The continuation of our journey is here.
This time tomorrow, we should be in Amsterdam for 3 nights, then down to Ethiopia to get our kids. While we are finishing the last of the packing, I just realized that I need to put something down to record my thoughts before we embark on the journey of a lifetime. I don’t think I’m very capable of narrative right now, so below are random sentences that have gone through my mind the last few days.
When Adam told Ashley (our social worker) that our only real fear is that when we meet the kids is that they would run screaming, she said that it has only happened once.
Space bags are cool.
We bought more fruit snacks and candy than we had planned because we weren’t sure if they would like strawberry or blueberry, or regular tootsie rolls, are the ones in other flavors, or tootsie roll pops, or dum dums, etc. etc.
I want chocolate!!!
If you ever need to borrow luggage let us know, we bought all new luggage that weighed less so we could cram with more stuff.
I never really nested - actually had to make myself clean and pack. Does that mean I’m not ready to be a mother?
Ran into our pastor in Dierberg’s parking lot, and he seemed more worried about our trip and what we were doing, than happy we were finally going to be parents. Not sure how to take that. He did say he was praying and we appreciate all the prayers we can get.
Swing set finally came in!!! Thank you, Carissa, for picking it up for us.
To anyone who is thinking about burglarizing our home while we are
gone, we have friends coming over every day at various random hours,
and in some instances, staying overnight. There is no pattern. Some
of our friends have guns.
We are flying back on my birthday. Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me…
I was looking at pictures of Addis Ababa earlier - it’s a really colorful city - lots of bright colors.
Don’t know a lick of Amharic or Wolayta, but we have a nice little book with pronunciations (and enunciation) for the important words.
No, we aren’t staying in Amsterdam for 3 days to smoke pot. I’m really looking forward to the Canal Tour, the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. More than anything else, we are both looking forward to getting over jet lag BEFORE meeting our kids.
Our cats know something is going on and they don’t like it.
Gotcha Day is less than a week away!
Can’t get this song out of my head.
So, our trip is pretty much booked. We are leaving next Wednesday.
Hey, some time in the near future, we are going to be moving the blog. Hyperlinking is difficult, along with links, embedded video, etc. It will have to wait. Too much to do!
A new picture of Serawit was e-mailed to me today.
PIGTAILS!!!!
Good news: Have a much better idea what will be happening when we leave
Not as good news: Visa appointment is not confirmed yet, but they hope they will be soon.
:)
I’m entering in a contest! I have to post a video and link back to where it came from and I can win this really cool T-Shirt (that might or might not fit me - hee hee):
My new friend Stacie and her husband are going to Ethiopia to bring home their baby girl. Big brother Micah is so excited (they brought him home 3 years ago). They are selling these t-shirts to help fund their trip. Since we can’t post imbedded youtube videos (we really need to find different blogging software or get on blogspot) take a look at their blog. I also have a link to it to the left of this post. If you enter to win, good luck!
Hopefully I’ll have some really good news to post soon. Have a great day!
Anyone who knows me knows that I really, really dislike Wal Mart. I dislike their corporate model, I dislike their business practices, I dislike their stores, I can go on. Anyone who knows Adam will substitute the word “hate” for “dislike.” We have a Wal Mart less than a mile from our house and we will pass that Wal Mart to go to K-Mart. Frankly, we would rather spend a little more and go to Target - we LOVE Target. Not sure why because it also has the big box concept. Maybe the color red appeals to us, I don’t know. Still, if we have to go to a Wal Mart, we will pass ours up and go to one in another city. That’s how much we like the Wal Mart right by us.
Now that I established our utter dislike for Wal Mart to those who didn’t already know… now I have a confession to make…are you sitting?… We decided to buy a swing set from Wal Mart ONLINE and placed the order a week and a half ago. See, when you are getting down to the wire, and realizing the time of year that our kids are coming home, do the adoption experts really expect us to spend our bonding time indoors? While Adam is usually the one who meticulously researches products, I decided to take the reins on this and find the perfect swing set for the right price, which I did, except that it was at the dreaded Wal Mart. We’re proud, but not too proud, so the order was made. I was kind of impressed with the “ship to store” feature where we don’t pay for shipping. Some of my cold feelings towards Wal Mart could be thawing a little, maybe. Yea right.
Well, I was so meticulous in finding the right swing set that I forgot to figure out how it was going to be installed. Adam went back to work tonight for 14 days straight (10 hour days). By the time he finishes that, we are leaving. Uh oh. Lucky for us, I have an uncle who is good at such things, and he happened to be between jobs. He just did a lot of work on my sister’s new house in the city, and did a fantastic job. I called him last Monday and e-mailed him the information from Wal Mart’s website. I had noted that the reader comments said it was a fantastic swing set, but it was a lot of work to install. Last Friday he called to confirm we were still doing this, and that thankfully, he will be called back to work in a couple of weeks. Just one problem. Swing set was supposed to be in last Thursday. So, I did some checking and found out that the swing set was to come in 3 boxes, but that 1 of the boxes was missing/lost/broken (depending on which e-mail I got - there were many), and they were going to credit me for the one box. Why not all three? So, I e-mail Wal Mart customer service and all they would tell me to do was to cancel the order and re-order it. However, they would give me 15% off the price if I order ship to store, or they would waive the shipping if I have it shipped to home. Ok, Adam is working midnights, it will probably come in during the day while he’s sleeping, can’t afford to take off any more from work… Oh yea, and we are leaving in a little more than 2 weeks. Further, my uncle got called back to work. I actually gave Wal Mart a sob story hoping they would rush the shipping a bit? No luck, but since I placed the re-order tonight, that remains to be seen.
