Special Delivery....

No, unfortunately, not our sweet boy. However, his BED was delivered today! Yay!

We were going out of town for Labor Day weekend but saw that our favorite furniture store was having a big sale for Labor Day, so we stopped over there Friday before we left town & ordered a twin bed and mattress for M. I informed the sales guy that I wasn't really in that much of a hurry for delivery because I had to paint the room before it was delivered. When we checked our options though, because Eric has to go to California for work next week, the latest I could take delivery was Friday (today). We were returning from our trip on Monday evening, giving me 3 days before delivery. I could do it! right?!

Of course I could! (although not without some pain & exhaustion!) I took everything off the walls & spackled all the nail holes and dents from flying Thomas the trains of past years before we left town. Then, I slaved away for 2 days once we got back home - painting 2 coats, despite buying the expensive paint with primer in hopes that I would only need 1 coat! (is it even possible to EVER need only one coat? Seriously, has anyone EVER had this wish fulfilled, because I know that I haven't!) Regardless, the light green walls with dinosaur mural are gone. Replaced by a nice, neutral light beige (called sandstone cove) - NOT black like Daniel was telling everyone! :-) I'm willing to do a Pittsburgh Penguins room, but I am NOT willing to paint the walls black.

BEFORE

Thankfully, the furniture store still carried the line of bedroom furniture that we originally bought for Daniel's room so we were able to get the same bed. (you know, the matching thing is important to me, because....well, just because!)

I had ordered some Pittsburgh Penguins bedding a few weeks ago when it was on sale. So, I made up the beds, have a few other decorations -- personalized Penguins flags for over the boys' beds and a hockey forward shadow mural for the one wall over M.'s bed -- on order, and rearranged clothes in the drawers to give M. some drawers for his clothes, too! I put the books and the stuffed animals that we've already purchased for M. on his bed/bookcase headboard. And, I started putting some of his new clothes in drawers.

AFTER

Daniel LOVES it! I am thrilled that the second bed fits better than I thought it was going to. The train table/play table still fits in the room. And, it's all neat and organized....for at least the moment! Now, we just have to hope that M. likes hockey and that Daniel continues to like hockey! :-) (because I assure you that I will NOT be changing the room again for quite a while!)

DANIEL'S BED

M.'S BED

And, one last delivery of the day!

I got an email from Holt today with an updated medical/developmental report that the doctor & head nurse did on Sept. 1st. No illnesses or problems. Since his last report from May, he has gained about 4 pounds and grown 6 cm., which is awesome! Of course, sadly, he still only weighs about 28 pounds and he's 4 years old. :-( But, the developmental report seems to indicate that he's getting along ok, playing with other kids, shares well, can stack more than 10 blocks, etc. The only thing of real note was that he is apparently VERY SHY - especially around people that he doesn't know, and he doesn't talk much but he will answer questions if he's asked. The poor little thing has been through so much in his short life, it's no wonder he's shy. It breaks my heart because in most of the pictures that we've received, he looks very shy and scared. I can't wait to gather him in my arms & comfort him, to provide him with a stable, safe place to live, and a family to feel a part of!!

70 days until we board a flight for Ethiopia to attend our court date and hopefully become the legal parents of this sweet, shy little boy! Until then, we pray and hope and wait!

Happy Birthday M.!

Yesterday was M.'s 4th birthday. Sadly, we weren't celebrating it with him, but we were celebrating it with many, many awesome friends. What better way for us to not think about the things that we didn't have than to think about all the things that we did have?! On Saturday, we had a lot of great friends surrounding us, loving and caring for us, supporting us, and giving to us. They are amazing!

Several weeks ago, our dear friends Paul and Connie called and said they'd like to hold a fundraiser picnic to help us with our travel expenses. We were so blessed by their offer because with the addition of the second trip, finances were going to be quite a stretch. They sent out invites and planned a special day for us. They asked guests to consider making a donation to our travel fund as a birthday gift to M. and a show of love for us and support for our adoption.

The weather was absolutely beautiful! A perfect day for a picnic. A few weeks before the picnic, Paul met a man named Marv Hampton, who is a "Neil Diamond performer", and he offered to come and perform at the picnic for no charge. He was great and those who like Neil Diamond loved him. Those of us who don't like Neil Diamond so much, still loved him - for his heart and the nice atmosphere that it provided for the picnic! It really added to the day and it was so nice of him to come and perform for free when he didn't even know us.



Connie and Paul ordered a very yummy cake with M.'s sweet picture on it. We displayed all the pictures that we have of M. thus far so people could finally see his sweet face. I put together some informational posters with pictures from fellow adoptive parents who have recently traveled so that our friends could see where we'll be going, where we'll be staying, where M. is currently living, and where M. spent the first few years of his life. I made some Ethiopian food - Yemiser W'et - and ordered some injera. I also gave instructions on the proper way to eat it - even if some people preferred to eat it their own way! (Carol!) :-) Connie made lots of great food and everyone else brought tasty things to share as well. There was certainly no shortage of food. Seemed that every time I walked by the food table, I had to eat more because there was something new that I hadn't tried yet! The kids were all wonderfully behaved, as always (ha!) and had a great time playing croquet, climbing Paul & Connie's tree, and playing touch football. Aside from poor little 4 year old Adam breaking his collarbone (for the second time in a month!!), it was a perfect day!

