Got nothing?

I got nothing. No movement in the aforementioned list. I'm spending alot of time staring at things. For your information, things don't move much when you stare at them. Did you know that a burrito bol at Chipotle has something like 30,000 calories? They portray this as the healthy alternative, but it really only cuts your heart attack rate down by a fifth.

I've decided that my eyes are getting more squinty as I get older. Now, many of you would call that wrinkling, but come on, we all know that I've beat that aging thing along time ago. in 01, I was part of a post millenium secret DNA experiment where myself and Nicole Kidman were injected with the post yoga class sweat of Madonna. We're both good to go until 2080!

Waiting for Tragedy

The crazy part of this waiting game is that what we are actually waiting for is some sort of tragedy. Its sad and sometimes downright overwhelming to know that in order for adoption to occur, some level of tragedy must happen, somewhere, to some family. It might fall on the lighter side of the continuum (still relatively bad, I'm sure) to the downright awful. We know that tragedy happens around the world, whether or not we're on this path or not. But it does sober you up, keeps things in perspective, and instills that extra dose of patience.

So as you can see from my photo above, I'm starting to look up and solidier on. I will put my chiffon gown in storage for now, be thankful for what we have, and hope that the tragedy that brings us our child, isn't too too bad, and from which something alright might happen.

The List

There is this thing called "The List." The List is a voluntary spreadsheet that tracks progress for all families at CHSFS in each part of the adoption process. We are currently sitting at #39 on the Waiting for Referral page. In October, we hopped on at #88. The list is lovingly put together and updated by pre and post adoptive parents via our agency. It reflects approximately 40 to 50% of families currently on the hampster wheel. Its a wonderful thing when it moves; it can almost kill you when it doesn't.

I've manipulated this list to death. All you got to do is cut and paste it into a new Excel sheet and you can sort, group, graph, and analyze to your hearts content. I've even made a scatterplot. David believes I have an unhealthy obsession with The List. He is right. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. And, I'm so evil that I've handed this crack pipe over to David's mom, now she's got the monkey on her back! My mom dabbles in it but doesn't appear to be on the road to ruin. Yet.

Right now its a crutch and basically that's all we got.

Frozen

Well, its true. I'm doing a lousy job of updating this blog. But after peering into a computer screen all day, the last thing on my mind is looking at another. Unless I'm checking out Perez Hilton or other celebrity related sites. Sad, I know, but what's a childless woman to do except peer into the shallow lives of the rich and beautiful?

So, we're still waiting for a referral. And it looks like the wait is going to be twice as long as originally envisioned. Appears that Ethiopia has experienced a surge in adoptions. The courts, however, have not experienced a surge in new staff or increased capacity to handle all this new interest. So our 6 to 9 month timeframe (starting October 19) may turn into a 12 month wait, with travel to Ethiopia not happening until 2009.

How have I handled this? Very dramatically. I cry often, wearing long chiffon dressing gowns, falling on my chaise lounge, screeching "why me? why me" while sucking down valium laced martinis. Actually, not that dramatic, but I do stomp my feet, and pout. The dogs are scared that I might start dressing them up soon, if things don't speed up. And we all know how much dogs hate wearing pants.

So for the most part, we feel frozen. The Chicago winter was literally frozen up until today (but the 70 degree temperatures were accompanied by 70 mph winds). The democratic nomination seems frozen (dear god Hilary, read the writing on the wall!). And the adoption seems frozen.

I'll be updating more since I've got to do something to pass the time. Any advice on how other ways to endure the additional six months is most welcome.

Peace out friends.