Video

It's been a wild couple of weeks, trying to wrap my brain around the idea of being a mom. It's all very exciting. The latest round of paperwork should be on its way to Ethiopia within a few days. Once it's there, the in-country representative of my adoption agency will work to get me a court date. My understanding from the timeline shared by other families is that the court date should be between 2 and 3 months from now. The purpose of the court date is to declare me her legal guardian. After that happens, she'll legally be my daughter and I can post her photo.

I got a video of Semira in the mail yesterday. It's only 2 minutes and 10 seconds long, but it's wonderful! So much more satisfying than the single photo I had of her. I got to hear her little voice, see her smile and yawn, and grab someone's finger. She looks so healthy, and her smile is so cute. I think I've watched it about 50 times since this time yesterday.

Semira has received her first baby gifts. The very first came from my friends Tim and Lisa-- a stuffed Winnie the Pooh. Semira's grandma found an adorable quilt in the shape of a teddy bear at a craft fair. She also has a soft blanket from her Uncle Jeremy and a pair of pink sparkly shoes from her Aunt CP. If CP has anything to do with her wardrobe she'll have fabulous shoes for the rest of her life. It's good that she'll have someone to help guide her fashion sense since I have so little of it myself.

What a great Christmas it's been, knowing what my daughter's name is, what she looks like, and approximately when I'll have her home with me. I think 2009 is going to be a great year.

SEMIRA!

I received the news I'd been waiting to hear yesterday... I have a daughter! Well, I almost have a daughter. I received information about a beautiful little girl named Semira. She's 4 months old and all of her medical tests indicate that she's very healthy. I wish I could post her picture, but I'm not allowed to do that because she's not legally my child yet.

The next step for me is to complete paperwork, then our files are forwarded together to the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Addis Abeba. After that, we're assigned a court date where she'll legally become my daughter. Presuming all goes well with court, the last difficult wait is for an embassy date in Ethiopia. The embassy date is what determines when I travel to get her. I expect these next steps to take between 3 and 5 months.

Exciting!

Thanksgiving

A little bit of news to report. A referral for a baby girl went to a couple about a week ago. They have 2 weeks to make a decision as to whether she is the right child for them. If and when that happens, I'll move up to #1 on the baby girl waiting list. No word yet though.

The Ethiopian government is making a few changes to the adoption process. They're requiring new paperwork for children who have been relinquished. It's meant to safeguard the children and their families, so I think it's good. They're also starting to limit the number of single women who can adopt from Ethiopia each year. The agency I'm with heard rumors of this a few months ago, so they haven't accepted any single women since the end of the summer. I've been given every assurance that those of us in the program now will make it through fine. There are 9 of us and they're allowing 10 single women per year to adopt from my agency. I'm not sure if it's a percentage of their total adoptions, or if each agency gets a specific limit of 10.

I had a really nice visit this week with some friends from Philadelphia. They brought their 6 month old daughter with them, and she tried out my crib and changing table for me.

I'm enjoying my weekend now. We only have 4 more class days left, then a week of finals. Not long now until the end of the semester. Yippee!

Corner

I'm back, after a few weeks' silence. I just didn't have much to say. I've been swamped at work, I've been struggling with some big personal decisions, and I was starting to feel impatient with the wait. But today I feel like I've turned a corner in this mommy-in-waiting period so I've got a few things to say.

I made a very difficult decision over the last month or so to end my relationship with a wonderful man. As great as he is, and as much fun as we've had together, things definitely changed when I told him I was ready to start my family. He's already had the experience of raising a child, and doesn't think he's got it in him to start over with a baby again. To his credit, he's never been anything but honest with me. So I knew what I was doing when I made this decision to adopt a daughter-- I knew we'd eventually go our separate ways. I still think the world of him, but it wasn't the relationship I wanted for my future or that of my daughter. We had our talk on Friday, so I didn't have a terribly festive weekend. But I know I did the right thing for all three of us.

Saturday night I had my first dream where I held my daughter. I felt so good when I woke up and remembered how it felt to have her here with me. The wait has been longer than I expected, but I can wait a while longer. Every time I start to get a bit impatient I remember that family making a difficult decision to plan for their daughter to be adopted. I certainly want them to feel it's the right decision for them and their daughter, so I can be patient. She'll be here when she's supposed to be here.

