Monday, November 30, 2009

SDA Appointment

My turn...this is Tom. Amber is sleeping since our schedule is still a little wacky and she has no energy after running around all day.

We went to our SDA appointment today and it was much less intimidating than we thought it would be (Thank you Ellen, Andy, and Frank for the information ahead of time so we weren't worrying so much!). We didn't get much new information about Ana because there wasn't much in her file unfortunately, but was also expected. She has Down Syndrome (knew that), a heart condition (non-specific, also knew), and is near-sighted (that's new information, but sight problems are typical so we thought this would be the case). Ana was born in the city the orphanage is in so that will help reduce the time it takes to get her birth certificate and hopefully get us home faster. Her mother and father's parental rights were terminated when she was a baby for unknown reasons. Father is unknown. Mother lives nearby in a small village and "work's and is not an alcoholic".

We are very lucky to have the team we have here, they are doing an amazing job, and the lady at the SDA was great too. Their hard work allowed us to get our referral today too, only a few hours after our original SDA appointment. We can legally go see Ana in her region now! We will be heading to her region by mini-van tonight, it is about a 6-8 hour drive, depending on who tells us and who is driving! ;)

We also were given a baby photo of Ana wearing a onesie that says "Mommy's Little Alarm Clock". It was quite a surprise! (I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to give away the photo because they told us to hide it.) We will post it soon.

We are not sure what the Internet situation will be like in region so it might be a little bit before we update again. Please continue to pray for our health (both of us still have runny noses and coughs, Amber is not feeling well at all and has low energy).

We finally get to meet our girl tomorrow!!!

-Tom

7 comments:

  1. So glad to hear an update!! I pray you all are well. Amberlyn take care of ALL of you!! (And Tom, take good care of her ;) ). Can't wait to see pictures!

    (and Andrea is chanting in my ear.. pics of Tonya, pics of Tonya LOL)

    Holler if you need anything!

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  2. I'm so excited for you. Everything sounds great!Amy
    RR

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  3. yah! so happy the appt went well and you already have the referral in hand. you are probably still in the little car with your eyes closed so you can't see where you are going :)
    hope tomorrow is wonderful :)
    take care,
    nancy
    adopting svetlana

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  4. Absolutely amazing! I can't believe all that you guys are doing and going through right now...wow! Have a safe trip, I'm praying for you all. Enjoy meeting your little Ana, I'm so excited for you both! :)

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  5. Can't wait to see pictures!!!

    (and can you take a picture of the baby picture so you can post it? Or do I have to wait for you to come home?)

    Praying for you all!!!

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  6. Great report so far! Praise God! And thanks Tom for filling in while Amber sleeps :-)

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  7. Strange to get a new grandchild and not be with you or very nearby. I'll keep the pc on and ready so we can skype, if you can. I hope your first meeting went well. I'm sure you'll have a lot to tell Alexis! Both of you...fell better soon!

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