A great week

Happy Easter everybody! It's been a great week! We have gotten to spend some time at the beach already this week, which I've gotta say, I do LOVE. I don't know if it was SAD (seasonal affective disorder), PMS or just plain sinful worry I was struggling with last week, but this week's been easy: full of sweetness and sunshine. I started a new workout routine, which I love, we got rid of our old apartment (PRAISE THE LORD!!!!), our new apartment continues to be a source of peace and thanksgiving, and I've discovered some new favorite things!!

1) I found the unofficial list! It's a list of the parents adopting from our agency and from Ethiopia, in order of where they stand in line for referrals. It's totally unofficial and fallible, BUT it's really fun just the same to watch people move up the list, and look at their blogs as they get referrals. One day...!

2) I rediscovered the glorious FedEx tracking system, and am now checking it obsessively to see if my FBI clearance has been shipped :)

3) I've gotten the chance to enjoy several de-stressing afternoons in our hammock on our patio, and that is definitely one of my new favorites!!! Thanks Kate, for the hammock!

and 4) This sweet new T-shirt that my sweet friend gave me:

is definitely my new favorite! Seriously, like I had to take it out of the washing machine for this picture, cause I'd worn it like 5 days in a row. I had had this attitude of "oh, I don't need to spend money on that kind of stuff," but when I got it in the mail, I'm pretty sure my heart grew two sizes. This is my maternity shirt :) My favorite part is the tiny Ethiopian flag, I'm wearing that bad boy with pride!!! Somehow, it's sweet to wear on your shirt what's already in your heart. It feels like I'm carrying my baby around with me a little bit. Plus, it's SUPER soft. You can find it and other T-shirts at adoptionbug.com or at t-shirts.cafepress.co.uk/international or on etsy, or at a bunch of different sites.

In adoption news, we got some more details this week about the two trips that are now required by Ethiopia for prospective adoptive parents (or PAPs, if you're cool like that). It seems like the first trip is gonna be 4-7 days long, and primarily for two purposes: 1) to appear in court 2) to be a tourist. Visits with our babe will be limited and scheduled, since officially he/she will not be ours yet. They want to make sure that parents see the sites, and really experience Ethiopian culture on this trip, because on the second trip, which will be a week long and will be scheduled 3-6weeks after court approval, the main focus is bonding with the child, which will mostly limit us to our hotel rooms. Once again, we'll get there when we get there, I suppose :)

And lastly, I noticed this last week and thought it was pretty funny. Here is what my planner looked like in January, before the paper chase:

And here is what it looked like in March, in the full swing of adoption: Hillarious, right? It's been busy, but God brought us through it, and I think the busy part is almost over. I think we're about to start the long wait, which I'm sure will bring challenges and sweetness of it's own.