Project Pocket

I've had more time lately to make some long-thought-about projects. Here is a little pocket for my Palm Pilot so it doesn't get scratched up in my handbag.


Surprise! It's tucked away safely inside. I love this Scandinavian design that I thrifted in Hood River while visiting. I quilted the outside of it in diagonal rows. It fits my scheduler perfectly.

It's the little things that make me happy.

News

We did hear of 3 referrals today! One was a 2 month old baby girl and the other a baby boy, and another boy (not sure of age) was matched as well.

So guess what that means?! We are now at the top of the list to get a referral. Wow.

No News

I was hoping the 100 dresses completed would bring good karma for this week. But then I heard that maybe referrals wouldn't happen this week. Well I just found out that someone in front of us received their referral today! They were matched with a baby boy! So at least something is happening and forever families are being united.

I'm happy for them, really. (Of course the day is young on the west coast still, so there are a few more hours for Holt to call) :-)

100 Dresses!

I just finished sewing up dress #100! I cannot believe the energy and love from everyone that made this possible. Thank you so much!

I plan on taking a picture of all of them soon and I will post it on here. They are all so adorable and I cannot wait to see the care center's reaction when we give the dresses to them.

I have a few more that are in progress so we should end up with 105 total. I may keep one for our little girl too.

I also plan on ordering labels to sew into each of them. The labels will have our daughter's Ethiopian name on them. Thus, I have to wait on this until we get a referral!

Speaking of referral, no news this week. Hopefully next week we should hear something...

91 Dresses

I have just finished the 91st dress! There are about 11 more in progress. I have to say I will be glad to get these done. I have so many other projects in my mind that are bursting to come to fruition.

Plus, I think my sewing machine is wounded. Stupid cheap-ruffler-foot-I-tried-to-cut-corners- and-buy-a-knock-off-one-on-eBay. It broke twice and now I think it may have bent the needle threader part on the machine. I may have to take it to the sewing machine doctor soon.

We went to an Easter egg hunt this morning and had a great brunch with great friends. I made a quiche with my new quiche pans which I love. Tomorrow for Easter we'll go to church and relax (and sew) the rest of the day. We'll be sad we can't be with family but look forward to a reunion at some point soon.

The tulips are finally sprouting around here. Someone planted thousands in our park along the paths. What a surprising treat as we watch James ride his new bike.

Here's a picture from last Easter, when James was obsessed with garbage trucks. This year it's Transformers and the garbage men are wondering why they didn't get invited to his birthday party.

2 More!

2 more dresses today! Via Kimberly - again! She's a great recruiter I tell you. Her lovely aunt made these beauties to contribute to the cause. The pretty royal blue and white contrast in the dresses will look great on dark skin.


I'm planning on giving the dresses to either Holt's intake center in Durame Town (if we get to visit) or their new center in Addis Ababa, where the children stay temporarily while waiting to be adopted internationally.

Wow - it's getting soo real. My new prediction? We will be at 100 dresses when we get THE CALL. I better get busy sewing again, only 12 more to go!

Name(s)!

OMG! It just dawned on me that we need to decide on a name (names?) for our baby when we get our referral! We have been waiting so long that I just have always felt like we had all the time in the world to decide on such things.

Well, it's getting closer and we want to be able to say, "We got our referral - and his/his (their?) name is ______". We better talk about this and whittle that list of name ideas right down.

Yes, that's right - plural... remember that we requested a baby girl (0-12 mo) or twins? Not too likely, but could definitely happen.

It feels so nice to be this close. We're hoping we'll get our referral in March, and April at the most. I'm hoping to hear more "rumblings" late next week.

Swim Class

James is taking swimming classes, which he l-o-v-e-s. All of the parents smile and wave and watch their child from the windows along the small pool.

Sometimes there are 5 children in his class, but last week he had a private lesson for the full 30 minutes. He was exhausted!

Here he is giggling with the little girl in his class...


And here he is showing off his backstroke. Well, gearing up for it anyhow...

Dress Love - Again!

I received another wonderful group of dresses today. So lovely. This also via Kimberly and made by her mother. Thank you!


Look at this detail (little heart stitching above the ruffle)!


Secretly, my favorite is the cherry and vibrant blue fabric. Where can I get more of that?!

So now only 19 dresses. I cannot believe how much help I've received on this second 50. I've hardly sewn a stitch lately and the numbers keep going up! Thanks so much again.

We hope to get our referral any week now. We have one Power of Attorney letter that needs to get authenticated and we should be receiving it soon. I mailed it to Annapolis early last week. Once we have that, our agency can have our dossier ready to be sent to Ethiopia when we receive our referral!

More Dress Love!

Can you feel the love? I can, and I'm sure the little girls in the care center will be able to also.

I received three beautiful dresses from a good friend's mother-in-law. Thank you!


What's that you say? Yes, you're right! We are now over 75 dresses. I'll say that again - over 75 dresses! It has been a lofty goal (and we aren't there yet) but I can see #100 in sight, and it will be very pretty.

I am really impressed by the workmanship that went into these garments. French seams, over-locked edges, contrasting facings, top-stitching. Really, you can feel the love that went into them.

10 Dresses in a Day!

10 dresses! That's what I received in the mail today from dear sister! The colors are so beautiful, they remind me of kites flying in the sky, tails flowing in the wind. What a nice surprise - thank you so much. So this puts the total to 71!

And now, since a good friend predicted we would get our referral at dress #62, I will post this and instantly wait for the phone to ring from the agency. (half-kidding).

Politics

James picks up this issue at the Goodyear while we are waiting for our brakes to be replaced. He says, "Mom, I'm going to pretend that this is John McCain and this is Barack Obama". You can tell we've been talking a bit of politics around our house lately. :-)

4 months

We're officially at 4 months of waiting since we sent in our dossier to our agency.

Today I mailed off a new Power of Attorney that Ethiopia is requiring. I mailed it to Annapolis to get state certified. In Maryland, we have to first sign, notarize, city certify, then state certify. It's so confusing. Some of the documents then had to be authenticated at the federal letter by the embassy. Lots of steps for one document.

But it's in the mail and when I get it back from Annapolis, then I can send it in to Holt.

4 months now, since we sent our dossier in, back in October. We are still #2 on the list.

"Wishing, and hoping, and dreaming and wishing..." - isn't that a song from My Best Friend's Wedding? I've been singing this lately.