Makin' some lists...

I'm not really sure where to start! The time really seems to be passing quickly as we prepare to travel to Ethiopia, have a family of six and navigate all that the last quarter of the school year entails for our children, Mark and Tessa, and for me as a school administrator. We received our referral three weeks ago today, and accepted a little over two weeks ago. Relatively recently we received the first travel preparation packet from our agency. WOW! It is very detailed and easy to understand, and it guides us through the next steps we need to take while waiting to pass court. Among those steps are travel immunizations, getting Ethiopian visas (not the credit card...the passport stamp ;) ) and making a photo album to send to our girls. Tonight I tracked down the information for the Kendall County Health Department Travel Clinic, and plan to check in with the family doc tomorrow to figure out the course of action with those. We really should get them all in the next two weeks. Jim has done some third world travelling more recently than I, so he may be off the hook for some of them that I will have to get.

I also completed the visa applications tonight, with the exception of a couple lines that I need to verify with our case manager. My efforts were also slightly thwarted when, upon going to the "Important Papers" file, I found Jim's passport, a few other legit important papers....and birth/adoption certificates for Webkinz, Cabbage Patch kids and Build-A-Bears galore, but NOT my passport. I just renewed it recently, so here's hoping I find it in my office tomorrow!

We also have to send a small photo album introducing ourselves to the girls. I've gone into our digital photos, and created a folder for which ones may be good to include. Next Jim will upload the Easter photos so I can add a new family photo as well. Then we'll be able to print, label and send the photographs to our agency in Massachusetts so that they can ship them to Ethiopia. We'll also include the pictures of the girls themselves, as the children enjoy seeing pictures of themselves, but don't typically have the opportunity to do so. We'll also start work on a photo album and a letter to present to the birth family that we'll bring to Ethiopia when we travel.

Then there's those lists that don't always make the travel packet... I might start a weekly post called Trivial Thursdays (A.K.A. Things that are important to me because they are a little more in my control than the rest of this process, but not really in my control and might seem silly compared to the depth and importance of some of this adoption "stuff", but, hey, I'm thinking about 'em anyway so might as well share...) where I dispense my ramblings on room decorations, what to wear in Ethiopia, how to successfully execute Mark and Tessa birthday parties before we travel, names to add to their Ethiopian names and the like. We'll see how tomorrow goes!! Until then, please keep our friends, the Hanson family, in your thoughts this evening, as their court date for their adoption will take place tonight while we are all sleeping. Well, all of us but the Hanson fam, probably!