We're a FAMILY!!

We are hers, she is ours...by a miracle we found out just now that our case was heard and we passed court today. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I can't stop crying!!

Big Day

Tonight as we all sleep in the US, the Ethiopian High Court will hopefully rule in our case and Miss B will officially become our daughter. If you're of the praying kind, please say a prayer that all goes off without a hitch. Good vibes and thoughts are also appreciated. I can't lie...I'm feeling a wee bit nervous. Butterflies seem to have made their home in my tummy today. We probably won't know the outcome until mid next week.

Little Drummer Boy

starting a street band at our house...

3 years since...

...my heart would no longer be my own;
he stole it with one look of his eyes

He dances and sings his way through life...I seriously don't understand how we got so lucky.

Referral Day, April 27, 2007
Referral Photo

Ashenafi James Desta, we love you!

Chocolate winner!

One of my favorite people and best friends in all the land was the lucky winner of the chocolate. Congrats Mary!!

50,000 Chocolate contest

Holy Smokes! I've almost reached 50,000 visitors on my blog. Only 83 visitors to go. If you scroll down a bit, on the right side of my blog, there is a counter. It's very unassuming--I put it there a couple years ago just fun to see if anybody reads my blog.

Here's the contest: if you are the 50,000th visitor, take a screen shot of the page (Prt Scr) in your upper keyboard and then paste it into an email to ashenafismom@ gmail.com. You will win a great chocolate bar of your choice from a delicious chocolate company. If the 50,000th winner doesn't care about this contest, no worries, my husband will gleefully eat the chocolate.

Big Week

I can hardly believe it but this Friday is our court date. Though starting in mid/late May, adoptive parents will be required to appear in court themselves, we are some of the last that will be represented by our adoption agency as we signed a power of attorney. Once the judge approves our case, we will legally and irrevocably be B's parents. We know that cases are often postponed due to missing paperwork, power outages (there are severe power outages in Addis Ababa right now due to construction of a major dam), overbooked court dockets, and lack of witnesses (a birth parent, or the person that relinquished the child is required to attend the hearing). I went through a phase last week where I was very anxious about our court date and really feared having it postponed and the inevitable delay in travel that would result. Amazingly that fear is gone and I have peace. I know that we will bring our daughter home this summer and that is enough for now. I know that worrying does nothing positive for anyone in this situation! I can't lie and say I won't be devastated if we don't pass on Friday, but I'll save that heartache for that day. We will not hear about the outcome until some time next week. It will be a very long weekend...

Mark and I were talking yesterday about how sometimes B seems like she's frozen in time. She exists in the photos we have, with the expression she has in those photos, but it is nearly impossible to imagine her in any other state. I can't picture her moving and smiling and not lying in her crib (which she's in each of her photos). It is sad to know that we are missing so many milestones in her life. Those first months are precious and though we are sure she's receiving the best care possible, we can't help but wish she was home with us now.

With the passing of Mark's beloved Grandpa Earl last weekend, we've been contemplating a lot about the end of life and new life, and what's important in life. Lots of "life" talk around here. We've been talking to each other, talking to our boys and thinking a lot ourselves. We are grateful for the life Grandpa Earl lived and all those he touched with his gentle spirit. We are grateful that he's free of pain and finally with his wife again after 11 years apart. A big hole exists for us where he once was. Nothing can or will replace him, but knowing that a new life is joining our family soon is a Blessing in the midst of sadness and loss.

Miss Blessing, we love you.

PIONEER WOMAN!

Guess who my sister-in-law and I met tonight!?

Pioneer Woman!

She's even more delightful in person. She signed my book "Love to Sarah," and had a good chuckle over Heidi's book which she already autographed last December when I mailed it to her to sign as a Christmas gift for Heidi. She graciously signed it again with a "YAY, fun meeting you." There's just something special about that lady.

The Sweet Spot

Training is Back

Aunt Judy, you inspired a train renewal...and it's amazing the difference a few months makes in how they play together (or rather how Torin chooses to drive a train rather than push Ashen's off the tracks). Ashen is also much more willing to help Torin fix his trains when they inevitably fall off the tracks. Ashen is still bound and determined to drive the longest train in the history of toy trains no matter how often he has to put it back on the track. I am thrilled with the time that they're playing independently--it sure helps with all those projects I talked about completing :-)

Scones and Milk Mustaches

I think our daily latte has rubbed off on the wee ones...

Court Date!!!!

