Nothing TOO exciting going on here

I just got 3 new case assignments so I have absolutely no business blogging, but hey, I eat lunch at my desk everyday, so I'm going to justify this one.

Since this blog is (1) a chronicle for our child of the adoption process (2) a way to update friends/family of our adoption journey and (3) an outlet for ME, I feel I hold the privilege to post a mundane, borring blog every now and then. This is surely one of those times.

I'm very frustrated w/ my office computer. Lately it hasn't allowed me to comment on blogs while at work. It gives me error messages, and when I go home at night I usually cannot recall what clever quip I wanted to post at 9:17 am. I've been emailing the bloggers in the meantime, but alas I don't have everyones email address, because some (most) of the blogs I'm addicted to are written by people who don't know me from EVE, and since we've gone private, most cannot reciprocate and read our blog and get my email, etc. etc. agnosium. SO, I'll just be frustrated for a while.

Now, that being said, I am SUPERCALIFRAGALISTICEXPIALODOCIOUSLY excited and happy with my home WiFi. I hadn't used my Dell laptop for about 18 mos and am thrilled with its speediness. I'm thinking of working more from home because that puppy can really purr and I hope it proves helpful when Sam arrives (maybe I can broker a better deal, by working some days from home rather than having them totally off?!)

Work is BUSY. I have medical records out the wazoo that need to be summarized and 3 new cases, and some older ones that are in dire need of my attention. I whipped out a Motion to Transfer Venue pursuant to Forum Non-Conveniens yesterday that would make your head spin. Why can't plaintiff's just file their case in the correct venue? Why do they force me to BRING IT ON and file my time-tested soon-to-be-pattented motion? They know they are gonna lose! The Appelletes LOVE my forum motion, as do the Illinois Supremes (we like to think of our higher courts as MoTown groups!) For those who aren't lawyers, or those who don't practice litigation, a quick primer: Plaintiff files a suit in a county of their choosing. However, if the accident/injury did not take place in that county, then defendants can bring a motion to transfer to the venue/forum where the accident/injury took place. If you have the majority of the witnesses and defendants in that county, you have a real good chance of the motion being granted. I practice primarily in Cook County IL -- where lawsuits are often seen as lottery tickets. So Plaintiff's like to file here, and see if it sticks. For my out-of-Cook-County hospitals (mostly Kane County), I bring motions to transfer venue when at all possible. There are a lot of things I suck at, but venue motions isn't one of them. Okay, enough of that subject. This blog is supposed to be a release for me, not a work recitation.

This weekend we have another hosptial charity ball. Yeah!! We're taking our camera to make sure we get some good pictures. I want a picture from Saturday for our holiday card this year. That way, I can get it out shortly after Thanksgiving and same some anxiety closer to Christmas. Also -- who doesn't look good in formal wear?? It's really a win-win. Can you believe it? Next year's holiday card will include Sam (or Sophia, I'm not ruling out a little girl!!) I have goosebumps just thinking about it!!

We have several friends who have court dates coming up. I'm saying extra prayers that everything proceeds as planned. these babies need to come home!!!! We also know some families traveling this weekend. Extra prayers for them too!! So excited their little ones will be home before Thanksgiving!

There was a sibling referral this week -- very exciting. We need to see more though. The Adams have been waiting since March, and the Zubers have been waiting since April. Now I have a personal stake in both of these families. Stephanie Adams has become a really good friend via this wonderful cyber-medium. She is also an Inskeep girl, as am I!! I want to see some Inskeep babies come home!!!! How exciting would that be? The Adams are waiting for (Code Name) Tom & Jerry, either gender, 1 under 4 years, 1 under 18 mos. Elise Zuber has become a dear friends as well. Although she isn't an Inskeep girl, I think we can honorarily adopt this sweet & feisty mama from Michigan. The Zubers are within driving distance, which means I can love on their babies in person. Yeah!! The Zubers are awaiting 2 little girls under 5.
So bring on those sibling referrals Tsegay...we need them!!!

Thanks all for now folks. Have to get back to the daily grind for now. I promise the next posting will be more entertaining.

Snow and frost and babies, oh my!!

Yesterday driving home from a meeting, it was snowing on my windshield. Seriously!! SNOW!! It was October 27th and that was WAY to early for me. Of course, nothing stuck because the ground is still warm, and it warmed up to 51 today. but still! Then tonight it's going to be a low of 25 and we have been told to expect our first hard frost. I don't know if I'm really ready for fall to be over and winter to start. I got a little blue about it yesterday. But then, while on the phone w/ my mom, I realized I AM ready and should be welcoming winter with open arms. You see, Winter means we are 1 season closer to our baby. After Winter comes Spring, which is 1 season closer to our baby. After Spring comes Summer, which is the season we think we will get a referral in. SO, I'm thrilled for Winter after all. Come on Snow -- Bring it on!!!

