Oh, My Cuteness...(a little update on Wes :)

Well...Ya gotta love the perks of YOUR LITTLE SISTER adopting at the same time as you!! :) I loved knowing that my little guy was getting some extra love from his Aunt Kasey last week!! What a treat!!! And, here are the most adorable Ethiopian FIRST cousins EVER:I'll re share ALL these pics with yall some day when I can show off their CUTENESS!! But the nannies spoke to my nephew in his language and explained that my little Wes was going to be HIS FIRST COUSIN IN AMERICA!! How cool is that!! Not sure he understood it all...but none the less...SO NEAT!!

***And, look what my sister spotted above We's crib..a picture of US TOGETHER taped to the wall...Ahhhhh...warms my heart:

My sister wanted to show me HOW TINY his little feet are:

And, my favorite pic is this one.... I sent a care package for my little guy and included a COOL NEW MIRROR for his crib...My sister said the Nannies all laughed and LOVED IT!! She said that Little Wes didn't know what to think of it at first...He made the funniest faces while checkin himself out!! :) SO CUTE!!
I sent a photo album too...and included a pic of Wes and his Nanny...which they all liked seeing ..AND...along with lots more pics was a picture of Lucy Lane in her TRADITIONAL ETHIOPIAN DRESS!! My sister said the Nannies loved it!! :)

** And, speaking of nannies....all I hear from travelers is HOW AWESOME all the nannies ARE..and HOW much they love the children!! I've met most of these women already..but from all the pics, you can just SEE the LOVE in their eyes for these children. CCI has a wonderful staff and I'm so grateful for HOW MUCH LOVE my boy is receiving until I can get there to BRING HIM HOME!!! :)

** I also received my MONTHLY WEIGHT CHECK from our director for our little guy!! I can't tell you HOW happy it makes me to receive these little tid bits of info!! :) Just knowing he is growing and gaining some weight is a TRUE MIRACLE!! I just LOVE this little guy SO MUCH and I can hardly wait to get this sweet little love home and FATTEN HIM UP!! :) Loved my weight update CCI..thanks so much!!

****Also, today, my sister kicked off her FIRST ON LINE AUCTION!! Go check it out...see if her little model looks familiar! :) www.ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com

***There was also some positive news I received in an email today ABOUT Ethiopian adoptions...Praising the Lord for ANY kind of "positive" word these days..enjoy..and Happy Thursday to you all, kj

"As you know, over the past week "agencies" have been working in collaboration with Joint Council, other licensed Adoption Service Providers in Ethiopia and the US Department of State to get clarity on the proposed changes instigated by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs that would have drastically reduced the number of adoptions processed by their office.

We have spent the entirety of this week and last connecting with our own Foreign Staff, participating in caucus calls led by Joint Council and the US Department of State, and independently collaborating with other Adoption Service Providers to get clear and accurate information concerning this matter. Your grace and patience has been so appreciated during this time! What we know as facts are:

• MOWA posted a notice indicating as of March 10th they would be reducing the number of adoptions processed through their office to 5 cases a day.
• Within days of this announcement, the director of MOWA and several other staff members from the ministry have been terminated.

Today we want to update you on the feedback we received yesterday from our foreign staff in Ethiopia, which was confirmed in a discussion with our adoption colleagues in a Joint Council caucus call later in the day.

At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa. Our staff believe this to be around 800 cases they are working at full force to complete with no restrictions on the number of cases processed each day. This is great news! We are thrilled to hear these drastic changes do not seem to be going into full effect.

We are also pleased to report that for new cases moving forward; it appears the original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5 cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers, the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to assist with family preservation in Ethiopia. This plan was acknowledged in the recent posting by the US State Department this morning athttp://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html. We understand the US Department of State cannot issue a formal statement without MOWA issuing a retraction. Based on the information we are receiving, MOWA is concentrating on processing the current adoptions and the new staff is not focused on numbers, but doing their jobs."