Our Adoption Experience

An Ending?

2011-01-03T07:01:00.002-06:00

Since our adoption is over and we have now been home for nearly two years, this blog has come to an end. I'm not writing in it and have decided to start a new one which can be found at mommyofdoom.blogspot.com for future reading.

If we decide to adopt again, we will certainly blog about it and keep you all connected, but for now you'll have to switch your reading pleasure somewhere else. Thanks for following!!!

Will the Snow Never End?

2010-01-08T14:39:00.002-06:00

December was insane. Getting ready for Christmas and meetings at work really kept me so busy I couldn't think straight! But let's see - a family update.

Let's start with the snow. We had 20 inches of snow over Christmas, which led to us being trapped in the house for three days. Not that bad, considering, but then a few days ago, it snowed AGAIN and this time, there were high winds. We ended up closing the library on Wednesday afternoon at 2 (school closed at 1:30) and staying closed on Thursday. Friday, the school was STILL closed, but we opened at 11, mainly because none of us wanted to stay home anymore. So it's a quiet day today, but people are coming - they have things they need to get done, too!

The job is great. I love being a librarian. It's awesome. I write, I read, and I get to talk to people about books. Does it get any better than that?

Marc is getting things squared away at Transit and everyone in the community is glad he's there. He does a good job and keeps things in line - the system is running better now with him than it has with anyone else. I am so proud of him.

Dagny is learning to spell and she can read some words, though not many. She's drawing more and starting to make up songs and dances, which is hilarious. She's in love with My Little Ponys and a stuffed beaver we bought in Minnesota.

Sintu got his testicle fixed right before Christmas and did very well. It only slowed him down for a few days, after which he was back to normal. He still tried to play the pity card sometimes, which is very funny when he bats those big brown eyes and tells me "Mommy, my dinkus hurts..." LOL!

Christmas was great! My parents got in just before the storm and the kids were ecstatic that grandma and papa were staying with us for a week! They stayed a few days longer and took care of the kids while I went to work, since our new daycare is not open between Christmas and New Years - the library is open, though, so I needed places for the kids to go. I think they all had a good time!

The kids made out like bandits at Christmas, with new clothes, a basketball hoop, books, toys, and music. Did I ever get that many presents as a kid? I can't remember.

New Years Eve was really fun, too. We got a babysitter (first time since Dagny was born) and went out with two other couples: Magnussons and Baerenwalds. We started the evening having dinner at Bracco in Sioux Falls (fantastic) and then tried a few bars before ending up in Hardwick, where they had a mechanical bull. Much to my embarassment, I rode it. I got thrown twice, but now I can say that I've done it! One more strange experience for me! We then drove back to Jasper because someone thought they had karaoke, but we were disappointed. No karaoke, so we had a few drinks and were home before midnight. We stayed up, though, and got our News Years kisses!

Hope that the bginning of 2010 is treating everyone well, even if it is -17 degrees with a -45 windchill. Yes, it's darn cold here. I'm wearing wool socks and long underwear and I'm still cold! Anyone got hot chocolate?

I Should Get My Hand Slapped

2009-11-30T16:05:00.002-06:00

I am so very very bad. I haven't written in six months, perhaps a little longer. Needless to say, I have been very busy and the house has been nuts.

News on the diaper front: We have discovered that Sintu is lactose intolerant. We have him off all milk products and, though it hasn't completely cleared up the problem, things are going better. It helps that he still poops on the toilet quite frequently, even if we're not completely potty trained. Thank God for small favors. I'd rather flush than wipe!

News on the Sintu Front: He's talking very well now and has become a sturdy little boy. he understands so much and has so much to say that it's amazing to watch him learn new things every day. I am so glad he's part of our lives.

News on the Dagny Front: Dags went back to school this year and is in the older class. In addition to regular preschool, she also attends School Readiness at the high schoo, which teaches her what kindergarten will be like. She loves it. She has also started dance class and can do a plie, a passe, an arabesque, and a sashay - which she does all over the house. She can also recite the entire Pledge of Allegiance, including the word "indivisible" which is hard for some adults. I'm so proud of her.

The job at the library is going very well, though I am very busy there. When I get home I find there are few things I want to do other than sit and stare at the television until my brain drips out through my nose. Nice thought, huh?

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went to my cousin Terri's house, along with my parents and my cousin Randi and her boyfriend Mo. We had a great time and a fantastic dinner. On Friday morning, we all went to the Minnesota Children's Museum, which was great, and then somehow the girls managed to convince me to go to the MOA on Black Friday. It wasn't so bad, really. We had a good time shopping and then all 11 of us went out for pizza. Tha kids did a really good job!

I can't believe it's December and almost time for Christmas. So far, Sintu has just stared at the tree and batted a few ornaments. He hasn't tried to get the star...good thing!

Whoa...Long time No Write!

2009-05-16T12:38:00.003-05:00

I am so bad! I can't believe I haven't sat down to write in so long, but I'm busy. Imagine that. :D

Let's see...big milestones. Sintu said "I Love You" for the first time a few weeks ago when I was away for a conference and Marc was with the kids. I called in the morning to talk to them and I was on speaker phone. I said "I love you" and I heard two voices reply the same and then a third...there was silence and Marc says "Did you just say I love you?" to Sintu, who then repeated it. Needless to say, I started crying.

He also told Marc a few days ago that he had to poop and Marc put him on the toilet and LOW AND BEHOLD....he pooped in the toilet. And then he repeated that yesterday with me! Of course, he is still battling with the giardia, so he's got to stay in diapers for a little while yet, but he's ready! :D It's very exciting. Probably even more exciting than normal because if he poops in the toilet, there's a lot less to clean up than in a diaper. And for some reason, flushing gets rid of the smell a lot faster!

Dagny is doing much better with her tantrums and throwing fewer of them. I think she's starting to realize that she's the big sister and she needs to behave. At least, that's what I HOPE she's realizing.

We opened presents last night for Sintu's birthday and he hit paydirt. Some of the people at school gave him a tricycle that makes noise and he just loves it. He was scooting around the basement for an hour on it last night!

I tried making him a racecar cake, but I put too much batter in the pan. It flooded over (sigh) and now I need to clean the oven. But I'm going to try again tonight...with less batter...and see how it goes. Practice makes perfect, right? His party is Sunday afternoon and I'll write more after that!

I WANT IT!

2009-04-20T14:55:00.002-05:00

Why is it that toddlers always learn something extremely annoying and negative as their first sentence? Sintu has learned "No" which he uses all the time and now: "I want it!"

He screams this every time we tell him no or take a toy away that is not his, or remove his food from the table because he is playing with it. I'd laugh, because it's so shrill and demanding, but as I wrote before *never* laugh at the bad things.

This morning, he didn't have breakfast. He sat at the table with his cereal in front of him for 45 minutes and only took two bites the entire time, deciding that Kix were far more fun to play with than eat. Needless to say, I took it away from him, which prompted a screaming round, but 45 minutes? You've got to be kidding me.

On a good note, he has also learned to say "I did it!" which he says quite proudly whenever he does something we asked him to, like put away his shoes or put things in the garbage. Or, come to think of it, climbing in and out of his highchair. Yes, Terri Jo, my OTHER kid now does that, too. I still remember your face when you saw Dagny climb in for breakfast one morning.

Garbage...Sintu loves garbage. Not in a bad way, but because it gives him something to do. We could be downstairs (and there are two garbage cans down there) and Marc will say "Sintu, can you put this in the garbage?" And Sintu will very happily take it and go all the way upstairs to throw it away in the kitchen. He's getting more sturdy every day, so I guess all that practice on the stairs is a good thing.

Dagny is doing much better, though she still throws complete fits and doesn't seem to understand that he doesn't want to do everything she asks him to do. Sometimes, Sintu doesn't WANT to play with her and that really makes her mad. Oh well, she'll get used to it. It won't be long until she doesn't want to play with HIM and then the tables will be turned!

They've played outside finally, now that the weather is nice, and Sintu figured out the ladder up to the slide all by himself. He loves it, and swinging, and pushing people who want to swing, except he forgets to get out of the way and gets knocked down by Dagny when he pushes her. The first time he cried, now he just laughs.

Things are going well. I'm planning two birthday parties for the little people, monster trucks for Sintu and mermaids for Dagny, and we're getting ready to plant the garden this year. Gotta plan which plants to have since last year was my first learning year. We'll see what kind of harvest I get this time!

Learning the Language

2009-04-14T15:31:00.002-05:00

So I am relying on Dagny to help teach Sintayehu English. Since she's just recently learned to string intelligent sentences together, I figured she could help.

Yesterday afternoon, I'm in the kitchen and I hear the kids talking in the living room. You know, kid sort of talking, blabbering, silly things and going on and on about "booty."

I have just purchased Dagny a pirate book, so I figure they're reading about treasure and Dagny's explaining the whole idea of pirates (the romantic notion, not the ones in Somalia). They've dressed up like superheroes before and flown around the house, so I'm thinking that they might be dressing up as pirates, right?

WRONG!

I go out into the living room and Dagny is pointing at her BUTT and teaching Sintu the word "booty."

I didn't know what to do, so I started laughing. By All That's Holy, never laugh when your child does something bad. Once they realize you think it's funny, they'll keep doing it. I'm in trouble. Now I don't want to leave them alone since I don't know what she's teaching him!

On a related note, she got a time out at daycare the other day for mooning Rita. Great. In another week, I'm going to have a little white butt and a little brown butt shaking around in my face. Just what I need.

And I laugh every darn time.

Missing Goods

2009-04-10T15:12:00.002-05:00

So SIntu will most likely have surgery in June to correct the undescended testicle and we'll have him circumsized then, too. Figure as long as they're messing around down there, they might as well do it all at once.

Good news is, the doctor thinks he can feel it and is optimistic that it won't be a problem getting it back into place. Of course, he also warned us that sometimes they just go back up again, but heck, we gotta do it!

He's still eating like a horse, which is good, but he still has terrible poops, which is bad. We're still waiting on another stool culture to see if he has parasites still in there. If so, we'll have to be a bit more aggressive in treating them than we have been. I don't know how much longer I can deal with gaggy diapers.

On a non-body oriented note: Dagny is doing better. She loves to get stars for doing nice things and is getting better about actually doing them. It's been almost two weeks and so far she has almost 40 stars. Every 20 stars gets her a prize (like spending a night downstairs with mommy, painting stars on her toenails, things like that) and she's proud of her chart. Now if I could just get her to stop doing mean things, since she loses a star for every mean thing or temper tantrum. However, she hasn't lost that many stars recently, so cross your fingers.

The weather is beautiful today and we plan on going for a walk after work. The kids are both looking forward to it since they love walking around the block. Dagny riders her bike and Sintu has fallen in love with our stroller, which honks. Typical boy, the more noise, the more he likes it.

They're both eating what we're eating most of the time so I've cut down on special meals. When Dags realizes that he's eating and beating her, she starts eating to keep up and they both end up cleaning their plates. It's fabulous.

Catching Up!

2009-04-07T14:23:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I've blogged. Guess I'm busy! Imagine that! :)

So, what's going on...Sintu loves to eat. He'll eat almost anything except for chocolate chip cookies and any sort of gummy vitamin. Those get spit out in the garbage. For awhile, we thought he'd never eat a vegetable, but our daycare lady served him green beans with ketchup and....ouila! He ate them without a problem. So it's Ranch for Dagny and Ketchup for Sintu. Thank heaven for magic sauces.

We are still having trouble with the back end of things. The worms are still there, or something is, and his diapers are terrifying. I've cleaned up so many leaky ones now, you'd think I'd be used to it, but I'm still gagging and opening windows every time. We had another round of stool cultures just this past weekend, so we'll see how those turn out. Hopefully, the clinic of Infectious Deisease (sounds so ominous) in Sioux Falls will be able to help us get things under control.

We have an appointment with the urologist in Sioux Falls on Friday to talk about his testicles. One day, he's going to read this and feel like beating me up, I just know it! Anyway, I'll keep people posted on that.

Our only real problem is adjustments for Dagny. She was so used to being the only child for four years that having another child thrown into the mix is really confusing. She throws incredible tantrums quite frequently to get attention, which is really hard to deal with. Last night, she threw a huge fit because I wouldn't make her scrambled eggs at 8:45, right before bed. The fit involved her flinging herself bodily against the door when I put her in our room so she wouldn't wake her brother. We're working on figuring out ways to help her get over that. Marc thinks if we give her more jobs so she feels more helpful and more involved that that will help, so I'll be trying that when we get home tonight. I've thought of some small jobs she can help me with.

We're getting ready to celebrate Easter and dyed a bunch of eggs last night, raw not hard-boiled. The thought is, we'll blow the eggs and make a pretty garland for next year. Of course, she's got eggs on the brain now since the eggs in the refridgerator are all pretty colors. Once I blow them, I can make scrambled eggs, so we'll have eggs for breakfast for the next few days. I think tomorrow we'll have omlettes.

