day by day by day by...

Well, despite best efforts (or at least thoughts about making an effort), another month has passed without a post from yours truly. I am not sure how it is possible that times goes both so slowly (i.e. waiting, waiting to achieve each and every step and milestone of the adoption process) and so quickly (i.e. a month goes by before I have even a second to sit down and post on this blog) at the same time....

When we last met, our papers had just been delivered to the US Embassy in Addis. And that's pretty much where we still are. And I will admit that for pretty much the first time in the more than 2 years we've been engaged in our daughter's adoption process, I'm drained. With no disrespect to the US Embassy, I must say that this stage of the process feels like being in a black hole. We simply have no idea of what's happening or when we might expect to hear our fate - i.e. clearance, request for more evidence or referral to Nairobi. In a way, we would welcome any one of these, just to have a better sense of what to expect. Sigh.

"Balancing" out this adoption nothingness, is the chaos of parenthood, work and our planned move. Well, semi-planned anyway. We have some flexibility on dates, which we need, because if we move before we obtain embassy clearance, we will need to redo our homestudy and criminal and child abuse clearances... meaning we could end up being the reason for further delays. We still have some time before we have to worry... but the stress and pressure of trying to coordinate when 50% of the equation is completely out of our control... Ugh!!

So, um, yeah... we're in a bit of a "blah" zone here. I know it will all be over soon, and I really don't have any doubts that it will work out fine - that our daughter will join us soon, that we will all be living in our new apartment, enjoying the Spring, and making plans for the Summer. I just wouldn't mind if this part of the process would go just a little bit faster. Is that so much to ask for?