End of Week Update

It never fails!! The week I post referral information early, there's more than one referral and I end up repeat (and repeat) posting AND THEN IT GOES QUIET!! Well, here's hoping that the activity this last week continues!! Since my last post (what? two days ago?) there were another 3 referrals (all boys with the last referred family waiting only 10 1/2 months!) putting our total number down to #34. While that number still seems really high, we have good information that there are less than 10 families ahead of us waiting for a baby boy AND courts are getting ready to re-open again and the referrals pick up in speed! We're very hopeful to hear something within the next 4 weeks or so. COME ON REFERRALS!!

Ooops . . .

. . . posted too soon (see post below). Another referral today: 4 month old baby boy! Family waited 11 months to the day! That means we're #37!

10 Month Mark

Today marks our official 10 months on the wait list!

And (not so coincidentally), we just finished painting our nursery and now have a crib, dresser and changing station in place just waiting for our baby boy! The room has begun its change . . . we used to call it the "extra room," but have changed over to calling it what it will be: the nursery. N.U.R.S.E.R.Y. Yup, it's official. The furniture is no longer just large boxes taking up space. They represent what will be: the place to keep all the cute clothes that I've just had stored in bins in the closet. The resting place for our baby boy and a place to put the beautiful blanket Gwen knitted 10 months ago. The place where we'll change diapers and begin bonding. It feels real.

We also found out today that there was a referral. A couple waiting just over 11 months received a 9 month old baby girl and her 7 year old brother. We are now #38 on the overall list of waiting families. Courts open in just about 2 weeks and the feeling out there is that there are lots of children/toddlers/ babies just waiting for the courts to open so they can be officially placed.

We're ready . . . after all we've had (more than!) 10 months to prepare for this!!

Whole Lotta This . . .

Who needs to think when you can look at this instead?

Sunshine Therapy

Kyle and I just returned from a much-needed 8 days of basking in the Hawaiian sunshine. I shut my brain off the entire time we were there and found myself not worrying about anything. Ahhhhh. Glorious. Of course we saw so many adorable babies and toddlers playing in the sand and surf, and imagined doing the same next year on our annual sojourn to the islands!!

When we returned we discovered two baby boys had been referred while we were gone. The families waiting 11 1/2 and 12 months, respectively, for their referrals. That means . . . drum roll please . . . that we are now #39 on the list! We get to finally use the "3" on our keyboard as we count down!!

Once we've had a chance to unpack and settle in, I'll post a few pictures from our trip. But meanwhile I REALLY need to get some groceries . . . . all we have is popcorn and iced-tea in the house!!

Fluctuations . . .

It goes up. It goes down. Peaceful calm feelings followed by complete, utter anxiety. Joy and hope. Worry and trepidation. Exhiliration. Then exhaustion. It's been 4+ weeks since there's been a referral. This has happened before. It'll happen again. I am usually successful in my attempts to be Polly Sunshine through the whole messy mess mess, but for some reason today I'm having ONE OF THOSE DAYS.

Blech.

Securing the Courtroom Doors

Well, folks, as of today the courts in Ethiopia are closed until approximately the first week of October. Not to worry -- this happens every year during their rainy season, and actually this year it happened about a month later than normal due to the back-log of cases the courts had to hear following the debacle in May. Referrals still do trickle in during this time, but as I've posted previously, it slows down substantially. Although there haven't been any referrals for the last 3 weeks, so I don't know how much slower it could possible get. I'm just saying . . . !!!

On this coming Monday the 24th, we will have been officially on the wait list for 9 months. And as many people have commented, I'm carrying the pregnancy really well and you can hardly tell I'm pregnant at all! All jokes aside, it is a curious thing, this waiting. No, I'm not pregnant. And along with that comes no weight gain, no morning sickness, no swelling ankles, etc. But I think the proper term to use is that I am an expectant mother. Yes, I like that. Kyle and I are expectant parents. Has a certain ring to it, don'tcha think?

On the crafting front, I have finished a small quilted bag that I was originally going to use as a diaper bag (picture below). As is typical, I didn't really pay attention to the "finished project" size information, and it's way too small for a diaper bag, so I've picked up another pattern that is quite large and will spend the next month or so working on a REAL diaper bag. I guess the one I just finished can be considered a trial run . . . or it can be a supplemental diaper bag. Who knows? It's cute nonetheless so it'll get used!

I'll continue to post as anything new happens . . . say when the baby furniture arrives, or we've finally painted the nursery, or any referrals come and we move up on the list, etc., etc.

Signing off for now . . .