Feelin' Hopeful...

Okay, so this week has been great. I'm not quite sure why, but I've felt this supreme amount of motivation. Not the kind of motivation where you feel like you can just work and work and work. It's like I'm motivated about life. There have been some exciting opportunities in my business that have come up, and some of them may not even come to pass, but I'm still excited about them. Very unusual for me. I usually don't get too excited unless I know for SURE that it's going to happen. Not this time. I've also been hopeful about our adoption. This also includes me lying down in bed the other night and saying to Wes, "I really need a referral soon!"  I know this sounds more desperate than hopeful, but believe me, it's hopeful, because I am not sad or discouraged when I say it.  I'm just excited, and so ready for something to happen.

I spoke with the gal at our agency today, and was asking her some questions about court dates, and then I moved on to the referral wait time topic.  You see, our agency website claims that referrals will come within 30 days of your dossier getting to Ethiopia.  Of course, this has not been the case since we've been with the agency (since March).  There have been so many families waiting for 7,8, 9 months (mainly those waiting for girls).  This is a pretty normal wait for most agencies, but when your website says 30 days, it can get a little frustrating.   Of course, I think there have been major slowdowns across the board with the new 2 visits rule.  But things are starting to pick back up.  So back to my point...I asked her what their new expected wait times were.  She replied with, "Oh things are happening quicker than ever (implying that things are moving just as fast as before if not faster)!"  I laughed and said, "Uh, our dossier went to Ethiopia 2 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days ago!  I don't think that's faster!"  She said, "I knew you were going to say that! (with equal amounts of humor) But things are picking back up now!"  Me: "Well, when are we getting our referral then?!"  (Our agency does not tell us where we are in line, so I knew very well that she was not going to answer...it's still fun to ask, though!)  Her:  "Well, all I can say is that you are in a very good place."  Me:  "Hey my friends and family are asking what that means!   And all I can say is that doesn't mean much until we get our referral!"  We laughed, and even though I had no answers, I felt a sense of hope.  It felt like perhaps something might actually happen soon.  Who knows, but it's good to feel this right now.  I can't predict what tomorrow or next week will bring as far as emotions are concerned, but right now life is good.

So, in completely unrelated events, as is very customary for Wes and I, we got a hankerin' for some Outback Steakhouse, and we indulged our hankerins and went.  As usual, it was completely delicious.  I had the 6oz Outback Special like I always do, along with a house salad with mustard vinagrette (no crutons or cucumbers please!), and fresh steamed veggies (Outback is the only place I get this because their veggies ROCK!).  Wes likes to get crazy and order something different every time.  He got a cheeseburger today.  So not exciting, but whatev'.... ;)

After that we went over to Marshall's just to browse around for a few minutes.  We got over to the baby clothes and started browsing more intentionally.  We looked only at the boys clothes because let's face it, it's very likely that we will get a boy.  We found two outfits.  Wes was pushing for the woodsman winter vest outfit, but I couldn't get over this adorable Carter's outfit (I seem to love all things Carter's).  

And if you have done any shopping with me (rather browsing), you'll know that I don't like cheesy boys outfits that have some weird picture of a modern day cartoon character, or onesies with lame sayings on them like, "I'm spoiled rotten," or "Born to shop."  Although this onesie kind of cracks me up:

  I can almost hear Justin Timberlake's falcetto voice singing..."I'm bringing chubby ba-ack!"

So yeah, we ended up with my choice this time, and I just think it is so cute.  Can't wait to put it on our little pea.  Yeah, maybe I'll start calling him Baby Pea....just trying it on.  We'll see.

Well, signing off for the night.  I love our blog community.  Have I mentioned that lately?  I truly love all of you who write and share all your experiences with the rest of the world.  Wow....It truly does fill my heart.  Good night.