Five Days and Counting!

Including today, I leave in five days. I only have five days to get everything ready to go. So much to do! My baby shower is tomorrow; I'm looking forward to seeing some of my very dear friends. I leave first thing Thursday morning and return the following Saturday night, very late. At least I won't have as much luggage coming back--it'll be hard enough carrying and juggling the girls! But what precious bundles they will be. Can't wait! The boys both want to go with me--they keep saying that. I wish we could all go--if only it wasn't such a long trip!

Thinking Of You

Kistet is 15 months old today so she's been in my thoughts. I will be able to hold her in one week--well, if she lets me. It may take a few days before she'll warm up to me. I'm trying to fit everything into every bag I'm allowed to take, but it's a lot of organizing, re-organizing, unpacking, packing, taking things out, adding things, etc., etc. One of my friends is giving me a baby shower on Sunday--so nice. I received a ton of great clothes from another friend so I've been going through bags and bags of clothes from 12 months all the way up to 5 years. These girls are going to be in style. It's amazing what choices girls have in style, colors, combinations that boys absolutely lack. My head is spinning after five years of looking at only boys' things. Such a new world! Their room is starting to fill up nicely. The boys are getting ready, too. I heard James tell someone at the doctor's office the other day all about their sisters who were coming from Ethiopia soon. He'll be starting kindergarten right around the time I return so his mind is more occupied with that excitement. They both finished their two weeks of summer swim lessons and did amazingly well.

We passed!!!

Here are our girls! The first five pictures are Grace Mestawot McCormick, 7 months old. The next five are of Kistet Madeleine McCormick, 14 months old.

Aren't they just gorgeous? I'll be able to hold them in about two weeks! What a great day!

Take A Breath, A Slow Breath

Two days until court date. It's hard to keep my focus on anything, but the non-stop vigil by the computer for several weeks has worn me out. My brain's going 90 miles an hour, but my body is exhausted. We had friends visiting for a couple of days, which was great distraction, but also more exhausting. I'm busier this week with other things and not checking the e-mail so often. I'm not sure if that's any easier--my brain still thinks about those girls whether I'm in front of the computer or not. The boys started their summer swimming lessons today. James had a blast, but Tommy decided he was not going to enjoy it and did not like his teacher so he screamed for me for the last ten minutes. Not exactly distracting or relaxing. Hopefully he'll get used to his teacher soon so the next two weeks isn't more stressful. He's done swimming lessons many times before, but it was the first time I didn't have to swim with him and he was alone with the teacher. It was funny that the teacher put up with him screaming, "Leave me alone!" in her ear for ten minutes. If I was her, I would have dumped him off on his mother and advised her to keep him out of the pool for the next ten years. I guess that's why I'm not a teacher and why I take the boys there for swim lessons. James and Tommy's different reactions to new situations definitely show their individual personalities. Did they really have the same parents?

Book Recommendation

I just read a very interesting book that shows a family's struggle with two adopted children who have various forms of attachment disorder. It's called "What Every Adoptive Parent Needs to Know: Healing Your Child's Wounded Heart" by Kate Cremer-Vogel, MS, LCPC and Dan and Cassie Richards. The parents write this book along with a therapist, who adds her observations. The children were adopted before anyone knew about attachment disorder or how to deal with it. The book does not put blame on anyone; it tells a poignant story, integrating the parents' childhood experiences as well as the childrens' pre-adoption histories to show how they struggle to connect, understand, and heal. The therapist offers useful suggestions on dealing with children with attachment disorder. This is a good resource for adoptive parents and families. I would recommend this along with Melissa Fay Greene's book, "There is No Me Without You". The book is available through mountainridgepublishing.com.

Coping

It's been disappointing to know we'll be sitting around for another two weeks before any news comes in. If they would have just stuck with the original October court date, I would have been happy, but because they tried to move us up and our hopes were raised, if things get moved back after August 6 we'll be devastated. Why did they do that? One of my friends has offered to plan a baby shower before I leave so at least we have that to plan. But I don't know if I should actually get excited about it since everything depends on what happens August 6. It's hard to keep my mind on other things--I just see those girls everywhere. Everyone in our adoption group is down except one family who did pass court this week. With all the bad news, we can't even seem to cheer each other up much these days. We don't even have updates or pictures to look forward to in the meantime. We'll have some company next week so maybe that will help pass the time.

Another Change

Well, our new court date is now August 6, with travel at the end of August or first week of September. Such a letdown. It's the last possible day that the court is open before the rainy season closure. Our agency is pretty positive we will pass that day because there's nothing else to wait on, but I'm not counting on anything. At least airfares may be better by then. Now we have two more weeks of waiting. I'm getting sick on this roller coaster--I never liked them anyway, but this one has too many bumps!

Another Bump in the Road

Well, our court date came and went and we did not get through. The clearance papers came in, but no one could sign them or something like that. I wasn't very clear on what the reason was, but we're still waiting for clarification. There was no news today, which made it even more difficult. None of the waiting families from our agency passed either. Our agency thought we could still make it through this week and then the travel dates would remain the same, but if we hear nothing, how would we know? I'm not sure why we're not getting daily updates from Ethiopia, but there's nothing I can do to prepare until I know we passed court. It's been a very frustrating two days, not knowing if I should start packing to go in two weeks or if things will get moved back...