In the Mean Time....

Well life does go on as we wait. We are a farming family and life gets pretty busy around here. My youngest two ages 9 and 11 are hoeing a field of peppers. My other daughter Rachel (age 14) is picking cucumbers. That is probably one of the worst farming jobs I've come across. You sit on a slow moving machine with your back bent down to pick the cucmbers. She's a tropper - she rarely complains. My oldest (age 15) has an air conditioned job at the local grocery store stocking shelves. He does get out to help on the farm his days off. Our foster son Ben (age 17) has a job at the local Provincial Park. And my job is to hoe with the youngest two and be a taxi driver for everyone else. At this time of year Barry is usually busy on the farm from morning till night. Sometimes it's a crazy life but most of the time it's a good life. It's good to see the kids devolping a strong work ethic. They appreciate the extra money they make and are pretty good at saving it ( if it was mom's money they would be quick to spend it). They still have lots of time to play with friends and swim in the pool or lake. It's evenings like this after a busy day of work and having fun that I realize how blessed we are. Blessed to be able to work as a family and play as a family. And I hope that by this time next year we will have our sweet daughter from Ethiopia to join in all this.

Update on adoption - July has seen 5 referals so far. Pretty exciting seeing as June had none and May had one. This new batch of referals will have to go to Ethiopia twice. Once for court and again to pick up their child. Unfortunately court closes in Ethiopia for most of August and and Sept.  One referal has their court date set for Oct. which seems to be a long wait. We are still hoping for a referal before this year is done.

Referals begin again

After a couple of months of no referals (due to the change in paperwork on the Ethiopian end) , there have been a couple this week. The best part is that they have been older girl referals. When I say older, I mean maybe 1 1/2 to 3 yrs of age. For us this means they are getting closer to our number. There are about 5 couples ahead of us asking for kids in that age range and I would fully expect them to get a referal before us. Having said that, nothing can happen for us until our update has been approved and is back from the Ministry. It has only been there one week, but it feels like months already.
So why am I starting to jump every time the phone rings. Totally unrealistic. I remember waiting for my referal from Ghana. I knew that my time was close because we were one of the first ones to sign up with that program and I knew referals were coming in. For months the phone had me in this prison that I set up for myself. Huge dissapointment after each false call. Well the call never came for Ghana because of problems with that program and now I am starting this crazy obsession all over again.
My heart goes out to a lot of my friends from the Yahoo group. They have been so close for so long. Something has got to happen for them soon.
Hopefully these referals are the start of something stable and steady.
Thanks for listening to the rambles of a frustrated, obsessed , crazy , soon to adopt parent.