It's been an emotional week, but I'm hanging in there as best I can.

No adoption news

I really hoped by now I'd have some good news. But nothing yet.

Happily, some other families have been connected with their new kids. At least three families with my adoption agency received and accepted referrals for their children this week. It's been exciting to hear from them. I was getting very excited last week hearing from all of these families. On Friday, I couldn't take it anymore and called Courtney for an update. There has been no movement on the baby girl waiting list.

A little news

After running wild all week, I've finally got a few minutes this afternoon to sit down and give you an update.

First, the adoption-related news. I had an email exchange with Courtney earlier this week. I asked about the agency director's visit to Ethiopia last week. IAN is now officially affiliated with a 3rd orphanage. Yeah! For the kids, this means more opportunities to find a permanent home. For me, this may mean a shorter wait time for my little girl. Not that I'm impatient or anything... Ha! Courtney has promised a more thorough update soon.

The speaker I mentioned in the last post was great. I had no idea what to expect when we scheduled him, but he gave a great presentation. The students really seemed to enjoy it, and so did I. The guy goes by the name of MC Frontalot, and he describes himself as a Nerdcore hip-hop artist. What a funny guy. The next speaker for the year will be in late October. He's from the banking industry and will be talking about current topics of economic interest. That should be quite interesting, given the issues our economy is facing these days.

I had a 2-hr conversation this morning with the book publisher. We went over the reviews of the first chapter and book proposal. Reviews were mixed, as I expected. It's not a big deal-- I'm used to mixed reviews from the student evaluations we have to do every semester. Kids in the same class completely contradict each other. You sort through the opinions, decide what's a reasonable suggestion, and move on. Everyone's got a different philosophy when it comes to teaching this class. The bottom line is that the project is a go! The next phase is a better, more detailed outline of topics to cover in each chapter and an estimate of how many photos, diagrams, and graphs I'd like to include. From there we go to a contract. Neato!

No news yet

I still don't have any adoption news, but thought I'd update the blog with a new post anyway. Sorry if it turns into babble.

Thanks to those of you who have left comments. It's nice to know there are others out there who are going through the same thing or have in the past. Something about comfort in company.

And welcome family members! I finally decided I'd waited long enough to tell my extended family about the adoption. I wanted to do a big "TA-DA!" announcement when I had my referral and photos of my little girl. But I caved in to my own excitement and let everyone know about this new little member of the family today. I probably should have done that a month or two ago, but I think I was waiting until it felt a bit more real to me. Not that I have any reason to doubt that I'll have a little girl home in my arms in a few months... but it just still feels so far away and unreal at this point. Maybe having more support and excitement from the family will help me feel more like a waiting mom and less like this is an abstract exercise.

Meanwhile, life goes on. We're about a third of the way through our semester. I'm getting ready for my 2nd round of tests in the freshman classes. We're about 2 weeks away from Midterms. I get to start talking about volcanoes in my Natural Disasters class next week. My favorite part of the semester. I schedule an unusually long time for that subject, as those of you who know me will understand. I get to sneak in a few of my own photos from Hawaii, Iceland, Ecuador, and Mt. St. Helens, which is fun. Well, it's fun for me anyway.

I'm chair of the Speaker Symposium [Lecture Series] committee at work. Our first speaker is scheduled for Monday, so I'm in 'what did I forget?' mode. I've got the theater reserved, dinner plans and hotel reservations made, a reception planned, a person to pick him up at the airport, and have organized as much publicity as I can handle. It'll be fine, it's just in my nature to get nervous before major events I'm in charge of. Thankfully I've got a great group of hard-working people on the committee so even if I did forget something we'll pull it together just fine.

The acquisitions editor of the book company contacted me today and said she wants to talk to me about the reviews of my prospectus and first chapter. I'm nervous about reading the reviews. I've done those types of reviews for other books and have been a bit hard on some of the authors. Especially when I review first editions. I expect no different from the reviewers of my book. I get to find out how thick my skin is one week from today.

