Look who we met!

Our favorite case manager!

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Her closet, oops I mean office in the basement. :)

AGCI

I have much respect for this woman and the work she does. I have no idea how she fields phone calls and email all day long from all of us crazed, giddy, and anxious families in all stages of the adoption process. How she delivers hard news for things outside of her control or that make no sense to families with American expectations. How she handles our tears, our excitement, and our phone calls to find out where we are on The List. Those phone calls sometimes thinly disguised as pertinent questions. :) There are time I've called and wondered if the last person she was on the phone with received good news or bad news. I really couldn't tell because she made me feel like we were her only family whenever we talked. She has provided expert guidance through a crazy year with grace, kindness, and lots of support and encouragement. We love this woman and can't thank her enough for what she's done for our family. It was great to give her a hug and tell her in person!

Why this man should be a father

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He's carrying the cat in the Ergo.
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Bear, we need you home soon!

The Last Weekend

Coworker Sean and I were walking to a meeting together at work on Friday. He asked me what I was doing for the weekend. I told him.

He said, "So this is your last weekend."

I said yep. We had to get most of the planning for the trip done this past weekend because of other commitments we have before we leave.

He said, "That's not what I mean. I mean this is your last real weekend. You will never again have a weekend of doing what you want. Not without a babysitter. You are bound to this prison for the NEXT 18 YEARS! Do you understand? THIS is the life you have chosen woman!"

Hadn't quite thought of it like that. We know our lives are about to radically change in ways we can only understand in a fuzzy way at the moment. That's what everyone tells us. We are both independent souls. We like to do our own thing, in our own time. Those days are numbered. I can count how many days without obligations we have left on one hand! ONE HAND!

No more sleeping in on Saturdays, tooling around, blogging about, working like crazy, hanging out, eating whenever, marathon projects, spontaneous dates, or spontaneous anything.

Call us crazy. We are ready. Let this 14.1 pound human being wreck our freedom. And help us remember what's really important. Weekends of two have been fun, but it's time for two to be three!

Going to Africa!

It's confirmed. We are leaving for Ethiopia Christmas day. We will meet Bear on 12/27. I am in a state of shock.

One of the things all of us look forward to with confirmed travel dates is the update on our little one(s). At just over 4 months, Bear is now 14.1 pounds, "happy most of the time, sweet and adorable." Here's a little glimpse of his life, as well as the other babies at Hannah's Hope:

6-6:30 AM: Wakes up, this is followed by a bottle
6:30 AM: Bath
8 AM: Bottle
8--9 AM: Nap
9 -11:40 AM: Outside playing/laying in the sun, massage, etc.
11:40 AM: The babies go inside for a nap and bottles in the living room/nursery
4:30 PM: Upstairs for a bath until 5:30 PM and pajamas.
6:30 PM: Bottle after bath and bedtime
10-11 PM: Wake up and bottle, diaper change, etc.
Wakes up 3-4 times per night for diaper changes and for bottles.

It's reassuring to know that as chaos unfolds on our side of the world in the next few weeks as we prepare to bring him home, he will be totally unaware and living it up at the Ababa Day (and Night) Spa. Wakes up 3-4 times per night. I don't think the homestudy parameters approved us for that. We're in trouble!

Bear has some friends at Hannah's Hope who have moms and dads who are missing them terribly right now. We are praying so hard that these friends will be going home soon.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

From zero to sixty in three days on Toad's Wild Ride. Julie called today to say we have a tentative embassy date of 12/28. If the date is confirmed, we will leave for Ethiopia on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I did not expect to hear this so soon. Will know if it's confirmed next week. We are hopeful....and cautious!

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Court - Undo Redo

What a month. What a week. I am a bundle of mixed emotions. This is nuts.

Julie called this morning to tell us we passed court last night. One day after we learned we did not pass.

Last month our first call said we passed. Our second call came a week later saying we didn't.

Make sense? No? No worries, it doesn't make sense. The orphanage director even said it makes no sense. She simply said, it is the Court.

There was apparently a missing piece of paperwork for our court date on 12/1. When AGCI inquired as to why so many families were missing paperwork, they were told that our paperwork was actually filed, just misplaced by the court. (We heard that someone had gone on vacation with several families' files locked in a file cabinet?) So somehow, AGCI managed to find our paperwork and get the court to review our case again today...and we passed.

I honestly am not sure what to feel right now. We are happy, but we are also burdened for the families who are still in limbo. We are grateful, but we are aware that there are still pieces that need to come together before we hold this boy in our arms. We may travel in December or January. January is probably more likely. A couple people have mentioned this feels like spiritual warfare. I have to agree. Please pray for the families who have been waiting so long for good news. Being delayed for specific reasons in one thing. Being delayed several times for little glitches is maddening.

Can you put the cork back in the champagne bottle and then pop it again? I don't know. Think I'm sticking to wine this time!

Court - Another No Pass

Heavy hearts today. Julie called to let us know we did not pass court last night, our second try. We have some friends who received similar disappointing news today. The courts did not provide AGCI with a reason why several of their families did not pass. They will try to find out more in the next couple days. In the meantime, we have been rescheduled for 12/14.

My challenge is to keep my heart from disengaging as we wait in this slightly ambiguous state. That is what I do involuntarily when faced with disappointment, but at this stage, that is not fair to him. My friend Margaret gave me this today:
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Entrench your HOPE, wrap it with LOVE, and keep the challenge ALIVE.

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I will keep these words with me and keep looking at that funny face. Just a little longer bud.

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A few more families go to court tonight and tomorrow night. Praying they hear some good news!