Eight months: swollen ankles and sore hips

Aren't those common conditions for someone who's eight months along into waiting to have a baby? Ha! Adoption is a bit different, thankfully, and my main concern at eight months is all of the daydreaming that I do. Will our child have those large, almond-shaped eyes? How much curly-curly hair will (s)he already have? Since we only have a shower, with no tub, where will we do baths? Am I going to have to use bottles or will we just skip to sippy-cups? Will (s)he fit nicely into the sling that I made and like riding around in it? Will I really be able to use the cloth diapers that I want to or will my super-strong gag-reflex prevent it? Where should this baby sleep once we just get home? Ah, yes, daydreaming. I'll take it any day over swollen ankles and sore hips!

Good news Friday

"God is good, all the time. All the time, He is good." Do you know the song? That is one of my favorites. Cue the trumpets! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!

On a morning like today it is so easy to sing that song. I do know that we're to be able to sing that song all of the time; but it's not always so easy, is it? However, when we experience a gift from God...

(I just realized that this is all starting to sound like we've gotten our referral. Sorry... not yet.)

... we are to rejoice and thank Him for it. So, thank God! Today, on this sunny, warm day, we got our renewed immigration paper! Wahoo!

About 15 minutes ago, I pulled myself away from the sunny windowsill, where I was dreaming of summer gardens, and went downstairs to see if the mail had come. It had. And, there was a lot. I saw a few magazines, but also several letter-sized pieces. I just had a feeling, but I didn't want to dive in. So, I slowly (at least in my mind, slowly) set the bigger things off to the right of the table and then flipped, one by one, through the letter-sized envelopes. And, as I got to the last one, I saw that the Department of Homeland Security was the return-address. Wahoo!

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!" That's another favorite song.

---about three minutes pass---

Ah! There is more! All five of the families that had courts dates this week passed! The other two, who were "on hold" for documents, heard today that they passed. AND one of the families, with a referral already, got its court date today... for the end of April! Wahoo!

"And we're moving' on up!" (How about that song?)

Update

Selom!

So, the family that's been in Ethiopia had a successful consular appointment on Tuesday and is on its way home. Thank God!

Of the five families that had court dates, three of them completely passed. Thank God, again! Two of the families didn't quite make it through because of some missing paperwork on the birth-mothers' part. They hope to clear up the issue without having to go through another court appointment.

And, as yet, there have been no referrals... but then it's not yet the second week. Ah! Maybe? Please!?

Finally, we need our renewed immigration paper. You are allowed to apply for it two months early, which I did to the date; however, there's been no sign of it. I'm a bit nervous that something is wrong because when we got re-fingerprinted, we received the new form the next week. May God's will be done... so, please pray.

That's all for now. Ciao! (Yes, that is what they say in Ethiopia.)

Newsweek

"In the end, parents, teachers, and mentors are all responsible for arming students with the right tools for the future. And when our children end up learning only half the story, no one wins" (Allison Samuels, Newsweek).

This was at the end of an article called, "Rethinking Race in the Classroom;" however, it is true for so much more. The adoption history and the Bible come to mind. Even now, before I know the complete "story," I am daunted by the thought of reconciling all the chapters.

March Madness

Although once upon a time I did fill out a March Madness roster-thingy, I make no connection to basketball here other than to use the term "March Madness." Sorry, Scott Larson.

This month, in our adoption agency: one family will bring home its daughter, seven families have court dates, and hopefully a number of families will receive referrals during the famous second week. So much action!

Please pray that the family currently in Ethiopia will have a successful Embassy interview, that the seven families with court dates will pass on the first try and get travel calls soon thereafter, that many children will be referred to their second families, and that all of our children will be healthy and provided for.

Inside a tukul

Oy, identity.

I've just finished a very good book by Rebecca Haile, entitled Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia. Her family was forced to leave Ethiopia after the Derg came to power in the late 1970s; and in her book, she tells of her return to that country, physically and intellectually, nearly thirty years later.

My favorite section of the book gave its title to this post: Inside a tukul. While she was going to an American school in Addis Ababa, growing up, the one hour spent inside a tukul, which had been plopped down in the middle of the modern school's courtyard, was the only class that acknowledged the Ethiopian-ness of the handful of national students. The American kids were exempt from this one lesson a day on Amharic, even though they too were growing up in Addis Ababa. The second tukul she writes of is at the Crown Hotel, where ethnic dance performances are given for turistas. She tells of dancers from each of the main ethnic groups, all happily in the same show... whilst in reality, each of these groups is vying for its own dominance in the breaking Ethiopia.

I do not want to raise our child from Ethiopia inside a tukul, where only one hour is dedicated to the Ethiopian ones and where a false sense of romanticism is displayed. I'd rather have our child held at a distance, but more involved. But, in the end, the author decides that "the tukul will be there as long as the school remains in business, and I can't see why that is such a bad thing" (p160). I, however, believe that she would agree that the tukul could be better used.

But, how do I do this? The instructors and participants inside the tukul are Ethiopian. Am I only a turista? Can I be otherwise? BJL says that "adoption is biologically alien to the unadopted."

I know that our identity must come from God first; but, I don't think that we can/should ignore other aspects of it.

"Igziyabher yakal. Igziyabher ke fekede."

Like a paddle-ball

(A long, deep sigh... purging and restorative. Auntie KK, you know the kind.)

After reading those two books by BJL, and being quite discouraged by the second one (Lost and Found), I wrote to our social worker. She had suggested those reads and I wanted to give her my feedback. My discouragement came through clearly and she responded immediately... and then again today, with the link that I'm about to attach. It is just what I needed. A good story. A happy ending. Hope.

Now, it has been brought to my attention that some people don't know how to work the links that I attach. I am going to type the words "adoption hope" at the end of this entry and it will be in another color. If you roll your mouse over that word, it will change to yet another color. Click on it. You will be taken to the site that has the story and mini-movie that encouraged me today.

Adoption hope.