We made it home!

I'm completely exhausted, but want to let everyone know that we made it home. The kids are getting along wonderfully. The flight was long (that is a severe understatement, but my brain is so slow right now that I can't think of anything better to say). The kids were good, within reason, anyway. Josiah pooped his way from Addis Ababa to Rome. We wasted two outfits before we even made it through security in Ethiopia! Fetya started shrieking that she had to go to the bathroom while waiting in the security line. One of the guards just took her out of the line through security....without me! Obviously this wasn't an option in our minds. I shedded as much luggage as I could and (with Josiah strapped to my chest) chased after them. It was chaos! So much happened the last few days, but right now I can't find the time to write about them. Hopefully tomorrow. I did get the pictures off the camera. For all of you who have hounded me about pictures--here are a few! Enjoy!

Thank you for your emails and prayers. We were eager to get home, but feel so blessed to have spent a week in Ethiopia.

Peace and quiet until the next feeding or diaper change. I should have been sleeping instead of taking pictures! If only I would have known how exhausting the rest of the trip would be...

This is about halfway into the trip. Josiah slapped at Fetya's sprite and knocked the whole glass into her lap. Her clean clothes were sitting next to her. They were covered in sprite, too. She changed into them anyway--seeing as they weren't covered in beef and noodle dinner. Oddly enough, Fetya is very picky about what she wears. She refused to wear any capris or pants that weren't made of jean. She didn't particularly care for the sandals or crocs I brought. When given the choice, she donned the light-up power ranger sneakers from the transition home.

In clean clothes ready for the last two flights to get home. Josiah didn't make it home in that outfit, he pooped in it shortly before the plane took off. Miraculously, he made it home in the last outfit that I had packed.

This is at the park today. Getting the kids to look at the camera isn't impossible, but requires more skill and energy than I had! Tonight, before Seth went off to bed, he said, "This was honestly one of the nicest days of my life."

I'm tired beyond belief, but I had to agree with him.

More Pictures

Thursday

I'm finally on the up and up. After living for two days on half a croissant and two peanut butter crackers, my body has overcome whatever I had and I got to enjoy a *bit* of pasta for lunch. Unfortunately, whatever I had has hit Seth. At least half of us have gotten ill on the trip--we are dropping like flies!

This morning we visited Kid's Care. Fetya lived in this orphanage from July until our referral. Josiah was there from November until February when both kids were moved to the AWAA home. There are so many children there! The babies...oh...my heart breaks to look at them! The only peace came from knowing that each of the babies we saw today will be placed with a family. The first room we walked into was for babies who need special attention. I kept biting my lip to keep the tears at bay. These babies were so small! The wonderful thing is, Jill Coen's Silas was one of those babies. Right now he's a happy, healthy five month old on his way home. Praise God! We got to video the room that Josiah was in (his nannies all remembered him).

Esther, who runs the orphanage, shared the story of how Fetya ended up at Kid's Care. She is truly an amazing woman. She said that Fetya was her little friend, so happy and friendly. This visit was a little bit of a worry to Fetya. She kept her eye on Seth and I the entire time. A few times she called out, "Mommy!" Then ran over to ask me something. We bought fundraiser t-shirts from the orphanage for each of the kids. She was so protective about that! A lot of our 'talking' is pointing and gesturing. When we pointed to the shirt then said "Fetya" she was thrilled! Immediately tugging me over to the van to put it in the 'hello kitty' backpack she's been carrying around. She's also been collecting spare change and storing it in the little pocket! Yesterday, she tried to pay for bananas at the store with her money!

We learned that Fetya is most likely from an Oromo Muslim family. The Oromia area is south of Addis. They speak Orominga, a language that is completely different than Amharic. Since July, Fetya has learned Amharic well. She's been impressing us with her English in just the past two days. Every once in a while she throws out a "banana" or "What's that?" Seriously, a trilingual 4 year old?!

Anyone out there thinking about adopting an older child...we have met some of the sweetest kids this week. The older children at the AWAA home have families waiting on them. If you are one of those families--you are certain to be blessed by the kids you are adopting. I witnessed so many kind gestures from these children. Fetya was sharing some gum and handed the first piece to an older girl. She immediately passed it to a little boy who was also waiting. They are so loving to the little kids and just want the adults to visit with them a little while. We managed to take video of them so the families with referrals can see their sweet spirits! For anyone who hasn't decided about adopting an older child--there are so many boys and girls at Kid's Care who don't have families. I wish I could post pictures of them; they would steal your hearts!

When I started typing both kids were zonked. Josiah has since stirred and is now snoring in my arms. Seth went with Robel to watch some of the races at the stadium. This week there are some African trials (haven't paid much attention since I've been busy with...oh adopting the kids). Typing with one hand is so difficult that I'll have to finish this later!

Pictures

If you've been following our blog this week, you know we've been having problems with the digital camera. Our video camera takes VERY grainy pictures, but figure it's better than nothing :)

Embassy Today!

We just returned from our appointment at the embassy.  It was long.  It was hot.  The bathrooms had no tp.  And I'm a horrid mother because Fetya was hungry and I told her we could eat the last banana when we got on the bus.  I was talking about the banana she ate on her way to the embassy appointment.  Not so good.  At least I didn't lie about the mango juice in the backpack.  After waiting for well over an hour I took Fetya outside.  Shortly afterwards, Marshall Coen came outside with Josiah.  It was picture perfect Daddy parenting.  Marshall says, "Uh, Seth needs you to change his diaper.  They don't want him to leave the waiting area."

 

Nice.  The kiddo hasn't had a "serious" diaper since we got him yesterday.  I guess he finally loosened up enough to do it in the waiting area.  No changing tables, just me, Josiah, and my lap.  It turned out to be a real doosey--both of us were wearing some of it by the end.  Halfway through the mess, Marshall runs outside to tell me that they have called our names and we need to hurry upstairs.  When he saw what I was dealing with he smirked then said, "I can see you are in the middle of something...I'll tell them you're on your way."  Yeah--only because I ran out of wipes.  Yuck.  Then I grabbed Fetya's hand (no hand washing available) and we raced upstairs.  Very simple, short, and hopefully successful. 

 

Seth is getting some serious QT with Josiah.  He's had to step up and take charge of Josiah's care because Fetya still isn't so sure about Daddy.  We had an interesting morning--went to the playground then swimming.  On purpose Daddy went into the pool and Mommy stayed on the side.  Fetya let Seth swim her around a bit, but soon decided she would rather avoid him and play with Selam (9 year old from the TH).  Selam, as is probably true for most of the kids at the TH, is more than willing to be a junior parent.  We are just letting it go--Fetya is so confused and scared.  It's like a slow cut on the cord to have Selam here.  Easier and harder at the same time. 

 

So, the embassy--it went well.  As far as we can tell.  We will get the kid's visas on Friday morning.  The other three families went through also.  The Coen's have some added complications with Silas' visa because they are returning to Germany.  Hopefully tomorrow it will be cleared up.  We rested this afternoon and plan to have dinner with the group in an hour.  Fetya, Josiah, and I laid on the bed and fell asleep.  Very sweet.  She's still sleeping and I'm beginning to wonder if she may have a hard time getting to bed tonight.

 

Love to you all!

