The News You've All Been Waiting For

Everyone has already figured this one out but here is our news . . . . . . .

Naomi has arrived!!!!!!!

I want everyone to know that I wasn't trying to make you suffer needlessly, but I was waiting for the okay from our agency to post this information on my blog. They specifically asked that we not post anything on blogs and I assumed they meant public blogs and forums. I assumed right and now have their permission to post our news since my blog is now private. I guess that's another good reason to go private with my blog :-)

So let me share the story with everyone.

Dave left for work prepared for a busy day full of meetings. Lili wasn't feeling well and I was trying to keep up with nose wiping, laundry and all the other things on my to-do list. Okay, nose wiping wasn't on my to-do list, but it had to be done yesterday.

We had just finished lunch and I was cleaning up the kitchen when I noticed that I had a new message on the computer. I opened email and saw a message from our agency title "baby girl for you." My first reaction was a scream, followed by shaking and me saying over and over again, "Oh my God, Oh my God." I then realized that I needed to call Dave to let him know our referral had arrived. After all, it wouldn't be fair for me to look at her pictures and information without him. He didn't answer his phone so I immediately made the decision that I was looking at her pictures and info without him. But being the nice wife that I am, I forwarded the information to him before I looked at it. I opened the first photo attachment and immediately the tears started flowing. I was standing in my kitchen seeing my baby girl for the first time with tears streaming down my cheeks. I then called for Lili to come see Baby Naomi and she ran into the kitchen, looked at her picture, then patted me on the arm and said "Okay mommy." She then got down and ran back into the family room to play. I, however, continued to stand in my kitchen crying while I stared at my baby girl's pictures and began to read through her information. Eventually I regained my composure and then Dave called to let me know that he had gotten the information. We congratulated each other and then he was off to his next meeting.

Here is what we know about our little Naomi.

She is 4 1/2 months old and has big beautiful dark eyes that just melt my heart. She has a little bit of chub going on and I'm so anxious to kiss her cheeks and a mouth perfect for mommy kisses. Let me just say, she's beautiful!!!!

She was found abandoned in August near a church in Dessie and they estimate her birth date to be June 16th or 17th. Both dates are listed on our paperwork, so we'll need to get that corrected at some point I'm sure.

Currently she weighs about 12 1/2 lbs and is 22 inches long. She tested positive for salmonella and has been treated accordingly, but all her other tests results have come back fine. We did send her information to the U of MN Adoption Clinic for review but not as a determining factor on whether or not we would accept her referral. We just wanted an adoption doc's opinion on her health so we can be prepared if they have concerns.

The name given to her in Ethiopia is Aster which means 'star.' We plan on keeping Aster as her middle name so she will be Naomi Aster Weeks. In case you're interested, Naomi means 'pleasant' so she is our pleasant star.

We emailed Tree of Life yesterday telling them that we were accepting our referral and our money is being overnighted to them tomorrow.

The next step is getting a court date and as soon as I have that information I'll be sure to post it here.

The one thing that I am not allowed to do yet is post Naomi's pictures on my blog. Once she is legally our daughter though, I'll be posting her pictures for all my readers to see. We are one happy family right now, that's for sure!!!!