Adieu

Now that our baby is home safe in our arms, I am going to continue blogging - but on our family blog. I've been debating which blog to update and that is a small portion of why it's taken me so long to get back to blogging. I do still plan to chronicle our trip on this blog, and I may have some adoption related posts here and there, but as far as updates - you'll need to check in with the family blog... So, I bid thee adieu - for now!

Shame on me...

...for giving you a mini update with no pics!!

We're Home!

I'm hoping to do a lot more posting and recapping of our long trip, but I thought I'd jump on here to do a quick update. We are(0bviously) home safe. Malachi is an adorable little guy who can definitely throw a mean tatrum when he doesn't get his way. He's been doing a lot of sleeping and playing with his siblings. We had a wonderful trip with only a few snags along the way. We only got sick once and it didn't last very long, just some painful stomache cramps for a few hours. It was a wonderful visit - and really put things into perspective for us. Right after we got off the plane and were driving to the hotel I realized what a small thing we were doing. Just looking around the city and seeing the poverty and desperation really helped me see that we are giving a man a fish, not teaching a man to fish. Just bringing home this baby boy will not do anything to improve the conditions in Ethiopia. There is so very much to do and we are so far away. I now understand why people continue to adopt and also why many people decided to move to Ethiopia after visiting once - to serve the people of this impovershed country. Anyway, we are doing well and laying low for a while. It helps that the girls are in school, the boys take naps, Ian's been home, and my in-laws are coming tomorrow. Now if I could only adopt some Mary Poppings finger snapping to get this house in order...

Chow for now!
-Meg

See ya!

We're all packed!! The kids are outside swimming with Ian and my sister, and I'm about to join them for one last romp. Then I'll be taking a shower and heading to the airport! I am such a mixture of nervousness and excitement that it's overwhelming me! I'm SO excited to hold my sweet baby boy, and I'm SO nervous that I'm going to be too sick to enjoy it! It's just so weird that after all of this HUGE long process, it's finally happening. Ian and I were just talking about what a big undertaking this is. When we began this process, we had no idea what emotional highs and lows it encompassed, what patience would be required, and how LONG it is! But I still think it will ALL be worth it in the end. I know there are more tough times to go through(what parent doesn't have those?), but I also know that this is right for us and will ultimately bring us more joy than we could imagine. So, wish me good luck, safe travels, and no sicknesses! I'll have plenty to tell you all soon!

-Megan

One week!!

We've got one more week until we leave to bring home our beautiful boy! Time has really flown by much faster than I thought it would. We have just been so busy! The biggest two events were my daughter's 7th birthday and our 8 year anniversary, however there have been many other things that have helped pass the time. I think I've got just about everything I need for our trip, other than some formula and wipes. I was waiting to buy formula until I knew how much room we had. Last night I bought the 18 gallon Rubbermaid tubs that we will be bringing our donations in and once I packed them with all of the donations we have, I was happily suprised to see that we have quite a bit of room left for formula! We're bringing 3 tubs of donations, 1 suitcase for Malachi Eyob(mainly full of diapers!), 2 carryon's for Ian and me, a backpack with stuff to entertain us on the flight, and maybe my purse...I haven't decided on that yet! So, wish me happy packing and I'm sure I'll post again before we leave. Hugs!

Plane Tickets!

My awesome friend Kelli reminded me that I never actually posted when we're going to Ethiopia... So I thought I should probably do that!

We have booked our travel to leave Thursday, August 6th at 7:30pm and we will return Sunday, August 16 at 4:15!

While we are in Ethiopia, we are planning on traveling to Lalibela and Dire Dawa. After that, we'll go stay at the agency's guest house and hang out with our baby and all of the other amazing kiddos. We are SO very excited and have been having fun making all sorts of lists and buying baby stuff.

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent donations. The pile just keeps growing. We are continually amazed at the generosity of so many people.

And now we're just counting down...3 more weeks!

Joy

Happy Tears

We have a phrase in our house we call "Happy Tears." When my mom was in the hospital and had been for a while, I took my daughters to visit her. She was so overjoyed to be with them that she had tears streaming down her cheeks. My oldest daughter, Emma - 3 1/2 yrs at the time - didn't understand why her Grammy was so sad. But then Grammy explained that she was just so happy and the happiness was filling her up so much that it was coming out of her eyes as tears.