Being it was the best swing set I could find for the price, I re-ordered it. I also posted my frustration on Facebook, and was quite humbled at all the comments I got and offers of help - thanks, guys. One way or another, our kids are going to get a swing set. I still really dislike Wal Mart.
On another note, I’ve finally gone through all the clothes I bought the last few weeks at yard sales, and have washed them and put them away. I think we did really well. I’m still going to buy them some new clothes, but I don’t think we have to buy as much as we thought we would. Aman is going to be styling at the swimming pool. He’s got maybe 6 pairs of swimming trunks from Polo, Gymboree, Gap, etc. A few pairs of shorts I saw at yard sales that I thought were cute were actually swimming trunks!
We got some more new pictures a week ago. Check them out on our website.
Wednesday is our travel meeting, and hopefully we’ll find out then that our Visa date is confirmed, so we can go ahead and finalizing booking the trip. Since I’m taking a half day off, I might hit more yard sales that morning.
One of us will update again after our meeting on Wednesday.
Today’s episode of “Fresh Air” on St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU) had an informative article regarding international adoption.
The interview is with writer John Seabrook. He and his wife have adopted a child from Haiti after the earthquake, but a lot of the information and insight that he share relates to ALL international adoption.
If you have time, give it a listen.
Besides the subtle inferences against international adoption, this is a great article.
After Adam gets off work tomorrow morning, he’s taking up the photo albums and the “one toy each” we got them up to the agency to be shipped out on Friday. The kids should get them next week. Thank you for the suggestions. We got him a matchbox car with it’s own case. You open the case and it’s a ramp and road, etc. For her we got a doll with some outfits and accessories inside a little purse. I had gotten the advice from someone who was over there to get something that they can put away in a case. I read the travel guide and we can write a letter to the kids, so we wrote them both a letter saying we can’t wait to meet them and bring them home, and some other stuff that will make you cry if I share, and stuck that in the photo albums.
Today, I called a parochial school and they are sending us information. Yesterday we called the public school district and they are sending us information. If first impressions mean anything, we are leaning towards public schools depending on how well the kids do adjusting and bonding this summer.
Adam called a couple of travel agents and was a little shocked at the rates. They were about where I thought they would be. I think our dream of flying first class is shot. 
About the boosters, with our luck we won’t get to switching them out,
so it’s best we each have a set - and I checked and we can get just the plain boosters. They don’t cost much, and I have
friends who have offered theirs.
Speaking of which, some of you have told me you have stuff that will
help. While we really, really appreciate any help we get, or items we
can get, please don’t be offended or take it personally if Adam or I forget you told us. We
are good to remember what each of us did an hour ago. We’re both in
information-overload right now - getting the travel information from the agency today didn’t help with that. Yowsers!
Thank you for your patience (and support and prayers).
Aack - now I guess we really have to prepare.
Started off early on Saturday at Sam’s Club. Adam wants a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. No, we don’t plan on sticking them in front of the TV 24/7. Once in a while, it’s not a bad thing. Also looked at the really expensive swing set that we aren’t getting because it’s really expensive (saw one at Toy’s R Us on-line that’s on sale). Swung over (no pun intended) to the kids’ books and bought some for donations, and some that we can take with us for the kids, and one for home. Then went to Best Buy to look at TVs there, and left the place with a camcorder.
I then drug Adam to Le Target (but by the time we left it was hardly dragging). We bought 2 booster seats for the car, and are planning to go back when they restock to buy two more for my mom and dad’s car. His mom and dad already have booster seats. Just now hit me that we probably need 2 more seats for the truck. They are the simple kind that were only $17. If they were still toddlers, I would probably get something fancier, but didn’t think it was necessary at their age.
Also bought a bunch of melamine plates and bowls. Took some of the gift cards for donations and bought a bunch of new blue jeans in various sizes for the transition home. Going through the kids’ clothes, hubby was oohing and awing over some of them, so even though we decided to get all hand-me-downs for the kids to start with, we did get him a shirt and her a dress - both picked out by Adam! Very cute.
Oh and then we went over to the toys… Before I had to drag Adam away from the toys almost empty handed, he picked up most of them and said that we had to have them. The mission of this particular visit was to find a toy for each of them that we could send over before we go over, and ended up leaving empty handed. There were all kinds of ideas for our daughter, but finding something for our son was difficult. Can’t be too big, can’t be too bulky, can’t have batteries…
Suggestions?
Well, It’s official…….
We are parents.