Sintu has discovered the joys of reading. The other day, I thought he was still asleep and it got to be 7:30 so I went in to wake him and he was already awake, sitting in his crib and looking at the book I'd put in the night before. He was quite pleased with it and gave me the most beautiful smile. He hasn't let go of the book since! I hope that continues.

He now says "stinky diaper" when he's had a poop, which is handy (not that we can't smell it) and he loves to hold hands, everywhere we go, even if it's just walking to the kitchen. Dagny puts his bib on for breakfast and he's starting to eat meat (with ketchup) andeven having fewer nightmares in the middle of the night, which is wonderful. He goes to bed much easier, is learning about time-outs, and is fitting in just beautifully.

On a funny note, when he gets mad he does this shrugging gesture (any other ET kids do that?) and backs up with a grumpy look on his face. If you tell him no, you get a shrug. Marc calls it the 'f-you' shrug and Sintu now gets a time-out when he does it. He's starting to not do it so much, since he knows what will happen if he does. It's very funny.

And the other night, we got him dancing to music from the TV. And he really enjoyed our momentary lapse of reason last night when we watched the end of Dancing with the Stars. Shame on us.

The Scoop on Poop

2009-03-25T12:45:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm not sure it's cleared up since it's still terribly smelly. I KNOW, JUST what you wanted to read today! But it's getting better, I think. We just have to wait until its normal. Might be the diet, might be the giardia still, might be the antibiotics for his sinus infection, who knows...

All I know is he now holds his nose and says "Stinky" which is completely hilarious.

And he says "diaper" "up" "Dagny" "Mommy" "Poppy" "Meow" "Water" andall the Amharic baby talk. But he knows what I'm saying most of the time, I think. I asked him to take off his shoes today and he sat down and did, then he took them and put them away in his room. And when I asked him to take off his coat, he did and then tried to hang it up on his hook. So he's getting it!

And today he went to daycare for an hour, since we're trying to ease him into it. I don't plan on going back to work for another week, but I want him to feel comfortable there, so we started now. I was really worried that he wouldn't come to me after an hour, that he'd bond with Rota of Lorraine and forget about me, or he'd be really upset that I left him somewhere with a gaggle of kids. But he did really well, and came right to me when I got there, arms up, saying "Mommy!" which felt really good.

And Dagny stayed without a fuss, and she played with him really well. Here's hoping she can adjust better. She's been so jealous and acting out terribly for the past few days. She's been in a lot of trouble, but we're trying to be understanding at the same time. It's difficult. We'll see how tonight goes. Marc has bowling and so I'll need to put both kids to bed, so she'll have to be patient. Hmmm...three-year old patience...yeah, you can all laugh now.

Church!

2009-03-22T12:27:00.002-05:00

Okay, so we went to church this morning so everyone could get a look at the new addition and people were so glad to see him! He played in the nursery with one of us (we alternated halfway through the service) since we had the feeling he wouldn't make it in the sanctuary, and then we had cookies at fellowship. It was very nice, but...

We seem to have a bit of a problem with "indiscriminite affection" in that he'll go to anyone without looking around for mommy and daddy. We were expecting this, so it's not like it's a surprise. Lots of orphans have that problem, since they learn early that they have to be cute in order to get people to meet their needs. So they'll hold their hands up to anyone to get picked up. We had to explain to people that they couldn't pick him up, that he needed to learn to be clingy for awhile before I could encourage him to branch out.

Everyone was fine with my explanation, which was nice since I think it sounded a bit rude. "Hey, no, don't pick up the kid. He has to learn who mommy is first..." Okay, so I used different words, but that was the gist of it.

His poop hasn't cleared up, but we're eagerly awaiting it to. Funny how I look forward to diapers at the moment to see if anything's changed. Well, simple pleasures for mommies, right?

We're having a quiet afternoon of laundry and vacuuming today. I might even get a chance to read a bit of my book. Wouldn't that be a shocker?

Health Update!

2009-03-21T13:55:00.002-05:00

Right, so most of the tests are back now, except for the TB mantle, which will be read on Monday.

HIV (both tests) - Negative
Hep A - antibodies present, so he's had it before. That's good, that means he doesn't need the shot because he's already protected.

Stool Culture - ugh...you've got to be kidding. Not only does my poor boy have giardia, he has worms - two different kinds. In fact, they had to call Pediatric Infections Disease at the Mayo Clinic to find out how to treat one of them. Good news is, the treatment is only three days long. Bad news, he's not covered by our insurance yet and it was really expensive. Ah well, doesn't really matter, the price. Gotta get my kiddo well! He took the deworming pill really well, mixed into mashed potatoes which he didn't have to chew. The instructions say we can't crush the pill, because the bitterness could cause vomitting...whoo hoo!

This morning he took his giardia medication without a problem - it's a liquid - and that was good. He just has to take it with food for three days, twelve hours apart. No big deal, we'll get it done.

Marc was wondering this morning how the poor kid is going to react when he actually has a solid poop. He'll probably freak out.

We're adjusting pretty well, though he hasn't really attached to me yet. He'll go to anybody quite happily, so we're working on getting him to understand that I am mommy and he should go to me first. We'll get there, too.

Dagny is terribly jealous. She's acting out a bit, but it's tolerable. It'll pass when she realizes she's a good helper and will get more attention if she's good. Marc has instituted an allowance program for her (a quarter a day) if she helps and doesn't have too many meltdowns. We don't expect perfection, we just expect a bit of an attempt. :D Good luck with that for us!

We went out to town today and visited a craft fair, which was fun. We also stopped at the library so I could get some work for Monday. I go back part-time from home for a week or so, which I think will be okay. I'll go in every morning after taking Dagny to school or daycare, and I'll get the mail and turn in bills and things like that. It'll all get done and Sintayehu will come with me and help. *snort* We'll see how that goes.

It's very busy being a family of four. My parents left this morning, so we're alone (the four of us) and for the past eight hours or so, it's been going quite well. I'll keep you posted.

Did I just catch up?

2009-03-19T16:07:00.002-05:00

Hey...I'm writing on the right day!! Whoo hoo!

So this morning Dagny had a haircut and she said she wanted to cut it as short as her brother's (!). We compromised and she got it cut above her shoulders and its adorable! I love it. Sintayehu was pretty good at the hair place, too, and I was impressed that I got both kids out the door and made it to a 9:00 appointment!

After that, we stopped by the museum so Susan could meet him and then stopped by daddy's work, so he could see the haircut and then Dagny had school. We dropped her off and she was so proud of her hair! And Lori got to see Sintayehu in the parking lot, which was great.

I had to go to work for a little while, so mom and Sintayehu sat in the car and watched a bit of a movie, but eventually they came in and walked around while I did my meeting and then we came home for lunch - leftover pasta. Sintayehu took a nap in HIS room in HIS crib for the first time and he slept for 3 hours! And he seemed to really like his room! So Marc and I may have our room back soon, which I'm really looking forward to!

And I got caught up on my blogging, as you can all see. We are adjusting very well. I'm hoping he doesn't get too sad when my parents leave, because I think he thinks they're part of the family and are permanant residents. I'm so glad they're here and have been helping but I'm worried about what will happen when they leave. Oh well, no use stressing out about that now!

I'm coming to understand my house will never be clean again and that there are some things that I will have to just give up on. And I think I can live with that.

I think this is going really well. I keep waiting for something bad to happen, but I should just count my blessings and go forward, right! So that's what I'm praying God will help me do!

And our family is complete now. And we are so happy.

Be prepared for less blogging now that I've caught up...there are more important things in my house!

March 18 - Poop Day

2009-03-19T16:01:00.002-05:00

Dagny came into our room at 7:00 this morning and asked to get into bed with me. I had Sintayehu on one side and Dags on the other and I was really warm and comfortable and about to fall back asleep when...

"Mommy, I'm hungry. So is Sintayehu. Let's have breakfast." So I get up. Cocoa krispies seems to be the order of the morning, so they both get bowls of cereal and I make some eggs for myself. Of course, as the habit goes, they both want eggs, so I end up sharing most of my eggs between the two of them. That's all right. I can eat pop tarts later. Ha.

We lollygag around all morning and I end up not taking Dagny to daycare until 11:00, which isn't a bit deal. Sintayehu fell asleep in the car on the way up to Pipestone, so we just drove around and did some errands and let him sleep. We stopped at the drug store and mom went in, then we went to the grocery store and I went in, then we drove about a bit so he got about an hour and fifteen minutes of sleep.

I had to collect three poop samples today, which wasn't hard at all, and deliver them to the clinic to have them looked at. Hopefully they'll be able to figure out quickly what he's got so we can start treating him for it.

When we were driving home after picking Dagny up, he said her name in the backseat. I couldn't believe it, but that's what he said! "Dagny!" and then he said clearly, later, "diaper." So he's learning fast! It's great.

We had pasta for dinner last night and both kids had huge plates and finished all of it quite happily. They also shared a breadstick! What a nice evening. I'm beginning to believe that I can do this mommy of two thing!

March 17 - A Real Family Day

2009-03-19T15:49:00.002-05:00

Dagny woke up a little early this morning, wanting to see her brother. She took him downstairs and they played ball for awhile before she had to get ready for school. She didn't want to go, but she did when she realized she'd be able to tell everyone we were home.

We spent the morning exploring the house, touching everything, looking at things, and just generally getting the layout. I made him a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, but he wanted the potatoes I was eating instead. So I gave him the potatoes and ate the peanut butter. This seems to be a habit.

He didn't take a nap and threw a fit instead. I suppose I understand - there's a lot to see in our house and he didn't want to miss any of it.

He had a doctor's appointment at 2:00 with our doctor and I knew he wasn't going to like it. Dr. Viel said he thinks Sintayehu was probably born in August or so, not in May, but said it's really not that much of a problem. he checked him over and we got the following diagnoses:

1. He has an undescended testicle. Right now, that's not a problem, but if it hasn't come down by his next visit, they'll probably have to do something. If we decide to get him circumsized, the urologist can help us.

2. He's got a heart murmer, but so did Dagny and she grew out of it. Dr. Viel thinks he probably will, too, but they'll keep their eyes on it.

3. He's got bronchitis and...

4. Some sort of parasitic ameoba causing diarrhea (probably giardia). They need to do a stool sample to figure it out and then they can treat he bronchitis and the amoeba together. So no antibiotics until they figure out what's living in his intestine.

That's okay, we'll manage. His cough is already better just from being in clean air.

So we drive up to Pipestone for a bloodtest and put him in his carseat for the first time. I'm expecting a fight and....nothing. He likes it. No problems at all. He got his immunizations (hated them) and a blood test (Even worse) but we both got kisses afterwards so at least he doesn't hate us now! After the blood test, we picked up Dagny and the two of them chased each other around the upstairs shrieking gleefully. they seem to really like each other.

We had stir fry for dinner and Dagny was grumpy about the chicken, but when she realized Sintayehu was eating everything we put in front of him, she started to eat. Good girl! She's being a great big sister! When dinner was over, I went to pick him up and...

poop was everywhere. We had to change him and give him a bath and Mommy had to wipe up the floor. After a few minutes, I hear giggling in the bathroom and I go in and Dagny is giving Sintayehu his bath, with both of them naked in the tub. Daddy is presiding, of course, but Dagny is doing most of the washing. It was so cute.

By that point, we could tell he was obviously in pain from his shots, so we had some tylenol and watched Dancing with the Stars before going to bed. He slept until about 5:30 and then got in bed with me, since Marc had to go to Minneapolis around 4:00 in the morning.

March 16 - Home at Last!

2009-03-19T15:42:00.002-05:00

We ended up getting out of bed at 4:50, which was okay since we had packing to do. Sintayehu was actually awake around 4, I think, but he played quietly in his crib until we got up, which was fabulous.

We had breakfast at the hotel and he doesn't like banana muffins, but eggs and bacon were good! The breakfast was really tasty, even if we had to pay for it!

First flight was very short, thankfully, but we had to fix our boarding passes for all three flights, since we weren't sitting together. It kind of sucked, but we managed to change them, so it was all good. While we were waiting for the first flight, we had the gate at JFK all to ourselves (we got there early to check in) and we started a game of soccer with a small ball we'd bought the night before. After a few minutes, another family showed up and their boy, Danny, had a ball as well, so they played together! A few of the other passengers even got involved, casually putting out a foot to kick the ball while they pretended they weren't paying attention. And one old chinese guy just sat in the corner and laughed with enjoyment. It was quite fun.

We didn't have much of a layover in DC, but in Chicago our layover was long...four hours. We got another soccer game going with a little girl named Samiah who really enjoyed it. Again, other passengers sort of got involved, turning their luggage to create a "field." It was fun.

Sintayehu and I also went to a bookstore, where he chose a book for me "Confessions of a Shopaholic." He gave it an excellent babbling review as he chose it off the shelf and, you know what? It's a pretty good book!

The last flight was short again and Sintayehu fell asleep against Marc. We held hands across the aisle and talked about things and I realized I was terrified that I would feel differently about Dagny when I saw her, that somehow the love would have changed. I wondered how she would take her brother and if they would love each other and I was really scared.

I needn't have worried. The second she saw us get off the plane, she ran to us and threw her arms around my legs with excitement. She missed us so much! And she was so happy to see her brother!

