Wetting Down and Captain Groovy's

Last night we had Ben's Wetting Down. This is an old Navy tradition that has changed a lot over the years. Some say it was when an officer got promoted, took his friends out for a drink and then they threw him in the ocean. Others say he took his friends out for a drink and they threw drinks all over the officer so his new gold braid (you get a new one with a promotion) wouldn't stand out shiny against the other braids. In 2008 it means you take your friends out for dinner and drinks, you pay and everyone has a good time. I am glad Ben didn't get thrown in the ocean. I started taking pictures but got caught up in the moment when all the guests arrived. Here are a few I did get.






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Back to Moira

Just a quick note so you don't all think I am sitting here crying still:). I feel much more back to my old self and ready to take on another week. Last week was horrible for lots of reasons but after church I feel refocused and ready to get on with life. No news on the adoption. It will be a slow road I think. Our Dossier is in Ethiopia and we are ready to go on our side. I am off to CA this week to visit my family. I will spend most of my time with my sister Meg, who is due to have her baby any time now. So life is good again.

I Know but...

I know God is in control but......
I know that we all need to gain patience but.....
I know that God has a plan for me but....
I know that I will make a good mom but...
I know that bumps along the road are expected but...

it still breaks my heart to get bad news. I found out today that the adoption of our two boys will be delayed by about 3-4 months in a good scenario and will never happen in a bad scenario. My head is telling me that the reason for this delay is good but heart says ouch. The mother has told the government that she wants to have her children adopted. The government has to approve this and to make sure that she was not coerced into this choice and that she is very sure she will not change her mind. This takes 3-4 months. They might decide after this time that it is not in the best interest for the boys to be adopted but rather that they should wait in the orphanage for the mom to get back on her feet. Therefor we wait another 3-4 months to find out what the verdict is. Please pray with us that God's will is done.

This is where my faith in Jesus is put to the test. Do I really believe He is in control of all this? Yes. Do I understand the last three years of pain? NO WAY!! I know I have grown as a person A LOT but it doesn't stop my tears right now or take away the hurt and frustration. Jesus does give me hope to keep hoping and faith to keep believing but somedays are hard. Today was one of them. My head knows all the facts but my heart...... it just took another blow.

Ethiopia here it comes.

Our Dossier is on its way to Ethiopia. The delay actually saved us $30 so yeah!! They mail them DHL to Addis and if someone else has one going at the same time it is only half price. A good adoption day!!!

Ethiopian New Year

I was so excited to think that our Dossier would be in Ethiopia today at the latest. Then I realized that I had never received an email telling me that it was on its way. I called the agency doing this for us and found out the Ethiopian Embassy in DC had our paper work still and had been closed for two days for Ethiopian New Years. Ethiopia has a different calendar system. As this is a minor set back I decided it wasn't worth a full melt down only a tiny sigh of frustration, a shrug of the shoulders and a quick post on the blog.

Somedays are like that

It is a good thing I am floating high on the completion of the Dossier. Today was one of those days for kid quotes.

During story time one looks at me and after staring says, "Mrs. Leppard, are you pregnant?"

During lunch time a little sweet black boy says, "Mrs. Leppard, you seen Beauty and the Beast?"

"Yes"

"The beast is white like you." Now why couldn't he have said that Beauty was white like me?

I think I am done with insults for the day. I go to the library to renew my books and while I am waiting in line I look at the librarian. She has frizzy gray/blonde hair, completely round glasses with at least a 3 inch diameter(I am not kidding here. The top of them was almost at her hair line and the bottom of them was past her nose) and yellowish brown teeth. I am thinking to myself that this poor old lady needs to be visited by "What Not to Wear". She then asks me to come up and verify some information, one thing being my birthday. She smiles when I say the date and says, "You are younger than me...... (and her I am thinking duh, you are ancient).... by 20 days!!!" arggghhh there is no way I am the same age as this woman. It literally scared me to death. To think that people could see us side by side and we are the same age. Oh my goodness. I need a snap shot of her to keep as motivation to keep running and attempting to tame my mane.


Luckily I am in a good mood and found this all rather hilarious. Off to bed for this old, non pregnant beast:).

Dossier Is DONE!!!

Today I drove 400 miles and visited the VA State Police, the VA Secretary of State and Assistant Stork, but I am done. Assistant Stork is a company that takes your Dossier to Washington DC to complete its journey there and then send it on to Ethiopia. After looking over our Dossier, they said it looks good to go. They think it will be in Ethiopia by Monday the 15th at the latest.

What next?

Well we will wait for
1) a referral for the two boys
2) a court date where we will legally adopt them
3) an Embassy date for us to go Ethiopia and complete the paperwork and bring home our kids.

How long does this take?

No idea:). But after reading other blogs I am thinking anywhere from 2-3 months..... if all goes well. If not a lot longer, but there is nothing else for us to do but wait... and pray!!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I tried to add a music clip to this post as I am so excited I wanted to sing. We have our Police Clearance at last. It is a month to the day from when they received it. The regular time to get this back is 10 working days. I wrote a strongly worded email to THE boss last night and miracles of miracles I get 6 phone calls, count them S-I-X, telling me that my stuff is ready. Monday I will
1. drive 1 1/2 hours to Richmond to pick up my papers from the Police
2. drive across town to get them authenticated from the State of VA
3. drive 2 more hours to D.C. to personally hand our dossier to the agency in charge of processing that. - we have now seen the value of handing papers in in person!!!!
4. drive 4 hours back home
5. go to bed and SLEEP peacefully knowing that I have done all I can in my power to bring my boys home to me.

I have funny substitute stories for you that I promise to write up later. Now I am going to do a happy jig around the room and celebrate that it is Friday.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Ridiculous and Sweetness

Sweetness First
I was asked to be a substitute for two weeks at my school I taught at last year. I was actually there for one week getting the teacher's room ready for her and fitting other people's lesson plans into our schedule. Yesterday was the first day of school and it went well. The coolest part was seeing "Tea Bag Darling" walk into the classroom across the hall. She was as excited to see me as I was to see her. Today on the second day a little boy followed one of my bigger boys into the room. I was pretty sure that he had not been there the day before but he kept telling me he had been there. I thought I really was getting old that I couldn't remember a student form the day before. Then as he walked past me I saw a tag attached to his bag pack. He was actually in Kindergarten. I started to turn him around and push him out the door. He than began to cry saying, "But I want to stay here. I like your room." I finally convinced him to go to his own room. The day ended with lots of hugs and "I love you's" from my new little first grade friends. They are too cute.

Now for the Ridiculous
I came home this afternoon expecting our Police Clearance letter to finally be in the mail. When it wasn't there I called up there. I got some lady who vaguely said that she thought my fingerprints were around and that I should have my stuff in two weeks. I was so mad I started crying so quickly got off the phone. I was writing a letter of rage to the department, when the officer I talked to last week called. He must have heard that it was me on the phone. It turns out that they have LOST our paperwork. He received it and sent it to the next place, but they can't find it. He asked me to fax copies. According to him he will use these faxed copies to get the paperwork done. To be honest if this is not in the mail by Friday, I am going to drive up there on Monday and walk from desk to desk until they FIND the papers and the money they took from me and give me what I need. I think the last time I was ever this frustrated was trying to teach myself Algebra when I was home-schooled for one month.