June?

I can't believe it's June tomorrow. Not much new news on the adoption front. We have to change around a bit of our homestudy because Ethiopia has different requirements (some additional documents, wording changes, etc.) and our placement agency facilitator is in Ethiopia until June 4th. I'll write more when we have more news or items to be checked off our rather long list...
My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew went back home to Arizona on Monday. They were out for a week and we had a really good time. We went to the zoo, Knott's, and the park. VERY fun stuff with a 23 month old. He is brilliant and beautiful and I miss him terribly. He is going to be a good older cousin for our little one :) I will have to post a picture of all his cuteness! It is only fair to share a bit of it.
My best friend, Michelle, is also out from Denver with her super cute pie daughter. Her daughter is 17 months old and is hysterically funny. Tommy is always in awe over how pretty she is.
There is so much going on in our lives right now. I work in the schools, so I am finishing up the year. I am not coming back to work next year because I am going to finish up my M.A. in the fall and hopefully be a stay-at-home mom in the spring. So I am a bit sad about not returning. This summer will be a bit hectic because I am working on some research, need to complete my hospital internship, and will take the national exam for speech-language pathology. Tuesday we found out Tommy has to have a minor, but unpleasant surgery, which makes me more than minimally unhappy. My younger sister also MAY (I'm in denial) be moving to Thailand next month. SO happy for her, but I will miss her :( AND we are starting back on the adoption paperwork (I believe that I have already mentioned that paperwork is not a strength of the Tommy and Danielle team). Additionally, our spoiled spoiled SPOILED whippet, Scarlett, has been asking for a BFF. She claims that she needs company to lay on the couch all day. We are going to take her to the greyhound rescue to see if she finds a pup there of high interest. There is so much good and stressful stuff going on. Mostly really good stuff, but I still feel like we need a mini vacation to take it in, enjoy, prepare, and center myself. There is a secret message to Tommy in the previous sentence. I will let you know in future blogs if he was able to decode my very mysterious hints :) I have never before tested his descrambling abilities.

But...

Since I am not a full blown computer scientist and still COULD learn additional skills, I am unable to post multi picture posts. Therefore, I will only post one picture per blog. Not a BAD ratio. Better than before. But, just wait. One day I will learn, and I am sure to be a show off about the skill. Above is my Dad and me!

Pictures of My Family

I am VERY excited! I JUST learned how to add pictures. Now I will show off my new skill...Above is a picture of my mom, sister Nicole, and myself at our Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Application sent...

We finally sent in our application to CHI last week. I love that we are back on the road to adoption. Now the infamous paper chase can continue...
The entire process seems rather abstract. I have read books, looked at endless websites, taken courses, etc., but it still doesn't seem real. I'm not sure that it will until we actually have our referral. I may be cynical, but I just don't trust that nothing will go wrong until we have our baby. I want so badly to nest and prepare, but I know that I need to wait. There is still plenty of time for all that fun stuff.
This week, I have been waiting not-so-patiently for our dossier packet to arrive. I know that it is coming any day/week. It's kind of funny actually, because I realized recently that Tommy and I are not too savvy on the form filling out thing. It's just not one of our strengths. I want to hurry and get it done, while Tommy's form-filling-out style is thoughtful and deliberate. Together? Not the best scenario...and yet there are so many forms left to fill! The excitement that awaits :)
Timeline so far...We decided that we wanted and were ready to adopt in November 2006. We researched countries and programs and had a few disappointments. We turned in our application to Bal Jagat in December and did our first three homestudy visits in January-February. Then, the country we had chosen went on an unofficial hold. We waited for a few months. During this time I researched our options. When we decided that Ethiopia was our calling, it just felt right. In April the decision was made and we researched placement agencies. Last week was a great milestone, mailing in our application. Now I just want to start filling in those lines and checking those boxes (in a haphazard fashion, of course, thank goodness for Tommy!).
A good friend of mine just told me that she is going to adopt domestically. I am so excited for her and her family. It is such an exciting time for us, it will be special to watch someone close to me go through a similar experience.
Tommy is not yet in tune with his "blogging" self...so, I must now blog for him. But, he did want me to share that he "can't wait to just hold our baby."
I will work on supporting him to reach a place deep within where he is comfortable expressing himself through blog, but until then, you are stuck with me. I apologize for any misrepresentations :)