Sintayehu fell asleep on my lap in the car and didn't wake up until 4 in the morning. We brought him into bed with us and he slept until 7. It was really quite nice to be home again in our own bed, knowing our daughter was fine and happy to see us.

And the love didn't change a bit, it just expanded.

March 15 - New York City

2009-03-19T15:30:00.002-05:00

We landed in New York at 7:30 in the morning, really tired but glad to be on the ground. Customs wasn't bad at all, honestly. We had to show our passports and the paperwork from the US Embassy in Addis to get into the country and it went pretty smooth. The customs agent was in a good mood because he thought my joke about not having anything but a child to declare was pretty funny.

We walked somewhere else to turn in our paperwork and then claimed our bags before going out to the airtrain for a ride to where we could get our shuttle to the hotel. It wasn't that bad, really. Sintayehu loved the train and watched out the window with great interest. The only sad thing was the hat I made him was a bit too small...he's got a big head!

We went first to the Fairfield Inn which is where we had a reservation. See, we thought customs would take longer so we booked a flight out the next day, seeing as Kennedy Airport has no flights that would connect us with a flight to Sioux Falls after 10 AM. So customs in two hours might be pushing it. We probably would have made it, but the hotel was really a better idea.

So...Fairfield Inn. We get there and discover they have no cribs. None! So what are we supposed to do then? They call the Marriott reservation line and we get a room at the Courtyard by Marriott which is across the highway. Everything gets fixed, the crib is guaranteed, and we get a shuttle to the other hotel. It only slows us down by half an hour or so. No big deal, and everyone was really nice. Considering how tired I am, I don't care, as long we've got a crib.

At the Fairfield before we leave, a woman starts talking to us about how cute our son is and that she's left her daughter for the first time and is a mess. I tell her I understand, that we've been away from ours for ten days now and it's really hard. We talk about adoption for awhile and as she leaves, she presses a $20 into Marc's hand for Sintayehu's college fund and blesses us for saving a life. We never thought about it that way at all, but she's probably right. And we deposit that money as soon as we get home.

So we get to the Courtyard and get checked in and the crib gets delivered. The bed is sooooo soft that I almost can't get out of it to order lunch, but we manage. We get lunch from a place called Sofia and it's fabulous. Marc got wings, I got a salad and tortellini soup and I got spaghetti for Sintayehu. The room is pretty small, so we just eat on the floor, watching HBO (yes, we're addicted to TV!). Lunch is tasty and we're tired, so we lay down for naps. All of us sleep about 3 hours and then we realize we've got to get up and do something to try and stay on schedule.

So we get a cab ...well, the hotel calls us a cab and its a mercedes (whoot!) ...and we go to Target to buy the little man some pants and maybe a toy. We get a few pairs of pants, a new pair of shoes, and a cool truck that plays music. I'm betting people on the plane would rather listen to the toy than to screaming, right?

When we got back to the hotel, we ordered Chinese for dinner and Sintayehu loves fried rice and noodles. Again, we ate on the floor and we managed to stay up until 9:30, which was good. We even ordered a piece of cheesecake from the restaurant, but Sintayehu didn't like it. That's okay, that meant there was more for me!

March 14 - The Beginning of the Trip Home

2009-03-19T14:41:00.004-05:00

He woke up very happy this morning (so did we!) and we played soccer in the room before going up to breakfast. For some reason, breakfast tasted great this morning, even the corn flex. Gee, I wonder why?

We went down to settle the bill after we ate and I managed to also get an email sent out before the power went out (again) but...not to the YG. So my other adopting friends don't know we managed to get our VISAs and leave. I'll try to call them from the airport, or to send an email before we leave if the power comes back up.

This morning we went out with Robel and bought coffee - 20 lbs of it. It only cost around $50 for that much and now we just have to hope the airports don't think we're smuggling or something! Ha. Our clothes are going to smell soooooo good when we get home. We also bought some last minute must-haves - Rasta caps for the kids, some scarves, and two amharic CDs of popular music, one male singer and one female. Robel picked them out for us and they're very good! I also got two small coffee pots for the kids' rooms and I hope they don't break on the way home.

We had lunch at the Lucy Bar by the National Museum. Here's the menu:

It's a paper cutout of the australopithicus skeleton and I thought it was so cool! I got Sintayehu pasta and kebabs for myself, but he was far more interested in mine, so we shared mine and then I munched a little on his. That's been happening a lot lately...and I'm fine with it.

We went back to the hotel and said a sad goodbye to Robel before taking showers and giving Sintayehu a nice bath. Might as well get clean before we spend two days on a plane, right? It was nice to finish packing, but quite sad to leave. We've grown to like this hotel quite a bit.

Headed to the airport at 4:00 PM and customs wasn't bad at all. We got to the gate two hours before our plane was set to leave, but that was all right. We had to deal with a few tantrums, but since he didn't take a nap, that was understandable. Marc walked him around for awhile and they looked at planes.

He took about an hour to fall asleep on the first flight and I slept a little, too, though not much. They gave us the cutest little backpack for him - it had a puppet, a book (Dr. Seuss!), a funny little stuffed thing you could dress up as an eagle, and an eyemask, just in case. He really liked it. Well, for an hour anyway, then he was sleeping.

He woke up during the layover in Dubai, unfortunately, since it was almost 2 in the morning. Our plane was already boarding by the time we made it to the gate. Our first flight had landed on the tarmac and we had to take a bus to the terminal, then walk to the next gate. (We ended up going through security three times before we got to our next plane....crazy!) Once we got to the gate, they waved me through and then had March wait for a minute. At least, I thought it would be a minute, so I went down to the boarding gate. They were letting the little kids on and a guy came to get me and I told him I didn't have a boarding pass (they were with Marc) so he escorted me back upstairs to get it. Marc was still being delayed, so I got my pass and got on the plane. Sintayehu proceeded to scream for about 15 minutes until Marc joined us. Something about a passport check or some such thing. Anyway, the steward had closed the bin above us so everyone would think it was empty when it had space for our bags, which was great and Sintayehu calmed down once he saw Marc.

He went back to sleep pretty quickly and slept for about six hours. Once he woke up, he played by himself with his toys and I actually managed to watch a movie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and play with him at the same time. And then he needed a diaper change.

Okay, ladies, I know we're supposed to cover those little penises, but I totally forgot it might be loaded. I took his diaper off, turned around to throw it away, and he proceeded to pee all over the airline toilet. The wall, the sink, the counter, and the floor...I used up half their paper towels cleaning up the mess! Marc thought it was hilarious. I think it is, too, now that it's over!

He took another nap before we landed and I watched another movie "City Of Ember." Pete Juvinall is right - the ICE entertainment system is fabulous. I could choose whatever movie I wanted, play games, watch TV, and it was all just for me, I didn't have to share it with Marc or anything.

Since this flight was 12 hours, it didn't end until the next morning in New York...see the next post.

March 13 - The Day of Reckoning

2009-03-19T14:05:00.003-05:00

So, this is the day we are waiting for. What does God have in store for us? Will the Embassy see us? Will they make us wait until next week?

This morning we were woken by a blowout. Not a tire, a diaper. In fact, the smell was so bad, we had to open all the windows. Be prepared, families following after...these diapers are stinky!

We also discovered this morning that a rattle can be made from an empty water bottle and a packet of macaroni (not cooked, obviously). This entertained him for the next few days and the noise it makes is really not that bad! Totally worth bringing the macaroni in the first place.

We can tell, though, that he's probably not about to be three. He's more like two-and-a-half, which is fine with us. He's not that sturdy, though he's doing pretty good, and his motor skills aren't bad at all. We ARE learning some Amharic from him, or at least baby-Amharic. "Anto" means "Give it to me!" and "Anti" means "Here, I don't want this anymore." Well, those are probably very loose translations.

We've noticed he hoards his food and will eat as fast as possible, shoving anything into his mouth to make sure no one else can take it away. When I realized what he was doing, it almost broke my heart. He just expects me to take things away from him, which I will never do. We learned a new game today together. I say "Show me" and he opens his mouth wide to prove he's swallowed so I'll give him more food. It works and it was easy to learn!

Marc tells me to mention the licking. The kids lick things to make them theirs and he says at the Transition home, some of the kids licked him. he thought it was weird at the time, but it makes sense. They wanted him to be theirs and no one else's. Almost enough to make me cry again thinking about it. These kids are so desperate for homes.

So at 10, the driver picked us up and said we were meeting Robel at the Embassy, but we'd have to wait in the car until he came and got us. Okay, we can do that. So we sat for a few minutes until we saw Robel come out and wave to us, gesturing for us to get out of the car and come in. It worked, they're going to see us and issue a VISA!

We go in, checking our IPODs at the door, showing our passports, and drinking from our open water to prove it's water. And then we're through and up the steps to the VISA room. We wait for a bit for the officer, who interviews us for about a minute, then hands us some papers and tells us to wait for twenty minutes and we'll be done. We got the court transcripts for the adoption and in a bit less than twenty minutes, we have a VISA.

We can go home!! A huge weight is lifted off our shoulders at the thought of being able to get on that plane tomorrow to come home to Dagny. We've missed her so much it hurts.

We went back to the hotel for lunch, because Sintayehu needed a nap. We got him down for about an hour and a half and Robel said he'd meet us about two to go visit the orphanages. I made him macaroni and cheese in the hotpot before we left and he ate the whole bowl and really liked it!

We delivered prayer bears to Kids Care Orphanage, which was nice, but we didn't see any of the kids there. We only spoke to a few people in the office. That was all right, we didn't have a huge amount of time, though it would have been nice to have a tour, even if Sintayehu had not come from there. This is a picture of the front gate:

Lots of the homes in Ethiopia have gates. Drivers honk and someone opens it from the inside.

We took the dolls that Nancy Thompson made for us to Gelgela, which is where Sintayehu came from. We are so glad we went. We were thinking maybe we shouldn't go, since it might bring back bad memories, but he seemed okay and we got to see his bed and meet the manager, who told us a wonderful story about how the orphanage got started. This woman has so much love and so much charisma it was amazing.

Here is a picture of Sintayehu's bed at Gelgela. It's the second bed from the left, painted blue. The guide said we could put him in it for a picture, but I didn't want to do that. It would have felt weird.

And we took a picture of a young man by the gate, who was wearing an Obama shirt translated into Ge'ez!

After the orphanages, we were supposed to meet Robel at Antica for dinner, but he was very late. We'd already ordered our pizza by the time he showed up, though it was good and he had a few pieces. Very tasty and Sintayehu liked it, too.

When we went out of the restaurant, though, the driver was gone. AND...cell service wasn't working, so we couldn't call him. We waited on the front porch of a coffee shop for about twenty minutes (and met a New Yorker there, which was funny) but the driver still didn't show. Robel ended up calling us a cab, which took us over a lot of back roads to the hotel, probably places we wouldn't normally have seen. In the dark, Addis looks even more foreign than when the sun is up.

We found out when we got back that the Spanish couple whose baby was so sick managed to get an emergency VISA and they were due to fly out at midnight. We said our goodbyes and wished them well. The other families have to wait until next week for the Embassy to see them. Their program doesn't make appointments for them - they have to take their chances.

On the way to the room, we bought a piece of chocolate cake from the small cafe to celebrate. The cake was pretty bad, but it was the thought that counted!

March 12 - Crossing Our Fingers

2009-03-19T13:27:00.003-05:00

I forgot to mention that yesterday, the power was out from noon until about 6 pm. Walking up five flights of stairs at 8000 feet above sea level (for a midwesterner) is really really hard. Add a thirty pound child into the mix and it just gets more fun...My legs were so tired.

Anyway, this morning we woke up a little early, around 6:45. We had a nice steam bath for Sintayehu and then mommy and daddy took showers. Of course, we ran out of hot water. Oh well, I survived. Just got a little chilly is all. Here's some pictures of our hotel room:

The bathroom - you can't see the shower, but it's to the right. It was a nice bathroom, honestly. And the shower was not too bad (I'm a shower snob, so that's saying something!)

This is our living room. Marc is helping Sintayehu look out the window, so that's who you see. There's a small fridge and a cabinet around to the left and two chairs and a couch, as well as a TV that didn't get good reception on any station except CNN. We're really tired of CNN.

This was the bedroom. The crib is to the right, but you can see we had a king sized bed. Of course, it was very hard, but it was clean and once you fell asleep, it wasn't so bad. Three rooms were luxurious.

Breakfast was ala carte instead of buffet, so we ordered scrambled eggs for all three of us and "Corn Flex." Ha. They looked and tasted just like corn flakes, so I'm assuming it was just a typo. It was pretty funny, though. And the milk is whole - eeeewwww - so I didn't use very much of it. Sintayehu ate everything we put in front of him, faster than he probably should have.

Since the internet was still down (how frustrating) we went back up to the room to play. Robel was going to come about 10 and we were planning on descending on the Consulate. Once Robel showed up, he let us know we needed to wait for Duni to call, so we sat in the lobby and waited. The call came, and it wasn't good news. Our fingerprints are still not at the Embassy, and without them, we can't get a Visa for Sintayehu. At this point, unless the Embassy takes pity on us, we're stuck until next week. Visas are not processed on Fridays so we start to panic a little.

