be wise for her to wake up one day and just start living with Sue and I. So we will gradually spend more and more time with her, until she eventually spends the night with us and doesn't go back to her host family. During this time Michigan will be processing documents to allow her to leave the state and Nebraska will be processing documents to allow her to live here. And I thought international adoption had a lot of paperwork.
Please pray for all the finishing rulings/paperwork, we would LOVE for this to go smoothly. Pray for Sue and I as we make this BIG transition. Above all, pray for a little girl who has gone through a lot and that she can now experience peace/stability.
Here are some more pics for your(mainly mine) daily Ella fix.

Only four more days until we get to see her again!!!!

I can't tell if she and Sue get along

Ella and her doll

a couple of sea lions

More Pictures

Connected

After waiting ALL DAY, 7:00 finally got here and we were able to see Ella again. This time she didn't cling to her host mom but walked Sue and I over to her play area right when we arrived. We put some puzzles together and she again crawled onto Sue's lap so they could read a few books. We were there for 3.5 hours and it seem like only 1. She is just so fun to be with!!!
We also spent some time un-braiding her hair and changing her into her P.J.s Who knew, that was also enjoyable.

Day II

More pictures of today will be posted tomorrow.

More from day 1

I will not give a complete play by play from yesterday but here is a quick recap. We met Ella at her host family's home. She was a little shy at first clinging to her host mom. Then Sue's maternal instincts kicked in and she got down on the floor and asked Ella if she could play with her toys. Ella joined her on the floor and they started putting a puzzle together. They then moved to stackable cups and duplo blocks. Ella handed me a couple Duplo animals and I began making animal sounds. She seemed to enjoy that and handed me more animals. A few minutes later she was on Sue's lap and it was over - Sue was not going to let go of this gift from God. She looked very comfortable and content (ella and sue!!!!!).
I, however, am in serious trouble. Ella has some looks that are just priceless. She is constantly looking out of the corner of her eye and then smiling (trust me it is funny). All of my friends have said she is going to have me wrapped around her finger. TOO LATE to say that's not going to happen :)
We are going to see her again tonight. It is only 7 am, how are Sue and I going to wait ALL DAY. We will post more pictures and maybe some video.
We head back to Omaha tomorrow. That will be the longest 10 hour car ride in history. Every second we will be getting farther from our daughter. We plan to return next week and then stay out here (Michigan) until we can return home with her. I know all of you have been praying, but please pray that paperwork goes smoothly.

Look what Sue got for her birthday

Today, Feb. 19th, Sue and I met our daughter for the first time. She is adorable and very funny. She had Sue and I laughing A LOT. We will meet her again tomorrow and we hope to post more info.

Court went GREAT. Everybody showed up to sign the proper docuemnts and the judge okayed the adoption to move forward.

These two events (meeting her and the court activities) went great because of the prayers of so many of you. We will never be able to say thanks enough.

The purpose

A lot of you have been on this journey with Sue and I since the beginning. You have: waited with us, joined us in our frustration, shared in our sadness, searnced for answers, and most importantly PRAYED with us. A lot of you are as excited as Sue and I that this long process is about over. We wanted to give you an oppurtunity to share in our experiences on the final stages of our adoption. So we hope to show pictures, load video, and maybe even a thougth our two on this site.
THANKS FOR CARING