Oh Happy Day!

Wonderful news today! Three families have been approved by the Nepalese government to travel to Nepal to meet and bring home their children. It sounds like they got word today (Monday) and will be leaving for Nepal from their various locations in the next day or two. What an amazing - and I'm sure quite hectic - time for them!

Our happiness and good thoughts are with you as you travel around the world to meet your little ones!

What does this mean for the Stone family? It means nothing more than that we hold those on their journeys in our hearts, and continue to wait in wonder for the day when we will meet our Pebble.

Namaste

Teej - The Festival of Women!

Many Nepalese (and Indian) women are currently celebrating Teej. During this celebration, Hindi women feast and fast, pray for marital bliss, pray for the well-being of their husbands and children, and for the purification of their own body and soul.

I think this sounds like a beautiful and fantastic ritual! And, next year, our daughter and I (assuming we get a girl...) will celebrate this festival. For this year, I'll feast, pray for my hubby, baby and self - and wear red. (No need to go all out and fast.)

I can't think of any rituals in this country that celebrate being a women/wife/mother quite as beautifully - can you?

Namaste.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Nothing new to report. (Are you tired of hearing that?) We're waiting for a minster to be named to the Ministry of Women and Children in Nepal. Once that happens, hopefully things with adoptions will start moving again. So, we continue to wait for our news of our pebble. Have I lost hope? Nope. This is still very right.

Namaste for now.

Dear Nepal:

We would be greatly blessed to have the opportunity to adopt one of your beautiful children. We did not choose Nepal because it is the easiest or fastest place from which to adopt; but because we feel a deep connection with the people, religions and culture of your amazing country.

We do not feel it's our "right" to be able to adopt internationally. Rather, it would be a great honor to be able to raise a child from Nepal. We promise to always respect our child's heritage, culture, and religion thoughout his or her life. We're committed to your country; we're already doing what we can to help the children of Nepal by volunteering our time to organizations that provide clothing and build schools where they're needed.

Westeners are often viewed as needing to have things happen "instantly". And while we'd love to have our child today, we're using this time to study and better understand Nepal, to build our community, prepare our home and to open our hearts for our child.

Thank you, and Namaste.

Oh...the irony!

We went to another adoption class yesterday, working towards the required 24 hours. The class was pretty good...we talked about attachment issues, the "love & logic" parenting method, and the stupid things people say or ask about your baby or adoption process - especially with inter-racial adoptions. (Wow - people are really unbelieveable sometimes - this could/should be a post on its own.)

Another interesting conversation we had was on how to NOT let the process of having or adopting a child turn you into the "mega-consumer". The leader of the class said she'd raised a family of seven (biological and adopted) children without having purchased a single high chair or playpen. We talked about all the toys, gadgets, trinkets and junk that is out there for kids and raising kids. And Terry and I personally mentioned that we'd very much NOT like to have a house full of plastic crap.

And, well, ironically, on the way home Terry and I stopped at Patagonia for their big end of season sale. (But seriously - have you seen their baby clothes?? They are freaking adorable!) We left with the first thing we've bought for the baby. It's a t-shirt. We were excited to put it in the baby's drawers when we got home. (Now, we just have to get the baby.)

No word from our agency on any movement regarding the adoptions. While we assume there is progress being made behind the scenes in Nepal, all's quiet here on the home front.

Namaste.

Things I think about when I should be sleeping...

When will we get our referral?
Will it be a boy or a girl?
Where will we be when we see the first photo?
Is our baby born yet?
Did I turn the stove off?
When will we go to Nepal?
How long will we be in Nepal?
Will I get a parasite in Nepal?
Should I return those boots?
What will our baby's Nepalese name be?
How old will our baby be?
Does our baby hear me when I talk to him/her before I go to sleep?
Will I be able to use my miles to upgrade?
Upgrade both of us?
Should I start thinking about immunizations?
Will we be over there at the same time as Jenny and Kevin?
Or Trevor and Lynn?
Won't it be exciting to call our families and share the news when we get it?
What the heck am I going to wear tomorrow?

What am I going to wear in Nepal?
When should we start on the nursery?
Will I be a good mom?
Where will we stay in Nepal?
Will our baby sleep with us or in a crib?
Do the calories burned on my hike today make up for the late-night ice cream tonight?
Will our parents fall in love with the grand baby right away?
How long from the time we get the referral until we travel?
Will I be able to sleep at all on the flight?
Will we get to sight see in Nepal?
If our baby is born already, where is he/she right now?

Come to think of it, I'll definitely keep the boots. They were on sale. And after all, soon I'll be spending money on the baby and not me.

Here's to everything unfolding as it should. Namaste.

7 Months Pregnant

We're almost 7 months paper-pregnant. And I'm getting a bit uncomfortable. You know, the usual: wondering when exactly the baby will come, not sleeping so well, strange food cravings, weight gain. Alright - the last two can't necessarily be attributed to our adoption process, but the first two can!

While I've not been physically pregnant, I can tell you that carrying around a paper-pregnancy seems to also get more uncomfortable the longer you go, as well. We're still waiting on any news from Nepal. We're not in a panic yet, though, as we did hear in June that things would likely be slowing down for a while due to the political unrest. And we're in that slowdown.

Things could change any day - and any day we could get news of referrals being sent out again. Our agency is traveling to Nepal next week for 10 days, so we'll be anxious to hear what they learn. It's all part of the process of getting our pebble. It is what it is.

Namaste.