#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.

Ups and Downs

Well, we've had some ups and downs over the last few weeks. I was very excited to be on vacation last week, and I spent a lot of time getting ready for the baby since our fall is so very hectic and full. I went with a good friend (also a new mom) to register at Babies R Us, I registered for some cloth diapers at comfybummy.com, and we also bought her crib and chest of drawers (or chester drawers, as my husband so affectionately calls them). Plus I scheduled appointments with prospective pediatricians in my area. I was on it.
Our downs? Well, all this planning for the baby really made me want the baby...now. I had a very difficult time returning to work after a week of baby stuff. And part of what makes it so difficult for me is not knowing what kind of time frame we're working with. The thought of having to wait until next March or April really makes me almost deflate. We also found out Ethiopia is raising their country fees, which will affect us by about $4,000.
So what keeps me sane in the midst of all this uncertainty? The fact that our God is sovereign in all things. No matter how difficult it is to see or understand, He is always in control; nothing surprises Him. And in the strangest moments, just when I'm ready to give up, He reminds me of His all-surpassing love for me. That alone is unfathomable. I am humbled that the God of this vast universe takes the time to love me...and you...completely and perfectly. That's what keeps me going. When I look around at the uncertain state of our economy, the upcoming elections, the 4 year old boy in our congregation who's fighting a losing battle to brain cancer, the massive famine in Ethiopia...I have to accept and know God is in total control and does love this world.

Almost There!

We've had some very encouraging news today from America World. The referrals for September have (finally!) been posted.

Ethiopia Referrals
America World Received 7 Referrals ranging from infant to 5 years old in October.
The DTE of the last family who received a boy referral was 02/08/2008
The DTE of the last family who received a girl referral was 12/13/2007
The DTE of the family who received referrals of sibling group 0-5 was 5/9/2008
The DTE of the last family who received a referral of 5 year old female is 7/5/2008
We have now completed boy referrals for all families up to March for boys and up to February for girls
The next DTE for girl referral:2/1/2008 (This is what we're waiting for...an infant girl.)
The next DTE for boy: 3/3/2008

The really exciting news is that our DTE is 5/2/2008. So we only have 3 months of waiting families ahead of us! Now we don't know exactly how many families that is as AWAA can't release that kind of information to us, but I do know it is getting very close! Please pray for us as we continue to get more and more anxious to bring our little girl home, and also for a referral before Christmas!

5 month anniversary

I thought it appropriate that I should mark (and celebrate) our adoption journey milestones on this blog. Thursday, October 2nd marks the 5 month anniversary of the submission of our dossier to Ethiopia. And actually, tomorrow, Oct. 5 would mark the one year anniversary of the submission of our dossier to El Salvador. I very clearly remember thinking when we submitted our dossier (both times) that the months ahead seemed like an eternity, but sitting here now on the other side, the time has actually gone by quickly (isn't that the way life always works?). Many events have happened in our lives, mostly good but a few bad. Here's a year review of the life of the Taylor's, a year we will always remember as the wait for our daughter to come home to us:

October 2007 - Marks the one year annivesary of Travis' employment as Youth Director at our church. To be honest, this was one path God had in store for us that we never saw coming. But I know Travis would agree with me when I say I can't imagine my life without those kids.
November 18, 2007 - We celebrate Travis' 31st birthday.
December 2007 - Last Christmas season was kind of depressing for us both. We had started to get mixed feelings from the El Salvador program, and our home just felt empty. I am sure this Christmas will be much more uplifting as we should so close to knowing and bringing our little girl home.
February 2008 - One of my best friends, Shari, and her husband Ben have their first child, a precious little girl named Savannah. Savannah was a bit small and had to spend 17 days in the NICU, so Travis and I were making several trips a week to St. Francis. I have many fond memories of sitting in Labor and Delivery with Shari while both of our husbands were out of town with the youth, taking Savannah's first pictures in the NICU, spending time with Shari in their hotel "suite" and waiting to visit Savannah every two hours.
April 21, 2008 - We celebrate my 27th birthday...hopefully I will celebrate my next birthday with our daughter!
June 2008 - Travis and I took our youth group on an 11 day mission trip adventure to the Navajo Nation in Arizona/New Mexico. This trip, although completely exhausting, was worth every single second. I'm totally bummed that I will miss next year's trip, but I'm pretty sure I won't be much help with a baby in tow.
July 1, 2008 - Travis and I celebrate our 8 year anniversary.
September 2008 - A lot happened in September. My best friend Anne got engaged (and will be getting married December 27 and moving to Morrocco in January!); our goddaughter, Gabrielle, turned 2; we lost our friend, Charlie May, in a tragic motorcycle accident; we painted the baby's room; our good friends Alex and Amie moved back home from Denver, CO to Indiana.

A Big Step for Me...

So, I debated on whether or not I should even blog about this because I've kept most things like this pretty private, but it seems we go so long without having any real news to post, I thought, what the heck. We took a big step over the weekend and decided to paint our daughter's future nursery. I actually had already purchased her bedding earlier this summer because it was on final sale at Pottery Barn Kids. I got a great deal, and it was fun making the first (of what is sure to many) purchase for her.

Here's a picture of her bedding (although ours is lilac, not pink as shown; PBKids doesn't even show the lilac version b/c it's sold out. Also, I didn't purchase the bumper b/c I think she'll be too big for one anyway):

And after much debating, we decided to paint the whole room one color. Initally, I wanted to do something special with paint, like stripes or something to that effect, but the thought of painting over my hardwork in such a short time period (like when she moves to a big girl bed) made me think we should stick with simple. Here's the paint color we chose (the one on the top left):

So there you have it. Her room is starting to look less like a catch-all storage space and more and more like a real nursery. It gives me great delight to know that this time next year I'll actually have real baby to go with it.