Whoa.

G has more clothes than Rob and I do together! Thank you so much to everyone that's passed along baby outfits. Once he's home, we'll re-assess and see where he is and how quickly he is growing. But for now, we're set! Wahoo!

Packing

Now that I'm done with work, I can get to work. Ha! Yesterday, my sister and I spent some time packing for G. K was as good as a vacuum packer, compressing each of G's outfits, along with a diaper (Shouldn't those packages be easier to open?) into a zip-top bag. (Thanks for the idea, J!)

A shower!

Yesterday was my last day of work outside of the home for some time. Strange. And what a day! Outside for eight hours in about two hundred degrees! Shoo. At about five minutes to four, my boss, who actually had the day off, called my work phone and said, "I know that you are dying out there. Come in for some ice cream." I agreed, but then I immediately felt badly: I can't eat ice cream. So, while walking the two blocks into the building, I was devising a plan of how I could be social and cover up the fact that I couldn't eat the treat.

Well, I walked into the break-room, and, "Surprise!" All of the company's ladies were sitting there in a circle. We began with M taking photos of my surprised face and then we turned our attention to the cake. It had a flawless Ethiopian flag on it and said, "Welcome home ___, into loving arms." It was THE most delicious cake EVER, homemade by S., a small part of which you see here:



While everyone was eating and raving about the cake, I turned to the gifts. I was and still am overwhelmed. The generosity of my co-workers is amazing. There was an entire box, filled with baby clothes, blankets, bibs, hats, a hand-knit blanket with a little monkey face on it, and a book. We also received an activity mat because, "you won't be able to carry him around all day," so the ladies say. Ha! Then, there was the adorable stroller which you see here, which had a blue piggy bank sitting in the seat, already started:



Rob and I are so grateful. Thank you all so much. Thank you so much, A.

We're getting ready.

Thanks to our friends, who recently returned from Ethiopia with their daughter, I now have a working packing list. Minus the books, these are some of the items I've been able to check off so far.



And then, a very kind and thrifty lady from work arranged for us to have ALL of these used baby clothes. G, come home and start growing out of all of these!

Rob, drum roll, please...

We passed court! Thank God! We don't deserve this, but He chose to have mercy. Wahoo! Ethiopia recognizes me as G's mother! Off to a celebratory dinner...

*Fellow Brew-town adopter: Sorry to have kept you waiting. I just got home from work and to the computer. :)

Court date

Our adoption court date is tomorrow, 12 June. Please pray... now, at 2am, and tomorrow. May God's will be done! Selfishly, I think of the verse in James in which He tells us to take care of orphans. That is His will, no? So, let it be done! I also have this song stuck in my head, that our church's choir sang months ago now, "Lord, have mercy. Lord! Have mercy! For we have placed all our hope in You." Have mercy on us.

The little things

Yes, those are miniature, draw-string nightshirts hanging from our drying rack. I washed the first batch of clothing that we've been given for G and which we'll take to Ethiopia with us. At this point, as the title indicates, the little things are so big.



And then today, over lunch, a co-worker of Rob's took him to his church's rummage sale and Rob, with innocent (?) urging from older church-ladies, came home with this pile of books. We are hoping that G follows in BR's reading footsteps, so we have to begin the preparations now!

Second Tuesday

Last night we met with friends for our monthly, second-Tuesday dinner. We had Ethiopian food, with different dishes made by each family. Everyone did so well with the strange recipes! JR made delicious, spongy injera and A made doro wat, complete with fenugreek. D made a "fat" salad, foraged from the streets of Milwaukee and I made the steaming (ye)mesir wat. Delicious!



We were also given several gifts from our friends. There was the cutest hat: a beet hat! There is even a burgundy vein running through the little green leaves that sprout out at the top. Ooo, I love beets. Too cute! And then there were several books, even block books! Thank you, friends.

This week's Friday

Wow. This Friday is our court date. Wow. Is this for real? Is G really going to be our son? I am having a really hard time grasping the reality of all of this... maybe on purpose subconsciously. (I know, one poopy diaper into it, and I'll realize the reality! Ha!) Please pray. Please pray for peace. I feel that I've been so calm since our referral, but I feel the anxiety creeping in. Anxiety sounds much stronger than anxious, doesn't it? But, it's the same. Ugh.

A dream

A co-worker of mine stopped me half-way down the petunia aisle this morning to tell me her dream. She said, "Amy, you were in Ghana. You were cooking, stirring a huge pot of food. You kept throwing in more ground beef and shrimp (No!), jumbalaya-style. I thought that you were nuts, because you kept putting more into the pot, but you said, 'We have to feed a lot of people.' Then, an adorable boy, around two years old, came and stood next to you. He said, 'You should be my mother. I am REALLY smart and good and you'd be REALLY proud of me.' You responded, 'I think that we can work something out.'

That was her dream.

Reality?

Gifts!

What a day! It started with my manager, who gave us her favorite aunt's old cradle. Too sweet. It will fit perfectly at the foot of our bed. Ah! G will be sleeping at the foot of our bed soon, God willing. And then another co-worker gave me some of her children's old baby clothes. There are these adorable, little night-shirts, that cinch up at the bottom. They'll be perfect, considering that we won't know how big G really is when we go to get him. And finally, Rob's co-worker gave him another Richard Scarry book to add to the collection. All hand-me-downs! I love it! Thank you, thank you, and thank you.

Small preparations

Auntie KK has kindly given G her college dresser, which she even re-painted for him. (Thank you!) Now we have a place to put all of the clothes that we don't have for him yet. Ha! (I'll lose the ribbon tied to the top drawer once he's home. I can't help but tie scarves and ribbons to things. Hm.) And I just couldn't resist buying this letter G for him.