DTE

dossier  \ˈdȯs-ˌyā, ˈdäs-; ˈdȯ-sē-ˌā, ˈdä-\
(n.) a file containing official paperwork on a person or persons

to \tə, tu̇, ˈtü\
(prep.) used as a function word to indicate movement or action

Ethiopia \ˌē-thē-ˈō-pē-ə\
(n.) Officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with an approximate population of 73 million people (2005) in just over 471,000 square miles in Northeast Africa. Bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Solmalia to the east and southeast, Kenya to the sourth, and Sudan to the west. Adis Ababa is the nation's capital and largest city. As of 2006, UNICEF says there are over 4 million orphans living in Ethiopia - of those, over 800,000 were orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS.

On September 7, 2012 our adoption agency Fed Ex'ed our dossier to Ethiopia. Last I checked - and I'm checking every time I pick up my phone- our little pile of paperwork was in transit to Memphis, TN.

Our agency doesn't do an offical waitlist. It makes sense, there are too many different sorts of requests, and their people working in Ethiopia know the kiddos really well and get to have voice in which kiddos get placed with which waiting families, and I'm sure they have lots of other reasons, too, but those are the two that make the most sense to me. Anyway, even though there isn't an official waitlist, there is a group of waiters who share information and keep an un-official waitlist. So, unofficially, we are anywhere from #88 to #15. So, who knows how much longer we'll actually wait, but at least we know that the part we could control is on its way to stand in line for us. Next up, our referral.... at which point we will begin to gladly announce that our baby is cuter than your baby :)

Love,
Jimmy and Celeste

Holidays and Home Studies

Okay, I may have missed a prime opportunity by ignoring Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but let's be honest, none of you actually has all of your holiday shopping finished. Besides, those are like Hallmark holidays and you are all way too smart to be suckered into spending on something so artificial. So, consider this my gift to you: a reminder that people are expecting gifts from you and the malls and other stores are a ZOO, so you should click on our Amazon link on the right and shop from the comfort of home in your pajamas. Really, could life get any better? I didn't think so. Happy shopping.

Storm Watch 2011 ;)

In case you're keeping track of our progress, we had to reschedule one of our home study visits because of the massive winds last week. I was pretty sure that the Santa Ana winds were a suburban legend created by Steve Martin in Father of the Bride (if you're keeping score that was a pop culture reference, but it's over ten years old, so I'm not sure it counts). Turns out that these are crazier than any tornado that I've ever seen. Most of the city was totally fine: however, our tiny lil' part of the world lost electricity and was cluttered with fallen trees. The good news is that we were able to squeeze in the home study this weekend. So, we are 2/3 of the way through the process. We bumped our last meeting back until after New Years. So, all should be pretty quiet on the adoption front between now and then.

If you've managed to get this far, I'm not sure why you haven't clicked away to Amazon, but you should. Go. Click. Shop.

Love,
Jimmy and Celeste

Diving Head-first into Fundraising

We’ve only dabbed our toes into the waters of adoption, and I have found myself stretched and uncomfortable in so many ways. For an introvert who can’t be measured by Myers Briggs, I find this process way too public. We’ve submitted every possible detail of our financial life to strangers on the other side of the country, and we’re waiting for a complete stranger to come visit us to decide if we are fit parents or not. This sort of nakedness in front of strangers feels much more comfortable than the unchartered world of building a fundraising network. I am not a fundraiser. I don’t ask for help. It’s a fault, I know. So, for the baby girl who will be waiting for us on the other side of the world, I swallow my pride.
 

For those of you who don’t know, over the next year or so we will need about $30,000 to finalize our adoption. We’ve saved some, but will need nothing short of a miracle to close the gap between what we have and what we need.  So, despite my hesitations, Jimmy and I have been working on a fundraising plan. Jimmy has been dreaming up ideas for how we can supplement our incomes to bring home Baby Ellie sooner.

Our first step is turning this blog into a source of income. You’ll notice more ads and links to Amazon.com. If you link to Amazon through our site and make a purchase, we will earn a percentage of your purchase. So, if you are a regular Amazon shopper, please link to their site through ours. If not, you really can buy about anything on Amazon, so link through our blog and see what you can find.

Love,

Jimmy and Celeste