Unbelievable....

Our babies will be home for Christmas (Lord willing)!!!!! Yup, that's right, we'll be off to Ethiopia in less than two weeks!! We found out Thursday that we are cleared to travel for an embassy date of December 15th, which means we have to be in Ethiopia by December 13th. We didn't want to blog about it until we had our flights booked- with Christmas so close, fairs were extremely high and we wanted to make sure we could make it to ET for the Dec 15th embassy date. After two intense days of searching for reasonable fairs, we were able to find something! We'll have to fly out of DC, but it's not too bad of a drive... We'll be leaving here Dec 10th and flying to ET on the 11th (it was cheaper to fly on the 11th than on the 12th, so we'll have an extra day there).

This is so unreal... we have so much to do before we leave, but we are beyond thrilled that everything came together so quickly and Sophie and Tarik will be spending Christmas with their family. Praise God! We are blown away...

Love,
Phil & Amy

Birth Certificates are in! Travel dates coming soon!

Hey everyone! We got some great news today - the birth certificates have been completed for both Tarik and Sophie! :) That means that we will be getting embassy dates soon...and THAT means we will be traveling soon! Don't worry, we will post as soon as we know.

God is pretty amazing...

Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers!
Phil & Amy

The kids are in Addis Ababa!!

Hey everyone!

Our sweet babies have been moved to the capital city, Addis Ababa, where we will pick them up! We're not sure if Tarik knows Sophie is his new sister, but we do know they made the trip together. And the new photos of them are taken in the same room... This is so exciting!

Right now we're waiting for their birth certificates to be issued so we can get our Embassy date assigned. No word on the birth certificates yet. Though we did get their birthdays! Tarik's is April 29 (2006) and Sophie's is April 1 (2009).

Still looking like we'll be travelling around January 1 (could be sooner, could be later). We'll keep you all posted!

Love,
Amy & Phil

THEY ARE OURS!!!! WE PASSED COURT!!!!!

UNBELIEVABLE... That's the only way I can think to describe this morning. PRAISE GOD!

Last night I told my sweet husband that I wished he would be home to answer the phone tomorrow (today)... I really didn't want to get the call that we failed court.... He just said "you don't have to worry about that..." He had told our adoption coordinator to call him with bad news and me with good. Of course he had... This is Phil.

Before we went to bed (7:30 AM Addis Ababa time) we prayed that God would stir the hearts of the MoWA workers to go in early and complete our paperwork. After talking with our case manager yesterday, and learning more about what the MoWA closing meant, we knew this was the only way we were going to make it through court...

So there I am this morning, wrapped in a blanket on the couch, staring at my home phone and my cell phone (Phil would be calling on the cell phone). Just waiting for one to ring. I was sure it would be the cell phone after yesterday's news. But on the other hand, I knew how many people we had praying for us......

Then it happened.... THE HOME PHONE RANG!!!!

So, of course, I thought our coordinator must have forgotten Phil's instructions.

WRONG AGAIN!

It was our coordinator. He said "Well, I have some good news for you!" Which is when the water works started. Well, I actually can't remember exactly WHAT he said, because I was IN SHOCK! But, basically, God answered our prayer last night. Here's the email the attorney in Ethiopia sent our coordinator this morning:


I have a little surprise....

We heard MoWA experts went early into their office and wrote recommendations only for six children. Apparently, the Weinmeister family were among the few lucky families. Their adoption has been approved following MoWA'a supportive recommendation.

The Lord is good


You can say that again! The Lord is good!

And now.... introducing the two newest additions to the Weinmeister family......

Tarik Joseph Weinmeister





and Sophie Fasika Weinmeister

Not great news.... Please keep praying!!

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2


Hey Everyone,

As many of you are already aware, the court date to legally finalize the adoption of our beautiful little babies in Ethiopia is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, November 6th). We are full of emotion and I'm sure we'll have some trouble sleeping tonight. We just received an update that I wanted to share. All of the court cases to be heard today were postponed due to the Ministry of Women's Affairs unexpectedly closing today. This is sad news, since it affects a number of children awaiting their "forever families". This unexpected closing is something that's hard to understand as Americans; it's not clear exactly why the entire office closed and it's something that they can do at the last minute. The real tough news is that the rescheduled date is December 7th for all of those cases. Our case manager called us today to let us know that our agency's lawyer in Ethiopia thought that the same thing would happen to tomorrow's court cases. However, nothing has been officially announced, so, until we hear otherwise, our court case is still scheduled for tomorrow.

We know God is watching this situation and He has all of us -- our children, their biological families, and us-- on His mind. We know He will make this happen at the appointed time. Still - we are called to pray! I know you guys have been praying for these children for a while now and it is really an amazing thing you're doing. In light of this latest piece of news, please continue to pray - pray that the adoption court cases scheduled for tomorrow in Ethiopia are heard and that all obstacles that are not of God are moved aside.

Love,

Phil & Amy