Speaking of babies -- today our agency gave out 6 referrals. 3 boys & 3 girls. The oldest was 6 years, the youngest was 6 mos. The shortest wait (for the 6 year old) was 3 mos, the longest wait was 7 mos. I'm so very happy for all the newly formed families!! More referrals mean people are moving up higher on the list. Movement on the list is good for everyone. And of course, finding forever families is so amazing for these little darlings in ETH. Happy Happy Day!!

PS: shout out to Gregg, the finest husband in the land, on our anniversary. There is no one in the world I would rather spend the rest of my life with, no one I would rather raise a family with. I love you more today than I did 2 years ago when I said "I do", and I didn't think that kind of love was possible before meeting you!!!

Generational Marriage & Misc Weekend Odds & Ends

FINALLY! This is the desk (that originally matched the dresser) that my grandfather stained/painted for my mother as a child. The dresser was various shades of greens, then blues, and the desk was brown & yellow (paint.) My mom grew up with them, and then I did (and my siblings.) I took the dresser to my 2nd college apt, and bought the desk from my mom in a garage sale after college. I re-finished the desk in 2002. Again, a lot of very brittle wood, and it's pine so very porous. Hence, the 2-toned finish.

I have been trying, since we moved into this house (3 years), to be able to display this piece. It has been in the basement, along with all of our other "life before marriage" furniture that didn't "make the cut." This week, we gave MY couch to my little sister, so the picture-window wall of the living room became bare. We ended up moving the chair & ottoman from our bedroom down for seating, and last night I moved the desk up from the basement, polished it, and made the above arrangements. (ALL by myself, thank you very much!)

I am THRILLED to have both my grandfather's old Royal (where he touch-typed out his sermons) and my laptop in the livingroom. Not only is it lovely to see the old Royal and tribute grandpa in that way, but once we get a mobile modem for my laptop, I'll be able to blog from the living room, not the basement!! Yeah!!

This weekend has been very busy -- but I've gotten a lot done, and it's only 5 on Sunday (did I say only??) No, I have not gotten the sewing machine upstairs yet -- we still need to clear off the dining room table (which in our house is not used for actually eating.) My lama (w/ 1 "l", not the animal w/ 2 "l"s) was in town this weekend for teachings on compassion and I've been at the temple everyday. I got to have a lovely 1-on-1 talk w/ her yesterday about all my frustration over DCFS and the length of time the adoption is taking. She really helped -- teaching me how to make an aspiration for my frustration and anger, and then let it go, focusing on my love and compassion for all. I'm feeling much better about everything. Aside from the spiritual teachings, it was just really great to see her again.

The rest of the "animals on parade" decals were delivered yesterday. If I'm not too tired, I want to try to get those up tonight. I REALLY want to start some sewing next weekend, so I feel I have to finish the decals first, and check that off the list. I have some in the stair hallway that I've been in the "midst of" for almost a week and despirately need to finish. (not "animals on parade" --another design.)

I feel really positive about our homestudy and getting that out to DCFS this week. I also think we are going to see more referrals this week. I'm crossing my fingers for siblings for the Adams & Zubers & everyone else requesting sibs. I think it's absolultely amazing these families have committed to not only bring a child home and love & parent -- but bring more than 1 home at once, and keep a family together. Yeah!!

I hope this week is great for all of us! Hugs to everyone for a good Monday!

Little girl Webber

YEAH!! Meg's predicting powers are right on! I had a really strong "feeling" that the Webbers would get their referral today -- and they did!!!!!! A little-bit of a 7 week old girl! I'm so very happy for Dawn & Kane!
Cannot wait to see pictures!

Why on "Hold"??

Some of you are wondering why it took 8 mos between when we were first accepted into the ETH program and our home study visit, ie: why at nearly 1 year we don't have our dossier out.
Well, we were a couple who knew we wanted to be parents. In fact, that's probably the No. 2 reason we got married (No. 1 being the fact Gregg cannot live without me in his life!) Shortly after our wedding, we were TTC. Shortly after that, we were at the reproductive endocrinologist being subjected to a liteny of tests. Last summer/early fall we started talking about adoption. I had always wanted to adopt, and just figured we have 1 or 2 bio "homegrown" kids, and then adopt a couple. When we were told last October we could not, on our own, ever conceive, we were, of course, disappointed. But we just wanted to be parents -- nothing else mattered. I had already researched agencies (I had a feeling we were going to get the news it "wasn't going to happen" without serious medical intervention) and had the CHI DVD & brochures in the house. We reviewed everything and talked to the local CHI office about Columbia and ETH and found that ETH was the best program for us and our family.

