Last Week and Today

Over the last week, I had dinner with 3 different groups of people. My U of I speechies, my Carle speechies and my beloved Eileen were all dinner dates at the end of last week. I don't get to see my U of I speechies very often, although I'm not sure why. These were not my classmates, but my supervisors who are great friends. We all have very different things going on in our lives, but I absolutely adore them. Kathy is going through a possible foster-to-adopt situation and has a 3 month old angel at home. We pray every day that this works out for them if it is the right thing for the child.

Thursday night I was supposed to meet friends at a restaurant in town and Ed dropped me off in zero degree weather. I arrived first only to discover the restaurant was closed for renovations. I almost froze to death before deciding on another location. Ed was finally able to meet my two Carle buddies (he already knew Anna) and I think he loves them almost as much as I do. He couldn't get a word in, but who needs to hear from him anyway.

Friday night, Eileen had us over for dinner. It was not only delicious, but one of the most delightful, comfy nights that I remember. Eileen has been a wonderful sounding board for me about adoption, friendships, life. I will miss her tremendously when we move to Houston. She's already promised to visit. Did I mention that she and Edward hit the wine a little hard and I was the calm one of the evening? That's unheard of. After every topic was discussed, she'd say, "How did we get off on that subject?" She reminded me of my mother.

There have been lots of ups and downs along the way of this adoption. The only person who has been involved professionally in the process who has been 100% supportive, realistic, professional, organized and ultimately wonderful is our social worker, Jennifer. She completed our homestudy and, because we are also licensed foster parents, completes 6 month check-ups for that license. She is, in a word, a Godsend. We absolutely love her, feel connected to her, feel as if she hears our concerns and perspective and she's incredibly warm. Honestly, the part that we dread the most about moving to Houston and starting another adoption is not having Jennifer by our side. Case in point, we called her Friday because we were up against a deadline to renew our fingerprints before our CIS approval expires on February 21st. She got us a new appointment for Saturday in Naperville within an hour. How awesome is that!!! I can't think of any other person in our process that could have or would have done that for us. Bless her amazing heart!

Today, we went to a new church. My friend, Jeanne, invited us to attend the contemporary worship service and meet some people. We met FOUR adoptive families, including a friend who I've only known over the phone. Can you imagine going to a small church and meeting four different families who have adopted internationally in a service of less than 200 people. There were probably more. We couldn't catch them all. It was exactly what we needed today.

In adoption news, there is none. Our paperwork still has not been submitted for approval. I'm pretty sure that every other case in Guatemala has been submitted for CA approval. Not us. Actually, no cases from our agency... That would require competency, expediency and a little common sense. Apparently all of these things are in short supply with our "people." I had been doing pretty well. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Instead, yet another obstacle is encountered. That's all I'm gonna say.