They Say Patience is a Virtue.

Unfortunately, it is not one of mine.

I guess I will be practicing, tho, at least for approximately the next 6-10 months.

Because as of today, we are officially and totally ON THE WAITING LIST! Yay!

Let the countdown begin...

Babies, and other Miniature People

As you may recall, I have a new nephew! (well, a week ago, but I think that still qualifies as new.)

So without further ado...

Welcome Logan Reid! Born Feb 15. 8 lb 2 oz. 21 inches. And of course, very dashingly good looking, as you would expect from any relative of mine.

This one is more recent:

Awwwwwww. So cute. (I know you were thinking it.)

One More Step

Our dossier went to DC today. Just a little vacation. Should be back in a couple weeks. I'll keep you posted. :)

In Denial of My Wimp-hood.

I have been officially labeled a wimp after my last post denouncing all things stretchmark-inducing and/or excruciatingly painful and body-distorting. I was actually thinking to myself as I wrote it that it might sound mildly wimplike. But, I like to think that I am not a wimp. I just really want to adopt babies, and have wanted to for a really really long time. So it's a perk, what can I say? I thoroughly appreciate that aspect of adoption. Although the paperwork (which is now done!!!!!) was at times pretty painful itself in a way. And did I mention that we are done gathering papers? :)

Also, I am an aunt today. Again. Woohoo! Congrats Nathaniel and Emily, welcome Logan, and I am still (ahem... patiently) awaiting those pictures!!!

Back by Popular Demand

My deeply dedicated bloggies are screaming for more... so I shall oblige.

We mailed our dossier today. Yep. FedExed it to the adoption agency. (FedEx is open the latest on Saturday of the various mailing agencies we explored.) We are finally completely done with papers, at least on our end. I know, you are thinking "Hmmm... didn't we get done weeks ago?" To which I reply, "Well, not really." After we HAD all the papers in our possession, turns out we did some of them wrong, and subsequently, we got to do them again. Then when they were done right (fortunately, they were mostly things we could re-do ourselves very fast and re-notarize and re-check with our agency) then we sent to them to their state of origin to be authenticated. Our state is very fast at this. But, we had still done one paper wrong, so we fixed it and sent it again to be authenticated for real. It seemed like they were slower this time, but maybe because the first time I was on vacation for a week, and had something to distract me from the slow agony of waiting. Just to complicate things, I work across the state line, so some of my papers (for example, my employment letter) had to be authenticated in that state. Turns out they take 3 weeks, even tho they claim to take 1-2 weeks on their website. Then we noticed that our address was wrong on our homestudy cover sheet. So, we had to get a new one from our social worker, (not something we could fix ourselves) because that was on the agency letterhead. Seriously, it was continuously one more thing, and then one more thing, and then one more thing, and it was getting ridiculously frustrating. So, finally, today, we got our corrected papers, and all the forms are properly completed and authenticated in their respective states and before anything else could go wrong, we sent them by speedy-mail to the adoption agency. Rood riddance, and I love you.

So now what? The papers will be checked over again by the agency. They will be "bundled" there into one big fat document, and sent to be authenticated federally and then couriered to the Ethiopian embassy, and then back to the adoption agency, from whence they shall be translated and sent to Ethiopia and we shall be officially on the waiting list. Yippee! (apparently this takes approximately 3 weeks)

It seems like multiple eternities when we first started this whole process. Maybe we are slow and illiterate and therefore unable to properly complete paperwork in a timely fashion. I could have just about birthed my own child by now. (Ok, not quite) but that would involve almost as much waiting, and more stretch marks. (Also, my SIL is trying to go into labor these days, and she warns me against the perils of this phenomenon. Turns out it is a painful process. Yeah. I skinned my knee once. Turns out I also don't like pain.) So, I guess I'll stop complaining. But believe you me, it feels good to finally be done, at lesat with my part of the paper trail. It's out of my hands now. :)

So. I apologize about the long and boringness of this post. To liven things up, I will add a picture of something. Yes. I do believe a picture would be lovely.

Ok, this is what I found.

At least according to Google, this is Ethiopia. Currently, my son lives here.

The Palace. Soon, but not soon enough, my son will live here.

This is Ethiopia's flag. Wonder if it's against neighborhood association rules to hang one of these in my front yard.

This is Ethiopia again, from a different perspective.

A Sad State Indeed

I am in need of a haircut.
But I didn't get around to it today.

(Sigh.) Maybe next time.

And the Results are In!

The cruise was fun, and warm, and sunny! I almost have a tan. At least I am not completely transparent, like when I left. Yay.


Pigeon Island, St. Lucia


Magen's Bay, St. Thomas


We rode a Pirate Ship. Aaargh.


Sulfur Springs, Dominica


Trafalgar Falls, Dominica


Some pretty flowers by the road.


Eveningtime, San Juan

Next time you should come along too. Come on, you know you want to.