Today I had happy tears. 4 days ago I blogged about us traveling to Ethiopia and asked for donations. Today, I opened my door to find two packages from two people in different parts of the country who I have never met, and never even talked to before last week. I was shocked. And just thinking about it now starts my happy tears again. There are such generous people in this world, and particularly in the small world of Ethiopian adoption. My heart has been pulled so many different directions throughout this entire process but to ask for donations and then have them at my door 4 days later just shocked me. I know that these donations aren't for me, but I can't help but feel grateful for the generosity that was shown to me today. I know there's more in the mail coming, and I want to thank you all so VERY much, especially Lindsey and Estee. You made my day, thank you!!!

We have travel dates!!!

Our Embassy interview appointment is set for Wed August 12!!!

We haven't booked our travel yet, but we'll get there a little before the 12th and leave a little after... and at least now we know when we'll see our baby boy!

And now that we have pretty definitive plans, we'd like to ask for some specific donations. We are planning on packing as light as we possibly can in the hopes that any other packing room will be full of donations for the children and babies at Layla house and Wanna house. PLEASE please please choose one or two of the following and send them with us!

• Kirkland(Costco) infant formula - 2 pack
• Lego - basic bricks or Duplo bricks
• NEW Socks and underwear, boys and girls all sizes(up to about 14 yrs) including small size bras

None of these things are very expensive and if everyone who reads this blog would go out and buy one of those items, we would have plenty to supply the kids with. If you need my home address, please leave your email address as a comment(I'll delete your addy as soon as I read it). Otherwise, feel free to drop things by our house any time!

Also, thank you so much to those of you who have already bought formula to send with us. And thank you ALL for your prayers. It seriously meant so much to us and I KNOW those prayers were not only heard, but answered.

Yay for travel dates! Woohoo!!!

WE PASSED!!!

Without further ado, I'd like to introduce our son, Malachi Eyob:

We're hoping to go pick him up mid-August at the very latest...end of July would be even better!!

Congrats to all those of you who passed court today. I am so sorry for those of you who didn't, and we will keep you and your beautiful children in our prayers.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow's the big day! Please pray that MOWA will have the staff and electricity they need to complete our file and send it to court all ready to go. And please pray that we pass!! Thank you so much to those who called or stopped me at church to wish us luck tomorrow. I had no idea some of you were even following us on our journey. It means a lot to know we have such tremendous support.

Also, good luck to all of the other PAP's who have court scheduled for tomorrow. We're hoping for good news all around. I just think it would be SO amazing if we got to travel with the same families we've been in contact with throughout the past few months.

So... we'll keep you posted...

Drought

To state that Ethiopia is a struggling country would be an understatement. It's an obviously well known piece of info. Right now they are in the middle of a terrible drought. Not only does this affect crops and drinking water, but water is the main source of power for the entire country. They rely on dams to power the cities. When there is no rain there is no water in the lakes. When there is no water in the lakes there is no pressure on the dams. When there is no pressure on the dams there is no electricity. When there is no electricity businesses are forced to close their doors, necessary offices cannot conduct their business, factories cannot produce, and common "luxuries" are foregone - IE: refrigeration, hot water, lighting, etc.



Here are a few recent news articles that explain the damage better than I can:



Ethiopia blocks food supply as millions go hungry

Ethiopia Power Scarcity Approaching Complete Blackout

UN "Runs Out of Aid for Ethiopia"



Port Problems Hurt Aid in Ethiopia



And our adoption agency has written a blog about how this affects them:



The Electricity Situation in Ethiopia



A fellow adoptive parent wrote a beautiful post on our adoption group website:

As I have been reading about the food and electricity shortages in Ethiopia, I have come to realize more and more that we as a community must be about more than just adoption. We MUST be about HOPE for a nation that struggles in ways we will likely never understand. There are so many people in the U.S. who never learn about crises elsewhere. They have nothing with which to compare our standard of living in the U.S. because they have never left the "developed" world.

We, as a community, have already begun a response through adoption, but it simply is not enough. Susan PD said in a post on the AAI site that if you are inclined to pray, now would be a good time for prayer. I publicly agree but add...if you are inclined to help a nation, not simply to add a child to your
household, please find a way to support AAI's humanitarian work, even if it is through advocacy among your own group of friends. During the long wait all of us will have, others are waiting, not for a child, but for HOPE, sometimes for FOOD, many times for a CHANCE at FULL LIFE.

May those who give sacrificially be blessed.

