Planning Some Fun

Well, the end of this week has been particularly crappy and I've been a bit depressed about adoption stuff. Then, we made some plans to do something fun next weekend. It made me feel a lot better to have something FUN to look forward to and plan on. For the past couple months we've been planning on being able to bring Yosef home in late September or early October so we haven't planned much for the fall thinking we'll be in baby mode. Well, since it's clear that's not going to happen until like November or even December I'm needing some plans to keep me distracted and looking forward to something fun instead of sitting around here pouting.
I whipped out the calendar and started putting fun things on there and I'm feeling much better. For my fellow adopting friends maybe this will help you too. I'll still think about Yosef all the time, but now I'll be doing something fun also. We will never again be a family of three after he comes home, so we can enjoy this time. We also have several birthdays in our family in October and November.
Here's some things I've put on our calendar:
September 18- We're going to Medieval Times restaurant and show and stay a night in a hotel.
Week of September 25- One night we'll do a date night with a gift certificate we've had laying around here to Outback.
October 4-6- Is a board meeting in Lynchburg we'll go to and on the way home last year we went apple and pumpking picking. Then, I canned a bunch of applesauce and apple pie filing.
October 9- We'll go to Busch Gardens to Howl O' Scream. We have season's passes that expire on the 15th, so this will be our last time going on our passes.
October 19- Elijah's birthday, I might do a party the weekend of the 15th/16th
October 23- Steve's birthday- we'll do a small party and cake for him. Or maybe I'll plan something fun especially for him.
October 31- Trunk or Treat at church
November 4th is my birthday

By then, MAYBE we'll be able to start thinking about bringing Yosef home and Thanksgiving is soon too. We also have a lot going on with camp which will keep us busy.

Here's my list of other TO DO's before baby to keep me busy at home:

• Freeze some more dinners for easy post baby meals
• Make a few loaves of bread and breakfast breads to freeze
• Can applesauce/apple pie filling
• Reorganize some furniture in the baby room
• I'll probably reorganize the baby clothes and put some of the smaller sizes away.
• Buy Christmas gifts and all those birthdays too
• We're starting our small group up again soon.
• We're starting a weekly game night with some friends.
• I guess I've still gotta clean and such.
• I've got some pictures of Yosef printed, I've got to make a gift for his birthmother and maybe for the nannies too and an album for me too.

I'm sure I'll still have some "bad days" where I just want to cry and scream for my baby and complain about the embassy. Overall, it feels good to be busy with some FUN things planned.
Maybe it would help you to think about what you can do to have some fun.

AHHHHH!!!

Well, you know how I said adoption is hard. It seems especially hard these days. We've met our son and fallen in love and then had to leave him. It seems unnatural and is very sad. We've now waited 6 weeks and it took them that long to get all the needed paperwork together- adoption decree, translated adoption decree, birth certificate, passport, and medical review. This all had to be sent to the US Embassy.
You see, the Ethiopian government has declared that Yosef is our child and finalized our adoption. This decision is irreversible according the the Ethiopian government. Now, all of this has to be approved by the US Embassy who can give him a visa to enter the US and become a citizen. Their processing times in the past have been 2-3 weeks. Over the past several months the US Embassy has really cracked down and investigates every case down to the minute detail, often meaningless details like spellings of names and pictures of relatives (even dead relatives). They have now told us their investigation could take just a few days to up to a few months.
They do an initial review of paperwork before they even start their real investigation and they didn't even accept our paperwork. They want "more information on the birthfather's status" and want his name on the adoption decree. To get his name on the adoption decree it has to be approved by the judge who wrote the original decree. Now it gets complicated. The court system is closed until the end of September for the "rainy season". So, we now have to wait until the end of the rainy season to get a new adoption decree, which then will take like 2 weeks to get and get translated, then sent back to the embassy. The embassy can then start their investigation which could take just a few days or a couple months. And, we're not the only ones with this problem. On Facebook I met another family who has been waiting two weeks already for the courts to reopen. There are also families who have had their paperwork reviewed up to three times. They will review the paperwork and request more information and call people in for interviews, etc until they are satisfied.
Since getting this news on Thursday I've been a mess!  Since leaving him, it's been the emotionally hardest part of those whole process and now we are going to be in this stage for at least 2 more months. Our friends who were with us in Ethiopia, who met their babies at the same time we did, got their paperwork accepted, but still have investigations to go through.
Let me say, I do want absolute transparency and accuracy with his documents and the information about him to be investigated thoroughly. But, let me also remind you he's already been declared our son and us his parents. No one else can ever adopt him. It still seems like he can be taken from us.
I know the House of Hope staff are incredible, but it's not the love of a mother and a family. I want him home with ME! He needs the love of a mother and a family. This is now going to be delayed for several more months.