Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Golden Birthday

Today is Abby's "Golden" Birthday. 29 on the 29th. I'm so lucky to call her my wife and best friend. Happy Birthday, Boo! Hopefully your birthday wish, and all your other wishes, will come true very soon.

Friday, July 24, 2009

No one told me

I had no idea you were allowed to do this for your wedding. Looking like Abby and I will have to renew our vows.....


Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Warning: Frustration ahead. Read at your own risk!

I should be posting this entry tomorrow because tomorrow we hit 7 months of waiting, but I'm about to do some serious venting and I don't want to ruin our 7-month day with this nonsense. And I haven't been blogging a lot lately, so here we go.

So Roger and I had a quick little 30-minute meeting this afternoon with our agency lady/social worker/our only connection to our future child because we are just that desperate for any information we can get about where we are in the process, what's new in Ethiopia in the way of procedural changes regarding abandonment cases, court closures, etc. And let me tell you, we didn't learn much. It. is. frustrating. We didn't receive any bad news (thankfully), but we didn't receive any good news either. Or maybe the good news is that we didn't receive any bad news if you want to look on the bright side of things? Basically we didn't receive any news at all. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but something concrete would have been nice. But what I can tell you is this: Folks, it's going to be a while. Like probably 2010 a while. I could be wrong, but intuition is telling me I'm right. If Roger was here he would probably tell me to quit writing this because he hates when I'm negative and spewing all my negative energy into the universe, but I don't care. No, I am not b*tching because it's been 7 months. I know families have waited much, much longer. We have close friends who have endured more heartache then we've yet to even come close to. Referred babies die before their parents can bring them home. Yes, that does happen. Often. So, yeah, I'm fine with 7 months of waiting. Heck, we'll see 9 and 12 months before this is all over with. What I'm tired of is the unknown. The unknown of how long we have to deal with the unknown. We are getting sooooo sick and tired of not knowing anything, unable to have any real expectations. In fact, it is much safer to have no expectations than to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. I know, I know, no one said this would be easy. In fact, we were warned more than once how emotionally and mentally difficult international adoption is. And it is. It is hard. It's actually kind of like wanting to be pregnant and never getting pregnant. I never thought I would compare the two, but there. I just did. The day we get to meet and hold and love our baby seems so far away, it seems like it may never happen at all, and that feeling is all too familiar to me. And for all of you out there who say waiting to adopt is like being pregnant, you are wrong. It is not even remotely similar. It is actually so completely different that it's kind of insulting when people tell me that. But that's okay because I wouldn't expect anyone to understand that unless you've experienced firsthand what we're experiencing.

So here we are at 7 months. We will continue to blindly trust in God's plan and his timing, continue to fumble through the dark because Ethiopia is the path by which we feel called to walk. We are just really looking forward to the day when we can see the light.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Reunion (Roger's View)

July 11th, 2009. I traveled with Abby to her 10-year high school reunion (Class of '99) in Garner, Iowa. I've come to realize people really don't want to read blogs. They just want some pictures and a quick story. My views of Garner....


Our Motel. Only Motel in town.

Interior view of our lovely room. Abby and "Evil" Kelly enjoying "cheerleader beer" just like '99
Abby opening "cheerleader beer" on our built-in bottle opener. The Marriott doesn't have that!

In front of the firestation waiting for the parade.

In case we forgot where we were, or what we were doing there.

No trip to Iowa is complete without SWEET CORN and MARGARINE!

"Evil" getting some candy at the parade.

(Some of) The Class of '99
"TACO-IN-A-BAG"??? "LOOSE MEATS"???
****ABBY'S DISCLAIMER****
Ah, Garner. I miss that place. I really do. It is the epitome of "Small Town USA." Roger can joke, but it was a really great place to grow up. And if you've ever had the privilege of knowing an Iowan, you know how loyal and proud we are of our home state (almost to a fault), and I'm no different. I had so much fun last weekend reminiscing, seeing faces I haven't seen in ten years, and catching up with old friends. I think Roger heard enough "remember when" stories shared between me and my closest friends to last him a lifetime, though. So, yes, there were some funny circumstances as above mentioned. But unless you grew up in a community of 3,000 people with only one stoplight in the entire town, where you knew everyone's name in your graduating class, where you used to ride your bike all over town at the age of 10 by yourself (gasp!) because it was that safe, if your childhood summer days were spent at the community swimming pool because that's about all there was to do, and if your hometown's one and only claim to fame is celebrated over a summer weekend, well, you just probably don't share the same appreciation for it as I do!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Five Months Later.....and We Get Our Chair!!

That's right -- it only took five months to finally receive our nursery chair!! I ordered it February 10th and received it July 9th. It was supposed to be delivered Friday, July 10th, but we were out of town for the weekend, so Roger and I actually picked up the chair Thursday morning from the delivery service because I could not stand to wait one more week. Not that we exactly need it right this minute, of course, but it was still just one more thing we were waiting on that was driving me crazy. But it is exactly what we wanted, it's the perfect color, it's leather, it swivels, rocks, reclines, and I love it, so I suppose it was totally worth the long wait!! At least now when I'm in the nursery daydreaming I have a place to sit.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Headed home

Once again trying to blog from the road. GREAT time in Garner,Iowa. Tons of better pics and stories to follow. Here's my view for the next 7 hours.

Monday, July 6, 2009

One casualty.

Over a three-day weekend that saw 13+ of Abby's relatives in from Iowa, we managed to accomplish:
  • A 7-mile float trip with seven canoes
  • A Mexican fiesta
  • Welcoming home Zoe (OMG, she's gorgeous!)
  • A BBQ at the Wasson house
  • Pool time
  • Fireworks in the rain

And after all of that there was only one awful mishap. Come to find out, iPhones do NOT bounce off hardwood floors. Phone insurance and protective covers are both great things. Too bad I didn't have either of them on my phone.

Thanks to my pal Matt Spin for helping me make the best of a bad situation.

Ari