Trying to figure out this whole adoption timeline, etc is like trying to figure out Stonehenge. I know it has some rhyme and/or reason, but I have no idea really of how it works. Thanks goodeness those behind the scenes know.

I have been crunching the numbers. I know that the earliest our case can clear court is July 19th. I have heard recently from our agency that it is taking about 18-24 days from filing to the court date. That means the earliest our case could be filed would be the end of June. So that helps. I don’t know how many of us are waiting for a group assingment–this indicates that our case has been filed. It is taking about 3 weeks to get out of court. This mean that the lastest we can be filed and get out of court before the closure is July 15th. Wow. So that puts the travel window somewhere between August 7th and September 20th. I really hope that everything goes well and we can make it out of court before the closure.

I am excited as I am hoping to go over to Ethiopia 2-3 weeks earlier than my husband. I want to bond with the baby. We think it is important to ease him into our family. And I want to hold him as soon as I can. We have planned our baby shower already. We want to have it before we travel as we need so much stuff. We would like to have as much as possible before we travel. I am not a traditional girl. I don’t want a traditional all girl shower. We are having a huge baby reception/welcoming. I am excited and it will help the time pass. It would be great to know by July 15th where we stand. Oh if only I knew….

Adoption touches not just our lives but the lives of all of those around us. We struggled for over a year with what country we would adopt from. We considered many countries before settling on Ethiopia. It was important for us to adopt from a country whose culture we wanted to learn more about and embrace, as we want our child to have a connection to his birth culture. We are ready to embrace their culture and help our child know where they are from.

But not only has it affected us but it affects my entire family. My baby brother, who has become quite the globe trekker–he climbed Kilimanjaro last year and just returned from 35 days in Nepal where he trekked up to Everest base camp–has decided he wants to volunteer in Ethiopia. He has contacted our adoption agency to see if there are any possible openings for volunteers in July. He has limited time off and really wants to do something humanitarian. It never ceases to amaze me how one persons choices can spurn others to do something special. I hope our choice to adopt will spurn others to action.

I wanted to create something fun and whimsical for the baby’s room so I played with my digital imaging software and came up with these. I will print them larger and frame them and hang them in his room. Gotta love a sunday morning.

Thanks to a gracious woman who traveled we have a new picture of our angel.

This is nearly the same angle as one of his referral pictures. It is him. The minute I saw the picture I knew it was him. I stare at his picture all of the time. It is quite surreal how attached I already am to this little peanut whom I have never held. I feel as though I know him. It really is unexplainable–at least to me. I would assume this is how a woman feels when she is carrying a child in her womb. I talk to him and tell him all the things that we are going to do. I truly feel a connection to this child. I hope that i am not setting myself up a disappointment when I finally do get to see my baby. I have to begin preparing myself for the fact that my baby is not attaching to me. He doesn’t know that I exsist. He isn’t preparing for us as we are preparing for him.

I went out with my mom and grandma today to buy nursery furniture. It will arrive in 2 weeks. I have a lot of work to do to be ready in 2 weeks to put the furniture together and get it in the room. Wow are things moving fast. My mom is planning my shower–she is not one for tradition–and we are going to have it in the middle of July sometime. We want to have it before we travel as this is our first baby and we need so much stuff. We want to have it all together before we leave so that we don’t have to deal with all of that when we get home with our little peanut.

I went shopping today and bought him a lot of clothes. I have been buying mostly 12mos clothing, just to be on the safe side. I know that he is only about 8.5lbs right now. But you never know how clothes are going to fit. I still am having a really hard time processing all of this. I am beginning to understand that it will not be real until I am in Ethiopia and we are looking at each other. I will be real then because my son will then know me, whereas now only I know him.

The school year that is. I said good-bye to the last of my high school students today. It was not hard. I think that says something telling about where I am in my life. I am ready and prepared to not be a school teacher anymore. I am ready to be a mom. I am lucky that I do not have to go back to work when the baby comes. I have come to terms with the fact that our life style will change–I shy away from using the term “quality” of life because the quality of our life can only increase with the addition of our so.

I am somewhat saddened that I was not sad to leave my job today. I do have to go and turn in grades and my keys, etc tomorrow. And there is summer school but I still was unemotional about today. I thought I would feel more saddness that I wouldn’t see them again next year. I think the writing is on the wall. I am ready to leave teaching for the time being and thrive as a mom. I hope that is the case.