Progress Update #7

Things are slowing down on the paperwork front.

Monday after morning swim practice, Jeremy and I ran the paperwork and TB test cards to our pediatrician for her to fill out the very simple forms for us. They were ready to be picked up the next morning!

I also realized that I needed to ask three people -preferably who live in NC so that we will just add them to the pile of things to be certified by the NC Secretary of State- to write glowing letters of recommendation to the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs in Ethiopia.

We had our first visit with out social worker on Wednesday morning. I fell apart right away though because the first thing she asked me was, "What values did you learn from your dad who died in 1998?" BOO HOO!

We were able to give our social worker the remainder of the pile of papers for our homestudy with the exception of our medical reports which we're still working on. William and I both go back to the doctor in the next week or two.

We meet again with another AWAA family on Monday evening for some adoption education.

Swim team was a mess this week between the weather and a "CODE BROWN" in the pool that closed it Monday and Tuesday. Our meet on Tuesday was disrupted by thunder and finished on Wednesday. Thursday night's practice and the team photo were cancelled and postponed.

Jeremy is nailing his dives off of the starting block today and is ready to go for next week!

Progress Update #6

This was another good week to accomplish stuff! (Boring to read about, I imagine!)

Susan went for her physical on Wednesday. She got a tetanus booster, a Hepatitis A vaccination, and a prescription for an oral Typhoid vaccination.

William's employment verification and proof health insurance letters arrived from IBM on Thursday.

On Friday, William had his physical exam.

Next week, we will be joining another family from Chapel Hill to meet with our social worker for the first time!

We're still waiting on passports (9 weeks wait this coming Monday), fingerprinting appointments, and credit reports.

The kids have been sick with high fevers, coughing, and have lost their voices. Annika sounds like Gollum. :-) William was having her say "What has it got in its pocketses?" and "My birthday present," but I liked it when she said, "My precious." Who knew sickness could be fun?

Abbyssina Again!

Monday, we went back for Ethiopian food at Abyssinia with William's parents, Jim & Marty. It was very busy there! The food came much faster than our first visit and was very good.

We had beef and lentil sambusas (fried pies), Kay Wat (beef), Doro Wat (chicken), Yebeg Alicha (lamb), cracked yellow peas, and lentils.

Marissa & Jeremy ate very well! I think the food is growing on them. Jeremy loves Kay Wat, and Marissa ate the injera instead of reusing the same piece for every bite! Annika ate a whole sambusa and then just had a few bites of meat with a fork.

Jim liked the food mostly. He doesn't like spicy food, so the Doro Wat was not a favorite for him, and Marty did not like the injera which is needed to eat the food. I think it is a flavor that grows on you.

Thanks for dinner!

Progress Update #5

Last week we got our I-600A mailed back again. I think that was all we got done while we were sick. I don't remember much of last week.

Swim team is in full force! We have practice twice a day and meets from 5-10 PM on Tuesdays for the next 6 weeks or so. It is intense, but the kids LOVE it and WANT to do it.

Finally, a week in which we accomplished something tangible (in between swim practices)!

• MONDAY-Susan visited the ever exciting local field office of the Social Security Administration to request a replacement card since she misplaced hers somewhere (probably next to her brain -wherever that is!)
• We mailed our requests in for our credit reports.
• TUESDAY -We all took a field trip the CCBI, City County Bureau of Identification, in beautiful downtown Raleigh to get our criminal background reports which say NOTHING.
• WEDNESDAY -All five of us were subjected to tuberculosis screenings at the hands of our county public health official. Jeremy got shaky, so all of our kids got bottles of juice. Other consolation prizes were toothbrushes and stickers. (Susan got an Orlando Bloom "Pirates of the Caribbean" sticker too!)
• William finally finished his autobiography with some surprising revelations!
• We stuffed everything that we have gathered thus far into an envelope and shipped it to our social worker so that she can begin her part of the homestudy! YEAH!
• FRIDAY -We went back to the health department to show them that we did not have TB. (Susan got a Johnny Depp "Pirates" sticker!)
• We received a receipt from USCIS (immigration) with a letter saying that our I-600A application has been accepted!
  

WHEW!

Coming next week -dealing with doctors!

"There is No Me Without You"

William and I have both been reading Melissa Fay Greene's "There is No Me Without You." It is a very interesting book about an Ethiopian woman who after her own grown daughter is lost to AIDS, her heart is opened to the needs of the young children who were without parents, starving, and alone all around her.

Interwoven into this book is an overview of the history of Ethiopia, theories of the progression of the AIDS virus, and why AIDS has reached pandemic proportions in Africa while it is now a chronic condition in the U.S and Europe.

The book ends with heart-warming stories of families and their Ethiopian sons and daughters.

It is an eye-opening book. Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge makes you want to do something.

Let us know if you read it!!

~Susan

P.S. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart because they have nasty restrooms, but they've been the best place to buy books online lately, and I can use my own potty! "There is No Me Without You" at Wal-Mart

Progress Update #4

One step forward, two steps back.

That's what is happening this week. Our I-600A was received by the immigration department on May 25, but we found it returned to our mailbox on June 2. The note says that we didn't answer the questions correctly; however, they were questions that were answered by our agency and the same answers seem to be working for everybody else. So, we have sent an email inquiry to the USCIS to figure this out. I just want them to mark whatever answers will get us our little guy!

I had grand plans for this week -getting the rest of our stuff together for our homestudy, but William and I were both at the doctor this afternoon with our allergies so out of control that we've got sinus infections. Bleh. It is miserable here.