Tuesday in Addis

Today, Tuesday, we were scheduled to visit the Mother Teresa Orphanage and the ALERT Hospital in the morning and then go back to the Transition Home to pick up our kids.  Flexibility seems to be a necessity for a trip of this nature, but everything works out well in the end.  As we loaded the bus we learned we would in fact be touring a coffee factory.  This was actually a great time and was very informative.  We got to see every step of the process.  The farmers' beans go through a series of sieves and conveyer belts which finally end up in a large room of ladies who sort the beans even more.  We learned the size of the bean correlates to the quality of the coffee.  They then bag some for export and others they roast before exporting, but not before the professional coffee taster (I might have missed my calling) roasts small batches to determine the final overall quality of the batch.  We were able to sample their wares and purchase some bags for the road.  The time passed fairly quickly so we were behind schedule and Apryl's stomach was quite upset, so we decided to skip the lunch out, head straight for the Transition Home, say goodbyes, pass out gifts and take our kids.  We then proceeded back to the hotel; some folks ate, but we decided to give our gullets a well deserved break.  Fetya required some extra pre-embassy medical attention, so she went with Fortuna to the Dr.'s office while we brought Josiah back to the hotel.  He is such a sweet baby, he took a nice bath and had some lunch.  The only time he's cried to date is when Apryl was a little slow on the draw with the bottle.  Fetya returned shortly before I had to meet our group in the lobby to complete the forms needed for our embassy appointment tomorrow.

 

(This is Apryl from here on out…Seth's leaving the hard part for me!)

I don't really have the emotional fortitude to recant the story of Fetya's mysterious health condition.  We got an email from Rachel many weeks ago about a medical concern, but it was somewhat resolved when an American pediatrician visited the home.  He allayed our worst fears and gave us something else to think about.  His diagnosis wasn't in agreement with the Ethiopian doctor. 

 

Evidently, we aren't completely in the clear for Fetya's health.  When the doctor for the embassy checked her out, he needed more information.  After seeing her for a third time, he wrote up the medical with details that will deem her 'special needs'.  He agreed with the initial diagnosis...the scary one.  We have been flooded with emotions; not really sure what is really going on with her. 

 

In order for our kids to leave the country—they must get visas from the embassy.  We have to have permission for them to come into the US.  We will only get permission if everything we said last year in our dossier matches the little tykes who show up at the appointment.  If anything is amiss, paperwork needs to be redone.  You see where I'm going?  We find out that our daughter is 'special needs' and if our homestudy doesn't match our kid—we can't leave for a while.  Seth came bursting into the hotel room searching through our homestudy trying to find where the child request statement would be.  As he looked he told me that we would need to contact our social worked to write an addendum to the homestudy and need another 171 from INS (this is the elusive document that takes weeks for families to get).  He assured me that it would go faster, probably requiring me to stay in Addis with the kids for another 5 days.  Before I could dwell too long on what he just said, he found the two most fantastic words in our homestudy "special needs".  We had asked our social worker to put in a statement about special needs, but weren't specific with any details.  I'm so glad that was there!  All is on target for leaving Friday night!

 

On the attachment/bonding front…Fetya has cried numerous times today.  She didn't want Fortuna the nurse to leave her, she didn't want Selam (friend who is being adopted and at the Hilton) to leave, or Rachel…and she was even willing to go off with the waiter who spoke Amharic to her in hushed tones while trying to calm her after her Daddy made a funny face that scared the jeepers out of her.  Thankfully, she's willing to bear being with me.  She's not so happy when I refuse to let any of the above people take her away.  I'm getting a lot of shoulder shrugging and averted eyes, but I'm being persistent.  She's my daughter and I need her to start understanding it.  Her Daddy had to learn a hard lesson tonight.  She refused to sit near him, look at him, or accept food from him after the whole "funny face that terrified me" incident.  We made a relatively quick exit from dinner and she relented a bit before bed.  He was allowed to sit next to her on the bed while we read books, but no touching, please.  We have high hopes for tomorrow.  Swimming and the playground in the morning then embassy in the afternoon. 

Video...FINALLY!

Seth here...Apryl's got her hands full

Disclaimer: This post was created by Seth due to Apryl's current need to feed baby JoJo and her mildly upset stomach.

After departing from the Transition Home we made our way to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant.  This experience put a new spin on our classic "dinner and a show" concept.  Although it had been a really long eventful day everybody mustered the energy or at least put on a good game face for the evening festivities.  Duni and Robel (AW's new in country travel coordinator; he's a wonderful guy I must add) teamed up to get the party started right, by ordering a combo platter of sorts that added up to a "taste extravaganza", a "flavor explosion", or if you're an American, mystery animal stomach with sauce.  Mmmm, I may have been the only one to savor the flavor, and I must say, not bad, a little chewy but not bad.  There was actually a tremendous variety of choices laid out before us on three giant platters of injera covered in a variety of combos of sauce and beef, lamb, etc.  I think everyone was satisfied.  Even Apryl found enough to stimulate her buds. 

 

There was actually a pretty long period of time spent waiting for drinks and dinner to be served, which was great because it gave the four families the opportunity to unwind, discuss the days events and rejoice together.  By the way, future families may be a little grumpy about not taking the kids home (back to the hotel) the first day, but I think by the end of the day we all agreed the restaurant was not a place for kids and it helped us ease into "taking custody" today.  The traditional meal was followed by a traditional coffee ceremony…sort of.  Normally I think they take the beans and roast them while participants sit round about and observe the technique.  This is followed by drinking three SMALL (like espresso size) cups of the freshly roasted and ground coffee and eating popcorn.  There is usually a light aroma of incense in the general area (don't worry this is not some pagan ritual).  I believe the three cups some how relates to the Trinity, it was lost in translation but the native Christian assured me it was ok.  Our version consisted of a small brush fire (incense), one small cup of coffee and a handful of popcorn.  Fortunately as a coffee abuser, I was happy for any quantity they could place before me.  It was fantastic.  On that note, the coffee here is out of this world.  I must say this has been surpassed by the fellowship and company we have enjoyed with the others who have come with us to adopt on this trip.  They are all sincerely wonderful people and I'm so glad we got to experience this with them. 

 

The coffee ceremony was followed by some (again "traditional") Ethiopian dancing.  This consisted of lots of really fast shaking and some kind of jerky neck/shoulder movements.  This was all well and good, and fairly entertaining (I can enjoy just about anything following a good stuffing of native food and a belly full of coffee (well sort of)) until the dancers took to the crowd.  Somehow my wife must have had Dancing Machine written across her forehead, because the moth went straight for my flame (Apryl).  She lived up to her "reputation" and was (a little too easily) persuaded to throw a couple of slick neck and shoulder moves her way.  This seemed to appease our host, so she moved on to the next victim in our group.  At this point all the men in the group had sweaty palms.  PTL I don't have the dancing gene.  One guy, Marshall grabbed the video camera to avoid any possibility, one AW worker suddenly "had to use the RR" conveniently, I hid behind Robel (Mr. Polite here) and the other guy Bob would have simply refused.  The rest of the ladies and Robel got their groove on (briefly), meanwhile the place was starting to heat up with some wild Moroccans so we all agreed…it was time to go. 

 

The evening concluded with sweet peaceful rest…at 2 am.  Apryl and I were up trying to figure out the finer points of removing video from our camera and turning it into bit sized pieces this system can handle so we can send and post a video.  All that, and now it won't send.  Oh, well; you're just going to have to wait.

Our Kids

Today we met our kids! First, we had to endure the morning. The day is set up so that we spend the morning shopping, eat lunch as a group, THEN get to meet our children. It’s almost like torture!

We spent the morning at a shopping area--open storefronts with aggressive salespeople trying to convince you to purchase an Ethiopian souvenir from them. After passing the store, some of the more aggressive sellers might even trail after you with a particularly delightful item offering a lower price with each step you take. Seth and I did a bit of damage there—we successfully purchased traditional Ethiopian outfits for each of our children and other gifts for our family. I hope to buy enough to give both Josiah and Salomae gifts on their gotcha day each year until they are 18. That would require more gift buying than I think I’m authorized by the money carrier (aka Seth). We did pretty well. Seth is a haggler, and I personally think he borders on lunacy with his haggling. Even if you didn’t try to barter, the prices are so low to us, we would be getting a ‘good deal’.

