Sundials

So, many of you are wondering (and many of you are graciously not asking) the status of our adoption. Three weeks ago, our agency gave us an "educated guess" of 4-6 weeks.  Eh, we will get excited when we have plane tickets in our hands.

We have been in regular correspondence with our agency here in the States, and they have been great about giving us any and all information that they know.  Unfortunately that information is sketchy at best, coming from the Ethiopian culture that is reputedly lax regarding timelines.  One of the agency directors compared the U.S. view of time to a stopwatch, while Ethiopians operate at the speed of a sundial.  True.  Very, very true.  A lethargic sundial.

So, that super-annoying question: "How are you?"  It is kind, concerned, gracious, caring, sympathetic, and currently very annoying.  If you are wondering, let me tell you: we're going nuts.  We trust God.  Our faith is in-tact and growing.  But, we are exhausted.  We are not overly busy, our schedule is not
complicated, and we are not working too hard.  However, we reasonably expected our kids home 4 months ago.  In these past 4 months, we have experienced more delays than I can count: a birth mother lying, paperwork needing to be redone, court needing to be redone, a birth mother missing, Ethiopian agency directors taking international trips, delayed search letters, a second Embassy appointment, regions in Ethiopia celebrating a 100-year anniversary (so naturally they would shut the government down for a week, right??), and the list continues.

Honestly, we are exhausted.  I was complaining to a friend yesterday about not being able to plan anything more than two weeks out, including work, ministry, a mini-vacation, a day at the beach, eloping to Mexico....  nothing.  Philip and I cannot remember the time that our lives were not influenced by adoption in some way.  Fingerprinting appointments, piles of paperwork, phone conferences, doctors' appointments, notary appointments, and running all travel plans by our agency so they know how to get a hold of us with any important news while we're out of town.

 I would like to hole up in a hole with Philip and just block out the world and enjoy the time we have together.  Twice in the last two days I have canceled plans with friends simply because I feel as though I have used up my quota of words for the month.  Impending social interaction makes my stomach knot and panic fills my mind.

On a sunnier note, I got lost in a memory about playing with Jayce, and caught myself smiling.  That's good, right?  Also, my best friend didn't hang up on me when I went on a 20 minute rant about how much I didn't want to talk.  Other adoptive moms are understanding.  (Ok, seriously, I had a conversation that went like this: "How are you?" "I'm irritated at the world and don't want to talk about it.  You?" "Likewise!" "Ok!  Bye!" ...it was so refreshing!)

So, please continue to pray for us.  Please excuse me if I seem distant or grumpy.  It's nothing personal.  Some days are better than others.  If I give short answers to adoption-related questions, it's not because I don't care. My quota of words is--