Merry Christmas To All !

I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas. So many of my fellow adoptive parents have received early Christmas gifts in the form of referrals and court dates...I was hoping for one but hey it's not my time. My hubby thinks we'll get a February referral. Well, God only knows. I'm just grateful to have another year with my beautiful children and loving husband. I'm looking forward to meeting up with our Ethiopia Adopt Group and having a "Melkam Genna",(Merry Christmas in Amharic) celebration at our local Ethiopian Restaurant. I miss the food...craving sambusa's. Ethiopia honors the day on January 7th so we get to stretch out the season and the gifts LOL. Again, enjoy your holiday and have a happy New Year...see you in 10'

I won... I won... I won!

What a wonderful morning it is. Today I recieved the "Kreativ Blogger" award. I am honored and humbly accept. I also thank Alida for nominating me. There are some ground rules for the recipent of the noble award. First, you must acknowledge the one who nominated you...did that. Then you must tell 7 things about yourself. And lastly award 7 other bloggers the award. Ok so here we go...7 things about me:

1) I am the first generation American in my family. My father and mother migrated to the states from Trinidad and Tobago which is a carribean island in/near South America. I had the best of both worlds; Trini food,calypso/soca music at home. In school or at my friends houses, cheeseburgers, pizza, and hip hop music. Interesting.

2) I traveled with my parents as a youngster because my dad was in the Army. Live in Germany a couple of times but I don't remember much of the language. If I could...traveling would be a frequent hobby of mine, even though there's no place like home.

3) I love being creative. Tutus with coordinating accessories...I love, love, love it! My baby girl gonna have every color tutu on the planet. I make natural shea body butter...some with yummy fragrances. Konjo: Beautiful is what I call it and if you like some just send me a message and I'll hook you up. All the procceeds go to benefit orphans in Ethiopia.

4) I married my highschool sweet heart. We have ten proud years together, 3 beautiful kids and 1 more coming soon (I hope) I'm so in love with my family and I'm grateful to God for His many blessings.

5) I am a leader in my church, an "elder" to be specific. I love my relationship with God and I'm am honored to serve his people. I am currently the department head of the greeters. We are the one who hug on the people and welcome them into the house of the Lord.

6) I am the oldest of 3 girls. So I was like a mama duck before I had children of my own. I wanted to adopt since age 7. I would hear the stories of how people would leave their babies in dumpters and would pray that God would make them bring the baby to our doorstep. Even though I haven't gotten my daughter yet I was inspired to go for it again and start the proccess for another adoption. I'm praying about it.

7) People meet me an think that I'm just a prime and proper princess (which I am that...sometimes) Once you get to know me you will realize that I have an eclectic personality. I'm ever changing. I love to laugh and have fun. I don't believe in taking yourself to seriously. I want to be who god created me to be and nothing less. I love good friends and I'm a loyalist.

And the nominees are: (drum roll)

Alida: She actually reads my blog and leaves comments. She is so supportive and I appreciate her blogs. She is the mother to an "Ethiopian Jewel". She inspired me to prepare for my child as she had her daughters room finished when she completed her dossier.

Angela: I appreciate her blog because she is transparent. She shares her heart with the readers. She and hubby are in the proccess of adopting too.

Nicole: she is adopting another baby girl from China. I admire her so much. She had 2 healthy bio boys and adopted 2 girls with spine abifida. Her blog is private though, but I still wanted her to get the honor. We also lived in the same neigborhood and our kids went to school togeher. We met on the bus stop and she offered to noterized my paper work for dossier.

Rejoice!

My friend Jenni passed court for her precious baby girl. She got some updated pictures and I must say little "S" is a beauty queen in the making. I'm so happy for them, they waited for sooo long and soon they will be together forever.

CHI had 3 referrals this week...so far. That's great news! 2 infant girls and 1 little prince. Several families received court dates today...so we are progressing as an agency and individually. I pray that the referrals/court dates keep coming consistantly. Last week there were no referrals, I think that's because it was the Thanksgiving holiday and the agency offices were closed for a few days. I'm still hoping that my referral will come in by the end of the month. Someone said that the wait times are now 14-15 months. God only knows...I don't. I will stay the course. I must tell myself that and believe it. It's not easy...it's not, but I encourage myself and I look to my fellow adoption sojourners for strength. I know i'll soon be reporting my good news but until then I will rejoice with those who are rejoicing!