Court date; Check!

A pot-luck was scheduled today in my office. I remembered to bring my enchiladas, tablecloth, sponge to wash the dishes and a serving spoon. I forgot my laptop and I almost forgot my mobile phone. As I went back to get my cell phone I thought to my self; "really it doesn't matter if I forget the phone because no one will call me today." I stuck it in my pocket and forgot about it. While I was in my office using the "common" computer, little celestial chimes sounded off in my red coat pocket. I pulled out the phone without much thought, opened it and saw the code word "unknown" on the minuscule screen. I thought "we're one step closer." Then I answered "this is Samantha" just in case it was work related...and it wasn't. Instead I heard Mary T's lovely voice. She said our court date has been set for February 19th. I wanted to get excited but then I came down to earth thinking about the possible delays and what-nots. This process is so high-and-low, up-and-down. I am so happy that we are so close to becoming parents again, frustrated it's not happening sooner, afraid the court session will go awry, and fliustered about getting all our preparations done.

400+ e-mails

A while back I joined two Yahoo groups about Ethiopian adoptions. Well, since then I forgot all about them and basically got my fill of information through the blog community. After reading Jocelyn's blog about the use of pictures on our blogs I got a little paranoid (if you know me, please don't laugh; I know the use of "little" is quite the understatement since I am already paranoid to begin with). So I decided to check my yahoo groups. Wouldn't you know it I had about 400+ e-mails about all sorts of adoptions things dating back to early summer 2007. I cannot just delete e-mail without at least taking a quick look at the content. I'm finally done, and after all that reading I've decided that we cannot take a chance with posting pictures of our babes before they are actually legally ours. It is with a very heavy heart that I tell you that you will have to wait until after we have a successful court date before we show you our little Ethiopian beauty. In the mean time I will be posting pictures of our beautiful little girl who is home with us.

We're missing the milestones!

We received an update from Mary T.; "Fenit – Beautiful! Calm and comfortable with so much beauty is powerful. There is so Much of Fenit to appreciate, and apparently muscle lies beneath the plush exterior! From her stomach, Fenit can easily do as many “baby push-ups” as she wants. She rocks back on her knees frequently. She is quite active! In her picture she is saying – “Hi, Mom and Dad. " Current Weight – 18.52 pounds"

I am so grateful for these updates; and yet so mournful that we are missing all the fun little milestones, like almost crawling. We can't wait to have her home!

Lovely souls that come through just in time.

Thank you to the Runnions for sending us pictures of our babe. One can never have enough of these!

Waiting again.

I get quite discouraged and unmotivated to write when all there is to say is that we are still waiting. We have been waiting for a court date for 3 weeks now, and it doesn't seem like it is going to happen any time soon. I hope Mary calls me right after I post this; to prove me wrong.

Any way, on Wednesday, Marina had tryouts at 3:30 P.M. for the swim pre-team and ...SHE MADE IT! She was very good in the tryouts, and Fernando said that the coach seemed pleased. So starting in February, she will be training with the team.

That same day I had my appointment to get all my shots. I was inoculated twice in each arm. Wow, my arms were a little sore for a couple of days. My brother, in NY, received his shots the week before and apparently he didn't feel very well afterwords.

Now all we are doing is waiting. I feel sort of lonely just waiting. We don't have a court date and we haven't received new pictures of our babe.

The festive season

Jamie sent me this beautiful picture of our Celeste Fenit. I need her home so badly. I know that this process has it's reasons, but when you are waiting to hold your little love, it is very difficult to have patience. I friend of mine sent me this article to help me put waiting into perspective.

Our family from NY came to visit this Christmas. Marina had so much fun with her cousins that when they left she was devastated. That night, in bed, she buried her face in her pillow and said "I'm in the depths of despair." Can you tell we've been reading the Anne of Green Gables series? It's funny, because sometimes I feel like she's not listening while I'm reading and then she comes out with something totally appropriate, from the books, to state her feelings.

It occurred to me that I have not posted any details about Celeste. Here are a few facts that might be interesting to my one reader: Celeste's birthday was stated as July 4th, 2007 (she'll get fireworks every year on her birthday). She weighs almost 18lb.! She is 25" long. And she has a big sister that can't wait to get cozy lozy with her.

Lastly, my congratulations to all those families out there that are getting their children, got a court date and/or had a successful day at court. We hope to be within your ranks soon!