One and Counting

One fine day, as I was deeply contemplating life and all its intricacies, and I decided that one of the things I am Thankful for this season is that I am not (noticeably) delusional. I do believe that would make my days just a bit unnecessarily cumbersome.

In Which there is No More News. Currently.

No big news today. Except that the Flu season has arrived, and we have seen plenty of it. I think, since schools are shutting down to let it die out a little bit (the flu bugs I mean, not the students) that maybe we should shut down the clinic too, because that's how germs are spread, you know. And we could be infesting people who are already sick and weak. So yeah. No more going to the doctor when you are sick. We are closed because of the flu!

Week 4B

4 more court dates arrived today! We are movin' on up! This leaves us somewhere around number 5ish. I don't know precisely, and really it doesn't matter that much. They aren't necessarily assigned in precise order, but it has something to do with where in the country they are originally referred from and how long it takes those particular people to get the papers together. But still, I am very happy for those families. And CHI had a family pass court today, which is great for them, and nice for us, since we can ask them to take updated pictures for us! :) (Actually, they offered on the yahoo group already.) So we'll be working on that paper, and hopefully in a few weeks (when they get back up from picking up their baby girl) we'll have some new pictures! How exciting would that be?! And hopefully we'll have our own court date soon enough. Happy weekend!

In Which Loyal Bloggies are Coming out of the Woodwork

I might just be up to 6 loyal Bloggies now! (Good thing I have a big family!) Now, if you guys could all just refresh this page several times every day, I might just be able to brag about how I get 20 hits a day at my super amazing blog! Let me assure you, that would do wonders for my ego!

Also, and more importantly, news has just arrived in my mailbox about how we were again approved for bringing orphans into the country... Our new and improved I-171H! This time with provisions for special needs. (So that John can get back into the country. Ok, Ok, Just kidding.) Woohoo again! We are officially ready for our court date now. :) So come on, court date! (No more news today, tho, regarding more referrals or court dates.)

Monday Sweet Monday: An Oxymoron Come True

3... count 'em: three! families got court dates today. Super fast ones, too... Oct 23 (This friday!) and Oct 29 (next week!) and I don't know when the third one is (!). There was also another referral today, and a new child added to the waiting list! Looks like things are finally getting going again in Ethiopia, so that is super-awesome! That means we are 3 spots closer for court dates, which is also super-awesome!

I think those families actually got their referrals in July already, tho, just in time for courts to close and therefore wait painfully and excruciatingly long for a court date. In which case, it could be a bit yet on our court date since our referral was just a few weeks ago. I can't speak for agencies everywhere, but our agency at least got very few referrals between July and October, tho, so maybe not that long after all. You know what would be super-awesome times one million and seven?! If Isaac was home in time for Christmas. But let's not get our hopes up for that lest we set ourselves up for disappointment. Clearly I don't have any insight into anything, and I am just rambling. That said, I am happy for the court-dated families, and I am happy that we are getting closer to scooping up Isaac, and happy that courts are opening up again. Not bad for a Monday, eh?

Also, the tallies are in, I may in fact have expanded significantly to have now THREE loyal bloggies! Success, dear friends, success.

Hope Springs Anew, and a Wee Bit of FAQ

It has come to my attention that what was formerly a slightly funny albeit predominantly boring blog, has now lapsed into pure unadulterated boringness. This is obviously totally unacceptable. That's where the hope part comes in. I hereby hope to make this blog less boring, and a bit more lively. As in, no more narcolepsy-inducing posts. Or, no, wait. Something attainable would be better. (Ahem.) I hereby hope that once in a while, my post will not induce narcolepsy in all two of my faithful readers. (Hi Mom and Dad!) Better.

And now for my FAQ. Count 'em: ONE FAQ.

(And don't even pretend you haven't wondered.)

Why would one name one's blog "Deep Fried Goodness?"
There are many possible explanations for this very perplexing question. And only one... No, two... Oh wait, maybe three... people know what the correct answer is.

Perhaps I find a variety of fried foods to be especially delectable? Maybe I wanted to blog about frying varieties of food in a particularly delicious manner? Possibly I like to photograph bits of food that have been fried?
No, no, and no. You could not be wronger.

The answer is...(gasp) There is no reason. It went something like this: Once upon a time in a far away land, I was thinking about starting a blog, and there was some discussion with one older younger shorter taller brother-person about possibilities for names of said blog and in this conversation came up the phrase "Deep Fried Goodness of Assorted Varieties" although I cannot be certain that this was actually in reference to the prospective blog in question or quite possibly just that he was hungry. I can assure you, however, that it was in fact a subject of at least some light discussion. Also, in this same conversation, there was some moderate-to-intense discussion of leprechauns, although one also cannot be certain as to the influence of said leprechauns in the process of commencing or maintaining the aforementioned blog. Sadly, however, I can assure you that thus far no gold coins have been uncovered.

In Which There Were Fun-tivities involving Florida and Nephews

We saw Shamu. Now I Believe.


I think he liked the show.


Here Andrew is informing me how this roller coaster "goes craaazy fast!"


He looks very keen on himself, don't you think?


John would be proud for you to know that he took this one
while I was busy holding baby nephews.


Blurry, I know. That's stalker-vision for ya.
But I did wonder what was the purpose of these... socks??


2 little waterbabies. (Love them!)

Florida. Very hot. Very fun.
A great time was had by all.

A New Sort of Waiting

This has been an exciting week!

First we signed some papers.

Then we called a lot of people and celebrated...

bought, painted, and hung up some letters...

We registered for baby gifts, in case anyone cares to buy one. Then we went home and read the reviews online, and took half of it back off...

I frequently stare at his picture and dream about him.

My son.

How weird does that sound? I've never had one of those before.

We have our social worker finishing up our home study addendum, and we have to send it to USCIS and then wait for a new I-171H, but from what I can tell, this is not a hold up for us being assigned a court date, so my best estimate is still late January.

In other news, courts in Ethiopia are open again after that rainy season. (They typically close between late August and early October.) CHI's update said they were technically open, but some of the staff are still not back working yet. Within the next couple weeks things will be getting back up and going as usual. Hopefully we'll get a court date one of these days! (Usually I think families wait a month or so for these. So we'll see.)

Hope your week was as exciting! (But I sincerely doubt it.)