There are so many ways to help. Donating(money or time) is always a great answer and there are so many places to do so. Here are just a few, but the options are practically endless.

World Food Program

AAI - Our agency's Humanitarian page where you can donate funds, items, or volunteer.

Melissa Fay Greene's How to Help has many wonderful organizations listed.

Another way to help is by spreading the word. Thanks to the Internet, there are so many ways to convey information. Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, Twitter, and even just email are great places to start. Please get the word out. The more people know, the more people help.

And, lastly - if you are religious is any way - please pray. This is the easiest way but possibly the most effective. Right now we are praying hard for rain. The country is in need of so many things, but right now rain seems to be the strongest need. Please join with us in praying for this country that is so close to our hearts.

New Court Date

We just got assigned a new court date: June 29th. Still no word on why there were no cover letters on Monday. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and kind words. I've needed them. :)

Clarification

Sorry I was so vague earlier... I wasn't very happy and didn't really feel like taking the time to post an explanation. So here's a little clarification:

If the Ministry of Women's Affairs(MOWA) doesn't send your case in with a cover letter, you do not pass court. The cover letter basically says they approve everything. There are lots of different reasons they don't send cover letters. Many times they don't because they are understaffed and run out of time. This is obviously not the case since on Friday they sent some of today's in, so they were a little ahead of the game. Plus, NONE of the cases had cover letters. Apparently something happened. I know that just in the past year the director of MOWA has been imprisoned twice while the gov checked on some cases. Maybe that's the case again? We may never know. So now we just wait. It could be a week, it could be months... Once again, I'll be sure to let you all know the minute I know more.

Thanks so much for all of your kind words, it really means a lot.

Bad News

Here's my email from Merrily this morning:

Megan, I am so very sorry, we got news that no MOWA letters were written for today’s cases. Gail says that over 30 cases were scheduled to be heard, from various agencies, but there were no MOWA letters. When we know of the new court date we will let you know. This is very disappointing, I know. Merrily

Countdown to Court - 1 more day!!!

1 Thing I ask of YOU:

1. PLEASE PRAY THAT WE PASS COURT TOMORROW!!!

Countdown to Court - 2 days

2 things I have begun to rely heavily on:

__________

2. Faith. There have been so many moments during this process(like when my husband lost his job) that have made me question our decision to adopt. But every time it always comes back to the undeniable confirmation a year ago that this was something we were told to do. And I know that the Lord wouldn't tell us to do this if he didn't have a plan. So, sure enough, each time I've had doubts and then replaced those doubts with faith - the Lord has shown his power.

Example: When we found out Ian would be losing his job one of the first things we discussed was whether or not we would continue with the adoption. We both prayed and realized what I said above about how the Lord wouldn't ask us to do this without providing a way to do it. So we decided to continue. We got our referral 3 days later. And he got a job a month after he lost it. And he was still being paid severance from the previous job. And the new job will reimburse adoption expenses...up to just about the exact amount we have left to pay(including travel costs). And the job pays a bit more than the previous one. So...there's my example of taking that first step in faith.

"I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

______________

1. Cinnamon Pop Tarts.

Countdown to Court - 3 Days

3 Ethiopian foods I love(Not that I've had much more than 3... but we're going to Cafe Lalibela tonight!! *drool*):

3. Injera. I say this with a bit of hesitation because the first time I had it I spit it out immediately. I did this mainly because the fermented flavor was SO strong, and because I didn't eat it with any other food. The second time I had it I LOVED it and couldn't get enough...yet my Ethiopian bro-in-law couldn't stand it and chose to have bread instead. Go figure...

2. Dabo Kolo. Little tiny snacky crunchy things basically made from flour, water, butter, and spice. It's like Ethiopian popcorn. Yum.

1. Doro Wat - It's a deliciously flavorful soup with onions(lots), chicken, and boiled eggs. OK my mouth is seriously watering right now...

Countdown to Court - 4 Days

4 Things I'm nervous about:

4. PASSING COURT!!!!

3. The flight... 30 hours?! I've never been able to sleep well while traveling - whether it be boat, car, and especially airplane! But what makes me more nervous than the flight there is the flight back - with a most surely tired, confused, and active little guy.

2. The questions - from him and from others...

1. Transitioning from 3 kids to four...and the chaos that is sure to come. Is there enough mommy to go around?

Countdown to Court - 5 days!

5 people who can't wait to meet you, E!

