What went down that day

Started out being a normal day. I did a couple massages in the morning and then took J and my niece and nephew down to the lake for swimming lessons. I was planning on helping my mom do some packing out at the farm, all of which has been my typical summer day. Before I headed out to the farm I actually phoned my social worker to give her my mom's phone number, just for the future since I am out there quite frequently packing. We had a good chat and I told her that I thought we were getting closer to being at the top "pile" and was hoping that next batch of referrals we would maybe get our referral. She ended the phone conversation with "talk to you later," and I replied "hopefully sooner than later!" We both laughed and hung up. On with the rest of the day.

Adam needed some help unloading a semi load of fertilizer, and so I did the farm wife thing and started to help him do that. While we were unloading, which is incredibly LOUD, Adam felt his cell phone vibrate, but couldn't get to it in time. He looked at the number and I could tell on his face he was trying to figure out whose number it was. I asked and he said...***-****. "WHAT...***-**** is our social workers number. My heart rate was getting rapid, but thought, well she is probably just going to tell me she lost the piece of paper with my mom's number or something. I went to our truck for some silence and looked at my cell phone which is where is usually is, on the passenger side. 1 missed call. And the number was the same! Certainly she wouldn't try both our cell's, unless is was important! Adam told me to get his attention if it was the call, but otherwise he wanted to keep unloading if it was just a normal call from her.

I called the number. Voice mail. I called again. Voice mail. See my hubby is so practical, he was getting work done as I was calling over and over! Finally I got her on the phone. She said, "I can't believe it, but I just got your referral email." Total shock. "Its for a 3 month old little girl."
I then begin HONKING and HONKING my horn to get Adam's attention. Nothing. The noise of the auger was overpowering my honking. I then begin waving my free arm out the window to try to get his attention. Nada. Nothing. He is making sure the bin doesn't overflow. FINALLY he catches my motions and comes over and gets in the truck. Meanwhile my mom comes flying into the bin yard and tells us our adoption worker is trying to track us down. She could tell by my face that's who I was on the phone with. She drives away to give us some time, and I was literally shaking, and...yes crying. I couldn't believe it. A 3 month old. I was always thinking around 1 year old or so. But such a little baby.

Our SW told us to go check out the paper work and picture and to get back to her. Before hanging up she says "I never imagined I'd be calling you this soon!" Adam got out of the truck to go turn the semi and tractor off he let out a HUGE HOLLER of excitement! Then off to the house! That was the fastest I think I had ever driven between farms!(which is only 1/2 a mile!) We went down to the computer and opened the email with tons of paperwork, and at the bottom we finally saw her face for the first time. She is a doll. We knew right away she was who was suppose to be in our family as our 2nd daughter.

So that's it in a nutshell. We showed my mom her picture, phoned Adam's dad, who passed along the great news to mom. We then called my sister, where J was at for the day. We told Jayden we found out who her baby sister is and her African name in Chaltu. She was excited and passed the news to my sister who immediately got on the phone with excitement! Also gave a few shout out to my other sister and sister&brother in laws. Then had to call my life line friend Sarah, but she wasn't home.....boooo. So I text her to call me ASAP, asap! Within minutes she called and I was able to share the great news.

I called Rana, and she picked up and says "I'm just in our meeting, can I call you back." "Totally, but we got our referral!!!!" "WHAT...no way..I'll call when we are done!!!!! CRAZY" (or something along that lines, I really was in a no focus zone!) She called back later and we were so excited, 1 day apart referrals. Our babies are buddies in the CAFAC home. And if I can just put a plug in for them.....he is sooooooo precious!

Phhewf. That was an emotional day. Like I said in the earlier post we were so caught off guard that we haven't a name picked out yet, but stay tuned...soon and very soon I will post her name. Those who know me well, know I'm not the most organized person in the best of times, so I figure I was off on the DTC(dossier date to country) date by a couple weeks. This is why I was certain we would be in the next batch of referrals. I knew we were getting up there, to the top of the pile, what a nice surprise. Nice surprise....shall I say AMAZING surprise! Funny thing is when I was pregnant the Dr's had my due date for Nov 11, but on Oct 30th they measured her by ultrasound and said..."ohh she is measuring at 11lbs...you need to be induced TODAY!" So we got a early surprise for both our daughters!

Long post I know, but what an awesome day. Calls for a double again!

CHEERS, CHEERS.......

FINALLY.....

This is crazy. I am posting the best of news today.

We received our referral of our baby girl yesterday!!!!!!

Get this.......she is only 3 months old. She is a itty bitty little beauty. Her African name in Chaltu. We were not expecting to get a referral this batch, so we are now just deciding what her Canadian name may be. Or maybe keep it the same.....we are not sure........just totally stoked.

I don't have time to post details, I am off to the city today, and didn't get home from the farm until later last night, but will definitely give more details soon.

Even better news to top that one off, my good pal Rana and Yvan ALSO received their referral the day before us!! Our babies are already friends in the Ethiopia. The are probably roomies at the CAFAC home. This is too cool. They are going to have a neat connection in life that's for sure.

