A Natural Family

My co-worker told me a funny story today about something that happened over the holiday weekend. Co-worker went 'down the shore' (meaning to the shore in NJ) to her boyfriend's parents' beach house. They have spent time every summer at this beach house for several years and have become acquainted with their neighbors. Co-worker reported that she and boyfriend were enjoying the day outside on Monday... sitting in the hot tub... eating bbq... etc... Just general lazing around. Then she heard the following, "Whooaaa... [thump]," from the neighbors' lawn. Come to find out said neighbor had had too much to drink and had fallen out of the hammock. It happened three times. I laughed out loud for quite a while. Still giggling thinking about it. People falling out of hammocks... that's funny stuff. I can call up that feeling in my body that I get right as I realize I am about to be dumped out of a hammock... you know, that feeling where you have absolutely no control over where your body is about to go coupled with the feeling that you are too stupid to stay in a hammock. Yep... still funny.

This is probably why there are so many referrals coming in right now.

I need to go get my baby.

Number one: So, where the heck is my CIS approval?

By the way: For those of you who have asked: We can't post pictures of him yet. He officially still belongs to Ethiopia and they take protecting their children very seriously. So, as soon as he is legally ours, we will post his cute little face on this nice password protected blog. Till then, I gotta do what I gotta do to make sure he ends up with me!

Check out this blog: http://fullyoperationalbattlestation.com/index.php/2008/05/13/okay/#comments

Her referral story is great.

There have been several people getting referrals lately... that I would LOVE to travel with.

Getting excited.

Mothers' Day, for me, will never be my own--but a shared with a woman across the ocean. Yesterday, I spent time thinking of her, his first mother, and what she's given up.

So, I wanted to give you all a run down of what has happened since we received our referral. This should be helpful for family/friends who want to be in-the-know about our process and for other adoptive parents who are waiting for their referrals!
5/1: Received referral from WHFC
5/3: Met w/social worker to go over referral packet
5/3: Emailed all referral information to Dr. Jane Aronson for review
5/7: Received assessment back from Dr. Aronson
5/7: Signed and notorized acceptance papers
5/7: Called our Dr. and insurance company to find out about travel vaccinations
5/8: Mailed papers with final fee check to WHFC (express mail, of course)
5/9: Made Appt. for travel vaccinations for 5/13; assembled crib; registered for baby stuff
5/10: Celebrated first Mother's Day with J and friends
5/11: Received "Happy Mother's Day" phone calls for the first time ever
5/12: Passport size pictures for Ethiopian Visa; mail pictures and application

Intermixed with all of that is setting dates for baby showers, cleaning and organizing, going to see THREE MOVIES in one week, eating out, sleeping in, thinking about how I need to have a garage sale, moving the guest bedroom furniture into the other (junk) room, countless calls to friends and family to announce the big news... oh yeah... and work...

We have a boy! Emmett Adugna Firew Burton. He is 2 1/2 months old, tiny, cute, beautiful.

Thursday (May 1st) I finished a big project at work, so they sent me home early. Justin and I were hanging out, as he just had a couple of hours until he had to leave for work at 5:15. About 4:25 p.m. I got an email from my advisor at school saying she had entered my final grade on my thesis--my final grade for the completion of my masters degree. Then... about 4:35, J's phone rang. He answered and said, "Hello.... Hello??" but the connection was bad, so he hung up and proceeded to turn off his phone. A few minutes before 5:00 p.m., right before he was going to leave for work... J checked email. "BIG NEWS" the subject line said. Apparently, the social worker had tried to call work only to find out I wasn't there, then called J's phone, only to be hung up on... SO--we frantically called her. And then we were parents. One phone call completely changed our entire lives. No baby. Then, baby. Baby boy. Baby B is a boy.

Saturday, we went to Montclair, NJ, where our agency's NJ office is, to meet with our social worker to go over the referral packet. This is what we looked like in the parking lot prior to going in:


After the meeting we forwarded all of Emmett Adu's info to Dr. Aronson, the 'orphan doctor', to review. This morning... at 1:00 a.m., she emailed back giving her assessment. Today we signed and notarized the placement agreement, and tomorrow we will Express Mail it to WHFC!

It looks like people are waiting between 8 and 10 weeks to travel to Ethiopia. Until then... we still wait... but, in a different way than before.

More later :)
Love,
K