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.

I got an interesting e-mail yesterday. Our adoption agency asked how far along I was in our dossier…I told her we only need a couple more things (which I hope to get this week) and then the home study interviews.

She said great, is there a way we could finish within 2 weeks…2 WEEKS!?! It normally takes 3 months! The reason she’s asking is she’s traveling to Ethiopia and it would be easier/faster if she could take our dossier with her for authentication and acceptance.

So I forwarded the mail to our home study agency and hope to hear today. I’m expecting to read, “Less than 2 weeks? It takes 3 months, a month if we really push it. Impossible. Sorry.”

But I’m hoping I read, “Wow, that’s really tight and it’s gonna be tough, but let’s try.”

This could shave 2-4 months off our adoption and could make having a baby by Christmas a reality!

So I’m a little nervy until I get the news…expecting a no, but SOOO hoping for a yes!

Yay!!!

Tomorrow morning I’m going to the post office to mail off our paperwork for the home study. I’m so excited to be done with that! The stack of paper ended up being 2 inches thick

“On to the next!”

Yesterday, Paul and I read wonderful news.It’s spreading like wildfire through the adoption community.

“Specifically, the provisions contained in the health care bill include: