Update

So another mother went over to Ethiopia last week to visit with her child - she of course has not passed court yet either. She emailed me yesterday with the following update on B....

Greetings ..
We spent the afternoon at the big kids house. It's beautiful with a lovely garden and lovely house; very clean and welcoming. It's a nurturing environment, felt like a big family house. Sister S. was there AMAZING, INCREDIBLE WOMAN.

B is charming and relaxed and smiles ALOT!! He's tiny. He ABSOLUTELY LOVED looking at his picture. I'm so glad you sent it. He loves to play with other kids, they said he's a GREAT SHARER. Always looking out for the younger kids. He LOVES balloons and movies, the teletubbies of all things.

They said he's come a long way. When he first got there he hated taking pictures and was quiet. Now he's very composed and engaging and just wonderful. He's gonna make your heart melt. Such a nice, handsome kid!!! He also loves to dance, as we left the whole house was rocking along to an Ethiopian band on television. He was shaking up the dance floor .. giggle.

Email is not so great here. No way I can send the pics we took. Will do so next week. Just wanted you to have my little notes on Thanksgiving!

Sigh........

Donations

Obviously I have been trying to occupy myself with thinking about anything BUT when a travel date will come specifically, but I realize that there are a lot of other things that we can get in order while we're waiting.

One of these is donations. I don't want anyone to feel like they have to do this, but if you are interested in donating in some way, either to the orphanage we are going to, or Hope Enterprises (see right hand bar), or possibly AHOPE, the orphanage for HIV positive kids, then please let me know. I want to get an idea of who would like to be involved and to what extent. My feelings are that I would prefer to take as few things with us as possible, but I realize that there are some items that they will want that can't be found in Ethiopia. My thoughts were to collect money from most people and then go out and buy items there that they need. This way, I don't have to haul it all over like a pack mule, or one of those couples you see at the airport with 17 pieces of luggage dressed like they are about to have their photos taken, who obviously don't fly over 2 hours very often and are in for a rude awakening as they enter their 15th hour of international travel. It also puts money directly back into their economy which is a good thing.

Let me know what you think and which option you would be more likely to want to participate in - Giving me cash, or items (which I will have to get a list of when we are closer to being able to travel).

And maybe no one will want to. I know its not like everyone has piles of extra cash this year. But a little can go a long way there. ;)

No Cavities

While I was laying in the dentist's chair this morning, getting my teeth cleaned it occurred to me that I will most likely be back in this office sooner than the normal six month check-up/cleaning. Given my obsession with teeth, B will be needing to visit the dentist ASAP once we get him home. ( I hope I'm not being overly optimistic thinking that will be sooner than six months from now!)

Anyway, as I'm sitting there, looking at the woman with the mask on and the funny goggles over her glasses, and the bright light shining from up above I had tow thoughts.. 1.) Sitting here with my mouth held wide open for an unnaturally long time is NOT helping my efforts to reduce the signs of wrinkles, and 2.) WTH is this poor kid going to think? If he'd ever seen an episode of X-Files I would assume that he thinks this is what happens when you're abducted. This is a fun outing that I have to look forward to. Especially since I hate having my teeth cleaned. You know how some people have a problem with fingernails on chalkboard, well I'm that way with metal on teeth or dinner plates... But sticking with the situation. Teeth. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the whole situation will be for him. Just one more odd situation that you don't usually think much of because its so normal, but will seem so insane to him.

The dentist is under the impression that his teeth should be okay, due to lack of sugar, but given the blog posts I have read about kids basically having to have a surgery on their teeth to repair the damage after coming home from Ethiopia (not all but a few) and the fact that I have a photo of the midget eating a Dum Dum, I won't hold my breath. Maybe Dr. Lucas will be able to go down and buy a new truck!

No Comments

I have to admit, that I am a bit surprised by the lack of comments on the Festivus entry. I hope I didn't scare off any readers! Figured the picture of Dave would bring some sort of a response.

Festivus Miracles

Saturday night we had a Festivus party at our house. I know, a month early from when it actually should be, but oh well. Although we did not have the feats of strength, I was not sure how to do this without being held liable for loss of future earnings, we did have the airing of grievances. Which I have to say, was the funniest thing I have ever seen.... Pictures to follow. I think that everyone had a good time, and to those of you that left some time after 12, I am sorry if I didn't say goodbye or said anything actually. Obviously I hit a wall somewhere around then. Unfortunately it did not stop us all together, but that's another story for another blog.



Pat and I in the bar..... I do not remember the taking of this picture. Not that that means anything.



"Come on Troy, just one cookie.. No one will notice.. Those girls? They're drunk, they don't know what's going on!"



"You build that Festivus pole yourself Clark?" "Sure did Eddie, with my own two hands" (Yes, I know, I'm mixing my media here....)



Bye Jenny ......... She left the next day for CO and is still ignoring me. =)~




Funny and disturbing all at the same time. Dave's grievances were a full stage show. This is as far as the stripping went though. I promise, it was nothing perverse.

