In the beginning

Late in 2010 we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. Here is a snap shot of our timeline:

• Friday February 25, 2011 – Turned in dossier to our adoption agency
• Monday March 14, 2011 – Dossier delivered in Addis Ababa
• Monday March 28, 2011 – Dossier registered in Addis Ababa with MOWA (Ministry Of Women's Affairs)
• Friday June 24, 2011 – got referral email from our adoption agency

 I (negar) was oncall  for work and I went upstairs to check on my cycle around 6:30 pm when I saw the email from our adoption agency. The title of the email was "how about twin boys 3 MO old?". I am pretty sure my heart skipped a few beats. I called Max upstairs and we read the email together and saw this picture:

Abebe and Kebede

(although we didn't know from this picture who is who)

It turns out that the boys were actually only 2 months old (birth date April 21, 2011). We had not expected such young kids and twins! But we were thrilled. We immediately called our parents and Niloo, Abi, and Erich to tell them the good news. We had to wait for a few more pieces of paperwork but by Wednesday June 29th we officially accepted the referral. And then the waiting began.

The next step after referral was to have paperwork submitted to the court in Ethiopia and then appear in court in person to hear the verdict. To occupy our time we made several trips:

Negar went to Sweden to her cousin Pantea's wedding in early July:

We went on our annual trip to Timothy Lake with our sailing group in late July (old picture but it hasn't changed):

We went to Britt Festival to watch Erich perform at the classical music festival in early August:

Sabi and Niloo came to visit in early September:

We went on an over-night sailing trip on the Columbia River, through Bonneville Locks and stayed the night at town of Cascade locks with Gee. Our first over-night trip on our boat:

And in early October we took a 10-day sailing class up in the San Juans (yes it was very very cold):

Then on Tuesday November 1, 2011 we received our Ethiopian court appointment for Monday December 5th. 

ETHIOPIA HERE WE COME!

Okay well not so fast. On November 7th, just 2 1/2 weeks before our trip to Ethiopia, while commuting home from work on his bike, Max gets buzzed by an impatient minivan driver and has to swerve to avoid getting hit. The driver of coarse never stopped but other drivers did and a very nice man took Max to the emergency room and I met them there.  After a couple of hours of waiting and some x-rays, we finally got to talk to the doctor. Diagnosis: broken right hip! Max had hip surgery on November 8th and is now the proud owner of some pretty cool hardware:

After a few nights in the hospital and with the help of medication and crutches Max was sent home to recuperate and get ready for his trip to Ethiopia.

Okay now, ETHIOPIA HERE WE COME!