So, that's my life right now. Work, more work, and anxiously awaiting my baby girl!

Welfare call

I got a call from Courtney yesterday. I was hoping it was THE call when I saw the Colorado number pop up on my caller ID. But no such luck. She said she just wanted to check in with me and see how I was handling the wait. IAN isn't used to having a waiting list (and I'm not used to being on one!) so I really appreciate her concern. And being kept in the loop...

Courtney said that IAN's director is traveling to Ethiopia soon. The goal of the trip is to try and affiliate with a third orphanage so they can start placing more children. She said they're hoping that will reduce or eliminate the wait time for referrals, but that nothing is finalized yet.

Movin' up

We have waiting list movement! The #1 family on the waiting list has officially accepted the referral of their baby, so I've moved up from #3 to #2 on the list. I have no idea how long the wait will be from here, but at least there's tangible progress.

In the meantime, I caved in and started to purchase baby equipment. My practical reason for starting on the purchases is to space out my expenditures a bit. Of course, it's exciting and fun to start getting things ready too.

I now have a beautiful crib purchased on eBay. It converts to a toddler bed. I also have a brand spankin' new car seat. I went for one with "infinity slide" shoulder straps that can be used facing forward or back, for 5lb to 50lb kids.

I figured those are things I'll need whether the baby is 1.5 months or 1.5 years old. (At this point, anywhere in that age spectrum is a possibility.) Once we find out the age of this little tyke, I'll start asking those of you with small kids lots of questions about what I should be purchasing for that age and beyond. My buddy Matt has already made me aware of the importance of diaper pails and baby washcloths. Message received.

It's been a busy few weeks since I checked in last time. I've been sick for nearly 3 weeks now. I think the original bronchitis is finally starting to go away, but now my allergies have flared up with a vengeance. I can't catch a break! School started last week, so I'm busy getting used to my fall teaching schedule. We started labs with the freshmen this week, so we're officially now in full swing.

I'm also working with Pearson/Prentice Hall [publishers] and am writing a freshman-level historical geology textbook for them. The acquisitions editor said she really liked my first chapter and is looking forward to reading more. The prospectus, table of contents, and first chapter go out to about 50 reviewers next week if all goes well.

Visa Cable 37

Another small step forward... We (the adoption agency and I) received confirmation today that the US Embassy in Addis Ababa has received my paperwork. Evidently it's sent in a document called a Visa cable 37. The importance of this step is that my paperwork stating that I am allowed to bring one orphaned child, aged 0-18 months, of either gender, out of Ethiopia and into the United States is in place. I can't travel to pick up my child without it being received at the embassy. Another crucial step successfully taken. Yippee!

Still #3

I received this information in an email from Courtney today:

"Yes, you are still #3 on the wait list. However, we expect movement in the next 3-4 weeks. We received a referral of a baby girl and are waiting on her medical. Once we have that we can make a referral to #1 on the list. They have two weeks to officially accept the referral. After that there would be official movement."

Dossier arrives

Got confirmation today that my dossier has arrived in Ethiopia. No word on any movement on the waiting list.

Touched base in Germany

Another update today from IAN. Courtney is so fantastic. She let me know that my dossier has now left Germany. I guess that was on the route to Ethiopia. Most excellent! It's all progress...

Documents away!

Another piece of good news today... my dossier returned to the agency following authentication in Washington DC and was sent to Ethiopia today!

Approved!

I got a big shock in the mail today. My I-171H form! For those of you who aren't familiar with the I-171H, it's approval from our government for me to bring an orphan into the country. It's one of the essential documents I need to complete the adoption and bring my child home. I was really shocked to see it because they estimated the processing time between 2 and 3 months. From application to approval was 33 days. Yippee for the Dallas CIS office!

Once again, I'm completely shocked by how quickly and smoothly everything has gone thus far.

Little News

I don't have a lot of news, just didn't want people to think I'd abandoned this little project.

I got email on Friday telling me that my dossier has been sent to Washington DC for authentication, and they're hoping it will be back this week. Immediately after it returns from Washington, it'll be rerouted to Ethiopia. There, it'll be translated and forwarded to the Ministry for Women's Affairs, which handles adoptions and child welfare in the country.

