We have a court date!

Most people emphatically say, "Congratulations! That's great!" and then mumble, "What does that mean?" Here's the scoop--the next step is to have a court appointment in Ethiopia (we don't go--a power of attorney goes in our place) where we officially become their parents! It's set for May 8th! Unbelievable. We are so excited. Our agency director says that most people have no problems and pass the first court date, but we still ask for your prayers that everything goes smoothly and the adoption is official on the 8th. Sometimes people have odd delays due to a paperwork issue, etc., and have to go to court again. No reason to expect that to happen, though. Another possible issue is the court not being open on that day, which could happen because power has been out a lot in Ethiopia recently. Apparently, a lot of the power is hydropower, and the rain has been...absent. Either way, it should be official very soon! So, Lord willing, we'll be parents on May 8th.

After that, we wait for the paperwork to be finalized and then get a travel date. Looks like we'll be heading to Ethiopia in the first couple weeks of June! Hooray!

Did we already post their names? I'm not sure...Jada and Bennett. So Jada and Bennett will be home by their first birthday, which is June 30th. What a celebration! Thanks again for all of your continued support and encouragement--we have been truly overwhelmed by the goodness of our friends and family and by the beauty of community. Even though our community crosses many states, we feel your thougths and prayers and can't thank you enough!

Health Update

So our babies are shorties!! Who would have guessed. Maybe that NBA career isn't in the cards. I realize that at 9 months heights don't really mean much, but it's funny to me. We just got a recent doctor's update for both of them, and they are happy, healthy, and progressing normally--yippee! They are both 26 inches (his update was at 8 months and hers at 9--go figure). At those same times, he was 17.5 lbs, and she was 15.5 lbs, both of which are at the low range of "average" for 9 months. Of course, twins are often on the lower range anyway (because they are often born before full-term, they're measurements at this young age often correspond more closely to babies who were full term on their actual birth date--make sense? It all evens out by age two--I'm learning a few things!), so we're pretty thrilled. They both are crawling, pulling to stand, waving bye-bye, and saying "Mama." They are calling out to me, too! (Or at least I'll imagine it to be so--they will very soon!)

Oh, and we learned that her given birth name is not Marta. Aaaah, the idiosyncrasies of adoption. It's Martha. We still haven't chosen the names that we will give them.