Story time

Rob is set to read bed-time stories now... well, almost. We need our kid.

Interesting links

I've recently been introduced to two sites that may be helpful in the near future. One is for teff, which is the main grain in Ethiopia and which is used to make injera, the staple bread. It is made and placed straight on the table. Different stews are served directly onto this tablecloth bread and then scooped up with more of the same bread. The other link is for dolls of all different colors. (Know that I disagree with the comment on the site about "ethnic" dolls, though. I, as a white person, am just as ethnic as the next person. Regardless, the dolls could be a good idea.)

Tool time

Ethiopia now flies... on the front of our house. I feel good about representing.

Pues...

No, I won't write this one in Spanish. The last entry was fun, this post is too serious. I have been hearing and reading about the drought situation in Ethiopia for some time now. Everyone is waiting for the rainy season... including the adopting parents over here.

Well, I just erased what I was fumbling to type. Too selfish.

God is still in control... of everything, including the weather, food supplies, everything.

Technology

¡Ay! He encontrado mi canción favorita, hasta ahora, en cuanto a ser mamá, pero no sé ponerla en este sitio. Sugiero que busques la canción "Tu guardián" por Juanes y que la escuches. Y si no la entiendes, debes encontrar a alguien que sí la entienda. ¡Si sólo supiera cantar yo!

Action

Today, for those listed on the forum, there was another referral (They've been waiting since mid-April.) and another court date granted in July for a previous referral. Good news!

Is no news really good news?

We have nothing new to report on our adoption front. We turned in our papers a couple of weeks ago and haven't heard anything. We do know that two of the families that received referrals have also been given court dates in July, which means that if all goes well, they'll be able to travel for their children soon afterwards. This is good news, although it is not our own at the moment.

More complex than Awe-nty (head tilt) KK's hair

I found this newspaper article on the Bethany forum today and it has driven me to pensive-land. Memories. Hopes. More of those previously mentioned issues. At the end of July we'll be going to another workshop, sponsored by Bethany, that will teach us about this very topic of hair. A beautician, or whatever they are called these days, will present products to us and hopefully share some techniques.

Dads' day

Will we begin our fathers' day traditions in one year? I practiced with a blueberry pancake for Rob's breakfast today. We'll see what we can come up with in the next year to add to that. Fun.

Some girls have black shoes, some girls have brown shoes...

Now that we are adopting from Ethiopia, we have a new host of issues about which we need education. Malnutrition is one of them, and this link and this link explain exactly what that is. Malnutrition can cause or encourage many other issues, including rickets. We really need to study!

... but all girls have issues. (A quote from an old friend.) Of course, I think that it should read, "Some people have black shoes, some people have brown shoes, but all people have issues." As you can see, I have some of my own. What? No!

Family

So far we have:

Uncle Cookie/Matty,
Auntie (pronounced ant-y) Laca (for Los Angeles, California), and
Auntie (pronounced awe-nty, and with a head tilt) KK

Who else is in the house?

Numbers and will

The information that I've posted in the past two entries has come from a web forum that Bethany makes available to anyone directly involved in adopting through them. The people that participate in these forums, however, only make up a portion of all of those involved. So, for example, on the Ethiopia forum, not all families adopting from there participate. According to that forum's list, there are 6 families in front of us and there have been 2 referrals. According to the information that forum users have heard from other sources, there are actually 18 dossiers currently in Ethiopia and there have been 6 referrals. This situation is frustrating and encouraging. In the end, it comes down to the fact that Rob and I are completely out of control of our adoption now. We have done our part and now we wait on God. May His will be done.

Otro

There has been another referral! A baby boy has been referred to a family that waited for 5 months. Instead of "après moi, c'est le déluge," I hope it's, "dans le déluge, c'est moi... nous..." well, not a literal "déluge," considering the weather of late.

News!

So, today Rob dropped off our dossier. Wahoo! Now, we just wait. Well, I mean, we continue living, working, eating, reading and such, but we're waiting.

The second piece of super-excellent (Yes, I, Amy, wrote "super-excellent.) news is that the first Bethany family adopting from Ethiopia has received their referral... for a baby, just days old. They have waited 6 months. Finally, we have an idea of what will happen with us. Of course, everything could change, but we have a piece of history now.

History is so important. Will our child come with any known history that we can learn while we're in Ethiopia, or will his/her known history be created once we arrive?

FedEx 3: The dossier

I saw the truck even before our doorbell rang, but I waited... so as not to freak out the FedEx guy. He asked me how I was doing, and I said, "I'm so happy to see you!" He replied, "It's one of those, huh?" "Yes." As I was signing, we banally talked of the weird weather; but in my mind, I was already upstairs, ripping open the package.

We have the dossier, all state-sealed up, and to my eyes, it's all correct... Though I'm sure that I'll check it over a few more times today even. Tomorrow, Rob will make 3 copies of the entire thing and then he and I will drop off 2 of those copies and the original, along with the fee so it can be hand-carried to D.C. for another round of approval. So as of tomorrow, our dossier will be considered "submitted."

And then, we'll wait.

FedEx 2

Thanks to sweet technology, I know that our dossier arrived in Madison on the 4th, yesterday. I also know that they did the state seals (Correctly?) and have sent the package back to us already! As soon as it comes to our doorstep, we'll be able to copy it and then turn it in. Wahoo!

Hill-dog

I guess that Hillary will be able to devote more time to her modeling career now. Check her out on the Ethiopian Clothes link.

FedEx

Rob and I just sent our dossier with all of the state seal requests to Madison. Today, around 6'45p. Last time we got them back very quickly, which of course we hope will happen again. Then, we'll be able to submit the packet. And then... we begin the real wait... for that blessed phone call. Ba-rrrrrrrrrrrrrring!

---

I am impatient today. I am tired of all of the papers. Yes, we are almost done. Tonight Rob and I will send all of our documents away for the state seals. Once we get those back (Last time, it took less than a week.), we can officially submit them to Bethany. And then we begin waiting. I think that my problem is that I'm reading about too many families that have gotten refferals recently (although from another agency). I know that the process could be so fast, but it's not been for us. Yes, we did get through making this dossier much more quickly than the Albanian one, but... I'm just impatient today.