I actually finished a book with chapters!! I’m embarrassed to say it’s the first one since Dean was born. Yep, 2 years…I used to be an avid reader, but other things and fatigue usually change my time I once spent for reading.

Anyway, it was a good book. Upbeat, positive yet keeping a real perspective. I recommend it to anyone that knows us

So for awhile now we’ve been waiting on our home study to be complete.

Yesterday, we got the completed report back and we passed Yay!!

So we mailed off our I-600a, which is a petition to adopt an orphan. That goes to USCIS and takes from 5 weeks-3 months to be approved.

We also mailed our dossier to our adoption agency, where it will get authenticated, which will take 2-3 weeks.

Then, when that’s all done, it all goes to the Ethiopian government to be approved and then we wait for a referral of a child.

Basically, we’ve done all that we can and need to do and now it’s just a waiting game!

Sunday was the last of our home study visits. Now we just wait for the report papers so we can send them off to where they need to go.

The other thing was the yard sale…we got rained out the first weekend, but now I’m glad we did. We ended up with a couple friends (they get together every year and have a big one) at one house.  This sale was seriously huge! I forgot the exact number of tables, but I think it was in the 40′s range…yes, 40-something tables loaded with all kinds of stuff.

On day one (Friday), at 3pm, we got pounded with a very fast-moving storm. When we first heard thunder, we started tarping and moving the tables closer together. By the time we were done, we were soaked.  Dripping. And it was windy so we had to find rocks and paving stones to put on the tarps because they kept blowing away. It was crazy.

Day 2 started out cloudy and threatening, but turned out really nice. We closed up about 3pm, took down the tables, and took them back to church (where we borrowed them from). I got home at 5:30. LONG day.

But all in all, it was good. We made a couple hundred more than I thought we’d get. In a couple months I’m going to hold a smaller one at our house just to get rid of the last of our stuff and make just a little more. Every little bit is necessary.

So what’s next??

*the I-600a (with a few documents including the home study report) needs to go to the USCIS—there’s a 5-week to 3-month wait on that

*the dossier needs to be sent to our Agency (including the I-600a acceptance paper) to get authenticated

*the dossier will then be sent to Ethiopia

*if Ethiopia accepts us, we then wait for a referral….they will find a child for us and send us a picture

*after acceptance of referral (after we say “yes” to the child) they set a date for us to go out there…we visit the child and start the adoption paperwork….then we come home for a few weeks and one of us will go back to Ethiopia to pick her up and bring her home!

For those that don’t know, Paul works around explosives. Not hands on; he’s IT. He takes care of computers in explosive buildings at times. I don’t often think it’s dangerous since most of the time he’s “on the hill” and away from the “plant buildings.”  ATK  puts together rocket fuel and various ammunition (if I remember it right).

Yesterday I was getting dinner ready and heard a BOOM and the house shook just a bit. I thought it was a branch falling on the roof or something heavy falling upstairs. But it came from a non-specific area so I couldn’t put my finger on it. I briefly looked out the window and the thought crossed my mind, “I wonder if something at work blew up.” But the thought came and went since I didn’t see a mushroom cloud or smoke.

A little while later, Gab (who was at her grandparent’s house) called, but the phones weren’t working well. I called her back and they had heard the boom as well, so I knew it wasn’t a tree.

After a little while later, Paul called and said he was ok. I thought, “Ok, good to know…why are you telling me though?”  He told me there had been an explosion but he was ok and wanted me to call his parents and tell them.

Two and a half hours later he was finally able to come home. His work had blocked off the road outgoing to talk to people and make sure everyone was accounted for. I’m glad they were so careful; safety really is a big deal there. Paul (and others of course) have certain shoes they have to wear in certain buildings.

Paul told me that the buildings are designed to blow up a certain way to reduce the risk of people getting killed and injured should one do just that. There was no one in the building at the time (it was close to 5pm). There were 2 minor injuries…one was flown to the hospital, the other went in an ambulance, but both were released.

Quite a few friends called me to ask if Paul was ok; it’s good to know if something would have happened to him, I wouldn’t have been alone. And next time there’s a boom, I’ll probably be a little more paranoid.