Well, after we applied and were accepted by CHI, they figured out we had only been married 1 year. Most programs added the time you were together as a couple, so we didn't think being married only 1 year (but together 6) would be a problem. Evidently, it is in ETH. After a lot of tears (on my part, Gregg doesn't cry unless something heavy is dropped on his feet, or he sees a mouse -- sorry babe for sharing your secret!) CHI told us to just wait, and be ready to send our dossier out on our 2nd anniversary (Oct 28th.) After researching a SW agency, and finding one we really liked, and applying, it took some time to have that first homestudy; its a busy agency. Then, about 3 hours after our SW left our home, I was rushed to the hospital for ER gallbladder surgery. I was out of commission for 3 weeks, and then overwhelmed when I returned full-force to work. Needless to say, that slowed us down on a lot of the documentation that was required.

We had our final homestudy meeting -- to discuss those pesky 40 essay questions -- in August, and had hoped to have our homestudy completed several weeks ago (as those of you who ready this blog regularly are well aware of.) We have since had difficulties getting our Foster License from DCFS. Today, I wrote our governor, lt. gov, state rep, state senator, etc., begging for help navigating DCFS waters -- we'll see what happens.

But, in the end, I figure we'll only be about 2-3 mos behind from our "goal" of the dossier out October 28th. While that seems like a lifetime now, I've waited almost 36 years to be a mom, so I think I can hang on an extra 3 mos.

Oh -- while writing this, the Walkers got a referral for a 6 mos old little baby girl!!! Congrats Steve & Aimee!!!!!

More girls!

Just got the news that 2 more girls (each 1 mos old) were referred today. That's 5 babies in 24 hours! I cannot believe it. What's good for one ETH family is good for all of us!

Also -- meeting more IL families who are helping us navigate all this DCFS/Foster License craziness. Thank goodness for the internet!

It's raining Babies!

(Cue funky disco track)
It's raining babies at CHI!! today there were referrals for a 4 week girl, an 8 week boy, and a 5 mos girl!!! We don't know who the very lucky families are, but I'm thrilled nonetheless. For those keeping track, these are the first girls since early July! It's also great to see such young babies referred (for those who desire that "new baby" smell!)

Yeah! Woo-Hoo! I'm so happy for all the families! Even though we aren't on the waiting list yet, a smoothing moving referral system is great for everyone!
(I do appologize for the over-usage of exclaimation points, but I think you understand, given the situation.)

Premature Pool

So, with all the referrals this week, I'm feeling really positive. Our SW will have the home study done by Wed, and then it will go to Toni @ CHI for review, and then to Springfield for DCFS approval, and then it's off to Washington to the USCIS. Our USCIS fingerprints are next week, so things are moving along.

I am ready to make some completely premature predictions/ guesses for our pool. Here goes: I think our Dossier will go out by December 15th, and we will have a referral by March 15th. I know, crazy you say, but I've always been an optimist at heart. Gregg says the Dossier will go out by Jan 1st, and we will have a referral between Mother's Day and his birthday (May 19th.) I really want a referral by Mother's Day, so I have a little picture to hold at our family gathering!! We have an Inskeep picnic July 4th weekend, and I cannot tell you how much I want Sam with us for that.

So I'm lifting up my cup of coffee, and here's to optimism, positive thoughts, the power of prayer, and hoping Baby Sam is home by July!

Referrals Galore!

This week has been huge for CHI families! There were no referrals at all in the month of August, and then this week there were 4 singleton boys (infants), 1 sibling group (boy-girl, 5 & 7), and 1 6 year old girl. that's 7 kids finding forever families in just a few days! How amazing. We really feel this is a shared joy for ALL CHI families, because more referrals means (1) the system is back up and running after the rainy season, even though the courts are still closed (2) more families are moving "up" on the list and (3) more ETH kids are coming to the US to live in loving families who can adequately meet their emotional, social, physical, and financial needs.

We have been told things will be moving more swiftly once the courts re-open the beginning of October. In this way, even though we have been in the program for a year, and are just now about the finish the dossier and send it over, I really feel things have worked out for the best. The families who received referrals this week waited an average of 6 months, largely due to the slow-down in July and complete lack of referrals in August. Since our dossier will be going out while the courts are in full swing, we should not have those extra delays. YEAH!!!

Referrals

Yeah!! 2 CHI families got referrals for little boys today -- 9 mos & 6 wk. Both healthy! Also, found out from program director that the slow going of late has been due to the fact that the lower courts (county courts) shut down 1 month before the state/federal courts did for the rainy season. The county courts provide the background information for the referrals -- so when they are closed it makes referrals difficult.
So -- happy day for those families who saw their beautiful boys for the first time today.
Happy day for those families moving higher up on the list.
Happy day for us -- our dossier will be in-country AFTER the courts re-open and should not be effected by the rainy-season delays.