It's Been A Long Time

I had a feeling I would be one of those bloggers.  My last post was about a month ago!  When I was younger and tried to keep a diary, it was the same story.

Now that we are waiting, and all our paperwork (including the newly required POA) is done and sitting in Ethiopia, there isn't much to report.

What has been going on is that I have been enjoying - and spending too much time - reading other adoption blogs.  I have also been introduced to the world of list serves and have been in contact with families in our area who are going through the process or have their little ones home already.  I happened to find out that there is a weekly play group for Ethiopian adoptees and their families about 20 minutes away from our home!  I have been so excited to hear about families who have received referrals, made it through court and are traveling.  It is beautiful to see these families being created and knowing even though the wait seems long - in the scheme of things - we will in those shoes before we know it.

My husband and oldest daughter are getting ready for a trip to Egypt in the next two weeks.  My 8-year-old is getting ready for drama camp and I am busy planning our home schooling for the next year.  It feels good to be out of the school year and looking ahead at the summer.  We go to family camp next weekend and a home schooling conference in August.  It is going to be a great summer.  and when we get to the end of it, three more months of waiting will be over.

Our Dossier is in Route to Ethiopia

Erin from CHI just e-mailed us today to let us know that our dossier is on it's way to Ethiopia!  The official wait has begun.  The whole thing gets more real every day.

Every time we announce a new milestone to the kids they say, "Does that mean we can go and get our baby now?"  It inspires me how children can be so open, so accepting, so ready for change and love and family in all it's forms.  It makes me believe that there is hope that the world can be that way too.  We are born with that ability and just have to find all the ways to preserve it into adulthood.

Mother's Day and My First Blog Comment!

It is such an exciting thought that by next Mother's Day, I will have another precious child in my life!

Both Bret's family and my family are local, so for us that means double holidays.  This year, Bret's mom decided to do their Mother's Day celebration on Saturday so that we wouldn't have to be two places on the same day.  It was nice being with family on Saturday by the pool and BBQ - and then a nice brunch with more family on sunday after church.

I got the girls matching dresses - as this may be the last year I can get Lauren to do something like that!  Jordan had a dress shirt with similar colors and they all looked so cute!

After spending the day with the kids - being mom like any other day - I decided to treat myself to a movie marathon in the afternoon.  I went to see "Maid of Honor" and "The Visitor".  I highly recommend "The Visitor".  It was one of the best movies I have seen.  I was tempted then to see a third movie, but it was after 9pm, and I was tired, so I went home.  It was lovely though to get out all by myself, and then to come back and appreciate home even more.

I got my first comment on my blog yesterday!  I have been checking and it finally happened.  Thank you Angie!  We are on the CHI blogroll now, so I hope to more officially join the community.

Sacramento Photos and the Infamous "Semi-Formal Photo!

Our Dossier is in D.C.

So much has happened since my last post. I guess that is what happens when you wait a month and a half! On Tuesday, April 1st,(April Fool's Day no less), we received our I-171H in the mail. We were elated. The kids wanted to know if that meant we could go get our baby now. Bret and I celebrated by going out for a celebratory dinner and a movie, which we do once in a blue moon. We saw "Run, Fatboy Run" which was so cute. So the there we were with our home study done, our fingerprints done, our I-171H in our hands and our dossier complete - except for one little part - the semi-formal photo. Why wasn't it done already? Why did I have such trouble getting that photo taken? Here we were, all ready, except that pesky photo was missing. You'd think at that point I would have run into the house, showered, put on a nice outfit, make-up and sat down to have Lauren take the photo, but I didn't. I was having such a mental block about that photo! I am sad to say that by the time the photo had been taken, printed and the whole package had been approved by CHI, we were at the 23rd of April.

On April 24th, Av and I drove to the Hyatt in Sacramento. We swan in the pool, ordered room service and watched a movie in our beds. First thing in the morning we walked past the Capital Building to the Secretary of State's office and had our dossier authenticated. What a wonderful feeling! It was a great little trip, too. The funny part was that on the way to Sacramento I turned on our navigation system to get us there and find the hotel. Something was wrong with it, and no matter what I did, including turning off the car and restarting it, I could not get it to turn off. The last place we had used it was driving to San Francisco. So, the whole two hour drive to Sacramento the voice kept telling me to get off the freeway and make a u-turn. I could not turn it off, turn down the volume, nothing. It was crazy-making - but it also makes a heck of a story!

Photos of our little bedbugs!

CIS Fingerprints are done!

Bret and I went in yesterday and got our CIS fingerprints done.  It is so exciting that we are so near the end of the paperwork phase of the adoption process.  We are waiting on one letter of reference to be notarized, and my mom is coming over this afternoon to take a "semi-formal" photo of Bret and I for the dossier.  We originally sent our application in to Children's Hope right after Thanksgiving, and now here we are.  I remember very early on someone telling me that if you were really on top of things, and treated the dossier like a job, you could get it all done in about 3 months.  It has been more like 4 months for us, but the end of the paper chase is in sight!

We had a great weekend, and are just getting adjusted to the time change.  Av and Liv were in a little play yesterday called "BedBugs".  It was very cute.  They did a great job.  Lauren opens her show "Footloose" this Saturday and it will run for two weekends.  We are looking forward to seeing it.

I am getting all the fliers in the mail right now for summer camps and classes.  I can't believe that I have to start planning the summer schedule before Easter.  As soon as the dossier is totally finished, I will jump on the summer plan.