a.b.c.d.e.f.g.H!

No court date but we got a group assignment so we should hear of the date in the next few weeks. We are in Group H! It probably means a date in May. We are still keeping our fingers crossed for a earlier date, but at least should get through the courts and travel before summers end. It's a baby step, but there really aren't too many steps left to take. It just takes a long time to take each one.
When I heard from Merrily (AAI) yesterday it was just a quick mail letting me know which group. Susan was supposed to get back to me with more info, but it didn't happen before the end of the day. We should hear then on Monday. Most of the other adoptive families in group H are adopting infants from Wanna House. I don't know of any others yet adopting from Kidane Mehret. Not sure if that could be good, bad or make little difference. It is getting exciting though knowing we could have our case in court in about 2 months. We do keep trying to remind ourselves though that only 50-60% of the cases are passing on the first hearing. If it fails we might have to wait 3-6 weeks for another hearing. We are hopeful though that since Abate and Fantu have been at Kidane for so long that all will go smooth. I will post again soon as I get more news.

Will they like us?

Abate and Fantu received their Welcome Bags this past week so they now know they are coming to Texas and Alan and I will be their Mom and Dad. I wish I could post the picture here of them wearing the t-shirts and looking at the photo albums. I just love their smiles! I will scan and email the photo tomorrow so if you haven't received it ( if you are one of the chosen ones - LOL) let me know and I will send it to you. I did a pretty good job of guessing their sizes, Both t-shirts are a size 10. Fantu's fits her pretty well, only slightly large, Abate's is a bit bigger on him, he's probably more of a size 8. He does seem a bit small for his age. He'll probably grow like a weed once he gets to Texas and starts eating burgers and tacos. We are also hopeful that we will get some court assignment news this week. Fingers crossed!

The bathroom remodel finally got a big boost this weekend. New toilet is mostly in, water line not connected so we have to manually fill it, but it only uses 1 gal. a flush. I should get the missing part tomorrow and get it hooked up. The vanity is set in place but the plumbing is not connected, we've a bit of work to do around it yet so we don't want to hook it all up. Most of the flooring tile has been installed and the paneling has only to go up on one more wall. Alan and I can't take credit for most of the work though as James (Carrie's boyfriend) did most of it. THANK YOU JAMES! I did some more work in the kids room and have finished 99% of the painting. Just a few touch-ups and then I need to paint the closet door. We can start assembling furniture anytime.

Pictures today are pretty self explanatory. Enjoy.

Just add squiggles

Did a bit more to the kids room. All that's left to do is paint the squiggly lines. I think it is going to be a very fun room. Hope to be through painting by next weekend! We've also added Dragonflies, Ladybugs, Soccerballs and Basketballs to the mix. I stumbled across them at Walmart in the craft dept. They are little wood cutouts and the colors they were painted matched so well. Just stuck them to the wall! I've also finished the chalkboard. All set to leave them messages to "DO YOUR HOMEWORK" just kidding, just want to encourage art and communication in their room.

Blue and Green Should Never be Seen?

I think somebody got that old decor rule wrong. I think Abate Blue and Fantu Green look fantastic together. I've still to paint the dots and squiggles in the border and do the chalkboard on the wall. But it is all coming together quite nice. Hopefully in another week the painting will be finished and we can start assembling the furniture.

Updates here as they develop!

Slept like a Pig.

The workings of a child's mind never ceases to amaze me. Caleb just blurts out the funniest things lately. Last week we were talking about kids going to school. He talked about how he was going to catch the bus to go to school. He said " I'm going to grab hold of it with both hands and hold on!" He literally thinks you have to catch the bus. I tried explaining that the bus will stop, open it's door and he can get on, but he still thinks that you have to grab it and catch it.
Yesterday he went to Temple with me to take my Mom to the doctor. He slept most of the trip in. Later I asked him if he had a good nap? "I slept like a pig!". I replied to him "Don't you mean that you slept like a baby? You eat like a pig". But no, he insisted that he slept like a pig.
He does keep me laughing.