Sometimes when I start to get discouraged I get just the thing I need to lift my spirits. 

Monday's are always somewhat tough to get back into the grind of things.  Tommy's been very busy with football AND he's helping coach an arena team in Knoxville which has kept him out of town several days in a row.  I've got so much to do at work and we were short one person so I knew we'd be really busy.  But to my complete surprise I found an email from the director of my adoption agency in my inbox!!

It basically said to get ready, there is a baby girl who might be available soon.  She doesn't have much information on her but expects to receive it within the next 30 days, if not sooner.  I am so excited I could barely contain myself!!

So despite the fact that we were SUPER busy today, things were more than hectic.  My computer had some issues, my printer froze up, I had to constantly run to the back hallway printer and I wrote a renters policy at 5:15pm with my son on my lap, nothing could wipe the smile off my face!!

Seriously, we just passed the $20,000 mark!!  I feel like it's the Price is Right and all these lights and buzzers just went off! :)

In other adoption news...there is no news.  The time period right now is the dreaded "while you wait" time that I read about in the beginning.  It is a bit less stressful than having to gather all the paperwork, but none the less, we've been trying to keep busy.

The adoption process doesn't just stop once the paperwork is submitted, a few months ago we received a box from the adoption agency and now that we are waiting it's time to work on our continued education.  And they don't joke around about this.

We received books, magazines, children's books, articles and a coloring book.  The books are about the transition, about biracial families, attachment to your child and even how to do african american hair.  (Thank goodness I have my sister-in-laws!)

We have to read several chapters from several articles and books and answer questions.  The completed worksheets have to be submitted to the adoption agency just like a normal document needed.

We've already learned so much, but they will be a great resource to access once she comes home too!



Did you know...

Ethiopia is located on the eastern side of Africa, known as "The Horn" of Africa.  The capital city of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa and is the most populous city in the country. 

The country is a land of natural contrasts, with waterfalls and volcanic hot springs. Ethiopia has some of Africa's highest mountains as well as some of the world's lowest points below sea level. The largest cave in Africa is located in Ethiopia at Sof Omar.  Ethiopia has one of the largest number of rivers in the world while the country's northernmost area at Dallol, Afar is the hottest place year-round anywhere on Earth.

Currently, Ethiopia is the top coffee and honey-producing country in Africa, and home to the largest livestock population in Africa.



The main sports in Ethiopia are athletics and football (soccer). Ethiopian athletes have won many Olympic gold medals in track and field, particularly distance running.

Ethiopia was the fastest-growing non-oil-dependent African economy in the years 2007 and 2008.  In spite of fast growth in recent years, GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world, and the economy faces a number of serious structural problems

In mid 2011, two consecutive missed rainy seasons precipitated the worst drought in East Africa seen in 60 years. Full recovery from the drought's effects are not expected until 2012. 

In Ethiopia, a child's last name is typically the father's first name. There is also a tradition, however, of giving an abandoned child the name of the town where they were found as their last name.

According to the head of the World Bank's Global HIV/AIDS Program, Ethiopia has only 1 medical doctor per 100,000 people.  Ethiopia's main health problems are said to be communicable diseases caused by poor sanitation and malnutrition. These problems are exacerbated by the shortage of trained manpower and health facilities.

1 in 4 women die during childbirth or pregnancy.  4 million children are orphaned, nearly 1 million by AIDS alone.  Only 18% of children reach the 5th grade, if they attend school. 

Kidnapping young girls has long been part of the marriage custom in Ethiopia. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where most of the country’s 71 million people live.

We're a pretty big football family if you didn't know.  My husband played on the 1992 championship team at Alabama and went on to play two years in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Sometimes when he's gone I just put football on as background noise, it's soothing to me! ha ha

I ran acrossed this video while reading a few articles on adoption and thought with the recent Super Bowl this video was quite fitting.  I always thought Tony Dungy was such an outstanding guy!

Super Bowl Winning Coach Tony Dungy Halftime Video for AdoptionJourney.org from Adoption Journey on Vimeo.

I was just saying yesterday how I was suprised that we hadn't gotten anything back from immigration for when we went to Nashville and got fingerprinted.  I went home for lunch and it was in my mailbox!

So it's officially, official...we aren't criminals and are approved to adopt an orphan!  WHEW

I found out that it takes about a week for our paperwork to be translated into Amharic, which is the native language of Ethiopia.   Once our paperwork is translated it is matched up with the official documents with all the seals and it will sit in the adoption agencies office in Ethiopia until a child is available.

And now we just wait....and wait....and pray.  At first I thought to myself "I can't wait until a child becomes avaiable" which is the selfish side of me.  But then I thought of the sacrifice that a mother is going to have to make to better the life of her child by giving her up and I can't imagine the turmoil she must be feeling when faced with that reality.  So instead, I choose to pray for our daughter's biological mother - that if/when she is faced with the situation that she must selflessly give her child a better life that she finds some peace in knowing that her daughter will be SO loved.