#10

Just a small update. I finally gave in to the pressure of my curiosity and joined the chat group for Ethiopia AWAA families. I really resisted for a long time because I have a tendency to become obsessed with things I can't control (i.e. God's timing with this adoption!). So, the more I could distance myself from it, the less I would be consumed by it, and the happier life could be in the Taylor household. But, let's face it, we're coming down the home stretch, and it's been difficult not to think about it every day, sometimes all day long.
So I haven't become completely obsessed, but I can tell you that I found out we are #10 in line for a baby girl! We are hopeful (from what we've been hearing) that a January referral is very possible (oh, Jesus, we pray), and that 6-10 weeks later, we could be traveling to meet our daughter.

Surprise!

Travis and I had one of the best surprises on Saturday evening. No, it wasn't our long awaited referral (that would be the best ever surprise), but something almost as good. I had scheduled a candle party for a friend of ours, Sara, who is married to one of Travis' friends, Jason, for Saturday afternoon. Sara thought it would be fun if she invited the guys to come hang out while the girls did our candle thing, and then enjoy an Italian dinner all together afterward. Well, I had finished up the show and order taking and it was finally time to eat dinner when Sara announced that we were going to play a game first. She requested that we all sit boy-girl-boy-girl and close our eyes and wait. I noticed that I was the only girl in the room at this point, but Sara said she was going to go find them. Well, when we opened our eyes a few moments later, we were shocked to see this in front of us:

The candle party was really a cover for our Surprise Baby Shower! Travis and I were completely overwhelmed by our friends' love and generousity and ability to pull one over on us. We both completely shocked and surprised!

Our Boppy (notice Travis' embarrassed/confused look at the revealing picture on the front of the package...)

My favorite onesie. It reads, "I'm new here."

Bathtime fun with pink rubber duckys

As if planning a surprise party wasn't enough, Sara also crocheted us this beautiful lavender blanket, which matches the baby's room perfectly!

Lots of books for bedtime stories. This one, My Daddy and Me, also has another in its set, My Mommy and Me.

Discussing teething tablets and other mommy tricks of the trade with our friend Terri.

You might be wondering what all those guys did during the shower portion of the evening. They all watched for the first few gifts and then found this...

It was an experience like no other! Thank you all for such a great evening and for such great gifts! We can't wait to share our daughter's life with all of you.

6 months and waiting...

Sunday marked our 6 month anniversary of waiting (this time around). We are now less than one month away from the time when the call could come at any moment (the initial time frame was 7-9 months). Unfortunately, because of court closure in Ethiopia (from Aug-Oct), there's a back up of children in the transitional home. (For those who aren't familiar with the process, a child is moved from the orphanage to a transitional home run by our agency, where they will undergo a 3 week process to make them "referral ready". Once the referral is given, more paperwork and court proceedings have to take place before we can travel to pick up our child(ren). The whole post-referral process typically takes 6-8 weeks. However, in Ethiopia, the courts close from August to October, so even though referrals are given, court proceeding can't occur, which = a backlog of children waiting in the transitional home.)
As of now, most families at the top of the list are at the far end of their wait time (right at or just over 9 months). I'm hoping and praying that things start to move again before the holidays and that we might not have to wait until February for a referral.
In other adoption news, I would appreciate your prayers as we submit our application with Shoahannah's Hope for an adoption grant. This is something I was sure we would never get, but as my Mom said to me, the worst that can happen is that they say no. As always, please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we fervently long to bring our little one home.