An Ethiopian Update

There are days when I think we will need to alter our adoption list from toddler boy to teenage boy since it seems we just can't get our act together when it comes to getting our paperwork started. Sigh.

For those of you keeping up, I mentioned working on our referrals last month - turns out I was working on our homestudy application - not the "official" application! Grrrr. I guess on the positive side, at least we know what we need to finish up and work on when it's homestudy time, right?

There is just one thing holding us up right now - our Texas driver's license!!! Now that we are TX residents, we have to submit TX license numbers. It took two days to get mine and now we are just waiting on Harold's. Unfortunately, the DMV is closed on the weekend and lately it seems Harold is only working weekdays!! Grrrr. Grrrr.

Sorry for the lame update - hopefully next month's will be a better one!

In the meantime, I'm loving meeting so many of you and working on your adoption announcements. Thank you for thinking of me - your children are all too precious for words!!

I also found out that there is an Ethiopian art gallery in Atlanta, The Hanatzeb Gallery. I keep visiting their website - hanatzebgallery.com - and staring at this picture. Are these two sweet boys friends or brothers? Do they have a family or is the priest assuring them that their family is on their way? I don't know... just know that it makes me smile and wish we were already in Ethiopia! :)

This Dream Made Possible By Mom.

I don't remember believing in pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, white unicorns or all the other innocent things kids believe and daydream about. I know that I thought about going to college and growing up but I don't remember ever getting carried away in my dreams.

One of the last conversations I had with my mom was about dreams. I had just been offered a chance to work at an advertising agency as the owner's assistant. He was going to teach me all he knew about graphic design and I was just excited to have a full-time job for the summer (especially since I was already thinking of not returning to college in the Fall). I came home after our meeting and told my parents all about it my new position. My parents were excited that I would be working on a computer and even have one at my very own desk. It was 1997 and no one in my family owned a computer.

I kept filling them in on what exactly the agency did and what would be expected of me. My mom then said, "Oh, Laura, you have to work hard and then he might decide to buy you a computer to have here at home!" I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes at her and said, "Mom, he is not going to buy me a computer to bring home." Picking up on my you-are-crazy-tone, my mom then said to me, "Laura, you never know - don't be like that. This is your life, you have to learn to dream big."

Less than three weeks later, both my parents passed away in a car accident. I didn't return to school in the Fall but did go back a couple of years later to get my degree in Graphic Design. And as for that crazy idea my mom had.... well, guess who bought me my very first Mac to use at home? Yup, my boss.

Today is my mom's birthday. I was thinking about that conversation we had years ago as I find myself dreaming my nights away thinking about upcoming homestudys, referral calls, trips to Ethiopia and of course, what those sweet faces will look like. I can't claim that all my actions have made my mom proud but this decision my family and I are making I know will have made her so, so happy.

Happy birthday, Mom, I'm dreaming big for the two of us! xoxo.

Orphan Sunday

It only takes ONE.

Trick-or-Treat!

It's not too late to post Halloween pics as long as your kids are still eating the Halloween candy, right?