I heard the hype, but didn't know I would like it THAT much

If you haven't, you must watch GLEE! If for no other reason then to escape from reality for at least a few hours...

After only one episode, I was completely hooked. Chad thinks I have totally lost my mind - I sang along and then replayed the songs again...and again. While I was on vacation, I watched all 22 episodes in the course of four days and now I cannot wait for Season 2 to begin.

An update and a smile.

See this baby...

Don't you think he is beautiful?

Don't you want to kiss him all over?

Don't you just want to eat him up?

Well, I certainly do and I don't even know who the heck this kid is, I don't even know if it is a boy - found the picture randomly on some baby photo website, but I needed to give everyone a visual. So just imagine multiplying this cuteness by a trillion and that is what we received earlier today. To my very pleasant surprise, I found two precious pictures in my inbox of our growing and changing boy....still perfect in every way.

I immediately forwarded the pictures to Chad, with the subject line reading "CALL ME, I hope this makes you smile." I waited...and waited...and finally after a very long three minutes a message pop up in my inbox reading "I can't. I'm crying." Then I cried...while smiling.

Now let's get that court date!!!!!!!

A little court hope

After my last post, I was feeling pretty down - as the roller-coaster still continues, even after referral.

BUT, I found out this week that Ethiopian courts, even though they are closed, are still issuing court dates for when they re-open (which is the first time they have done this). So once our dossier is in Ethiopia (still another couple weeks to be authenticated in Ottawa), they will apply for a court date for us.

So sometime in the beginning of September we hope to know our court date. It will be so nice to be able to start planning and booking flights ahead of time. And even better, it is more likely that our court date will be in October (no guarantee of course), rather then waiting until re-opening and it would have likely been in November.

I am staying grounded on this one. My "cautious but hopeful" feeling is all too familiar. We will hope for best, and prepare for the worst...

There is a boy waiting and a family without a court date...

There is a boy we have never met but have fallen in love with. This boy is not our son, in fact, to most he would be considered a stranger. Yet, this boy is in our dreams each night. He has a man and woman waiting to become his parents and a girl waiting to become his big sister. This boy has changed our life forever. Is it possible to miss someone you have never met and know very little about? It has been one month since our referral and we are still flying with delight.

I am trying to only think of all the good things to come, yet, being realistic about the wait ahead. Today was the first day I didn't feel like flying! We have already had a glitch in our process - With the delays that occurred at our local agency with sending our updated dossier to Imagine and it requiring authentication in Ottawa, it was impossible for us to apply for a court date prior to the closure. I have really been trying to stay positive and not dwell on this delay too much (because this is still a time to be celebrating and I still want to feel joy), but now that EVERYONE that received a referral in July have announced their court dates for when courts re-open (Sept 30, Oct 6, and 3 on Oct 21), I have suddenly become a bit sad and frustrated. We will not know when our court date will be until mid-Oct (that is when all the others will be welcoming their new babies as members of their families). We have been told that our court date will likely not be scheduled until the end of Oct or more realistically, sometime in November. I keep trying to tell myself that it will all be OK ,and besides, what's another month or two at this point - right?

Don't get me wrong, there is a boy I already love and I feel blessed that we have his beautiful face to dream about. BUT, having a court date would bring us a sense of comfort and a feeling of knowing that we are well on our way to a son...

Yes, I am a real mother

I recently read a great article published in the Globe and Mail about trans-racial adoption - it is definitely worth a read.

Guess who we visited?

Can you guess who we had the opportunity to visit, just by looking at the first picture? If you read her blog, you will certainly recognize the four friends Sara met!!We were travelling west to see family and we stopped in Saskatoon for a visit with Rana and Yvan. It was so great to spend time with such wonderful company. Rana is exactly who she is on her blog - she has a fun and energetic spirit, at the same time, a gentle and warm heart. We were able to talk and chat and share with ease, which came as no surprise. And to top it off, the food and accommodations were perfect.
I even had the opportunity to meet another friend while we were there - Laura! We share the same name and DTE and connected a while back. It was so great to finally put a face to an email!!
And seriously, Sara is in love. The first thing she did when she saw our family (that we haven't seen in over two years) was tell them ALL about the animals and showed off the dozens of pictures she had taken of them. And she kept telling everyone "They really liked me, you know. I took care of them and they did tricks for me."

Thank you Rana and Yvan for a your hospitality. It's our turn next time, and as we run around frantically after our boys, Sara can take care of your other four babies.

I cherish the friendships that this journey has brought me.