I think Robel was embarassed (though it wasn't his fault) and I feel sorry for him, since I know we weren't good company that day. We were really upset, though we had to find something to occupy our time. We went and visited a coffee factory before lunch and it was really very cool! We saw the process from start to finish and learned that beans are exported unroasted to other countries, with the language of the importer screened on the bag. We got to walk thgough the room with the machine that sorts the beens through several sieves to get a uniform size, then into the picking room where the workers sit along conveyor belts and pick through the beans by hand. This is the machine that sorts with sieves.

And after all the beans got sorted, they got roasted. This is the roaster below, which is next to a grinder.

The factory smelled SO good. There were large tubs of roasted beans in the room and once the lids came off, the smell wafted through the room like it was sent by heaven. But we couldn't buy any coffee that day because the power was out, so we didn't get to see the machines working, but I think that was better. Had they been working, they would have been LOUD.

We went to lunch at Metro Pizza, which was very tasty. Sintayehu was a pain in the butt, but he was tired so what do you expect? We took him back to the hotel for a nap and he screamed for an hour and a half. I'm not kidding, I watched the clock. And HOUR and a HALF of screaming. It was amazing. We finally let him out without napping.

At 4:00, I called DHL and they informed me that a package was delivered to the Embassy at 3:30...is it our package? Hopefully! So that made things a bit brighter. We just have to hope now that the Embassy takes pity on us and processes a VISA on a day they normally don't so we can leave when we're supposed to.

So we decide to go to dinner at the Lime Tree and guess what...Mr. Tired and Cranky Pants falls asleep in the car and slept the entire way through dinner. We had pasta and steaks and they were lovely, but my alfredo sauce was pink because of the Berbere spice they put in EVERYTHING! We got a cookie to go and woke up the snoozer and fed him cookie in the car. It worked enough that we got him home awake and played for awhile before going to bed.

I also had a long talk with Duni, which made me feel better. I know they're doing what they can, we just have to pray for tomorrow.

March 11 - First Day All Together

2009-03-18T14:28:00.002-05:00

We slept okay last night, believe it or not. He's got a big cough, but we're hoping we can get a doctors appointment and get some medicine to clear it up before we get on a plane.

A few useful things: bring kleenex, lots of it. And nasal spray. I've been using nasal spray every day and it's keeping my nose pretty clear and I don't have the nasty boogers that come with pollution - for me anyway. A small warm-mist vaporizer would have been nice, but since I couldn't fit it in the luggage, it didn't come. Might want to make room for that next time.

I thought maybe we didn't have enough toys, but I think we did a good job now that I look at it. We took five matchbox cars (came home with three), a coloring book and crayons, a stuffed fish, and the purchased soccer ball. I think more would have been overwhelming and he seems to like the cars most of all. He calls them "beep-beeps" which is very apt. All the cars in Addis honk. In fact, driving in Addis is like playing Grand Theft Auto on the Playstation. There's a lot fo honking, a lot of near accidents, and people drive on whatever side of the road they feel like. You think I'm kidding? Nope. I was glad to sit in the back so I couldn't see the next deathtrap coming. I just pretended nothing was happening and placed it all in God's hands.

We let him take his beep-beeps to breakfast and MAN, this kid can eat! He had cornflakes, scrambled eggs, potato rounds, and some injera. Oh and toast and orange juice. It was quite amazing. I had no idea small things could eat that much.

After breakfast, we went back to the room to play and wait for 12:15 when we were supposed to go to the Embassy. He let me clean and trim his nails, both hands and feet, and didn't seem to mind it at all. In fact, he enjoyed it. Maybe I've got a kid who will get pedicures! Marc put a movie on the DVD player, but Sintayehu wasn't really interested. He just wanted to play soccer.

We got a call about 11:30 that our fingerprints were still not at the Embassy, which meant no appointment for today. Hopefully we'll get in tomorrow. So instead of heading for the consulate, we manage to get a doctor's appointment to see about that cough.

I almost wish we hadn't gone at all. The doctor didn't give us any medicine and sort of read us the riot act about giving things to him since he was under four. At the time, that sounded reasonable, but we found out later he gives medicine to other small children, he just didn't give it to us. We're wondering if that's because we are American and rubbed him the wrong way. I dunno...he's the transition Home doctor and i'm sure he's very capable and I'm glad he's there, but I really sort of wished we wouldn't have gotten an appointment. We'd have been no worse off if we hadn't have gone.

After the doctor, we did some grocery shopping and got small cups for him, peanut butter, crackers, and more water. He doesn't want a sippy, he wants a regular cup!

Then we went back to the hotel and made some calls to Senator Klobuchar's office in Minneapolis. Maybe she can help us get an appointment at the Embassy. A woman named Caly is helping us and will be sending information to the Embassy in the morning, along with a letter from the Senator. Cross your fingers.

We went for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Makush. It was great! They brought a special appetizer just for Sintayehu, some sort of rosemary french fries, which he really liked, and dinner for four people, along with dessert, only cost about $35. And it was very good food. I rodered the lasagne and it didn't taste like lasagne in the states, but it was still very good.

We came back to the hotel to sleep and our plan is to go to the Embassy in the morning and throw ourselves on their mercy.

Of course, now that I write this, that isn't what happened, but you'll just have to keep reading.

March 10 - He Comes Home with Us!

2009-03-18T14:02:00.004-05:00

This morning, before we get to go and get Sintayehu at the Transition Home, we go shopping. Robel goes along with us, since I think he was worried we'd get taken and, since there's only one family, he can afford to cater to us a bit. We learn to bargain and made some fun purchases, like a dress for Dagny and a shirt for Sintayehu for a picture when we get back, a basket, a couple necklaces, and two wooden giraffes for the kids to have in their rooms. We have a good time and don't spend that much money, actually.

And then Robel decides to take us to lunch at a place called Dreamland, which is about an hour outside of Addis. The drive in the car is a bit of a problem, since you have a choice of rolling down the window and dealing with the pollution (there's a LOT - no catalytic converters on these cars) or leaving the windows up and dealing with the heat. It's a hard choice, actually. When we get to Dreamland, we can see why Ethiopians would like to go there - it's a crater lake in a dormant volcano and the seats for the restaurant are high enough up you get a great view.

As much as I enjoyed looking at the lake itself, I don't think the trip was really worth it. The food was okay (the Hilton was better) and it was so far that we could just have been spending more time at the transition home instead.

As it was, we didn't get to the home until 4 in the afternoon and Furtuna was just leaving so we didn't get to spend any more time with her. One of the other nannies helped us hand out our care packages. I can't post pictures of those kids, since those are for the families to post when they pass court, but it was a wonderful few hours. They were all so excited about their things and had such a good time and I just felt great handing everyone their presents! They were so happy!

We had gotten a soccer ball for Sintayehu in the morning and it was the best present ever. He was standing out on the grass with us while we took pictures and, all of a sudden, we heard "Papi! Papi!"

Sintayehu was standing behind Marc with the ball and trying to get him to play catch. It was amazing, hearing him call Marc papi so soon.

Between taking pictures for families, the two of them played catch with the soccer ball and it melted my heart.

We only had a few hours and then we got ready to leave. Sintayehu began to scream hysterically when we went to put him in the car. I think he knew what was going on. One of the men who was there began to cry a bit, too, and I think they two of them had formed a good bond. I started to cry, too, and I honestly wondered if we were doing the right thing, but once we got into the car and started moving, Sintayehu just buried his head against my shoulder and fell asleep for the ride back to the hotel. Don't ask me how he managed that since the ride was so bumpy, but he did.

We decided to order room service for dinner rather than going anywhere and I think that was a good thing. Sintayehu hid in the bedroom, though Marc got him to play a bit with his matchbox cars and crayons. We had to lure him into the main room with pieces of bread and I ended up sitting on the floor by the bed feeding him spaghetti, which he ate quite willingly. He just didn't want to come out of the bedroom.

Once he ate, he was a bit more willing to do things. We got him naked and gave him a bath. He liked it, but he didn't like washing his hair. I know that sounds weird, but he didn't smell like my kid (he still doesn't yet) and I really wanted him to. Once the bath was over, there was a ring of dirt in the tub. We'll try for his nails in the morning.

Bedtime was actually really easy. He laid down in his crib and went to sleep after about twenty minutes of playing with two cars and a stuffed fish. He has a bad cold, so he's snoring, and he fell asleep with a matchbox car clutched in each fist. Adorable.

I doubt I'll sleep (but I do) and we end up sleeping for almost 11 hours.

I know they do the best they can at the Transition home. The kids are given medical care, food, clothing, and shelter, and there are so many of them that individual attention must be hard to give. And it shows. I can tell in how he interacts with me that he expects me to take food away from him (like the other kids) or toys and it'll take time for him to get used to the fact that I won't do that.

We've had a very overwhelming day. And now we're a family, for better or for worse.

March 9, 2009 - Meeting our son for the First Time!

2009-03-18T13:21:00.006-05:00

Allright, I know I'm late and I know you guys were waiting. We had no internet connection at the hotel from Tuesday until Friday so I made outlines to write my blogs from when I got home. So they'll all be posted today and you'll have to read them all at once instead of one at a time while I was over there. Sorry about that! I hope they're just as much fun, though!

This is actually a continuation of the previous post, talking about the rest of that Monday.

Health update on Stephanie: I still have intestinal problems. I know it's not the ET food, since I started having trouble in New York. Must be stress. At least, that's what I hope it is.

Robel picked us up at the hotel about 11 and we met Duni at the Hilton and did our paperwork, which was remarkably easy with only one family. The food wasn't too bad (which was nice after last night) and we discovered exactly why families can't stay. I guess I didn't quite understand it until Robel explained it. Foreign dignitaries stay at the Hilton (you'll see why) and because of that, the Ethiopian government does not want adoptive families staying there because it might give the wrong impression. Lots of white people with black kids could look bad to other countries, even if the rules are very strigent and there's very little child-traficking that occurs. The government just wants to preserve Ethiopia's image. I can understand that, but the Hilton was really nice...

After lunch (we could hardly stand it) we went to the Transition Home for the first time...my heart was pounding so hard I began crying when we first drove through the gate. We walked through the home, led by a nanny, to the toddler room where all the kids were lined up in front of the fireplace and I was so completely overcome, I didn't even recognize our boy at first. He was a bit fussy since he had just ogtten up from a nap and didn't want to talk to us at first, but after a few minutes, a nanny led him over to us and we got to spend our first minutes together...

We had about a half hour with him, just us. He had a piece of comb and really wanted me to comb his hair, so I did...

And once we had a bit of time with him, they let the other toddlers into the room. You know that lady who has fourteen kids under the age of six? We felt like her! All of a sudden, there were small children crawling all over us, clamoring for attention, stealing toys from each other, and wanting to touch us. It was overwhelming and I bet, had there been more families, it wouldn't have been quite so terrifying. And I say terrifying in a nice way, really. We spent about three hours with all of them together and I got some GREAT pictures of the toddlers in groups, but I can't post them here, since not all of them have referrals yet, so they don't have families.

This was the living room and toddler sleeping area where we spent some time. See how many cribs are in there? No wonder he doesn't like sleeping alone.

Anyway, after a few hours, we left to go back to the hotel to get cleaned up to go to dinner. Since Robel wasn't feeling well and Duni was quite busy, Futuna took us to Yod Abyssinia for a traditional Ethiopian meal. And let me just say, we didn't like it. The Berbere spice they put in everything made Marc feel rather ill and I just don't particularly like injera. Oh well, we tried. The restaurant was fabulous for the entertainment, though, so we enjoyed ourselves even if we hardly ate anything.

This is a picture of the dancers doing a traditional tribal wedding, which was very entertaining.

We went back to the hotel about 9:30 or so to go to sleep. They delivered a crib today and its at the end of the bed. I'm scared out of my mind since tomorrow, he comes back to the hotel with us. Will he even like us? Guess we'll find out!

Something I learned: Do NOT go anywhere without toilet paper in your pocket. Wipes, kleenexs, anything. There wasn't any toilet paper in the Transition Home bathroom (Robel says this was an oversight) and I had the problem at several other bathrooms, too. They have little sprayers to clean yourself off, but when you're sick, those do no good. Put the TP in your pocket when you get there and keep making sure it's still there!

A note: The guys unloading our luggage at the airport thought the Susan Parr luggage tags were awesome. One of them was already using one as a badge and one of the other guys begged one off me. I gave him one and he was so proud! Someone should ask Susan if you can have more luggage tags and take them just for the guys at the airport. He didn't want a tip, he just wanted my luggage tag!

First Night at the Hotel

2009-03-09T01:05:00.003-05:00

These are some words of wisdom for those who follow after. By the way, who DOES follow after? We're just wondering what time they'll get here on Saturday, since we'll still be here!