(I'm sorry for the hearted-out faces, but I still can't post M.'s picture!)

We are so very grateful for everyone who attended, who donated to our travel fund, who laughed with us and listened to us babble on and on about Ethiopia or M., who brought their aluminum cans for our recycling fundraiser, who tried my Ethiopian food, who prayed for us (and continue to do so), who support us, and who, just simply, love us. Thank you for everything! We love you and we appreciate you so very much!







When the picnic was over, we came home, sat down together, and opened all the beautiful cards and read your sweet words of encouragement. Together, you all gave us $1265.21 to put towards our travel expenses - more than enough to cover the cost of one of our plane tickets for our first trip! Thank you so very, very much. And, I have to add how much I love that the 21 cents was put into the box by sweet little Grant (Daniel's friend) and that the two pictures hanging on the glass door were drawn by Olivia and Max (our neighbors' kids who are also friends with Mackenzie and Daniel but weren't able to attend). How very sweet that even the children in our lives are supporting us and can't wait to see M. come home!




One last blessing of the day was that after we were home & opened the cards and got Daniel to bed, I checked my email and got 2 new pictures of M. from his friend's new parents who recently returned from Ethiopia. The pictures are from their new son's farewell ceremony. M. is wearing a green t-shirt that has a picture of 2 robots (how perfect for Daniel's little brother and Eric's son!!). One robot is big, the other is little, and they're holding hands. The shirt reads, "Small but Intelligent". :-) So very cute and perfect for this family!! PLUS, there is video of the ceremony too which the other dad will be sending along once he figures out how! Oh, how I can't wait to see little M. in motion!! And, oh how I hope he enjoyed his birthday as much as we did!!

Happy birthday, M.!!
We can't wait to bring you home so that you, too,
will be surrounded by all this love!!

Happy 16th Anniversary! at OneTrueMedia.com

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Tickets for Trip One are Booked!

After receiving our official court date, I spent the last 2 days calling around to a couple of recommended travel agents who specialize in adoption travel, as well as perusing Orbitz to check on airfare. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that air fare is significantly cheaper in November than it was in August. Side note - if you ever want to travel to Ethiopia, you DO NOT want to pay for airfare in the rainy season! I guess that's one plus for us having to wait so long for our court date!

Anyway, our tickets are booked. We will be flying out of Pittsburgh on a Friday morning and arriving in Ethiopia on Saturday night after traveling through Toronto Canada and then Frankfort Germany. We will then be leaving Ethiopia on Monday night and arriving back in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. How's that for a little weekend get-away?! ;-) We will spend more time traveling to and fro, than we will get to spend in Ethiopia for this first trip. But, if all goes as planned, when we leave to come home after this weekend away, we will legally be the parents to our sweet boy, M.

Oh, and another little tidbit of good news, I heard from another adoptive mom today whom I had asked to look for M. when she traveled to bring her son home a few weeks ago. She hadn't been able to find him when they were there, but she had his picture with her and when she was unpacking after they got home, her son saw the picture, picked it up, smiled really big, and kept saying M's name over and over and then kissed the picture. How sweet is that?! Another Ethiopian friend of his here in the states! Yay! I take a tiny bit of comfort in knowing that we won't have to completely take him away from everything that he knows and cares about when we bring him home with us - even if it is just a few friends, it's something!

We Have a DATE!!!

November 22, 2010

Thankfully, the rumors were true! Turns out that although the courts are closed from Aug. 6 through Sept. 27th, the administrative offices are remaining open so they are still assigning court dates. We received our travel email from Holt today, notifying us of our court date where we will appear before the High Courts in Ethiopia to legally adopt our son.

I am grateful to finally KNOW when we're going. I am grateful to have months to plan ahead for our trip. I am grateful that we will return just before Thanksgiving and not only have time to reflect on hopefully being the new legal parents to M., but also time to recover from our whirlwind trip to Ethiopia and back!

Holt is requesting that we arrive in Addis Ababa, ET on Saturday, Nov. 20th - which means we will have to leave Pittsburgh on Friday. On Sunday morning, we will attend an orientation, then get to meet M.. That afternoon, we will be briefed for court and then will spend time with M.'s pediatrician. Monday morning, we will go to court. Monday afternoon, we will again spend some time with M., but then Monday night, we will have to leave ET to fly home (without M. - boo hoo, sad face, many tears... ) - arriving home on Tuesday. Yep, that's 2 days of travel to get there and 2 days of travel to get home, for 2 days/2 nights in ET. I can guarantee you I will be THANKFUL to be home and out of that plane on Tuesday! (and I can almost also guarantee that I will be thankful for flexaril and vicodin for my back pain) ;-)

Seriously though, we are thrilled. We are grateful. We are overjoyed. We are excited.

