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You've heard of ladies-in-waiting? Well I've decided that I am officially an Adoptive-Mom-in-Waiting! But I'm so happy to announce the next stage that we've graduated to...
We're officially in line for a court date!!! I know this may seem so anti-climactic for most of you. Several months ago I would have responded with an "And...?" Since we had heard about the hold-ups with our kids' paperwork, we were beginning to wonder what kind of plan God had us on? Would we be on the "eternally waiting" plan? I'd already told God (more than once I readily admit) that I really had learned whatever lesson it was that He was seemed to be convinced I needed to learn. He hasn't quite bought it yet... I guess He saw the times that I almost started screaming into my pillow, the many times I've bitten my tongue to refrain from laying into one of my beloved family members in exasperation, the times that biting did no good... sorry TrueDad & kids... All in all, though, my faith is definitely expanding and my trust has increased exponentially (promise, God!).
We should know about the official date within a couple of weeks. It doesn't normally take that long (yet another "opportunity" to wait and learn...), but I've been told that there are a couple of holidays coming up in Ethiopia (from my extensive online research - i.e. "world travel guide"): May 1 - Labour Day... bet you didn't know that this went beyond our country... ok - I had no idea at least... and May 5 - Patriots Victory Day. No idea what that one means... my extensive research hasn't extended that far... At any rate, we are thrilled to have confirmation that the paperwork is in order and that we're in line for a date!
Thank you for all your prayers! We are humbled and privileged to call so many of you friends.
TrueMom-in-waiting :)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Waiting...
Have I said how much I really don't like to wait??? I know... I shouldn't write that out loud, cuz it'll probably get even worse now. I honestly think that's why I haven't written much recently, cuz I'm so not happy about this whole waiting thing. Word to the wise - don't go toward international adoption unless you're good with waiting... or at least willing to wait... or at the very least have decided to grin and bear it (how do I cross out "grin" on this computer?) if you're forced to wait... can you guess which category I fall into?
Really, I have no grounds to complain - other than dealing with this constant feeling that my home, which once was so complete a few months ago, will not be so again until our two little ones come home. I keep trying to enjoy the fact that I have so much "me-time" compared to what will be when they finally get here, but I just can't seem to take any satisfaction in it. I'm so thankful that the kids are being taken care of really well in their orphanage. It is sad, however, that most of their friends have moved from their current orphanage to a new one in Addis, the main city in Ethiopia. Our kids are supposed to move as well, but the region's officials where they're from have not released them to be moved. There are about 8 children left there and about 50 who were moved. I'm thankful that brother and sister get to stay together!
There was a problem a while ago with a licensing of a couple of the orphanages that held up anyone getting court dates. This caused a bit of concern for all of us potential adoptive parents (PAP's) as we weren't sure how long this would hold things up. In Ethiopia, there is a severe rainy season that pretty much shuts things down for two months. It looks like this year, court will be completely shut down for August and September. (The dates change every year - this year could be a little earlier or a little later, but should be pretty close...) When court opens back up again, there's quite a backlog of cases to be heard so things are really slow getting started back up. This means that all of us PAP's are praying really hard to "pass court before they close." The good news is that several other families adopting from the same organization have received court dates - the furthest one out so far is June 4th. The bad news is that we're not one of them yet. We've gotten word that the kids' paperwork may not be completed yet - we've been waiting to hear whether it is or not for a couple of weeks.
It's so hard to understand from our perspective why you just can't pick up the phone and ask that question. And if something is not completed, why you can't go get the missing paper and fax it to them the same day. After all, that's what I do in real estate on a daily basis... fax, email and my trustee cell phone, which gets my emails on it as well, are my friends! (Or my enemies depending on the particular moment. Like last week when I walked into the Sprint store to get their help "unfreezing" my email on my phone. The guy said, "i'll just take out your battery and put it back in and that should take care of it." "Okay," I ignorantly replied... my phone was indeed like new after that - stripped of all my contacts, emails or anything else that made it my trustee friend... for those of you now deathly afraid to take out your battery, I've gotten reassurance that this is not normal... BTW, I'll deny to my death that the shriek you heard coming from the Sprint store at 3:00 was me.) Alas, it's not that way in a third world country. Dial-up is their only modem, which doesn't work half the time - and if you thought you're old dial-up was slow, you'd think again after sharing an extremely slow line with the rest of the country. (I don't know exactly how many lines they have, but I've been told that you can go for days without it...) There are entire days as well that you can't get through on a phone line, not to mention the 10 hour time difference. Need I say more? Actually, yes. Ethiopians tend to operate on a different time schedule than we do in the U.S.... much more relaxed. While this may be great for the blood pressure in Ethiopia, it doesn't do much for us wigged out, get-it-done-now over-achievers... I guess I am admitting to that one.
