A copy of our referral announcement e-mail (without pictures)

Last Saturday, Anne-Marie and I received the first pictures of our kids. We will be flying to complete our adoption in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, sometime this fall.

Mariah (Hani) Garcia was born 12-11-08 and is 24” long and 9 pounds. Her mother died of tuberculosis a few months ago and she was relinquished by her living relatives to an orphanage due to their inability to provide her with the basic necessities of life.

Elisha (Israel) Garcia was born 1-2-09 and is 26” long and 15 pounds. He was found abandoned in a hostel in Harar, Ethiopia.

For those of you who read the initial information on Mariah and Elisha on the blog a few weeks ago, you'll notice there was a slight translation error in the dates of birth. Yes, they are only a few weeks apart! When we read about them and saw the pictures, we knew that we had to accept the referral, regardless of the unexpected ages.

What a surprise to see the faces of our children for the first time on a weekend and on a national holiday! Thanks to Tami Stewart from Dove Adoptions who took time on her July 4th holiday to check in to the office to see if there just might be any information for us. And most of all, thank God for all His blessings.

Anne-Marie and I are beyond happy to be bringing these two children into our family and want to include you in that joy. We will be sending updated pictures as we receive them from the orphanage (every month or so) to this same e-mail list. If you want to know more about the adoption, read our thoughts and feelings, see pictures of the kids' rooms, etc., stop by our blog at http://darksayings.net.

Eli

NOTE:
Due to international adoption statutes and child trafficking concerns the attached pictures cannot be posted in any public place, including websites, blogs, social networking sites and bulletin boards. Posting the pictures would possibly harm our adoption process and the adoption process of many other families.