Timelines

There may be nothing quite as destructive to an adoptive parent's peace of mind than to obsess over other AP's timelines.

There are three possibilities when you do this.

1. Someone's timeline will match yours thus far and you begin to expect things will continue to match up.

2. Someone is moving at WARP speed and you begin to get frustrated and wonder why it is that their paperwork moves so much faster than yours.

3. Someone is moving WAY slower than you are and you begin to wonder what big wall you will hit next that will slow things down to that speed as well.

Where am I on this scale?

It depends on what time of day you ask me.

If you ask my husband? We are on the warp-speed path.

Today I am thinking we are more along the lines of the normal to slow path.
I have yet to hear our dossier is in Ethiopia... if it were there already it would be less than a month between our submission and it's arrival there, which would qualify for the warp-speed status. This week we will hit one month, which would be average. If it does not arrive this week.... I will start to obsess that we are slower-than-average for some reason.

As for other stuff...
I have planned a big adoption fundraiser yard sale for May 1st!
That seems to be good timing since in my heart, I am really hoping to be in the first travel group of June. Of course, in order to do that, we have to have our Holt fees paid in full as well as be ready to purchase 2 round trip and 3 one-way tickets!
I am also in the process of making these t-shirts to sell, but needing to finalize the design and the wording before we can proceed.
In addition to these two fundraisers, I am drowning in grant applications. Quite literally drowning. Each one has such different documentation required and the letters for each one are slightly different, that I am trying to just attack each one separately and cut and paste whatever I can from one to the other! They sure don't make it easy!

Wish I was a wabbit.

Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you could just crawl in a hole somewhere and let the whole world go on around you?

Nothing particularly earth-shattering today with us... nothing with the adoption... just TIRED.

Big drama over on Facebook that sucked some of my joy...
Feeling sorry for myself over the mess in the house that I don't have the energy to clean up tonight...
Husband who is stressed over the lack of progress on fundraising...
Me who gets upset that he is stressed...
Me who feels blamed for the lack of progress...
Getting frustrated with not being able to keep my house like I want it AND work AND help with homework...

Good things are out there too.
Sam had a very short speaking part in his 1st grade production tonight and the whole thing was SUPER cute.
We have a wonderful school district with great teachers who put extra effort into their classes.
My little sister is carrying around a fully baked baby Alice, who should make her debut ANY day now!
She will be my first niece! I have 5 nephews!
BIG answered prayer in my parents' world today!
My dossier should be in Ethiopia ANY day now, which will put us into the "waiting on a court date" category!

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

They can't all be sunshine and roses, right?

Updated info!

Late yesterday just as I was leaving work, I got an email from Holt with a new update on my babies!

I was so excited to read all about how they are progressing while in care!

Here are some tid-bits on each of my youngest three!

4-year old girl:

She has gained 3.3lbs since December!

She grew 1cm too!

She is reported to enjoy singing songs, 

praying with her care givers, 

and is doing "well for her age"!

3-year old girl:

She has gained 2.2lbs 

and grew 5cm since December!

She still just likes to play with her siblings... and a toy car!

She also loves to sing and is doing "well for her age"!

2-year old boy:

He has gained 2.2lbs

and grew 2cm since December!

He has a vocabulary of at least 20 words,

likes to play with his sisters, but not alone...

and he "can" follow directions of caretakers!

He is also doing "well for his age"!

I know it may not sound like much info, and it is a little more detailed than those few lines, but it's so encouraging to hear that they are growing and doing well socially. The little lines about their personalities are just about the most wonderful gift a waiting adoptive parent can receive! I can't even express how wonderful it is to hear something about your child's personality since you can't witness these things yourself yet! 

EVEN MORE excited to get things moving faster now!

On the fundraising front... we are in the process of ordering some t-shirts to sell! They are going to be SUPER cool, so start thinking about how many places you will wear yours this summer and build your spring shopping around using our t-shirt as the base for every outfit! ;)

Photos!

I am the most BLESSED mom today!

My oldest called me from school to tell me something about his schedule and after school activities... 

and he said "I love you!" before hanging up! 

IN PUBLIC. 

AT SCHOOL!

My youngest two got dressed and ready for school with NO issues today, 

ate breakfast without fighting 

and allowed me to get ready with no stress! 

My almost-12 year old daughter cracks me up with her puns 

and sense of humor 

and she makes me proud with her good grades at school!

Then last night I got new photos from Holt of my babies!

2 photos of our 4 year old girl!

3 photos of our 3 year old girl!

Oddly... no photos of our 2 year old baby boy...who we will call Joshua.

Hmmm.

So I emailed Holt...

Today??

3 photos of Joshua!!

They look so wonderful!! 

So much bigger, 

so much healthier, 

so much happier! 

They have hair!

I feel SO very blessed to have received these photos!

And yes... 

they are already printed so I can show them off!

Adoption Road Trip

I often feel like I do not do a very good job at communicating ideas to people, so I come up with little analogies.

Today... it's the Adoption Road Trip.

If I were to describe the adoption process in these terms, I think most people can identify.

I keep getting the question "how soon till they come home"... well...read on.

Deciding to adopt = "Road Trip!!!!!"

Choosing a country/agency/home study social worker =  Deciding on the destination
Home study paperwork (essay questions, birth certificates, marriage license, scheduling doctor visits) = Washing laundry, hauling suitcases out of the attic, getting the oil changed in the car

Home study visits, more paperwork = packing suitcases, loading up the car

Dossier almost done = "Everyone go to the potty ONE more time!"

Mail the dossier, Mail the I600A = "Here we go!"

Dossier arrives at agency = "Honey, did you lock the back door?"

Dossier approved! = First road sign... 3000 miles to destination

Waiting for dossier to get to Ethiopia = Everyone ELSE in the car is asleep. Car sickness creeping in.

Dossier in Ethiopia, Get fingerprinting appointment with FBI = Quick stop at rest area, have a snack, potty.

Waiting for court date = "Moooommm! She's looking at me!!" and "Well, he won't share his gummy worms!"

Court Date and waiting for news = "Ooohh... only 300 miles till the world's largest ball of string!"

Finding out you have a 2nd court date = Dog vomits in the car, no place to pull over, no rest area for 50mi.

Finally passing court = Overnight stop at hotel with free room service and indoor waterpark! Woohoo!

Waiting for travel date = Back in the car, wondering what that smell is.

Getting a travel date = Road sign "100 miles to go"! Start to calculate arrival in minutes instead of hours.

Packing, going to the airport, boarding the flight = Exit ahead!

Arrival and meeting your child for the first time = You have finally arrived!

There are pot holes, there are traffic jams, there are flat tires, there are wonderful moments of bliss that make you glad you get to take this trip...but its and unpredictable timeline under ANY circumstances. Sometimes, you just have to take an unexpected potty break. 

It's not a perfect analogy, but hopefully...someone out there who has not adopted before and doesn't know much about the process for us or other families will understand that at some points on this adoption ride, parents are not getting updates as frequently as they would like (raising my hand here...),  don't know why it's taking so long, are on the verge of tears at the thought of having another delay... and as much as we fully welcome your questions, thoughts, prayers and concerns... sometimes needing to say one more time that we don't have any new news... well, its like the "Are we THERE YET???" coming from the back seat every 5 minutes. 

Check back in a few days... I have been told we may get photos this week. I SURE hope so, but again... if we don't... it's just another pot hole on our journey.