Last night the sinusitis (heinous sinus infection) hit me like a Mack Truck. Not impressed, I am not impressed. After a day full of watching cartoons (for the kids) and Zach being the best husband ever, I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day. No promises though.

Steak and Shake burger is on the way from the aforementioned best husband ever. I’ve heard those can do major damage on sinus bugs hell bent on making you wish for a sweet, sweet death. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Yep, it’s officially past 11am so I can say we have less than 2 weeks until we are on a plane. That is so exciting. I’ve “met” a few other families who will be traveling with us and I hazard a guess that we’ll get along swimmingly.

It was a beautiful day today. I have pictures of the kiddos outside. It felt so good to get out there and not worry about coats, hats and mittens. I hope it’s just the beginning of a loooong, warm, spring ahead!

I got to go to another girls night tonight. It was so much fun. I can’t tell you how good it feels to do that once in awhile. How nice it is to have a night with smart, hysterical, beautiful women where the conversation is easy and effortless. I think I could become addicted to that!

I booked our tickets today. Spent multiple thousands of dollars on that. For some reason Zach always refers to things that might hurt him, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally; “That made my balls hurt”. Now I can’t say I know exactly what he means, I realize it doubtfully means literally but perhaps once in awhile it does. Anywho, when I told him how much it was, that was his exclamation. I think this was the first time I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Can’t hardly believe it myself. April 2nd we will be boarding a flight right here in good ole’ Moline, Illinois to go pick up our 3rd child. A little boy, 3 years old, cute as a button with a personality (I’m sure) to match. Very awesome.

Seems surreal at this point, to be quite honest. We’ve been waiting for this day for 19 weeks. In some respects it’s gone by so completely fast, but in others it’s been soo, so, so so so long. Thanks for sharing all of that with us!

2 weeks. 2 weeks, can you believe it? Zach popped open his 15-year-old Glenlivet in celebration (thanks Frank and Emily) and I uncorked (ok, who am I kidding, it was already uncorked) a 1-year-old Barefoot Merlot. Sheer class.

On that really, really, good note. We are busy bringing the rest of our furniture upstairs. Did I mention the carpet is down? Sweet arse is all it is.

without Dailah? I was putting Trysten in time-out for a slight indiscretion and Dailah went right up to him, shook her finger at him, “No, TT, ba (bad) TT”. She left that boy in the corner with her hands on her hips and her bottom lipped turned out.

I think he appreciates her very much. Especially since I always know if he has something to do with her distress. The amount at which she is pointing at him and saying, “TT” while wailing shows me just how bad he’s been. Poor kid can’t get away with anything.

Does anyone else often hear music throughout their day? I swear I have theme music for my life all day every day. It changes with my moods, etc. If I see someone I think to be a bad influence, they get the typical “bad guy score” and so on. Today was a good day for theme music. Since we saw our names as Tariku’s parents its been one good song after another. I’m very thankful for that. I’m thinking tomorrow I’ll be singing that little diddy, “Leaving on a jet plane” circa Ben Afleck in that one movie with Liv Tyler.

On that note, I’m watching Dancing with the Stars and Bruno just made a “She banged” reference. That’s just weird.

I can’t say it enough…those are some of the best words in the English language. I know, because I see them. I see them ON TARIKU’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!! Which I received in email form this morning. It was a surprise, as we were just hoping for news on a letter we needed to submit for the BC. Yet God is good, and here it is! It says it, it says we’re his parents. It justifies all the love we’ve been feeling for 19 weeks. It’s the most exciting piece of paper (save for perhaps my marriage certifiate) I’ve ever seen. Best of all, it has the tiniest little picture of that sweet face. Oh I’m in love!

So we will know for sure tomorrow morning when we travel. We are obviously hoping the 27th and that’s when our coordinator will ask for so don’t stop crossing those fingers yet!

Man, this feels good. I didn’t realize how much I was holding back (holding back, you ask, this was holding back?) Until that came in the mail and I knew we weren’t waiting on anything else. Now I can start lists. Lists make it real.

In other good news, Dailah has switched comfort songs. I hestitate to inform you that the ONLY song that could make her stop throwing a fit in the car used to be, “Bringing Sexy Back.” Yes, I realize what that says about me, but you must admit it’s a catchy tune. Anyway, I don’t even know the name of the song she’s switched to but it’s slightly better than JT. 🙂

Today my goal is to be uuber productive in hopes that I won’t keep remembering that the time keeps ticking to travel on the 27th. Our agency said they should know more info today. This is great, except it’s not. Odds are I’ll have the phone duct taped to my ear and check my email every 2 minutes and they won’t call. I’ll end up calling/writing and then MAYBE hear something. Let’s hope today is different. 🙂

Went to two good restaurants with 2 great sets of people over the weekend. It was nice to take my mind off things! So today I’ll try that again. Go to the Y, to Terre’s (don’t want to drive all the way back in to camp just to go to grocery store after naps), grocery store, move more stuff upstairs, cook dinner. Watch THE BACHELOR YIPPEEEE, and then go to bed. Let’s hope this is a success.

