My apologies for not getting this information posted sooner, it's been so busy, I'd nearly forgotten to add updates on our wee ones. We heard from our agency director last Thursday upon his return from Ethiopia. He returned with pictures and medical updates on Ezra and Olivia. At that point, we hadn't gotten any information on their sizes since they were three weeks old (we got the referral when they were five weeks old). Obviously they should be growing (quite a bit at this age...), yet the news was still shocking. Our little guy is now tipping the scales at a hefty 11 pounds! Yep, that's our boy! He's got a couple of chins now, and a few neck rolls... and we love them! No failure to thrive there, not a bit! Olivia hasn't gained as much, but is still growing rapidly and now just a bit shy of 10 pounds! They both look so much bigger!
It's exciting to see them doing so well (obviously no failure to thrive here!), yet also a bit heartbreaking missing these changes. It's partially that feeling of being so close, and yet so far. I look at their tiny little bodies from their referral pictures and sit in awe at how much they've changed! Olivia has the CUTEST little smile in one of the pictures, finally showing a bit of personality. Ezra still definitely has a cold, which means he's been dealing with it for at least a couple of weeks now. :( His nose is plugged up and you can see he has to breathe through his mouth. :'-( He needs his mommy! Ugh! This part is hard, I know they are SOOO well taken care of, but it still doesn't compare to having them home with their mommy and daddy!
On another positive note, we are now a mere 6 days (ok, 7 days if you include what's left of today) from court! Our babies are officially eligible for court as of Saturday, so we are SOOOO close to the point where we're "in the clear" and don't have to worry about any of those remote chances of something not going as planned. I think soon I may be able to breathe once again! Holy smokes... by this time next week we should officially be MOMMY and DADDY! WOW!
I'm going to go breathe into a bag now to try and stop hyperventilating...
Just kidding. I'm actually wavering between utter excitement and total peace about all of it. As we get closer, and make progress around the house so I can SEE how close we're getting to them, I've begun to feel more and more peaceful. Our children and beautiful and are thriving. I'm sure we'll make plenty of mistakes as parents, and I know twins is a scary thought for many people. Yet, I know Joe and I will manage and do we'll be an awesome family! We truly have been doubly blessed!
That's all for now... back to making progress! (I got the lower portion of the nursery painted, now I've just got to get the top half done... then we'll be ready to put up the mural!)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Taxes are D-O-N-E -- DONE!
Yep, that's right! Finally got my booty in gear and did our taxes this afternoon! I would have loved to have been painting the nursery (which is now skim coated and ready to go!), finishing the baby quilts, or running some errands that I need to do, but instead I forced myself to get those darn taxes out of the way! I knew I was quickly running out of time, so it feels great to have one more thing checked off the to-do list!
Now... on to errand running (my CostCo coupons expire TODAY!) and then maybe painting a bit!
Hooray!
8 days until court!!!!
Now... on to errand running (my CostCo coupons expire TODAY!) and then maybe painting a bit!
Hooray!
8 days until court!!!!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Ever wonder if time has stopped?
It's one of those days where I'm beginning to wonder if time has stopped. Maybe it's ceased to exist and we're just frozen in this moment. Okay, maybe it's not quite THAT extreme, but seriously, time is not "flying" by. I imagine that will begin to happen once we're through court and preparing to travel. Who knows.
Yesterday I had a weak moment and splurged on my dream stroller. It was such an awesome deal I couldn't pass it up... I just COULDN'T! ;-) I bought the 2008 BOB Revolution Duallie in Mesa Orange! Oh yeah, I'm so excited for it to come! I may have to put our two dachshunds in it when it arrives and push them around the neighborhood! Oh course, the whole time they'd be barking and fighting to get out of the seat and run around! Our dachshies are total spazoids when it comes time to go out for a walk. Particularly Cooper... he goes NUTS and squeals, yips, pulls, and wiggles until we are through the gate and into the park. Ugh. He makes it sound like we're beating him or something. People come out of their homes and stare. Is it embarrassing? You bet. Do I hate it? You bet. Can I get him to stop? Heck no! We've tried... I think we need a visit from the dog whisperer - Cesar Milan!
There are still a number of things around the house that need to be finished. Joe installed the first of 3 baby gates last weekend, the one at the bottom of the stairs. Now he just needs to get the one at the top of the stairs done, and the one between our kitchen and living room. THEN he needs to get the skim coat on the wall in the nursery so we can finally hang the mural! Oh, and I still need to paint that room too... but not until after the skim coat is done!
In the meantime, I'm working on finishing up the baby quilts. They would've been done long ago, but I had a VERY hard time finding a fabric for the outside border and backing of the quilt. Now that I have that, I'm in the process of quilting the layers together on Olivia's quilt, and will then do Ezra's. Once those are done, it's time to decorate their bumpers! I bought bumpers that are an off-white, minky dot, super soft fabric. I'm going to sew on some ribbon and fabric pieces that I used in the quilts to tie them together! Oh, and when I'm done with THAT, I'm going to have a bunch of baby blankets to sew out of all these adorable fabrics mom and I keep finding! :-S
Ok, back pretending I can focus on ANYTHING!
Yesterday I had a weak moment and splurged on my dream stroller. It was such an awesome deal I couldn't pass it up... I just COULDN'T! ;-) I bought the 2008 BOB Revolution Duallie in Mesa Orange! Oh yeah, I'm so excited for it to come! I may have to put our two dachshunds in it when it arrives and push them around the neighborhood! Oh course, the whole time they'd be barking and fighting to get out of the seat and run around! Our dachshies are total spazoids when it comes time to go out for a walk. Particularly Cooper... he goes NUTS and squeals, yips, pulls, and wiggles until we are through the gate and into the park. Ugh. He makes it sound like we're beating him or something. People come out of their homes and stare. Is it embarrassing? You bet. Do I hate it? You bet. Can I get him to stop? Heck no! We've tried... I think we need a visit from the dog whisperer - Cesar Milan!
There are still a number of things around the house that need to be finished. Joe installed the first of 3 baby gates last weekend, the one at the bottom of the stairs. Now he just needs to get the one at the top of the stairs done, and the one between our kitchen and living room. THEN he needs to get the skim coat on the wall in the nursery so we can finally hang the mural! Oh, and I still need to paint that room too... but not until after the skim coat is done!
In the meantime, I'm working on finishing up the baby quilts. They would've been done long ago, but I had a VERY hard time finding a fabric for the outside border and backing of the quilt. Now that I have that, I'm in the process of quilting the layers together on Olivia's quilt, and will then do Ezra's. Once those are done, it's time to decorate their bumpers! I bought bumpers that are an off-white, minky dot, super soft fabric. I'm going to sew on some ribbon and fabric pieces that I used in the quilts to tie them together! Oh, and when I'm done with THAT, I'm going to have a bunch of baby blankets to sew out of all these adorable fabrics mom and I keep finding! :-S
Ok, back pretending I can focus on ANYTHING!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
To be a mom...
A friend emailed this to me... I love it... so funny! Talk about some serious talent, I couldn't sing all this! Thanks Leslie for making me laugh!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Our life... the whirlwind
(21 days until court - including what's left of today!)
Yep, it's official. Our lives now seem to be a whirlwind of activity. While on the one hand, it feels as though court and meeting our little angels is still so far away, we have plenty of things to keep us busy. I need to get a more extensive list together so I can check items off as I go. It's become more than my brain can manage on its own, I think.
Over the weekend, I did manage to get paint colors selected for the nursery, and hope to begin painting in the next two weeks. Before I paint though, Joe needs to put a skim coat on the area of wall where the mural will go, so the wall texture doesn't show through the mural. I picked a light, off-white/cream color for the top half of the walls, and below the chair rail is a light yellow-green that I will use for the base color. Over that, I'm planning to use the two darker greens to create a grass type of effect, hopefully somewhat like the grass in the Serengeti. I'm no artist though, so I hope it turns out OK! If not, I'll have to paint over all of it and stick with a solid color. How boring! :) The mural will go up after the room is painted, and then lastly we'll stick up the chair rail. Whew, what a lot to do!
I finished the tops of the baby's quilts a week ago, and just need to find a border/backing fabric I like. Then, I can finish assembling the quilt and actually quilt the layers together. I also need to get busy and finish up making some baby blankets. I got some adorable fabrics when out with my mom a couple of weeks ago, and want to make some baby blankets - both for Olivia & Ezra, and to take and leave at Toukoul when we go. If I find the time, I also want to get busy making the sock dolls I've been slowly gathering supplies for - they're too cute, and apparently not too difficult to make.
My mom and I went on a small shopping spree Friday afternoon, and returned home with bumpers for the cribs, 4 ADORABLE wall hangings, two great children's books, and a number of cute outfits! Yeah, it was so much fun! Shopping trips like this help make this craziness feel a bit more real... I'm going to be a mommy in 3 weeks! Exactly 3 weeks from today, we should get word of our successful (please, oh please let it be successful the first time) court appointment, and we'll be Ezra and Olivia's parents! Then, a couple short weeks later, we should be in Ethiopia to meet them! WOW!
At this point, I'm not anticipating the nursery furniture will arrive before we head to Ethiopia. If it comes in earlier than anticipated, that'd be great... but I'm not counting on it. The anticipated date is April 10th and they give a window of up to 1-2 more weeks! So, I think we'll try and do two pack'n'plays in our room initially. We've been considering having them be in our room for a while anyway, so it's easier to get to them at night. We'll see... I know it'll all be an experiment until we find what works!
I also had a blast this past weekend beginning to work on their life books. So far, I've just been able to create a few pages in each of their albums, so there's lots left to do. I still have to fill in things on the pages and add pictures once we get them. I really need to spend some more time on this in the coming weeks, as it's something that I'm sure I'll have a hard time FINDING time to work on once they're home! I think the pages I have so far are a great start though, and I'm really pleased with how it's turning out! Many thanks to my teacher and guide in the process - Sabrina! I couldn't have done it without you!
On Sunday, I spoke with a travel agent and he's going to start helping us come up with a tentative itinerary and give us some airfare costs for the approximate dates we're thinking we'll be traveling. I also emailed the guide that comes highly recommended from a friend I met online through the WONDERFUL Ethiopian adoptive family forums, and hope we'll be able to use him for our trip south to Awassa. I definitely need to do a lot more research and make some decisions on where we want to go during our extra time in Ethiopia. Joe may not be able to join me for the first week now due to his work schedule. I'm so bummed. I can't imagine seeing Ethiopia without him, but we may have no choice. I think it's so important for at least one of us to see whatever we can while we're there, for Olivia and Ezra. I don't want to see only Addis Ababa, as I know that won't give us a good picture of Ethiopia in general.
The last big item is that this morning I had an "impromptu" interview and will be starting on site for "H" tomorrow morning. This new client is in Torrance, so I'll be on the road a bit and will lose a lot of productive time in the mornings and evenings because of this. Such a bummer with all I have to get done! But, it'll be good to be billable again, even though it's not a long term solution for my job. I'll be on this project for the next 5-6 weeks, basically until we travel. Then, whenever I come back to work, I'll be looking for another contract or job transfer - ugh! My hopes are still that I will get another job lined up so I will be remote again and be ready to hit it hard when I come back from leave! Wish me luck... it's been a LONG time since I've had to work on site anywhere... no more loungy clothes workdays! Super bummer!
Yep, it's official. Our lives now seem to be a whirlwind of activity. While on the one hand, it feels as though court and meeting our little angels is still so far away, we have plenty of things to keep us busy. I need to get a more extensive list together so I can check items off as I go. It's become more than my brain can manage on its own, I think.
Over the weekend, I did manage to get paint colors selected for the nursery, and hope to begin painting in the next two weeks. Before I paint though, Joe needs to put a skim coat on the area of wall where the mural will go, so the wall texture doesn't show through the mural. I picked a light, off-white/cream color for the top half of the walls, and below the chair rail is a light yellow-green that I will use for the base color. Over that, I'm planning to use the two darker greens to create a grass type of effect, hopefully somewhat like the grass in the Serengeti. I'm no artist though, so I hope it turns out OK! If not, I'll have to paint over all of it and stick with a solid color. How boring! :) The mural will go up after the room is painted, and then lastly we'll stick up the chair rail. Whew, what a lot to do!
I finished the tops of the baby's quilts a week ago, and just need to find a border/backing fabric I like. Then, I can finish assembling the quilt and actually quilt the layers together. I also need to get busy and finish up making some baby blankets. I got some adorable fabrics when out with my mom a couple of weeks ago, and want to make some baby blankets - both for Olivia & Ezra, and to take and leave at Toukoul when we go. If I find the time, I also want to get busy making the sock dolls I've been slowly gathering supplies for - they're too cute, and apparently not too difficult to make.
My mom and I went on a small shopping spree Friday afternoon, and returned home with bumpers for the cribs, 4 ADORABLE wall hangings, two great children's books, and a number of cute outfits! Yeah, it was so much fun! Shopping trips like this help make this craziness feel a bit more real... I'm going to be a mommy in 3 weeks! Exactly 3 weeks from today, we should get word of our successful (please, oh please let it be successful the first time) court appointment, and we'll be Ezra and Olivia's parents! Then, a couple short weeks later, we should be in Ethiopia to meet them! WOW!
At this point, I'm not anticipating the nursery furniture will arrive before we head to Ethiopia. If it comes in earlier than anticipated, that'd be great... but I'm not counting on it. The anticipated date is April 10th and they give a window of up to 1-2 more weeks! So, I think we'll try and do two pack'n'plays in our room initially. We've been considering having them be in our room for a while anyway, so it's easier to get to them at night. We'll see... I know it'll all be an experiment until we find what works!
I also had a blast this past weekend beginning to work on their life books. So far, I've just been able to create a few pages in each of their albums, so there's lots left to do. I still have to fill in things on the pages and add pictures once we get them. I really need to spend some more time on this in the coming weeks, as it's something that I'm sure I'll have a hard time FINDING time to work on once they're home! I think the pages I have so far are a great start though, and I'm really pleased with how it's turning out! Many thanks to my teacher and guide in the process - Sabrina! I couldn't have done it without you!
On Sunday, I spoke with a travel agent and he's going to start helping us come up with a tentative itinerary and give us some airfare costs for the approximate dates we're thinking we'll be traveling. I also emailed the guide that comes highly recommended from a friend I met online through the WONDERFUL Ethiopian adoptive family forums, and hope we'll be able to use him for our trip south to Awassa. I definitely need to do a lot more research and make some decisions on where we want to go during our extra time in Ethiopia. Joe may not be able to join me for the first week now due to his work schedule. I'm so bummed. I can't imagine seeing Ethiopia without him, but we may have no choice. I think it's so important for at least one of us to see whatever we can while we're there, for Olivia and Ezra. I don't want to see only Addis Ababa, as I know that won't give us a good picture of Ethiopia in general.