The matresses at the hotel are just a thin (three inches) pad over a box spring. They are quite hard (In fact, Mom, I think the mattress at your house is more comfortable...hahahaha). If you like hard mattresses, you'll be in heaven. If not...well...the couch isn't much better. :) We'll get used to it, I'm sure. We still slept for 11 hours last night since we were so tired. Took melatonin about twenty minutes before bed, like the doctor recommended, and it seemed to work, too. Also, we've been taking the low-dose aspirin and drinking lots of water and so far no problems with the altitude.

Bring PB and Jelly with you! We, unlike some of the families, did NOT like the restaurant for dinner. In fact, neither or us could eat what we ordered. If we'd have ordered the spaghetti, we would probably have been okay. I'll keep you posted on that.

If you bring a power strip, remember to bring a converter to change a three-prong plug to a two-prong. We have the power strip, but no converter, so it's useless. Oh well.

IPOD speakers would be really nice to have, so if you have them, I'd bring them.

There's a hot water tank over the shower that's about 30 gallons or so. Both Marc and I took hot showers this morning and we didn't run out, which was nice. If you take really long showers, though, you might want to alternate who goes first. Otherwise, you should be fine.

And it's really nice to have toilet paper we brought with us. They provide it at the hotel, of course, but it's quite thin and not the most comfortable thing in the world. A few rolls from home would be a good thing.

So we've had breakfast this morning and it was quite good. The chef made us some scrambled eggs and they were really tasty. In addition to that, we had fried bananas, a fried dough round that was similar to a cake doughnut, fried potatoes, corn flakes (milk was a little warm) and some fresh pineapple. It was good, which was nice considering last night.

Last night, I ordered Ethiopian Tibes, which was a beef with peppers and a green chili sauce, which sounded really good. It came with injera. Marc ordered kebabs with a vegetable rice. He couldn't even take more than a bite of his and said the meat tasted off. I took a few bites, but it tasted pretty nasty. So we begged off, told the staff we'd discovered we were far too tired to eat (they were quite concerned about us not eating) and went back to the room where Marc had a milky way bar and I had a cereal bar. We were worried about the breakfast, but it was very good.

Today we meet Duni and Robel in about an hour to go to the Hilton for paperwork and lunch and then to the Transition HOME!! We'll finally meet our boy today!

Did I mention already there are three Spanish families here adopting? They're here for 10 days and they have four boys between them, a one-year old, two four-year-olds, and a seven-year old. They'll be here all week, so there will be other families around, even if it's hard for us to communicate that well. One of the men speaks some English and I speak a smattering of Spanish, so we got a bit of a conversation done this morning (thanks, Dora the Explorer).

I'll try to write more tonight. I'll blog before I go to bed, about the home and about the dinner they're taking us to later at Yod Abbyssinia.

Safety First

2009-03-08T09:37:00.002-05:00

Okay, I debated leaving this out, but it's too funny. No other family that's stayed at the Addis View has mentioned it and I think they MUST have looked in the drawers, but...

We looked in the drawers for a bible and we found....strawberry and banana flavored condoms. Now these could have been something that a visitor left behind, but remember I said we changed rooms? We found the same (well, not exactly) condoms in both rooms, so it must be an amenity the hotel offers. What with the nature of AIDS in Africa, I'm not surprised, but strawberry and banana?

Hope you're at least grinning, if not laughing out loud. Talk about something unusual.

We're here!

2009-03-08T09:09:00.002-05:00

All right, there's a LOT to blog about today. I am sitting in the lobby of the Addis View hotel and it is a lovely day. But let me start with Friday night.

Security was relatively painless and checking in was easy enough that after we got our bags on board, we got some dinner and went back to the Oasis lounge to eat.

We boarded our plane to Dubai at 11:00 at night and it was a HUGE plane. Pete is so right, the entertainment system is fantastic. I fiddled around with it for awhile and then realized what I really needed to do was sleep, so I managed to get a bit of shut eye and faded in and out until about 7 in the morning, New York time. Not bad, not bad. They gave us eye masks and dimmed the lights in the cabin (complete with stars on the ceiling) so that we could all fool ourselves. Our seat mate was a nice guy who was flying on to India the next day. It was good to have someone nice sitting there, considering I was stuck in the middle.

Anyway, for those of you thinking of traveling, I would HIGHLY recommend Emirates Air. Their service was great, the food was very yummy (yes, they proved the stereotype of terrible airline food completely wrong) and the people were so nice. When one of the stewardesses found out we were adopting, she brought us a huge bag of puppets and coloring books (which I then forgot on the next flight...darnit) and made me cry. It was so wonderful.

When we arrived in Dubai, we hitched a ride on the shuttle to the hotel and checked in, then decided to grab a quick bite to eat in the restaurant. We grabbed a couple bananas and then hired a cab to take us to Mall of the Emirates, where the ski slope is. We walked around for awhile and watched the skiiers and even had some ice cream. And Dad, the lemon custard ice cream in Dubai is the best I've ever had. We went back to the hotel about 11:00 or so and tried to sleep, but some guy was making lots of noise in the hallway so we didn't get that much.

We got a quick breakfast this morning, then it was off to the airport once more for our flight to Addis Ababa. As we packed up our stuff, we realized we'd lost our camera the night before, so we ended up having to buy a new camera at the airport. Oh well, if that's the only problem we have, it's no big deal.

In the holding area at the airport, we met a single mom and her friend, on their way to pick up a little girl through Hannah's Hope. Hey Sunday!! I hope your time in ET was absolutely fantastic and maybe we'll meet up in the states sometime. It was nice to talk to another mommy-to-be about the weird thoughts we were both having.

We managed to stay awake in the plane by watching James Bond and in no time at all, we were flying over the coast of Eritrea and into Ethiopia. I could see it from the air and I choked up several times. This wild beautiful country, where my son was born, seems so amazing, even just seeing it from the air.

Customs was pretty easy and it didn't take long to get all our luggage (which all arrived!) and find our driver to the hotel. Once there, our first room had two twin beds, which sort of upset me since I'd like to be in the same bed as the hubby. Luckily, they agreed to switch us to another room, which also was a better room. 504, for those of you coming after. It's got a good view. Finagle your way into it. :)

Marc took a short nap while I exchanged some money for birr, managed to send an email, and asked for a hotpot. You've got to ask for them if you don't have one in there. No signs of bedbugs at all, though the beds are really firm. If you like that, you'll be happy.

At about 2:00, I called Duni to find out if there was anything we could do and she told us to call Alazar for a driver. We did and we got a GREAT (not suicidal) driver to pick us up at 3:00 for a trip to the National Museum (tickets were 20 birr) and Trinity Cathedral (Haile Sellasie's burial place). The museum was not what I expected, but since I'm a museum person, that's not surprising. Lucy (the fossil hominid) is there, though currently she's visiting Seattle so we just saw a replica. Yes, that's right...the ONE thing I REALLY wanted to see in ET (beside my son, you sillies) was in the US. *snork* How's that for silliness.

We got a tour of the cathedral, which was great and made me feel quite humble. The tickets were 60 birr for both of us, but completely worth it. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the conversation was very informative. While we were there, they had prayer time and opened the holy of holies, where the replica of the tablets are kept. The altar is covered in silver and was given by Haile Sellasie, who is also buried there in a huge granite tomb. I would totally recommend that tour to anyone who has the time.

We also stopped by a store for bottled water, so I think we're set. Tonight we plan on eating in the hotel restaurant and tomorrow we meet Sintayehu for the first time! I hope I can sleep!

I think I might be taking a sleeping pill later...I'm exhausted, but there's so much going on I don't want to miss anything.

By the way, Addis weather is lovely. It about 70 degrees and the sun is shining (of course) and it just feels nice to walk around outside. Tomorrow, of course, I'll remember to put on sunscreen.

Signing off until I manage this again!

From NYC

2009-03-06T15:15:00.002-06:00

Sooo....

We had these nice plans of watching movies while we were delayed in NYC before getting ont he massive Airbus 380 that will take us to Dubai. Unfortunately, the world conspired against us.

I could not sleep last night at all. I've had terrible butterflies in my stomach for a few days now and those made me have to get up every twenty minutes or so to pee. And if that weren't enough, I was just managing to calm myself down (about 12 midnight and we had to get up at 3) when Dagny started to cough, a croupy kind of cough. So I took her into the bathroom for a hot steam and then rested on the couch until it was time to get up. No sleeping got done at all, both for me and for Marc, so we are exhausted.

So we get to Sioux Falls at 4:30 AM and check in our bags. I had these nightmares that they would charge us hundreds of dollars for those shoes. Not quite...the shoe bag weighs in at 77 pounds. The limit is 100, so we were still good. We paid $205 in baggage fees for United, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Our flights were on time, well-executed, and we got to NYC at 1:30 or so, and all our bags made it safely through.

Well, we've got hours to kill before we can even check in, so we found a place to store our bags, had lunch, and then went in search of a place we could rest for awhile that wasn't a food court. We found the oasis lounge on the third/fourth floor of Terminal 4. They charge $35 per person, but it's worth it if you have a long layover. The chairs are comfortable, they have nice bathrooms with showers, a business center (with computers, which is where I'm writing from) and a library area with couches AND they have free food and drinks, including a large selection of teas and bottled water. We're thinking of watching a movie, but we will probably both fall asleep in front of the DVD screen. Of course, that might not be a bad idea...

With all the nervousness, I've made myself sick to my stomach. I've taken a bit of medicine and I'm hoping it passes before we get on the plane to go to Dubai. And I'm really hoping I can sleep on the plane. I think I'm going to try sleeping on my own and if that doesn't work, I'll take a unisom and hope it doesn't affect me like the ambien did last time I tried it.

This might be the last reliable internet connection I have, but I'll make every effort to post again.

We're GOING!!

2009-03-05T19:08:00.002-06:00

Okay, so we're finally leaving. We leave tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM. We will see seven airports before we land in Addis Ababa at noon on Sunday. We're taking a few movies to watch on our layover in New York, which will be nine hours.

I have taken pictures of our suitcases and eventually, I'll post a packing list so you can see just how insane I am.

I'll try to post something from Ethiopia, but if not, you will all just have to wait until we get back.

Traveling

2009-02-18T19:33:00.002-06:00

So now we get ready to travel - we leave on March 6th (at 4 in the morning) and will return on March 16th, having spent an extra day in Ethiopia. Maybe we'll meet a few of the next batch of families... Hmmm...

WE PASSED COURT!

2009-02-18T19:20:00.002-06:00

We got the call this morning from Anna and we passed! They got the papers they needed and everything went smoothly, no problems this time. So....

Welcome to the Hall Family, Sintayehu Ephraim! Sintayehu means "How much have I seen" which is very appropriate for him! Maybe it should mean big climber, since he wants to be in everything!

Those arms trying to catch him belong to Rob Tennant, I think. Good work, Rob! Sintayehu was trying to get onto the changing table while Henry was being changed...wait your turn, little man. :)

This picture lets me know he's a good eater. He's eating in several of the pictures we have. Wonder if he likes chicken nuggets...

He seems to love balls and cars. Great!! We've got tons of those! :)

See? Climbing again...he'll be a handful. A handful that I can't wait to have home! I'm so happy today I can't stand it!

Church Services

2009-02-15T16:43:00.002-06:00

We attended an Ethiopian church service this morning and it was amazing. First off, finding the building was no easy feat. It's southeast of town on gravel roads with no real visible signs to guide the way until you can see the building. So it took us a couple passes before we found the parking lot.

As we were getting out of our car, about five Ethiopian kids wandered over and were talking in very soft voices.

"Who are they?" says one little boy.

"I don't know," answers a girl.

"Where are they from?"

"I don't know."

"Hey...who are you?" the first little boy asks quite bravely. "There's no white people in there."

I start smiling, since he didn't say it rudely, just a matter of fact. "We're Marc and Stephanie and we're adopting a little boy from Ethiopia," I answer. "Can we go in?"

"Yes," they all answer, and lead us inside. One little girl gets us a bulletin and asks if we want two or if we're going to share. And another little girl asks if we speak Amharic. I told her I only know the word toilet and she grins and says she'll teach me.

We can hear singing from the church itself and so we walk in and sit down, sort of toward the back. There are about ten people in the sanctuary and two men and a woman are up in the front singing. They sing for an HOUR. I'm not kidding, it was amazing. They just kept singing and the leading man wiped sweat from his brow several times. They sang and sang and sometimes others would join in. And people kept coming in until there were about forty or so people in the room. They were mostly standing, swaying, singing, clapping, and occasionally making that ululation (the women) that I learned in belly dancing. I didn't have the guts to do it myself, though.

After they were done speaking, Pastor Bekele began speaking and he said, in English, that anyone new (and he looked straight at us) should stand up and introduce ourselves so they could welcome us. So we did, and we explained we are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia and would like to bring him to worship sometimes. They were all very pleased with that idea and Pastor commented that maybe we would manage to learn a new language so we could get more out of the service.

Marc said he heard the Pastor ask for an interpretor, though I didn't hear it, and after about five minutes a man came and sat by us and began to translate what the Pastor was saying into English. His name was Joshua and he did a wonderful job.

