party like it's 1999

There are rumors flying that because of the Ethiopian New Year, this year the court closures will be extended to approx. 3 months instead of the usual 2 months. And for those of us who happen to squeak by the court closures and happen to be travelling in September, it's gonna be a bit crazy.

Why, you ask? Because the Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash) is celebrated in September (Sept.11 or 12 depending on leap year) and according to the Ethiopian calendar it is only 1999, which means it's the millennium celebration this year!!!

I hope we receive our referral before courts close....it would be really cool to be over there for the millennium celebration. How many people get to celebrate the millennium twice.

URGE TO SPLURGE!

Yesterday I had the urge to splurge. And I did. I made the trek down to the nightmarish hell known as Babies R Us and purchased a stroller......couldn't help myself, totally had to!!

So, there it is. The Stroller.

Of course, it's orange, just like everything else I own.

It's really kinda cool (well, not Bugaboo cool but pretty darn cool) It's a Peg-Perego Aria Oh and it is so easy to collapse and open up and carry-y'know, all the things a great stroller should do and it wasn't horribly expensive and it's ORANGE! Have I mentioned that I love orange?

Plus, it comes with a handy cup holder which, for some reason, I am totally excited about.

dream dream dream

So, last night I had this dream that our caseworker called with our referral and it was so vivid!

In my dream, I picked up the phone, heard our caseworker's voice and literally crumpled to the ground, hyperventilating. Ryan was in the dream and neither of us could find a pen or paper to write our daughter's (yes, it was a girl, which is weird cuz usually when I dream about our baby it's a boy) information down and we both started to PANIC. We were running around with the phone, tearing the house apart. Our caseworker said her name was A....... Yeah, I woke up and couldn't remember her name other than it started with an A and was very pretty. I was totally sweating and all flustered when I woke up.

Good God, I hope I can get a grip when the real call comes. And as of today, I will have pen & paper with me at ALL times!

Transracial Adoption: ColorsNW February Story

This was posted on the anti-racist parent website and I thought it was interesting.

3 months down and ??? to go....

3 months.

Wow.

I can't believe how fast time is flying, I am going to be so unprepared when we get "The Call".

There was quite a flurry of referrals last week on the CHSFS forum-I think 9 of my "forum friends" received their referrals. It's very exciting because every time someone else gets "The Call' we move up the list and I love moving up the list. I LOVE it!

I'm still hoping for June.

June sounds really good to me.

Easter Road Trip

Yesterday was Easter and for once, I actually had the day off work.

We drove up to Madison to my Aunt's house and had a wonderful, fabulous time.
My Aunt is an excellent artist and she is in the process of making some artwork for the nursery. She is halfway done with a pair of paintings-we were able to take the 1st one home-it looks fabulous in the nursery. Yes, it is similar to a silkscreen I found online but I will always be able to tell my child that their Great Aunt Marsha loved them very much and took the time to paint these for them before they were even born :)

Here's the painting....

Here's the nursery, so far...

This is my Mom (left) & Aunt (right)

No really, they only look like they are choking each other.

And here is one of us.

guilt & sadness

I was thinking about all of my ranting & raving from yesterday (see previous post) and I started to feel guilty. And sad.

Here I am complaining about potentially having another month or three added to my wait and then I started to think about my child and their family and what obstacles they are going to have to face or are facing now, and I feel horrible. The heart wrenching decision a mother and her family are going to have to make or for all I know, have already made. A child, my child, having to say goodbye to his family, his country and his culture, the fear and sadness he must feel.

It's thoughts like these that really bring me back to reality, brings me out of my selfishness. It's not only about us starting a family, it's also about loss in a family. Our child has to experience a loss so great that most of us probably can't fathom it, before we are lucky enough to have him in our lives and experience the joy of raising him. It's a little overwhelming to say the least.

oh crap

I was really pinning all of my hopes and dreams on hearing something by June 15th (5 months into our wait) but I just found out today that the "expected wait time" went from 4-6mo to 5-6mo. Now, you're probably thinking "So what? It's 1 extra month, who cares?" but that ONE extra month pushes us into the court closures and we all know what that means. It means that we won't hear anything until the courts re-open sometime late August....adding months to our wait for a referral.....which makes for one CRANKY summer for you know who!

You know me, always the optimist!

Celebrate Ethiopian Children's Book Week!!!!

April 1-7, 2007

Visit www.ethiopiareads.org for more info on how you can help get books into the hands of children in Ethiopia.