The last big item is that this morning I had an "impromptu" interview and will be starting on site for "H" tomorrow morning. This new client is in Torrance, so I'll be on the road a bit and will lose a lot of productive time in the mornings and evenings because of this. Such a bummer with all I have to get done! But, it'll be good to be billable again, even though it's not a long term solution for my job. I'll be on this project for the next 5-6 weeks, basically until we travel. Then, whenever I come back to work, I'll be looking for another contract or job transfer - ugh! My hopes are still that I will get another job lined up so I will be remote again and be ready to hit it hard when I come back from leave! Wish me luck... it's been a LONG time since I've had to work on site anywhere... no more loungy clothes workdays! Super bummer!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
COURT DATE!!!
Drumroll please... we have a COURT DATE!
Our court date is March 17th! Saint Patrick's Day, yeah!
(24 days until court!)
Our court date is March 17th! Saint Patrick's Day, yeah!
(24 days until court!)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Quick update
Sorry guys... still no news. I am definitely checking myself into the loony bin if we don't get a court date in the next few days! I've lost all ability to focus on tasks and have practically broken the F5 (refresh) button on my computer from constantly checking for updates! I told you that this was going to be tough for me! Times like this make me wish I'd learned to master patience as a child. Heck, I could never even wait for Christmas day to open presents! I was always snooping around the house until I found them, and even sliced open the scotch tape to peek in packages with my brother a couple of years!!! (Don't deny it Zak! You TAUGHT me how to do it!). So yeah, patience is just not my virtue. Grrrr.
But, I DID get a response from my agency today. I sent an email yesterday asking if there were ANY updates yet... just in case an email didn't come through to me or something (*grin*). Well, I've been told that APPARENTLY a court date has been assigned and we're waiting for it to be given to us. Huh. Ok. He says it'll be "very soon." Right. WHAT?! If we know we have one assigned, why don't we know when it is?!
Ok - breathing deeply now. Ooooommmmmm, oooooooommmmmmm - wish I'd gotten into yoga, I could really use the relaxing & deep breathing about now! I don't know what I'll do with myself once we have our beautiful babies home and I don't have all this craziness to obsess about! ;-) (Of course I'm kidding... I think twins will keep me plenty busy!).
So, as a distraction, I'll post a short blurb about myself. There are plenty of you out there I've never had the good (or bad??? I've had some nasty comments early in the process - some mean folks out there :-S) fortune of meeting, so you probably only know a little about me. Well, I talk a lot. Apparently, this is true. Oh, and not only do I talk a lot, but apparently I talk VERY quickly... especially when excited. Poor Joe probably hasn't understood much of what I've said over the last 3 weeks since referral - cause yeah, I've been pretty excited the entire time. I also LOVE dogs. Animals in general actually. I used to ride horses and had two beautiful mares before moving to Southern California. I am loving and compassionate, and fight tooth and nail for the ones I love. I can be totally stubborn, and completely obsessive sometimes. (Who would've thunk it, right?) I feel it's my job and my right as a human being to do what I can to help others in need. For two summers, I worked in orphanages rehab centers, and hospitals in Romania - it was an incredible, challenging, life changing experience. Oh, and I definitely have a serious travel bug. Yup... international travel is something that makes me ridiculously giddy. And yes, I've been excited to become I mommy since I was itty bitty myself.
There ya have it. That's me in a very short nutshell. Cool, eh? Ok, maybe not so cool, but who cares!
That's it for now. Thanks for reading this far... it feels good to ramble a bit and get it all out there. I don't know how people get through 5 months between referral and travel... and hope I don't have to learn about it firsthand!
KEEP ON GUESSING THOSE COURT DATES! :-D I'm liking the March 24th guess the best so far!!! April 16th?! Yikes! Hee hee hee.
But, I DID get a response from my agency today. I sent an email yesterday asking if there were ANY updates yet... just in case an email didn't come through to me or something (*grin*). Well, I've been told that APPARENTLY a court date has been assigned and we're waiting for it to be given to us. Huh. Ok. He says it'll be "very soon." Right. WHAT?! If we know we have one assigned, why don't we know when it is?!
Ok - breathing deeply now. Ooooommmmmm, oooooooommmmmmm - wish I'd gotten into yoga, I could really use the relaxing & deep breathing about now! I don't know what I'll do with myself once we have our beautiful babies home and I don't have all this craziness to obsess about! ;-) (Of course I'm kidding... I think twins will keep me plenty busy!).
So, as a distraction, I'll post a short blurb about myself. There are plenty of you out there I've never had the good (or bad??? I've had some nasty comments early in the process - some mean folks out there :-S) fortune of meeting, so you probably only know a little about me. Well, I talk a lot. Apparently, this is true. Oh, and not only do I talk a lot, but apparently I talk VERY quickly... especially when excited. Poor Joe probably hasn't understood much of what I've said over the last 3 weeks since referral - cause yeah, I've been pretty excited the entire time. I also LOVE dogs. Animals in general actually. I used to ride horses and had two beautiful mares before moving to Southern California. I am loving and compassionate, and fight tooth and nail for the ones I love. I can be totally stubborn, and completely obsessive sometimes. (Who would've thunk it, right?) I feel it's my job and my right as a human being to do what I can to help others in need. For two summers, I worked in orphanages rehab centers, and hospitals in Romania - it was an incredible, challenging, life changing experience. Oh, and I definitely have a serious travel bug. Yup... international travel is something that makes me ridiculously giddy. And yes, I've been excited to become I mommy since I was itty bitty myself.
There ya have it. That's me in a very short nutshell. Cool, eh? Ok, maybe not so cool, but who cares!
That's it for now. Thanks for reading this far... it feels good to ramble a bit and get it all out there. I don't know how people get through 5 months between referral and travel... and hope I don't have to learn about it firsthand!
KEEP ON GUESSING THOSE COURT DATES! :-D I'm liking the March 24th guess the best so far!!! April 16th?! Yikes! Hee hee hee.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A poll - since I have nothing better to do :-D
Ok, so we still have no news on our court date. So, I thought in order to have a little fun and see what people think, I'd do a poll.
-- When do you think our court date will be? --
Here are the basics of our timeline to help you decide:
- Referral on 1/28/08
- Accepted referral on 1/29/08
- Children taken into care on 12/22/07 (3 months in care prior to court rule applies)
- Told to expect to hear about our court date in approximately 3 weeks (which would be today!)
So, go ahead, have some fun, make your guess, do the court date dance, or whatever you can do. Comment away with those court date guesses, and I HOPE that anyone that guesses SOONER than later is the one that's right!
-- When do you think our court date will be? --
Here are the basics of our timeline to help you decide:
- Referral on 1/28/08
- Accepted referral on 1/29/08
- Children taken into care on 12/22/07 (3 months in care prior to court rule applies)
- Told to expect to hear about our court date in approximately 3 weeks (which would be today!)
So, go ahead, have some fun, make your guess, do the court date dance, or whatever you can do. Comment away with those court date guesses, and I HOPE that anyone that guesses SOONER than later is the one that's right!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Waiting...
Oh yeah, we're still waiting. No news whatsoever. I finally emailed our agency just to make sure there we no updates of any kind yet, and was told "we are still expecting to hear news of your court date soon." I do realize it's not been 3 weeks quite yet (and that's how long we were told it could take), but Tuesday will be the 3 week mark... so we're almost there. In this stage it's becoming increasingly difficult to not compare ourselves with the timelines other people (even with our same agency) have had from referral to court date to court itself. We aren't setting any records yet for how long it's taking, but I'm still struggling with the wait for news at this point. I THINK (keyword is think here) that I'll be a bit more at ease once we at least know whether or not they are giving us a court date at this time, or making us wait until Liv and Ez have been in care for 3 months and then reapply for a date at that time.
It's all part of the process, and I am doing my best to wait patiently. I just can't say it's easy. Some days our little angels seem like more of a dream than a reality. Having heard nothing new about them since the day we first heard of them... it starts to feel like none of it's real. This past week became increasingly difficult since we are waiting and hoping that we may get an update and new pictures from a wonderful new friend that was there picking up her daughter at the same orphanage. Once she gets home and settled in, we will hopefully get to lay our eyes on new pictures of our babies!!!
Ok, now pray for my sanity as we wait "patiently" for news. Poor Joe is doing so well tolerating my whining and baby talking obsession, but I know we both need an update soon!
OT - We took Chloe to see the oncologist and another neurologist today. The oncologist felt that since we are still able to control Chloe's symptoms with Prednisone and Cyclosporine after all this time, that it likely IS NOT Lymphoma! No guarantees... but it was hopeful news. He said if it is Lymphoma, that we should expect to see her declining very soon, so it'll be a tenuous few weeks/months. Our little girl is so precious to us, so we'll do whatever we can to keep her comfortable and help her fight the bad zee-bees attacking her brain! Go Chloe! She's such a fighter... even after 4+ months of this!
It's all part of the process, and I am doing my best to wait patiently. I just can't say it's easy. Some days our little angels seem like more of a dream than a reality. Having heard nothing new about them since the day we first heard of them... it starts to feel like none of it's real. This past week became increasingly difficult since we are waiting and hoping that we may get an update and new pictures from a wonderful new friend that was there picking up her daughter at the same orphanage. Once she gets home and settled in, we will hopefully get to lay our eyes on new pictures of our babies!!!
Ok, now pray for my sanity as we wait "patiently" for news. Poor Joe is doing so well tolerating my whining and baby talking obsession, but I know we both need an update soon!
OT - We took Chloe to see the oncologist and another neurologist today. The oncologist felt that since we are still able to control Chloe's symptoms with Prednisone and Cyclosporine after all this time, that it likely IS NOT Lymphoma! No guarantees... but it was hopeful news. He said if it is Lymphoma, that we should expect to see her declining very soon, so it'll be a tenuous few weeks/months. Our little girl is so precious to us, so we'll do whatever we can to keep her comfortable and help her fight the bad zee-bees attacking her brain! Go Chloe! She's such a fighter... even after 4+ months of this!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Some days up, some days down...
Yep, I hate waiting. I know it's only be 2 weeks now that we've been waiting for a court date, but it feels like a lot longer. Other families with our agency have gotten court dates in just under 2 weeks, and since we don't know what'll happen with our court date (will they give us one or make us wait until after 3 months to assign a date), the waiting is particularly difficult.
A cyber friend of mine is currently at Toukoul picking up her beautiful daughter. While she's there, she's planning to look in on our precious ones, and possibly even take some pictures if she can. On her blog today, there was a post from her stating that she'd met her daughter, and would be trying to get info on our kiddos soon. Oi! It's harder and easier knowing that someone is going to see them. Obviously I'd rather it be me over there meeting them and wrapping my arms around them, but since it can't be... yet... I'm just thrilled that she's going to take some time and learn what she can. I'm dying to know what they're like. Are they laid back, fussy, smiley, what?!??! Any little piece of information would be so exciting. Just knowing someone else has seen them, makes it feel that much more real.
So, to add to the adoption roller-coaster, we're still battling whatever mystery illness Chloe has. When we finally got to try reducing her Prednisone from 2x per day to 1x per day, she spiraled backward. Her neurologist is NOW thinking we may need to reconsider the original diagnosis and consider some of the other possibilties that he'd mentioned to us. Particularly... Lymphoma. This is obviously not good news at all. Our options are: 1) to put her through another spinal tap and send off more fluid samples - one to test for Lymphoma, the other to test for infectious disease, 2) give her a shot of aspariginase (sp?) which is the chemotherapy drug that would be used to treat Lymphoma - if it is Lymphoma she should show signs of improvement after 24-48 hours, 3) continue with the increased dose of CycloSPORINE and do no further testing.
It's obviously a difficult situation, particularly now that we're waiting for news on our court date and then travel. Lymphoma is a terrible diagnosis, because even with chemo, we're being told she'd have maybe a year. Putting her through chemo sounds awful, but apparently some dogs do great and it's only a few treatments, so most of that "year" she'd be feeling pretty good. Not doing anything doesn't sound fair to her either. When she's on a high dose of Prednisone and CycloSPORINE, she seems to feel comfortable. Tomorrow we drop the Pred back down since the increased dose of CycloSPORINE should be starting to kick in. It took a few days after dropping her dose before to see the negative result, so it'll be a stressful few days of watching her and praying she doesn't get sicker and feel so awful again. It's gut wrenching to watch her shivering and shaking in pain.
To top it off, she'd developed a mild ear infection, and definitely seems to be in a bit of discomfort from the 1/2" diameter bladder stone we've learned she has. I have added ear drops to our twice daily medicine routine, and the ear drops have left her beautiful, soft, long ear hair greasy and gross. Poor Chloe looks sickly and rather miserable. She's still got a fighting chance though... especially if it's not Lymphoma. Please keep her in your thoughts, your prayers, or whatever it is you do. She has been our little love bug for over 7 years, and I am definitely not ready to lose her. She's got so much attitude and spunk, if anyone could pull through it, it's her! She's got a consult with a new neurologist and an oncologist on Saturday... so hopefully we will be further enlightened after a new set of eyes look over her charts.
So, yeah. We've got a lot going on. My dad flies in late tonight for a visit and baby planning and celebration. While he's here, we hope to do whatever room re-arranging we need to do in order to start setting up for babies. That may include having him help us start prepping the mural wall with either a liner paper or a skim coat to smooth the texture. The tracking info on our mural shows that it's supposed to arrive on Thursday - Valentine's Day! That day is ALSO my dad's 50th b-day... so it'll be a fun and busy day! I also have to get the fabric for the baby quilts cut, and then get sewing! I have to paint the nursery, but can't pick out paint colors until I get the mural here. I think in a couple of weeks I'm going to be wrapping up a number of these projects and then I'll really start going nuts with waiting! Once the nursery is finished... I know I won't be able to stand waiting much longer to bring Ezra and Olivia home!
A cyber friend of mine is currently at Toukoul picking up her beautiful daughter. While she's there, she's planning to look in on our precious ones, and possibly even take some pictures if she can. On her blog today, there was a post from her stating that she'd met her daughter, and would be trying to get info on our kiddos soon. Oi! It's harder and easier knowing that someone is going to see them. Obviously I'd rather it be me over there meeting them and wrapping my arms around them, but since it can't be... yet... I'm just thrilled that she's going to take some time and learn what she can. I'm dying to know what they're like. Are they laid back, fussy, smiley, what?!??! Any little piece of information would be so exciting. Just knowing someone else has seen them, makes it feel that much more real.
So, to add to the adoption roller-coaster, we're still battling whatever mystery illness Chloe has. When we finally got to try reducing her Prednisone from 2x per day to 1x per day, she spiraled backward. Her neurologist is NOW thinking we may need to reconsider the original diagnosis and consider some of the other possibilties that he'd mentioned to us. Particularly... Lymphoma. This is obviously not good news at all. Our options are: 1) to put her through another spinal tap and send off more fluid samples - one to test for Lymphoma, the other to test for infectious disease, 2) give her a shot of aspariginase (sp?) which is the chemotherapy drug that would be used to treat Lymphoma - if it is Lymphoma she should show signs of improvement after 24-48 hours, 3) continue with the increased dose of CycloSPORINE and do no further testing.
