Could 15 be the new 2?

We moved again this Wednesday, on the boy list! Number 15, baby! On Wednesday morning, I was thinking that it would probably be about this time next year that we will be bringing home a baby. But now I have no clue! It was the ELEVENTH family on the list that got the referral. Here's the situation. There a some families on hold for one reason or another (pregnancy, lost job, that sort of thing) and then there are some families that would prefer a child that is 0-12 months old. So, the referral made it's way all the way to number 11 before finding a family that felt like a 1 1/2 year old would fit well into their family right now. That changes everything! I know that there is at least one other family ahead of us that would definitely accept a referral for a baby over the age of one, so that means that we could the second family in line for a 12-24 month old boy. On the other hand, the hold families may return to active status and we may wait for 15 other families to accept referrals for infant boys, before it is our turn. All of the sudden, though, it felt like, we could get a referral any day now. WOW!!!!!! We might have to move that garage sale date up a little. One thing on my "to do list" this weekend, is to give my agency a special ring tone for when we get the call. Not that I think it will be happening any time real soon, but I'm sure that the eleventh family on the list was not even expecting that call! I've gotta tell you, that it is exciting and scary and everything in between to think that our child may be alive somewhere in Ethiopia at this very moment. WOW!

Garage Sale Time

We moved again! Yeah! This part of the whole adoption process is actually kinda fun. Every time your numbers move, you get to have a little mini celebration. It's feels like when I was pregnant and I would count down each week, but this time I'm not growing larger each week, I sleep through the night, I can paint my own toenails, and I don't feel nauseated. I know that day will come when it will become excruciatingly difficult. I can't even imagine how hard it will be after we see a picture of our child and then have to wait months to get him. A year ago at this time, it would only take a matter of weeks between getting a picture and bringing home your child, but now it is a matter of months. From what it sounds like, according to our agency and an agency that our friends are using, each child is now required to have more paperwork. Things like birth certificates, which are not at all standard in ET, death certificates for parents, which is really not standard, and a bunch of other paperwork. The problem is, is that "the other paperwork" is different for each case. In one case they may require 8 certain pieces of paper and then the next case may require 10 different pieces of paper. It seems weird to think that there is no due process or no list of paperwork that applies to each adoption, but that's just the way it is there. Agencies are trying to gather the correct papers before going to court, but it sounds like a real moving target. I feel bad for the agencies, because I know they are trying really hard to get it all right and when they don't, they get a lot of fingers pointing at them. I can only imagine that they celebrate with successful adoptions and their hearts hurt when things go wrong. You can all remind me of this if my adoption doesn't go smoothly with paperwork and court and I feel tempted to throw our agency under the bus. I'm sure I'll be there one of these days.

So, speaking of being there one of these days, we will be THERE, in Ethiopia, one of these days. I'm hopeful, that we will get matched sometime before the courts close in September and that we travel sometime before the end of the year. Since, we will now have to travel twice, we are talking $8,000 to $12,000 for airline tickets, depending on what time of year we go. So far, we have saved enough for our snacks in the airport and taxi fares, so we have a ways to go. With it feeling like we are getting a little closer, we are thinking of ways to raise some more money. Our very generous friends have offered their house to hold a garage sale on the Old North End garage sale day, where people come out by the hoards. However, we don't have that much to sell, yet. That is where you come in. If you were planning on bringing some old furniture or garage sale material to the Goodwill over the course of the next few months, then we would love to take it off your hands and try to sell it at the garage sale on the 2nd Sat. of June. Well, this is plenty long, so I'll wrap it up. Have a good one!

P.S. - the picture is of a platter of Ethiopian food from our local Ethiopian restaurant. YUM

Livin' it up!

We are getting closer, folks. We moved two spots for a girl and one spot for a boy today, bringing us to 17 spots away from our child!!!!! It actually feels like it is getting closer, which leaves me with mixed thoughts. Just like every child is different, every adoptive family is different. I can tell this, because I spy on quite a few adoptive families via their blogs. I have come across a few blogs, where people are in the same spot that we are . . . . . . . . waiting . . . . . . waiting to get matched. I've seen the word "aching" a few times in reference to this period of time. That is not where I am. Well, I take that back. I am aching, but I think it's still just left over ache from just having TWO kids. While I am super excited about meeting and knowing and growing to love our third (3 kids still seems like a lot to me) child, there are times when I also think, I've gotta live it up now. What if we're the family on the block, so to speak, that ends up with the nightmare adoption story. Yikes. What if our lives just never resume any sort of normal after all this? Ugh. So, that is why right now, I'm in the midst of making sure I live it up, which is actually a fun way to live. Now, if we weren't paying for an adoption, living it up would take on a new meaning, but I am making sure to treasure moments with our family now, instead of wishing time would pass faster in order to meet our new baby. For, example, we got to go on the marriage retreat with our church this past weekend, while the kids stayed with Grandma and Papa. What an incredible weekend, complete with renewal, great conversation and roller skating. I literally treasured it all, knowing that maybe next year we wouldn't be able to go. Well, I would go deep, but I've gotta go teach a little piano now.

Neighbors

A year and half ago, we moved into a new house. The months before and after the move were definitely in the running for the worst few months of my life for a variety of reasons. We prayed a lot during that time about where we should move and I am still so excited about where we landed. It's only about 10 minutes away from our former house, but we are in a different city and a completely different type of neighborhood. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't find any other people in my stage of life, because it is an older neighborhood and because there were not a lot of big plastic Little Tike contraptions in peoples' front yards. As it turns out though, there are a lot of new people in the neighborhood that are exactly in my same stage of like. Within all these people there is a lot of diversity: one from England, one from the Czech Republic, one from Finland, one that grew up in India as a Sikh, some that work, some that stay at home, some that sing, some that ski, some that go to church, some that don't, some that live alternative lifestyles, some that run, some that do yoga, and the list goes on. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, different beliefs and different interests, but everyone is so fun, interested, interesting and encouraging. You may be wondering how this relates to adoption and it does. I'm just so grateful for neighbors that are so accepting of all different kinds of people and different types of families. I know that our little Ethiopian child and our family will be seen as any other family, in our neighborhood, and in the schools here. And it is now starting to feel like like it won't be that long before we know who our child will be. We moved one more spot on the boy list on Friday, putting us at #18. It's so fun to see the list move when you least expect it. Hopefully, there will be more movement next week! Catch ya'll later!