Happy November!

Another Halloween has come and gone.  I was a witch with a hat and matching gloves, red and black striped socks, a black dress and a shawl.  A perfect evening, just a bit brisk, which I think adds to the holiday.  Some friends came over and we sat out in lawn chairs, oohing and ahhing at the cuties in their costumes.  We saw ninjas, ladybugs, zombies in prom dresses, fairies, princesses, cowboys, creepy clowns (my least favorite), several Spider Men, Transformers, lords and ladies, two witches-in-training I was quite partial to, and one lovely Marilyn Monroe.  The flu scare did not seem to affect the turn-out entirely, but I overbought just a little bit.  I handed out two of my three gigantic bowls full of candy.  I'm going to have to find a good home for the rest of it because I was eating miniature candy bars for breakfast this morning.  It will be going to work with me tomorrow.

Adoption update.  I now have a court date in Ethiopia, two weeks from now.  The agency says they will contact me either on the 13th or 14th.  I am scrambling to process my homestudy update in the mean time.  It was exactly a year ago that I had my initial homestudy and it took 4 months.  I started the update two months ago and it still not complete, although it is moving along nicely. 

A few scenarios at this point can occur. 1)  I can pass court and not be allowed to travel because the homestudy update is not at the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia where it needs to be. They will not schedule an embassy date until they have it. I cannot travel until they schedule this.   2) I can fail court.... this is happening to many families right now.  Our agents are trying to resolve this issue but it is a slow process.  Option 3) is that I pass court, complete the homestudy  and travel by mid-January at the earliest.  I vote for option 3!  The odds unfortunately are leaning towards option 2).   I am hopeful, but cautious. I will know more at mid-month.