It's obviously a difficult situation, particularly now that we're waiting for news on our court date and then travel. Lymphoma is a terrible diagnosis, because even with chemo, we're being told she'd have maybe a year. Putting her through chemo sounds awful, but apparently some dogs do great and it's only a few treatments, so most of that "year" she'd be feeling pretty good. Not doing anything doesn't sound fair to her either. When she's on a high dose of Prednisone and CycloSPORINE, she seems to feel comfortable. Tomorrow we drop the Pred back down since the increased dose of CycloSPORINE should be starting to kick in. It took a few days after dropping her dose before to see the negative result, so it'll be a stressful few days of watching her and praying she doesn't get sicker and feel so awful again. It's gut wrenching to watch her shivering and shaking in pain.
To top it off, she'd developed a mild ear infection, and definitely seems to be in a bit of discomfort from the 1/2" diameter bladder stone we've learned she has. I have added ear drops to our twice daily medicine routine, and the ear drops have left her beautiful, soft, long ear hair greasy and gross. Poor Chloe looks sickly and rather miserable. She's still got a fighting chance though... especially if it's not Lymphoma. Please keep her in your thoughts, your prayers, or whatever it is you do. She has been our little love bug for over 7 years, and I am definitely not ready to lose her. She's got so much attitude and spunk, if anyone could pull through it, it's her! She's got a consult with a new neurologist and an oncologist on Saturday... so hopefully we will be further enlightened after a new set of eyes look over her charts.
So, yeah. We've got a lot going on. My dad flies in late tonight for a visit and baby planning and celebration. While he's here, we hope to do whatever room re-arranging we need to do in order to start setting up for babies. That may include having him help us start prepping the mural wall with either a liner paper or a skim coat to smooth the texture. The tracking info on our mural shows that it's supposed to arrive on Thursday - Valentine's Day! That day is ALSO my dad's 50th b-day... so it'll be a fun and busy day! I also have to get the fabric for the baby quilts cut, and then get sewing! I have to paint the nursery, but can't pick out paint colors until I get the mural here. I think in a couple of weeks I'm going to be wrapping up a number of these projects and then I'll really start going nuts with waiting! Once the nursery is finished... I know I won't be able to stand waiting much longer to bring Ezra and Olivia home!
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Just for laughs
For those of you needing a goofy pick me up... this should hopefully do it. Joe shared this with me this evening, and I have to admit it's pretty funny! Don't ask me how he had time to be watching goofy videos on YouTube with all we have going on though! ;-)
Hope you enjoy!
Hope you enjoy!
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Baby steps forward
I can tell you one thing, my heart is still receding from my throat back down into my chest. I don't know why my heart leaps into my throat anytime I see an email or phone call from our agency now. Well, I guess I do know why... until Olivia Yodit and Ezra Tewodros are officially ours, I'm on edge a bit. Anyway, I just received an email from our agency (in response to an email I sent yesterday), and saw it had an attachment. I immediately figured it was either more pictures somehow (I know, keep dreaming!), or some sort of bad news. In general, my philosophy on life is to be optimistic and look at the cup half full. Why can't I do this now?! I am so afraid of the uncertainty of this part of the process.
The update from our agency director was all good. One more step in the process of getting to court was taken, and for that I'm thrilled. According to the agency, we will hear something about our court date "in the next weeks." A bit vague, but I'll assume it means 2 or so more weeks since we were originally told it'd be 3 weeks or so after accepting our referral that we'd hear back about our court date.
I can't say I haven't been busy lately, and that should be helping pass the time. Late last night I began trying to design the quilt pattern for Ezra and Olivia's quilts, and I can't say I'm feeling like this is my forte. I love being crafty, sewing, etc., but rarely do I do it. It's been a couple of years since I've sewn a quilt, so who knows how these will turn out. I'd be thrilled to use a pattern from somewhere, but haven't found one that was easy for me to visualize it working with the fabrics and prints I have. I'm using a light pink fabric with brown accents for Olivia's, and a light blue with brown accents for Ezra. They will both use some brown/white zebra print fabric, and a brown leopard print. I also got a number of fat quarters in various light tans/browns to mix in if needed. The quilts will be the same other than the pink/blue fabrics.
Room and furniture arrangements is still in the works. Hopefully we'll get this decided upon sometime in the next week or so. We have a big, beautiful desk with a peninsula on it in our office, but since the office is the larger of our two rooms, it looks like we may have to set it up as the nursery. It's fun to figure it all out, but also a bit difficult. Once we move our big honking desk, I don't want to decide we don't like what we decided and move it again later! I also want to be able to put up the mural when it arrives, and that means we need to start prepping the wall we're going to put it on.
All in all, I'd say we've got plenty going on to keep us busy. Soon enough, we'll be getting a court date, becoming Ezra and Olivia's parents legally, and then hopping on an airplane to go meet them! :-D
The update from our agency director was all good. One more step in the process of getting to court was taken, and for that I'm thrilled. According to the agency, we will hear something about our court date "in the next weeks." A bit vague, but I'll assume it means 2 or so more weeks since we were originally told it'd be 3 weeks or so after accepting our referral that we'd hear back about our court date.
I can't say I haven't been busy lately, and that should be helping pass the time. Late last night I began trying to design the quilt pattern for Ezra and Olivia's quilts, and I can't say I'm feeling like this is my forte. I love being crafty, sewing, etc., but rarely do I do it. It's been a couple of years since I've sewn a quilt, so who knows how these will turn out. I'd be thrilled to use a pattern from somewhere, but haven't found one that was easy for me to visualize it working with the fabrics and prints I have. I'm using a light pink fabric with brown accents for Olivia's, and a light blue with brown accents for Ezra. They will both use some brown/white zebra print fabric, and a brown leopard print. I also got a number of fat quarters in various light tans/browns to mix in if needed. The quilts will be the same other than the pink/blue fabrics.
Room and furniture arrangements is still in the works. Hopefully we'll get this decided upon sometime in the next week or so. We have a big, beautiful desk with a peninsula on it in our office, but since the office is the larger of our two rooms, it looks like we may have to set it up as the nursery. It's fun to figure it all out, but also a bit difficult. Once we move our big honking desk, I don't want to decide we don't like what we decided and move it again later! I also want to be able to put up the mural when it arrives, and that means we need to start prepping the wall we're going to put it on.
All in all, I'd say we've got plenty going on to keep us busy. Soon enough, we'll be getting a court date, becoming Ezra and Olivia's parents legally, and then hopping on an airplane to go meet them! :-D
Monday, February 04, 2008
And my productivity soars...
Well, I can tell you one thing our referral has done... it's increased my productivity enormously! On Thursday, my mom and I got the cribs and dressers ordered (which should be arriving April 10th or so). Yesterday, I finally decided I WAS NOT going to find the right crib bedding sets, and should just make my own. Do I have the extra time for it? Maybe, who knows. I will MAKE time. I bought fabric and am ready to start laying out the quilts for our beautiful babies.
The most impressive step we took was in deciding on names for them! We are happy to announce that their names are Ezra Tewodros and Olivia Yodit! I spent a lot of time stressing over how I could incorporate my late Grandma's name, Sue, into Olivia's name, but didn't want to give her 2 middle names, and we really didn't want to get rid of their Ethiopian names. Tewodros means "King of Ethiopia" and Yodit means "Woman from Judea." With such strong, meaningful names, we knew they had to stay. :-D
I ALSO splurged a bit and ordered this AWESOME wall mural last night for the nursery. I've dreamed of having a Safari nursery for years, long before I knew we'd adopt from Ethiopia. I worried about whether that would be cliche since our children are coming from Africa, but decided that was silly to stress over. So, I ordered a big mural (10'2" wide by 4'8" tall) to put on one wall of the nursery. It is called "The Sentinels" and is a landscape of the Serengetti with a tall Umbrella Thorn tree, three giraffes, and some zebras. There were SO MANY cool ones, it was a tough choice. I finally decided this one had a level of calm to it that some of the stampeding zebras didn't... as cool as they were! Check out the mural we chose (and others) at: http://www.muralsyourway.com/myw4-design.cfm?pid=MMIARK2003. I'll tell you what I think of it once I get it here and put up. THAT will be the challenge for me! ;-)
The most impressive step we took was in deciding on names for them! We are happy to announce that their names are Ezra Tewodros and Olivia Yodit! I spent a lot of time stressing over how I could incorporate my late Grandma's name, Sue, into Olivia's name, but didn't want to give her 2 middle names, and we really didn't want to get rid of their Ethiopian names. Tewodros means "King of Ethiopia" and Yodit means "Woman from Judea." With such strong, meaningful names, we knew they had to stay. :-D
I ALSO splurged a bit and ordered this AWESOME wall mural last night for the nursery. I've dreamed of having a Safari nursery for years, long before I knew we'd adopt from Ethiopia. I worried about whether that would be cliche since our children are coming from Africa, but decided that was silly to stress over. So, I ordered a big mural (10'2" wide by 4'8" tall) to put on one wall of the nursery. It is called "The Sentinels" and is a landscape of the Serengetti with a tall Umbrella Thorn tree, three giraffes, and some zebras. There were SO MANY cool ones, it was a tough choice. I finally decided this one had a level of calm to it that some of the stampeding zebras didn't... as cool as they were! Check out the mural we chose (and others) at: http://www.muralsyourway.com/myw4-design.cfm?pid=MMIARK2003. I'll tell you what I think of it once I get it here and put up. THAT will be the challenge for me! ;-)
Joe thinks I'm nuts with all the projects I'm taking on... but staying busy is a GOOD thing for me. Since I can barely stand to be halfway around the world from Olivia and Ezra, I have to keep working on things that make me feel closer to bringing them home. Even the unnecessary things like making the neatest, most fun nursery for them that I possibly can! The biggest challenge has been trying to make it a nursery that has a little boys element AND a girly element too. Hence... I'm making my own crib quilts and bumpers! Wish me luck, I'm sure I'll need it. Sewing isn't the trouble, it's the layout that always gives me the most trouble with a quilt.
As for my job, I'm still working on a resolution. I have a meeting with my boss at 3:00pm today that I'm admittantly dreading. Her lack of enthusiam aside, I know she wants me to be working on finding a new job, and until I have one, that's stressful. Especially considering that our "side" business now looks like it'll be able to take over my job and income in the next couple of months! Not trying to count chickens before they hatch or anything, but THAT would be awesome! I KNOW we can do it! And in the meantime, I'll do whatever I can to work with my boss and try and make sure my company is happy with my efforts. I agree with everyone that's said not to let her thoughts get to me, and try to live my life that way. There are people that aren't supportive of adoption and don't understand where you're coming from. That's why I'm so glad I've met so many wonderful people to share in the excitement! Thank you to all of my wonderful friends and family, local and distant, that have supported and encouraged us every step of the way. Your love and support means the world to us!
Back to work... make it a great day!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tiny distractions...
While it's still a little hard to believe that we are really only a matter of months away from meeting Yodit and Tewodros, the fact that they are in Ethiopia waiting for us is definitely starting to sink in. How in the world am I to get any work done when I have these two beautiful faces to look at? There is so much planning to do, we are still working on their names, and I desperately need to get my job situation figured out.
Speaking of my job, one thing I've come to realize is that not everyone in this world is equipped with some of the basic courtesies we often take for granted. When talking with my boss, W, I had no idea she would show so little respect and professionalism. Although I have never felt she has good interpersonal skills, and realize we've never had any sort of relationship beyond the basic yearly review and touch point here and there, I still expected SOMETHING different when I brought up the fact that we'd received our referral. There's no way I'm going to give her the satisfaction of dragging on about the frustrating conversation we had, I will say it's time to find a new group within my company. Now that my *rant* is out of the way... I can move on to the exciting whirlwind that is now encompassing our lives!
Honestly, could it get more perfect than being blessed with a handsome little boy and a beautiful little girl?! I'm sure there are days when we will be exhausted, sleep deprived, and questioning our abilities as parents, but there is no way I would ever have it any other way. As crazy as it may sound to those that haven't experienced adoption first hand, this was meant to be. When I look at their little faces, I can't imagine how I could already be so in love with them. Tewodros has such big, thoughtful eyes, and Yodit has such a sweet, cuddly look. I have no idea how much they cry, or if they make slurping sounds when they eat, but I know they weren't meant to be with us.
Tomorrow, my mom and I will be heading to Direct Buy (such a wonderful place!) to hopefully get the cribs and other bedroom furniture items ordered. They have some awesome prices on really great stuff. *I already KNOW this since I've been "window shopping" for a while now!* We know that we want some sort of whimsical safari sort of them, and have a few decorative items we've picked up here and there to use. If anyone has cute suggestions on a nice boy/girl safari type nursery, let me know!
I guess it's time for me to get back to it - working, baby name brainstorming, day dreaming, etc.! Make it a great day everyone!
Speaking of my job, one thing I've come to realize is that not everyone in this world is equipped with some of the basic courtesies we often take for granted. When talking with my boss, W, I had no idea she would show so little respect and professionalism. Although I have never felt she has good interpersonal skills, and realize we've never had any sort of relationship beyond the basic yearly review and touch point here and there, I still expected SOMETHING different when I brought up the fact that we'd received our referral. There's no way I'm going to give her the satisfaction of dragging on about the frustrating conversation we had, I will say it's time to find a new group within my company. Now that my *rant* is out of the way... I can move on to the exciting whirlwind that is now encompassing our lives!
Honestly, could it get more perfect than being blessed with a handsome little boy and a beautiful little girl?! I'm sure there are days when we will be exhausted, sleep deprived, and questioning our abilities as parents, but there is no way I would ever have it any other way. As crazy as it may sound to those that haven't experienced adoption first hand, this was meant to be. When I look at their little faces, I can't imagine how I could already be so in love with them. Tewodros has such big, thoughtful eyes, and Yodit has such a sweet, cuddly look. I have no idea how much they cry, or if they make slurping sounds when they eat, but I know they weren't meant to be with us.
Tomorrow, my mom and I will be heading to Direct Buy (such a wonderful place!) to hopefully get the cribs and other bedroom furniture items ordered. They have some awesome prices on really great stuff. *I already KNOW this since I've been "window shopping" for a while now!* We know that we want some sort of whimsical safari sort of them, and have a few decorative items we've picked up here and there to use. If anyone has cute suggestions on a nice boy/girl safari type nursery, let me know!
I guess it's time for me to get back to it - working, baby name brainstorming, day dreaming, etc.! Make it a great day everyone!
Monday, January 28, 2008
It's TWINS!
I barely know where to begin! We got our referral this morning, and as you can guess, it was TOTALLY unexpected! I was so busy blogging and bumming about how I knew we weren't "ready" yet, and here it is! I must tell you, this is such an awesome feeling!!!
Details:
We have been referred TWINS!!! We have a beautiful boy, named Tewodros, and a gorgeous little girl named Yodit! They are teeny, and amazing. No, perfect. I don't even have words for how perfect they are. They are 5 weeks old, and are from Awassa. I am in UTTER shock, and I'm pretty sure Joe is too!
