Drumroll please..........

We just got an email with Megersa's birth certificate attached!!
Now I know his birthday - and I have to say, I'm so excited to finally know!
Have you noticed the new 'ticker'?? - My baby is 5 months, 2 days old today!
His birthday is Sept 3, 2009.At first when I looked at the paperwork, I saw that it said 03/09/09 - and I was BAFFLED....I couldn't fathom who would say that that baby was 11 months old!!!
I immediately called my friend Rachael, who reminded me so sweetly that in Ethiopia, they date things - day, month, year.
Oh yeah. Duh!! Ha ha.

Anyway, I'm so excited!!
Outside of the sheer joy of actually having a "date" this is super exciting because this means that out of the steps needed before travel...we're now on #3 out of 3!
I mentally thought through what it meant that we had a birth certificate, and I decided to send this email to our agency director:
Hi Merrily!
I just wanted to tell you that we got a copy of Megersa's birth
certificate (via email) from Linda.
We are so excited to finally know his assigned birthdate!

Could you tell me what is the next step before we get travel dates?

This was her response:
Susan helps the families with the next steps and she isn't in today. I think you should expect to get travel dates soon. Merrily

I mean, can you believe it? It's actually happening!! We're going to be bringing our baby home. All he needs now is a passport! :) WAHOO!!!

Okay...a few more pics for the road:Oh, and just for those of you who are time-line obsessed (as I was/still am) - it's been exactly 3 months since we got our referral...and a week and 2 days since we passed court. :)
And, if I may, I'd like to quote one of my Dad's favorite jokes:
Dad: "You know what they say when they cut the monkey's tail off?"
Me: "It won't be long now!"
(I realize now that this joke is a little dark, but hey, it was a childhood fav!)