Good ways to spend your time when you're waiting to bring home your daughter.

You can have friends over to carve pumpkins, and you can drink cider and eat too many cookies with sweet almond icing:






You can murderously stab your innocent pumpkin: :)

You can hang out with cute doggies named Ozzie:

You can carve a little pumpkin that strongly favors your husband:

You can do a little silly dancing:

You will have the best time. But you still may find you have one thing on your mind:

(Thanks to Christina for the pictures!!)

Some things.

1. FIVE days til court! If you are a pray-er, pray for favor.

2. My baby shower is this Sunday! I'm so excited.

3. Even better, my best friend Roxana is coming in from Boston on Friday. I can't wait to see her.

4. Yesterday I went to a sample sale looking for baby things. Let's just say I had fun there.

About the little one.

I haven't yet shared any of the sweet updates we get on Baby R. Here a few tidbits:

At 8 months:

"R. is dreamy! She is cuter in person than pictures can show and has a personality to match! She is doing very well developmentally and only needs to complete these skills on her chart, by the end of the 8th month: object if you take a toy away, clap hands or wave bye bye, walk holding on to furniture and stand alone momentarily. R. obviously has the energy and desire to develop and grow, and will continue to flourish over the coming months!"

Did you catch that? She's "dreamy." *sigh* And if she's cuter in person than she is in pictures, I don't know if we'll be able to handle all the excessive cuteness.


At nine months:

R. "loves to sleep, and makes the most of every nap, and is quite groggy when she wakes up. When she does wake up, she spends her time playing with toys in her bed, and when outside, developing her balance. She hasn't quite been able to stand alone, but can for a split second. After such trying tests, R. just wants to be held. She has two bottom teeth that are coming in nicely, and a full head of hair that is almost always held up with hair ties!"

Sounds like we have a sleeper! Yay. And seriously, this child has some hair. I think I'll be french braiding her hair when she's one. ;)

It approacheth.

So, our court date is in one week, four days.

*shiver of anticipation*


Please pray for favor in the courts. And pray for me. I'm a bit keyed-up about the whole thing. I'm officially having trouble sleeping, and I feel a bit paralyzed during the day. That being said, we continue to give thanks that we even *have* a court date; we know we are really, really blessed.




I am just so ready to be a mom.

Tagged: 7 Random things.

I was tagged by Lori and Shasta. Hi, girls!







Here are seven random facts about me:

1. After college, I had a chance to visit a school and an orphanage in Haiti. I actually went twice in two years. Among other things, our team brought several hundred pounds of art supplies and spent several days holding art classes at the school and orphanage. Definitely a highlight of my entire life, and something I would very much like to do again. Maybe this time in Ethiopia. (Hi Kate!)

2. I also interned with an urban ministry right after college. I lived in the 'hood. I loved it. I set up an after-school art program in an old storefront owned by the ministry. It had floor to ceiling windows: an art teacher's dream. The mice that pooped on the art tables every night were NOT such a dream, however. I pretty much got over any and all fear of mice and rats during that period. One time during this period, when I was driving in my 'hood at 3 in the afternoon, a big man standing in his front yard started yelling and waving a semi-automatic handgun at me, while walking toward my car. That was special.

3. Like I said before, mice don't scare me, cockroaches are gross but don't scare me, but moths totally freak me out. It's all that erratic flapping. I hate it.

4. Michael and I are the exact same Myers-Brigg personality type: INFP. It seems to be working out okay. :)

5. I don't like relationship dramas on TV. I'm not very girly in that way. I like thrillers and legal dramas.

6. I am involved in an embarrassing love affair with Taco Bueno.

7. I was homeschooled for five years. It was fantastic. I loved it. And look! I'm relatively normal and everything! I'm well-socialized. Yes, I am.

I am venturing outside the Ethio. adoption community with my tags: I tag Liz, Christina, Kellsey, Lindsay, and Annie Kate. You can answer in the comments if you want.


Hope everyone has a great week. Love, love.

Happy 10th, Baby R.

Our little one is ten months old today.

We miss her even though we've never met.

Hopefully soon, little baby, hopefully really soon. Maybe we'll be celebrating your first year with you in person.


*****

I know some of you have tagged me, and I have about 4 other things I want to blog about, but I'm not so much in the mood today. Plus I just bought this Method Almond wood floor cleaner, and I'm anxious to try it out. :) Be back soon!

Good, good, good, good, good, news!

I am thrilled and totally shocked to announce:





WE HAVE A COURT DATE.





November 3rd.


Yes, you read that right. November 3rd.





*sings the doxology*

Update.

1. The courts are open! The courts are open! We don't know exactly what this means for us, but, the courts are open! We are excited for friends like the Fournet family and the Winter family, who will FINALLY have their court dates soon.

2. We finally ordered a crib! Yay! It's a cherry Jenny Lind.

3. This makes me cry with joy. Please pray for this family. Read this for background.

4. Last week, we received pictures and videos galore of our little one. Thank you, Meredith and Grace! The videos have officially been watched 903 times, and counting.

5. Speaking of the little one: she continues to gain weight with every update we receive. We are SO thankful.

Hope all of my adoption buddies have a good week.