Ok, so this morning, I was busy working away. Since I'm still working out of my home office, some mornings I am slow to get dressed and ready to greet the day. I was still in pj's and had a mud mask on, when I hear my computer make the little chime sound that tells me I had an email. I open my email, and see a note from our agency. The subject is: See Attached Please. Since I hadn't gotten a phone call and had NO reason to anticipate a referral yet, I thought "Oh no, there must be something wrong with our dossier!" Who knows, right?
The email takes forever and a DAY to open (doesn't it always when you're sitting anxiously awaiting whatever it will contain?!), and when it does, I couldn't believe it! In front of my eyes were the words:
"Dear family
See attached the referral we just received for you... twins, boy and girl."
Then, there were 5 attachments, 4 pictures and the information on them. I covered my mouth as I SCREAMED "OH MY GOSH!!!" then JUMPED out of my chair (much to the dismay of my dogs that bolted from the room!) and began running around upstairs screaming, crying, and shouting "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!"
After a couple of minutes of this, I called Joe and actually caught him. I was still crying, laughing, and not making a lot of sense. I shouted "We got our referral! Get in front of your computer right now!!! I'm going to forward the email to you and we'll open the pictures at the same time!" After a couple of tense minutes waiting for him to get the email (it probably took half that time for me to type his email address into the To: line since I was shaking so hard!), he got the email.
Together, we opened the first picture and took our first look at our beautiful Yodit. She's incredible. She already has quite a bit of curly hair and big eyes. Her little nose is so adorable! Her arms and legs are skinny, teeny, and just waiting for their mommy to come and kiss on them!
After oogling at Yodit for a moment, we opened the next picture, of her brother Tewodros, together. He is just as amazing. This little guy seems to be quite lacking in the hair department, and has the same amazing eyes, and big, beautiful lips! He also has the teeny little arms and legs.
We opened the last two pictures, and then skimmed through the information file. I could barely read I was so excited. I did notice that they were born on December 21st, just after our dossier arrived in Ethiopia! We have Christmas-time babies!
Okay, I know I have so much more to say, but I have SOOOOO much to do! I will post more when I can get my brain thinking straight again and have a bit of time! I wish I could share their photos, but until they are legally ours, I can't post them. Just know they are totally adorable!
Hope you all have an incredible day!
Details:
We have been referred TWINS!!! We have a beautiful boy, named Tewodros, and a gorgeous little girl named Yodit! They are teeny, and amazing. No, perfect. I don't even have words for how perfect they are. They are 5 weeks old, and are from Awassa. I am in UTTER shock, and I'm pretty sure Joe is too!
Ok, so this morning, I was busy working away. Since I'm still working out of my home office, some mornings I am slow to get dressed and ready to greet the day. I was still in pj's and had a mud mask on, when I hear my computer make the little chime sound that tells me I had an email. I open my email, and see a note from our agency. The subject is: See Attached Please. Since I hadn't gotten a phone call and had NO reason to anticipate a referral yet, I thought "Oh no, there must be something wrong with our dossier!" Who knows, right?
The email takes forever and a DAY to open (doesn't it always when you're sitting anxiously awaiting whatever it will contain?!), and when it does, I couldn't believe it! In front of my eyes were the words:
"Dear family
See attached the referral we just received for you... twins, boy and girl."
Then, there were 5 attachments, 4 pictures and the information on them. I covered my mouth as I SCREAMED "OH MY GOSH!!!" then JUMPED out of my chair (much to the dismay of my dogs that bolted from the room!) and began running around upstairs screaming, crying, and shouting "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!"
After a couple of minutes of this, I called Joe and actually caught him. I was still crying, laughing, and not making a lot of sense. I shouted "We got our referral! Get in front of your computer right now!!! I'm going to forward the email to you and we'll open the pictures at the same time!" After a couple of tense minutes waiting for him to get the email (it probably took half that time for me to type his email address into the To: line since I was shaking so hard!), he got the email.
Together, we opened the first picture and took our first look at our beautiful Yodit. She's incredible. She already has quite a bit of curly hair and big eyes. Her little nose is so adorable! Her arms and legs are skinny, teeny, and just waiting for their mommy to come and kiss on them!
After oogling at Yodit for a moment, we opened the next picture, of her brother Tewodros, together. He is just as amazing. This little guy seems to be quite lacking in the hair department, and has the same amazing eyes, and big, beautiful lips! He also has the teeny little arms and legs.
We opened the last two pictures, and then skimmed through the information file. I could barely read I was so excited. I did notice that they were born on December 21st, just after our dossier arrived in Ethiopia! We have Christmas-time babies!
Okay, I know I have so much more to say, but I have SOOOOO much to do! I will post more when I can get my brain thinking straight again and have a bit of time! I wish I could share their photos, but until they are legally ours, I can't post them. Just know they are totally adorable!
Hope you all have an incredible day!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Anybody else care about dates?
My DATE obsession:
Okay, so I'll readily admit that I've always been a tad obsessive about dates. Back in the good ole' days when my memory was an incredible, powerful force to be reckoned with, I remembered just about any date of significance that entered my brainwaves. Now, however, I've lost a lot of my incredibly long-lasting memory skills and find myself excited to remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Hee, hee... only partially kidding. ;-) Anyway, I've been getting increasingly distraught that I don't know the EXACT day Joe and I were considered "Officially Waiting" with our agency. I've emailed the director with that question a few times, and it never seems to get answered. I'm sure he doesn't care, and I KNOW it doesn't change a thing in the long run, but I NEED to know! I need to know in my head how many days, weeks, and eventually MONTHS we've been waiting. I just NEED to know. (Back to that topic of me being impatient maybe?!).
Referral ready???
It's not even like I'm READY for the referral yet. I am mentally, but the reality is there's lots that needs to happen first. The wait is going to be a good thing. I am working on getting on another contract with my job, and settling into my new position will take a couple of months. We are still working on getting the funds together to pay our agency the final chunk we owe them when we get a referral (a cool $5,500 is the last bit we owe them!), and we also need to get all our money together to pay for the trip to Ethiopia to pick up our babies! We're estimating that to easily be another $4-5,000, so we've got some saving to do while we wait. So, even though the wait is still a good thing, I'm still itching to play with dates and referral wait time estimates so I can get a better idea as to when we might get a referral, and when we might be traveling.
Our agency tells us to expect about 3 months for a referral, but that's too optimistic for what I think reality will be. A few others I know personally and virtually (through the wonderful world of adoption forums!) using the same agency have taken longer than that to get referrals for infants boys... and those are much more common that our request! So, I expect we're in this for a longer haul than 3 months. However, IF we were waiting 3 months, I think that means we'd be expecting our referral sometime in March! Which doesn't seem too very far away considering we're already approaching the end of January! WOW!
IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE PROCESS:
From the time we accept our referral, a number of things take place. From my understanding, our case must first be approved by MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs), then submitted for a court date. Court dates seem to be happening about 2 months after referral acceptance, since there's been a large backlog in courts after reopening following the annual closure, and the increased number of Ethiopian adoptions happening. Also, there seems to be an increased number of cases that end up needing to have 2-3 court dates in order to be successful. The Ethiopian government is making sure all the "t's" are crossed and "i's" are dotted. That's a GOOD thing, despite the stress and turmoil the family may feel while waiting to be the official parents of the children there were referred.
Once you are the legal parents, you get a travel date from your agency. This travel date is normally another 3-4 weeks from when you passed court. So, all those time frames taken into consideration, we expect it'll be about 3 months after referral acceptance that we'd be getting to travel.
ESTIMATED TIMELINE (remember, it's not an exact science, just educated guesses!):
If we get a referral in 3 months, that'd be in March sometime. Then, assuming it's 3 more months before we travel, that'd put us traveling in June... what a way to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary! A trip to Ethiopia to pick up our children! WHOA! Talk about memorable and amazing! Nevertheless, I don't really anticipate getting a referral that quickly, so we should probably tack on 2-3 more months to start being realistic. Referral in May/June, travel in August/September??? I imagine by then I WILL be feeling the excitement, impatience, and anticipation much more strongly! Keep in mind, we waited from early July until DECEMBER to submit our dossier due to the job instability, so we've already been WAITING for 5 months in addition to our 1 month (or so) of being on the "Officially Waiting" list!
Done Ranting:
Well, I'd say that's more than enough ranting, estimating, dreaming, whatever for today. I need to get back to work looking for a contract, and returning calls and emails to people about our Fortune business. Which, by the way, is going quite well. Our decision to start our business has definitely been worthwhile, and I'd love to talk to anyone interested in learning more! I may just get to be a stay at home/work at home mom after all! ;-) Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Okay, so I'll readily admit that I've always been a tad obsessive about dates. Back in the good ole' days when my memory was an incredible, powerful force to be reckoned with, I remembered just about any date of significance that entered my brainwaves. Now, however, I've lost a lot of my incredibly long-lasting memory skills and find myself excited to remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Hee, hee... only partially kidding. ;-) Anyway, I've been getting increasingly distraught that I don't know the EXACT day Joe and I were considered "Officially Waiting" with our agency. I've emailed the director with that question a few times, and it never seems to get answered. I'm sure he doesn't care, and I KNOW it doesn't change a thing in the long run, but I NEED to know! I need to know in my head how many days, weeks, and eventually MONTHS we've been waiting. I just NEED to know. (Back to that topic of me being impatient maybe?!).
Referral ready???
It's not even like I'm READY for the referral yet. I am mentally, but the reality is there's lots that needs to happen first. The wait is going to be a good thing. I am working on getting on another contract with my job, and settling into my new position will take a couple of months. We are still working on getting the funds together to pay our agency the final chunk we owe them when we get a referral (a cool $5,500 is the last bit we owe them!), and we also need to get all our money together to pay for the trip to Ethiopia to pick up our babies! We're estimating that to easily be another $4-5,000, so we've got some saving to do while we wait. So, even though the wait is still a good thing, I'm still itching to play with dates and referral wait time estimates so I can get a better idea as to when we might get a referral, and when we might be traveling.
Our agency tells us to expect about 3 months for a referral, but that's too optimistic for what I think reality will be. A few others I know personally and virtually (through the wonderful world of adoption forums!) using the same agency have taken longer than that to get referrals for infants boys... and those are much more common that our request! So, I expect we're in this for a longer haul than 3 months. However, IF we were waiting 3 months, I think that means we'd be expecting our referral sometime in March! Which doesn't seem too very far away considering we're already approaching the end of January! WOW!
IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE PROCESS:
From the time we accept our referral, a number of things take place. From my understanding, our case must first be approved by MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs), then submitted for a court date. Court dates seem to be happening about 2 months after referral acceptance, since there's been a large backlog in courts after reopening following the annual closure, and the increased number of Ethiopian adoptions happening. Also, there seems to be an increased number of cases that end up needing to have 2-3 court dates in order to be successful. The Ethiopian government is making sure all the "t's" are crossed and "i's" are dotted. That's a GOOD thing, despite the stress and turmoil the family may feel while waiting to be the official parents of the children there were referred.
Once you are the legal parents, you get a travel date from your agency. This travel date is normally another 3-4 weeks from when you passed court. So, all those time frames taken into consideration, we expect it'll be about 3 months after referral acceptance that we'd be getting to travel.
ESTIMATED TIMELINE (remember, it's not an exact science, just educated guesses!):
If we get a referral in 3 months, that'd be in March sometime. Then, assuming it's 3 more months before we travel, that'd put us traveling in June... what a way to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary! A trip to Ethiopia to pick up our children! WHOA! Talk about memorable and amazing! Nevertheless, I don't really anticipate getting a referral that quickly, so we should probably tack on 2-3 more months to start being realistic. Referral in May/June, travel in August/September??? I imagine by then I WILL be feeling the excitement, impatience, and anticipation much more strongly! Keep in mind, we waited from early July until DECEMBER to submit our dossier due to the job instability, so we've already been WAITING for 5 months in addition to our 1 month (or so) of being on the "Officially Waiting" list!
Done Ranting:
Well, I'd say that's more than enough ranting, estimating, dreaming, whatever for today. I need to get back to work looking for a contract, and returning calls and emails to people about our Fortune business. Which, by the way, is going quite well. Our decision to start our business has definitely been worthwhile, and I'd love to talk to anyone interested in learning more! I may just get to be a stay at home/work at home mom after all! ;-) Keep your fingers crossed for us!
And my brain color is...
An interesting little test tells me I have a PURPLE brain!
Yep, that's me. I'm a dreamy, big thinker... not contesting that! However, I will say that I make MANY of my big dreams come true, so there! ;-) Want to know what color YOUR brain is? Go to: http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorisyourbrainquiz/ and find out!
Your Brain is Purple |
 Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself. |
Yep, that's me. I'm a dreamy, big thinker... not contesting that! However, I will say that I make MANY of my big dreams come true, so there! ;-) Want to know what color YOUR brain is? Go to: http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorisyourbrainquiz/ and find out!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Article by Melissa Fay Green
Finding My Daughter's Roots
By Melissa Fay Greene
Published: January 13, 2008
With thousands of foreign adoptions taking place in the U.S. each year, many parents want to give their children a connection to their pasts. Writer Melissa Fay Greene recently took her daughter Helen, 10, to visit her native Ethiopia.
It's been five years since my daughter left an orphanage in Addis Ababa and joined our family in Atlanta. Today Helen is a top soccer player, a flutist and the student president of her school. She has gained much, but much is in danger of being lost: her fluency in Amharic, her Ethiopian manners, her sense of her own history and culture.
As we pack for our 10-day trip to Ethiopia, I realize that I have no idea what my daughter is expecting to find there.
“I want to do lots of shopping!” Helen says.
“Addis Ababa is not exactly a shopping mecca,” I warn. “There’s no Target.” I want to ask if she remembers the orphanage or the beggars who line the streets. “I’m packing my iPod!” Helen calls.
Arriving at the airport in Ethiopia’s capital a few days later, we descend by creaky rental van into the city, where cars compete for right-of-way with herds of livestock. Unemployed, sick and handicapped people limp or lie on the sidewalks and median strips. Homeless children dash alongside the heavy traffic.
“This scares me,” Helen murmurs. “I don’t feel like I came from here.” Suddenly, a tall boy leans close to the window and moans in English, “Stomach zero.”
“Give! Mommy, give!” Helen cries.
She ransacks her backpack and finds a bag of bite-size Milky Ways. At the next stoplight, she serves a gold-wrapped candy to another barefoot boy who approaches. He examines it, smiles and requests another “for brother.” The van begins to accelerate. “He needs a candy for his brother!” Helen yells. “Please stop! Let me out!” But there is no stopping. My daughter falls against me, weeping.
UNICEF estimates that 4.6 million Ethiopian children have lost one or both parents, many to HIV/AIDS. Tens of thousands of street children forage in the capital; hundreds more live underground in sewers and tunnels. Some find shelter at orphanages like the one we visit on Helen’s first day back in Ethiopia.
When we arrive, the orphan girls surround Helen. They want to examine her watch and purse, peer through her camera and try her headphones. Then they all sit down for a chat despite Helen’s protests that she can’t really understand what the girls are saying. She does discern that they all need shoes: pink Crocs just like hers. With my permission, she leads an expedition beyond the orphanage gates to a kiosk, where she purchases 30 pairs of fake Crocs for 11 birr (about $1.50) each.
