Crazy Awe, Zany Meds & Nesting...

What a week already. I can't believe it's only Tuesday.... There is so much going on here.

For some reason I'm still dazed, as if I'm dreaming. After the great referral news from another mom on the phone yesterday, I keep having to pinch myself, wondering if it can be true. She submitted their dossier to the same agency just 6 weeks ago, and received their referral of a beautiful 6 month old baby boy yesterday. Does this mean we'll have ours in 5-6 weeks? We don't know. A family in front of them waited just 5 weeks, but prior to them it has gone as long as ten and twelve weeks. However we look at it, Amelie is getting closer and closer to her forever family and it's very exciting. We even received a letter from USCIS stating that our I600 has been forwarded to the Embassy in Addis Ababa, and they gave us our case number.

On another note entirely, Andrew started ADHD medication over the weekend. We saw very minimal improvements, so we increased it early this morning. After an hour of observing him, he still doesn't appear to be having much response, either positive or negative. Anyone taking that type of stimulant medication surely would have some signs! Maybe the time-release aspect means he needs more than an hour, so we're keeping in touch with the school and hoping to hear some good news about curbed symptoms. The biggest problems with ADHD as a family are the impulsivity and inability to respond to requests in a timely manner. It becomes exhausting correcting him repeatedly, telling him not to do things and having to repeat what he was just told not to do again & again. There is quite literally no "stop sign" in his brain when it comes to point A and point B. This results in so much correcting and scolding that he becomes hopeless about himself, and wonders why he can't "get it" like everyone else. As a family, we become so deeply annoyed with the symptoms that we feel guilty, sorrowful and frustrated. It's a daily struggle, and anyone familiar with ADHD knows what I'm talking about. It's a double edged sword because it's also what makes him so unique, assertive, uninhibited, courageous and creative.

One problem we see is discriminating between when he's being purposefully naughty, and when he's simply impulsive (his brain "running off the road" so to speak). Most of the time it's the latter. His teachers all say that Andrew wants so desperately to do well at school, and that he's probably one of the best intentioned, hardest workers in his class. He always gets an "A" for effort and has a great attitude about learning. We know that if he just had the right medication he could excel in ways that are unimaginable because of how diligent he is. We are crossing our fingers all day...

With the dossier completed and mailed out I have a more freed up schedule and keep finding myself either finishing up old home projects, or starting new ones. Today my dining room will be finished as I paint the new chair rail molding. It really transformed the whole room, and gave us the option of a second color below the railing. The kids love it, and I have a sense of urgency about getting all this done before Amelie gets here. God knows my time will be limited soon!

I may post more later, but for now I have to get to all these projects!