Anyhow, gotta go, but isn't this just amazing. Now you won't have to hear me go on and on and on and on.........about waiting.(for a referral that is....maybe a little talk may come about waiting to travel or something! 6-8 months or so until we would be able to go pick her up.)(I'll explain more later when I have time)

This deserves a double,

Cheers........Cheers!!

Another way to be "Green Friendly"

On the lighter sides of things,

I have a new "tip" on how to become more Green Friendly.

This tip is to save on laundry. I've heard of turning your underwear inside out, if in a pinch. (a real big pinch in my books, but whatev.) Not even knowing it I created a 3rd rotation to get an extra day out of wearing your underwear! Early yesterday (okay early to me, 9am) the door bell rang and I was still not dressed for the day. I threw on some underwear (clean, that is), sweats and a t-shirt and ran to the door trying to look as if I didn't just get out of bed. Went on my day and had a great one at that. Notice it felt like my underwear may have been a little tight on my hips, but didn't give it much thought.

UNTIL I was getting into the bath, undressing myself, I noticed that I had my underwear rotated 90 degree's the wrong way! Or would that be 45 degrees? I would insert a picture, but......well no need for that!

There you have it. A new way to stretch your underwear wearing to 3...yes 3 days if you have to. I certainly hope I don't ever, EVER have to do that.

**Edited- Posted this and noticed on my ticker today is 18 months...... Good thing I posted this lighter sided post BEFORE I noticed it was 18 months. Sheesh.**

Cheers,
**well it was cheery until I saw that stupid ticker.......**

Puppy advice

Okay, first off....awwwwhhhhh.

We are looking into getting a puppy for when we move to the farm. Should be soon. This is a puppy that is in one of the neighbouring towns. It is a cross Rottweiler/Kelpie. Anyone had any interaction with this type of cross? Or with either breed? I know Rotti's can have a bad rep, but have also heard a lot of good things about them if they are trained proper. But seriously, I just can't help but love this little pup...

We have a 5 year old and *will* have an infant/toddler*soon*, and want the best type of dog for kids. We also do have cattle and cats on the farm, so we need a dog that won't chase other animals, other than the obvious harassment of cats vs dogs!

Have at it people...a good farm dog, good with kids, and not overly aggressive. What do you think. If you have other suggestions, bring it on.

*note, I am sending subliminal messages to.......well anyone actually, that we WILL have a infant/toddler.....SOON. Hope it works.....*

**Updated-decided no on the puppy. The one that was left was not the one in this picture, but the sister, and had quite a Kelpie look to her. Cute, but not Rotti look, which is what we fell in love with. Plus found out the mom has hip problems, which can be inherited. Plus it was ready to go now, and we won't be on the farm for a few more weeks, and just can't have my mom do the puppy training!**
Cheers

What I can do....so can you

Many of you have been worried that our agency is the one that has gone bankrupt. It isn't. We are so thankful, but our hearts are so saddened that this has happened to others who are waiting to become parents. Adoption is such a hard process to begin with, and then with this happening....it's just awful. Some one commented to me..."Well, at least these parents haven't actually met their children, it's not like they have actually bonded yet...they are just out money." I didn't even know what to say. Really, not bonded? Read this post, and then tell me you have to meet in order to bond. Or read this post of someone who has been waiting and doesn't have a referral yet. This process is so hard, and to have it taken away like this is devastating. To those of you who are in this nightmare, I am so sorry. I don't even know what to say or do.

What I can do is to ask you who follow my blog is to go to this site and sign this petition. The petition will help the parents bring their children home. OR

I would ask that if you feel you want to help further, you could go to this site and donate to help the caregivers and children who are waiting for their families to come and pick them up. (They have set up an account with paypal and it's really quick and easy.) Any amount would help. Even $5 goes along way for them in Ethiopia.

It's all I can do, other than pray for peace for these families and that God will help them thru this hard time.

Jumping the Gun

**UPDATED--I am now not jumping the gun as we know who our baby is!!!! Yeah. Now some serious input is needed so I can get on the way of decorating.**

I think I'm jumping the gun....ok.....I KNOW I am jumping the gun, and it's probably a recipe for disaster, but I am thinking of how I want to do our daughters nursery. I know, I know, let's get a referral FIRST, then think about that. With our being a broken record, the process is going a lot slower than first thought, so I kinda need something to get me thru this waiting for a referral stage.

We are moving to a new house in about a month and the room that we will be using is a avocado green. I am thinking about accenting in brown and pink. All the walls are this green, which I love. I found this website that has a African tree. I have been googling African themed stuff and came across this. I'm wondering if it's a little over the top for a nursery, but want to try to integrate some of her culture without overdoing it. What do ya think. Honestly. Maybe simpler is better.

Maybe I should just wait until we get our referral to get crazy about nursery design. It's not like we have to travel within weeks once we get our referral, we have plenty of time. But still give me you opinion of the tree.

Cheers,