Monday, July 28, 2008

We have a referral!!!!

Finally - it has happened.

Last Thursday evening, I got home with Mei Le at about 9 pm, having been to a wake, soccer, and then to run some errands.

There, on the phone, was a msg from our caseworker at the adoption agency, claiming to have an "update" and could we call her. I knew this was it ... the agency had never called us before, we were way overdue for referral, and the rumours had been circulating that referrals were iminent. An exciting night.

Here is the email I wrote to the group about my evening:

Thanks, all ...

It is just after 12:30 am ... I have been to the barn to do my night chores and found myself often paused - lost in thought & wondering ...

Took the laundry off the line that has been there 2 days bec is keeps raining just as it's ALMOST dry .... surrendered and put it in the dryer. Paused again to enjoy the cool evening and the sound of the frogs down at the pond ... and thought of our second daughter, whose face I shall see and whose name I shall know in about 8 hrs time ... such a strange place to be - knowing (finally) that it is iminent (phew!), yet still not knowing who she is.

All this on the heels of a roller-coaster day wherein I attended the wake of a local 19-year old girl who was killed in a car accident, and also wherein my step-daughters came home from the UK, one with her fiance in tow, starting the official countdown to her wedding on Aug 16th - my husband is so excited. This on top of yesterday, when we found out that my mother in law does NOT have bone cancer, and may have some hope of relief from her terribly slow pulse/low BP in the form of a pacemaker ... and that my father is making great strides in recovering from Guillain-Barre syndrome ...

The universe does indeed provide ...

I think I WILL sleep after all .... the relief may just be enough to knock me out! And Mei Le will def wake me up in time to make that call!

Will let you all know in the am!

A.


==============================

At 8:25 am, I was on the phone with Julie, who confirmed that she had a referral for us:

Hermonawit Eba, a little girl born December 12, 2007.

December 12 is MY birthday! How cool!

Before we had even hung up the phone, we had the emails with her photos and intake & medical info.

She is beautiful ... huge eyes, a smile that crinkles her eyes, and a bright, engaged look about her. We are smitten.

ETH regulations limit us from publicizing her photo until the adoption has been finalized, so you'll just have to wait (or email me and I can send you one).

Monday, July 21, 2008

Friendship ...

Available from: icelebratediversity.com

Share ...


Available as a poster from: icelebratediversity.com

Prejudice ...


Available as a poster from: icelebratediversity.com

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

8 months yesterday ...

Now that I know that it will be Oct or Nov before I can travel to pick up Little Sister, I find myself less stressed about The Call. This doesn't mean that I am less eager or impatient ... maybe just more philosophical (whatever that means). Maybe it's just that the anxiety about whether or not we will beat the court closure is gone.

And, we certainly have lots to keep up busy - primarily my step-daughter's wedding on Aug 16. She and her fiance are in the UK, and will be home next week. In the meantime, we have been busy with invitations (wedding & shower), finding outfits (Mei Le wants everyone to know that she is the flower girl), and coaxing flowers to stay alive. The reception is at our farm - which is a lovely thing to do (ours was there), but also a lot of extra work ... details!

Maybe if I just don't think about the adoption call .... it will happen!

Today would be good.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Out of luck ...

... on the court closures.

I caved and emailed our agency to find out the likelihood of beating the court closures even if we got a referral now. Answer: pretty much zero.

At least we know.

7 mo, 3 wk and 4 days ...

Still no news.


The agency just announced that they have opened a new Transition House for infants ... this will allow them to house more infants as they wait for referrals - hopefully reducing the time before the children are placed. Rumour has it that this will reduce wait times for infant referrals to 2-4 mo. Great news for families new to the process .... a little bittersweet for those of us that have been waiting for a while.


I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that we will not beat the court closures - even if we were to get a referral today, I suspect we'd be caught (Tho I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised on both fronts!). So, this adds 8 wks to our overall timeline ... International Adoption is really like trying to hit a moving target.


My new guess-timation (keeping in mind I've been wrong before) is:


Referral - anytime now
Court date - when court opens, depending on backlog - early Oct.
Travel - Nov sometime? Later? Depends on immigration process: medicals, birth certificates, passport, visa.


Sigh.


On the up-side, last night I received the ETH cookbook I ordered, "Recipe of Love" (see a few posts ago). Looks great ... not as many vegetarian dishes as I had hoped, but I am sure I can adapt many of the poultry and meat ones to beans etc.




Mei Le at the park a couple of weeks ago ... Something about the see-saw makes me think about the emotional roller-coaster of IA! But she's having fun!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

7 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days ...

... and still no news.

The latest grapevine gossip re: the court closures is that as of last week, there were about 3 wks of court dates still available before the court closures ... meaning that referrals accepted within the next 3 (well, now 2) weeks still have some chance of getting thru the courts before they close for 2 months. So, my main focus now is that we make it before then (not that I can do anything about ANY of it!).

Time is dwindling tho.

No one else in our waiting community has had an infant referred in ages, either, and I think we are near the top of the list ... Apparently they are still waiting for medical test results on a group of young infants - have been for a while now. Not sure the extent to which the drought and the ongoing power outages are having an impact.

Will def keep you posted!