After lunch at the Garden Paradise, we drove to the transition home. Every parent seemed to be a bundle of nervous energy. I was terrified that Fetya would freak out when she saw us. Or be disappointed. Or cry. Or run away. Or…insert ridiculous worrisome thought here. We videoed the trip down the road to the famous green doors at the transition home. I fully expected Fetya to meet the van at the gate. The Heinrich’s daughter, Selam, ran ONTO the bus when the gate opened. She threw her arms around Alice and hugged her. We looked outside, loads of big kids, but no Fetya. We walked into the home’s complex and still no Fetya. Finally, Rachel went inside the home and found her. She came out and I started bawling. She was saying, “Mommy, Daddy!” She was in my arms and reached out to touch Seth’s face. Me? Still bawling. She’s smaller than we imagined—but looks like she eats well (if you catch my drift). Fortuna, the nurse at the home, said that last night Fetya kept asking where her Mommy was. She pestered Fortuna and became so upset that Fortuna decided to “call Fetya’s Mommy”. She called the house phone from her cell phone. When the nanny answered, she pretended to be me and told Fetya that “I will be there tomorrow. I will come to see you tomorrow.” I guess that worked, until this morning when the pestering started anew. She was SO excited to see us. She mixed us up a little, calling me ‘daddy’ and Seth ‘Mommy’.

After Fetya came out, Yohannes’ nanny (each baby has a special nanny in charge of them) brought him out. I bawled…again. She didn’t pass him off immediately, I was holding Fetya, so Seth timidly put his hands out for him. He’s precious! The nannies had ‘fixed’ his hair so the curls on top all flipped the same direction from the middle of his head—a God given Mohawk! He seemed pretty uncertain at first, puckering his forehead and pursing his lips. By the end of the afternoon, he was laughing at us—though still prefers his nanny. They were visibly upset when we arrived, since they have taken such care with these children for so long. I held Yohannes and pretty soon he just fell asleep on my shoulder.

We played and played with the older kids. I took pictures and videos—as much as I could manage with interruptions. If you are an AWAA family with a referral, please leave me a comment (if you haven’t already told me) giving us permission to take pictures of your kiddo. Tomorrow Jill and I are going to get busy with photos for everyone who is waiting…in an organized fashion. I have clips of this baby or that child (I even videoed some of the nannies’ children by mistake!) and aren’t sure who they match up with. I promise we will get it all straight tomorrow!

When Fetya had enough of the bubbles, bouncy balls, balloons, and play dough (all a huge hit with all of the kids), she pulled me over to the big green gate and opened it. Then she gibbered off something in Amharic, obviously intending for me to take her to the van and GO. When Fortuna explained that she wasn’t leaving today, she went into panic mode. This girl has been SPOILED. She climbed into my arms and didn’t want to get down. I think she was hoping I’d forget that I was holding her and just leave! My knack for putting kids to sleep worked on her too, she went limp about 10 minutes afterwards. I laid her down and realized that my arms are going to be in pain after this week. Yohannes has got to be the biggest baby at the home—he can’t fit into the clothes I sent last month!

I’m going to try to download the video from this afternoon. Neither the Coen’s, nor us have capabilities to download photos onto our blogs. When I blew up the camera charger, I blew up our only chance to download photos. We are taking plenty of pictures, but just can’t post them until we get home. Frustrating, I know. BUT I hope that this video will work.

Tomorrow we are going to bring the kids home. Fetya is an absolute hurricane of energy and this hotel room is going to get small very fast. Yohannes seems to be a very easy going baby. I’m nervous but so excited to finally have the kids with US. Thank you for your prayers—this experience has been amazing this far.

Sunday in Ethiopia

I have a few minutes before heading downstairs...Seth and Marshall are battling it out at the ping pong table and I woul like to watch the game.

It's a beautiful Easter day in Addis. The Ethiopians make a big celebration out of Easter, much like the hoopla that surrounds Christmas in the US. We had hopes of getting to a church service this morning, but decided not to go. We were wary of catching a taxi, unsure of how we could get back to the hotel after the church service. We didn't want to call one of the Christian drivers listed by the agency, since they would be celebrating with their families.

On the way down to breakfast we met the Heinrich's (adopting 9 yr old, Selam) in the elevator. We must look obviously American, because Alice took one look at me and asked if I was Apryl. The Coen's were waiting in the lobby and we all enjoyed the buffet. The prices for food at the restaurants in the Hilton are comparable to prices in the US (even higher in some cases). Off the Hilton grounds, everything is much more reasonable. Yesterday, we paid $15 for lunch for four. For the buffet at the Hilton, it was $35 per couple--included in the price of our room or we probably wouldn't have splurged on that. Future travelers--this isn't included unless you are a Hilton Honors member, if you are, be sure to tell them at check in, or before. Our room was upgraded and buffet included for free because of this. Seth only mentioned it because he wanted the points, that turned out to be a very nice bonus.

We have spent the day walking around the grounds of the Hilton 'compound' and getting to know the other couples here. Our evening plans are to leave the compound and brave real Addis for dinner. I would love to post a few pictures of us from today, but alas, blew up my camera charger this morning. I'm on a roll with electronics! We did get the hotel safe fixed and I am no longer allowed to operate it. I have another camera that won't download photos onto the laptop. We are taking the pictures, just can't post them right now. We will be sure to download some video from tomorrow!

For clarity: We will meet the kiddos tomorrow afternoon (Monday). Tuesday we will go back to the orphanage and pick the kids up, from this day on they will be with us!

We Made It!!!

Our last picture as a family of five! We miss you three!

After a delay in DC, we spent 16 hours on the plane and arrived this morning. Logically we should be revved and ready to go. We just lounged for 16 hours! The airlines were very efficient in providing drinks, meals, and hot towels. Just about when we started to drift off it was time for another round of trash pick up or meal preparations. I finally called it quits on sleeping and read three books (thanks, Vicki!).

The plane was PACKED; not an open seat to be found. Easter is tomorrow, so most of the people on the plane were coming home for the holiday. We were sitting by two rows of families with small children. I relished every minute of freedom we had; since we will be in their shoes on the way home. The cultural differences were immediately apparent as every child that passed Seth (who was on the aisle) rubbed his knee or touched his shirt. When they lingered, their parents just smiled and let them visit with him. If you know Seth personally, you KNOW that he's not too big on people touching him. Pretty big adjustment for him! He jumped out of his skin when one little girl stuck her hand down his shirt pocket.

Upon arriving at the airport, we had few instructions to follow and managed to murk those up. Even after the instructions from Penelope, we still got into the wrong line for visas. It was all resolved, but we were a bit frustrated with ourselves for not being better prepared. Barrett and Rachel met us outside of the airport then we went to lunch. They are a fun couple who seem to enjoy what they are doing. They told us all about Fetya over lunch. She's evidently quite a jokester. She takes liberties, but makes everyone laugh at her. I'm excited to meet this little girl of ours! I'm also a little nervous, Rachel mentioned that Fetya may have a hard time initially. She is anticipating our arrival and understands that she will leave with us. But it's unclear how MUCH she understands. She's had many changes in the past year--first spending 6 months at Kids Care Orphanage, then moving to the America World Home in February. She took a little while to warm up there, but has blossomed and is loved by the others who live there. As much as she has heard about us, seen our pictures, and been pumped up for her departure--she's still going to be destroyed when she realizes that she won't see Rachel or Barrett again, the nannies, and likely she won't see many of the friends she has made. Much loss in the past year for this little girl--please pray for her!

