Seven Months!

First, I want to say thank you so much for all the kind words and encouragement that we received last week. This new change in policy is still very overwhelming but I am feeling a lot better. I am doing my best to not dwell on it too much. Gladney is holding a conference call tomorrow to discuss the changes in more detail and answer questions people have submitted. Damon and I will continue to roll with it as best we can!

Today is our seventh month waitaversary! It seems that our agency average tends to fluctuate between 7-9 months for infant referrals so we are reaching that range. Now that we are getting closer Damon and I have started discussing our plans for “the call” and logistically how it might work. (I know. I know. It is hard to plan for such things but that is how we are.) Our caseworker said that she usually calls the woman first and then if she can’t reach her then she’ll call the guy. The nature of my job means that I spend a lot of my day on the phone so I worry about being on the phone with a parent and watching my cell phone vibrate with the 817 area code on the display. It will take all my self control to not just tell the parent, “Don’t worry about the SATs. Your kid will get into college somewhere. Have a great afternoon.” And then proceed to hang up and frantically call our caseworker. My hope is that I will be able to leave work and go home to receive all the information in private. Depending on the day of the week Damon may not be able to come home. I really like the idea of being together when it happens but I know that may not be feasible. Damon and I have agreed that whoever talks to Mary first can find out if it is a boy or girl but all other information has to wait until we are both on the call. I was pushing to get to know the age as well but Damon wouldn’t go for it. Boo. I do know that I can’t wait to hear Mary’s voice on the other line!

So with the news of two possible trips to Ethiopia I got the sudden motivation to learn Amharic. I was never very good at math or science but languages were always my thing. Although in high school my Spanish teacher told me I spoke Spanish with a Japanese accent. Ha!

Today I picked up this book from our local library.

(image via Amazon.com)

I figured I would rather browse through some books first before I buy anything. I also know that I am going to need some CDs because it will be important to hear the pronunciations and repeat them. My friend, Amy, owns a book/CD that is designed for adoptive families and she is kindly going to let me borrow it.

(image via Amazon.com)

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there is a whole lot out there. I realize Amharic isn’t the fastest growing language but I don’t even think Rosetta Stone has anything. If I am wrong please let me know! Do any iphone users out there have the UTalk Amharic app? The reviews I read were just okay so I am not sure it is worth the $10 or not. I would love any and all suggestions for books or CDs that people found to be helpful. I did a little reading in the Lonely Planet book after dinner and have learned that Amharic uses a similar sentence structure to Japanese. For example, in English we typically construct a sentence with Subject-Verb-Object. Ex: Damon plays soccer. However in Amharic the same sentence would read, Damon soccer plays.

(Subject-Object-Verb) Japanese is the same! So I don’t have to get used to a new sentence structure because the Japanese part of my brain already thinks that way. Score one point for me. Uh oh. Did I just lose all my readers? Languages are cool to me and I am not afraid to admit it. So I will keep plugging along and hopefully by the end of my studies I will at least be able to ask, “Where is the bathroom?”

“Slowly, slowly an egg learns to walk.” Apparently that is an old Amharic saying that means if you take things bit by bit then slowly but surely it will start to come together. I like it. A lot.