Portrait in Pumpkin

2008 was a good Halloween - warm weather, lots of pumpkins and best of all, very social (let's just say the grown-ups had their own treats).

Below are photos of the Jackson Jack-o-Lantern Gang '08 (click on the pictures to see them bigger). "Evil Tree Creature" and "Goblin Breaking Out," both by Randy, were the most popular with trick-or-treaters, and in my opinion, represent some of his best work in the "squash arts" arena. "Pumpkin Eating Leg" by Ethan was my personal favorite and added extra excitement to Halloween when the leg and then the pumpkin caught on fire. Our front yard was filled with a smoky haze and the smell of burnt fabric and pumpkin flesh for a while (very Halloween-y)! The alien pumpkin was not actually a pumpkin, although it was growing in the patch along side the normal pumpkins. My neighbor Colleen identified it as a blue hubbard squash. It had a nice, ghastly greenish-gray warty skin, perfect for Halloween, but it was hard to carve! I had to use a butcher knife.
Melissa and Erik also carved some very impressive pumpkins with us this year, which they put on their porch steps. Unfortunately by Halloween night, "Fangs" and "Owl" could've been renamed "Face Completely Eaten by Squirrel" and "Most of Face Eaten by Squirrel." (Evil, jack-o-lantern face-eating squirrels that come out once a year on Halloween).

Court date!

Today we were assigned a court date of December 16th. The court date is the next step in the process, where our case is heard by a judge. (We are not actually in Ethiopia for this step). Hopefully we'll sail through, although some cases don't get decided the first time for various reasons -- sometimes the judge may not hear all of the cases scheduled that day; sometimes the judge requests additional information; and sometimes a needed piece of documentation is not issued in time and the case needs to be rescheduled. I would love to say that I'm going to be the epitome of patience and understanding if we don't make it through court, but the truth is I will completely FLIP OUT. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

Back to positive, happy thinking... Once we get through court we will be issued a birth certificate for Baby and then, finally, get a travel date. I am still hopeful that we will travel in January if we make it through court on the 16th. Our peanut will be 7 months by then!

Soccer, Injera and Pumpkins

If you misread the title as "Soccer Injuries and Pumpkins," well, that's understandable, given my ungraceful ways and tendency to hurt myself. Actually, injera is Ethiopian bread. (More on that in a bit...)

We are still waiting to hear about a court date in Ethiopia for Baby. Meanwhile, we are gathering a few items to send to the care center in Addis Ababa, including a baby blanket and pictures of our faces, which will be taped up in her crib.

We had an enjoyable family weekend that included the annual trek to the pumpkin patch, where we found some good-looking specimens for our upcoming favorite celebration. After we chose our pumpkins the kids and I gave the corn maze a try. It was difficult enough that after 15 minutes Gracie and I had to cheat and crash through the rows to find our way out, and Abby and Ethan backtracked and came out the entrance. Thankfully no one had to go to the bathroom while we were lost among the cobs.

That night we took the kids to Fasika, arguably the best Ethiopian restaurant in the area. They had sampled Ethiopian food just once before, and not much of it. At Fasika we ordered two kinds of wot (stew), which we ate in traditional Ethiopian manner: without utensils. Instead of forks or spoons, you use injera, a soft, spongy pancake-like bread. Injera is made in large circles and the stews are spooned on top in small mounds. To eat, pieces of the injera are torn off and used to scoop up the food. Injera has a slightly tangy flavor and a light and airy texture. It is made from a grain called teff, a staple in Ethiopia. Ethan and Abby liked their food quite a bit. (And for The Boy, eating without utensils is always a bonus). Gracie was a good sport and gave it a try, but she wasn't a big fan.

Other weekend highlights included a double-header for Randy and me in our coed adult soccer league. This is the league where we compete against teams made up of college-age athletes who routinely make mincemeat of us old folks. For this reason our 2-2 tie felt like a World Cup victory. Go Muscle Strains! (And yes, that is actually our team name).

