Introducing....

Amina Terynn Wennemar

Home to her forever family on August 26, 2011

Loved and adored by Bob, Courtney, Reilly, Chase and Piper

Home Sweet Home

Where do I begin? Well, first of all, let me just say....we are HOME with our newest addition!! On Friday, August 26th at around 9:45 PM, we pulled into our driveway (after a drive from the airport in Chicago) to see our closest friends and family crowded in our kitchen with a cake, balloons, and signs decorating our house and front yard. The bundle in my arms was the VIP to this celebration, and she was lookin' sleepy but beautiful :) I can not believe that our journey to Amina Terryn Wennemar has finally come to an end. She is here...in our house....asleep in her bed next to her sister. She is already adored by her siblings, but especially her older brother. We give thanks every day that the Lord has brought her into our lives.

*Since our luggage did not make it home with us, I will have to wait to post her sweet picture. (My USB cord is in the missing suitcases.) Let's hope it arrives home soon!

We're Leavin' On a Jet Plane...Again!

This last couple of days have been a whirlwind! I started my first day back to school Monday, right after we received an email saying we were cleared at the embassy!!!! We've been making travel plans, getting our kids back in the routine of school, and everything else it takes to leave to another continent in days! I don't have time to say much, but we will be back next Friday, so I'll have to update you all then! We're going to bring our daughter HOME!

Embassy Submission

We learned today that our case has been submitted to the embassy! Yay! This is the last step that needs to happen in order for us to bring our baby girl home! Now, the embassy will review our case and our sweet pea will have her medical exam at the embassy. Hopefully the next time we get an update about our progress, it will say that we've been cleared for travel!!!! Please join us in praying that our case will be approved without delays and additional investigations. We can't wait to bring our daughter home!

Birth Certificate

We received news today that they have secured our sweet pea's birth certificate! Yay! Another step closer to bringing her home :) Now, we wait to hear that either her passport has been obtained or that we are submitted to embassy. We've been told to expect this to take from 1-2 weeks. What a wonderful week!

Court Approval

So, we've been dancing around the words "court approval" for 3 weeks. We answered everyone's questions about when we would return to our sweet baby as best we could, but we just didn't have a great answer. My heart told me to trust, have faith and be patient. The wait was hard....really hard.

Today, our prayers were answered! This morning, we received an email that reduced me to tears in a room full of people lifting weights. (Yah, I know that checking your email in the middle of a group fitness class probably isn't the best idea, but I couldn't resist.) Once I read it, I was so filled with joy that I didn't care what others thought! The subject line alone did me in. Have you ever heard the line, "You had me at 'hello'."? Well, how about, "You had me at 'court approval'."?

On Tuesday, July 26th our sweet baby, girl legally became our daughter, although she has been in that spot in our hearts since before we saw her face for the first time. I am ecstatic and proud to call myself her mommy. How lucky I am to have been given the gift of such an amazing family.

Now that we have been given this amazing news, we wait. We wait for her birth certificate to be issued. Then, we wait for her passport to be prepared. She will see the Dr. for a final exam, and we get submitted to the embassy. How long will this all take, you might wonder? We've been given the estimation of 4-6 weeks before we return to bring her home. That is if all of these steps progress smoothly. We know that in adoption and in life, things don't always go smoothly. Still, we will pray that we bring her home soon!

As if this day wasn't amazing enough, we topped it off with an Ethiopian dinner celebration in honor of our baby girl and her homeland. Right after that, we learned that we've been matched with a 5 year old girl in need of sponsorship through Yezelalem Minch. She lives about 30-40 minutes outside of the capital city, and we hope to meet her on our return trip.

I am so happy to say, we are "soon to be six"!

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." - Desmond Tutu

July Update

We just received our July update. Our sweet pea is now 15 months old and making such great developmental progress. Looks like she has gained 1/2 pound from last month, but her length has increased by 2 inches. Since her length hadn't really changed at all up till this month, maybe it was in smaller increments but didn't really show till this month's measurements. :) The report says she can climb stairs and prefers to hold on to someone's hand and walk rather than crawl. I have to say that I wish that hand holding hers was mine right now. This part of the wait is brutal. I pray that we get our court declaration before the courts close for the rainy season. I need to see this smile in person. Please join us in praying that we will pass court soon. Let us pass so that we can be a step closer to bringing her home to us forever.