Seth and I are at the Hilton settling down now. We've had the afternoon to adjust a little. Both of us were so exhausted we took a nap (we arrived in ET at 3 am our time). The rest of the families arrive later tonight. Seth ate an Ethiopian lamb dish for dinner and will probably pay for that. He fools himself into thinking he has an iron stomach. I've possibly caused permanent damage to the in-room safe...with all of our valuables inside. So far, so good!

We are leaving!

I've been running like mad for at least 2 weeks. Today it will finally pay off. We are packed and (I hope) ready to go! Seth and I fly out tonight, but have to take the kids to their grandparents for the week (2 hours away). I've been teasing Everett relentlessly about a tooth he needs to pull before I leave. Yesterday, he checked that off the list!

In October, my mom's church collected vitamins, coloring books, and crayons to donate to AHOPE. The "packing monster" has been lurking in a corner of my basement, slowly and steadily growing since then. He moved to my bedroom a few weeks ago and got completely out of control until we contained him in four very large suitcases. Here's the progression:

Our next post will be from Addis! We covet your prayers for our health, meeting our kids, the three who are staying with family, and for our trip back!

Merely a coincidence?

Sometime during the long winter, I reconnected with a friend. It had been ages since we had spoken and she called me out of the blue. Or so it seemed.

My friend and I have known each other since college. We became fast friends and helped each other get through some tough classes. We kept in touch and visited each other a few times since graduation. Not nearly as often as we would have liked. Like it so often happens, we lost contact with each other several years ago. I have to admit that though I try so hard to stay in touch with my friends; I let it get away from me. Before I blink it seems like months have passed since I've called a cherished girlfriend.

All of you, who are dear to my heart, please know this--I pray for you! I pray fervently for you, in the situations that you bear daily. I pray that if you don't KNOW Jesus, you would come to see him as your Savior. If you love Him dearly, I pray that you would live your life in a glorifying manner. I pray for your children, your husbands, your jobs. I've prayed over each of you who have been expecting new additions to your families. I confess that I haven't always been so diligent in my prayer life. I wish I would have been!

So, this dear college friend, who I haven't talked to in years...I've been praying for her, too, for years. This winter, maybe it was the weather, the wait, or a bad cup of coffee, but I had a moment as I was praying. It's sad to think about now, but I was praying about my friend and said, "Lord, I haven't talked to her in ages. I don't know what she's doing or what is going on in her life. I don't even know how to pray for her anymore. Should I stop?"

It sounds horrible doesn't it? I didn't mean it in a bad way, but felt a little inept in my prayers. Praying that she would be drawn to the Lord, but not knowing the circumstances in her life. Well, wouldn't you know, God never wants us to stop praying for others! (Can you see the big flashing 'Duh!').

One evening, just a few days after praying that prayer, my phone rang. And it was this friend! She said she just started 'wondering what Apryl is up to,' so she googled me. My wonderful little blog popped up. She's such a good friend that she didn't tell me it bored her to tears, but she sat and read the ENTIRE story. Then called me, and we talked for three hours! God answers our prayers in amazing ways, doesn't He?

That's not the end of the story though! This friend took it upon herself to let her family and friends know what we are up to. Then, she sent me a big, FAT check from all of them to us. God poured His blessing out on us through a group of people that I never would have expected to hear from.

Now, would you call that a coincidence?

My friend, who-knows-who-she-is, I hope you know how much our family has appreciated your kindness! I will continue (*smirk*whether you like it or not) to pray for you, and if I haven't heard from you in a while, I'll ask God about you and just wait for the phone to ring. That is so much more amazing than picking the phone up myself! May I use that as a legitimate excuse? How about the whole I'm-a-homeschooling-mom-to-five-kids routine?

Ephesians 23:14, 17, 19

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love...know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Four days and counting

I have about 10 things I should be doing right now (that includes sleeping). But, this is more fun than mopping or sewing or folding some more clothes!

On Saturday, ladies from our church hosted a shower for our family. It was an astounding blessing; and as hard as it may be to believe, I was speechless! We received many gifts for our kiddos and donations for the orphanages in Ethiopia. I was so busy that I only managed to snap one photo. It is a doosey, Ella squinting at me from the deck while munching on a chicken nugget. It screams "Baby Shower!" I will have to rely on the responsible ladies who were taking photos to share them with me (get the hint?).

Mentioning photos makes me cringe because it reminds me that I have a camera issue. Really a memory stick problem. Not necessarily something you want to deal with THREE days before you leave the country to meet your children for the first time. Especially when the new memory stick you bought came from a company who "is on holiday until April 28th". No store, company, or manufacturer really buys my pleading that "I'm leaving for AFRICA in THREE days!" They are probably thinking I deserve to run out of memory space since I've waited so long to handle this. They would be wrong for thinking that, I started dealing with this weeks ago. None of my solutions have worked. All have ended in a "C:13:01 format error". Nice. My mother in law is going to give us a second digital camera as backup.

We had our travel conference call this afternoon. It, like all travel preparations, was surreal. I felt like I needed to pinch myself. After waiting for what seemed like so long, we are finally really going to Ethiopia to bring home our kids!

Though I may sound scatterbrained; I think I have a handle on the situation. Onesies are folded, diapers, formula, gifts, books, medicines, donations (five more pages of items)...are packed, car seats are installed in the huge vehicle, children are excited about visiting Grandparents, lists are checked, documents are copied...in triplicate, and our tickets are here. All that is left (as Seth would say) is to "throw our clothes in a bag and leave". I may have to recheck the list a few more times, just in case. I feel some running around like a chicken-missing-its-head coming on...

It's every other Friday today!

In my haste to do things, I forgot that today is "our update Friday"! I took a break from the chaos and ***ahhhh*** an email from Rachel! She wrote: "Apryl, see you soon!" I'm still having a hard time believing that we are really going to Ethiopia next week.

The best part of the update, by far, are the pictures. Yohannes' picture may rival my number one pick--it's a perfect photo to accompany Rachel's update.

Yohannes is becoming so expressive. To watch his facial expressions is so entertaining and keeps that nannies laughing! Yohannes gets lots and lots of attention and loving on! He is very alert, responsive, and interactive. He continues to be healthy and happy!

Everyone is starting to talk about Fetya’s leaving soon. She is such an entertaining and fun child, and will be missed around here! The older children just laugh at her, as well as all the staff. At the recent birthday party of another child at the transition home, we discovered that Fetya does not like pizza or ice cream! Fetya is usually a GREAT eater, but she wasn’t so sure what to think about the strange food placed in front of her. Maybe she’ll never be an adventurous eater, or maybe she’ll change with all the food choices in America! Fetya continues to be very healthy and happy!

Maybe I'll have to steam up some spinach on pizza night! We leave in just 6 days--it's unreal!

Our latest

I just got a few photos from a family who picked their daughters up last month. They were so excited to hear that we live within a few hours of each other. Their little girls and Salomae had become friends at the transition home.

Doesn't she look like a jubilant kid?


Penelope was so kind to send me a travel email complete with photos. I actually printed her travel list from her blog because I knew it would be the most comprehensive I could find. It is FIVE pages long. Now you understand a little bit of what I'm dealing with. Seth seems to think we are just "throwing some clothes in a bag."

That is a direct quote. He lives in blissful ignorance. I have enlightened him.

So we press on.

Among packing, I have doctor's appointments, speech therapy, and Ella needs a new leg. Perfect timing on that one. Her prosthetist just took a new job in Tennessee. Perfect.

And school...sigh. School. We *will* be done with school next week. Regardless. I take that back. I will be done with school next week. The children may continue on for the following week, it's completely up to the replacements (aka in laws and my parents). They may have a strong desire to teach that week. You know, tie up some loose ends. Totally up to them. No pressure or anything.

But, hey, isn't that a cute picture? I'm thrilled that they sent that along to me. In less than one week we are leaving! Only 9 days until we meet our kids!

Salomae and Josiah

Salomae and Josiah

I have a friend who annoys me to no end keeps me accountable. She continues to pester me gently remind me that I haven't taken the time to post the rest of my kids' pictures. So, to appease my friend and make my life easier...I made a slideshow. Before said friend decides to remark on my musical choice--I had no song that burst forth in my mind when I made this slideshow. I happen to be partial to Vivaldi's Spring. That seemed quite appropriate to me, since we are coming into spring after such a long winter. Enjoy! This is the best I could sling together as I run amuck. Every once in a while I screech at an unsuspecting child, "We are leaving in 8 days! Can you even bear it? EIGHT DAYS!" Poor kids, they will be so happy when they get their real mommy back.

Meet our kids!

We are officially a family of SEVEN! I'm thrilled to be able to introduce our two newest additions. Without further adieu (and since you probably just skipped all of this to see pictures...) this is our daughter, Fetya (pronounced Fit-e-yah).

Our referral picture

Picture of Mel giving her the "goodies" we sent, she's holding an album with photos of our home and family.
Here she is strutting her stuff in the clothes that Eli picked out to mail her.
I have about 20 more pictures, but I'll post them over the next two weeks :)





This is our son, Yohannes. Here is our referral picture.





This is my favorite picture of him. He's just absolutely adorable!

This is a recent picture that Lenka took. He's smiling in almost every photo that I have.
This is from last week's update from Rachel--he's changed so much in the past two months. I can't wait to get my hands on his squeezy cheeks!



So there you have it--our two newest additions! More photos to follow!

Time is passing so....slowly....

Today was one of my longest days. Ever. Court is tomorrow and I'm nervous. I shouldn't be. I can't help myself. My dear traveling buddy, Jill, had just what I need.

Phillipians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Since I'm not nearly as 'spurtual' as Jill is (she's married to a chaplain!), I didn't spend my day meditating on God's Word. I just tried to...well, spend my day.

Here's the breakdown of how successful I was in my attempts to keep my mind from the impending court case:

Checked my email at least 15 times...the time spent varied and the content varied so I can't honestly give this an overall score.

Taught my kiddos-Among other imperative-that-you-master-this-immediately-in-order-to-succeed-as-an-adult-lessons, I taught Everett how to make a cursive 'L'...only took about 2 minutes of my time, but was pretty successful in keeping my attention. We also read a bit of a Gladys Aylward biography...far more impact from this than cursive! Gave Ella and Eli a math lesson...took about 30 minutes and every bit of patience and attention I could muster.

Talked on the phone with various friends...not such a success because we talked about court, adoption, and upcoming baby shower. That shower alone makes me nervous!

Read blogs...took up loads of time, but alas, I continued to dwell on MY kids.

Went grocery shopping...I hate grocery shopping almost as much as I hate running with a double jogging stroller. This was very effective on all counts. It took FOREVER and sucked every ounce of brain power I had to give.

Watched "The Black Stallion" with my kids...when all else fails, it seems that the TV is the perfect time waster. Right?

Wrote this post...probably about 5 minutes (you really deserve more of my time than that). Now, I've got butterflies because of it, obviously not such a good choice.

My evening plans include going through all of Ella's clothes that are size 4. That probably won't relax me a bit. I should really follow Jill's lead and spent some time CALMING DOWN.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalm 95:1-2

ONE

One more day until we are officially a family of SEVEN!

Please join us in praying that all the paperwork is in order for our appointment in court tomorrow. Ethiopia is about 8 hours ahead of us, so don't wait until tomorrow afternoon to pray! I will post pictures of our kids right after we get the call or email from Duni. We can hardly wait!

Testing

This is just a test to see if I can update the blog via email.  Since I'm partially computer illiterate (that may be a surprise), I thought I should give it a try before we actually leave. 

 

By the way...only TWO days until court!

 

Tentative Travel Plans

When we got our court date, Duni said that AW planned for us to travel 2-3 weeks after a successful ruling. This went in one ear and out the other. I guess I had to process that for about a month before I realized that 2 weeks really may mean 2 weeks. I emailed her this week about our possible travel date and she said they still want us to travel on April 26th.



I freaked out. Common theme around here. The freaking out. Total freaking out when I realize that April 26th is only 3 weeks away.



THREE WEEKS FROM NOW WE COULD BE IN ETHIOPIA.



Shall we all do a little freaking out? Not you, dear reader, as you calmly sip your beverage of choice and read my delightful insights on our life and adoption. I'll run amuck enough for both of us.

By the way...FOUR days until court!

Update from Rachel

We got our update from the AW House yesterday! I love, love, love every other Friday because I know we are going to see some new pictures and hear a little bit about our kids. This is what Rachel wrote:
Your son won the contest for the biggest baby, and his nannies were very proud! He is obviously healthy, happy, and thriving! His eating, sleeping, and bowel movements are all normal. He continues to be a favorite and win people over with his smile. The older children play “peek-a-boo” with him, which really gets him laughing hard!

This is what she said regarding our daughter:
For breakfast the children eat traditional Ethiopian bread and drink hot tea. Lunch can be a variety of things. Our side items are usually steamed spinach, cooked vegetables (beets, carrots, potatoes), or salad (lettuce, tomato, onion, peppers). The main dish is pasta with tomato sauce or meat sauce, rice with veggies and sauce, or injera with a lentil sauce. The children usually have a snack around 5:30 pm, which they eat bread with honey or fruit. Dinner is eaten around 8:30pm, and they eat the same thing as lunch.

Hmm, steamed spinach? We may have a problem. I can't recall a time I've ever eaten steamed spinach. Like without a saucy coating? Like just PLAIN steamed spinach? Do you think Salome will notice that the rest of us are eating pb&j while she enjoys spinach for lunch? I think it's pretty cool that she eats so healthy. Sadly, I'll probably ruin her for steamed spinach by introducing her to the beauty of peanut butter.

While I'm writing about updates, I got an email from Erica about my little girl. She was giving me some kind encouragement. It was so sweet and I thought I'd post it, but then didn't. So now I will...
I've met your little girl & spent some time with her. She's definitely got personality! She was very sweet with me and definitely wanted to get my attention. I really think she's going to love being in a family and I will pray that she & Ella will have a sisterhood for the ages. Sisters are the best.

Sweet.

The Steigers sent us photos last week. Tons of photos. Tons of very great photos. Next week I will gladly, exuberantly share these photos with YOU! Only 6 more days until court...this is still unreal.

Adoption

For about a week I've been basking in the miracle of adoption. If you snicker at the cheesy ring that sentence has, well, humor me. It's late and I've eaten the last bit of chocolate in the house. I'm not fibbing about the basking (or the chocolate).

On a sidenote-I hate that the word 'miracle' has been so overused that it doesn't stop someone in their tracks when they hear it. It's this desensitized-yeah-whatever attitude that keeps people from stopping to contemplate a wonderful happening. So, I'm using the word miracle in it's most proper sense. An inexplicable act of God. Are you with me now?