I'm told those two events will take about 3 weeks so we're definitely missing the deadline for court closure. I'm not sure, but I think that happens next week. I'm frankly quite amazed that everything has gone as quickly as it has, so I don't feel awful about having to wait for the courts. I'm hoping that I'll be close to the top of the pile when courts open back up again in October though.

Dossier update

I just got a call from Courtney at IAN. I overlooked the fact that they spelled my name wrong on one of my documents. Ugh! Hopefully it'll be a quick process to get that document replaced.

She also had really good news for me. Since that was the only problem with my dossier, I've secured my spot on the waiting list! I'm currently #3! She had no idea how long it'll take to get my referral for my child, but I can't imagine it'll take very long. So exciting!

Of course the excitement of the referral will be tempered by frustration that I won't be able to pick up my baby in Africa until late in the year. The courts in Ethiopia will be closed soon, certainly before my paperwork makes its way through Authentication in Washington DC and translation in country. And they don't open again until October 1.

Meanwhile, I'm working on other preparations. I've been in communication with a doctor who specializes in international adoptees. He said he'll be available to look over the baby's medical information when it comes in. From that, he'll give me an assessment as to whether the baby is at low, medium, or high risk for major problems.

I also got some shots yesterday. I never imagined how many vaccines would be recommended by the travel clinic. Since I hate hospitals and hate being sick I decided to go for the whole recommended suite. No bad effects at all other than sore arms.

I also made my first visit to Babies R Us yesterday. Wow, that's an overwhelming place. Lots of choices for all major equipment though, which is nice. I looked at all of the typical baby must-haves... cribs, high chairs, car seats, bedding, etc. I got a little antsy to buy some stuff, but decided to hold off until I know more about my baby.

Paperwork done!

I reached another milestone yesterday. I completed the last of my paperwork! I gathered the final document on Thursday evening, then went to Austin to have the documents certified at the Texas Secretary of State's office. That was an incredibly smooth process, which was a wonderful surprise. I sent off all of the paperwork to the adoption agency, and hopefully they'll have it Monday.

So... now the wait begins. Fortunately, IAN (International Adoption Net), as a small agency, doesn't have a huge waiting list. I hope to know who my child is by the end of this month!

I have to thank all of the people who have helped me so far. Steve, Carol, Tim, Lisa, Kate, Denise, John, and Melinda have all played an important part in helping me get to this point. Thank you!

The adventure begins

I'M ADOPTING A BABY!!! Wow. The power of that statement is overwhelming. I'm excited, scared, and somewhat anxious. Being a parent is an awesome responsibility and I hope I'll be good at it.

Paper pregnancy. The paper chase. Home study. Prospective Adoptive Parent. Dossier. I-600A. I-171H. All words and phrases I was unfamiliar with several months ago. Now they're part of my mental vocabulary every day.

After considering adoption for about 3 years, I made the big decision earlier this year to start the journey to motherhood. I'm single. That certainly complicates things a bit. But I'm also intelligent, resourceful, adventurous, financially stable, and surrounded by supportive friends. And I had great parents as role models. It feels like the right time to do this.

I'm adopting through International Adoption Net, a small agency based in Colorado. I've decided to adopt an infant (between 0 and 12 months old) from Ethiopia. I've left the gender up to the agency. That somehow makes it even more exciting.

At this stage, I'm working on putting my dossier together. The dossier is a set of legal documents that represents me with the Ethiopian government. It consists of my completed home study (all about me), financial statements, insurance coverage information, health statements, and a criminal background check... all notarized and certified, then sent to Ethiopia for translation. This is definitely not the most exciting stage of the adoption. But it makes me feel like I'm in control of some part of the process, and I'm proceeding pretty quickly through my dossier checklist from the adoption agency.

I've also got paperwork filed with the US Government. My I-600A (application to bring an orphan into the country) was filed almost 2 weeks ago, and tomorrow I get to go have my fingerprints taken at the Fort Worth office of the Dept of Homeland Security. Every appointment like this brings me one step closer to mommyhood!

I'm new to this blogging thing, but I'll do my best to keep you all updated on the process.