We don't yet know when we will be able to bring M. home. Embassy appointments are generally anywhere from 4 - 12 weeks after court. Another adoptive mom who has a court date on the Friday before ours was told today that she would most likely not travel for their Embassy appointment until January - which means that we most likely will not travel until January either - but we're still hoping for Christmas miracles!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Psalm 118:1

Friends, Food & other random good stuff

It's been a while since I posted anything. It's not that there wasn't anything to report. It's just that there wasn't anything BIG to report. I kept waiting for the next big thing, but here's what I realized - in the adoption process, there are only a few big things but many, many small things that are all equally important in the long run. Lots of small things have occurred in the past few weeks, so I figured I should probably share them because although they aren't BIG, they are important to us.

First, Eric and I went out a few weeks ago for our first Ethiopian meal. We expected to enjoy it, and we did. In fact, we loved it. We both like spicy - which is a good thing when eating a lot of Ethiopian food. Another thing that we loved about it is the "community" feel of the meal. Ethiopians don't typically use utensils. A lot of their dishes are "wats" - basically like thick stews - which are served on another staple of their diet - "injera" which is a flat bread made from Teff. The food is eaten by ripping a piece of injera from the side, covering the bite that you want and (gracefully) pinching & scooping the morsel into your mouth with the injera. The meals are served family style so Eric and I shared a giant platter.

Honestly, the food doesn't look very appetizing. Here's a picture. You can draw you own comparisons as to what it looks like. I'll spare you my opinion. :-)




But, trust me. It was GOOD!!! Very good! And, it was fun. We talked a lot during the meal and we look forward to going back to share the experience with friends, family, and especially with Markos when he comes home.


Our wonderful friends have planned an Adoption Celebration/Birthday party for M./fundraiser picnic for us. We will be getting together next Saturday - M.'s 4th birthday - to celebrate, visit, and eat. I have ordered some injera and some Ethiopian spices so I can (hopefully) make some Ethiopian dishes to share on this special day.


Speaking of friends, another "little" event that has occurred recently is that we have made contact with a family who just happened to recently adopt and bring home one of M.'s good buddies from the care center. They recently traveled to Ethiopia and met M. while they were there to get their son. They said that he is precious, that the children are VERY, VERY loved and well cared for, that they're learning some English, and that their transition thus far has been amazing! That makes me so happy. Additionally, they also would love for their son to be able to maintain his friendship from Ethiopia so we plan to stay in touch and to possibly allow the boys to Skype once we bring M. home. What a blessing that he will be able to keep one of the relationships that he had in Ethiopia!! God is so good!


Other news - we received M.'s lab results from when he was first moved to Addis (the capital of Ethiopia). Additionally, we received 3 updated pictures of him. Oh how I wish I could post them on here. He is SO CUTE! And he looks so good. So much healthier. So much happier. While it thrilled me to see them, it also hurt a little because he's changed so much already and we're missing it. But, he'll be home soon and then we won't miss the changes & growth for the rest of his precious life.


The reports and pictures were, of course, forwarded to our International Adoption Pediatrician for review. Her report was great. Aside from noticing a possible fungal scalp infection (which we already knew from the other families that a lot of the kids were coming home with scalp ringworm so this was no surprise), she thinks he looks great. His lab results and blood work were great.


Speaking of paperwork, we received our corrected I-171 form from USCIS with our updated age range. This was the last piece of paperwork that needed to be completed before we can travel to bring M. home. We love America, but seriously, dealing with the U.S. government agencies has been the WORST & most difficult part of this entire process thus far. This is the last thing that we needed from them at this point, so we are relieved to be finished with it.


Lastly, we took another trip to the recycling center this morning. We added another $64 to our travel fundraising efforts from your aluminum cans. Thanks for dropping them off for us. We appreciate your support!

OK, that's the update. Lots of little bits of good news, fun times, and things to come.

Court Case Submission!

Today is August 6th -- the day that the Ethiopian High Courts close until September 27th. Today is also the day that we finally received word from Ethiopia that our court case has been submitted. Shooooo!!!! Nothing like getting things done at the last possible moment.

I have been going crazy waiting for word that we had been submitted. Already knowing that the next 2 months were going to be hard - waiting, knowing that nothing was being done to move us closer to our son - so I was really, really hoping that we would be submitted before the closures. Therefore, we are relieved, happy, and ready to go on with our lives until October -- as if we had any choice, really! ;-)

I'm sure the months will fly by. We are going to the lake for a weekend in August. We will be celebrating our new son's birthday and our adoption with great friends at a picnic on August 28th. Eric's work has a picnic at the end of August. School starts on the 24th. Daniel's beloved ice hockey starts back up mid-September. I need to plan some sort of birthday party for Daniel's 7th birthday (yikes!) in September. Eric has to go to California for work sometime in September. And, I am planning to paint & redecorate the boys' room once the kids start back to school. Yep, I'm hoping to stay VERY busy, knowing that all the while a little piece of my heart will be in Ethiopia.

Please continue to pray for M. He will turn 4 on August 28th. We sent him a talking card and a picture of our family. And we pray that he knows that he is loved and that he has a family waiting to bring him home!