Over the course of our visit, Helen falls in love. Each morning, 3-year-old Binyam runs to her, squats and makes a fierce smile. She lifts and carries him for hours.
“We have to adopt him,” Helen whispers one day as he naps. “He needs me.”
“I know, sweetheart,” I say, “but we can’t. Maybe when you’re a grown-up, you’ll come back to Ethiopia to adopt.”
She shakes her head. Tears start to roll. “Binyam will be too old then.”
In happier moments, Helen soaks up Ethiopia. She understands more Amharic every day. She claps at dance performances and races up the field in soccer games at the orphanage. She sits at attention beside the van window, holding birr in one hand, candy in the other. If beggars don’t approach the car when we stop, Helen taps on the glass to catch their attention.
Before our trip, Helen’s dreams of adult life included Olympic competition, a modeling career and the practice of medicine. Now she says, “I’m coming back when I’m older to build a beautiful shelter for the beggars, with teachers and doctors and pretty bedrooms.”
Helen did enjoy shopping in Addis Ababa, but not for herself. When she looks to the future, it’s with thoughts of how she will make life better for others. And when she sobs inconsolably on our last day, it is for the orphanage girls and for Binyam—sweet children with histories like her own, but with futures that look far less promising.
By Melissa Fay Greene
Published: January 13, 2008
With thousands of foreign adoptions taking place in the U.S. each year, many parents want to give their children a connection to their pasts. Writer Melissa Fay Greene recently took her daughter Helen, 10, to visit her native Ethiopia.
It's been five years since my daughter left an orphanage in Addis Ababa and joined our family in Atlanta. Today Helen is a top soccer player, a flutist and the student president of her school. She has gained much, but much is in danger of being lost: her fluency in Amharic, her Ethiopian manners, her sense of her own history and culture.
As we pack for our 10-day trip to Ethiopia, I realize that I have no idea what my daughter is expecting to find there.
“I want to do lots of shopping!” Helen says.
“Addis Ababa is not exactly a shopping mecca,” I warn. “There’s no Target.” I want to ask if she remembers the orphanage or the beggars who line the streets. “I’m packing my iPod!” Helen calls.
Arriving at the airport in Ethiopia’s capital a few days later, we descend by creaky rental van into the city, where cars compete for right-of-way with herds of livestock. Unemployed, sick and handicapped people limp or lie on the sidewalks and median strips. Homeless children dash alongside the heavy traffic.
“This scares me,” Helen murmurs. “I don’t feel like I came from here.” Suddenly, a tall boy leans close to the window and moans in English, “Stomach zero.”
“Give! Mommy, give!” Helen cries.
She ransacks her backpack and finds a bag of bite-size Milky Ways. At the next stoplight, she serves a gold-wrapped candy to another barefoot boy who approaches. He examines it, smiles and requests another “for brother.” The van begins to accelerate. “He needs a candy for his brother!” Helen yells. “Please stop! Let me out!” But there is no stopping. My daughter falls against me, weeping.
UNICEF estimates that 4.6 million Ethiopian children have lost one or both parents, many to HIV/AIDS. Tens of thousands of street children forage in the capital; hundreds more live underground in sewers and tunnels. Some find shelter at orphanages like the one we visit on Helen’s first day back in Ethiopia.
When we arrive, the orphan girls surround Helen. They want to examine her watch and purse, peer through her camera and try her headphones. Then they all sit down for a chat despite Helen’s protests that she can’t really understand what the girls are saying. She does discern that they all need shoes: pink Crocs just like hers. With my permission, she leads an expedition beyond the orphanage gates to a kiosk, where she purchases 30 pairs of fake Crocs for 11 birr (about $1.50) each.
Over the course of our visit, Helen falls in love. Each morning, 3-year-old Binyam runs to her, squats and makes a fierce smile. She lifts and carries him for hours.
“We have to adopt him,” Helen whispers one day as he naps. “He needs me.”
“I know, sweetheart,” I say, “but we can’t. Maybe when you’re a grown-up, you’ll come back to Ethiopia to adopt.”
She shakes her head. Tears start to roll. “Binyam will be too old then.”
In happier moments, Helen soaks up Ethiopia. She understands more Amharic every day. She claps at dance performances and races up the field in soccer games at the orphanage. She sits at attention beside the van window, holding birr in one hand, candy in the other. If beggars don’t approach the car when we stop, Helen taps on the glass to catch their attention.
Before our trip, Helen’s dreams of adult life included Olympic competition, a modeling career and the practice of medicine. Now she says, “I’m coming back when I’m older to build a beautiful shelter for the beggars, with teachers and doctors and pretty bedrooms.”
Helen did enjoy shopping in Addis Ababa, but not for herself. When she looks to the future, it’s with thoughts of how she will make life better for others. And when she sobs inconsolably on our last day, it is for the orphanage girls and for Binyam—sweet children with histories like her own, but with futures that look far less promising.
Monday, January 07, 2008
High Chairs
Well, we took a leap and bought our first real baby gear! I had to drop Chloe off at the neurologist on Thursday since her condition has continued to decline despite the increased dosage of Prednisone. My mom and I decided to stay up in the area while we waited for her, so we headed to Bergstroms, which was just down the road. When we arrived we saw they had a lot of items on sale. Both floor items and new in box. Close to the front of the store, I spotted some interesting looking high chairs. There were two of them (how perfect!), and the functionality was superb! The chairs are meant to grow with your child, from infant to adult. They have a tray, or can be used at the table with the rest of the family. I decided not to buy them, and that I would do some research online first. They were normally $299, but marked down to $129, and the woman told me she could sell each chair for $110. A bit more than I was ready to spend, without having done any serious shopping around.
Here's a picture of our high chairs! We have the blue/orange colored chairs like the one pictured above.
The carrier on the left with the zebra print is the one I bought. So cute, right?!
Well, I got home and learned what a great high chair option they were, and that $110 was a fabulous price! I'd also found a really neat baby carrier made by Theodore Bean. It was made of black leather with a cute, soft zebra print on the inside. When researching online, I learned the carrier had great reviews, but the company had been bought out. The cheapest price I found for it online was about $30 more than it was in the store... so one more good buy. That was, if they were still there on Friday.
First thing Friday morning I headed to the neurologist to pick up an antibiotic for Chloe, and then to Bergstroms. I had to wait anxiously for them to open, and when I headed inside, saw that both chairs were still available! Yippee! I asked the salesperson what the best price she could give me was if I bought both high chairs. She went and talked to her manager, and when she came back, she said $75 each! And that's after the only price I found online had been $395! Woohoo! So, I left with both high chairs and the adorable Theodore Bean baby carrier. What an exciting day finally buying a couple of things that make the adoption feel a little more real.
Here's a picture of our high chairs! We have the blue/orange colored chairs like the one pictured above.The carrier on the left with the zebra print is the one I bought. So cute, right?!Oh, and our agency says that our dossier will be registered this week, and our wait will be official!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this is a wonderful holiday season for all that brings in a wonderful new year. I know the next year will be one of adventure for us! By this time next year, we should be the proud parents!
In the meantime though, this holiday season just doesn't have the normal vibe. We celebrated Christmas early, on December 15th, so that my brother could be with us. A few days later, he was on a long journey to Afghanistan where he will be serving for the next 12-18 months. While I am so proud of him, and know he'll do an amazing job, it's hard to not feel scared, sad, and a bit hollow. I hate that we will be bringing our children home and not be able to introduce them to their uncle. The feeling of worrying and missing a loved one while they are deployed overseas is difficult to describe. It's a very familiar feeling, although I'd nearly forgotten how consuming it can be. My dear husband Joe was in Iraq for a year, and returned in April 2004. I'm thankful we had a relatively long break between the deployments, but still wish Zak wasn't gone. Please keep his safety in your thoughts and prayers.
As for our current adoption status:
Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia last week, and is now being translated, registration, and legalization process. That should be completed soon and we'll get a date that we began "Officially Waiting!" Our agency has told us to expect approximately a 3 month wait for a referral, although I think that's a bit optimistic. Once we get our referral, it has been taking 6-8 weeks for families to get a court date, after referral acceptance. Because of this recent slow down, it's averaging about 3 months after referral acceptance before families are traveling to pick up their children. I can't imagine how long 3 months will feel, but since we won't be doing much of any nursery prep and shopping prior to accepting our referral, it'll give us a good amount of time to do all that before we leave. See... I'm still being optimistic about things at this point! ;-) Gotta stay patient and keep that good humor!
Enjoy your Christmas turkeys/hams and delicious family dinners! I'm off to fix a low key lunch and get back to cleaning house and taking DOWN Christmas decorations! We've already got our tree down and back in its' box, and most of our outside lights have been taken down too! Please keep our little girl, Chloe (our mini dachshund) in your thoughts and prayers too... her meningoencephalitis (or whatever it is that's really affecting her) came back with a vengeance 3 days ago and her prednisone dosage has been increased. She walks like she's drunk and shivers in pain. :'-( We'll get this kicked soon, I'm just sure of it!
In the meantime though, this holiday season just doesn't have the normal vibe. We celebrated Christmas early, on December 15th, so that my brother could be with us. A few days later, he was on a long journey to Afghanistan where he will be serving for the next 12-18 months. While I am so proud of him, and know he'll do an amazing job, it's hard to not feel scared, sad, and a bit hollow. I hate that we will be bringing our children home and not be able to introduce them to their uncle. The feeling of worrying and missing a loved one while they are deployed overseas is difficult to describe. It's a very familiar feeling, although I'd nearly forgotten how consuming it can be. My dear husband Joe was in Iraq for a year, and returned in April 2004. I'm thankful we had a relatively long break between the deployments, but still wish Zak wasn't gone. Please keep his safety in your thoughts and prayers.
As for our current adoption status:
Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia last week, and is now being translated, registration, and legalization process. That should be completed soon and we'll get a date that we began "Officially Waiting!" Our agency has told us to expect approximately a 3 month wait for a referral, although I think that's a bit optimistic. Once we get our referral, it has been taking 6-8 weeks for families to get a court date, after referral acceptance. Because of this recent slow down, it's averaging about 3 months after referral acceptance before families are traveling to pick up their children. I can't imagine how long 3 months will feel, but since we won't be doing much of any nursery prep and shopping prior to accepting our referral, it'll give us a good amount of time to do all that before we leave. See... I'm still being optimistic about things at this point! ;-) Gotta stay patient and keep that good humor!
Enjoy your Christmas turkeys/hams and delicious family dinners! I'm off to fix a low key lunch and get back to cleaning house and taking DOWN Christmas decorations! We've already got our tree down and back in its' box, and most of our outside lights have been taken down too! Please keep our little girl, Chloe (our mini dachshund) in your thoughts and prayers too... her meningoencephalitis (or whatever it is that's really affecting her) came back with a vengeance 3 days ago and her prednisone dosage has been increased. She walks like she's drunk and shivers in pain. :'-( We'll get this kicked soon, I'm just sure of it!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Our dossier is off!
It's finally on its way! We sent our dossier to the agency (overnighted it to them) on December 3rd. By December 7th it was on its way to Washington D.C. to be Authenticated and is now on its way to Ethiopia!!! What a huge milestone we've hit. I couldn't be more excited, and wanted to share the good news. After some frustrating delays it feels so incredible to be so close to adding our names to the list of families "OFFICIALLY WAITING" for a referral!
Our agency is currently telling us that it will probably be about 3 months to get a referral, but I imagine this is much more optimistic than what it will end up being. I'm just hopeful that we will be traveling by summer... but who knows! The exciting and difficult part of this is not knowing our "due date." Trying to prepare for a very loose time window is, well, weird? It's not like we can try and plan work/vacation/life schedules around a month or two window. We aren't planning on doing anything to get a nursery ready until we have our referral. This will definitely leave us scrambling to pull things together once the time finally comes, but I'd rather be really busy while waiting to get through court and travel instead of twiddling my thumbs counting the minutes. Besides, if it takes a REALLY long time to get a referral, we could still end up re-listing our house in the spring and moving or something like that! No sense in getting a room ready and then moving before we use it.
At the moment, it all feels a bit unreal. The emotions of this entire process can be surprising. At this point, every bit of progress feels like something to celebrate. Our process has gone quite quickly, other than a few months of doing nothing while waiting for Joe's job situation to work itself out. I know the wait ahead will make the last few months feel like a breeze. At least until this point we were in control of the process and timelines we more predictable. Now all we can do is wait for "The Call."
While all this excitement is happening with our adoption process, the Christmas season is now fully upon us, and our family will be celebrating early this year. We are holding our festivities this Saturday, while my brother is on leave. He will be deploying before Christmas, so we are making the most of the time we have together now. My dad and brother both flew into town this week and will be leaving on Sunday. Preparing for another loved one to deploy is such a scary and difficult thing. There's really no way to describe the emotions that seem to wash over you... pride, fear, sadness, frustration, etc. Knowing how to best support and encourage the individual deploying is also a challenge. Leaving at this time of the year, a time which is normally full of fun, food, gifts, and family; it seems to make it all the more stressful.
In the midst of all the excitement of our early holiday celebrations, Joe is dealing with an excruciating shoulder injury... and is in a shoulder immobilizer. He needs to follow up with an Orthopedist next week to see if a more dramatic step needs to be taken. His shoulder became an issue just as I finally began to get over a bad case of strep throat and a difficult recovery with my right tonsil. My tonsils have never handled strep throat well, and this time was no exception. I ended up having to take Prednisone, a steroid, to help the swelling go down. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm told to consider going to an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) doctor to see what they think about having my tonsils removed once and for all. Ugh. Plus, my dentist now says my wisdom teeth need to come out... more fun!
The worst of the health issues in the household have been related to our lovely little princess, Chloe. Chloe began having issues going down the stairs, and went through a two week diagnosis process as her symptoms continued to increase in severity and number. She began displaying neurological symptoms, and hung like a wet noodle in your arm. By the time a neurologist saw her, she was almost completely non-responsive to us and her feet on the right side of her body were "knuckling" which means that she would stand on the top of her feet... at least if you held her up in a standing position; she couldn't stand on her own. A brain MRI showed that her cerebellum was swelling and moving down through the foranum magnum (opening from the brain into the spinal canal). She was near death and the cause was unknown. It could be lymphoma, meningitis, encephalitis, or some other scary thing in a list of bad news diagnosis possibilities. They collected spinal fluid from the base of her brain, and it came back with scary results. Her white blood cell counts should have been between 0-10 and it was 1500. She had a very high count of lymphocyte cells... possibly pointing to lymphoma which would be terminal.
We don't know conclusively, but it is now believed that Chloe developed a viral meningitis. She has been on Prednisone (steroids) since diagnosed, and within the first week the improvement was incredible. She now appears close to normal, but still suffers some mild balance issues and is a bit more depressed, dependent, and clingy than before. We are slowly reducing her doses of Prednisone, a month at a time. She may have to be on the Prednisone for life. That wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have so many other unpleasant side effects (which I can speak to personally since I've been on the SAME medication lately!). It causes serious restlessness (generally very late night/early EARLY morning), increased hunger, excessive drinking, a bloated, swollen belly, and so on. Not fun.
