Five Months!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

That's right, Friends, it's Thanksgiving Day and we have LOTS to be thankful for.  We should be at least half-way through our time on the Wait List!  The average wait time seems to be hovering around 8-9 months, so as long as the averages don't increase, we're over half-way to getting our referral!  Of course, there is another 3-5 month wait between the time we get our referral, and when we travel for court (and meet our babe - eek!), but we'll worry about that when the time gets here :)

I have to be honest, the last month has not flown by as quickly as the previous four did.  I think it was largely because we weren't as busy, although I did spend a lot of time baking and sewing.  But, baking and sewing aren't really that much of a distraction.  Baking and sewing leave plenty of time for the mind to wander and think WAY too much and allowed the "blahs" to set in.  Now that the holidays are here, the "blahs" are pretty much gone, and I have lots of hope that by next Thanksgiving we'll have a little one to celebrate with.

Now, for my Five Month post, I introduce to you my sister A...

 

Sister A is 9 years younger than I am, so I often feel like her second mother to be honest.  Sister A is really cool.  She's about to graduate with a Graphic Design degree and totally rocks out the graphic design.  She got a really cool internship with an amazing company and is doing really well.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. 

One of the things that I love about Sister A is her creativity.  By doing graphic design, she's finally channeled that creativity into a productive outlet.  BUT, when she was younger that wasn't always the case.  When I was in college she would send me videos of herself dancing to songs like "Baby Got Back".  It wouldn't be appropriate for me to post those videos on the Internet, but trust me, they're priceless. 

The other thing she used to do (for attention) was dress up in these CRAZY outfits.  To preserve SOME measure of her dignity, I won't show the entire outfits, but I WILL show you some snippets...

OK, here she has on 5 or 6 necklaces, in addition to money and school pictures taped to her chest with electrical tape.  (Yep, that's my senior picture there on the right.  Go ahead, laugh it up.)

In this picture, she has on a swimsuit (with a sport's bra underneath), a baby blanket tied around her neck like a cape and she's holding a plunger (EW!).  What you can't see is that she has on white gym socks and goggles. 

She was HILARIOUS!  She'll never live down how crazy she used to be, but I think she secretly likes it.  She's going to be a great aunt to our kid(s).  And, like I said earlier, I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

THANK YOU!!

I just wanted to take a minute to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my last post with encouragement - whether it was a comment on the blog, an email, a comment on facebook, or in person.  Your care humbles and encourages me.  I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such a great community of friends and Believers.

As an update, the "Blahs" have receded a bit. It's not nearly as bad these days.  This week, however, I have had baby fever - you ladies know what I mean - the desire to hold a baby and take care of it.  It's made having empty arms a bit difficult, but I'm not "blah" or depressed about it.  It's a yearning that comes and goes - and one day in the not too distant future, it will be completely fulfilled.  I wait for that day with eager anticipation :)

Stay tuned for the 5 month post on Thanksgiving Day!

While We Wait: The "Blahs" Have Set In

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to be honest about where I am right now.  Blah.  So. Stinkin'. Blah.  Not sad or depressed.  Just blah.

Since I've been honest up until this point, I feel the need for honesty now.  No need to paint a rosy picture when it's not true.  The last 4+ months on the Wait List really have flown by.  We have stayed very busy, which I think has kept me distracted.  I've had NO issues with patience, because it felt like being home with our baby was just around the corner.  Now, not so much. 

The average wait time for a referral has stayed relatively low up until now (8 months for an infant 0-12 months), and I had gotten very optimistic that we'd have our baby home by next summer.  The last update we received from Gladney shows wait times slowing down a bit, in addition to a consolidation of 2 court dates into one.  I had really gotten my hopes up about being home by next summer, but now I'm trying to set my expectation for the fall.  I hope we don't have to wait till after the Rainy Season to pass court, but if there are any delays, I'm afraid that's what we're looking at.  I figure it's better to deal with that now, while I have plenty of time to adjust to it, than to get upset later. 

Despite all that, there are several things I know to be true, and which ultimately give me hope...

1. God has been in control of every single aspect of this adoption since before we even knew that it was His plan for us, and I firmly believe He will continue to bring about His plan for us and our child on His timetable; which leads me to...
2. His timing is perfect.  It has been up until now, and I totally trust it will continue to be perfect;
3. The more time we wait, the more time we have to a) just be Robert & Rebecca for a little while longer; b) save money; c) decorate the nursery; and d) prepare for being parents; and finally...
4. Wait times and court processes fluctuate.  They've changed a few times since we began this process in January.  They are likely to change again.  Let's hope it's for the better :)

Because blogs have been such a huge source of encouragement to me throughout this process - particularly those people who were honest about the not-so-rosy aspects of adoption, I wanted to be honest about where I am today.  I hope one day it will provide encouragement to someone else in this situation.  You're not alone :)

Four Months!

