Conversation...

...with the crazy neighbor:

"Well, where isssss this baby?"

"The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa."

"Who HAADDD this baby?"

"You mean who birthed him....a woman in Ethiopia."

"How old is she?"

"Ummm....in her early thirties I guess."

"Well, I want to know why you didn't use the Boys and Girls Society like our neighbor the lawyer? They have a vvverrryy nice boy."

"You mean so and so (I'll leave out names)...because we wanted to adopt internationally."

Insert VERY skeptical look....


It dawned on me a few minutes later after she was gone...I think, she thinks we have some dark, scary secret and people would only adopt internationally if they couldn't adopt domestically.

Some people are very strange, but I am sure she thinks the same about me!!

Eight

Eight days...eight days until we leave on our journey to Ethiopia. According to the old plan we would be meeting our son tomorrow, as far as plan B goes we will be meeting M two weeks from tomorrow. We got some updated pictures yesterday and were just delighted as ever to see the most handsome, healthy, glowing boy and BIG too.

It's amazing that no matter how much time you have, when it gets down to the wire there are always a million little things to do still.

Used stroller, new car seat, borrowed Pack'n'Play



We'll see how it goes with a little boy in our bed...if not we have back up.
I am sure Daniel and M will sleep fine. Little M will probably even add to Daniel's chorus of snoring and active dreaming. I'll be the one sleeping in the crib.



Packing



Piles of little clothes



Still packing


Cupboard of little people things



Our book and toy collection
(Don't worry, i'll be sure to pick up the dangerous screws that are on the ground and the dangerous vitamins that are on the shelf.)

Checking off my list...

Car Seat - Check
Finally purchased today after much researching, looking, (and agonizing). It took Daniel 2.5 minutes to decide between the 3 options I was down to. I just couldn't decide!

Stroller - Check
Happened to check Craigslist today and found a stroller I could walk to, to check it out. I felt a little strange strolling home an empty stroller, but it seemed to work well. I hope it's as easy to push with 21.5 cute little pounds in it. We got updated measurements today and M is 20.4 pounds (I figure he'll gain another pound before we are home this time next month.)

Adding to the count down

We are adding to our count down to travel to Ethiopia. On Tuesday, we were down to nine days until departure to begin our journey to meet M. Today, on Thursday, we are at 21 days. We got an e-mail Tuesday night, stating that our travel group had to be postponed. We were quite shocked and disappointed. Wednesday we were just ready to be given another date to work towards, but it was a little iffy in the morning when we talked to the agency. It looks like, we are just going to be delayed two weeks and that we should just be leaving two weeks later....July 30th. I am not feeling totally confident that we will be traveling then, but that is where is stands now and we were able to change our tickets to the new dates.

So, despite plane tickets, hotel reservations, time arranged off work, house and pet sitters...we have had to reschedule all of that. Having two extra weeks isn't the end of the world, I just need to use them productively so I am more ready when the time does arrive. We can't complain too much, as the group leaving before us, got a call the night before they were scheduled to fly to Ethiopia and were told they wouldn't be able to go. That would be very, very, very upsetting.