Eleven Months!!

11 months.  Wow.  Who ever thought they'd be reading THIS post?  Certainly not I.  But a lot has happened this year in the world of Ethiopian adoptions, and so we're here - still waiting for a referral after 11 months on the Wait List. 

For those of you who are here to read the bottom line update, here you go:  According to the averages for the month of May, it looks like we could receive a referral in August, and then travel for court in January or February.  But remember, these are moving targets, so we'll see.

So...  what have we been up to over the past month?

Well, my baby sister FINALLY graduated from college!  She graduated from Watkins College with a Graphic Design degree and we are VERY proud.  My parents are most especially glad that after 17 consecutive years of paying college tuition for 3 daughters, they are finally finished!!!  In early May we went to Amy's Senior Show to see some of her work, and the work of others in her class.  It was very cool and we had a great time.  Here's a family photo from that night:

Amy is also to thank for my #11 up top.  It's from the super cool 2012 calendar she made for her show: 

(Click to enlarge)

I bought one from her because I love it so much.  If you would like one, feel free to email her at miller dot amynicole at gmail dot com.

This month we also started tutoring once a week at an apartment complex through an organization that does apartment ministry.  "Tutoring" is a rather loose term to describe what we've been doing, actually.  The kids claim they don't have homework, or don't need help, so each week we try to come up with educational games to play.  We have loved getting to know the kids and are beginning to connect with them.  I'm starting to see, however, that connection comes with a cost.  Some of the kids have pretty dysfunctional home lives, and when I hear their stories, I have a hard time not grabbing them all up and bringing them home with me.

Cake decorating classes have also continued this month.  It's taken a lot of time, and been a lot of work, but I love everything I'm learning. And I love being able to make cakes for special occasions, like an anniversary party at work.  We had a party for 2 of my co-workers who were celebrating 20 and 25 years with the company. 

One of the guests of honor is a huge chocolate fanatic, so the cake was chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache filling and, of course, chocolate buttercream.  I was pretty happy with the final product.

This next cake was the final project for this month's class.  It wasn't actually how I planned to decorate the cake, but our instructor wanted us to practice the basketweave, so it turned out kind of weird....

But it tasted good: white cake with lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream.  Yum.  June's class covers decorating with fondant, and I'm excited about that.

May is also birthday month for both of us, so we've had a lot of birthday dinners and shopping.  One of our joint birthday gifts (in my opinion, at least) was a 3 and a half hour trip to IKEA to buy organizational products for our out-of-control pantry.  We also made a couple of trips to The Container Store (another favorite), so there will be a Before And After post in the next couple of weeks.  But, I can tell you, it's looking better already.

As for June, Rob and I have committed to a Biggest-Loser-type 3-month challenge with some friends of ours - couple vs. couple.  As part of that, we're doing the Couch to 5K program.  We're starting with a Week 0 (30 minutes of walking 3 times a week) at 9:00 tomorrow morning.  I've always wanted to be a runner, but have never been any good at it, so I have high hopes that this will be successful.

So, back to the adoption...  I'm continuing to process everything that's happening.  It's a lot, and intense, and maybe one day I'll be able to share it publicly, but not for now.  I'm happy to talk about it, though, but writing about it just seems.... overwhelming.  The bottom line, however, is that God is good no matter my circumstances, and always - always - faithful.