AAC Meeting this week

Thanks to those of you who are checking the blog when we feel like we really have little to report! This past weekend we were blessed to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary with many extended family in central Illinois. While together our family showered us with several gifts for Ellie! I may put most things straight into a suitcase to take to Albania, whenever that trip may be!

We received word on Thursday that the Albanian Adoption Committee (AAC) meets this week and at this meeting will formally approve our acceptance of Ellie as our "referral." This is one step that has to be completed before the court date can be set, and a step of which we were unaware. According to our agency (Bethany), the AAC gave Ellie to them to refer to any of their waiting couples and it was the agency's decision to refer her to us, not the AAC's. So now the AAC has to approve this "match." Our heart skipped a beat when we heard this, but Bethany doesn't seem too concerned so we try not to be. As our liaison told us, we've already had our application reviewed by the AAC this past summer and were accepted into their registry, so there shouldn't be any issues -- they're just looking for a glaring reason why we wouldn't be a good fit for her.

Yesterday before returning to KY we met with our friends who adopted from Albania in '04. Having reached a new stage in the process we had a whole new round of questions to ask like, "Do we need to bring a car seat?" and "What kind of gifts do we need to take?". It's so nice to have the model of their experience to give some form to an otherwise vague expectation of our time in Albania.

Thank you for your continued prayers! We hope to hear the AAC's decision by the end of the week, and then a court date within a couple of weeks after that!