More Shots

I got my Hepatitis A vaccination today and began the eight-day-long course of pills for typhoid. Ben and I are both pretty queasy from the initial typhoid dose. I hope it doesn't get worse before it gets better.

Official Yellow Card Holder

We went today to the International Travel Clinic to get our yellow fever vaccine. Ben couldn't give us that vaccine because the doctor has to be Yellow Card certified. We went to a really nice man who talked to us a long time about our adoption and gave us advise about malaria treatments and staying healthy while we are in Ethiopia.

Travel Dates

We received our travel date assignment today. We are in Travel Group 31. We were hoping to be in Group 30, but even still things are moving lightning fast! There are eight families in our group. Ten children can have an embassy appointment each date (twice a month), and two of the families are adopting siblings, so that makes a full house! Here's an excerpt from today's email:

· Our plan is that your trip will occur from July 6^th – July 15th (Embassy Date on July 13th)

· You will need to arrive on the 6^th and leave on the 15^th. This means that many of you need to leave sooner (like on the 5th). If you would like to arrive a few days earlier to do some traveling outside of Addis, you are most welcome to make those arrangements! Otherwise, arrival on the 6^th is important.

· If you are planning to do sight seeing, you should plan to arrive sooner and be back in Addis by the evening of July 6^th.

Wow - Responses!

We received an email today from Megan with just that heading. We submitted twenty questions about our little guy, requests for some repeat labs and requests for specific pictures including one in just a diaper, one propped up and one being held on someone's shoulder to show head control. Eighteen of the twenty questions were answered, all the labs were repeated *and* we got four new pictures! He is beautiful! He has also gained a kilo since his initial medical evaluation just a few weeks ago.

Court Date!

We received some exciting news today! Here's an excerpt from the email:

We are pleased to inform you that a court date has been scheduled for your family on June 1, 2010! Congratulations! We have been advised that your case has been grandfathered into the previous travel policy and you are only required to travel at the end of the process. However, if you prefer to travel twice, please do let us know as soon as possible so that we can help you prepare for your first trip.

We also received our travel packet. It is all starting to feel real!

We Are Official

We got word from Megan today that they received our signed paperwork. Now I supposed Ato Teklu can file our paperwork with the court. We are officially official!