In so many ways, however, the waiting is a blessing. Really. I keep telling myself that and some of the time I manage to feel it - the times I don't, I still believe it! I have found this to be so true:
We have been managed to be pretty productive however, in our waiting time. During Easter break, we moved C.J.'s room to what used to be the bonus room. He now has the coolest bedroom in the house - happy bday, son! He wanted to leave the sectional that we had in there and use a wardrobe for a closet with just a simple bed and now his room has become the official hang-out upstairs! The other night, TrueDad, Guy, our friend Josh and C.J. were living out their fantasies of hitting 350 yard drives with personal caddies the only way they ever will - on "Tiger Woods" XBox - when I realized they were all playing in C.J.'s room at 10 pm on a school night! Oops... gotta come up with a new plan for that one!
We then cleared out C.J.'s old room to make way for the new kids. I honestly never knew so much stuff could be hiding in two rooms. You could have easily mistaken our hallway for an entire household as we sorted through what was going or staying. It really took the whole week, sad to say, but it looks fabulous now and the kids' room is almost ready... now we just need the kids! We took a day trip to IKEA - we decided it was the next best thing to Disneyland. We shopped for our church, which we're waiting to move in to (yes, lots of waiting going on these days), and had a blast. One of my favorite moments was eating in the cafeteria (kind of can't believe that word came out of my fingers in association with our family...) and spending $20 for our family of 5 and having leftovers! Best dish on the menu? Add 5 Swedish meatballs for $1.00 to any meal. If you want to save a penny, get a kids portion - the same 5 Swedish meatballs in a colored plastic bowl for $0.99 (sorry, I'm currently computer-challenged as I can't seem to find the cents symbol)!
We all had fun designing the kids' room - using stuff we already had and adding little things. We had a side table and toy box/bench (gotta love this one - I've been using it for a laundry "basket" but it says on the underside of the lid - "Caution - not a toy box as fingers may get caught." I told my mom a little sheepishly that we were planning on using it anyway. She said, "For heavens' sake, what do you thing we had when you kids were little!" Nothing special about it - just a hinge on a wooden lid on a wooden box... i figure it would probably only take once... that's all it ever took me :). Not to worry, no fingers are in danger or being lost... I tried it out first just to be sure!) that I didn't want to keep the way they were. I decided to venture into the world of Trading Spaces and paint it with much fear and trepidation. I'm thrilled to say they came out great. What was once a very boring falling-apart worn-out side table is now a chic distressed black nightstand and toy box with striped bench. I decided on the whole distressed route cuz it'll end up that way whether I want it to or not, I would imagine! Now I have to design their window treatments - I'm going for indoor red awnings with iron sides... I'll post pics when I'm done :).
The fun part will be on the Saturday before Mother's Day, we're planning on having a parking lot fundraiser. I've been kind of afraid to write it out loud, cuz I know how much work it will be, but we're using it as an event to benefit the kids and the orphanages in Ethiopia. Please let us know if you have anything you'd like to get rid of (one man's junk is another man's treasure!) and we'll happily include it in our ever-growing pile. We hope to get lots of donations and have a great sale! Thanks for helping us spread the word!
Really, I have no grounds to complain - other than dealing with this constant feeling that my home, which once was so complete a few months ago, will not be so again until our two little ones come home. I keep trying to enjoy the fact that I have so much "me-time" compared to what will be when they finally get here, but I just can't seem to take any satisfaction in it. I'm so thankful that the kids are being taken care of really well in their orphanage. It is sad, however, that most of their friends have moved from their current orphanage to a new one in Addis, the main city in Ethiopia. Our kids are supposed to move as well, but the region's officials where they're from have not released them to be moved. There are about 8 children left there and about 50 who were moved. I'm thankful that brother and sister get to stay together!
There was a problem a while ago with a licensing of a couple of the orphanages that held up anyone getting court dates. This caused a bit of concern for all of us potential adoptive parents (PAP's) as we weren't sure how long this would hold things up. In Ethiopia, there is a severe rainy season that pretty much shuts things down for two months. It looks like this year, court will be completely shut down for August and September. (The dates change every year - this year could be a little earlier or a little later, but should be pretty close...) When court opens back up again, there's quite a backlog of cases to be heard so things are really slow getting started back up. This means that all of us PAP's are praying really hard to "pass court before they close." The good news is that several other families adopting from the same organization have received court dates - the furthest one out so far is June 4th. The bad news is that we're not one of them yet. We've gotten word that the kids' paperwork may not be completed yet - we've been waiting to hear whether it is or not for a couple of weeks.