Sit still for a spell...and...think...about the miracles that have to take place for one child to meet up with their forever family. Don't make the mistake of thinking that it's just filling out paperwork and then being paired with a child. That would be like saying birthing a baby is buying a pregnancy test and finding an OB.

Some of these miracles we never hear about, but, oh, I can only imagine. I have been, imagining (as I'm furiously still trying to unscrew one stubborn bolt from Ella's headboard...two days later). I'm wondering what happened before our referral. How many 'little' miracles had to take place for our kids to meet up with us.

I'm absolutely certain that there is an amazing story of God's providence behind our long wait. I witnessed the miracles that took place when we adopted Ella. At the time they were inconveniences. Some of them were downright dreadful. Then the day came when God drew back the curtain and we got a glimpse of what was going on backstage. What a story. It gives me chills when I think about it.

And I'm in awe again, wondering what has gone on to bring these two children into our family. This post seemed so timely to me.

Check out that ticker...

Less than two weeks until our court date! Deep breathing...shoulder rolling ensues...this is really going to happen. Exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

That is all I have for you today.

Except to say that the nesting bug has hit big time. I'm currently taking Ella's bed apart. It is not pretty. I always wait for Seth to leave town to start some insane project like this. Later today I plan on picking up Salome's mattress. I will single-handedly wrangle it out of Moby and through the corridors that we call living space. I am certain that I can handle that.

Ella is quite excited about adding another bed to her room. If only she could remember that pesky sister's name. Right now she is known as, my-sister-whats-her-name-again? Such a long name for such a small little girl. Ella and I will be spending the rest of the week wrestling with these beds; it will provide ample time to quiz her on her sister's name. I told her she could call her Sally if she wanted (since ALL of her babies are named Sally, I thought that would be easy to remember). That overachiever refuses to take the easy way out.

General Excitement

This week our agency has called several families with referrals. Before this, we were the last family to get a referral--so a week like this has been long anticipated. We heard news a while ago that 9 children were moved into the transition home--and this week their families got The Call. Go visit the Wests, the Kidds, and the Cordells if you'd like to relive the excitement of getting the news. There were also referrals of four older children. I was wondering if our little girl had lost all of her playmates after the last few families travelled and brought home their children. I'm glad that she has some older kids to play with. I keep trying to picture what they are doing, but it's nearly impossible!

On the preparation-for-travelling-in-hopefully-a-month front...We have made some very serious progress. Well, I haven't made any progress. My dear relatives have. My aunt, cousin, mom and grandma spent last week furiously sewing, assembling jewelry, and baking. The baking is unrelated to the preparation-for-travelling-in-hopefully-a-month, but it was a blessing because I didn't have to make a cake for Ella's birthday. Well worth publicly thanking them AGAIN, because they did a much more excellent job than I ever could have. My cousin is so sweet to spend her spring break working her fingers to the bone. Not very many 15 year olds would be willing to do so, she's a very *special* girl. To avoid any jealousy amongst the family--You are all special! You've blessed me beyond words! They worked on a quilt that has been in progress for over a year. That is another post in itself and definitely requires pictures, so I will wait on that.

Here's the progress...

earrings made: 19 pairs (extras to avoid being without a gift when we need one)

bracelets made: 14

aprons made: 14 (though this wasn't the sewing I referred to)

lotion sets purchased: 4

Still working on the gifts for the men--thanks for the ideas that you guys have given us. I'm going to try to find some inexpensive all-in-one tools. Perhaps our fall back plan will be t-shirts and/or hats.

Here's our birthday girl modeling a much too large apron (this one is lacking the pockets on the front) for the AW house nannies. She obviously isn't going to pursue a career in modeling as she is perpetually grumpy about being forced to have her picture taken.

These are some of the other aprons. We are bringing jewelry for the ladies in addition to the aprons, because I couldn't bear the thought of just giving them some "work clothes". My hope is that they will be happy to have kiddos spitting up on the apron and keeping their clothes clean. Trying to be practical here!

Gushing

I may or may not have mentioned it, but every other Friday I get an update on our kids. Rachel is an America World employee who moved (with her husband) to Ethiopia in January. She helps run the transition home, where both of our kids have been for just over a month. This Friday she sent photos of both kids and a little blurb on their well being.

I have to say...our daughter looks like she has some attitude. She's so adorable, wearing these Dora-turned-JLo glasses trying to be serious. Very glam. I'm looking at these pictures and I am praying, praying, praying that she and Ella are best friends. You can only learn so much from a few lines and a few photos, but she seems to have some personality (as if we are wanting for personality around here). I'm so anxious to finally meet them and it's only been a month since we got our referral. I can't believe how different our son looks from the referral picture. Babies change so quickly--I feel like we are missing so much. I know, it's only been a month.

Rachel also sent an email listing off some of the needs of the transition home. I would love to pack one suitcase full of these things. If you live around me, let me know if you are interested in helping out with donations. I guess, if you'd like to pack a few things and mail them to me, that would work, too!
Here is the list:
Multivitamins (Tri-vi-sol, Poly-vi-sol, Chewable multi-vitamin (2 years to 9 years), Adult multivitamin)
Tylenol (acetaminophen--Infants, Children’s,Suppository)
Syringes for giving medicines (5mL)
Bulb syringes
Baby nose saline spray
Neosporin
Desitin or other cream for diaper changes
Benadryl liquid/elixir
Permetherin for scabies
Lice kits
Hand sanitizer
Floss
Moisturizing lotion: (Eucerin or aquaphor or cetaphil)

When does spring start anyway?

Two days in a row Eli has gotten out of bed and asked to wear shorts. We still have snow on the ground. A pretty good amount of snow. Yesterday, after I told him it was still snowy, he replied, "I hate snow." I agreed. It's been a LONG winter. Our snowy days are still around, even if the calender says that it's spring.


There are loads of reasons why I'm...done...with...snow. We are suffering from a smidge of cabin fever. To avoid constant bickering, I endure the "going outside to play" routine.


This is a little taste of what goes down in our house on a day like today...


The kiddos start going stir crazy. I cringe and tell them to put on a sweatshirt then two pairs of socks. That gives me enough time to lay everything out in appropriate piles. I've got this down to a science.
After wrestling on snowsuits, boots, gloves, hats, and coats are donned (in that order--I tell you, it's a science). Approximately 20 minutes have elapsed since the mention of playing in the snow.

I send everyone into the backyard and I stay inside. At the beginning of the season, I was a good mom. I had my own pile of things to wear and scrambled into them so I could join in the fun. But, I've honestly HAD ENOUGH OF THE SNOW.

I can never tell how long the playing will last so I grab a cup of coffee and start to make phone calls. While on hold with a doctor's office, I hear the first grumblings that someone is ready to come in. I shoo him away, but pretty soon all three kids are ready to come in. The fun of snow is wearing off for them too.

I relent and let them all in and we begin the undressing procedure. Which means they shed everything on the front porch with wild abandon. I'm not sure if the 20 minutes of stillness I enjoy is worth all the work.

I'm thankful that it doesn't USUALLY snow in May, since I'm not sure how well our two new kiddos will take to the snow. I have big plans to stow all of our winter gear in the closet tomorrow. If I pretend that spring has sprung, maybe it will happen. Perhaps Eli is under the same delusion. Putting snowboots away is one thing; I draw the line at letting him wear shorts while snow is on the ground.

Totally unrelated to adoption

Seth showed me this trailer on Youtube yesterday. I was THRILLED to see it because this is something near and dear to my heart. I'm keeping you in suspense on purpose, because I want you to click on the link. Perhaps you'll get sucked in and watch the trailer. IF you watch the trailer, then you'll have to watch the documentary.

