Life Is Good...No, It's Marvelous!

We had another GREAT trip to the Chicago area again this year. It was an exact duplicate of our trip last Summer: visiting with my sister in Lombard for a couple of days, then on to the adoption reunion in Schaumburg for the entire weekend. The kids did amazingly well both on the drive there and back home (Daniel and I were ready for some major problems like we had on our last vacation to Colorado). I'm pretty certain the three factors- 1) larger car/mini-van, 2) Sky's deepened and more trusting attachment to family, and 3) the fact that Andrew is now taking ADD medication have helped immensely. We also had a hand-held electronic game for them which is a major treat in our 'non-video game' household. There was no fighting, yelling, tantruming or any unpleasant dramas. We all really enjoyed one another, and I sense an even greater closeness to our kids after the trip. When we walked into our home last night, Sky very sweetly thanked us for taking them on the vacation.

And finally, I can SCREAM WITH GLEE about our court date!!! I haven't had time to post much of anything about it, but Daniel and I are over the moon with excitement. We expected to have to wait longer to receive the date, and we also expected the date to be late July or early August. We just have 2 weeks and 1 day left until she's all ours in every way! We're both stunned by the fact that we'll be in Ethiopia exactly 2 months from now-- that is NO TIME for us. Time flies in this busy house, so I'm feeling a need to get early planning started. I'll be printing out all our packing lists (they're quite elaborate, courtesy of Mama DeZutti!) I will also be starting on house sitter notes and making arrangements for Sorin, Liam and Andrew as they stay here. Sky will fly up to Chicago with us and stay with Aunt Stephanie. It's all kind of surreal right now, like when we first got Amelie's referral. It doesn't feel real yet, and I'm sure that's partly because we were out of town when we got the news. When reality sinks in I'm going to go completely berzerk!