Ok, so that's the yuck health news we've had, but we've been fortunate that Chloe has made it and Joe and I are obviously doing great... despite a few annoyances like strep and shoulder injuries. Sometimes it takes some sort of injury or illness to really make you appreciate your health. Therefore, I feel so fortunate that we've had a little reminder of how lucky we really are!
Enough rambling for this post! I hope I've covered the major events in enough detail to satisfy you and not bored you with too many trivial details!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Our agency is currently telling us that it will probably be about 3 months to get a referral, but I imagine this is much more optimistic than what it will end up being. I'm just hopeful that we will be traveling by summer... but who knows! The exciting and difficult part of this is not knowing our "due date." Trying to prepare for a very loose time window is, well, weird? It's not like we can try and plan work/vacation/life schedules around a month or two window. We aren't planning on doing anything to get a nursery ready until we have our referral. This will definitely leave us scrambling to pull things together once the time finally comes, but I'd rather be really busy while waiting to get through court and travel instead of twiddling my thumbs counting the minutes. Besides, if it takes a REALLY long time to get a referral, we could still end up re-listing our house in the spring and moving or something like that! No sense in getting a room ready and then moving before we use it.
At the moment, it all feels a bit unreal. The emotions of this entire process can be surprising. At this point, every bit of progress feels like something to celebrate. Our process has gone quite quickly, other than a few months of doing nothing while waiting for Joe's job situation to work itself out. I know the wait ahead will make the last few months feel like a breeze. At least until this point we were in control of the process and timelines we more predictable. Now all we can do is wait for "The Call."
While all this excitement is happening with our adoption process, the Christmas season is now fully upon us, and our family will be celebrating early this year. We are holding our festivities this Saturday, while my brother is on leave. He will be deploying before Christmas, so we are making the most of the time we have together now. My dad and brother both flew into town this week and will be leaving on Sunday. Preparing for another loved one to deploy is such a scary and difficult thing. There's really no way to describe the emotions that seem to wash over you... pride, fear, sadness, frustration, etc. Knowing how to best support and encourage the individual deploying is also a challenge. Leaving at this time of the year, a time which is normally full of fun, food, gifts, and family; it seems to make it all the more stressful.
In the midst of all the excitement of our early holiday celebrations, Joe is dealing with an excruciating shoulder injury... and is in a shoulder immobilizer. He needs to follow up with an Orthopedist next week to see if a more dramatic step needs to be taken. His shoulder became an issue just as I finally began to get over a bad case of strep throat and a difficult recovery with my right tonsil. My tonsils have never handled strep throat well, and this time was no exception. I ended up having to take Prednisone, a steroid, to help the swelling go down. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm told to consider going to an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) doctor to see what they think about having my tonsils removed once and for all. Ugh. Plus, my dentist now says my wisdom teeth need to come out... more fun!
The worst of the health issues in the household have been related to our lovely little princess, Chloe. Chloe began having issues going down the stairs, and went through a two week diagnosis process as her symptoms continued to increase in severity and number. She began displaying neurological symptoms, and hung like a wet noodle in your arm. By the time a neurologist saw her, she was almost completely non-responsive to us and her feet on the right side of her body were "knuckling" which means that she would stand on the top of her feet... at least if you held her up in a standing position; she couldn't stand on her own. A brain MRI showed that her cerebellum was swelling and moving down through the foranum magnum (opening from the brain into the spinal canal). She was near death and the cause was unknown. It could be lymphoma, meningitis, encephalitis, or some other scary thing in a list of bad news diagnosis possibilities. They collected spinal fluid from the base of her brain, and it came back with scary results. Her white blood cell counts should have been between 0-10 and it was 1500. She had a very high count of lymphocyte cells... possibly pointing to lymphoma which would be terminal.
We don't know conclusively, but it is now believed that Chloe developed a viral meningitis. She has been on Prednisone (steroids) since diagnosed, and within the first week the improvement was incredible. She now appears close to normal, but still suffers some mild balance issues and is a bit more depressed, dependent, and clingy than before. We are slowly reducing her doses of Prednisone, a month at a time. She may have to be on the Prednisone for life. That wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have so many other unpleasant side effects (which I can speak to personally since I've been on the SAME medication lately!). It causes serious restlessness (generally very late night/early EARLY morning), increased hunger, excessive drinking, a bloated, swollen belly, and so on. Not fun.
Ok, so that's the yuck health news we've had, but we've been fortunate that Chloe has made it and Joe and I are obviously doing great... despite a few annoyances like strep and shoulder injuries. Sometimes it takes some sort of injury or illness to really make you appreciate your health. Therefore, I feel so fortunate that we've had a little reminder of how lucky we really are!
Enough rambling for this post! I hope I've covered the major events in enough detail to satisfy you and not bored you with too many trivial details!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Friday, October 26, 2007
A fiery begining to fall
As most people around the world know, Southern California has been on fire. There's no region untouched by flames, as they span from Los Angeles to the mountains near Big Bear, through Orange County, and around San Diego County. There have been tragic losses for many families, and over 250,000 people have been forced to evacuate. President Bush visited the regions yesterday and has declared Southern California a disaster zone.
Thankfully, our family members most closely affected by the flames have been allowed to return to their house that was spared from the fire's fury, and we can all begin to work towards rebuilding what was lost. For a couple of weeks we're told to stay indoors, and have a damp cloth over our mouth/nose to breathe when outside. Ash is raining down all around, and the smoke burning your eyes and throat is a reminder of the ongoing battle against the flames. Yet another reminder of all we have to be grateful for.
It's been a long time since I've added a post to our blog, as there's been little adoption related for me to add. As Joe's company began regular rounds of layoffs, we've been carefully planning and searching for another option for him, should his turn to be laid off come. We could not, responsibly, carry forward with the adoption until we knew more. I can't imagine draining our accounts to pay adoption fees, and bringing our baby (or babies!) home to such a tight situation. While Joe's job is still an uncertain thing to rely on... we're feeling less terrified. We've been working feverishly at coming up with that side income we've been hoping to come up with for quite some time.
I have finally found a business I would like to begin, out of my home office, on the side. It'll take a while to start up and really get going, but recently I've begun learning about Leisure Group Travel. It seems like a perfect fit for me. I have such a passion for travel, spending time people, and trying to expose people to the diversity of the world. Starting a group travel club should enable me to do just that, while also bringing in some income on the side. It is such an exciting possibility! I'll post more as I learn more, but for now, just the potential is keeping me pushing forward.
We have also begun our own business franchise. After only 2 weeks with the company, we are already enjoying more success than we would have thought possible. The company I'm referring to is Fortune High Tech Marketing. We were quite skeptical when first introduced to it by our amazing friends, Geoff and Val, but after learning more and deciding to give it a shot, we are thrilled beyond measure! We decided to give it a go after learning Geoff and Val's close friend was able to leave her job after less than a year with Fortune, because she had been able to replace her previous job's income that had been over 6 figures! For anyone interested in learning more, please feel free to visit our website (www.fhtmus.com/vividdreams) or watch one of two videos (www.thefortunedvd.com or www.successwithfortune.com). Joe and I are so happy Fortune found us, or that we found Fortune, and would be so excited to see our family and friends benefit from it as well!
Also, we now have a travel website that is a subset of Travelocity. If you're going to be booking tickets, staying at a hotel, renting a car, or buying tickets to any attractions/theme parks/shows, please check out our site! The URL is www.travelfhtm.com/travelabroad. The hotel prices have a 110% price guarantee, which the normal Travelocity site doesn't have! You've got to check it out!
So, as you can see, despite the current concern we have over the stability of Joe's job, we are beginning to work towards better financial security. Since our ultimate goal is also to prevent me from ever needing to return to being a traveling employee (for my current job), it may also one day allow us to be comfortable that if the need for me to begin traveling again ever arises, I will be able to safely say "No!" I do not want to be a mom that is only home on the weekends, and will do whatever I can to prevent that situation from happening!
As a final note of celebration, I plan to be sending our dossier to Sacramento today to be certified. Once it is certified, it will be ready to send to our agency and on to Ethiopia!!! We are getting closer, and will be waiting for our referral soon! Thank you everyone for your support through the last few months of obstacles and stress we have faced. We couldn't have done it without you!
Thankfully, our family members most closely affected by the flames have been allowed to return to their house that was spared from the fire's fury, and we can all begin to work towards rebuilding what was lost. For a couple of weeks we're told to stay indoors, and have a damp cloth over our mouth/nose to breathe when outside. Ash is raining down all around, and the smoke burning your eyes and throat is a reminder of the ongoing battle against the flames. Yet another reminder of all we have to be grateful for.
It's been a long time since I've added a post to our blog, as there's been little adoption related for me to add. As Joe's company began regular rounds of layoffs, we've been carefully planning and searching for another option for him, should his turn to be laid off come. We could not, responsibly, carry forward with the adoption until we knew more. I can't imagine draining our accounts to pay adoption fees, and bringing our baby (or babies!) home to such a tight situation. While Joe's job is still an uncertain thing to rely on... we're feeling less terrified. We've been working feverishly at coming up with that side income we've been hoping to come up with for quite some time.
I have finally found a business I would like to begin, out of my home office, on the side. It'll take a while to start up and really get going, but recently I've begun learning about Leisure Group Travel. It seems like a perfect fit for me. I have such a passion for travel, spending time people, and trying to expose people to the diversity of the world. Starting a group travel club should enable me to do just that, while also bringing in some income on the side. It is such an exciting possibility! I'll post more as I learn more, but for now, just the potential is keeping me pushing forward.
We have also begun our own business franchise. After only 2 weeks with the company, we are already enjoying more success than we would have thought possible. The company I'm referring to is Fortune High Tech Marketing. We were quite skeptical when first introduced to it by our amazing friends, Geoff and Val, but after learning more and deciding to give it a shot, we are thrilled beyond measure! We decided to give it a go after learning Geoff and Val's close friend was able to leave her job after less than a year with Fortune, because she had been able to replace her previous job's income that had been over 6 figures! For anyone interested in learning more, please feel free to visit our website (www.fhtmus.com/vividdreams) or watch one of two videos (www.thefortunedvd.com or www.successwithfortune.com). Joe and I are so happy Fortune found us, or that we found Fortune, and would be so excited to see our family and friends benefit from it as well!
Also, we now have a travel website that is a subset of Travelocity. If you're going to be booking tickets, staying at a hotel, renting a car, or buying tickets to any attractions/theme parks/shows, please check out our site! The URL is www.travelfhtm.com/travelabroad. The hotel prices have a 110% price guarantee, which the normal Travelocity site doesn't have! You've got to check it out!
So, as you can see, despite the current concern we have over the stability of Joe's job, we are beginning to work towards better financial security. Since our ultimate goal is also to prevent me from ever needing to return to being a traveling employee (for my current job), it may also one day allow us to be comfortable that if the need for me to begin traveling again ever arises, I will be able to safely say "No!" I do not want to be a mom that is only home on the weekends, and will do whatever I can to prevent that situation from happening!
As a final note of celebration, I plan to be sending our dossier to Sacramento today to be certified. Once it is certified, it will be ready to send to our agency and on to Ethiopia!!! We are getting closer, and will be waiting for our referral soon! Thank you everyone for your support through the last few months of obstacles and stress we have faced. We couldn't have done it without you!
New button added to accept donations!
I've been asked by a few people if there was a way for them to help us in our adoption process. At this stage, the place where Joe and I need the most assistance, is in collecting the funds to submit our dossier. We have added a button at the top right-hand area of our blog that links you to Paypal and allows you to make a donation to our "Adoption Fund."
We are currently in the process of preparing to pay $6250 to submit our dossier to Ethiopia and begin waiting for a referral. Once we receive a referral, we will then send another $5,500 to our agency, and also begin making our travel arrangements to Ethiopia to pick up our child(ren)! We hope to be traveling by the spring, but have no idea how long our referral will take to get. As you can see, there is a lot of money we still owe, and the stream of water-damages that plagued our house for a number of months took a serious dent out of our savings account. We hope to be submitting our dossier by the end of the year, so any assistance is greatly appreciated! We feel humbled by the graciousness of some of our amazing family and friends that have asked to be given a way to help, and hope that everyone understands the depth of our gratitude. We are truly fortunate!
Love to all!
We are currently in the process of preparing to pay $6250 to submit our dossier to Ethiopia and begin waiting for a referral. Once we receive a referral, we will then send another $5,500 to our agency, and also begin making our travel arrangements to Ethiopia to pick up our child(ren)! We hope to be traveling by the spring, but have no idea how long our referral will take to get. As you can see, there is a lot of money we still owe, and the stream of water-damages that plagued our house for a number of months took a serious dent out of our savings account. We hope to be submitting our dossier by the end of the year, so any assistance is greatly appreciated! We feel humbled by the graciousness of some of our amazing family and friends that have asked to be given a way to help, and hope that everyone understands the depth of our gratitude. We are truly fortunate!
Love to all!
Friday, September 07, 2007
Apologies and updates
It's been much too long since I've had the time, and the heart, to post. My apologies to all that use our blog as a way to stay up to date and connected to our rather hectic lives! Let me do my best to quickly fill in the gaps.
The day following my last post, I discovered yet ANOTHER leak in the garage. This one involved the neighbor's drain that seems to have been leaking for quite some time, and the column at the front of our garage between our garage and our other neighbor's had to be torn open (from the exterior... removing stucco) and then involved some structural repair to the wood support beams that had some serious wood rot. Not fun... and not to mention the stucco color in a huge patch area from the ground, up the column and all the way to the bottom of our neighbor's second story window doesn't match the rest of the building.
So, the leaks in the garage ended up setting us back about two months in the housing market. We didn't get our home relisted until all damage was repaired, as there didn't seem to be any intelligence in parading people through our home while it was all torn up. On the positive side, our garage's interior now looks great... the entire thing was painted once the drywall was repaired, so we can enjoy a fresh, clean looking garage. Let's just hope it stays that way!
In the mean time, the housing market has really been suffering. There are now comps to our house for $60,000 under where we need to be listed. There were always some comps that were much lower, but not so many. It's now not the peak selling season as children are back in school, and with interest rates on loans being a lot higher, there are a number of factors working against us. So... looks like we won't end up getting to move after all. :-( The painful part is how close we got... it's like getting a taste of something and then finding out you can't do anything to make it a reality.
As for the adoption, Zambia is no long a road we can follow. Families that were in Zambia with the agency we were going to be working with had children pulled from their care, and now international adoptions, and that agency are under serious review and scrutiny. Things are basically on hold and much to tenuous for us to proceed. Ultimately, I think our hearts have never left Ethiopia, so making the decision to switch back was fairly easy. I have since submitted our request to have our I-171H (USCIS visa approval) changed back to Ethiopia and have it in hand. I have EVERYTHING I need for my dossier. Joe and I just need to get a few signatures notarized and we'll be ready to have it certified and submit it to our placement agency.