I’m thinking of our little guy more than ever today. I had so hoped I’d be in Ethiopia for his birthday. Even though it’s not as celebrated an event over there, it would have been the first significant “holiday” we had spent together. What better “holiday” than one that focuses solely on the blessing of his birth.

I know it was more like a random day they gave him as birthday but it is still so significant to us. He is 3 today. 3ish years ago his amaye and abaye were looking at this little swaddled baby and imagining his future with them. They had made plans and given him a name. Tariku Asamu Abyiu. Today is like a “rebirth” (for me, by the way) in the sense that on this birthday I am thinking of all those things for him. I am thinking of his future (as well as his past) and how lucky I am to be a part.

We’ll have a little celebration in Tariku’s honor when he’s home. But I want to send my birthday hugs to Addis today. When I prayed this morning I asked God to send them on Angels wings to the little boy I miss so intensely.

So yesterday we got a conference call with a few people from our agency. It was a good conversation because, unlike the past, we actually got concrete information about what is going on with our paperwork. It goes a little something like this. Basically something was wrong with our court order. We don’t know what, exactly, but something got lost in translation. In order to have that fixed, we must have a letter of support from the MOWA saying that this is a legitimate adoption, etc. MOWA is understaffed and overbooked, hence our paperwork being in limbo there. Right now we have our agency’s word that they are going to send their representative to MOWA’s office and find out 1) what was wrong with the court order in the first place and 2) what kind of timeline we can expect for the letter of support. In the meantime, they are going to do all the things they have control over so that once we get the letter we’re good to go. As of right now, they are still hopeful that we will travel on March 27th. In order for that to happen we do have to get that letter before next Friday.

So this was such a relief to me. I’ve felt so unsettled because I didn’t feel like I was getting straight answers as to WHAT exactly was going on. The main reason for that is because all communication had been through email which is never as good at phone call with regards to learning and comprehending such intricate information. Plus, I felt like a lot of my questions were being skipped over in email. Needless to say, we *hope* we’ll travel in a week and a half but are not optimistic as I remember very clearly them giving us a possible travel date of every Thursday so far in March. 🙂

Also yesterday the carpet was laid in our master BR, BA and hallway. As well as the guest BR and BA. We have just the great room, toy room and stairs to be laid and WE ARE DONE! We still have to paint the toy room and 2 walls in the kitchen but that’s besides the point. Either way we should be completely finished by Wednesday. Yippeee! It felt sooooo nice sleeping in our own room last night with the kids tucked in downstairs. I can’t even explain it to you.

Already managed to work in a St. Patty’s day parade today. Tonight we are going to an opening of a restaurant in Downtown Davenport that should be a lot of fun. I’ll keep you posted on the food!

Another sleepless night and somehow, I’m a bit more comforted. Had time to calm down after another 4 hours of painting. Got to watch Conan O’Brien for the first time in 5ish years, which is just always a pleasure.

So when I wasn’t sleeping I was thinking about what it means to be both a Jesus-loving life form and a human. All day yesterday I was just mad. Just mad. I was mad at the people in our way, I was mad at God. At just everything. Today I’m a bit better, still have a bit of animosity towards certain things but we’re getting there.

I was reminded by none other than Andy Landers himself (in a song, that is) about what a life in Christ can look like. Sometimes I forgot God has told us it wouldn’t be easy. I think He says something like, and I’m paraphrasing here; “if you live for me you might die for me. This life might suck sometimes and it might suck most of the time but it will be worth it. If you wanted an easy, happy-all-the-time life you should be a Scientologist” (no offense to Scientologists but you people do seem freakishly happy all the time).

So I’m okay. At the end of this, whenever that may be, the result is the same. We get Tariku. What a blessing that is. I can understand why God might continue to test our resolve on this and I am happy to report, though I’m certainly not perfect, my resolve has never been stronger.

Jody always says, no one adopts by accident. You don’t wake up one morning and found you’ve adopted on a drunken night 2 weeks ago. You don’t decide just once in a 9-month period to adopt. You decide every day. You decide every time you write a check (which is often), you decide every time you sign a piece of paper (which is often) and you decide EVERY TIME someone asks you why you’re adopting (which is also often). So I’ve decided, through all of that and more, that I love adopting. That I would continue to encourage and support anyone and everyone who expressed a desire in it. Because through it all, even though I don’t have Tariku yet, he is so. worth. it.

Here’s a sample of one of my favorites off Andy’s new CD (buy it here).

I stand here before you with all that I am
I’m reminded of all that You are.
Your mercy runs towards me and whispers my name
And Grace comes alive in my Heart

It defies comprehension that you would atone
So grateful that you would persist
You have retrieved me and called me your own
There’s nothing more magnificent than this