Travel Prep Phone Conference

This has been an eventful week. I believe we were submitted to court- either this week or last. We are a bit frustrated that our current agency does not updated about when we were submitted to court, but rather said from this point on the next "update" we get will be for our actual court date. Part of me is kind of excited about the possibility of getting an email any day now to be notified....but realistically we may have just been submitted last week and then from there its a 6 week average, so its not "any day now" just yet. However, we were requested to attend a travel prep phone conference for next week! So that's a good sign.

Another interesting thing happened this week- I attended an interest meeting for a new Science and Math Magnet School. (Middle school). Being a doc student in curriculum/instruction, I was quite interested in this new endeavor. Plus Gabe loves science and robotics- and this school is a big contender for him. Being that he is in 3rd grade right now, we have time; which i am thankful for, since the school will just be opening for the first time this fall. Anyhow, I have been invited to attend/ be part of the curriculum development committee for this new school. I am excited about learning more and helping where i can. I believe there could be relationships built between the SC Science Academy and Sustainable Carolina and USC's College of Education. I would love to research how this STEM core model can also embed multicultural education in the STEM curriculum. So i am pretty excited about that

We haven't gotten pictures since mid October- i am hoping for some soon.

early nesting fever

This will be a busy semester- so much going on. Work (which ends in May because i am a teaching assistant at USC), courses, teaching, children, moving to a new house, selling old house, transition to new house, Ethiopia-court, comps for doctoral program and dissertation proposal for doctoral program. I have an antsy feeling that i need to get so much done right now- especially for K. All these school related and home related projects are things i need and want to get finished before she gets here- its my twisted sense of "nesting"- getting all these huge projects taken care of so when shes here things can be as calm as possible and it will be summer....the boys will be home, i will be home and we can try and find a new normal to our lives.....but for now my head is spinning

The Wait Is On for Court

I was told by my awesome case worker for Wide Horizons that our dossier was confirmed, sent and received in Addis before Christmas and that now we only should expect an update for when we actually get a court date. This is kinda awesome and weird at once. I would like to be informed that we are submitted to court- but i guess that's not part of their process. But she said from the DTE to court has been between 2 and 3 months on average. So lets estimate Dec 20 - DTE so the earliest we will likley have court is late Feb . I hope to have some sort of updates before then about the process (such as the birth family interviews and MOWCYA letters-) but i guess that may not be the case. .....so heres to about 6 weeks of waiting then expecting a big email/call about getting our butts on a plane. In the meantime we must expedite Sams passport- he will be going with us for court!!!
Autumn

Lucky 13

Happy new year all. We spent the eve's festivities at home, laid out sick, watching basketball and foot ball. Well I was actually watching sports, John was in and out of consciousness, as he fought off a 102 fever.- From Facebook:

 Its official- the sickies have been with us for one full week. Sam is better, Gabe is on the mend- but still has a horrible cough. John is the worst off.....we are pretty certain its the flu....i have had a constant low grade fever since Friday Johns has spiked to 102 a few times. Each day it seems the symptoms change....high fever with runny nose, now deep cough with lower fever and sinus pressure...ugh!!!!


Thoughts on 2012:
2012 was so hard because it was a year of growth and growing isnt always easy. Our newest son got repaired feet and can now walk without extreme pain. I made the decision to leave teaching full time in exchange for an awesome job at Sustainable Carolina. I have had more time for my boys. We have chosen to add to our family- and eagerly await more growth in 2013. A new daughter, a new home, a new school for Sam and i will be ABD by the end of 2013
*we did already add a new member, one i failed to mention- Ruby Mae, a super sweet rescue- and although she didn't work out with Meg's awesome clan in NC- we are so happy she is with us. She and my Boston Terrier are the best of friends and are constantly tearing through the yard, chasing and playing.

Sam has spent a great deal of time in PJs as hes battled the flu