Thoughts & Happenings

Ethiopia's Blue Nile crashing over the lush forest of the Northwest area. (click to enlarge-- beautiful!)

Daniel and I just sent four letters to friends, and one to his mom requesting reference letters for our dossier and homestudy. They have all been asked to keep quiet about our plans until we tell our children. I am not ready for that at this point. #1- Andrew and Sky will discuss it obsessively, repeatedly, and the wait will be more agonizing on them if they're told this early, and #2- Sorin has trouble making these types of huge adjustments in her mind (she already says we have'enough' children). Sorin said we had enough when it was just her and Liam, and she said it again when we added Sky, and again after Andrew entered the fam. On top of that, she has stated many times that she likes being my only 'daughter' in a family of three boys. Her and I have kind of hung closely together in the sea of men these days! By the same token, I think once it settles in to her mind she will be thrilled to be adding a little girl to our family.

We've been struggling to iron out details regarding Daniel's income statement. He's self-employed and absolutely needs to provide some proof of employment. This is difficult when you are your own boss, and the only employee. His accountant will be drawing up a letter with stated income, and projected income and we hope this will suffice. We've been assigned our adoption coordinator who is going to be working with us throughout the entire adoption process. She's been very helpful so far. Their fees are going up in January, but we luckily made the cutoff date by submitting our application earlier. I thank God for this with all the fundraising we already have to do in the next few months. It really is going to be a mountain to climb over the next few months, and I'm racking my brain to devise new ways to raise money. With Andrew back in public school it's my new job!

Meanwhile, Daniel and I have been dropping strange and funny hints around to the younger kids about a 'sister in Africa'. Months ago I started saying for fun that I had a baby in my belly, and named her Virginia (a joke, of course). When we put all the kids to bed, Daniel and I always said, "Oh, we'd better tuck little Virginia in!" We called her Virginia because our Chihuahua, Boomer, was from Virginia and the name was just floating around out there. Sky has enjoyed it, and it's become a playful joke. Last month when I was saying goodnight to Sky he said "Why can't I have a real baby sister, Mommy?" This was asked after Daniel and I had already decided to adopt again, so I was a bit floored. I said, "Hmmm, I don't know. Would you like that?" He insisted he would, and started begging to have her in my belly. Now, we have been saying "Oh, I think Virginia is waiting for us in Africa. She's not in Mommy's tummy, she's in our hearts and she's calling us." Of course, it's still just playful talk....they have no idea that their sister is really coming home one of these days. Daniel made up a song about her to Andrew and he looked so confused...."Who is this African baby, and why is she in Africa anyway?!" I told him babies come from all over the world, in all different ways. I said "Maybe she's calling to us the way you and Sky did. Maybe God wants to bring her home, too. What do you think?" And Drew just scrunches his face, "Are you for real?" I never say "No" because I don't want to lie....I just smile and start tickling him. They both think we're just playing around, but over time the idea of a sister will gel in their minds. Andrew has asked for a baby since the day he came home....we just have to think of a very special way to reveal the secret to all of them.

I'm off to type more documents today!