We are done with all of Owen's "official" paperwork!

We received Owen's Certificate of Citizenship today in the mail. This was the very last document that required "official" put together and involved our government. It only took 7 months to get. By having this certificate, the US government can never say that he is not a citizen. He will have this the rest of his life with a picture of him at 18 months (a very cute picture though).
Although we are done with all of the "official" paperwork, we will still have to submit a written update of Owen with four pictures every year until he turns 18. These will be sent to the government in Ethiopia. A small price to pay to have such a wonderful person in our lives.

What is a referral?

If you are unfamiliar with the adoption process, then you don't know the steps. What Dave and I are currently waiting for is a referral. A referral is when we are matched with a child. Our agency receives information about a child that is eligible for adoption. They then look at all of the applicants to see who best matches up with the child. So we are waiting for an infant girl (0-12 months). The ticker above shows how long we have been waiting. Our dossier (all of the paperwork we had to collect) was approved on June 26th.
After we receive our referral, our case has to go to court in Ethiopia. We wait for our court date (up to two months after referral). Once we get through court, we then wait about two weeks for our child's birth certificate. After we receive the birth certificate, we then wait for a tentative travel date. So we can expect to travel approximately 12-16 weeks after we receive our referral.
We are so close to getting a referral!

Owen is Two!

Can you believe it? Owen had an "Elmo" party last weekend and really enjoyed himself. He is just so smart. He loves to complete puzzles and finds it funny when he puts a piece in the wrong place. In fact, he will look at you to see if you noticed. He loves to sing "A, B, C, etc." and "Twinkle, Twinkle". His favorite songs to listen to are "ABC" by Dora, "ABC-DEF-GHI" by Elmo, "Sunshine on My Shoulders" by John Denver and "Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani.



Current stats:
Height: 34" - 35%
Weight: 23# 10.5 oz - 7%
Head: 49.5 cm - 70%

Funny things Owen is saying

"I found it!" (in reference to whatever may be missing)
"Bless you (whoever sneezes or coughs)"
"I did it!" (In reference to using a spoon or fork successfully)
"Where (anything that is missing) go?" (while holding up both hands in confusion)
and my sister's favorite:
"Elmo sleeping" (or replace Elmo with anything that he can't play with or watch at the moment.)

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it is already 2008. As you can see by the ticker, we have been waiting just over 6 months for the referral of our daughter. When we first submitted our dossier, the wait time was 5-7 months. It has now increased to 6-9 months. Not only has the wait for referral increased, but the wait between referral and travel has also increased. Luckily we have our darling Owen to get us through the wait. I believe that we will get a referral on February 15th (that was the date of Owen's referral) and Dave thinks it will be March 15th. I guess we'll have to see.
We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa brought Owen a choo choo and he was excited. Diane and Gene visited from New Jersey and were able to enjoy the White Christmas that we had in Denver this year.
Owen will be turning two in a week, although if you ask him how old he will be, he responds "Three".