5. Your energetic, helpful, smart, creative sister, Emma.

4. Your sweet, loving, thoughtful, funny sister, Mckenna.

3. Your fun, silly, happy buddy of a brother, David.

2. Your hard working, silly, also thoughful and fun Daddy.

1. Your impatient, crazy, impatient, nervous, impatient mommy! (Who is also very impatient right now.)

Countdown to Court - 6 days

6 things I'm thinking about this morning:

6. I'm wondering why there haven't been any new pictures of E. posted? I know there've been traveling families...

5. I'm hoping our new power of attorney form is in the right hands, along with any other paperwork MOWA needs...and especially the MOWA cover letter.

4. I'm wondering if the other PAP was right in assuming that the new court group assigned to the same day as ours will hinder the amount of families passing court on June 8.

3. I'm hoping the above will not happen.

2. I'm wishing my girls upstairs would stop screaming at each other and finish their shower.

1. I'm wanting the next 6 days to hurry up and fly by so we can pass court, while also being nervous that the next 6 days will fly by and we won't pass court.

Countdown to Court - 7 days

7 Things I can't wait to do with Baby E.

7. Hold him.

6. Kiss him.

5. Sing to him.

4. Make him smile.

3. Hear him laugh.

2. Have him fall asleep on me.

1. Be his momma.

Countdown to Court - 8 days

8 things I want to do in Ethiopia:

8. Sightsee - especially Lalibela

7. EAT!!! *drool*

6. Take pictures of all of the other babies so their mommies in the U.S. can get their baby-fix.

5. Hug lots and lots of Layla house kids.

4. Travel to Dire Dawa

3. Shop!!

2. NOT get sick.

1. Hold my baby!

Countdown to Court - 9 Days

9 things I love about Baby E.:

9. His love of toys. He seems to always have a toy in his hand.

8. I love the pictures of him walking! It makes me sad that I'm not there to see it, but happy that when he comes he'll be off the floor!

7. He's getting bigger! He's a healthy size and is developing perfectly.

6. His big smooshy, kissable lips

5. I love that out of all the pictures we have of him, I've only seen one sad face...and I'm pretty sure he'd just been woken up.

4. He's such a good friend! He is always pal'n around with the other baby E. That makes me excited for he and David to be buddies.

3. His big, open mouth smile.

2. His big, beautiful, curious eyes.

1. And the number one thing I love about Baby E. is.... He is ours!!

Countdown to Court - 10 days

10 things I need to do before we travel to Ethiopia:

10. Make Dr. appt for rest of shots...ugh.

9. Figure out who's watching our other 3 kids and where.

8. Buy passport/money holder that I can wear under my clothes...Not sure how necessary, but it will make me feel safe!

7. Ask for Costco baby formula donations to take to Wanna for all of those babies!

6. Buy Baby E.'s coming home outfit. I did it for when my babies came home from the hospital, why not from the airport, right?

5. Buy plane tickets/arrange lodging & travel plans

4. Figure out what size clothes Baby E. wears so I can pull those out of David's hand-me-downs.

3. Pack!

2. Buy a co-sleeper bed attachment.

1. Pass court on June 8 - Please pray for us!

(I can't completely take credit for the countdown idea...another awesome AP did it a couple of weeks ago and I'm hoping that we'll pass court on the first try, just like they did!!)

Court Date!!!

We have a court date!!!


June 8th!


Please pray that we'll pass the first time!
This means that if all goes well, we'll most likely be traveling to Ethiopia in July!

Update...

Here was our last court update on April 30:

Your case has been submitted to court as part of Group K. The court date will most likely be scheduled for 8-10 weeks from now. Once we are informed of the court date we will let you know.

So, if I use previous families' time lines... Our court date should be at the end of June. If we pass court that day, we should receive an embassy date about 4-6 weeks after(I know of a family who just passed court and got an embassy date 3 weeks later!). The embassy date is when we travel to Ethiopia to pick up baby E. If everything goes well, we should be bringing him home by the end of July/beginning of August!!

I still haven't heard what our court date is, but I'm hoping to hear about that in the next week or so. As soon as I do I'll let you know!

We had a little hiccup in the process last week. I was asked to send in a copy of our I-171H, which is our application for advance processing of orphan petition - basically our approval for our son to have a U.S. Visa. On this form it states that we have been approved and that the approval was sent to the U.S. embassy in the country we requested.

