Wow, time is flying! I feel like we just posted our 20 week update. Andy is moving all the time now. He likes to kick Eden when she sleeps on my belly and he gets very active at night when I lay down. That makes sleep even more challenging because every time I get up with Eden, I have to wait about 10-15 minutes for Andy to stop moving after I get back in bed.

Ben was finally able to feel Andy on Oct. 25. He was very excited and says that it seems a lot more real now.

I had my first OB visit here a couple weeks ago and Sierra said that everything looked great and she was very happy with me until the end of my appointment when she weighed me. I had lost a couple of pounds since my last check-up in Indianapolis and that got me in trouble. She told me to make sure that I am eating enough and trying to get 6 smaller meals in instead of just 3 big ones. It’s hard because we’re so busy and the food options are pretty limited here, but I have gained 3 pounds since my appointment, so I think I’m doing pretty well.

You can see that my stomach has really grown these last four weeks. I’ve had lots of comments recently about how big I am getting and I’ve even found my clothes are fitting differently. My shirts suddenly seem much shorter in the front. We bumped the ultrasound back to my next appointment so we will just do everything on November 13. We will be sure to take pictures of the ultrasound for everyone to see!

Just to cheer you all up after my last post, I uploaded two more videos of Eden today to http://wolfes.blip.tv. Sorry about the lighting on this first one. The power went out right before I got the camera. For the second one we were smart enough to realize we could open the curtains to let in more light! 🙂

Power outages here are actually rare. Pamela says that that was the first one in the year she has been there. Apparently they were repairing a transformer on a main power line that was coming out of town. Not sure why they chose a Sunday night to do that…

We’re all doing well now with Eden home. She sleeps through most of the night now…mainly because we’re letting her stay in our bed. We’ve switched to a room in the new house that has two double beds pushed together, so there’s plenty of room!

Just a reminder that our road ahead is long and laborious. The adoption process in Kenya is quite difficult. For international adoptions you 1) contact and agency in the home country 2) The agency picks out a child 3) You travel to Kenya and start living with the baby for three months (aka obtain guardianship) and then 4) After 3 months you must have three visits to the High Court to get approval. You can then get a US visa for the child and finalize things in the US. Unfortunately, the High Court is always booked 3 months in advance…so that fourth point above takes 9-12 months. :-/

For domestic adoptions you 1) obtain guardianship 2) live with the child for 3 months (maybe less) and then 3) see the high court once for the adoption. Unfortunately, the US won’t grant visas for children adopted this way. However, the US does grant visas if you can prove you have been taking care of the child for 2 years.

Due to this announcement about Kenya not really following all the Hague Convention rules, that first method isn’t really an option. At least it isn’t for the forseeable future. The goal right now is to get a temporary visa for Eden to come home with us while baby Andy is born and come back next summer/fall. If we can do that, we only need to stay in Kenya for about a year before hitting that 2 year mark (“only”!). The US embassy in Nairobi has yet to respond to my emails or answer any phone calls, so its hard to say how likely getting her a temporary visa is. It looks like a group interested in OpenMRS is going to fly me to NBO on Friday, so I’ll take that opportunity to just stop by the consulate and ask whats up. 🙂

With that out of the way, check out our video of cute little Eden from last week feeding herself. FYI: I re-encoded all of the videos on our wolfes.blip.tv video site, so now they should be faster, cleaner, and skip less. (“New and Improved! Now with less skipping!”)

I also posted a few other videos from Cape Town South Africa and the 20 min walk from the IU House to the edge of downtown Eldoret.

There are also some more pictures on the photos page, but you can probably tell that from the little box in the upper left.

So, after one additional delay (let’s just say the District Children’s Officer did not try his best to accommodate Eden coming home in a timely manner), she is home! We went to the magistrate today with an entire car load of people (a lawyer, a social worker, a rep from Sally Test, Ben, me and Eden) and met the DCO there. The lawyer said a few sentences that the magistrate wrote down, then there was some chatting in Swahili and then the magistrate formally handed Eden over to us. YEA!!

She had refused to eat anything at STC but on the car ride home she ate some banana and when we got back to the house she ate half a piece of bread, cerelax with a banana mashed in and drank a little guava juice. She still has a cough but she hasn’t thrown up today. She even drank down her medicine without any problems. After lunch we cleaned up, then I gave Eden her milk and she almost finished that before she turned over onto my chest and fell asleep. She is currently sleeping soundly for the first time in her pack-n-play. We posted some pictures and will continue to post about our many “firsts” with her.

If you heard the echo of a very loud HOORAY late this morning, it was me shouting for joy after our hearing. We finally made it into court at around 4. We met in the magistrate’s chambers and she asked me some questions and heard from the lawyer. She was really wonderful and wanted to see pictures of Eden and I think if she could have authorized the adoption she would have done it today. Our lawyer had drawn up the papers granting us custody in hopes that the magistrate would approve us so she was able to sign the order right away. She laughed when he handed her the papers because normally after she gives her verdict, the lawyer goes back and types out the order and then you have to make another appointment and go back to get them signed. He told her we were so anxious to have her home that he had prepared them ahead of time. After I left the room, she told the lawyer that she was glad that I was pregnant and still wanted to adopt Eden because that shows that we really love Eden and aren’t just looking to get a baby quickly.

All of that was very exciting but we didn’t get out of there until 5. The next step is to go to the District Children’s Office again and get our paper signed by them, and then we get to take Eden from the hospital. We were hoping to be able to bring her home tonight but since we didn’t finish in court until 5, the DCO was already closed. We are going first thing tomorrow morning, then back to the hospital to get Eden and then we will come home! We can’t wait! Eden is more sick today and the doctor gave her medicine for her cough. When she coughs really hard it makes her throw up (which she did many times today) and Eden is currently refusing food. She drank some guava juice and a little milk and ate a few french fries but she wouldn’t eat anything else. We need to get her home so that we can take good care of her and get her feeling better! We will be sure to take pictures tomorrow and post them.  God is so faithful in answering our prayers!  We are very thankful to be blessed with this amazing little girl and can’t wait to see what other awesome plans God has for her.  Please continue to pray that things move quickly tomorrow and that Eden is feeling better soon!