Court Date!

We're a two-trip family with a court date (7/14)! *Happy Dance*

I'm bursting with excitement and have no idea how I'll sleep tonight. There is movement folks!

Yes, movement for all the other families who now fall under the new law and will travel twice. It's happening and I can't wait to see more court date announcements!

I will post more tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll be falling asleep with big grins and thanking each of you for the amazing support while we waited (and waited) for this next step.
xo

Numero Uno

Giddy is an understatement.

The Gittens' home has turned to absolute mush, with neither of us able to complete an intelligent sentence or thought. Considering our current state of la-la'ness, we are doomed once 'the call' comes. I'm hoping no major decisions need to be made from now until Niko comes home, because we have such tunnel vision right now it's pathetic. If it doesn't relate directly to him, it's not on our radar and doesn't really matter. I think 'mama bear' and 'papa bear' instincts are kicking in...uh oh.

I was on my laptop last night when I got home and a message popped up from Emily that read, "Coco & Kota got their referral! You're number 1!!!" The natural reaction to that is, "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" which brings Kai running into the living room asking "Are we #1?" How did he know that? We haven't discussed moving up the list at all. When you consider the recent lull in referrals and court dates, combined with last week's changes, we anticipated a much longer wait. It's true that nothing is predictable in international adoption.

We're sending a big congratulations to Coco & Kota on their referral!!! Check out the link above to read their referral story. Reading families' posts about how they received "the call" are my favorite. I still wonder how you can digest all the details your caseworker is telling you over the phone while simultaneously receiving images of your child for the first time.

So what else happens when you reach the #1 spot? You fall asleep a bit too excited and wake up the same, at 5am on a Saturday. (we'll see how excited I am later this evening at our dinner when I'm trying to prop open my eyelids) Anyway, I jumped online to start checking flight options and had an epiphony. When it dawned on me that we're traveling alone on the first trip, I realized our options have grown significantly.

We can take advantage of the many, many budget airlines that operate outside of the U.S. and work our itinerary around those routes, making our way to Addis. It's not for everyone but if you're willing to sacrifice a little convenience and comfort, it's a great way to see a new city/country and potentially save hundreds of dollars. (ex: in the past I got a flight from London to Krakow for $27USD and another time Madrid to Morocco for $32USD) We certainly won't be doing this on our final trip when we bring our son home, but at a quick glance I've already seen significant savings that make it worth it for our first trip for court.

I'll post more on that later for anyone who may be interested.

Okay, I'm off to start my day in LaLa land....yay!

Accessorizing #9

What else is a girl to do?

We currently have a high class problem on our hands and I'm not about to complain, just express my shock-ed-ness. It wasn't long ago that we moved from 15 to 12 on the unofficial list, at which point my brother jokingly said, "..better get that nursery ready because there is a baby on the way!" That's when I repeated the whole schpeel about a 9 month wait, rainy season, unpredictability, unknown hurdles, etc. and I'm not taking anything too seriously until we hit the single digits.

Well, after posting our #10 move on Monday and then quickly updating it with our bump to #9 yesterday...drumroll....we're in single digits folks. No more messing around. Operation Nursery is beginning this weekend.

Things are moving too smoothly, too quickly and we MUST keep up. We will combat this with what we know best...accessorizing. We're pulling out the bedding and the stuffed animals. The painting I did will be hung. Curtains will be sewn. And then we will look for more accessories...the much needed urban stroller (key for city dwellers w/out a car), the rain shield for the stroller, the perfect diapers for the flight home, the rug for his room and we may even hang the wooden blinds still in the office corner that were purchased so he can sleep a bit sounder. And the list will go on as long as we wish. This is the attitude we've decided to take.

We've heard some very unpleasant Waiting stories and are not dismissing them by any means. For some reason, to this point our wait is simply that...a wait. It's not dragging and it's not close to unbearable (yet). We're also only three months in (this Saturday). So at this very surreal moment, we are happy to no longer be #10 while pleasantly satisfied to bask in the moment of #9, not yet rushing to #8 while we take a moment to accessorize.

The only sense I can make of this stage is that, you can have fun with it. You don't have the stress of being next in line and taking your eye off the phone for fright of missing The Call, yet your dependence on the notary & fingerprinting is behind you because your paperwork is now complete. My advice to any new families is enjoy this time. Take advantage of being able to prepare for the biggest thing EVER that is about to happen within a matter of months. And don't lose your sense of humor.

My mother in law gave me the best advice when we were at the beginning stages of IVF. After giving her full support (as always), she said we must always remember to maintain our sense of humor. It's a stong part of our relationship and she knows that. Her advice is the same advice I would give to anyone in the Waiting Stage (or any stage).

Unofficially #9

Tesiatu, ዘጠኝ Neuve, Neuf, Neun, תשע, Nove, девять, níu, 九つ

We are now #10

Bring on The Crazy Part One

No, not the dude currently speaking at the U.N. (are you seeing this live coverage?) He's taken crazy to a whole new level! I've visited Auschwitz. Are you kidding me??? I don't have enough time in my day to take him seriously so I choose to laugh. Wow.

So anyway, the crazy I'm referring to is moi and the realization that our wait time has wormed its way into my subconscious to a ridiculous level. It was a profound moment in the A/C filter aisle at Home Depot when this revelation came to light.

Kai & I don't have a car because where we live it's more of a nuisance than a luxury or convenience. We are all about the ZipCar (an hourly rental system created in urban areas for people who don't own cars but need to hit IKEA on occasion). Personally, I think we are single-handedly keeping the Jersey City franchise in business.

And when one grabs a ZipCar your to-do list multiplies exponentially because you're in the mindset of "We're in a car for four hours!!!! Let's go get lots of STUFF." That's the rule and we abide well.

On our last ZipCar trip to Home Depot to buy an A/C filter we became very overwhelmed. This is only the second summer in our new condo and we're still working out the kinks as home-owners. The need to replace our A/C filter took a minute to get on our radar. We now know this is a requirement and can be done from $3 a pop to $24.

And this is when it happened. When reading the fine print of the pricier pieces I saw that among all the 'green' they do, they also last three months. This is fabulous news because if we buy three, our next trip to Home Depot is nine months from now. Ding Ding Ding... That's our wait time!

1 A/C filter = 1/3 Wait Time

It also means the next time we reserve a ZipCar with the memo line listed as "Home Depot", we can be expecting our call!!!

Is it wrong to equate our wait time with simple home maintenance?

Yes, Crazy Part One.

However, I'm looking forward to Part Two because it means we're one step closer.