Oh, the camera was only dropped once, again, not by me, but this time, it made it out in working order. I still have 18 months on that oh so worth the money, no questions asked, warranty at Best Buy.....

Instead of Working..

I stole this from someone else's blog. Give it a try, but only one word answers.

· Where is your mobile phone? Desk
· Where is your significant other? Working
· Your hair color? Depends
· Your mother? Alive
· Your father? Pat
· Your favorite thing? Food
· Your dream last night? Drunken
· Your dream goal? Unknown
· The room you’re in? Office
· Your hobby? Non-existant
· Your fear? Uninformed
· Where do you want to be in 6 years? Somewhere
· Where were you last night? Home
· What you’re not? Patient
· One of your wish-list items? Travel
· Where you grew up? Wyoming
· The last thing you did? Ate
· What are you wearing? Dress
· Your TV? Fixed
· Your pets? Unruly
· Your computer? Addictive
· Your mood? Bored
· Missing someone? Yes
· Your car? Cold
· Something you’re not wearing? Bracelet
· Favorite shop? Anthropologie
· Your summer? Fast
· Love someone? Yes
· Your favorite color? Red
· When is the last time you laughed? Today
· When is the last time you cried? Questionable

Its a Dog's Life

Since this blog was started to keep people up to date on the adoption, and there is nothing to keep up to date on right now, I need to find somewhat interesting things to post about.

I have seen a tag that is pick the sixth photo album on your computer then post the sixth picture from that album. This is what you get....




Chivas posing for photos for a Christmas ornament.

And for some added entertainment.



The girls in a heated game of Monopoly Here and Now. This is tough playing with all these large sums - help mom!!



I shouldn't have drank so much wine.......



Seriously, this is what you guys consider to be a good time. Shelby, why don't you play tug of war with a squeaky toy with Sake and I will hump her in unison to the squeak. Ahhh, that sounds like a good time.

They are having such an easier time distracting themselves from B than Cory and I... Its a dog's life.

New Year

After a call with our agency today, which was basically just a repeat of things we already knew and morale booster, I am now fairly sure that we will not be bringing B home until after the new year.

Originally we were hoping/thinking that we might have him here by Christmas but that looks very unlikely now. At first I was a little disappointed by this, but they made some good points on the call today. One of the main things you hear over and over again is to guard against over-stimulating a child when you bring them home. Don't have a house full of toys or a lot of people outside of the two of you. He needs to understand that we are his parents and bond to us. Also, if he comes into welcome parties, and a lot of excitement, he will have a hard time understanding the natural order of the house, and what life is like on a typical day.

All of that said, Christmas is obviously not a typical day. Especially if you come to our house. We usually put up 3 trees, There's lights on the house, decorations everywhere.. Basically looks like an elf vomited holiday cheer everywhere. If we were to bring him home before Christmas we would really have to tone everything down. Which I would do, but, I suppose that one last Christmas on our own isn't the worst thing in the world. Plus this way I don't have to miss Jenny's party, we still get to go do a lot of the things that we like to do, and I can still have presents. =) Yes, I really am that shallow. Or possibly just that good at forcing myself to get over the bitchy streak I've been on.

Ethiopia Update

Got another update from our agency today. They are being told that no families will travel until late December at the earliest now. Lovely. The courts are apparently backed up with so many cases, and they are still working through a backlog from summer, before the courts had closed.

So nobody ask me if I've heard anything for at least a month. Understand. Not that I'm angry, but I am disappointed, and I have nothing, absolutely nothing to tell anyone, and it is very frustrating. I think that my head might pop off at this point if someone asks me if I've heard anything. Remember, this is not anger directed at anyone, I am just not a patient person and I can feel this pressure building in my head. Seriously. Its all compounded by the fact that people from other agencies are traveling already... WTF???!!!

Lack of Pictures

B's room is done for the most part, and I should take pictures, but Cory still hasn't moved the ladder out of there and it would be distracting. That and I have had an unspoken goal of getting off the couch as little as possible today. I promise that I will get pictures up though. Bed is up, the other furniture, pictures, and the hanging chair. Haven't quite decided where to put the growth chart. Which is awesome by the way.

This woman hand paints wooden growth charts or other name plates with whatever you like and your child's name. http://www.creativenamesigns.com She did ours with a Dr. Seuss type of look, a big tree, a goofy bird in it and a dog. Trying to push the dog thing as much as possible.

There are a couple of different schools of thought with the dog issue too. A lot of people say not to send pictures of the family pets to your children over there because they are taught to be afraid of dogs. They are taught to avoid them because they are strays and may have rabies. Many of the children are actually afraid of them. We included pictures in his album anyway, because I think that it would be worse to blind side him when he comes home as opposed to giving him time to prepare for the situation and have people around him who speak his language to explain the situation to him. If anyone else has an opinion, feel free to share, although the album was sent off a while ago. So, there is a good chance that he has it by know and knows about the strange looking people with the wild animals that he will be coming to live with... Poor kid!! ;)