More good news

Finally....besides the chaos of living with the in-laws, being homeless for 3 months, the stress of new jobs, the excitement of Leah's homecoming, and the challenge of moving....Ryan and I are expecting baby #3 in March 2009. Apparently God has a lot of faith in our capabilities...I just hope we live up to it. This year is going to be an absolute roller coaster of a year....so we ask for all of your prayers during this time of numerous transitions. For now....we are settling into our new life here in Eau Claire. We hope all of our friends and family will come by to visit soon, as we may not get out much once the next two children arrive. Ryan is loving his work at the Newman Center on the UWEC campus, and we are both enjoying finally having some regularity in our lives ( for now). Most of September will be filled with reading, preparing, and packing for our trip overseas to bring Leah Delbo Luedtke home. This has been a truly amazing journey for us, and we know it is just beginning.

Leah Delbo Luedtke

Like I said earlier....we got our referral 6-11-08 for a little girl named Delbo Abera. Once we had the referral we had to act fast because the Ethiopian courts were going to be closing soon for the rainy season and we needed to make sure our paperwork got in and through the courts before the end of July. So each and every night....Ryan and I started working again on paperwork, organizing information, getting things notorized, and basically getting back to the paperwork grind. We talked with the Internation pediatric clinic to have them review Delbo's information and see if there were any additional health concerns we needed to worry about. There weren't any surprises about her health that we weren't already expecting.

Ryan and I moved forward with our acceptance and our country specialist pushed to make sure our paperwork made to Ethiopia on time. Our court date was set for July 18, where the courts graciously told us that Delbo was officially going to be our daughter and began the process to draft a new birth certificate for her. That process takes 4-5 weeks (ugh....more waiting) and after they have the new birth certificate, we can arrange for travel dates.

We were informed in late August that Delbo's new birth certificate had been authorized. Her new birth name was then Delbo Ryan Luedtke. Our travel dates were given to us as well. We will be leaving on October 1 and returning October 10. Reese will not be coming with us to Ethiopia, as we want as much one on one time with Delbo as possible. The transitioning and bonding are going to be very crucial these first few months she is home, and we want to make the most out of our time there.

Finally......we do plan on giving her a more "American" first name when we come home from Ethiopia. Ryan and I have decided to name her Leah Delbo Luedtke. We think it is a name that will reflect both sides of her life and being. So....we have been calling her Leah, showing off pictures, discussing the adoption a lot with Reese so that she understands that she is going to be a "big sister" and will need to take good care of Leah when she comes home. Reese seems pretty excited to be a big sister, so I hope that carries through once the transition begins. Reese and Leah will only be 13 months apart in age (a lot closer than we anticipated) but we are hopeful that age difference will lead to a loving friendship and sisterly bond.

Whirlwind Summer!!!

This summer has just flown by. So much has happened....so much to anticipate. In the middle of May, Ryan and I moved from Red Wing to Neillsville Wisconsin to live with his family for a while until our house sold. We had both gotten jobs in the Eau Claire area, but had not sold our house. So....bringing as little as possilbe with us, we made our way east. Neillsville is 1 hour from Eau Claire, so I was preparing myself for quite the commute every day. My new job is at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire. I am doing a lot of the same kind of work that I was doing in Red Wing, but on a much bigger and more complicated scale. The first few weeks were very tough ( on everyone I think) and it took some time to get into a routine.

Then....the word came that we had gotten our referral. We got the e-mail on June 11 ( a very nice anniversary gift) that we had been referred a very sweet and beautiful little girl named Delbo Abera. She was almost a year at referral, but very tiny. Most ethiopian children who come into the orphanage are malnourished, so we were expecting that. Our referral came a lot sooner than we had expected. We were told that it wasn't very likely that we would get a referral before August or September that year simply because the Ethiopian courts were closing and we were still a ways back on the list. We were absolutely shocked when the e-mail came, and felt very blessed and excited. However....now we were homeless. We were hoping to move to Eau Claire and get settled before the referral came, but of course God had other plans for our family.

The next few months, Ryan and I went into overdrive trying to get our house sold in Red Wing and start looking for a place in Eau Claire. Thankfully....we were able to buy a house in Eau Claire and sell our house in Red Wing within 48 hours of each other. It truly was a miracle. So....with August rolling in, we packed up our things and moved to our new place in Eau Claire, which we know will be a great house to raise our children in.

I have some other great news, but that is for the next post.....so read on.