???

Quick updates:

1. We are still waiting...and we'll probably be waiting for months. Sorry we don't have any great/exciting news, but this is the waiting part. Waiting for a referral is probably the most boring part of the whole adoption process. It's exciting at the beginning because you have a list of 1000+ things you have to do, and when people ask how it's going you can tell them that you've done #786 on the list of things to do (copy of birth certificates) and that you're making progress. Then you get all the paperwork done and get in line. Where we are....waiting. Trust me, when we hear/know something you will know! Until then, feel free to keep asking. We'll tell you the same thing....Still waiting. On a good note, we are coming up on 2 months of waiting....still a long way to go, but these 2 months have gone by fast.
   
2. We had a fun "meeting" in Branson last week with all kinds of families that have adopted internationally. And I will never look at a chocolate fountain the same way. It's amazing that double-dipping is socially acceptable until someone tells you that it's not socially acceptable. Whatever. If I want to dip a nutter-butter in chocolate, take a bite, then dip it in chocolate again, I say I can. If my pal Caden can do it, then I can too. (Thanks to Jamie Jo and Andy for opening their house...again and again and again.)
   
   
   
3. At the meeting I got to hang out with Gabby....always a highlight for me. Abby calls her my girlfriend. That might be a little much, but it is scary how much this little girl just melts my heart. I can't imagine how protective I will be someday of a daughter. Until then I've got the Rwandan princess, Gabby.



4. This past weekend Abby and I finished up painting the nursery. OK, Abby finished up and I just did what she told me to do. She'll be blogging about that soon.....
5. Thanks to The Today Show crew (Matt & Meredith) for riding with us to the Branson meeting. Who knew Mazzio's was still in business?!?!?
6. Looks like we are getting our "travel shots" tomorrow....or so my wife informed me today. Yippee. Lots of needles and lots of money out of my pocket. Two of my favorite things. Figured I'd type tonight in case I can't move my arms tomorrow. Stay tuned....
7. And finally, on a completely unrelated topic: If you go see He's Just Not That Into You and you decide to upsize to a large soda because it's only $0.50 more (with free refills), you do NOT have to go get a free refill just because they are free! Let's just say I don't remember the last 30+ minutes of the movie because I was trying to do everything I could not to pee myself. But I made it to the end....

I'd like to finish with this.....I was going to apologize that this blog doesn't have more to do with adoption than it does. But I'm not going to apologize. Because while we may not be blogging about adoption (seriously, how many times can you type "WAITING") we are blogging about our life right now --- and everything we do is somehow wrapped around the idea of adoption. So, thanks for reading. Thanks for commenting. And thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Speaking of thoughts and prayers....Keep the Neals in yours! They are flying from Atlanta to Dubai right now. And I've got to be honest, if I wasn't sitting on my bed with my two puppies and my lovely wife beside me, that's the only other place I would want to be right now...on my way to Ethiopia to meet my child.