Today marks 4 months of offically waiting for a referral.....

7 months, 1 week, and 1 day since we started the process.....

In 1 week it will have been 1 year since we made the decision to adopt.....

But really, who is counting?

ME!

Here ya go...

Ok, nothing new, but I figured I had better say something!

Here are a few little notes and tidbits to tide you over...

The first families to receive referrals through our agency are returning home from Ethiopia this weekend with the newest members of their families!!!!!

A good friend of mine passed court recently (Congrats Jody!) and should hopefully soon be travelling to Ethiopia to pick up her beautiful daughter! At least I can ooh and ahh over her little tot until the Schmidt tots arrive :)

Also, our agency staff have recently been in Ethiopia and have a blog that has pics of the care center where our children will be, Ethiopian staff, information on the adoption process once in country, and most importantly, some cute kid pics, check it out here: http://holtintl.org/blog/?cat=8

Holt (our agency) also has posted a few video on YouTube as well: http://www.youtube.com/HoltInternational

I don't have anything new that pertains to us....basically, we are waiting "patiently" and hopefully each day brings us closer to weaving our little family!

Mother's Day

First of all, a shout out to my Mommy!!! I hate having to be so far away from you on your day, but know you are in my thoughts and I love you oodles and oodles and bunches of gobs!

As for me, I honestly never gave a thought to Mother's Day this year as it pertained to me. I didn't feel sad to not be a mom and didn't even think about that fact that I am a mother-to-be, so I wasn't expecting any attention from anyone, let alone everyone!

To start with, Brandon and I joined his family at their family beach house for the weekend. When I woke up and stumbled upstairs on Sunday morning, my father-in-law told me that he had a gift for me....the gift was a beautiful silver bracelet and one of the sweetest notes ever letting me know that even thought I am not a mother quite yet, he knows my children are somewhere waiting for me and that I'll be a great mom.....AWWWW!

Then, my sister-in-law gave me a great book with guides to being a mom in the Portland area and a very sweet card.

Finally, my sweet sweet hubby gave me a book for our children called "Happy Adoption Day" and the most adorable little wooden train set!!!!

I am so lucky to have added this family on to my own and our children are even luckier to grow up with such great family!!!

Here are a few pics of my loot :)

I am a horrible blogger...

Man! It sure has been a long time since I've blogged! So, what have I been up to? I'll list a few highlights below...

Wednesday, April 30th - We met up with 4 other Portland area families that are adopting from Ethiopia via our agency. We met at a nice Ethiopian restaurant in north Portland and had a great meal. The owners were so warm and welcoming and offered to have us back as soon as our children come home to celebrate.

Thursday, May 1st - I had all 4 wisdom teeth removed! Seriously, NOT FUN! I had them put me out, but I was still pretty terrified and it was pretty painful.

Friday-Monday, May 2-5th - Ate my own body weight in sorbet and had my husband wait on me hand and foot.....Hmmm......maybe I can find a few more teeth to have removed...

Saturday, May 10th - We attended our first "waiting families" get-together. This an event our agency sponsors where families in all phases of international adoption and in all countries get together and mingle. It offers sort of a support group, if you will, of people who know what it feels like to be waiting what seems like an eternity to bring a child home. The meeting was pretty fun, and we got to see a slide show of a recent visit to Ethiopia by our agency Ethiopia Program Director that included quite a few pics of beautiful little Ethiopian children!!!

Finally, Sunday, Mothers Day - I'll include a separate post about how great this day turned out!