The sermon was all about the Hope of God. So I learned two new Amharic words: Xabio (spelling might be off...God) and Tesfai (Hope). How did God know I needed a sermon about hope today? And having it delivered in a different language, one that my son has learned, was absolutely amazing. I was so incredibly touched.

Even had Joshua not been translating, Pastor Bekele was fascinating to watch. He walked all over the front of the church, gesturing and laughing and interacting with the congregation, much different than anything I was used to. I could see the love and the belief just pouring off him. It was really a spiritual experience.

I look forward to taking our son back to the Ethiopian Fellowship Church so we can worship together. Maybe I'll learn more words next time!

Footprints

2009-02-14T16:48:00.002-06:00

So Patty tells me that she'll trace his feet when she's in Ethiopia. So I'm thinking it'll be a pencil drawing of a foot (like what Dagny does with her crayons) and low and behold, I get an envelope today...

It's not a pencil drawing. She put paint on the bottom of his feet and one of his hands and I have red footprints with a red handprint on a piece of paper.

You have no idea how that felt. I started to cry. My son had touched the paper I was holding and here was proof - his small feet, his hand, right there for me to see. I hung it on the refridgerator and I think I might frame it.

My heart is so full today. Court is in four days, on Wednesday...just put some prayers out there for us.

Shoe Donation

2009-02-08T13:24:00.002-06:00

So one of the first pictures I saw of our son had him in two different shoes that not only did not match, they were different sizes. This stuck with me and bothered me enough that I decided our donation to the Transition Home would be shoes. So I put a note in the bulletin at church and asked at Dagny's preschool if they could send a note home with the kids that we needed shoes of all sizes to take to Ethiopia.

The response was overwhelming!

My living room has four boxes of shoes, with still a few more pairs from other families coming. I can't believe it. There are tiny shoes for newborns, and shoes for teenagers, and all the sizes inbetween. People gave us nearly 200 pairs of shoes. I am not exagerating. It's just amazing.

Not only did we get shoes, but friends from church gave us a suitcase to carry them in. It's a very old suitcase, it's seen better days, but it will work and the family asked that we just leave it there (which is great - we don't have to carry it back!) It looks big in this picture, but wait until you see the next one...

Yeah, the kid fits in the suitcase. Easily and with room to spare, actually, and she's almost 40 inches tall! I'm hoping we can fit all the shoes in there and then just pay a surcharge for an overweight bag. Cross your fingers!

I can't believe the response we got. It filled my heart with joy to see that people wanted to give to these kids who are in such desperate need. In fact, the piles of shoes in my house make me cry because they're a testament to the human spirit. We WANT to care for each other, we just need someone to lead the way.

Heartbreak

2009-01-26T18:55:00.002-06:00

Our court date was unsuccessful. I'm not going to say we didn't pass, because it had nothing to do with us and everything to do with a tiny bit more documentation the judge asked for before he would declare the case finalized.

And so, we wait. Our next court date is February 18th and if we pass then, we'll be able to go get him in March. We have received new tentative travel dates, but I have decided not to share them, just in case something goes wrong. It's been hard enough telling people we're not leaving when we thought we were.

Anna Graham said she thinks we will pass this next time and she wouldn't say that if she didn't mean it, so I will keep praying and try to be patient with the timing. It has been so long already, another month or so will not hurt us. Well, it will hurt, but it's what was intended, so we just need to take a step back, take a breath, and take our time getting ready so we can make sure we've got it all done.

On the bright side, I will get our taxes organized and my annual report done at work this month, so that will not be hanging over my head while we are gone.

The bummer of the whole thing is having to rearrange all our flights. Paying those change fees really blows. Oh well, we'll manage somehow.

So that's the news, kids. Love you all.

Waiting for Court

2009-01-25T21:40:00.001-06:00

Courts open in Ethiopia in three hours. They will be closed by the time I go to work in the morning.

Gah...how do you sleep with this going on? The call tomorrow will let me know exactly what's going on. Either I'll put up pictures of my beautiful boy for everyone to see, or I'll slink back all depressed and have to gird myself for more of a wait.

Blech.

Stressful Days

2009-01-24T07:12:00.003-06:00

Okay, I bit off more than I could chew. Thankfully, I've realized it, my husband's realized it, and we're going to do something about it, but more on that in a minute.

We're waiting for court on Monday, where Ethiopia will decide if we can travel and get our son when we were planning to. If all goes well, we leave in just under two weeks to bring him home. Altogether, this process has taken a year and eight months and now I feel that I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy, which would make me a rhinocerous or a sperm whale, I suppose, since they're pregnant for about that long. Haven't graduated to elephant yet (2 years) and lets hope I don't. Failing Monday would be awful. Then we'd have to wait another few months possibly before we could go.

Dagny is in the whiny stage and thinks that crying and not listening will get her what she wants. Terrible twos? No, we didn't have those. We're having terrifying threes. She lost her TV priveleges, her Wii priveleges, and all her barbies last weekend for not listening and she's in the process of earning them back. All of those things have now become rewards. If she brushes her teeth and changes her clothes without a fuss, she gets to watch one episode of the Upside Down Show, which she loves.

On the other hand, she's getting funnier and far more interesting. The other day while I was in the shower, she came in, pulled the curtain back, and proceeded to sing me "I can Show You The World" from Aladdin. She actually knows most of the words, too! It was very sweet.

Now, onto the major problem. I can't handle a dog right now. All I do is make sure she's not peeing on the carpet when she's out of her crate and I am not enjoying any relaxing time at home, which at the moment, the whole family really needs. I have no more alone time (I know, that won't last long anyway) which I used to get up early to accomplish, and I can't quite manage to enjoy a workout since I'm always craning my head around to see where the dog is or trying not to step on her.

So we're finding her a new home. I know, we've only had her for a few months, but that has shown me that I really don't want a puppy, especially not when we're trying to get ready to bring another child into our home. It was a mistake, but one that we can rectify. The kennel a few towns down will take her until we find a home for her and she's stayed there before for her training class, so she knows the man in charge and likes him. He also thinks he might have a buyer for her, since someone is looking for a puppy similar to her right now. And I called the breeder, who also thinks she can help, so with luck Belle will have a new home before we leave for Africa.

*sigh* It's been a long couple weeks and all I can do is wait and prepare for leaving...but it's hard to pack when you're not absolutely sure you're going anywhere...

What God Throws At You...

2009-01-09T19:49:00.002-06:00

So, I'm all worried that we won't pass court this morning and God threw a few signs at me to let me know that, even if we didn't, everything was going to fine.

First Sign: I turn the calendar over to mark the tentative dates and...it's a picture of a large herd of elephants in Africa. Dagny just mentioned this morning that I would see elephants when we went to get her brother. God's words from the mouths of babes.

Second Sign: I had my toes done today in Sioux Falls with my friend Maria, and as we're sitting there, two women come in and sit down near us and start chatting and the language sounds faintly familiar. So I lean over and ask "Excuse me, what language are you speaking?" And the woman smiles at me and says...

"Amharic. Ethiopian." And we start talking. They are going to Ethiopia tomorrow to visit family and will be in Addis for two months. They taught me how to say our son's name and looked at his picture and said he was going to be beautiful and very tall. And they told me what his name means together (first and middle) and it is so fitting. I can't wait to share it. And they taught me how to say "I love you." And one of them gave me her phone number and told me to call her while we are in Addis.

I can't help but think that God would not have given me these things today if he didn't want me to rest assured that he is working in his way to bring my family together.

Travel Dates!

2009-01-08T15:50:00.002-06:00

So...if we pass court on the 26th of January, we are slotted to travel February 7th. That's a month from YESTERDAY!! I might meet my son in a month!!

I'm not sure what to think, though. The other families that have struggled with me through the wait (remember the four muskateers) - well, all three of those families are traveling February 21st - 28th, so we won't be together. This actually makes me really sad and really ecstatic at the same time. I so desperately wanted to meet them and travel with them and share this experience with them, but now I have to do it before they do, without them.

However, I get to meet my son a lot sooner, which makes me really excited and really terrified, all at the same time. Not sure what to think. I'll post more later, after I think on it more.

And Down it Comes...

2009-01-04T14:42:00.002-06:00

I took the tree down today. That always makes me sad. I love how my house looks at Christmas and I love the tree, all the decorations, my nativity set, all of that. I had to think really hard about leaving it up until our boy comes home, but since that will probably be another two months, the neighbors might think I was insane.

We had our home study update done yesterday! The state of MN requires an in-home visit for the update, so our social worker had to drive all the way from Minneapolis (about four hours) in not the best of weather, but everything went fine. We talked about our new jobs, our new dog, and she asked about our reactions to some of the difficulties that other families are going through.

I know this will be hard. Since I'm not a first-time parent, I know a bit about what to expect on the physical end, and since I'm adopted myself, I can imagine some of the things that will go on in his head. Of course, there will be things that he might remember that I have no experience with...I have never lacked for food, or shelter, or love. Never. And he has, which breaks my heart. I know from the day he came to the orphanage, he has not lacked for food, shelter, or love for that matter, but there was a time.

Church mentioned adoption today, with a reading from Ephesians. God called us to do this, to adopt a little boy into our family, just as he has adopted every one of us into his. And it feels good to follow that call, even though we know there are hardships ahead.

Court Date

2008-12-31T11:42:00.003-06:00

Okay, keep us in your prayers. An AWAA representative goes to court (in Ethiopia) for our little boy on January 26th, 2009. 70% of families pass court on their first try and we are desperately hoping to be in that 70%.

If we pass, we will travelin February to bring him home!

New Years Eve

2008-12-31T11:22:00.003-06:00

I wish everyone a safe and happy New Year's Celebration.

It's the time of year for fresh starts and new beginnings. In this coming year, our family will grow by one, we will learn to manage our money with our new pay schedules, we will train our dog to be a good member of the family, and we will endeavor to become more healthy, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Big resolutions, I know, but needed.

We plan on doing nothing tonight except being together. We have a silly movie, Dags will take a bath, we're having crab legs and cheese sandwiches, and somewhere there's got to be ice cream...

Happy 2009, a few hours early.

Holly Jolly Christmas

2008-12-25T13:54:00.002-06:00

Well, we made it to Christmas Eve services at church! We had the Christmas program that the kids worked so hard on and it was great! Dagny even remembered her line and said it loud enough that people heard. It was lots of fun!

I made Swedish meatballs for dinner, just like my grandmother used to make, and they turned out quite good, if I do say so myself. Last time I made them, they weren't that good. This time, I invoked my grandma's help and she must have heard me. And the twice baked potatoes, also one of her traditions, were fabulous.

After dinner, I thought we would perhaps sit down and watch a bit of television, but my father seems to have come down with Pink Eye and Marc took him to the emergency room instead. They flushed out his eye, but since no pharmacies are open in Pipestone on Christmas Eve, they ended up driving all the way to Sioux Falls (45 minutes) for the eyedrops. That's love, when your hubby takes your father on that long of a trip. They got back around midnight. Dagny was already asleep and Santa had already come and gone, leaving the presents in the stockings.

This morning, Dagny woke up about 7:15 and was quite excited about the presents. She went in to tell Daddy that Santa had been there while I took the dog outside. And while we were outside, something got ahold of me. I don't know if it was the quiet, the peace, or what, but I ran around the yard in the snow with the dog and I loved it. We're going to go outside later as a family and play.

Dagny made out like a bandit with the presents. She got clothes, books, toys, a toddler sized chair that she can haul around, and a barbie car, which seemed to be the biggest hit of the day. Marc and I each got some clothes that were much needed and we gave each other Ipods, which was fun. Even though we both knew what we were getting, it was still a nice Christmas.

This afternoon we're working on dinner: a ham, au gratin potatoes, green beans, and Marc is making a bread pudding with bourbon. Mom is also making a fruit salad because she needs something to do. Don't get me wrong, I like fruit salad, so it will be nice. She just likes to have time in the kitchen.

Dagny isn't napping this afternoon, but I suppose that's all right. She's almost at the age where she won't nap anymore anyway.

The only thing that could make this day better would be our son. He got presents under the tree this morning, something from Santa, and a chair for himself. They're in his room, waiting for him to get here so he can open them.

We love you, honey. We'll be there soon.

Church got Cancelled? Again?

2008-12-21T13:16:00.002-06:00

So last week church got cancelled. It was snowing, a bit icy, and darn chilly, so I understood and thankfully, the choir director caught me just as I was leaving. I went over to the building anyway, since I had a present for the pastor, wanted to get a copy of the music for next week, and had a bread starter to give to someone. No big deal, except we had to postpone the Christmas program.

So this morning it's really cold again (think -35) and the snow is blowing around a bit, so I get up about 7:15 (slept in) and called pastor to see if Church was cancelled. Besides, I don't want to take a shower if there's nowhere to go! He says NO. We're having church!

So I get everybody fed, straightened up, and then I go to take a shower and as I'm getting ready, the phone rings. It's pastor. He says he's cancelling after all, because all the other churches did. Bummer...one more week to put off the Christmas program.

