Monday, July 25, 2011

Four Hundred Seventy Nine

Four Hundred Seventy Eight

Four Hundred Seventy Seven

Four Hundred Seventy Six

This IS an Update

We got news on Friday morning that our file was indeed submitted to the US Embassy last Thursday.

Glory Hallelujah, we moved forward another step. It's just a small step, but we'll take it.

We now wait for the Embassy officials to review our file which will produce one of two results.

Either they will clear us to travel after one review
or
they will request additional information,
which will, of course, require quite a bit more waiting.

We honestly have no idea how long this will take. And, well, at this point, I'm a little shy about making predictions regarding timing.

So for now, please pray that the embassy officials will have wisdom and clarity of mind while reading our case - and that they will request only the additional information that is absolutely necessary for keeping things on the up-and-up.

It would be nice to keep the hoops and red tape to a minimum, don't you think?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

This is not an update

This is not an update because, well, there's nothing to update you on.

When we passed court on June 3rd, we were sure that we would bring our boy home by the end of July. Silly me - I was even so bold as to post the following timeline right out there in black and white.

#1 Briggs is issued a new birth certificate and passport (2-4 weeks)
#2 Our file is submitted to and reviewed by the US Embassy (1-2 weeks)
#3 We are invited to appear at the US Embassy in Ethiopia
#4 We book the first flight out of town and arrive in Addis as quickly as possible in order to
appear at the Embassy, collect Briggs's Visa, and BRING.HIM.HOME.

And what do I get for posting a timeline? A big-whole-lotta-nothing's-happening. That's right, it's been seven weeks and we haven't even made it to #2.

Our file can only be submitted on Thursdays and you can be sure that Thursdays are quite emotionally charged around the Kyle household. Tomorrow will mark the fifth Thursday of hopeful waiting.

It may happen. It may not.

This is hard. Harder than I ever imagined it would be.
But we're doing okay.
We are weary.

And honestly, if someone offered to knock me into a coma until the day I'm boarding a plane to bring my baby home, I would not.think.twice about taking him up on that offer.

If you're praying for us please ask God to give wisdom to the US Embassy workers who are reviewing adoption cases in Ethiopia.

Please also ask Him to give Mark and I - and all the other waiting families - an abundance of peace.

BUT - whatever you do - DO NOT ask God to give us patience. Seriously, we have plenty of that. Praying for patience for us would be like asking God to please provide financially for Bill Gates. And I'm pretty sure that when you ask God for patience, He responds by giving you an opportunity to practice patience.

In fact, I'm thinking that someone out there has been praying for patience for us and that's why we're in this mess in the first place.

I'm kidding.
Kind of.

Here's to getting good news on Thursday.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Greedy Guys Bought the Internet

I am currently in the midst of formally launching my photography business.
Like a for-realsies, bona fide, provide-for-my-family, photography business.

I'm a ball of nerves about this and seeing those last two sentences in black-and-white makes me want to go hide in the closet.

Ideas for this business have been rolling around in my mind for years. I've got a business plan, a multi-year vision, some new equipment, a talented designer, a site-map, and a name that I love. I just need one last little thing before I launch - a domain name that reflects the aforementioned namethatilove.

And I'm totally stuck.

It turns out that any and all domain names related to my business name are taken. But - and this is what gets me - they aren't being used by honest-to-goodness lovely people who are just trying to run a business too. Nope. Apparently, I can spell my business name backwards, forwards, and up-side-down and every time it appears that it's been purchased by a domain-name company that just wants to charge me seven times what it's worth to make it mine.

So today, I'm putting my creativity to the test and trying to outsmart the greedy guys.

Right now, I've settled on www.tis&$S98ieh.com.
You guys can remember that, right?

Hey. At least it's available for an honest price.