A worthy adversary against childlessness

I will admit. I am an odd combination of a workaholic and a procrastinator. One could argue that I have to work so hard because I am a procrastinator (bah-semantics). Regardless, I work two jobs and then return home from one to get caught up on the other. In 2009 and 2010, I frequently stayed up late, often relying on quick "power naps" to get me through the night (1-2 hours of sleep followed by 2 hours of work and repeated) or falling asleep at my laptop and finally crawling into bed at 4 am and getting up at 7. I wish that I had added sleep to my New Year's Resolutions, not because I am doing so poorly and need the motivation, but because I am doing so well. (Think of the sense of accomplishment in finally fulfilling a resolution!) In 2011, I have had more 7-8 hour nights of sleep than I have had in recent memory. I have made a conscious effort to try to go to bed between 11-12 and wake between 6-7. I still find myself working until 11 or 12, but we're going to take things one step at a time.
When you are involved in a family of two (with two sleepy dogs and a 16 year old cat), those late nights can feel isolated. It seems as if you are the only one awake on the face of the Earth. The house is quiet. The world outside of the house is dark and mute. To feel more connected to the world and less alone (and yes, to probably procrastinate further), I often send emails to friends or check Facebook in the late hours of the night and wee hours of the morning. Last night, I sent an email to the case worker at the adoption agency, the awesome International Family Services (IFS). The email was sent at 10:35 pm with a simple update and short question. Our case worker returned my email at 11:31 pm. Now that's diligence and dedication! Keep in mind. We haven't even paid IFS a single dime yet (that comes later) and at least once a week, our diligent case worker sends me an email to check in or to send me info on grants, Ethiopia, or adoption in general. I must say that I am impressed by her diligence and can't wait until she gets to put that excellent work ethic to use when she matches us with our daughter. Our case worker will be quite the match for the "Oh yeah" and wait-and-see phenomena that has seemed to dominate our baby journey.
There isn't much news on the Home Study front. Although, our agency case worker has informed us that we can still send our application and first payment sans home study. It doesn't seem to expedite the process, but allows us to check something else off the long adoption list. I still want to wait until we get that approved home study before writing that (enormous) check.