I shouldn't really say 4 months. That would be cheating ourselves! We've actually been waiting ONE FULL YEAR now- since we first received application materials from our adoption agency.
It has been quite a year. And remember back when I was so bold as to predict a date for when we would have our baby (let alone babies!)? Ha! I laugh at that and now I know better than to do any date predicting.
But if you've been following this blog, you've seen a lot of the last year already. Here is what we've been doing in our 4th month of waiting since being placed on the wait list for our little boy and girl.
Had a delicious traditional Indonesian meal made by Trixie's mom, visiting from near Jakarta, Indonesia. (Don't tell anyone, but we're pretty sure she smuggled in the delightful spices like saffron and lemongrass on her flight!)
Went to Lucas' work holiday party at Wynkoop.
Friendsgiving (Thanksgiving #1) Lucas and I made Hasselback sweet potatoes with goat cheese and sage butter. This was the first time we had ever done a dinner with friends for the holidays. We had a great time and I'm hoping it's tradition!
Meat-carver Matty and his stout-brined turkey.
Friends.
Thanksgiving #2 Dinner with friends and family at my parents house in Castle Rock. We made a green bean casserole despite the fact that I usually loathe it because everything in it comes from a can and it tastes so processed (*glimpse of food snobbery here. I try not to show it- but it probably comes out more often than I care to admit). So we made one from scratch- and boy, was it good! We also made baked brie with a raspberry almond sauce. Mmm.
Thanksgiving #3 This was in Wellington at Lucas' mom and stepdad's house. This year, Carrie raised her own turkeys from chicks and I'm sorry to say we ate one of those boys. But not too sorry, because he was delicious. AND, did I mention he was 40 pounds? He barely fit in the oven. I made my favorite alternative to stuffing- another recipe from my favorite Alton Brown- a sweet corn bread pudding. It didn't turn out quite as good this year- maybe because I skimped on the herbs and had to refrigerate the batter before putting it in the oven since we were waiting 6.5 hours for Mr Turkey to cook. Oh well.
Jon and one of the turkeys.
This turkey makes the oven look mini- but I assure you it is a regular sized one!
Thanksgiving #4 was a great one as well with all of Rick and Claudia's family. Everything was delicious here too, which surprised me, since it would be my 4th turkey of the week. The puzzle this year was a scene of 36 of the top 1000 Places to See Before You Die. I doubt I will ever get to all of them, but at least I'll get to go to Ethiopia- which I'm not sure is even on the list. But it's on MY list.
Celebrated my beautiful sister Sarah's 28th birthday with a Sunday brunch party, sister margs, and a trip to the much anticipated and newly opened H&M. At her brunch birthday, we got to catch up with a few old friends and meet Moses and his mom Kate. Moses was adopted from Ethiopia about 6 months ago and is about the cutest little guy ever. It is reassuring to know we have some friends that we will soon have many things in common with.
Sari is going to make a wonderful aunt. Happy Birthday!
Got a check-in from the adoption agency, saying everything is moving along nicely in Ethiopia.
Got really excited as our friends Jennifer and Tom left for Ethiopia today to go meet their 2 baby boys! They are using the same adoption agency as us and will likely be at the same orphanage where our kids will come from. I can't help but wonder if our babies are there now, or have been born yet; but hoping that wherever they are they are experiencing love from someone close to them. Really looking forward to catching up with them when they get back.
Now- time to exercise after all that food! And yes, I do mean I will be getting to know Gilad quite well in the next few weeks. Haha! (Hey- it's a free workout! No money for a gym membership around this household)
Yesterday, this NPR story aired and it was obviously very close to my heart.
So, to those of you who have wondered- yes, we know international adoption is controversial. And that fraud exists. And that having an interracial family will be hard. And we aren't trying to be a trendy Brangelina family. We just want to be *a* family.
And no matter how you slice it, there are millions of kids (an estimated 5 million orphans and homeless children in Ethiopia, in fact) who don't have a family that can take care of them. Right now. And can't wait for their country's infrastructure to get better.
We've made it another month on the waiting list, and we’re
almost 1 year into starting the entire adoption process. I got a note from our
adoption agency today, and they said they've put a little tickler system into
the adoption agency in Ethiopia to check up on our application every so often.
It’s good news to know we won’t get forgotten! This is what we've been up to
while we've been waiting:
Was on this Fox 31 News story with a dweeb. Watch the clip.
Cousin Sean visited from South Carolina. We had a great time catching up and hope he gets a job here in CO!
Got to see the changing leaves first in the mountains, then in Denver a week later, and then in DC a few weeks later. That’s triple more fall than usual!
Had our first snow fall of the season.
Went to my work’s annual Conference of Leaders. This year it was in Baltimore, MD. I spoke at one session, and ate some crab cakes on the company dime.
We were surprised by Lucas's sister Jacque, visiting from Pasadena, CA. She didn't tell anyone she was coming to Colorado for her friend's baby shower. We were all excited to see her and got to spend some quality time together at the zoo on a beautiful Denver day.
Surprised by an anonymous person who left money for our adoption on our doorstep.
Celebrated Halloween a little differently with a party where all our foods were the color black. It was fun to be creative with food like black sushi, black lentils, black quinoa, mussles, escargot, black bean hummus and frito pie, seaweed salad, dark chocolate torte, and of course preserved duck eggs.
Black bean frito pie and olive tapenade
Lucas's black sushi made with forbidden rice
Spoke about eating healthy on a budget at the Botanic Gardens for Food Day.
Saw Portishead- one of my all time favorite bands who I never thought I would get to see live. Check off the list!
Presented my poster in DC at the American Public Health Association Conference.
My mom came with me so we could do some sightseeing together. Had a wonderful time!
I'm sure Lucas has a few things to add to this list, since he played a few shows, had some Halloween fun times while I was out of town, and probably a few other things I'm missing.
