Back to Earth

Well, now that I have spent a wonderful weekend celebrating that I passed court and rejoicing in the news that Grace will soon be home with me, I think I'm slowly coming back to earth. There is so much to do and probably much of it will happen in a very short period of time. I'm hoping that we'll get travel news early this week. From the "unofficial" tally, there are at least 14 families that passed court. There are likely to be a few more that we're not aware of since not every family is part of the e-mail list. We also know that not all of the families will travel at once since there can only be a maximum of 10 families traveling at one time. That's because each agency only gets 10 embassy appointments per week. Some of the families that passed on Friday may not be ready for travel because their immigration paperwork may not have been received by the Ethiopian Government. I know that all of my paperwork has been received and I've had that information verified, but it still doesn't mean that I'll make it in the first wave. But honestly, just to know that I've passed is a huge relief.

There are at least 4 single parent families out of those who passed court last week. I didn't post this much during the process, but there were two scares during this process when I feared that Ethiopia would close to singles and my adoption might not happen. The first scare was when I was about 7 months into the wait and the second was just a couple of weeks after I got my referral. There has not been an official ruling so the fact that singles are passing court means that nothing has changed yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen at some time, thought I sincerely hope that it doesn't. I am eternally grateful for those of us who passed and I pray daily that they continue to keep the program open and that many more singles pass in the future.

So I spent the weekend making lists, panicking, re-reading the lists, panicking, organizing baby stuff, panicking and shopping for things we need and for donations for Horizon House. I think I got a good amount of things together to donate and I also have some new and gently worn children's clothes that I'll donate as well. It's overwhelming with all the things that need to happen in a short period of time and since as of today I don't know if I'll have days to prepare or a couple of weeks. It will get done either way, but did I mention I'm panicking a bit?

On Friday a friend of mine since childhood came to visit and she and her daughter gave me two of the most special gifts I have received.

The first was a white onesie that has the image posted below on it.

The second is a cream tote bag that has the following image on it.

So adorable and so thoughtful of them to get something so specific to Grace. Thanks Laura and Annesia! They got it from a website called cafepress.com. Just type in Ethiopia and you'll be shocked at the options you'll find!

So, now I go into prepare to depart at any minute mode. I have a lot to put in order both at work and at home but it will be worth the lack of sleep since I know in the end, it will bring me to my precious Gracie.