Time off

I took 5 days off for my birthday and some recharge my battery time. The weather here was amazing! I worked in the yard each day, played with the dogs, got together with friends. It was so wonderful.

I went to the iris and peony gardens with Gaea. We explored little roadside stands selling plants and had a nice lunch at a great little place in Woodburn. We hit a quaint little gift shop and I bought our babies a monkey and a giraffe backpack. They are so adorable! This shop had a nice selection of unique clothes and toys for children and adults. I so wanted to buy more things, but since we know NOTHING about who/what or where are children will be....I controlled my shopping urge.

We even got the border up in the children's room. Finally! It looks great. I would take a picture but I took so many pictures at the gardens I broke the camera.

So here are a few of the pictures I was able to salvage of the iris garden. Enjoy.

6 months

Today marks month number 6 that we have been waiting for our referrals. Last Thursday I went and saw our friends who came home with their daughter from Toukol a few weeks ago. She is so beautiful! They were telling me about their trip and showing me pictures. They told me they asked why we were still waiting for our referrals when they were already traveling to pick up their child. They were told since we are open to siblings our file gets "saved" for siblings that fit us since not everyone wants siblings.
If this is true, why hasn't our agency said anything?
To make this more uncertain we were notified that in the city of Addis Abba adoptions for abandoned children have been put on hold. The number of children being abandoned in Addis has risen dramatically and they are worried about unethical adoptions. So here we are still waiting and wondering when.

A Ray of Sunshine

Ok I know I haven't had the best attitude the last month. That is putting it mildly. But thanks to BoBo I had a ray of sunshine. Bo is a tech that works for me at the clinic. Monday when I came into work there was a card and a silver dollar (sand dollar) he found on the beach, on my desk waiting for me. He brought it back to me with this great card, telling me how it is a sign of good luck to find an intact dollar on the beach. A he gave it to me in hope our referrals will come soon. It was and is so sweet. And of course I cried. This little kind gesture just made my week. Thank you Bosef!

Do you ever wonder?

Do you ever wonder if you were to die, who would come to your memorial/wake and what you would be remembered for? I know this is a dark thing to think about, but I had a hard week last week. One of our clients passed away and she was only 52. She had a lot of health problems, but was always happy and quick to joke and laugh. I went to the party to honor her on Sat. night. It was so interesting to see pictures of her before I knew her. It made me start to wonder what will I be remembered for......
A sister, a friend, a daughter, a wife, hopefully a mother, but will my life fill up books of joy like Susan's.
Her passing was really hard for me, because she was so young.
Add to that another week of no referrals and my nephew's baby being born and I was ready to go crawl under the covers for a day.
I'm excited for my nephew and his wife, but also jealous that he is so young and has his family and we are still waiting for ours.
Ok I'll stop whining now. Here is to a better week!