Making a Haul & Trying Hard Not to Obsess

My apologies, I have been super-bad about updating the blog. Here are my excuses, in no particular order: 1) The holidays are coming! Who can conjure up time to write when there are 70 cards to be addressed, presents to wrap, and eggnog to consume? 2) The holidays are over. Who can conjure up time to write when there is a tree to take down, scraps of wrapping paper everywhere to pick up, and Christmas leftovers to consume? 3) I’m just trying not to think about it so much.

Okay, number three is the biggest reason. I have found myself in a bit of predicament, it seems. I’m in a spot where I know, barring some catastrophic event (by the way, we still haven’t been approved by Immigration. I swear I was still a citizen the last time I checked… although I hear the government keeps track of the books you take out from the library – I wonder how many time you can check out ‘The Communist Manifesto’ in college and not be exiled?), that by the end of ’08 Little-One will be here for me to look after, and I feel there are six-quadrillion things I need to do to prepare. At the same time, I feel like we can’t really prepare because so much is still so up in the air. Until I receive that referral, which since we are almost three months into ‘waiting’ could be anywhere from now to six months from now, I am in limbo. And that is an awful feeling to have.

I am not trying to make it all about me; I know my future child is undoubtedly going through tough times, much worse than my impatient waiting. And no, I do not want the birth family to ‘hurry up’ and make an adoption plan. But the uncertainty sucks and the wait is giving me way too much time to obsess. I wonder if there is an actual concrete number of times a person can check an adoption forum in a day before one is considered unhealthy? Hmmm… I hope that number is more than 10…

So, instead of whining about waiting, let’s talk about the holidays. Little-One made a haul! I had been saying to Brad for about a month we should buy the Little-One a Christmas present, but he disagreed. I have been known to overreact when it comes to my impending motherhood, so I took his word and we bought no baby presents. We did, however, receive wonderful presents from family members for Little-One! Aha… I wasn’t crazy…



Quilts and gift cards and monkeys, oh my!

Thank you to everyone who thought of Little-One during the holiday, it warms our hearts to know he is so loved, before we even know who he is.

Have a nice flight, paperwork!

Sometime last week Brad called to tell me the check we had written to a courier service and then given to Children’s Home along with our last set of paperwork (seemingly eons ago) was finally cashed. That could mean only one thing, and today I confirmed it with CHS – our dossier has taken its transatlantic fight to Ethiopia on 12/11/07. I hope it got at least two packages of peanuts, that is a long ride.

In the real scheme of things, it doesn’t really mean too much. I’ve been told they send the paperwork in batches ‘sometime’ during your wait, with no real particular order. So, although it isn’t really any kind of indicator that we are any closer to receiving a referral, it is still nice to know a little piece of us, albeit an authenticated, notarized, translated into Amharic piece of us, is sitting on someone’s desk in Ethiopia. The forms we so dutifully filled out are probably within an approximate 500 mile radius from my little-one, as opposed to my 8,000 mile radius.

Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Wishing everyone a joyous holiday.

Ha!

Click HERE for an article that states although ‘embedded giving’ may be unregulated, it gives a little kudos to (PRODUCT)red. So there, all you nay-sayers! Making fun of my holiday cards…

Bit of Housecleaning Matters

I have returned from my blog-hiatus, but not with anything too exciting or dramatic. Just a few house-cleaning items to take care of:

First off, I would like to thank everyone who sent cards and emails and flowers, and especially everyone who came and even helped out at Granny’s funeral. It was greatly appreciated, and I couldn’t have imagined a better celebration of her life and love. Thank you all.

Second of all, please don’t laugh at my holiday cards this year. That is, unless you are in the motorcycle group, in which we bought funny cards for, then please feel free and laugh. All others, you are receiving (Product)Red cards. Yes, Brad, I know we can not be guaranteed the money is actually going to buy antiviral medicine for Africa, and we could have left out the middleman and found somewhere to donate our money to directly. And yes, Kimby, I know Bono can be a complete nincompoop who sometimes seems like he uses charitable events to bolster his ego. Even I think their ‘manifesto’ to be written like it was dumbed-down for ‘generation-simplify-and-hippify-it-for-me’, which bugs me, too. And also, yes, I know they were overpriced and not cute and holiday cheery. But, I bought them anyway, because Hallmark has said they will donate 8% of their net wholesale sales to the Global Fund, and I am feeling like I need to do something to give back. Brad, knowing it meant something to me, dutifully agreed even though I know he really likes sending out the picture postcard types. There is always next year, where hopefully our holiday card includes a picture of our little one.

So, as you open you holiday cards this year, know that there was good intentions behind them, even though a few people have pointed out that good intentions don’t always add up to anything concrete, and that yes, Bono is a bit of a schmuck.

Happy Holidays and cheer.