Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yes....after much packing and many WalMart and Target runs....we are leaving for our first court visit and some Ethiopia travel.

Stay tuned..

Dawn

Tuesday's Thoughts

YEAH--yesterday we recived the photo of H with her Welcome Bag.  For those of you that don't know, the Welcome Bag is traditionally how kids find out they have a family waiting to bring them home.  I am pretty sure H had some idea she had a waiting family because other traveling moms have taken a couple of picturs of her.  I would imagine that when this happens, kids have a clue that someone is wanting to see them and probablly that someone is thier new family.  Also, in the past, sometimes the orphanage director would tell the kids about thier new family as soon as they knew.  We were told it didn't happen like that anymore, but we can now be assured that H knows she has a family since she has our Welcome Bag in hand.  In case you are wondering....our Welcome Bag included a photo album with pictures of our family and a map pointing out where we live, a t-shirt (of which we all are wearing matching ones in the family photo we sent), a disposable camera where she can take pictures of her friends, a paint your own magnet kit, a small puzzle, crayons and a drawing pad and of course the letter that tells her about us.

I wonder what her reaction really is.  She looks happy in the photo.  She has a beautiful smile. Someone who saw her picture once said that a true smile can't be faked, it is a sign of a beautiful heart.  That's what I really feel too.  I am so anxious to learn WHO she is.  We've seen a little snippit of her personality on video and she seemed a bit shy.  There is something about her that makes me think she might be a little like Hailey.  Seeing her in her t-shirt she apppears to be about the same size as Hailey is (as thier shirts are the same size and fit the same way).  I still want to know who she really is though.  What makes her happy, sad, laugh..what is her favorite color, can she ride a bicycle, is she scared of the dark.

As we're packing to go to meet her, I'm becoming an excited kind of nervous.  Will we click immediately as a family, will there be awkward silence?  Will she be happy to have 2 sisters, will she decide that she would rather not have a new family?  What will I say to her the first time I meet her?  "Hello" at once seems like a good start and at the same time insufficient.  I suppose I'll trust that the right words will come at the right time. 

I've still got tons to do before we leave in 2 days.  Today is my last day of work (a call day) and I'm hoping it will be slow.  So far so good as I'm sitting in the middle of my bed typing this. I plan to get up and get going, shower, get some laundry started and then head into work to do rounds.  Hopefully I'l be able to get back home and do more laundry and start picking up the bedroom and clean the bathroom.  I really want to come home to a clean house when we get back.  It sounds good in theory but not necessarily in practice :)  I also have small group tonite so we'll see what happens. At least the living room and kitchen will be clean tonite.

I'm planning to post a 'what did I pack post' so stay tuned !!!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Ok...so I'm hoping that our adventure to Ethiopia doesn't run too much like that movie "Planes Trains and Automobiles" did.  I suppose in the end everything worked out, but WAAAYYYY too much drama in the middle.

I'm pretty overwhelmed by my lack of  travel preparations.  I have tickets to Ethiopia.  I have an itinerary for a tour in the middle of our trip that I haven't confirmed yet because it just seems a little too expensive.  I think I know where we're staying when we get there, but I've not confirmed a hotel room yet. I know where I want to stay at the end of the trip but haven't heard yet if I can stay there.

Everytime I look at travel information I realize there is something I hadn't considered yet.  On the bright side I do have 24 ridiculously expensive and better be worth it lithiom ion 'AA' batteries to run my sister's asesome camera.  I have also received the replacement chargers for both my camera and Sarah's camera.  Of course the first time I plugged in Sarah's battery charger it overheated but still managed to charge the battery.

A short to do list:

• Call FEMA to help clean my house since it appears a tornado has been through the middle of it--you know your house needs professional help when your kids rooms are the neatest in the whole place
• Figure out what needs to go in my suitcases so I can determine if I need to beg, borrow or steal new ones
• Laundry so I have something clean to put into said suitcases
• Locate all chargers, buy memory cards, etc
• Locate and make copies of all important docuements
• Go to bank for 'crisp new bills' so I can exchange them for Birr (Ethiopia's national currency)
• Book hotel rooms

My schedule over the next 5 days...