Here's the catch. We are sort of in a holding pattern with the adoption. Not only does the housing market significantly affect our ability to move into a house, it also greatly affects Joe's job stability. His company has finally joined the ranks of most other home builders and begun doing some serious layoffs. Their division now has about half the amount of staff it had one month ago. It's been a story of more layoffs almost every week. Joe's workload is through the roof (for now) as he's taken on the work of the other people that were in his positions on different projects. The catch is, a number of the projects are being "shelved" until mid-late 2008 or later in hopes the market will begin picking back up by then. So, most of the work is short term... working on finishing up whatever's currently being worked on, and getting the sites secured to be left alone for a while. We're expecting Joe will likely be laid off by December as well. It's a scary though, but Joe also feels much loyalty to his company after working with them for a while, so he's trying to stick it out. Maybe... MAYBE he'll be able to stay employed with them through all this. If not, finding another job in this market would be really tough. The market itself makes jobs in the field tough to come by, and combine that with the fact that he would be getting laid off SOOOO late in the game compared to the majority... all jobs are being gobbled up about as quickly as they appear.
So, that's it in a nutshell. It's so frustrating to be ready to finalized our dossier and submit it, but unable to proceed in the current situation. Well, I guess we could proceed, but it seems to be an unwise decision until we have some more answers and/or stability in Joe's job.
Oh, and speaking of jobs, I am seriously considering a new venture myself. It'd be part time, at least for quite a while. I am looking at beginning a cruise/travel agency franchise I can work out of my home office. I would be able to sell cruises (the specialty), air, rental cars, hotels, and even land tour packages. It'd be a huge assistance to me if whomever reads this could tell me whether or not you'd ever consider using a travel agency service like that to book your cruise or other vacation. The perks of the company are that they have a large purchasing power so they buy cruises a couple of years in advance in bulk so there are so good group rate discounts to be had, booking through a travel agent ensures you're getting all the information you need about your cruise, etc. There are a lot of perks to using an agent, but want to try and get a feel for what people think my success might be. I LOVE to travel, and have a passion for being on the water, so it's not something that would be difficult for me to "sell" to people. I think experience and enthusiasm alone would help make it something I could be good at... but who knows. Any thoughts? Email me privately or post a comment... I'm anxious to test the waters!
Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement in this stressful time. I am so anxious to announce that we have submitted our dossier and are officially waiting... so hopefully the time comes sooner than later!
Hugs all around!!!
The day following my last post, I discovered yet ANOTHER leak in the garage. This one involved the neighbor's drain that seems to have been leaking for quite some time, and the column at the front of our garage between our garage and our other neighbor's had to be torn open (from the exterior... removing stucco) and then involved some structural repair to the wood support beams that had some serious wood rot. Not fun... and not to mention the stucco color in a huge patch area from the ground, up the column and all the way to the bottom of our neighbor's second story window doesn't match the rest of the building.
So, the leaks in the garage ended up setting us back about two months in the housing market. We didn't get our home relisted until all damage was repaired, as there didn't seem to be any intelligence in parading people through our home while it was all torn up. On the positive side, our garage's interior now looks great... the entire thing was painted once the drywall was repaired, so we can enjoy a fresh, clean looking garage. Let's just hope it stays that way!
In the mean time, the housing market has really been suffering. There are now comps to our house for $60,000 under where we need to be listed. There were always some comps that were much lower, but not so many. It's now not the peak selling season as children are back in school, and with interest rates on loans being a lot higher, there are a number of factors working against us. So... looks like we won't end up getting to move after all. :-( The painful part is how close we got... it's like getting a taste of something and then finding out you can't do anything to make it a reality.
As for the adoption, Zambia is no long a road we can follow. Families that were in Zambia with the agency we were going to be working with had children pulled from their care, and now international adoptions, and that agency are under serious review and scrutiny. Things are basically on hold and much to tenuous for us to proceed. Ultimately, I think our hearts have never left Ethiopia, so making the decision to switch back was fairly easy. I have since submitted our request to have our I-171H (USCIS visa approval) changed back to Ethiopia and have it in hand. I have EVERYTHING I need for my dossier. Joe and I just need to get a few signatures notarized and we'll be ready to have it certified and submit it to our placement agency.
Here's the catch. We are sort of in a holding pattern with the adoption. Not only does the housing market significantly affect our ability to move into a house, it also greatly affects Joe's job stability. His company has finally joined the ranks of most other home builders and begun doing some serious layoffs. Their division now has about half the amount of staff it had one month ago. It's been a story of more layoffs almost every week. Joe's workload is through the roof (for now) as he's taken on the work of the other people that were in his positions on different projects. The catch is, a number of the projects are being "shelved" until mid-late 2008 or later in hopes the market will begin picking back up by then. So, most of the work is short term... working on finishing up whatever's currently being worked on, and getting the sites secured to be left alone for a while. We're expecting Joe will likely be laid off by December as well. It's a scary though, but Joe also feels much loyalty to his company after working with them for a while, so he's trying to stick it out. Maybe... MAYBE he'll be able to stay employed with them through all this. If not, finding another job in this market would be really tough. The market itself makes jobs in the field tough to come by, and combine that with the fact that he would be getting laid off SOOOO late in the game compared to the majority... all jobs are being gobbled up about as quickly as they appear.
So, that's it in a nutshell. It's so frustrating to be ready to finalized our dossier and submit it, but unable to proceed in the current situation. Well, I guess we could proceed, but it seems to be an unwise decision until we have some more answers and/or stability in Joe's job.
Oh, and speaking of jobs, I am seriously considering a new venture myself. It'd be part time, at least for quite a while. I am looking at beginning a cruise/travel agency franchise I can work out of my home office. I would be able to sell cruises (the specialty), air, rental cars, hotels, and even land tour packages. It'd be a huge assistance to me if whomever reads this could tell me whether or not you'd ever consider using a travel agency service like that to book your cruise or other vacation. The perks of the company are that they have a large purchasing power so they buy cruises a couple of years in advance in bulk so there are so good group rate discounts to be had, booking through a travel agent ensures you're getting all the information you need about your cruise, etc. There are a lot of perks to using an agent, but want to try and get a feel for what people think my success might be. I LOVE to travel, and have a passion for being on the water, so it's not something that would be difficult for me to "sell" to people. I think experience and enthusiasm alone would help make it something I could be good at... but who knows. Any thoughts? Email me privately or post a comment... I'm anxious to test the waters!
Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement in this stressful time. I am so anxious to announce that we have submitted our dossier and are officially waiting... so hopefully the time comes sooner than later!
Hugs all around!!!
Friday, July 27, 2007
The saga continues
Really, have you ever tested your tolerance level? People around the world live in all sorts of various conditions with various struggles in their daily lives. By comparison, I don't think I have a single thing to complain about. Joe and I live such amazing, fortunate lives. Here it comes though... the big "BUT" we do get to enjoy those little tests of tolerance/patience/sanity or whatever. Let me start on a positive note, though.
On Wednesday afternoon, I enjoyed another great afternoon with Val, Wesley, and Harrison. Val is such an amazing friend, and I truly treasure our visits. It's hard to believe I only met her two months ago. I feel like she's an old friend, and I love how easy it is to talk to her. On top of that, she's got two AMAZING, adorable, incredible little boys that I just love. I can't imagine a set of better first time parents than Geoff and Val, let alone first time parents of twins! I only hope Joe and I can do half as good of a job living up to the standard they've set. Wesley, he's a hoot. He has the best little laugh and when you see his smile, it's contagious. He's not too interested in crawling, but he loves to be held up so he can jump around. He's got little cricket legs. He is beyond cute when he lays on his tummy and arches his back so his head and legs are up. Then he kicks his legs over and over again. Harrison seems to be a bit more mobile. He gets up on his hands and knees or feet and can kind of crawl backwards. He's pretty easy going, and seems to have all sorts of cute noises he's ready to share. For a while, he liked to growl. I can't imagine a more adorable little sound.
As you can tell, visiting their house is full of fun. Joe joined us after work and we had some pizza., ice cream (oh yeah!), and talked. Somehow, when we stay over at Geoff and Val's for dinner, we seem to end up chatting until way past everybody's bed times! By the time Joe and I left, it was already 9:40 PM. As soon as we walked in the door, I fed the dogs a late dinner (sorry puppies!) and Joe took a shower.
As we were getting ready to hop into bed, my cell phone rang. At this point, it's now 10:30 PM, and no one really calls me that late. I answered the phone and immediately thought it was a telemarketer. He asked for me by my full name, pronounced terribly. After I asked who was calling (still hadn't admitted to being the one he wanted to talk to!), he told me that he was with Virgin Atlantic airlines and had my bag and was going to deliver it between midnight and 12:30 am. Yep. One long sentence packed with amazing little details. All I could say at first was, you have my suitcase?! On Thursday, the next, it was the 21 day mark. It would be 3 weeks to the day on Thursday. At that point they consider your bag lost (but not before then), and deal with your claim. So here it was, the point where I figured our bag was lost and gone forever, and someone was telling me they'd be bringing it by in a couple of hours.
He told me to stay off the phone line and answer it when he called back. I gave him the gate code, and agreed to be home and sign for the bag when he arrived. After trying to stay awake watching TV, we ended up deciding to go to sleep, knowing we'd hear the phone or doorbell ring.
Suddenly, I sat up, with a feeling of dread. What time was it? I checked my phone, no missed calls. It was 2:30 AM! It was 2 hours past when he said it would be. What happened to our bag this time?! I snuck downstairs and out to the garage so I didn't wake anyone else in the house. I called back the number that had called me and asked the guy what had happened. He confirmed that I was the one in Aliso Viejo. Yep. He said "I've just come inside the gates. Could you come out to the street so I can find you?" Um... no. I had confirmed online that our bag HAD been found and was being delivered, but I was NOT going to go outside in the middle of the night and meet up with some stranger while I'm in my PJ's! So I ran up stairs and grabbed the blankets off Joe and shook his leg. I got him to wake up and come grumbling downstairs. Just as Joe got to the front door, the baggage guy spotted the porch light I'd flipped on and told us we could wait inside.
I was like a kid waiting to open their Christmas presents. It felt like an eternity as we waited for him to get the bag out of his car and bring it up the sidewalk. We opened the door and the first thing I noticed was that our bag no longer had the shrink wrap stuff on it that the airline had put on at the Jo'Burg airport. And, that the masking tape with "J.Humbles B-311" was ripped off and all that remained was a sticky spot. That tape had been on there since August 2003 and they had the nerve to remove it! It was one of those little pieces of life on Semester At Sea that I just couldn't bring myself to remove.
The suitcase was missing a wheel (just like my pink one had been when we got it at LAX!). Joe carried it over to the living room, and I quickly tore into it. ALL of our dirty clothes were still in there! So was the power converter, our hand carved table's base, the giraffes with intertwining necks... all of it! Ahhhh, what a relief to have these things all back. Silly maybe that we cared so much, but there were a lot of items in there that would be costly to replace. As it is, we have to get new suitcases before our trip to Zambia since both of our big ones are now in terrible condition.
Joe hustled to the garage with a load of laundry and I reveled at all of the things that I thought had been lost to us forever. We then headed back upstairs and tried to get to sleep. Joe was out cold the minute his head hit the pillow, but I laid awake for over an hour. I was pumped with the excitement of the unexpected return of our suitcase. Sleep was not easy to come by... but I should've tried harder. If only I'd known how much I was going to need a good night's sleep...
The next morning, our luck changed. I was laying in bed, awake but hoping to fall back to sleep, when I heard my mom calling up to me from downstairs.
"Jesi, I need you to come see this!"
I flung myself out of bed and trudged over to the top of the steps.
"What?!" I replied.
"Just come down here and see," responded my mom.
I went downstairs and she told me that there was a water leak she wanted me to take a look at. Yep, you guessed it. I was now fully awake and dreading what I was about to be shown. She took me into the garage and pointed to the ceiling. Lo and Behold, the ceiling above our washer and dryer was now a big, wet, soggy mess. At least it wasn't the same spot leaking again, right? Please, if it was the same spot, we'd be better off! Then, it would just be dripping straight onto the garage floor and running out of the garage since the drywall is still opened up there!
I bolted inside, ran out the front door (still in my PJ's!) and started ringing the neighbor's doorbell over and over again. I was SURE that the daughter would be home sleeping, and just needed to get her to wake up. I banged on the front door. Nothing. I pounded with all my might, both fists slamming into the wood and creating a thundering, angry sound. Still nothing.
I rushed back inside and quickly put on some clothes. I grabbed my cell phone and started calling Joe as I ran back to the street and found their water shut off. Having not ever used a water shut off like theirs before, I had to fiddle around in the wet, cobweb filled box in the ground for a couple of minutes before achieving success. I got the water turned off, then ran to the leak in the garage to see if it slowed down. By this point, I'd talked to Joe and told him to call our neighbor and the plumber that our association uses.
After a lot of scrambling, we finally got the leak to stop dripping, and eventually the neighbor was reached. Her daughter WAS home, sleeping, and had not bothered to come open the door. Luckily for them, there was no water damage anywhere inside their place, so we get to deal with all of the damage resulting from their leaky pipe. Wonderful.
We now have yet ANOTHER hole in the ceiling of our garage, and need to have water mitigation performed to prevent any mold issues. The plumber did get the pipe leak fixed through our ceiling though, and the problem has been stopped. That is the most important thing. But, as a result, we WILL be waiting another week or so to get the house relisted so the garage isn't such a messy, scary sight to see. Seriously, we've had such terrible luck with this place lately! My ability to remain sane and my level of tolerance surrounding this place is just about maxed out!
One last bit of good news, if you've made it this far. I DID receive our new I-171H in the mail yesterday afternoon, so we are GOOD TO GO to Zambia when we want to this fall! I have details on the dates we're considering, but I'll discuss that in another post.
On Wednesday afternoon, I enjoyed another great afternoon with Val, Wesley, and Harrison. Val is such an amazing friend, and I truly treasure our visits. It's hard to believe I only met her two months ago. I feel like she's an old friend, and I love how easy it is to talk to her. On top of that, she's got two AMAZING, adorable, incredible little boys that I just love. I can't imagine a set of better first time parents than Geoff and Val, let alone first time parents of twins! I only hope Joe and I can do half as good of a job living up to the standard they've set. Wesley, he's a hoot. He has the best little laugh and when you see his smile, it's contagious. He's not too interested in crawling, but he loves to be held up so he can jump around. He's got little cricket legs. He is beyond cute when he lays on his tummy and arches his back so his head and legs are up. Then he kicks his legs over and over again. Harrison seems to be a bit more mobile. He gets up on his hands and knees or feet and can kind of crawl backwards. He's pretty easy going, and seems to have all sorts of cute noises he's ready to share. For a while, he liked to growl. I can't imagine a more adorable little sound.
As you can tell, visiting their house is full of fun. Joe joined us after work and we had some pizza., ice cream (oh yeah!), and talked. Somehow, when we stay over at Geoff and Val's for dinner, we seem to end up chatting until way past everybody's bed times! By the time Joe and I left, it was already 9:40 PM. As soon as we walked in the door, I fed the dogs a late dinner (sorry puppies!) and Joe took a shower.
