This dog looks familiar!

So the Obama's have a Portuguese Water dog! Of course, we think they are the greatest dogs in the world........then again, we are a little biased since we have Nazare. Yea for Portuguese Water Dogs!!!! I am happy they are finally recognized and people will see what an awesome breed it is. Now maybe people will stop asking me if Naz is a poodle! Of course, I have to include a photo of Naz ( who looks very similar to Bo).

5 months of waiting!

We have officially been on the wait list for 5 months! The time is flying by and I am thankful that it has. When we turned in our dossier last October, I wondered how I was going to wait so long to meet Ava, but now we are at the half way point or closer.

Another little tidbit of info I should share is that we expanded the age range by just a bit. Originally we had requested an infant up to 12 months and now we have expanded that to 18 months. That may not seem huge to people in the non-adoption world, but as I looked at the waiting list, I realized most families request children under the age of one. So what about those babies that may be over one, but still need forever families? My heart breaks for them and we all decided that maybe our Ava would be several months older than we originally planned. It adds a little suspense now...will she be tiny (3-9 months) or a little older? We should find out soon!

Our adoption agency has given out about 16-20 referrals this month and it's exciting to see our name move up the list. I think we are currently #29 overall (some families adopted siblings, so that's why my numbers from last month don't match up with this month). Since we have changed the age range we are #13 for a baby girl, but #5 for a girl up to 18 months. The other 8 families are requesting up to 12 months. I don't want to get too anxious, but if the agency keeps up this pace, we could receive a referral in the next few months.

We talk about Ava everyday and she has already become a part of our family. Her room is starting to look like a nursery......she has a crib, changing table, and dresser. We still need to hang some curtains and put the final touches on it, but my heart races everytime I walk into the room. I think about her......half-way around the world......not knowing about the family in Virginia who can't wait to meet her and love her forever.

She made it!

Yea! We are so excited that Claire made the high school tennis team! It's just one team (no JV or Varsity) and they only take 10 girls, so Claire is excited and relieved that she made it. This has been her goal for the last few years and all of those tennis clinics and lesson paid off. She gets her uniform today, so I'll post a photo of her soon. It's also Olivia's 7th birthday today, so what an exciting week we are having!

4 Months on the Wait List!

This week marks 4 months that we have been on the official waiting list with our adoption agency. To keep my spirits up, I purchased this adorable shirt and necklace. The shirt is made by a friend of mine who has also adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia. It's hard to see in the photo, but the pink material has giraffes on it and then where Ethiopia is located, she put a little pink rhinestone. The necklace was purchased from another friend of mine who has adopted 2 girls from Ethiopia. The photo is blurry, but it says "Born in my heart". Just little reminders that Ava will be home with us soon.

Our agency is really moving with the referrals. They had 17 referrals in January and 11 so far this month. That puts us about #17 for a baby girl and #41 overall. So we are still on track for a referral this summer. We just have to hope and pray that Ethiopia's government continues to process and move the adoptions along. That is the slow down at the moment. We started this whole process last April and I honestly thought we would be traveling to Ethiopia this spring.......but that is not the case. We are now hoping to have her home before Christmas. They are now estimating 9-11 month wait once the dossier is turned in, so next month we will be at the half-way point.

Let it Snow!

The kids have anxiously awaited the First Snow Day of this winter and today was our lucky day! We only have about an inch or two, but it was enough to make them want to put on snow pants, boots, coats and gloves. It is really pretty and if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow. So we celebrated the day by making waffles for breakfast. Everyone stayed in their jammies until noon and we enjoyed our "lazy day". Think we might get at least a delay tomorrow because they are expecting more snow and ice tonight.

Welcome 2009!

Things have been pretty calm as we enter the New Year. It has been very cold (oh, how I miss the warm California weather). The kids keep hoping for a snow day, but so far it hasn't happened. Claire is getting her braces on in two weeks......she is NOT excited about this, but she will thank us when she's older.

Our adoption agency has given out 13 referrals already this month! This is great news and it means we move up the list and get a little bit closer to bringing Ava home. This is the most referrals they have had in one month and I am hoping this trend continues. From what I can tell from the informal list we keep, it looks like we are about 26th in line for an infant girl. But, keep in mind, we are bunched in there with other families adopting infant boys, toddlers and older children, so it make the wait longer. We are still hopeful to receive a referral by late summer.

The big inauguration is next week. So many people (from other states) have asked us if we are planning to go into DC to see it. Although we are only 30 miles from DC, getting there would be a nightmare. All of the major roads into DC are closed that day and the metro waits are expected to be at least 3 hours. They are expecting millions of people and it's just a little too scary for me to imagine all of us wandering around (trying to find food and bathrooms). So, we will be watching it like the rest of the country from our warm family room. The kids are out of school that day which is nice. We actually don't know anyone who is going in to see it. I have to admit, it's kind of cool to be living here when all of this history is taking place. Hope the kids remember it!

Santa is Coming to Town!

Wow, December has been a busy month! Madeline had her 11th birthday on Dec 11th. She has performed with her dance troupe for numerous community events this month which has kept us busy. Olivia is very excited for Santa to come tonight. Her first grade class made gingerbread houses in school and they turned out so cute. Claire is happy to have a 17 day break from school.

As far as the adoption goes, things have slowed down quite a bit with our agency. They only had 3 Ethiopian referrals this month. This is disappointing for us because we are about 30th in line on the infant girl list. At this rate, we don't know if we will have Ava home next Christmas. Our agency is hopeful that the referrals will increase beginning in the new year.

We want to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!