Life in a sitcom

Sometimes my life seems like an episode of "I Love Lucy". I had a few of those moments this week. Moments when I actually felt like I stepped into TVland. All that's missing is red hair and Ethel.

Monday morning I noticed a bit of black ooze under my fridge. I immediately thought about how expensive it would be to replace our fridge. Then I wondered why motor oil would be leaking out of the fridge. Hmm. How doofey can I be? In an attempt to try to solve the riddle, I opened the fridge door and was greeted by a gallon of homemade tomato soup. Dripping from the second shelf, filling the lower level then oozing in small streams onto the floor. There it sat oozing and turning black, all...night...long.

Where do you even start? First, I took the offending bag of soup out of the fridge.

"Bag?!" You say.

Yes, a bag. A big ol' gallon ziploc bag. One of those nice sturdy ones that I like to fill with soup then freeze. One of the kind that they do wacky stuff with in the commercials. One of the kind that has an inch long slice in the side to allow foodstuffs to spew out in your fridge...wait...

Yep, upon examination, there is a perfect inch long slit in the side of the bag. I gulp and call my cleaning crew. Which consists of Ella and Eli. Everett is heavily entrenched in the American Revolution right now. He's unaware of the horrors going on in the kitchen. One kid dispenses papertowels to me, the other holds a Wal-mart bag for the trash. I have to sop up the soup (say that 5 times fast) then empty the lower racks into the sink. Sadly, my fridge needed to be cleaned, it's unfortunate that it took this to make me do it.

The fridge looks grand. I didn't bother cleaning the upper racks. It is the middle of the school day, you know.

Then lunch comes. We eat. I momentarily forget that I am a responsible mother. I pass out hard candy to my children. I leave the room. I return to find my youngest choking. I'm not talking about an I-will-be-okay-cough. I'm talking about a DIAL-911-he's-going-to-die-choke. I rub his back and encourage him to cough if he can. I realize I'm a complete fool because I don't know how to properly Heimlich a small child. He is in a situation that would require this, I fear. He's slobbering, I'm maintaining a facade of calm. I feebly attempt a heimlich when he spews a piece out. He spits up in my hand a bit. Then he turns to me and full on retches. All over. I honestly don't care, because he's okay, allbeit covered in vomit. But that makes two of us. So we hug a vomity hug and I cry. Long and hard. I thank God that the nasty piece of candy came out. Rule #278 is born. "No hard candy, large lollipops that can be broken into small pieces, or anything that slightly resembles hard candy allowed in our house."

As I'm changing out of my tomato soup and vomit clothes, I wonder, "Why?" You know? Why did we need to sop up the mess or see Eli almost die (he was straining to breath so hard that he popped blood vessels in both of his cheeks). I don't feel like a better mom because we made it through 'A Day.' Getting into clean pants I pause and think, "God, is this your refining fire? Because I didn't expect it to be so messy. I don't feel refined. I feel nasty and tired."

Yeah, I'm spiritual like that.

Since I didn't learn the intended lesson the first time, you will never guess what greeted me Wednesday morning. Black ooze under the fridge, again. I'm pretty laid back about it this time, just figuring that I hadn't got it all the other day. I'm kind of slow in the morning. Cut me some slack, I get up EARLY. I open the fridge and blast it all if the second bag of tomato soup hadn't tipped over and leaked from the top shelf down. Let me interject that there wasn't a hole in this one, it just leaked, and this leaking has never happened to me before. Evidently, I really need to learn something from this, because it didn't just leak along the edges of the fridge this time. It filled up each shelf, saturating every item on the shelves until it reached the drawers then filled them too.

Now, I've got some experience in cleaning tomato soup out of fridges. I've also got some experience with not trusting advertisers of gallon ziploc bags. What else shall I learn from this? That I can make time in the middle of my day to scrub the shelves of the fridge? Ella and Eli make good helpers, if I give them detailed instructions? Perhaps the lesson would be that Everett, once 'into' a book, may not notice if a nuclear bomb dropped in our kitchen and he certainly would not help clean up any mess leftover from it.

My fridge is certainly the cleanest, prettiest it's been since it left the showroom. Here's a picture to prove it. And, yes, there was food in the fridge before 'the incident' and we went to the grocery store to replace it all that afternoon. Sigh.

We have a date!!

We are scheduled to have court April 11!

We are NOT there for court. Our agency representative takes our place and we pray that all the paperwork will be okay and our case passes. Then we will get to pick up the kids 2 or 3 (or more) weeks later.

April 11 seems kind of far away. In reality its just 3.5 weeks away. Not that I'm already counting...off to change the Lilypie counter..

I've been tagged...

That sounds so bad. In the strange world of blogs, it's comparable to getting a forward from a friend asking you to list things about yourself. Surely you know what I'm talking about.

I feel loved.

Here are the rules:
You have to tag 5 people and you can't tag the person that tagged you. You leave them a comment on their blog letting them know you are tagging them and why. Also, direct them to your blog for instructions. It is also asked that you notify the tagger when you post your list so that they can enjoy reading the responses.

Here are 10 things about me:

1. Yesterday, I came to the sudden and terrifying realization that I don't know how to properly dislodge candy from kid's throats. Thankfully, after much struggle, Eli spewed out the forsaken candy and proceeded to vomit all over both of us. I've never been so happily covered in vomit in all my life.
2. I have since become as familiar with the dear Heimlich as I can (the internet is a wonderful thing). Watch here.
3. I keep remembering that I have 5 children. That sounds really weird.
4. This morning Seth and I finally, sort of, decided that we will name our two youngest Josiah and Salome. For those of you who hate those names, there is a remedy. We give full permission to use Jo and Sally, May, Sal as alternates.
5. We reserve the right to change our minds before we get to Ethiopia.
6. I'm really, really excited to meet our new kids. Our old kids are really, really excited to meet them too. I'm not so sure if our new kids will like our old kids. They are pretty loud and obnoxious.
7. Sadly, I think they get that from spending so much time around me.
8. I'm the oldest of four daughters. That should suffice as an explanation for #7.
9. I live in a rather dreary part of the country. Last year, I kept count of how many days went by without the sun shining. This year I was too busy and now it's almost spring. Sort of. I won't probably get my crocs out of the closet until May (that one is for you, Shari).
10. In the past month, I have spent more time crying than in all my life added together. Some were tears of joy, some sorrow, and some utter, sheer relief.

Clarification

I'm sorry to have left everyone in the lurch. I was hanging out at death's door for a few days this week. Oddly enough, I was the only one sick. I thought as a rule moms don't get sick unless infected by their children. I was wrong. I managed to teach from the sofa in a germ induced stupor. During a moment of clarity, I remember Eli asking if I would "just take the day off".

I probably got sick because I've been unusually stressed out and sleep deprived. I won't go into details, but having two kids halfway around the world is pretty hard on a mom. We sent another care package with the Steiger's who are in Ethiopia picking up their baby girl right now.

I've had a few questions because of the reimbursements that I mentioned. So I need to clarify some things. The reimbusement is through our county but offered to those in our state. To see if your state offers such things visit here.

Second point of clarification: our daughter's age. She is a 3 year old. When we accepted the referral, she was listed as a four year old by the doctor who did her intake medical report. When we had to clarify her birthday, the agency found that the orphanage had her recorded as a 3 year old. So now she's three. No biggie.