It's so hard to understand from our perspective why you just can't pick up the phone and ask that question. And if something is not completed, why you can't go get the missing paper and fax it to them the same day. After all, that's what I do in real estate on a daily basis... fax, email and my trustee cell phone, which gets my emails on it as well, are my friends! (Or my enemies depending on the particular moment. Like last week when I walked into the Sprint store to get their help "unfreezing" my email on my phone. The guy said, "i'll just take out your battery and put it back in and that should take care of it." "Okay," I ignorantly replied... my phone was indeed like new after that - stripped of all my contacts, emails or anything else that made it my trustee friend... for those of you now deathly afraid to take out your battery, I've gotten reassurance that this is not normal... BTW, I'll deny to my death that the shriek you heard coming from the Sprint store at 3:00 was me.) Alas, it's not that way in a third world country. Dial-up is their only modem, which doesn't work half the time - and if you thought you're old dial-up was slow, you'd think again after sharing an extremely slow line with the rest of the country. (I don't know exactly how many lines they have, but I've been told that you can go for days without it...) There are entire days as well that you can't get through on a phone line, not to mention the 10 hour time difference. Need I say more? Actually, yes. Ethiopians tend to operate on a different time schedule than we do in the U.S.... much more relaxed. While this may be great for the blood pressure in Ethiopia, it doesn't do much for us wigged out, get-it-done-now over-achievers... I guess I am admitting to that one.
In so many ways, however, the waiting is a blessing. Really. I keep telling myself that and some of the time I manage to feel it - the times I don't, I still believe it! I have found this to be so true:
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31
What a blessing to know the One I serve and to learn to trust Him in a deeper way day by day, moment by moment. I'm really waiting on Him and He is never late - praise God!We have been managed to be pretty productive however, in our waiting time. During Easter break, we moved C.J.'s room to what used to be the bonus room. He now has the coolest bedroom in the house - happy bday, son! He wanted to leave the sectional that we had in there and use a wardrobe for a closet with just a simple bed and now his room has become the official hang-out upstairs! The other night, TrueDad, Guy, our friend Josh and C.J. were living out their fantasies of hitting 350 yard drives with personal caddies the only way they ever will - on "Tiger Woods" XBox - when I realized they were all playing in C.J.'s room at 10 pm on a school night! Oops... gotta come up with a new plan for that one!
We then cleared out C.J.'s old room to make way for the new kids. I honestly never knew so much stuff could be hiding in two rooms. You could have easily mistaken our hallway for an entire household as we sorted through what was going or staying. It really took the whole week, sad to say, but it looks fabulous now and the kids' room is almost ready... now we just need the kids! We took a day trip to IKEA - we decided it was the next best thing to Disneyland. We shopped for our church, which we're waiting to move in to (yes, lots of waiting going on these days), and had a blast. One of my favorite moments was eating in the cafeteria (kind of can't believe that word came out of my fingers in association with our family...) and spending $20 for our family of 5 and having leftovers! Best dish on the menu? Add 5 Swedish meatballs for $1.00 to any meal. If you want to save a penny, get a kids portion - the same 5 Swedish meatballs in a colored plastic bowl for $0.99 (sorry, I'm currently computer-challenged as I can't seem to find the cents symbol)!
We all had fun designing the kids' room - using stuff we already had and adding little things. We had a side table and toy box/bench (gotta love this one - I've been using it for a laundry "basket" but it says on the underside of the lid - "Caution - not a toy box as fingers may get caught." I told my mom a little sheepishly that we were planning on using it anyway. She said, "For heavens' sake, what do you thing we had when you kids were little!" Nothing special about it - just a hinge on a wooden lid on a wooden box... i figure it would probably only take once... that's all it ever took me :). Not to worry, no fingers are in danger or being lost... I tried it out first just to be sure!) that I didn't want to keep the way they were. I decided to venture into the world of Trading Spaces and paint it with much fear and trepidation. I'm thrilled to say they came out great. What was once a very boring falling-apart worn-out side table is now a chic distressed black nightstand and toy box with striped bench. I decided on the whole distressed route cuz it'll end up that way whether I want it to or not, I would imagine! Now I have to design their window treatments - I'm going for indoor red awnings with iron sides... I'll post pics when I'm done :).
The fun part will be on the Saturday before Mother's Day, we're planning on having a parking lot fundraiser. I've been kind of afraid to write it out loud, cuz I know how much work it will be, but we're using it as an event to benefit the kids and the orphanages in Ethiopia. Please let us know if you have anything you'd like to get rid of (one man's junk is another man's treasure!) and we'll happily include it in our ever-growing pile. We hope to get lots of donations and have a great sale! Thanks for helping us spread the word!
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