BUT...on the bright side, I got the house cleaned. Yesterday I got all the presents wrapped, and most of the laundry done. So I feel accomplished, but I miss services. Two weeks is a long time to go without church!

Maybe God will smile on us Christmas Eve and we'll make it to services. Cross your fingers!

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-18T07:33:00.002-06:00

Behold, the artistry of a three-year old.

Okay, so we bought a kit from a local fundraiser to make a gingerbread house and it contained all the parts we would need except for frosting, which I made myself (it worked fine). As you can see, the roof collapsed...must be a problem with the architect and not the contractor, right?

So we went for a NM style adobe flat-roofed home, complete with green snow, a star of Bethlehem, and a garden in the back with rich red soil, into which three magnificent pine tree pretzels were planted.

Fabulous, is it not? We're selling the property for $100,000 which is a steal in the neighborhood its located. Contact me, the agent, if interested.

When we were finished, the dog had frosting in her ears...

Three-Year Old Christmas Programs

2008-12-10T20:22:00.002-06:00

Dagny had her first Christmas program today and it was wonderful! She was so cute in her little tinsel halo. Of course, I didn't think to dress her up fancy like all the other little girls were, but she still looked great to me!

They sang five songs and she knew all the hand motions and looked like she was singing the right words. I cried. It was so fun to see her up there.

New Jobs, New Dog...

2008-12-07T14:53:00.004-06:00

So we started our new jobs. Marc started on November 17th, I started on December 1. They're both good. Marc is the Transit Manager for the County and, while he's got his work cut out for him, it's a good job and he says it's not too bad. He even got conned into helping plan the county Christmas party this year. Probably because he was new and couldn't say no...

I'm really enjoying the Librarian position. I've been on the job for a week and have only begun to organize, but the daily functions I've learned pretty well, like checking things out, interlibrary loan, and getting things returned and back on the shelves. Its the administrative stuff I have to learn next. And it's a bit confusing since I haven't had a full-time job since I was pregnant. How do I get everything done? GAH...for a woman with OCD, leaving things unfinished is agony, but I'm going to have to learn. I'm making weekly lists instead of daily now, since it'll just work better that way. I can fulfill the list need and still maybe get a few things done.

Like today I made cookies and I need to clean bathrooms and finish the laundry. Marc helped with laundry yesterday and said he could vaccuum later when Dagny gets up from her nap. He rocks.

No doubt some day in the future, I will be slaughtered for showing this picture publically. But I couldn't resist. Dagny needed to pee with an audience. She lined up all her dollies neatly by the bathtub and proceeded to do her business. Too funny!

And then at Thanksgiving, she got so worn out, she fell asleep on the floor in her room instead of in bed. I know the picture's sideways, forgive me. She's lying on the carpet under her playsilks, with her head on a basket of stuffed animals. She slept like that for an hour.

And I thought it was tim to finally post the dog! That's Bluebelle Hall, at a grand total of 12 pounds. She and Dagny are already best of friends and the carpet has been pooped on at least once a day for a week. Oh well, we'll survive. She's learning and finally starting to get comfortable in her crate instead of howling all night.

And now...we wait for a court date, so I can post a few OTHER pictures I know people want to see...

How Do You Thank Everyone?

2008-11-27T21:19:00.002-06:00

I have no idea how to thank everyone who has made this entire thing possible. Every single one of you that reads this blog (and tons of people who don't) mean so much to our daily lives that I can't even being to express it in words.

We love you. We thank God that you are in our lives every day. Each and every one of you is special and blessed and has blessed US in return.

And we thank God for making this possible as well. He saw our struggle and let us go through it, and because we didn't give up, he laid his hands on us at the end and gave us peace.

Thank you.

More Pictures

2008-11-24T07:06:00.001-06:00

I'm starving for more pictures. The families that have recently traveled will probably put up albums so I can sort through those, but his referral picture is quite dark and I haven't been able to find a picture that I'm SURE is him.

GAH! This is driving me crazy. I want to see more pictures of my son!! Anyone have a magic wand to wave for me?

Oh my GOSH!!

2008-11-15T08:02:00.001-06:00

You guys won't believe this...I went to create a new lilypie tickers (that countdown thing at the top of the page) and it recorded the last time I made a ticker, which was the very start of the process, when we sent in the very first form.

And the date on that ticker was...May 15, 2007. Ephraim's first birthday.

I have chills.

REFERRAL!!!!

2008-11-15T07:38:00.002-06:00

Friday afternoon, at 2:30 PM, we got the call. I was at work and painting away in the museum when my phone rings with a (703) area code. "703? Who's in 703?"

So I answer.

"Stephanie? This is Terra Bailey from America World."

My heart stops. And then I hear my husband's voice and I realize we've been conferenced together.

"Is this the call?" I manage to get out.

"Yes, this is the call," she replies. And I fall to my butt in the gallery and start crying. Big, uncontrolable sobs. My boss starts staring at me and then figures it out, and she leans against the broom and watches with tears in her eyes, too.

"We have a beautiful boy for you. His name is (can't share it yet) and his birthday is May 15, 2006."

2006? He's a toddler!! He's only a year younger than Dagny!!

I didn't manage to say anything else except thank you and to hear my husband promise he wouldn't look at the pictures until I got home.

And when I got hom with Dagny, we rushed to the computer to open up the jpeg and we saw his face for the first time. And we're in love. He's beautiful and I can't wait until he passes court and you all can see him.

AND...as if the day wasn't full enough...I got a job as Director of Libraries with the school system AND we put a deposit down on a new dog.

Heck, might as well have all our changes at once, right?

All Hail the New York Giants!

2008-11-08T16:40:00.001-06:00

We just got back from the movie theater, where we saw Madagascar 2. So it wasn't as funny as the first one, that's for sure, but it was the first time Dagny went to the movie theater. She did pretty well! We got popcorn (which she spilled) and Mommy had to leave the theater once to get more snacks, then again to take her to the potty, but all in all, she wasn't too bad.

Of course, it was hard for her to understand that kicking the seat in front of her wasn't appropriate, but lucky for us the lady didn't turn around and tell us off. I appreciated that.

We had fun! I think I'd wait for the video on this one, though.

Good Tidings of Joy

2008-11-06T17:23:00.002-06:00

Okay, well, to make a long story short, Marc lost his job three weeks ago. We almost stopped the adoption and moved to Phoenix, but we managed to keep cool heads and just try one day at a time.

But yesterday, Marc got a job! He is the new transportation manager for the county of Pipestone, which means he will organize and oversee the public transportation. It's a pay cut, so I still have to look for a job, too, which means leaving the museum (I'm heartbroken over that). On the job front for me, I have an interview for a librarian position next week. No jokes about naughty librarians, please. :D

God blessed us. I know, it's taking forever to get a referral, much MUCH longer than we thought it would. But that was God's plan. It's taken us awhile to get our ducks in a row and had we gotten a referral in the middle of the chaos, it would have been terrible. So he waited. And I am truly sorry that the other families had to wait with us, but I am so glad that it worked out this way. Now I can look forward to the referral again with joy instead of dread.

To all the other waiting families: our children have been born, they are waiting for us. And before we know it, they will be in our arms since they are already in our hearts.

Spongebob Squarepants

2008-11-03T08:00:00.004-06:00

Okay, so this isn't the Nickelodeon Park, it's Halloween. Dagny was Cinderella, in case you can't tell, and she had a great time. We carved our pumpkins on Tuesday and then Friday, of course, we went trick-or-treating. We stopped at the retirement home at the top of the hill first, since all the people who live there love to see the little ones in costumes. And then we worked our way back to our house, stopping at the people we knew. Okay, we didn't get a huge amount of candy and we were done in 45 minutes, but what 3-year-old needs forty candy bars?

At the Nickledeon Park on Saturday (and I'll put up a picture of Spongebob as soon as I find my husband's camera cord), we rode all the rides that a small person could ride. Luckily, all we needed to do was buy her a wristband and either Marc or I could ride along with her as a chaparone. It was great. She loved it and we had a really good time. The picture above is the baloon race ride.

And of course, they had to ride the big rigs ride, too. The little trucks had horns for everyone to push. That's marc, up in the back of the truck. Must have been hard to fit in there. Glad it wasn't me!

I'll post more pictures and write more as soon as, yep, you guessed it, I find the cord.

MN Get Together

2008-11-03T07:53:00.003-06:00

The families from Minnesota and South Dakota who are adopting from Ethiopia through AWAA managed to have a get together on November 1st at the Mall of America. We ate at Ruby Tuesdays and although they couldn't fit us all at one table, we had great discussions all around! Hutchinsons, Rovangs, Korsons, Wistroms, Prause, and the Halls (us) all managed to be there, some with children in tow. All in all, there were about 20 of us and we took over two booths and a few tables put together in the middle. It was great fun to see the faces of people I'd only heard on the conference calls!

And notice the silly sign. I made it so we could all find each other, BUT by the time Marc had gotten the sign out of the car, we'd all found each other anyway. So the sign only got used for the picture. Oh well, at least it's a nice sign!

Conspicuous Silences

2008-10-19T15:28:00.003-05:00

So, there's been a few shakeups in the Hall household. We definitely need your prayers, though I'm not going to go into a lot of details here. I will be silent for awhile, I'm sure, until there is a referral or I have good news to report on other fronts. I hope you all forgive me for not writing, but it is going to be difficult.

Pray for peace, pray for understanding (for everybody), and pray for his will to be done, which will hopefully lead us in the right direction.

I am trying to remain secure in the fact that he led us in this calling for a purpose, even if I don't know what that purpose was.

Post-Conference

2008-10-16T14:31:00.002-05:00

Right, so the conference call was very enlightening in a strange sort of non-enlightening way. You're right, that makes no sense, but there you go.

We received an email indicating that there will most likely be no infant referrals in October and Duni stressed that on the call. The orphanges are full and some of the kids need to leave in order for them to bring more in, so our group on the 25th is critical to more referrals. I suppose that makes sense.

If we get a referral in the beginning of November, we should expect to travel in January, which is doable for me but hard for Marc. He's got a tradeshow every week that month, so things might get a little crazy for him. We'll figure it out, though, as we always have done.

Duni also said that, in light of the fee increase at the beginning of November, they might revisit those fees for those of us who should be expecting a referral this month. They do not want their integrity questioned, which is a good idea. I think, though, even if we get a fee break, we will probably make a donation to the transition home anyway. The money is needed for the children and if we have it, we should give it. We'll see how that all pans out.

I feel better now. Not really more relaxed, but a bit more in the know without really knowing anything. Weird how that feels.

A Bit Bummed

2008-10-15T12:46:00.003-05:00

How ironic that my post about being bummed follows the thankful post. Just goes to show how the emotions are roller-coastering (yes, I know that's not a word).

We don't have a referral yet and Duni is out of the office today. I know, I know, she said the end of the month, but a girl can hope, right?

I'm a bit bummed because they sent out the next travel dates for the families with referrals already. Not that they have their travel dates, don't get me wrong. That's AWESOME!

What I'm bummed about is we were really hoping to travel maybe before Christmas and the travel dates encompass a group leaving on December 5th. Since we don't have a referral yet, it looks like we won't travel until January at the earliest, which means we really need to get our homestudy redone. *sigh* There's another $550 to spend, not to metion the new fees for the program. I know God will provide, but that doesn't take the stress away some days.

For those of you traveling, I am SO HAPPY for you and I look forward to sending something along for my son when you go.

Now if I could just get a referral...

Thankful

2008-10-14T09:36:00.002-05:00

It's been very hard for me to blog lately, since there is no news. Of course, there's no bad news, either, so it's just a lack of things to write about.

Today, though, Kim Kulp has challenged us to write about what we are thankful for, so that has inspired me.

First off, I am deeply saddened again by the loss of another child to pneumonia. Etsegenet Forrest was brought home to God on Saturday and sits with Him, and all we can do is to pray for understanding. The Forrest family has been very present in my prayers lately.

But back to thankful. I am thankful for the support and the love that I can feel coming from the other members of the Yahoogroups list. We are all God's family, but this group has been so essential in helping its members through the process that I have no idea where we would be without it. Every single member contributes with prayers and support and its amazing. All of you are truly blessings from heaven.

I am thankful for my family, my husband and daughter, my parents, and my uncles, aunts, cousins, and in-laws. Again, there is a lot of support to be had in hard times and I can feel how much they want us to succeed. It's humbling to know there are so many people on your side.

And I am thankful for God. I know that I need to place my trust in him, even during the hardest of times when faith is in short supply. My cousin Amy reminded me of that this morning. When things seem very bleak, that's the time you need to trust most of all and that is no mean feat. Thank you, Amy, for putting things bit more into perspective for me.

(and now for a small silly story)

This morning I was lazy. I stayed in bed until I heard my daughter get up and then waited for her to come and get me instead of going to get her. I heard her door open, and I expected small feet to pad to our bedroom, but instead, I heard some clanking around and then realized she was going to the bathroom by herself. She went, flushed, and washed her hands before walking down the hall. Just as she came into the bedroom, the phone rang.

