Woke up to GOOD NEWS!!!

This morning I woke up in a beautiful setting. We had driven about 45 miles to be with Zack's parents as they were vacationing at Lake Cumberland and had invited us to spend some time with them. They rented a very small but wonderful cabin only a short walk from the lake. It was a beautiful morning, and little did I know it was only going to get better! As I checked my email via Punky's awesome iphone, I noticed I had an email from our family coordinator and the subject line was "Good News". My heart began to race and I wondered if it could be news about court, or if it was maybe a general email she had sent to the group about some good news in Ethiopia.

Well, it was good news for us, the Caldwell family!!! The email informed us that our case had been submitted to court on June 25th (ONLY TEN DAYS FROM THE TIME OUR DOSSIER ARRIVED IN ETHIOPIA!!!!) and that we were now waiting for a court date to be issued! This is an absolute miracle and we know it is from God! There is still no guarantee of a court date before the courts close, but judging from when fellow adoptive parents are being granted court dates and the time their cases were submitted to court, we feel we have a very, very good chance!

It is an exciting, overwhelming feeling to think about traveling in a month or less! I almost can't believe it might be happening....it seems surreal. Just a reminder, the new laws in Ethiopia do not allow us to bring Noah home after the first trip, this trip is just to appear in court. It will most likely be another 8 weeks (or maybe even more) after our first trip before he could be escorted home. But to get to see him, to take him the things he needs, to love on him, to show him we are his mommy and daddy and will love him forever.....this would be such an answer to prayer! As soon as we know our date, I will of course post it here!

Well, as I stated at the beginning of this post, we were at the lake today, and Caleb (along with all of us) had the best time ever! It was a beautiful day, the water was soooo warm, and it just couldn't have been better. Caleb made some big strides today as well. He felt comfortable enough to just float around the lake in his life jacket without us holding him the entire time (we were right beside him :), and even tried to move his arms and legs in a swimming motion. He did great! He also rode the intertube (don't worry, at very slow speeds :) with mommy and loved it!!! He actually is staying the night tonight with his nana and papaw and it seems so strange not to have him hear. I miss him.