i love my little boy

my son Gabriel is the most amazing 7 year old i have ever met, and i am not saying that because i am his mom. he is just so concerned with everyone, wants to share and give away any candy, toy, game, make books for S etc....he is just amazing. he loves to read and loves to learn. he reads ALL THE TIME, hes on a 4th grade reading level but just finishing 1st grade...yep, no joke. he amazes me every day....he has taken to learning about other religions and has asked me for my books on buddhism and to look up kids stories about karma....what 7 year old thinks of this? he does puzzles and plays with our dogs all the time...... its odd, he never has been the wild, crazy, running all through the house type boy....hes on the quiet intellectual side but still makes cute jokes, does scouts and likes akido. if i could just clone him a few times i would be in business! Oh and he has started doing his two and three times tables in his head...just nuts....i hope if i ever "hit a wall" with him in any way that i can always remember how i feel right now

TGIF- Happy late st patricks day

Things have been busy around the Perkins-Crowley house...we had a plumbing mishap on Sunday morning. After we got back from UUCC we found it to be raining in the playroom- coming from the ceiling/floor of the upstairs bathroom. Thank god this happened on a Sunday and was only wet for a little over 2 hours.....they are going to be replacing part of the ceiling, fixing dry wall and a hole by the shower. I also need to get my inventory list to the adjuster...our large recliner got soaked as did our rug and our computer speakers sound real fuzzy - not a whole lot of damages, but enough to meet our $500 deductible....so we are doing the claim
I am also in the midst of papers and reading alot...plus a short conference tomorrow for "Closing the Achievment Gap"
ADOPTION NEWS: Still no real news...except some families who were submitted to court around the time we were are getting their court dates...this has happened to us before. We were passed up in January for court dates b/c of paperwork missing, so I half expect it this time. BUT with the whole MOWYCA uproar, phone conferences and court slow down- they are supposed to process all standing court requests with in 10 working days....so maybe in three weeks we will know out court date.
April 8th will be one year since we laid eyes on S
June 16th will be a year since we requested to go to committee for him,,,,,****sigh**** we never thought it would be this long to see him

Health Development Report

Yay! I JUST opened it...so i have to do some wonderful metric conversions and will come back with current stats.....but the comments call him "charming and knows all the nannies by name...smiley"


I also got his newest family book iwe made him. We sent one with a family back in October, but we have no clue if he got it. I begged Pat if we could send another one since our case seems to delayed and she said to send it to HOLT Eugene and they could include it...BUT they still would have to send it to HOLT ET then it would still need to be taken to the Mother Theresa Center
...but the little book is adorable...and we may still send it anyway

Autumn

NOT GONNA DO IT...NOPE NOPE NOPE

I am not obsessing and freaking out about the proposed court slow down...nope nope nope...i sat in with the conference call conducted by our Dept of State and other official-sounding officials :) and right now there are no clear answers as to the proposed slow down. Who it will affect, which MOWYCA letters will be slowed down- if it will really happen. I was even shocked to hear that the Minister of Internatioonal Adoptions was fired...not sure if thats related or if thats a sign that the Ethiopian government is not approving the courts drastic slow down. At this time we are one of about 1,000 cases in the "pipeline"- already in process.
I love how right when we are submitted/ send in anything official the system drastically changes..... last spring we started on this road- it was the Friday before Mothers day to be exact. We sent in our application to HOLT and that Saturday began our home study- only to be put in with the big two-trip change....we finally get our dossier ready in late Sept then got hit by the change that we have to wait for our immigration forms to be in, ...then all gets translated and submitted to court- we get hit with the "new extensive investigation" issue and more documents were requested....we finally get resubmitted to court 3/7/11and then BAM- super big court slow down....geez
But i am staying calm and diverting attention to other things. I have so much to occupy my time with- family, school, work/school, puppies!, dogs, UUCC, the gym, spring break, reading, home improvements.....so much to deal with.
The adoption and S are always on my mind, but we are in a holding pattern- just like we have been with each step of the process. And deep down i think about many other families who are hurting for other reasons....i have no room to be bitter and sad right now. There are families i speak with online and women i know here that are experiencing crisis at such a level that my own heart hurts for them....so i have to be steadfast in my resolve to get S home, and thankful.

SUBMITTED TO COURT!

Wow- i am amazed and surprised to get an email from our agency telling us we have been submitted to court. We were told that the needed documents could "take a few weeks to get"- and now this great surprise. We dont even have alot of details, just that the HOLT ET staff submitted our case yesterday
3/7/11 
I like weird odd numbers so i take this date as a sign of good luck :)

I was just now accepting the "take a few weeks" response from last week....but i guess its been since the first week of Feb for the "few weeks" to really be counted....so we have been patient enough :)

Hoping and praying for a court date soon....however there is now the very real possibility of the courts slowing down- causing more delays. I am hoping for a court date before school ends (May 28)

xoxo

when it rains, it pours....more

We got an ever so encouraging email from our agency staff in ET relaying the message that the b.c. will be received in a "few weeks"...ugh ....well at least they are keeping in contact now. It gets worse...even if we had the needed documents the Ethiopian courts may be stalling down to a very slow crawl...like 5 cases a day, as apposed to the average 40 or so.....actually when i think of 40 cases PER day that they have court, that's crazy.....i totally understand why there needs to be further scrutiny in the process. This is the main reason we choose a waiting child from a care center that is not really even a center that does international adoption- just a treatment and care center ....S had been there 2 years....no one had come back for him, or even relayed to the staff his real name or birth date....hes been abandoned and in long term care.....but its his type of case that is getting the extra scrutiny because of lack of real *relinquishment*.....hes the truest type of orphan, and yet it is taking us longer than anticipated to get him home. I asked HOLT if we would at least be allowed to send him a family book. They stopped that practice last summer when parents began making the first court trip.
John spent all weekend moving the boys' room around...they now have the bigger room. Gabe has a large dresser and S is getting Gabes smaller dresser....we are moving in clothes, since its getting set up. I bought lots of 4T and some 3T, so no worries about things being too small.
I am trying to stay positive and focus on family/work/friends....not obsessing as much about email, blogs and time lines... as of right now I am not the only one who's timeline is blown to hell, so i can't have a solo pity party anyway.
I have been busy this weekend and last with trips to Florida for Gabe's cruise. He has classwork to make up, but not too much. I am really thinking of signing up for our UUCC mountain retreat for next month since court wont be on the agenda.....

down the rabbit hole...

i feel confused , like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole,...a skewed reality. It seems at this point our agency is not really clear on what is being requested by the court, if our abandonment decree was ever obtained and what was missing from our file submitted to court.
We are waiting for answers and are beyond frustrated, confused, annoyed and heartbroken.

We were told several times that S being abandoned and at the Misson of Charity would not delay his case...apparently thats not 100% accurate.... things seems to be a mess.
**We spoke with Pat and Stephanie this week....the Mission of Charity  has the be the one to request all new/updated documentation with the ET givernment b/c they are the ones who have custody of S. That makes since. However, the email that was finally forwarded to me from ET HOLT did mention that the MOC said the b.c. would take "a while". Apparently it has been nearly a month since its request

Some other families, waiting on birth certificates, after the court proceedings have waited up to 2 months...ugh....the pt in my stomach intensifies
OH TO BETTER NEWS: I am going to see my friend Gianna in FL, tonight! I am going to pick up gabe in Jacksonville and she is meeting me....so happy about that