As I was getting ready to send this form to our adoption agency I glanced at the bottom where it said which embassy it was sent to, assuming it would say the U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Not so. Instead it said that our visa approval was sent to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, Guatemala!!! What?!

So, after a week's worth of calling every possible person in the U.S. government(ok that's a gross exaggeration, but that's what it felt like!) I finally was forwarded on to some supervisor who -with just a couple clicks on her computer- was able to tell me that it wasn't, in fact, sent to Guatemala, and that it was not only sent to Ethiopia, but it was received and we even have a case number. Hallelujah! Apparently it was just a typo on the form and when someone meant to tell us it was sent to Ethiopia they just typed in the wrong country(sure...I get those two mixed up ALL the time).

Whatever the cause, the outcome was just fine and it ended up being no problem. I was super worried about it, though, because if Baby E's visa was waiting for him in Guatemala, we might run into a few problems along the way. Also, the I-171H takes quite a while, quite a bit of money, and quite a bit of effort just to get, so I was very grateful we didn't have to do all of it all over again!

Also, Baby E. is doing wonderfully! He's gaining weight and pulling himself up to walk along furniture. Most of the pictures we receive he is smiling and laughing. He even has a little buddy who shares his name that we've seen playing with him in a lot of the pictures. I did get one picture last night where our boy had the saddest face ever. He looked almost like he'd just woken up. Whatever the cause, that face broke my heart! I've never wanted to hold him more than I did when I saw that picture.

So, there's our update - sorry it isn't very exciting, but that's just where we are!

Court Update

I emailed Merrily today about whether or not we'd been put into a court group and if our papers had been filed. Here's her response:

We got a list just a few minutes ago about the next group and your name is on the list. I am not sure when it will be filed, within the next few days.We will let you know. Merrily

Yay for good news!

I love MFG

With all of the controversy surrounding Madonna's latest Malawian adoption, CNN interviewed author and adoptive parent, Melissa Fay Greene. You might remember my previous post about her book There is No Me Without You.

You can read CNN's interview here. I thought MFG's last statements were so perfectly worded:

I admire Madonna. And I don't understand why everyone attacks Madonna. I think that she is in part trying to raise the world's consciousness about the African orphan crisis.

You know, 95 percent of the children orphaned by AIDS [globally] are in sub-Saharan Africa. You don't hear world leaders talking about it. Where is the global outrage? ...

So, into the breach steps a celebrity. But don't attack her for it, you know. Maybe her methods are not what ours would be, but how many of us are Madonna? But at least she is out there; she's creating a school.

Obviously, she's fallen in love with the Malawian children to such an extent she wants to make some of them her own. And I think that it's great. I just don't understand why the world's attacking her. Let other people step forth and do something. At least she's trying. That's my feeling.

Also, no new update on Baby E. Well I guess that's not technically true, we've been updated on his health and development(he's doing great!), but we still haven't been put in a court group, and still have no court date. There have been some issues with court because our agency hired a different lawyer to represent AAI in court and is now being required to have new Power of Attorney papers drawn up and submitted. We're hoping this issue will be sorted out soon and really really hoping to get a court date!

Baby E. Update

I got a wonderful email from another adoptive parent about our sweet baby E.:

I was volunteering at Wanna house in February. I remember two E's. One had a family, so I'm guessing it's the other E. He had quite short hair and two teeth on the bottom. Am I right?
He was very sweet and loved to be in the swing and walker. I loved it when he smiled with his two bottom teeth shining bright. He was quite active and looking like he was anxious to start walking. CONGRATULATIONS on your referral!

Isn't that the best ever! I love it!

It's a BOY!!!

We are proud to announce that we have accepted the referral of an 8 month old baby boy!

For now, I'll just be calling him Baby E. Until we pass court(probably not for another couple of months), I can't post pictures and I don't want to give out too much info...but I can tell you that he his healthy and beautiful! He has the most stunning big brown Ethiopian eyes and the smooshiest, poutiest lips I've ever seen. If you happen to have the pleasure of bumping into me any time soon, feel free to ask to see his picture - I'm sure I'll have it with me!

Yesterday when I was at Mckenna's dance class I got a message from the director of our agency wanting to talk to me about a baby boy! I called back and she read most of his info over the phone and then emailed me all of the info, medical reports, and two adorable pictures.