Take a couple minutes to watch Nielson‘s story…she puts life into perspective.

We’re at a lull in the adoption process for the moment. We’re waiting on our 2nd (and final) home study visit which will be in a couple weeks.

But life still goes on! My husband’s grandma died last week, so he’s going to Wisconsin for the funeral this week.

Next week Gab heads out to Utah for her cousin’s wedding.

And amidst those things, there’s band concerts, hair appointments, dr appointments, a few church get-togethers, parties for me to plan out (2 for church, 1 for the boys)…..sigh….

Unfortunately most of things are just on my mind and not to the point of being able to put into action. This is a frustrating thing for me. So I’m left feeling a little anxious….so much to do and I have to just sit and wait for the days to come!

Just a quick “thank you” for all the support we’ve been getting from friends & family, online & in person.

Paul and I feel very blessed that so many of you are willing to help with the yard sale, donating stuff, and words of encouragement!!

This is a very exciting, yet stressful, process and knowing we have so many people behind us makes this all the more special.

Lots of love! Thanks

Paul and I went to our home study office today and met with the social worker. He’s been in adoptions for 23 years (phD in social work I think it was) doing interviews, counseling, and placements. And he also has 2 adopted sons!

He said his job today was to “scare you so you run out the door.” He wanted to make sure we’re firm and ready to adopt internationally.  Luckily, at the end of the interview, he passed us and told us he wished he could place with us

He’ll be out to our house in a few weeks to talk to the kids and see what kind of an area we live in.  Then he’ll write up his report and, I’m guessing, by the end of May we’ll send our dossier in for authentication!

So it was a good day! Another step up the adoption ladder.

So as time goes by and the adoption progresses, I’ve been getting more and more excited. It feels like a pregnancy, minus the physical uncomforts (yay!!).

And since we’re going to try and get a girl, my mind turns pink…pink ruffles, dresses, shoes, dolls, books….etc.

Oh, dolls….*sigh*

I decided to get this girl a doll. A little black dolly she can carry around and sleep with. And I’m picky…don’t want a hard-body one, or an eat-&-pee doll…just a cute soft little doll.

It’s not been easy. We don’t live anywhere near a Toys R Us, so I decided to look at Wal Mart. NONE! NO black dolls. Yes, they have Barbies, but no dolls. I decided to order a Cabbage Patch doll when the time comes. Very cute.

Last week I tried looking in the local book store for books…same problem. It’s hard to find a book centered around a black/African girl. I think I’ll have to go to a city (D.C. or Baltimore) to a big bookstore to find what I want.

I know there’s no way I can put myself in my future daughter’s shoes every day, but I’m beginning to get a taste of what our future will be like.

We got a call from our home study agency that all our paperwork made it safely…the last 2 documents needed to be sent by other people, and those ones took the longest.

So, next week we have our first appointment and phase 2 begins!! We have an office visit, just Paul & I. I’m a little nervous, but it’s more a nervous-exictement. I don’t think we have anything to worry about (hopefully!) so there’s no fear in the situation. Just ready to go!!

I don’t think we’re going to make the 2-week-mark (see previous post) but that’s ok.

Today I was thinking about names. It’s a bit of a debate in the adoption world about changing a foreign adopted child’s name…and in our case, Ethiopian names can be complex! So the thing is, do we change her name to be “American” or let her keep her name and her “heritage”?

We’ll probably do both. Heritage and background are very important to us. Even before adopting, we’re both interested in our genealogy and traditions. And we want this child to have hers. We don’t want her to grow up missing a piece of herself, we want her to feel as though both halves are fulfilled.

It depends on her age and name. If she has a more complex or hard-to-pronounce name and is very, very young (like under a year) we’ll probably change it to her middle name and give her a new first name. But if she’s older (2 yrs old) obviously we won’t want to disrupt her life more than what we’ll be doing already. We’ll probably give her an easier name for a middle name and use her first name or find a nickname.

And if she has an easy name (Amara or Desta are common) then we’ll stick with it!

So many “IF” scenarios.