Finishing Up and Starting New Projects

Home Sweet Home

Wow, I have time and energy to blog today, amazing!

We stayed up last evening compiling and organizing our dossier according to the agency's list. Along the way I noticed we hadn't printed out several documents I prepared weeks ago, but as soon as we printed a few pages the ink ran out- perfect timing! Daniel made a run to the office supply store at 8:00 this morning (as soon as they opened the doors) so we could finish up the printing. After all the kids got to school we rushed out the door for Notaries, baby Cecilia in tow. We sat at the bank for over thirty minutes while the Notary poured through all the documents. She signed so many that she began making mistakes on the date, month, etc. She did lots of crossing out and correcting toward the end because it was simply mind-numbing.

After that, we made our way back to the office supply store to make copies of everything so Daniel can fax it all to our agency today for proof reading. They'll look it over before we go out to Topeka for authentication. We wanted to get our passport photos completed at that store, but the camera was broken-- more perfect timing! Instead, Daniel will do his without me in Kansas City and I''ll try to get to Walgreens later today. Whatever the case, our dossier will be ready for authentication Thursday morning. It will be mailed to the agency that day and we'll be an official Waiting Family! Letting go of all the paperwork is marvelous and liberating. Feels kind of like the first tri-mester will over at that point.

During the wait for Amelie's referral (5-12 weeks) we have a lot to stay busy with. We'll be getting a corner of our bedroom ready for Amelie's bed, and figuring out storage for her things. After all we've been through with our two adopted boys, our primary concern is attachment, so she'll be sleeping in our room for at least a year. After that, we're considering expanding to our attic for her room. I climbed up there through my closet yesterday and it's quite a long, large space with enough ceiling clearance for a basic room. It already has some wiring up there, too. Daniel's brother is a builder/contractor and we're talking to him about framing it for us. He'd also put in a small, winding staircase for us at the end of the hallway (probably have to do that first for access).

Why add another bedroom when we already have five? Well, in a nutshell, the only other option would be to place Andrew and Sky together and that just IS NOT and option. I have been deluding myself since we started the whole adoption process that they will eventually have harmony to coexist in a reasonable way together. This may be true, but NOT in the same room! I awoke with a light bulb flashing in my head "If Andrew and Sky cannot share the same bathroom cabinets for their toothbrushes, what makes you think they can ever share a whole room, Christine?!" Seriously, Andrew has to keep his toothbrush downstairs with Sorin and Liam's because he gets into Sky's things, gets upset that Sky is responsible enough to own his own dental floss and such. We had to separate their things.

Sky is a sort of organizational freak, is somewhat gentle on toys (for the most part), and needs his space. Andrew is a complete slob (sorry to say that, but he is a scattered ADD typical artist type and doesn't care about organization), and he breaks almost everything he touches. He simply cannot leave other people's posessions alone, especially if he's rooming with them! They roomed together for a short period over a year ago, and it was a disaster....they both lacked sleep, got mad at each other constantly, and are a hazard to one another's safety. It all gives us a headache.

Long term-wise Liam's little downstairs room (with an outside entry) will be a laundry/utility/mud room in 4-5 years, and Sorin's downstairs room will be a simple guest, library and TV room. We'll basically be down to 3 bedrooms when Sorin and Liam move on, so the attic seems the prefect route to go. Daniel's brother is stopping through town to look around the attic, take measurements and tell us what he thinks.

Change, growth.... it seems to be a theme throughout my life. Oh, and we still need to finish up the basement...I'm Queen of Unfinished Projects! Just can't get enough of them. This little girl coming along is going to impact and motivate us in major ways; I think we're in for some amazing things with her here. We can't even begin to imagine what they are right now, but I get the sense it's big and beautiful. Makes me nervous and excited at the same time.