Fred showed us his true hound dog colors when he caught a bunny in the backyard. Just when you start to feel like your beloved canine family member is one step away from being able to actually have a conversation with you, you look out the window and see him having his fill of a raw bunny. Yuck.

A Few More Details About the Referral

Here are a few more details about our adoption (a very few details, because we don't know much right now):

• What happens now that we've accepted the referral?
  Our dossier has been sent to Ethiopia where it is prepared and submitted to court for processing. You might hear us refer to this step as "getting through court."
• When will we travel?
  At this time our guess (and it is a guess) is January 2009.
• What did the kids say when we told them?
  Abby was thrilled that our referral was for a 3-month-old baby girl. She was hoping for a young one!
  Ethan was initially a little defeated at the idea of another little sister. I said, "Remember, it will be years before she's a real girl (read: a seven-year-old dictator who constantly bickers with him and tattles on him. Someone, shall we say, with blond hair?) He is great with babies and loves little kids. When he imagined having a baby sister again he was enthusiastic.
  Gracie expressed excitement about her new sister and promptly asked for a snack. She's happy now, but I don't think she's going to relinquish her spot as the baby in the family very happily when the time comes.

The Party's Over! (the Pity Party, that is)

On Friday, October 3, after over 11 months of waiting, we received a referral for our baby!

She is 3 months old and, in our humble opinion, beautiful! We are so excited to share her photo, but we need to wait until a few more steps in the adoption process are completed. Until then I'll just say big brown eyes and a darling, expressive little face.

The call
I was at work when the call came from our social worker, just before 4pm. I didn't recognize the phone number but assumed it was Ethan making his usual "can you pick me up so I don't have to take the activity bus" call from a friend's cell phone. It didn't even cross my mind that it might be Children's Home Society. It was late on a Friday afternoon, so I had given up hope of a referral for the week and emptied my head of all adoption-related thoughts (and most other types of thoughts, too). When I realized it was The Call, my hands started shaking and I could hardly speak a sentence. After our social worker read through the report, she asked me if I had any questions. I just said, "No, no... I can't even think straight. I'm just stupid right now." (Stupid in a good way).

While I was on the phone with our social worker I one-finger typed an e-mail to Randy ("i'm on phon w angie we have referral!") Strangely, he didn't respond to this articulate message. I suspected that he may have just keeled over on the spot, or possibly he was on all fours hyperventilating. I dialed him with my shaky fingers as soon as I hung up with our social worker. He sounded normal when he answered and began to tell me about e-mail server problems. I interrupted. "I just e-mailed you that we got a referral!" That's when he started hyperventilating (well, mentally at least).

We both left work early and met at home to look over our baby's referral paperwork, and see a picture of her for the first time. Seeing her face was both exciting and surreal. (It still is).

The rest of that evening was filled with merriment and joy, as Randy and I danced to the music in our hearts.


And if our joy that evening had a bit of a "deer-in-the headlights" feel to it? That's to be expected, right?

Welcome to my Pity Party

Incredibly, STILL no word on referrals. Now normally, I am the picture of laid-backed-ness (or sleepiness, which looks like laid-backed-ness - and yes, of course it's an actual word). Today, however, I am feeling like this:
(complete with my oft-used rolling pin)

I remember at the beginning of September, Abby overheard me saying to a friend, "Well, I had hoped to be home with our baby before my birthday, but I guess I'll have to settle for a referral before I turn 40." She asked, "What if we don't get a referral by then?" At the time that notion seemed preposterous! I said, "If we're still waiting for a referral by October I'll chew my own head off!"

Start chewing.

Reflections on turning 40

"If you're 40, I must be really old." (A shocking realization from Dad)

"Turning 40 wasn't bad, but then it just keeps going up: 41, 42..." (A reflection from Maryanna. This makes sense to me. Now that I've reached 40 shouldn't I be done getting older?)

"You're turning half-eighty." (Fightin' words from Matt, my nemesis)

"Forty is the new 30." I'll take that. I'll even take, "Forty is the new 39."