Well, that's another month in the books, friends!  We have been crazy busy.  In the last month we've taken a trip to Boston, watched LOTS of Texas Rangers baseball (both at the ballpark and on t.v.), had fun with friends at our respective Guys and Girls Nights Out and coordinated / participated in our Faith in Action service project.  On the work front, I also finished up our United Way fundraising campaign, worked on / participated in an  over-the-top team building day and voluteered on Global Volunteer Day at a senior center fall festival.  We also had a visit from my baby sister, which was tons of fun.

And speaking of family, meet my parents, Lolli and Poppi:

They are quite excited to celebrate with us another month on the Wait List.  Mom told me the other day that she is starting to dream about grandbabies.  How sweet is that?  Here's the answer: So Sweet!  I can't wait for them to be grandparents.  They're gonna rock.  I hate that we live so far away (we're in TX, they're in TN), but we're all going to have to make concerted efforts to see each other more than once or twice a year.  I grew up seeing my grandparents pretty often, and that's super important to me.  Maybe one day we'll move closer to home.  We have no plans to do that now, but who know what the future holds?  All I know is that the average wait for a referral is 8 months, so we're about half way there!!  How great is that?!

While We Wait: A New Hobby, Part II

I mentioned in a previous post that I had been working on some aprons for a Cake Decorating Team Building event at work.  Well, I'm happy to report that 1) the aprons turned out great; 2) the Team Building event was loads of fun; and 3) our team WON Best Apron Design!  So, without further ado, I present to you our team, "The Frosters," and the winners of the Best Apron Design....

The aprons were just your standard issue, white aprons to begin with.  I cut off the straps that went around the neck and waist.  I then cut about 6 inches off the bottom of the apons, so they would be shorter and more flirty.  I made new straps for the neck, and much longer straps for the waist that came around and tied on the side.  I made ruffles and sewed them around the bottom and sides; added a pocket to the front; and added the initial to the front, which was a dyeable iron-on.  In all, I spent over 15 hours working on this project, but it was so worth it, not only because we won, but because I had never tried to do anything nearly as complicated as this, and it turned out to be not very difficult.  

Oh yeah, in our pockets, we had little cards with our team name on it.  Just your basic scrapbook paper and stickers:

Overall, we had a great day and it was so fun to see how different the cakes turned out.  Here are our cakes:

This was our "Rule" cake (i.e., it had to follow certian rules)

And this was our "freestyle" cake.  Totally nasty.

Here are the other teams' cakes...

Don't Mess With Texas and a Butterfly

Texas Rangers Baseball inspired cakes

The Queens of Cake cakes

I'm blessed to work with such a great group of people.  We've all worked together for so long, it's like we're family, which has it's ups and downs, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I Love My Hair

OK, so maybe I don't really love my hair all of the time, but I DO love this...

While We Wait: A Crazy Dream

Last night I had a crazy (and pretty funny) dream....

I dreamt that Sara called with our referral.  Without Rob, I talked to Sara all about the childREN who had been referred to us.  First, there was a "4 month old" girl, but she had a sibling who was being referred to us too.  Sara showed me a VIDEO (no, this doesn't happen in real life) of the kids, and I was confused because the 4 month old, was CLEARLY 4 YEARS old because she was talking and walking and NOT a baby!  I said to Sara, "She CAN'T be 4 months old, she's 4 YEARS old!"  But Sara stuck to the Gladney line and said, "We have to go by what the birth family says.  If they say she's 4 months old, we have to go with that." 

The other thing that was funny was that the kids had the same disease Michael Jackson had, and they were losing the pigmentation of their skin.  I don't think I said it out loud, but I thought to myself, "I don't want to adopt WHITE babies from Ethiopia!  I want babies with beautiful brown skin!"  OK, really, how funny is that?!

So, as you might expect, because the referral didn't match ANY of our requests, we did not accept it.  I vaguely recall that the end of my dream was Sara calling the very next day with a referral, but I don't remember any of the details. 

Since this is my first adoption related dream, I thought I'd record it for posterity.  Also, it was so funny, I thought you all might get a kick out of it!

Happy Monday!!