Wow....

Going to visit Lulu-B. In Africa. Lot of work to pack for Africa. Half our luggage is medicine, I think. If I stayed up, i would be on Ethiopian time. Crazy, half a world away.

I am going to try and post in Africa, but I dont know if it will work. I may have to write the posts and then transfer them over to publish. Internet access is spotty and Mitchel and I will be sharing a computer. I may not get much time on it!

Alice delivered a quilt for Lulu tonight. Wow. She is so very, very, very kind. She finished it today and brought it to us. It is amazing to have new friends. I feel very lucky. We havent made many friends as parents, but that is changing this year. What a gift.

The quilt has owls. And it isnt pink. I think of Leahy. I think of wise old owl and I think of that apartment around the corner from our Guerrero Apartment a million years ago, with all the owls. They are still there, the last time I walked by with Bi-rite Ice cream.

Speaking of gifts, we called in the favors....Ed and Eileen stepped in the lurch so we could go to the Nueva benefit last night - (wild & fun) and Killian & Sean picked Mr. Schmee up at 10 took him to the park, brought him to Beth and Stasha's who proceeded to let him play Wi for several hours, then the Godmonsters brought Mr. Man home with Takeout....from Osha. Life is amazing when your friends help. And Paul and Cathy came by and brought beautiful baby clothes from Cha...gifts everywhere.

I hope I packed the right things.

Past time to sleep. we are leaving at 4 or 5 am.

We are coming to see you , dear Lulu.

Photos for Lulu-B

We passed.

Yesterday, we passed court in Ethiopia. Our daughter is legally ours, according to the Ethiopian Government. We found out today, in an email, and I called Mitchel to tell him; he could almost not speak. We happen to be going to visit, as I think she needs us, but now we are awaiting Embassy approval for a departure or pick up date. Hopefully sometime this summer.

My heart hurts today, just a bit, for the families I started this journey with. The families from the lovely Kyrgyzstan adoption group, still a group of people that I miss. Their council, their wise words and calm tones. They were a kind group and a small group. Families just before us had referrals, some with passed court dates, I think, but 65 families and children caught in limbo. A family, a child, connected but not together.

It is not rational; I know one terrifying element of this is the randomness of it all, but I feel as if Lulu-B took us from Kyrgyzstan to Ethiopia, trying very hard to come home.

Monday, now, fingers crossed, we go to visit her. And hopefully, sometime this summer she will come home. To have her not come home with us this trip, to let her stay when she is ours, I don't know how we will do that and survive, but to not go see her and give her some love is impossible. So we go. I am excited, nervous, thrilled, worried and so happy she is joining our family. Lulu-B, Lulu-B....here we come!


Our Timeline to Lulu-B:

Decided to Adopt Again: Jan 28, 08
Switched to Ethiopia, Feb, 09?
Dossier to Agency July 2, 09
Dossier Registered in Ethiopia, Aug 21, 09
Referral, Feb 1, 2010
Court: March 25, 2010 PASSED
Received news of court, March 26

Still Waiting.....

Africa and other things

The boys are sleeping and I cant sleep....there are things all over the house, and insanity in the air. The to do list is longer than I thought:

Buy dog food,
Get $20 bills all after the year 2000.
A long skirt.
Hat.
Shoe:E needs second pair of shoes, as he just out grew everything.....
Vaccinations
Find the list and find out what I forgot.
Embassy registration


It is like a treasure hunt. Special money, special treats, special med's, And the list goes on and on and on....

(We are going to Africa. Just to visit and see her.)

Today, some big bids came back on the house we are in contract on and our agent got the brunt of my mommy anger...sorry to say....that, and the lame dude flirting on his break with another Costco employee on his break at the prescription counter. I finally said to him, could you try a little harder here? We are buying a house today and going to Africa on Monday...I'd like to fill all the prescriptions and I don't have a lot of time to waste. The malaria meds sealed the deal, I think, he stepped up, although I still have to go back. i just couldn't wait.

(Africa. Dubai then Africa. buddy passes. Takes two and a half days to get there.)

I had just picked Eli up from school, talked to three friends about school choices, less than relaxing to say the least (for those of you not from the California Bay Area or NYC.....this is the week SF tells you if you got into school. YOU? No your child, but you are basically powerless, or have to make some impossible choice. Is my 5 year old going to be a self starter? Does he need freedom or structure? Should he be fluent in Spanish, but never see a microscope? Public schools are on a lottery. You spend weeks in the fall visiting schools, pick out your favorites and you sign up. Zachary didn't get into any of his choices. The other route is private and most people get wait-listed. An icky week we experienced last year. We feel lucky, Eli is at Nueva school, which although lacking language immersion, is a fantastic school, with amazing hands on science and a good fit for Eli. Categorizing & sorting Lichen and Mushrooms in Pre-K. Eli is happy, we are happy, but it is hard to see my friends going though it and strange to be so stressed out the same week.

the house. How to even think of it. I spent 2 or 3 hours writing up all the bids and hopefully it will save us some money or hassles. Doubt it. Just made poor Eli feel ignored.



Printed a list of things to do and I hadnt even got down a third of the page. AKK.

(Ethiopia, her land. I cant wait to see her. STOP Dont get to bring her home. STOP But it will be the first time our family is together. STOP Part of her story. part of Eli's.)


Send it down the line.

Checking boxes

So many things going on....

We have been frantically house hunting, trying to find a house to move to. We just barely sold our house at the end of last year to a friend and we were excited and sad to sell. It is a dreamy house in the Mission in San Francisco, but just on the other side of gentrification....the kind of place your mother doesn't really like to visit. And now that we are parents and expecting another, it didn't feel like the best place to raise our kids.

So, this week, we checked a box.

We signed on a house, down on the peninsula, in the 'burbs, south of the city. Moving out of San Francisco after 21 years is a bit intense for me. I love the city, but 21 years of no summer gets a bit wearing. I remember, one year we went to Oregon for Dave's wedding...it was warm, it was summer. That was about 20 years ago. But weather aside, I always imagined raising my child and now, hopefully children, in the city. Such a different life than I had, but still a wonderful rich experience.

We rented 25 minutes south of SF for the summer, a house with a pool. It was so sweet and so much fun to swim everyday, and my dear husband, Mitchel, wanted to stay. Eli loves his school, it is amazing. I hope it is a good fit until he goes to high school. The people we have meet through Nueva already are feeling like a community, people we will raise our kids with. I hope this is true.

Next box, the adoption.

Today, we got our court date!

It is set for a week from Thursday, March 25 in Ethiopia. This is the date our (hopefully) daughter-to-be's paper work goes to court. It is there that it is decided (if her paperwork is in order and our paperwork is in order) if she legally can becomes a member of our family. Then we wait for our embassy date and we GO GET HER.

For our agency, Embassy appointments are the 2nd and 4th Monday of every month. There is now a minimum of 8 weeks between passing court and the Embassy appointment. So, if we pass court on March 25, that puts us in late May early June.

Election day in Ethiopia is May 23, the week we might expect our Embassy appointment. i doubt we will travel then, so probably June. If we are lucky.

holding my breath. Of course, I have gigs for the second Monday in June. Great.

but we HAVE A COURT DATE.

excited. She is coming home. oh boy.....