While We Wait

In my last post (FAQ's), I touched on the fact that courts in Ethiopia close for a period of time.  Generally, the courts close from mid-August to mid-October in response to the rainy season which makes daily life in Ethiopia difficult to manage...to the point of closing down government offices, etc.

Waiting families like mine begin to dread the rainy season closings as they draw more near because, obviously, you're about to be GUARANTEED an additional two month wait (two months where, without a doubt, nothing's really going to happen in your case).  Now....the good news is that we can still get a referral during this time.  On the other hand, the bad news is that we can still get a referral during this time.  Funny girl, I am.  Getting a referral, OF COURSE, is always good news; however, this wait that we are experiencing, I anticipate, becomes even harder once we've seen that face.  But, you know what?  If given a choice, we don't want to wait to see that face....we'll take it as it comes.

Anyway, I share all of that to say that the closing dates were recently announced and this year, the courts are closing from August 22nd to October 1st.  This is much shorter than previous closings, which is very encouraging.  We started this thing with hopes of bringing home our daughter by late Summer/early Fall (if this were Twitter, I'd add something like #clueless or #dreamers); now, we hope upon hope that she celebrates Christmas at home.

In the meantime.....

•  The furniture that we ordered for her room arrived.  We still need to buy mattresses but it appears we have some time.  I haven't begun any decorating and don't plan to do so until we've seen her face and know who we are decorating for.  
• We had a custom-type closet system installed to make better use of the closet space.
• We registered, today, to attend the Empowered To Connect conference which is being held in our area in September.  This conference is said to be a great resource for adoptive and foster parents.  We are looking forward to it.
• Some sweet friends touched my heart by the simple gesture of making a point to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant as a means of connecting with and learning more about the culture of our girl. 
• It's almost that time again....the beginning of the month and a new wait list number.  I'm predicting we move up three spots this month.  What do you think? 

And.....

• Not adoption related....we have had a great Summer with all four of us back under the same roof.  I often look at my boys and marvel at how much they've grown and matured in the last year.  Jordan had a great first year at college and soon he will return.  Braeden will start to High School in less than two weeks.  So cliche' but, really, where does the time go?