My mother-in-law had a good point...she said that if there was any doubt in my mind that this was the right choice...do NOT open that picture. Luckily there was no doubt, and Ian and I both really felt right about this from the moment we got the call. I actually opened the picture on accident. I told the compy to open all of the files in the email and was looking at something else while they loaded and then all of a sudden his picture just popped up on my screen. And my m-i-l was right because the moment I saw that picture...he became my son.

It's funny how quickly the sense of "ownership" kicked in. I don't think I felt it this early on with my biological kids, but every time I look at that picture I think: There he is, that's MY son!

So, Ian and I both prayed about it and I pretty much felt a "why are you even bothering to ask...you know he's your son" response... So Ian called today and accepted! He's only been in the orphanage for 5 weeks and they don't usually match the babies with families until they've been there closer to 6-8 weeks, so we won't get a court date for a bit. Probably in another 2-3 weeks we'll get a court date that will be about 2 months from then. So we're thinking we'll probably get to go bring Baby E. home in June. Yippeee!!!

And as far as his name...It has some pretty profound meaning to us, so we're thinking we'll keep it, but because it's not a very easy name, we'll move it to his middle name and choose a new name. We haven't quite decided, but we'll let you know when we do!

So, there you have it! 9 months into this process and we actually have a name and a face and a sweet adorable little spirit that I am already so inexplicably attached to!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I sent an email to the director of our adoption agency this morning so that I could get a real idea of where we are on the list. Here was her response:

You are right up there, I would guess another week to ten days for a single boy, for twins it would be months or maybe more-- Merrily

HOLY COW, I'm going to be a crazy lady for the next week!!!

Babies, Babies Everywhere

Last week we received an email from our agency about the recent influx of babies to the orphanage. If you click here, it will take you to a copy of the email. Please read it, enjoy the pictures, and see if there is any way you may be able to help the orphanage. Anything from donating the money for a can of formula, to traveling to Ethiopia to volunteer in the orphanage would be awesome.

As sweet as the pictures are to look at, I was shocked at the amount of diapers and formula! Granted, 60+ babies would obviously raise the numbers of supplies, but to put it so exactly was staggering.

I am finding myself wishing I was at a different point in my life and I could hop on a plane and head right over. Honestly, I'd love nothing more. I'm still having a hard time with the mixed feelings about so many babies being in the orphanage. I would rather not get a referral for two years if it meant that those babies could stay and live with their families.

Last week I was at Costco with my kids. My four year old, Mckenna blurted out, "Mommy, look! They're Ethiopian!" Now, my 6 year old has said this many times...and none of those times has that person actually been Ethiopian. Mckenna - up to this point - had never said that. I brushed it off, said, "They may be from Ethiopia, but just because they have dark skin doesn't mean they're Ethiopian. Lots of people have dark skin and are from different places all over the world, many are from right here in (insert hometown, state, country, etc)." Then I finally turned to see the most beautiful babies, a boy and a girl, strapped in the front of the Costco cart, a mom wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt, and a grandmother wearing very traditional Ethiopian clothing. All of them had beautiful, bright, shining eyes that shouted Ethiopia. I just laughed and told Kenna that I thought she might actually be right!

Later we stopped for drinks and I struck up a conversation with the mother. As soon as she began speaking, I could see and hear my sister-in-law, Tuni(from Ethiopia), in her voice and expressions. At that point I had no doubt she was Ethiopian. We had a lovely conversation. I told her how beautiful here babies were, she was excited for us to adopt - and has many friends who have adopted from ET., and we just really had a nice little visit. I walked away just beaming! Those babies just made my heart want to leap out of my chest! And she was such a nice lady. I'm still kicking myself for not getting her contact info.

That encounter made this adoption a lot more real. It was feeling real before...but distantly real. Kind of like when I got pregnant the third time - I had been through it twice before, so I knew then end was a long way away, and I just didn't really even focus on the baby at all. We were busy moving and dealing with many other things. After the holidays, when life got back to normal I was about 1 1/2 months from my due date. That was when I finally allowed myself to realize I was having a baby and needed to get ready.

That's kind of how I feel now. OK, Christmas is over, family has left, it's time to really start thinking about this. I need to start figuring out travel stuff, money, shots(round 2), and all that jazz. Oh yeah - and I need to be ready for a referral. I'm not expecting it tomorrow, but another month or so...and it never hurts to be too prepared, right?

So, check the link I posted above, see if there's anything you can do, and please know how grateful I am for all of your support on our journey!