THE CALL

Yes indeed.  Every parent that has already experienced the international adoption process knows what I'm talking about.  One of the biggest milestones in the entire adoption process is the day when you get that call from your agency to announce the details of your child referral.  Today was that day for us! 
Our coordinator called Amber first, then the two of them called me.  When I got the call, I was in the midst of another super-busy afternoon.  I hit the answer button on my phone, and initially thought, "D'oh!  I don't recognize that phone number.  I should have just let that go to voicemail. Oh well, I have to answer it now."  I was immediately hit with the significance of the call when I heard the lady's voice on the line congratulating me that this is my referral call.
Our coordinator gave us the essentials.  Amber had the presence of mind to ask a few good questions.  I mostly just listened and took notes.  Afterward, Amber and I chatted.  She was so blown away she had to stop baking the cookies she was working on.  She couldn't work the oven timer any more!  All my office mates were watching me take the call the whole time.  I felt like I was on stage.  Weird.  It was cool to share the moment with them though.  We're pretty tight.
Unfortunately (and this pains me to say) we can't divulge most of the details of the referral.  I know!  That stinks, right?!  Privacy laws are strict, and I don't want to do anything to endanger the adoption process for us or her by being stupid on the Internet.  I can share that she is a really healthy 2 month old baby Ethiopian girl.  We do have 2 pictures of her, and she is SUPER CUTE.  I'm being objective, and you'll have to trust me on this for now.  We have all kinds of medical reports that all say she has no health issues, which is awesome.  She's obviously being fed WELL. :D
I'm pretty floored that she is so young!  I was totally expecting a referral for a child near the older end of our requested age range since young babies are in higher demand.  We'll be getting her just at that baby sweet spot (from a dad's point of view), when they're beyond that boring infant stage when they just eat and sleep.  Sure infants are cute, but dad's like to INTERACT!  I can't wait to share more details about her, but I'll have to wait a few weeks.  Travel dates are dependent on a lot of variables still, but let's just say 2-4 more months for now.  Totally stoked!  Thank you, Jesus.

We are ON DECK!

This is a really good sign!  We received an email from our adoption agency last Friday, officially putting us "on-deck".  What that means is that our family "could receive a referral within the next one to three months".  Yes, they're giving themselves a lot of latitude, and we're trying not to get too excited, but we have had numerous friends who received their referrals within days of receiving an "on-deck" email.

We're noticing quite a few referrals for kids from our agency once again.  That's good to see, because it says that a lot of the weirdness we saw in the weeks following the Haiti earthquake seem to be behind us now.  Unfortunately we're almost definitely going to have to travel twice, but at least adoptions are moving forward.

Stuff is feeling even more real now.

-bryan

Tortuga Reviewed on "Take It From Me"

Our hat company, "Tortuga Clothing" has generally gone through cycles of interest and activity.  Right now it seems to be hitting a high point in both.  We are currently participating in a product review / giveaway with the blog "Take It From Me".  They kindly invited us into the deal, and we're very pleased with all the feedback and interest.  Even though I managed to add about 30 new hats to the Etsy shop, there are still another 40 or so to post.  I really should market that shop better than I do.  Maybe this will give me more incentive to do just that, as well as the other fundraiser idea...T-SHIRTS.

I've already started talking with a silkscreener, but the initial momentum has died away.  If any of you wants to try their hand at a t-shirt design, feel free to contact me.

New Releases at Tortuga Clothing

tortugastyle.com

I'm finally getting around to posting new stock on our Etsy store for Tortuga Clothing.  I actually took new photos for all the new hats some time ago, but life gets complicated and the next thing you know...too much time passes.  So without further adieu, we're releasing a few new designs that we think you'll love.  

My personal fave is the Cali Beanie, which we have several color / stripe combinations to offer.  

We're also introducing Kitty Mitts to complement the Audrey Beanie.  These fingerless gloves are constructed of the same yarn as the Audreys, so they make a good combo.  

You'll notice in the new photos that we actually have heads modeling the new designs.  Each of the 3 heads was hand painted by either Amber, Audrey, or Halina.  I also added an actual banner design to the Etsy store.  It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I struggled a bit with the free online design tools.  Don't get me wrong, I think Aviary is great.  I just don't have a lot of skill with it yet.

