i cannot contain my excitement.

jay and jen howver are dear friends of ours. jay is actually the publisher at youth specialties. so we work together. but our friendship supersedes the working relationship. and jen used to work at ys, and continues to be a good friend of mine and jeannie’s.

the howvers have been on a very, very, very, very long road toward parenthood. at least two of those “verys” have been the long and winding and often frustrating and occasionally disappointing road to adoption (which they have chronicled on this blog).

but as of this morning, Noelle Seble (3 years old) and Chloe Mekdes (9 months old), two girls in ethiopia, are officially daughters of jen and jay (the ethiopian courts officially approved the adoption today — which, thanks to time changes, was actually in the middle of the night, last night). the visa paperwork for noelle and chloe to enter the u.s. has to be processed through the u.s. embassy in ethiopia, and that will take a few weeks or a month, or something like that. then jen and jay fly to addis ababa to meet their daughters and bring them home.

here’s jay’s email address: [email protected]. send them a congrats note!

meet noelle and chloe: