A whole new world...

I have always been amazed throughout this international adoption experience how many wonderful people have entered my life. Yesterday was the perfect example.

I got to visit and hang out with this little cutie pie. (Scroll down and you can see him) How can you resist that smile :) His Super Cool Mom invited me over yesterday and shared lots of great info with me. It was great to have someone who has been there and done that to chat with.

She had some really neat toys from here that I really want (hint hint). Super Cool Mom also showed me what a referral looked like, a lifebook and answered a lot of questions and she gave me some great tips too. She gave me the name of a doctor who will look at our referral info and of a great doctor in town who has seen lots of adopted kids. She highly recommended that if we can swing it to travel in Ethiopia prior to starting our planned week with the agency even if only in Addis Ababa.

We talked about travel, the care center, our agency and so much more.I learned about a play group here in town with other Mom's that have adopted from Ethiopia and I got to cure my baby craving. I even came home smelling like baby formula. I know not everyone likes that smell but I miss it. I want that smell back in my house. I digress...

I really was very grateful to have met her yesterday and to learn from her. She and I share similar thoughts on our agency. That things will happen when they are supposed to and that our specialist does the very best that she can with what info she has and can share. Some days that is easier to believe than others but it helped tremendously to hear it from an adoptive mom.

All in all is was a great day, one of the better days that I have had since we started this process. It gave me a lot to think about and to anticipate. I look forward to the day when I can join Super Cool Mom and her little cutie at play group with the all the other beautiful little ones.

Picture of the mural

Here is the mural in its current state. This will be the last picture I post before it is done. I am getting closer and thanks to Abby hopefully have a solution to my sunshine issue. My guess is that I will be completely done in the next week or so.

I mentioned yesterday that I had a really neat play date scheduled today. I am still trying to put in to words how awesome the hour and half I spent today with one cute little boy and his really cool Mom was. The time deserves its own post so tomorrow after some reflection I will post on.

Surprises

Someone started a thread about what has surprised us the most by this whole crazy ride of Ethiopian adoption. I responded there but thought I would share here too. I am not going to list how long it has taken because that is a given but here are some other things that have really surprised me.

1) How in love I am with a family I don't know and a country I haven't been to yet.

I wasn't really prepared for the deep emotions I would have and that will probably only intensify about Ethiopia and about our little ones first family. I pray for them everyday.

2)How draining this process can be emotionally and physically.

I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be this hard. I thought TTC would be so much harder than this. I was wrong. Both are hard but with TTC there was a more definite timeline and plan of action and with adoption there is a TON of waiting and a lot of unknowns. That really has taken a toll on me.

3) How many people have entered my life that I don't know yet but consider to be friends and supporters.

I could never have imagined all the wonderful people we have met. It has been beyond fabulous to share stories, frustrations and joys with them. Some of them I will meet someday and others I may not but we will always be connected. Isn't the Internet amazing... With our domestic adoption attempt, we were very alone. We didn't have this amazing support network and since we were with a small agency we didn't really know any of the families also going through the process. With our Ethiopia adoption, we have entered a whole new place full of amazing families and hopefully play groups in the future.

4) How at peace and certain I was that adoption was for us.

I can't take full credit for this thought but it rang so true for me. This huge weight lifted off my shoulders when we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. Everything fell into place. What was so muttled and jumbled in my head suddenly made sense.

5) How truly okay I am with not getting pregnant.

It took me awhile to get to this place but I am so okay with it. In fact there is part of me that can't even imagine getting pregnant. Not saying that if by some crazy miracle I were to get pregnant I wouldn't be ecstatic, I would for sure but adoption will start my family and we are already talking about adoption #2.

6) How amazing my friends and family have been.

Not all of our friends and family know the intimate details of our TTC but they do know about the highs and lows of our adoption journey. We hit one speed bump with our adoption journey and a family member but all is forgotten. Everyone is on board to support us and be excited with us.

I know our journey isn't over and I am sure once we have our referral and travel more things will surprise me but this is where I am today. As for what will lie ahead all I can do is sit back, wait and try to enjoy the bumpy ride.

What lies ahead...

This week presents itself to be very random and pretty exciting all at the same time. I do have to work 5 days this week but the days that I am not working are going to be exciting.

Let's start with Tuesday:

Hubby and I are getting our last Hepatitis A and B shots early tomorrow. I then have a few hour break in which I need to give the dogs a bath, clean the bathrooms and eat some lunch. After lunch, I am going on a play date. Yes, I have a play date with a very special little boy adopted from Ethiopia by one pretty cool Mom. This will be the first time that I meet these two but I am so excited. Super cool Mom offered to have me over to cheer me up. How cool is that?? I would say pretty darn cool. She swears her son will charm the pants off of me so I can't wait!

Then after a string of boring days at work we hit Sunday:

Me, hubby, a 2 plus hour car ride and football. I am going to the Packers vs. Bears game at Lambeau field. It is going to be cold but hopefully not too cold. It may snow but hopefully it won't. This will be my second game at Lambeau. I am sure it will be a lot of fun. It is going to be an all day affair though. We are hoping to leave by 7:30 or 8 in the morning and probably will return home about 12 hours later. WOW!

In mural news, I will take a picture soon. Maybe tomorrow. I have hit a bit of a snag as the yellow for the sun isn't really covering the trace lines very well. I have now done 4 coats of bright yellow and can still see the outline. AHHHH.... I am sure I will figure it out. I am open to suggestions if anyone has any....

It has arrived...ICK!

Have I mentioned that I HATE winter!!!! Well, it is here sort of. Not on the calendar but in the weather. It was full on snowing today. ICK!!!!

I am not ready for winter. Especially since more and more people are telling me that we will exceed last years snowfall total of 100 plus inches. How is that even possible??? Where in the world will we find room for all of that snow???

I don't like being cold or wet. I hate driving in the winter with the blowing snow and the icy roads and the semi-trucks that drive WAY too fast. Can't we skip it this year??? I mean, really we had enough snow last year. We don't need anymore.

Now I have to put my winter coat back together, find a matching pair of gloves that aren't destroyed from all the shovelling last year and find my knit hat. I think I need a new hat and some new gloves if I recall correctly. And scarf, not sure where that is either.

I really only have a couple pair of shoes that are winter savvy. I am kind of in denial that I need snow boots. I look at them every year in the Land's End catalog and convince myself that I don't need them. When I first started dating my husband and would fly out here to visit there was barely any snow covering the ground. I mean you could still see the grass. I was lulled in to a false sense of what winter was and now that I live here it is TERRIBLE. So much worse than I thought it would be.

I know I am being really dramatic but that is the Gemini in me rearing one side of its ugly head. I am just hoping that all the reports of projected snowfall are wrong and winter will be gone before I know it. At least one positive thing should come out of winter: MY REFERRAL!!!

Updated picture of the mural

Here is the most recent photo of the mural. I feel like the end is merely a few days away. I did realize today that I am missing one color so I will have to make a return trip to Michael's for that. Most of the animals are done except for the zebras and a couple of fish. I chose to do the black and white last so it still looks weird to have animals with no faces but those are coming. Then we have the sun and the rest of the rainbow. There are a few things I may touch up still but I really feel like it is 70% done.

I have kind of been avoiding blogging lately as I don't have lots of good things to say. It has been confirmed that we will wait at least 12 months for a referral. I have been trying to come to terms with this. I mean really it is only a few months away until we hit 12 months anyway. I just need to get through the holidays. Luckily we will be very busy with holiday festivities so that should help the time go by faster.

And as everyone is talking about the election, I feel like I should as well. I did not vote for Obama and I don't agree with his politics. However, this is a historic event in American history and I get to be a part of it. More importantly and politics aside, as a future parent to black children, it will be amazing to say to my children that they really can be anything they want to in this country.

ETA: I realize that my children cannot at this time be President of this great country. I guess my point is that this country has come so far and that a black President is a good example for our children that if they work hard and follow their dreams, they too can be successful. Just wanted to clarify.

Mural part 4

Here are some recent pictures of the mural. The first one was from this weekend and the second one is what it looks like right now. Painting is definitely bringing me peace and I am really enjoying it.

In other news:

First, I want to send a HUGE thank you and lots of HUGS to all the wonderful women who sent me kind words and encouragement after my last post. It means so much to me. It really did help. I am still a little down but to know there are such amazing women out there going through this with me and supporting me through it helps. And any time you need me to return the hugs or encouragement I will be there for sure.

Second, the reason I am still down is yes adoption related. I am having to readjust my expectations again. It now appears that my chances of seeing a picture of my baby before the end of the year are next to none. It could happen but is very unlikely. There is some speculation that we will most likely wait at least 12 months for a referral which for us is January. I am still hoping to be home with baby by Mother's Day next year or maybe my birthday also in May. I don't know if that will happen but that is what I am hoping for.

There aren't a lot of answers as to why things are the way they are. Such is International Adoption and this leads to lots of frustration. I know I am strong enough to deal with this but it isn't easy. I am just going to take a deep breath and keep myself VERY busy and hopefully the next few months just fly on by.