We just got the call from our adoption coordinator (Sharon) at Children’s Hope and our case passed court today!
So now everyone can MEET OUR KIDS!
Court has been continued to the 29th. The government had meetings last week and didn’t have their stuff prepared. Sounds like everyone got continued. While we are certainly disappointed, we aren’t worried. All in God’s time.
Started Friday night. My mother-in-law’s co-workers threw her a surprise retirement party at Adam’s cousin’s house (she’s also a co-worker). She was so surprised. Some of her co-workers were planning a trip to Hilton Head for 2 weeks, and further surprised her with the opportunity to go with them - she would only be responsible for her meals. Good for her!
On Saturday, my friends and family threw Adam and I a non-shower in the loft space at The Dubliner. A lot of people came - I hope I got the chance to talk to all of them, it went so fast. We got lots of donations, and the means for more donations to the House of Hope and the orphanage. Friday morning right before work, some more pictures of the kids were e-mailed - we didn’t tell anyone. On our way home from the party on Friday, we stopped at Wal Mart and I picked up some picture frames and gift bags. When we got home, I put together pictures in the frames for those who had planned the party as a thank you, and a set for the grandparents. Then I put together a power point presentation with the new pictures and we brought it to the party.
Today, we watched a kick-a$$ performance of Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing the whole Beethoven’s Last Night CD - they have been promising this concert for over a decade, and we had great seats in the lower balcony of the Fox.
Now that we managed to wear ourselves out, hopefully we will sleep tonight even though our court date to approve the adoption in the Ethiopian courts is in the morning. If you happen to read this before then, please say some prayers for us that it is approved and doesn’t get continued. Thank you so much!
Joint Council for International Adoption (http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/we-are-the-truth-a-call-to-action/), which is a member based advocacy organization for adoption agencies and adopting parents has asked everyone touched by adoption to write a positive story in their blog on Thursday, April 15, 2010. This is in response to the negative press international adoption has been receiving lately.
Our adoption is hardly complete, so I won’t speak for us. I will however, talk about all the caring parents I have met through our agency, and about their adoptions. If you look to the left of this blog, there are links to other adoption blogs. Three of the four listed involve families with children already at home. The parents all made a conscious decision to adopt a child from another country, and while there were unique challenges, you can just see in the pictures that they are very happy families, with well adjusted children. I have learned so much by reading their blogs. If you haven’t checked them out, you should.
If you have been touched by someone who adopted, or who is adopted (i.e. child(ren) is already home) please either comment here, or post something about it as your status on Facebook or Twitter, or whatever social networking sites you use. We have to get the word out that for every negative story about adoption (international or domestic), there are millions of positive uplifting stores (international or domestic).
Thanks!
A friend and coworker just dropped this off at my house. I only took a few pages, but it’s much bigger and has a lot more room to expand.
Last but not least, someone has been reading my blogs.
Debbie Monterrey, the morning host on KMOX radio, is currently in Ethiopia to bring her son home. Below is a link to an interview of her while in Ethiopia. She describes her trip to Awasa to visit the orphanage and interview with the birth relative. When we go, we will also be traveling to Awasa to the same orphanage. What she describes is much like what we will be going through.
I’m having a hard time getting the hyperlinks to work, so unfortunately you will have to copy and paste the links. Sorry.
http://www.kmox.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4541615
KMOX’s site also provided a very good map of Ethiopia. You can see where Awasa is relative to Addis Ababa
http://www.kmox.com/Heading-to-Ethiopia-/6666021
I know this is a very personal journey for her, but I hope she gives more interviews.
April 19th!!!
Still don’t know of a court date, but we did find out today that our case has been filed in the Ethiopian courts and a court date has been requested. 
I was just about to fall asleep a little while ago when I heard a crash in the living room. Since we are working on the kids’ room, we have a lot piled up in the living room, and we have three cats… nuff said. Didn’t look like anything was broken, but now I’m wired, so I figure I’ll give you an update that’s not much of an update.
No word on a court date. No word on whether our case has been filed in the courts. No word on the possible additional trip. However, a family traveling next week is being very kind and taking pictures of the kids for us so in a few weeks, we will have updated pics.
Also, I can’t get out of my head that he’s going to be playing soccer and she’s going to be taking ballet classes. I have no idea where I’m getting these thoughts from. I played soccer and took ballet classes. Hated soccer, and while I liked dance classes in the beginning (like when I was 4 or 5), I really disliked it when I was 7 or 8, and quit after the 4th grade. It is completely illogical. If they show interest in either or anything else, we’ll give them the opportunity to do it and encourage them, but for whatever reason it’s set in my mind. I see soccer, I think of him. I see ballet shoes I think of her. Weird.
Is this the paper pregnancy version of hormones getting the best of me?
This poem was in our weekly update:
Poem: While You Wait.
May you be safe while you’re waiting.
May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night.
May you be safe as you wake to the morning’s light.
May you feel our love from so far away,
May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.
We will pray for you my little one,
Until our time of waiting is done.
We will pray that the Lord keep you safe from harm,
Until the child of our hearts becomes the child in our arms.
Author: Anonymous