As we were getting ready to hop into bed, my cell phone rang. At this point, it's now 10:30 PM, and no one really calls me that late. I answered the phone and immediately thought it was a telemarketer. He asked for me by my full name, pronounced terribly. After I asked who was calling (still hadn't admitted to being the one he wanted to talk to!), he told me that he was with Virgin Atlantic airlines and had my bag and was going to deliver it between midnight and 12:30 am. Yep. One long sentence packed with amazing little details. All I could say at first was, you have my suitcase?! On Thursday, the next, it was the 21 day mark. It would be 3 weeks to the day on Thursday. At that point they consider your bag lost (but not before then), and deal with your claim. So here it was, the point where I figured our bag was lost and gone forever, and someone was telling me they'd be bringing it by in a couple of hours.
He told me to stay off the phone line and answer it when he called back. I gave him the gate code, and agreed to be home and sign for the bag when he arrived. After trying to stay awake watching TV, we ended up deciding to go to sleep, knowing we'd hear the phone or doorbell ring.
Suddenly, I sat up, with a feeling of dread. What time was it? I checked my phone, no missed calls. It was 2:30 AM! It was 2 hours past when he said it would be. What happened to our bag this time?! I snuck downstairs and out to the garage so I didn't wake anyone else in the house. I called back the number that had called me and asked the guy what had happened. He confirmed that I was the one in Aliso Viejo. Yep. He said "I've just come inside the gates. Could you come out to the street so I can find you?" Um... no. I had confirmed online that our bag HAD been found and was being delivered, but I was NOT going to go outside in the middle of the night and meet up with some stranger while I'm in my PJ's! So I ran up stairs and grabbed the blankets off Joe and shook his leg. I got him to wake up and come grumbling downstairs. Just as Joe got to the front door, the baggage guy spotted the porch light I'd flipped on and told us we could wait inside.
I was like a kid waiting to open their Christmas presents. It felt like an eternity as we waited for him to get the bag out of his car and bring it up the sidewalk. We opened the door and the first thing I noticed was that our bag no longer had the shrink wrap stuff on it that the airline had put on at the Jo'Burg airport. And, that the masking tape with "J.Humbles B-311" was ripped off and all that remained was a sticky spot. That tape had been on there since August 2003 and they had the nerve to remove it! It was one of those little pieces of life on Semester At Sea that I just couldn't bring myself to remove.
The suitcase was missing a wheel (just like my pink one had been when we got it at LAX!). Joe carried it over to the living room, and I quickly tore into it. ALL of our dirty clothes were still in there! So was the power converter, our hand carved table's base, the giraffes with intertwining necks... all of it! Ahhhh, what a relief to have these things all back. Silly maybe that we cared so much, but there were a lot of items in there that would be costly to replace. As it is, we have to get new suitcases before our trip to Zambia since both of our big ones are now in terrible condition.
Joe hustled to the garage with a load of laundry and I reveled at all of the things that I thought had been lost to us forever. We then headed back upstairs and tried to get to sleep. Joe was out cold the minute his head hit the pillow, but I laid awake for over an hour. I was pumped with the excitement of the unexpected return of our suitcase. Sleep was not easy to come by... but I should've tried harder. If only I'd known how much I was going to need a good night's sleep...
The next morning, our luck changed. I was laying in bed, awake but hoping to fall back to sleep, when I heard my mom calling up to me from downstairs.
"Jesi, I need you to come see this!"
I flung myself out of bed and trudged over to the top of the steps.
"What?!" I replied.
"Just come down here and see," responded my mom.
I went downstairs and she told me that there was a water leak she wanted me to take a look at. Yep, you guessed it. I was now fully awake and dreading what I was about to be shown. She took me into the garage and pointed to the ceiling. Lo and Behold, the ceiling above our washer and dryer was now a big, wet, soggy mess. At least it wasn't the same spot leaking again, right? Please, if it was the same spot, we'd be better off! Then, it would just be dripping straight onto the garage floor and running out of the garage since the drywall is still opened up there!
I bolted inside, ran out the front door (still in my PJ's!) and started ringing the neighbor's doorbell over and over again. I was SURE that the daughter would be home sleeping, and just needed to get her to wake up. I banged on the front door. Nothing. I pounded with all my might, both fists slamming into the wood and creating a thundering, angry sound. Still nothing.
I rushed back inside and quickly put on some clothes. I grabbed my cell phone and started calling Joe as I ran back to the street and found their water shut off. Having not ever used a water shut off like theirs before, I had to fiddle around in the wet, cobweb filled box in the ground for a couple of minutes before achieving success. I got the water turned off, then ran to the leak in the garage to see if it slowed down. By this point, I'd talked to Joe and told him to call our neighbor and the plumber that our association uses.
After a lot of scrambling, we finally got the leak to stop dripping, and eventually the neighbor was reached. Her daughter WAS home, sleeping, and had not bothered to come open the door. Luckily for them, there was no water damage anywhere inside their place, so we get to deal with all of the damage resulting from their leaky pipe. Wonderful.
We now have yet ANOTHER hole in the ceiling of our garage, and need to have water mitigation performed to prevent any mold issues. The plumber did get the pipe leak fixed through our ceiling though, and the problem has been stopped. That is the most important thing. But, as a result, we WILL be waiting another week or so to get the house relisted so the garage isn't such a messy, scary sight to see. Seriously, we've had such terrible luck with this place lately! My ability to remain sane and my level of tolerance surrounding this place is just about maxed out!
One last bit of good news, if you've made it this far. I DID receive our new I-171H in the mail yesterday afternoon, so we are GOOD TO GO to Zambia when we want to this fall! I have details on the dates we're considering, but I'll discuss that in another post.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
We've got a baby registry!!!
Well, enough people have suggested that we go ahead and register, so we finally did. I did my best to do some research, figure out what's useful and what's not, and pick things out from a picture online. In the next day or two I'll go into a store and pick things relating to nursery theme that I felt was too tough to decide online. The hardest part about registering is not knowing anything about our kids yet! We're expecting/planning on adopting twins, or two unrelated infants, but we could come home with an infant and a 3 year old... who knows! And whether they'll be boys, girls, or both???
If you'd like to check out our registry, we registered at www.babysrus.com. You can also get the registry in the store I believe, so that's an option too. Thanks for taking a peek! We're registered under our FULL first and last names... not by our shortened and more commonly used names (Jesi/Joe). Or, you can look it up with our registry number: 52134451.
Oh... and we're now thinking that due to work/vacation schedules, we'll probably be heading to Zambia in November... hopefully around the evening of the 9th or the morning of the 10th. I'm bummed that it's a little later than we'd be thinking, but it makes much more sense in the long run! It also means that if we end up needing to be over there for a longer period of time, Joe should be able to have enough vacation days to make it work since November 30 is the fiscal year end for his company and then his vacation days are renewed for the next year.
If you'd like to check out our registry, we registered at www.babysrus.com. You can also get the registry in the store I believe, so that's an option too. Thanks for taking a peek! We're registered under our FULL first and last names... not by our shortened and more commonly used names (Jesi/Joe). Or, you can look it up with our registry number: 52134451.
Oh... and we're now thinking that due to work/vacation schedules, we'll probably be heading to Zambia in November... hopefully around the evening of the 9th or the morning of the 10th. I'm bummed that it's a little later than we'd be thinking, but it makes much more sense in the long run! It also means that if we end up needing to be over there for a longer period of time, Joe should be able to have enough vacation days to make it work since November 30 is the fiscal year end for his company and then his vacation days are renewed for the next year.
Zambia links
Just thought I'd provide some links to various things of interest relating to Zambia and adoptions...
An article about a couple in Newark that just adopted an infant son from Zambia:
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707210310
A YouTube picture collage of a volunteer's time in Zambia in 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvrAQeNG7Q&NR=1
The same volunteer's blog site, as she is currently in Zambia again right now:
http://lauriekholland.blogspot.com/
Another YouTube video showing a township that is fostering orphaned children... discussing some grim realities surrounding the HIV/AIDS pandemic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogvh0HCHw6Y&mode=related&search=
Just thought you might enjoy seeing these!
An article about a couple in Newark that just adopted an infant son from Zambia:
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707210310
A YouTube picture collage of a volunteer's time in Zambia in 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBvrAQeNG7Q&NR=1
The same volunteer's blog site, as she is currently in Zambia again right now:
http://lauriekholland.blogspot.com/
Another YouTube video showing a township that is fostering orphaned children... discussing some grim realities surrounding the HIV/AIDS pandemic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogvh0HCHw6Y&mode=related&search=
Just thought you might enjoy seeing these!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Amended Homestudy Received!
It made it! This morning our amended homestudy approving us to adopt from Zambia arrived! I now either need to take another afternoon train trip up the the LA USCIS office to hand deliver this and get the country mistake corrected, or FedEx it. I could save some money by FedExing... but since I've been told I don't need any forms/checks/cover letters with it, I'm afraid that once it arrived, they would tell me they want a form to make the change and a check for their time. To file a I-824 (used to change countries), it's currently $200. After July 30th, it goes up to $360. Yikes! I'm hoping that since it was their mistake to process the application for a country other than what was stated, that they won't charge me for this and we can save that money! Besides, if we end up moving, I'll have to pay that same fee to update my address, I believe. Ugh.
I also don't think I mentioned before, but my brother's in town right now! My mom's lease on her Saab was up, so he drove their convertible Beetle out from Colorado. I think he's staying through Sunday night, so it's definitely time we are trying to take advantage of since I don't know that I'll be able to see him again before he heads to Afghanistan for his deployment. :'-(
As for the house, it's not re-listed yet, but I finally got our realtor to take his sign off the garage door. He seemed to put off doing that for quite a while since he's still trying to wait and see if this deal with the guy who made the first offer on our house is going to work out. We should've received a written offer by now, but he's had a situation come up that has changed what his financing options are, so we're just waiting for him to get that figured out first. At this point we're told that BY Monday we'll get an update. I just hope, REALLY HOPE, it'll work out and we don't have to start over with showings and waiting again. As much as we don't like our current realtor, we just want to be done and not have to work with another one!
I also don't think I mentioned before, but my brother's in town right now! My mom's lease on her Saab was up, so he drove their convertible Beetle out from Colorado. I think he's staying through Sunday night, so it's definitely time we are trying to take advantage of since I don't know that I'll be able to see him again before he heads to Afghanistan for his deployment. :'-(
As for the house, it's not re-listed yet, but I finally got our realtor to take his sign off the garage door. He seemed to put off doing that for quite a while since he's still trying to wait and see if this deal with the guy who made the first offer on our house is going to work out. We should've received a written offer by now, but he's had a situation come up that has changed what his financing options are, so we're just waiting for him to get that figured out first. At this point we're told that BY Monday we'll get an update. I just hope, REALLY HOPE, it'll work out and we don't have to start over with showings and waiting again. As much as we don't like our current realtor, we just want to be done and not have to work with another one!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
More South Africa pictures
Ok... as requested, here are some more pictures of our trip! I'll probably post even more later... hate to overwhelm anyone! ;-)
Male White Rhino having a standoff with our truck. He blocked our path for about 5-10 minutes... just standing there, sniffing, and waiting. I can't imagine a more amazing animal! He was so docile and calm in a situation where he didn't feel threatened.
A male Nyala - isn't he amazing?!
Look at this gorgeous Zebra!
A view overlooking the Zulu Nyala reserve
Hippo family... notice the baby on the left-hand side of the picture? 
Talk about a big mouth... in case you wondered how a chunky little hippo could be the animal responsible for killing the most people in Africa, check out those jaws and teeth!
Zulu Cultural Village - dancing (look at this guy's flip!)
One heck of a kick!
A whirlwind of changes
Yep, I have updates on all the crazy changes happening in our lives... yet again plans have been fumbled! First, the buyers of our condo have gotten cold feet and cancelled the escrow the day they were supposed to release contingencies. No stated reason why... and their realtor won't even answer our realtor's calls to explain anything. So, our house is NOT in escrow and we (at this moment) will NOT be moving yet. Our agent has called the agent of the guy who made the first offer on this place to see if he's still interested. We're told he is, and he made a verbal offer that was $5,000 below his last written counter-offer price. If he can come up $9,000 from the verbal offer, the place is his. We'll see. Something more should be known sometime this morning. Cross your fingers for us... with the adoption looming closer and closer we'd hate to have to put the house back on the market now and start over with a new realtor. This may be a really happy day... or one that is a little less than happy. Either way, our lives are still great.
In addition to the situation with our house, we received our I-171H in the mail! We have been approved to adopt One or Two orphans... from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Yep... Ethiopia. I wrote Lusaka, Zambia on the application, but they completed disregarded the application and approved us for Ethiopia since that's the country our homestudy mentioned! If they noticed the discrepancy, the proper protocol they are supposed to follow is to contact us and request an amendment to the homestudy. Instead, they just approved us for Ethiopia! So, now I'm waiting to get the amended homestudy in hand so I can head BACK up to Los Angeles and get this corrected... hopefully without paying the $200 fee to change countries! Grrr... I was so bummed that this came up. That'll teach me to count on things being correct the first time around!
At this point, we have no idea if/when we'll move and our I-171H is still in the works (getting the country mistake corrected). We're hoping to get some updates on the adoption process in Zambia soon as the first 4 families with Faithful Adoptions leave at the end of this week to begin their Zambian adoptions! Please keep your fingers crossed, pray, or think positive thoughts (whatever it is that you do) for them/us that their adoptions go smoothly and in about a month they will be safely traveling home with their new children!!!
In addition to the situation with our house, we received our I-171H in the mail! We have been approved to adopt One or Two orphans... from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Yep... Ethiopia. I wrote Lusaka, Zambia on the application, but they completed disregarded the application and approved us for Ethiopia since that's the country our homestudy mentioned! If they noticed the discrepancy, the proper protocol they are supposed to follow is to contact us and request an amendment to the homestudy. Instead, they just approved us for Ethiopia! So, now I'm waiting to get the amended homestudy in hand so I can head BACK up to Los Angeles and get this corrected... hopefully without paying the $200 fee to change countries! Grrr... I was so bummed that this came up. That'll teach me to count on things being correct the first time around!
At this point, we have no idea if/when we'll move and our I-171H is still in the works (getting the country mistake corrected). We're hoping to get some updates on the adoption process in Zambia soon as the first 4 families with Faithful Adoptions leave at the end of this week to begin their Zambian adoptions! Please keep your fingers crossed, pray, or think positive thoughts (whatever it is that you do) for them/us that their adoptions go smoothly and in about a month they will be safely traveling home with their new children!!!
BYU student article on time in Zambia
Well, I know a post is long overdue. I thought I'd start by posting a link to an article someone mentioned on the Zambian Adoption forum. It's written by a BYU student that traveled with Mothers Without Borders and spent 3 weeks in Zambia. The best part is seeing her pictures with all the amazing children! Enjoy!
http://www.byucougars.com/Filing.jsp?ID=9414
http://www.byucougars.com/Filing.jsp?ID=9414
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