• Friday--finish this post, pick up the kids from swim, clean my bedroom/bathroom so I have a packing station--consider moving the packing station to the dining room that isn't too messy right now, start putting things in suitcases, laundry, continue putting things in suitcases, cook 10 pounds of pasta for a swim meet concessions stand tomorrow (yes, in my post call hazeI volunteered), start making a list of stuff I need from target, maybe try to go to target to get said list, continue to recover from severe indigestion secondary to tasty rib dinner on previous night
• Saturday--maybe try to do some more cleaning, go to Reserve Swim meet with the girls and spend all afternoon making lists and sitting and waiting for the girls to spend about 3 minutes each in the pool for thier races
• Sunday--get up too early, spend all day at the Championship meet and come home exhausted, too tired to do anything else except talk about what else needs to be done
• Monday--work in the office all day, probablly with an overbooked schedule.
• Tuesday--another day of call, fight off Satan as he sends me complicated things in the middle of the night keeping me from sleeping
• Wednesday--recover from whatever Satan had planned for my previous call day, finish packing, going to target (I'm betting at least 3 trips)
• Thurday---finish up last minute stuff and LEAVE

I'm planning on having a very exciting post following our trip entitled "What I Forgot to Pack" so stay tuned.  On the bright side, maybe I'll be so tired by the time we leave, I won't need anything to help me sleep on the plane.

Mental Meldtdown

So let me tell you about my day......Yes it's July 2nd. Yes, according to my 'Adoption Timeline' our case was heard in court today. Yes, since the title of this post includes the word 'meltdown' then it is correct to assume that we did NOT pass court today.  My entire day hasn't really been great...  Want to see what lead to the meltdown??

• Woke up--well that was ok, too early for my taste, but expected since today is a work day
• Drove in the after effects of hurricaine Alex (ie rain) all the way to work---normal commute time--not to bad
• 1st patient of the day---a lovely woman---I had to give her bad news--bad #1
• Spent a lot of time trying to get her plan of care situated with my backup doctor and nurses, etc--bad #2
• Recieved news of not passing court---bad #3,4 and 5
• Realized not passing court was because our letter said we were physically fit to parent a child but did not include "mentally fit"--bad #6 and the begnning of the meltdown
• Called my doctor to see if I could get in today for a new letter--told yes...at 130pm...its 1130, I'm backed up in the office with at least half a dozen waiting patients--bad #7
• Called my husband to see if he could go at 130---couldn't---bad #8
• Called my AAI social worker--found out H has STILL NOT recieved her Welcome Bag--bad #9--was rude to our social worker
• Called the doctor then my husband back to schedule HIS appt for next week---bad #10
• Walked out and saw a patient that I did NOT want to see, mainly because she takes a MASSIVE amount of my time in the office (not to mention my emotional energy) and I just didn't have the mental strength to deal with it today--bad #11--meltdown is beginning
• Everyone I"m seeing in the office was due to have thier baby LAST week, but are still pregnant AND I'm on call this weekend bad #12
• Grabbed the other 2 CNMs in the office to explain what was happening--and was told to LEAVE NOW and forget about the office (yes, I'm at the beginning of the meltdown with crying--ok starting to sob), got a great hug--so good #1, 2, 3 and 4 (brings us back down to bad #8)
• Get in car, in the continued reminants of hurricaine Alex rain and phone rings, kids, fighting about who was NOT doing what they were supposed to be doing---bad #8,9,10,11 and 12
• MENTAL MELTDOWN--started sobbing, yelled at the kids, hung up the phone, called husband sobbing, hung up the phone, called my sister sobbing, had my sister call the kids to explain what was happening
• Managed to make it safely to the Dr's office for the new letter

I am doing a bit better now.  I guess I was so hyped up on the fact that everything had been going so well so far.  I know about 40% (or some number like that) doesn't pass court on the first try.  I guess because it is over something so seemingly STUPID, compounded with the bad day, I just lost it.  I think I'd have handeled it better had it been a big issue.

We are so close to meeting Hanna. So close to having her home.  So close to leaving on our trip and I feel like I have NO time or energy left to put into the planning of the trip, which I feel like I'll be doing alone.  Yes, mostly because I dont want to let anyone else have control. Control is my security blanket.

I did call our AAI rep back and apologized for my rudeness and got some questions answered and some questions passed on to someone who can answer them.  It's almost 5 pm here?  Is it too early for a glass of wine?