Also, my dear friend is driving me name crazy (she obviously needs to adopt again since she has names coming out of her ears). I didn't consult Hollywood as we complied our list. So, yes, a few of the names may be linked to horror films, villians, etc. We thought about names we liked, we checked the Bible, and then we put them in the poll. For clarification on the names:
Miriam-Moses' sister
Salome-one of the three ladies who goes to the tomb after Jesus' resurrection (the other two were Marys).
Silas-Missionary with Paul
Josiah-Boy king in the Old Testament
Malachi-Prophet
Asher-One of the 12 tribes of Israel
Isaiah-Prophet to Israel

Now that the poll has officially ended, I'm surprised with you people! I really thought Salome would have fared much worse, interesting... I'll let you know what we decide to do. Seth came home from work and said he had thought of two other names-Lily and Pheobe. Mull those over. If anyone out there wants to make my father-in-law a happy man, name your daughter Delaney. He's been begging us for 6 years to use the name. It's a nice name, really, it is.

Making up birthdays...

Three posts in one day! I'm setting records here!

I'm filling out paperwork to apply for 'non-recurring adoption reimbursements'. It's a bit tricky because you have to apply for the money after you get a referral but before you have court. It seems like they are trying to sabotage your chances of being approved for said reimbursements. I wouldn't dare suggest that our government would do such a thing though. It totally makes sense that AFTER the kids are ours we wouldn't be eligible to apply for these reimbursements. Right. Somehow that makes sense. Somewhere.

Though Seth has been riding me about completing the forms; I waited until now because we weren't sure what our daughter's birthday would be. Duni told us that Kids Care had determined our daughter's birthday to be July. So we don't have to redo ANY paperwork! She's three, we requested two kids 3 and under. We match. The government is happy. We don't have to spend more money on paperwork. We are happy.

We will have to revisit the birthday thing at a later date though. Our little girl resembles a five year old more than a three year old. Let's just keep that on the DL for now.

Upon filling out the paperwork I noticed that our little boy is 5 months old today!

Names--take your pick!

I think picking a name for a child is an impossible task. I really wish they just came with a little name tag around their neck.

So here we are, with two kids who have names. Their names are unique. Their names aren't heard in the good ol' US of A. I can't even find the meaning of our daughter's name on Ethiopian websites. Do we keep their names, do we change them, do we just alter them a bit? What shall we do?

I harbor a bit of regret because we completely changed Ella's name. She was Margarita Georgina. Seth and I hadn't spent loads of time discussing names (see the first sentence I wrote to understand why). When the sturdy, scary Ukrainian notary asked us what we wanted to name our daughter, we were startled. We had only met her that day. We weren't sure what American names we liked, or if we should try to alter Margarita to suit us. So we balked, then quickly decided we would toss her entire name out and rename her Ella Grace. Don't ask me why we picked Ella Grace. I'll seem like a total wimp. Over the past three years I've wished that we somehow kept her first name. It was HER name. It didn't come from her birthmom, it was the name of the doctor at the hospital where she was born. Somehow that negated it's importance in our minds. We could have easily named her Margaret, Rita, Georgia...but we didn't have time to think about it! Am I making excuses? You betcha! So we are going to redeem ourselves by adding Margarita to Ella's name.

Now you understand where we are coming from in this decision. Add to the confusion the fact that Seth loves really weirdo names. To complicate it more--I'm the queen of indecision. So I'm going to try and figure out how to poll you, dear readers. I can't promise that we will heed your advice or that the names I list will even be on the list when we actually determine our children's names. But it will be fun to see what you think.

This is where we are TODAY: keep the kid's names as middle names so that they have options later on. That limits us in choosing first names, because VERY few things sound okay with the exotic name our daughter wears. Give us your opinion by voting, just click on one name for each kid ONE TIME (I'm typing that for Seth since he may try to sabotage the whole poll).

Cooking Madness

Did my last post sound frantic?

After I posted last, a dear friend called and told me that she was coming over. I must have scared her with my rantings. Imagine that.

Since plans had changed for her, she was free to spend the day cooking. Those were the big plans on our agenda once my mom arrived. I waded through school then the doorbell rang and mayhem descended in the form of three more kiddos and their take-charge Momma. It was a very productive morning. We put together 2 dishes of stuffed shells, a lasagne, 2 black bean casseroles, 6 loaves of french bread and a pot of vegetable soup. Then the phone rang and my mom, ever-determined to help, was on her way. By the evening we had added a mexican casserole, a pot of chili, and a gazillion waffles to fill my freezer with enough meals to keep my family fed for at least 2 weeks after we get home from Ethiopia. I honestly thought it was going to take two days to make all of the meals I had listed to freeze. Since we got done on Wednesday, that left Thursday to start on another project...gifts for the nannies at the transition home.


I have gone back and forth procrastinating about what to bring these ladies. Finally, we had to just make a decision--so we are making colorful aprons. We are still trying to figure out what to give the rest of the folks who work with our kids. Men probably aren't interested in lotions or aprons, right? If you have any wonderful ideas, please leave me a comment, I'm open to suggestions!

Who are these kids?

Seth is out of town. That alone should strike terror into my heart (and the heart of my kids). It's not that I can't function without him, but after a day of schooling and momming, I need a respite in the form of a chipper, whitty helpmate. He's my knight in business casual. On good days (most of them are) I'm surprised when I hear the garage door open. Other times I'm checking the clock wondering why in the world my relief chose TODAY to stop and get gas.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Unfortunately, there was no relief coming. I had to bear the brunt of my children's anarchy alone. I made them take naps. I made let them watch a movie. I pulled out crayons, pencils, and journals and let them draw for hours on end. Nothing helped. Yesterday, the rascals surrounding me were not my children. They were loud, obnoxious, rude hellions. I found myself staring at the three of them as they laughed maniacally at some rudeness that had erupted from one of their bodies. I wondered if 5:30 was too early for bed. I decided I should probably feed them dinner first. Perhaps full bellies would calm them. Alas, after dinner I finally admitted defeat and sent them to bed early.

My only hope was arriving today. My Mom. Dear, sweet Mom is coming to my rescue.

She thinks she's coming for the rest of the week to prepare for the upcoming arrival of our newest anarchists kids. I want her to come so she could save me from insanity. My kids will be enthralled with my mother and give me a break. They will become the children that I know and love. I hope so. This morning I squeaked when I woke up. It has snowed all night long. Schools are cancelled, roads are icy. This means no Mom. This means I may be alone again today. I hope that the little creatures who arise in a few minutes are my children and not the wild monsters that were visiting yesterday.

I may go on strike.

News from afar

Today I got a surprise email from Erica, a mom in Ethiopia. She sent me PICTURES of my kids!! I was thrilled! Two pictures of each kiddo. Our son already looks so different from the only picture we have. His cheeks are so squeezy...I can't wait to see him. Our daughter is smiling a gorgeous smile.

I pulled the three kids to the computer so they could see our gems. Everett's first reaction to his sister's photos?

"She looks like a boy in this picture." This sounds awful, he wasn't upset or nasty, just commenting.

I covered her recently shaved trimmed hair, allowing only her face to show. Then he replied, "Well, she's going to have to wear a bow or something. Maybe if she wasn't wearing that blue t-shirt..."

Picky, picky. This from the kid who idolizes pirate/colonial/grunge garb and teases his hair.

Our baby boy's pictures got an "awwww" from all parties present. But, oh, they are both so cute. I can't wait to share pictures of them with all of you!

Shortly after that wonderful surprise, Mel posted these tidbits...
Your little girl is just adorable and loves loves loves to have her picture taken!! She will smile ear to ear for you to take her picture and then say "Look, Look" so you will show her the picture!! Adorable!! Your son just never stops smiling and is the cutest little guy with the best belly laugh!!! He is so very happy!!

The families over there have been in our shoes and I am SO thankful that they understand how much the news and the pictures mean. Thank you Erica and Mel!