I'm hoping the weather stays cool for a while longer to inspire the world to wear our beanies and support our adoptions.  

Fun With Zombies

Amber and I had a little excursion to the Department of Homeland Security this morning.  Our fingerprints on file with them are only valid for a year, so had to go give them a fresh picture of our mitts.  At this point I've had more experience with government agencies than I ever really hoped to have in my life.  Still, time fades the memories of each experience, and I wasn't expecting for my patience to be put to the test like it was today.
We did remember that this particular branch does not allow mobile phones at all.  We later learned that this rule is completely arbitrary and was dictated by the DHS officer of that branch simply because she doesn't like people in her branch using mobile phones.  The stuff you learn when you get to chat-it-up with a bored security guard making $25/hr.  Yep, he shared that with us, too.
After filling out our paperwork, we had a lot of time to kill until being seen by the receptionist at "station 2".  Since I was without my iPhone and didn't have the forethought to bring anything paper to read, we tried to occupy our brains with some people watching.  Believe me, there's a lot to observe in that crowd.  Amber had a hard time controlling herself when I made a comment about how every employee in that office shuffled around like they were all on quaaludes.  I mean, they were completely listless and had no apparent awareness of the 40-50 people in the waiting area waiting to get fingerprinted.  Let's hope the zombies did a good job with our fingerprints and paperwork update.  We'll see them again next year I'm sure.
>bryan

Early Nesting

Being #1 on the unofficial list is kind of making us freak out a little.  Our adoptions have always seemed light-years away, so we've never really done anything to prepare the house to have a 2 yr old or younger kid in it.  I think Amber's feeling it the most now, so she's inspiring us to start some things to make the place a little more "together".  We're not exactly known for ever having our place together, and let's just say there are a lot of candidate projects.  I've decided the first one to take on is to paint the rest of the downstairs area.  Should be "fun". 
>bryan

Find Me, Follow Me

For those of you who started following our original "booygirls" blog over at Tumblr, THANK YOU FOR FINDING US HERE AT BLOGGER! Tumblr is really cool and simple, however it just had some limitations that we couldn't hang with. Blogger will enable us to provide more information, including cross-links to other adoptive families and orphan organizations that we'd like to shine a spotlight on.

As I mentioned on our previous blog...

So many people take the beginning of the new year to look back and look ahead.  I typically am not one of them.  But this year I have some positive things to look forward to, and I’m ready to get on with it.

At this time last year, Amber and I were feeling really glad to be rid of 2008.  There we deaths in our family, and a lot of pain and disappointment.  2009 was somewhat better, but there was another death and lots of frustrations, challenges, and disappointments.  Still, I can look back and see that God has (once again) come through for me and my family in really remarkable ways.  It’s that realization that really gives me a reason to have hope for 2010.  I’m not expecting it to be a cake-walk to be sure.  I just know that somehow God’s going to give me what I need when I need it on a day-by-day basis.

In 2009, Amber and I started the process of an Ethiopian adoption.  After several months of paper-chasing, our dossier was received and logged in on 8/14.  That’s’ our “date-to-Ethiopia” or DTE.  Other adoptive parents know this well.  That marks the beginning of waiting.  In some ways waiting is harder than the paper-chase.  Everything is out of our control.  We can only watch and wait for our turn to get a referral and travel.  The remarkable thing is that the rate of referrals has actually accelerated recently.  We’re now #3 on the “unofficial list” of adoptive parents for AWAA’s program.  One of those families ahead of us also seeking a baby girl, so in some ways we feel like we’re #2.

In all likelihood, 2010 will be the year that we get our 3rd daughter.  This will come after years of striving and waiting.  This is truly going to be an amazing change for our family, and I can’t wait.  Reality is starting to set in.  I almost feel like I should be packing my bags already, but we could still be waiting some months.  Remember, everything is still out of our control and a lot can happen to drag the timeline out.  But I can’t help but to feel optimistic and excited.  I’m ready for the adventure.  Bring it!

>bryan