Musings on the past week

So, it was a pretty good week here--both in the LA Ethiopian adoption community and in the greater ET adoption community at large. Our friends (and yours I'm sure, I know who my readers are ;-), Julie and Steven received their referral this week.

So many people have been looking forward to this happy news for so long that once the word was out Facebook and email and the blogasphere just went crazy. Heck, there might have even been a star over their house on Wednesday to help share the news. A happy dancing star or two, shining their beams down on the love sick raccoons who took a break to look joyfully at the new Mom and Dad.

For those of you who aren't within 2 hours of LA let me just say, you missed a great party. When there is this much joy to be had, even rush hour on the 405 won't stop Angelenos from gathering. There was a special cake and champagne and more cute kids underfoot then you can imagine. You can go over to Julie's blog today to see a few pictures.

The thing that struck me at the party was how thick it was. I know, what?? I have been mulling this over for 3 days...trying to find the words... the party that night, the crowd, the love, the hope... it was all very 3-d. You could see it, touch it, taste it. It was all around us.

That's the thing I was the least prepared for in this adoption process. I knew about the wait, the anxiety, the ups and downs, the crazy legal issues, blah blah blah. But I really wasn't prepared in the least for the 3-dness of support we would feel.

Support system, what a boring phrase, sounds like a bra. What we have here- in our real, virtual, and virtually-real community of friends- is more like a big lovely sun hat, with a wide floppy brim that protects us from the heat and the wet and the prying eyes, with a huge sunflower of hope on top. I'm picturing a Steel Magnolias-goes to the Kentucky Derby-and then gardens for a bit-while sipping a cool beverage-kinda hat. A hat that your great Aunt Francis and your 2nd cousin Bruce would both be proud to wear.

I started this blog to meet people who were on the same path. But looking back now, I realize that I just thought it was a way to swap ideas and news. I really didn't get just how heart moving it would be to belong to this community. It is quite possible that I am in love with people I have only met in comment sections. My pray post-it is covered in User Names. The Esquire no longer asks "do I know them?" because he knows, odds are, he doesn't.

But back to Julie... she was my first real "let's meet for lunch" blogger friend. One, because almost everything she wrote struck me and two, because I could tell from her blog that she lived close by. So we made arrangements to meet for lunch and we both told our husbands "call my cell in an hour to make sure I haven't been kidnapped/killed/bored to death by this stranger."

We met Julie and Stephen one week after we went on the wait list...so they have been The Couple that we've watched. We have had the good fortune to welcome several friends home from Ethiopia with their newly completed families, so in our heads we knew that this adoption thing really does happen. But it wasn't until I hugged Julie on Weds night that my heart knew it too. The Esq said the same thing, "ok, now we know it's real!" Referrals really DO happen!

I'm getting way too mushy here ... I need to stop before I start making more accessory analogies.... the wait list is like a pair of skinny jeans--they sit on a chair taunting and judging you most of the time but then suddenly they are a perfect fit and you love them!...

Yes. Definitely time to stop. Say goodnight Gracie. Happy weekend. Fingers crossed for all the court dates next week.

Much MUCH love to all... Kat