Unbelievable! I *just* got an email stating that our court date is set for April 30th!!!! I'm shaking, elated, and hoping and praying we pass on the first try. They say it's "tentative" and not to expect to pass the first time (for all the reasons I noted below), but like I said--I've got to hope and believe that we will, and that we can bring her home soon!!

All these milestones are SO HUGE to us as we get closer to bringing Miss B home!

This and That

Belated Happy Easter

We are definitely in a new chapter at our house. Nesting officially began last week when I found myself washing the layer of dirt off the siding of our house. Also on the nesting docket this week was clearing out the basement to make space for garage sale sorting, cleaning the washer/dryer area, painting cedar shakes, mowing the lawn, raking loads of camelia flowers off the patio, clearing out B's room to prepare for painting, almost finishing her quilt and gazing at her pictures all over the house all day long. I expect this week to be nearly as productive--I may even paint her room if I find time to do it when the boys aren't trying to paint along with me. We have lots of unfinished projects we want to get done before she comes home. Mark spent the afternoon with his dad building a small deck off our french doors--a project we've been wanting to finish for almost a year, and it feels SO good to both of us to have completed it. The french door project has been quite emotional for us because of his dad's accident with the saw that occurred in the very early stages of door installation. It feels very good to close that chapter.

It's been 3 weeks since our referral. We are waiting for news of our court date. After Holt Ethiopia was notified of the acceptance of our referral, they pass our dossier to the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) who reviews it and submits it to the Ethiopian High Court who then assigns us a court date. Once Holt is advised of our court date, we will be notified. We don't expect to receive it soon, but there have been people who have received court dates within about 6 weeks of referral. It is unlikely (but I'm really hoping) we'll pass court on the first try. Cases are often postponed due to missing paperwork, power outages (there are severe power outages in Addis Ababa right now due to construction of a major dam), overbooked court dockets, and lack of witnesses (living birth family, or the person that relinquished the child is required to attend the hearing). We just hope and pray (along with everyone else waiting) that our case will be heard soon and that it will be successful on the first time. We really want to bring Baby B home soon!!

We received some new pictures of Baby B this week and she's grown so much in the two months since her last photos were taken. She is filling out and has hair now--beautiful curls. She has the most smoochable lips (they're really perfect) and the biggest eyes. She is just lovely. I cannot stop staring at her and dreaming of what it will be like to hold her, rock her, carry her all day, sleep next to her, play with her, etc. I can't say I didn't buy her a few outfits this week too. Or a swim suit. Nope. I can't.

Post-Nap Belly Bump Take Down

I just wanted to spread the word that my friend, Cami is joining with me to raise money for medicine for kids at AHOPE. She is having a raffle on her site this week for the softest blanket on the planet. Thanks for considering buying a ticket--they're only $5!

The Irony of the Tart

I referenced the tart that started our referral day. It had been recommended by several of my well-respected friends, and the recipe had been flying all over the blogosphere and facebook. I think I have beautiful Deirdre to thank for the initial introduction. It was supposedly one of those have to try kind of recipes. Well, I think you can tell by my tone that this tart that I began making before 7am as a way to distract myself from the ever anxious feelings I was having, did not help those anxious feelings but rather escalated them to the point that I just had to stop at 8:30 (please tell me, who the heck has the patience to spend 1.5 hours making a tart!?! And I was only half way done!) because I was beginning to fume. This is one of those recipes that takes t-i-m-e. You haev to caramelize onions for about 40 minutes, make a homemade tart crust, roast cauliflower in the oven for 35 minutes. You get the drift.

When I realized how much work this tart was taking, I decided I had to document it to justify its space and existence. I knew once it was out of the oven, it would soon disappear and be a terrible yet delicious memory.

Now, suddenly, I'm seeing obvious parallels between this painstaking tart and our adoption process. I liken the homemade tart crust to the homestudy process. The wait for referral with the painfully slow process of carmelizing onions. The second trip to the grocery store for that mascarpone cheese to our change in agencies. The slow roasting and constant checking of cauliflower to the insanity of carrying my phone around on vibrate for 3 months. And then finally, after the gruyere and mascarpone melted with the onions and cauliflower drizzled in truffle oil, it turned into this intensely rich and savory tart that began to make all that work seem very worth it. I suppose using this analogy it certainly was. Do I still remember the sometimes excruciating wait to see our sweet girl's face. You bet! Do I know that the wait was necessary and worth it? Of course.

End of analogy.

Meet and Make The Tart
(you might just have a very very very good day if you do)