Thanksgiving and Adoption Update

We had a great Thanksgiving in New York with some beautiful weather. We visited with Smiths, Habers and Zermans...awesome!

Click on the link below to view our pictures:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=42857208403.566150913403.1164758540149&page=1&sort_order=0&navfolderid=0&folderid=0&ownerid=0

Cell phone number 4075926573
Password 123456

Just click on slideshow and go!

Today we got a call from our adoption attorney. This is the first time she called us so after a half hour of phone tag and not being able to breath we spoke to her.

Apparently the birthfather called our attorney last week to say he was not aware of the birthmother's pregnancy and in fact did not believe she was pregnant. After confirming to him that the birthmother was indeed pregnant, he indicated he was not sure he wanted to give his consent. After considerable discussions with the attorney in which she clearly explained his options and responsibilities, the birthfather agreed he would provide his consent. He actually asked whether it would be possible to provide his consent prior to the birth. Unfortunately, the law does not allow for consent to be given prior to birth.

Every indication is that the birthmother fully intends to follow through with the adoption and that while the birthfather may flex his muscles every now and then, he is not prepared to take on the responsibility of a child. In short, this recent activity does not impact our situation all that much.

In other news, the birthmother has asked her doctor to consider inducing labor a couple of weeks early, which he has indicated he will consider based on the next couple of checkup appointments. According the most recent medical reports, the baby's movement, heartbeat and size are all where they should be...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! No news on the adoption front...no news is good news.

As a way of giving thanks I encourage you to click on the URL and sign the petition to help save the victims of Genocide in Darfur.

http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5997

Bush said "Not on our Watch"...but it IS happening on our watch!

Thanks!
Karen

Cowboy Ethan

We visited with Ethan this weekend up in Chicago. These pictures are from his horseback riding lesson. He is able to control his horse in a walk, jog and lope. He would be happy to explain it all to you if asked... He is riding a horse named Dove. The pictures were taken with Ira's Motorola Q Phone, so the quality is not great, but it is beter than nothing.

We received our completed Home Study Report from our Social Worker yesterday. As of November 13, 2006 we are officially approved to be Adoptive Parents!

This is certainly one big step out of the way. From what I understand these reports are good for one year. If at that point we have not adopted, there is a shortened version to get it updated.

42 days until December 28th...but who's counting! :)

Rabbi Dubov on Heaven

Rabbi Dubov (our Rabbi...the one who married us) was on NBC Today show this morning.
Check it out!
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=87f6f9d6-4ee4-4f9a-86ff-36f5def6e7e6&f=00&fg=copy

I thought I would start out by posting a picture because we have so many :). This one is of Ethan in Chicago on his first baseball team.

First One

It seems that Ira and I always have something we need to tell a bunch of people, so...I thought I would try this blog thing. If you were directed here, you probably know all about our current journey. We are going to use this to communicate information as it comes up. Between now and the 'special' date we will most likely e-mail you and tell you when there is an update.
Hope you like it! :)