An infant girl referral was given out today to our DTE buddy, Kara Z! How exciting for her! This makes us really #1 on our "unofficial" list (and not tied for #1, either). I really am hoping our call will come in the next few days. But as we know well, with international adoption, nothing is certain.

Ouch! That's the word to explain what's coming up for Mark and me. It's time for shots. Since we went to China, we are up-to-date on some of the recommended immunizations, but there's more to look forward to for Ethiopia.

Here's a list of what's recommended....

1. polio
2. yellow fever
3. meningitis
4. flu - (Jenny got hers yesterday)
5. typhoid
6. Hep A. - just Mark

They are also sending us with Cipro (antibiotic) and Malaria pills.

The yellow fever is only recommended if we travel outside Addis Ababa. If we choose not to do any addt'l travel, we will probably opt-out of the yellow fever. The side effects can be bad.

We've been putting a colored rock in this glass container for each day that we've been waiting for our daughter. The bottom layer is our "paperwork stage", the second layer is "waiting for referral" stage and the third layer will be "waiting to travel" stage. These rocks are daily reminders of our little one and are covered with kisses and prayers.

There's not a lot of room left in the container for the "waiting to travel" stage, so I guess we'd better hurry up and get our baby!

We're number 1! We're number 1!

Number one in line for an infant girl!

Actually, we are tied for number 1 (details, details) and that's according to the Yahoo group, which we know is not 100% accurate. But, let's focus on the positive. That's reason to celebrate!

Join me as I hum the Jeopardy tune...

Today we have officially waited 9 months! Yeah! As I look back to when we started this process, which was well over a year ago, the time has gone by surprisingly quickly. I'm looking forward to getting "the call" and seeing my baby for the first time, but the wait has been o.k. I think that the hardest part for me will be the waiting period between referral and travel. Once I see my daughter and hear her story, I will want to go and get her right away. It will be difficult to wait what could be months.

No news. Patiently waiting for the phone to ring with a 703 area code! :)