"I'll get it, mommy" said her little voice, and sure enough, that's just what she did. Not only did she pick up the phone, but she pressed talk and said "Hello? Hi Daddy. Mommy is in bed." And then she brought the phone to me.

It's amazing how much of a little person she is becoming. And I am thankful for that, too.

In fact, I'm thankful to be alive and to have the things I have. I have a house, I have a family, a car, a computer to write this, a phone, food to feed us, and heat to warm us up. And that is a vast amount more than others have.

Thank you, Kim. I needed this today.

Spoke to Duni!

2008-10-08T07:30:00.003-05:00

I finally spoke to Duni and Marc was right, it helped. She told me that the orphanages were a bit full, as was the transistion home, so it was possible that no referrals would be made until the end of October. I don't know if she was telling me this to help me not stress out so much, or if it's true, but it helps to know anyway. She also gave me clues as to the order of the four families, but I'm not going to say anything here about that.

The only thing that stinks is that AWAA is increasing their international fees on the first of November, so if we accept our referral after that date, we'll be subject to twice as much money as we would pay otherwise. The fee will jump from $3450 to $7500, which is a huge increase we weren't expecting. If that happens, travel will be difficult since we budgeted, but we'll find a way.

Marc just hopes they aren't playing dirty and holding back referrals until November. I hope that, too. That would really be dirty pool.

Dow Jones, You Stink!

2008-10-06T15:33:00.002-05:00

So, with the market crash of the day (poop on this plan...hope it works in the long run), Marc and I together have lost money. A lot of money. Just around $8500. Okay, its recoverable, but at the moment it hurts. It's what's called an unrealized loss, which means that it can come back if we don't cash out. If we cash out of our stocks, we lose the money. As of right now, its only theoretical.

Theory still stinks.

Waiting Waiting Waiting

2008-10-06T11:20:00.001-05:00

*insert Jeopardy theme music here...*

Don't worry, Shelley, I'm stalking those blogs, too! For those of you not reading the comments (shame shame), I am stalking the Martins, the Renos and the Chans. Not in a bad way, but I read their blogs every day. We're all up together here at number one for a boy (unless there's a mystery family in front of us, which there probably is) and it's still nerve wracking.

One of my friends said she wasn't going to call me anymore for fear that I will run out of pants.

*snork*

Tied for Number One?

2008-09-29T16:27:00.004-05:00

At Jori's insistance, I am updating the blog! In my defense, I was out of town over the weekend and away from my computer, which can be a good thing.

There were two boy referrals last week, which means...(cue music here) Martins, Renos, Chans, and Halls (that would be us) are in the number one spot for a boy. We're all tied together because our paperwork all went together on the very same day to Ethiopia. So who knows which one of us will get the call first?

Technically, Chans and Halls are first for a boy. Martins and Renos asked for "either" but since boys are more common, I'm counting them up there with us.

Everytime the phone rings, I think I'm going to wet my pants. Seriously, it's that exciting. I know we might not get a referral for awhile, but it could be today, tomorrow, any day....it's crazy. To think, in a few days we might see a picture of our son for the first time. My heart hurts just thinking about it.

Who wants to bet that they will call on Friday, when we're out of town and our cellphones don't work...

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

2008-09-19T16:11:00.001-05:00

It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Arrrr, mateys. Walk the plank, land-lubber. Shiver me timbers!

And that's all I have to say about that. Oh, and I got a pedicure today and already managed to mess it up a bit at work. I'm going to stop on the way home and see if she can fix it.

Going Crazy

2008-09-17T08:22:00.003-05:00

I'm not actually sure how much longer I can stand this. We're somewhere in the top ten (or very close) as I've written before which means that, with luck, we might get a referral later this month or the beginning of October.

I don't know how other families have stood this! Every time the phone rings, I jump, and I'm crying every day. I stalk the adoption list to see if there were any referrals and I feel dejected when a day goes by without one. I never worried about it before, now its become an obsession. i'm having a very hard time thinking about anything else.

Dagny is talking more and more about how her brother can share this, her brother can have that, she wants to cuddle him and kiss him, and she asks all the time when I'm going to Africa to get her brother. She's obsessing, too! The whole family is obsessing!

How much longer can I take it without going bonkers? I mean, I know its all in God's good timing, but can't the time speed up a little? I'm ready now! Right, there's my whining for the day.

Enough whining. I need to get in the shower and get myself to work. Tonight I have a few things to do, so maybe that will keep me from obsessing too much. Banana bread, tomato processing, picking more stuff from the garden, organizing the freezer...there's lots of things to do...

Come on, God, hurry it up! :)

A Weekend Date!

2008-09-14T16:43:00.002-05:00

So a friend of mine stayed at our house on Saturday and Sunday with Dagny so that Marc and I could take a short trip to the Twin Cities, a weekend date!

We love to go to the Renaissance Fair and this year was no exception. We've gone every year since we've been together and haven't missed one! Well, this year was wet and buggy, but we spent three hours there (and spent some money, too) and had a great time. Puke and Snot are still my favorite act, even though the original Snot died this summer (how sad...) and was replaced by a new guy. They were still hillarious.

After the fair, we decided to see a movie and we went to Tropic Thunder, which was very funny. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing a non-animated feature! We even worked in a trip to IKEA before dinner. I love IKEA. It's like Mecca for me. We bought some things for Dagny, including a really cool easel that has a whiteboard on one side, a chalkboard on the other, and a roll for paper. It's awesome, she loves it.

We had dinner at Pei Wei, which is a noodle bowl place. We had one in Tucson and we must have gone every week, so I've been having Pei Wei withdrawal until now. Yumm...my tummy felt so good after that. Following dinner, we went and browsed at Barnes and Noble, got some cheesecake, and went back to the hotel for a long (uninterrupted) night's sleep.

This morning, we left a bit early so we could stop at Emma Krumbee's on the way back. It's an apple orchard, restaurant, gift store kind of place and the food is fantastic! I had cinnamon apple pancakes and they were delicious.

Now we're back home, cleaning the house and getting everything put away. Dagny missed us, but she had such a fun time while we were gone that it wasn't too bad. She went to the Science Center and to Fuddruckers for cheese sandwiches, which are her favorite. She even got to go play with a dog in the evening, which I know was a treat.

She's already asking when we'll get a new puppy...

New Angels

2008-09-11T06:27:00.004-05:00

Just to update, the procedure went fine. His veins were so weak, they sedated him so he wouldn't feel the needle poking and he fell asleep with his head in my lap. She had warned us that he might vocalize or lose bowel control, but he did neither. He just looked up and us and sighed before he passed and it was over.

They allowed us to bring the body home and we buried him in the backyard after letting Dagny say goodbye. She seemed to understand that he had gone to heaven, bu later asked me if she could go out and kiss him to make him come back, like they do in the stories. She placed the first handful of dirt, and when the hole was full, we moved over a pot of pink geraniums and sang Amazing Grace.

God has a new angel now. Thank you so much to all of you who sent messages of support and prayer. It's so lonely in the house this morning without him following me around and I keep thinking I can hear his tags jangling as he scratches. It'll definitely be a new experience, having a quiet house.

And to the dogs waiting for him to join their pack in heaven, he's a good boy. Be nice.

Thank you.

Death of a Beloved Pet

2008-09-10T13:07:00.001-05:00

Today, at 4:30, we're putting Atlas to sleep. He has lived a long and full life, but he is no longer happy.

He stopped eating three days ago, and no longer comes to greet us at the door. He is failing internally, as is evidenced by the problems he's having going to the bathroom.

Marc doesn't want to come home and find him dead, nor does he want Dagny to find him, and since it's the end, we would rather be with him when he passes.

Please say a small prayer for all the dogs in heaven. Atlas will surely be an angel.

Canning Success!

2008-09-07T16:32:00.002-05:00

Well it worked. I've got seventeen small jars of apple butter, all lined up on my counter and the seals took, so they're all good. I'm quite proud. If this wasn't so time consuming, I would do it as a fundraiser.

I've got a newfound respect for farmwives and women who would preserve food like this all the time. After all the time it took to process the food to the stage to can it, and then the actual canning (which is really hot with all that boiling water), I am amazed that I got anything done at all. Huzzah to women who do this all the time!

And to think, my tomatoes should be ripe in another few days and I can do it again! I hope I have enough for a respectable batch of pasta sauce, and maybe some left over for salsa. Even if it's just one or two jars, I would really like to look at them on my shelves and think "Hey, I made that from our garden."

Besides, it gives me something to do so I'm not thinking about referrals!

Apple Butter

2008-09-07T07:30:00.002-05:00

I made apple butter yesterday, from scratch. And when I say from scratch, I mean I even picked the apples off the tree in our front yard. I spent an hour and a half peeling, then had to make applesauce, then pureed the applesauce smooth, then put it in a crockpot with cinnamon, sugar, allspice, and cloves.

My house smells goooooooooood! It's thickening up pretty good (cooked overnight) and this afternoon I am going to attempt to can it. This is my first attempt, so who knows if it will work or not! I certainly hope so. I'd like to give it to people as gifts. And if it works, I'll have to do it again!

Whoo hoo! Hooray for trying something new! I feel so domestic at the moment. If the canning works, I've got a whole bunch of winter squash that I will cook up with brown sugar and can. And when my tomatoes all turn red (they're close), I can do salsas and tomato sauce, too! Nothing is better than the stuff from your own garden!

First Day of School!

2008-09-04T12:30:00.002-05:00

Movie Star Dagny, off to school. Gotta wear the glasses to keep up the cool appearance. Right, so Dagny did just fine getting off to school with her new shoes and her backpack, but mommy was quite sad. I know, I take her to daycare four days a week, but somehow school was different. She just looked so grown up!

Here she is, sitting at her table and making a nametag. She tells me the only thing they did was play outside and swing on the monkey bars, but they also made a cute crown with construction paper crayons, because that was in her bag. She has her own hook for her coat and bag, and her name is written over it. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. She's having lots of fun and I am so proud of her.

Now let's see if I can get the house cleaned up this afternoon. If I manage some of it, we're going to go outside and pick apples later. Whoo hoo!

Top Ten!

2008-09-03T12:58:00.000-05:00

We are in the top ten. Wow. It affected me a lot to finally see our name at the bottom of that list. With ten referrals a month, we could get a call anytime between now and October. It's happening faster than I thought now that we're this close.

I don't know if I should be scared or insanely happy. Ha.

The Light and the Darkness

2008-09-02T08:13:00.002-05:00

I'll start with the darkness first, since its always better to follow bad with good, so you end on a better note. Our dog is very sick. The vet asked me if I wanted to hear the word (starts with 'c') and I said no, so she didn't say it. He's throwing up every day and not finishing his food and Dagny is starting to realize something is wrong. It's very hard. He's 13 and has been with Marc since he was 8 weeks old and he is my first dog altogether. I've never had to really deal with the loss of a large pet (my parents dealt with our cat) and I'm terrified every day that I will come home and he will be dead. I just don't want him to suffer at all. The vet says we will know when he's got a bad quality of life and we should just manage the symptoms until then. All right, I'll go along with that.

There's a lot of stress at Marc's work right now, so he needs a few prayers sent his way. I'm not going to go into details, since they're many and varied and would get boring, but suffice it to say that he needs a bit of a boost. Got a board meeting this week, so we'll see how that goes.

In lighter news, we just got back from a weekend up at the cabin and the weather was perfect. We fished and took walks and rode around the lake in the boat (it was very windy) shrieking happily with our arms spread out wide while Marc drove us really fast. It was quite fun. We also visited a winery that we had never seen before and got a few books at a sale. When we came home, it was hot, but our tomatoes were turning red and we had fresh tomato sauce on pasta last night and it was divine.

We are also about number 5 in line for a baby boy now. The wait is almost done and I'm fairly trembling with it. I've been crying every day but I'm not sure if it is from joy or terror. I guess we'll see. Maybe we can have this baby home for Christmas. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

And now I leave you with something a bit offensive, but I just have to post it. The following is a photograph of a squash that was growing in my garden when I got back and it's suggestive to say the least. Enjoy.

Come on, admit it, you laughed.

Pumpkins

2008-08-21T14:28:00.003-05:00

That, my friends, is a pumpkin growing in a pine tree. It's about two-thirds of the way up the tree and I have no idea what will happen when the pumpkin gets bigger. Ha. Talk about weird.

Anyway, that's my news for the day. I cleaned up the garden, made placemats for the kitchen, and am about to clean the house, but I wanted to share the silliness of the pumpkin first.

Oh, and I am now on facebook! So if you are, too, come find me! :D

Awful News

2008-08-20T16:03:00.002-05:00

Another family that got a referral just a short while ago was informed a few days past that their little girl was going into the hospital with pneumonia. Here, that would be worrying, but probably not fatal. There, that wasn't the case.

Their beautiful girl was taken home by God and as I write this I am weeping with sorrow for the loss they must feel. Her mommy never got to hold her before she died and will not be able to be with her little girl until they meet again in heaven. Words cannot even express how heart-wrenching this must be for them. For all of you who read my blog, please say a prayer for the family as they struggle through this sad time.

A Harvest

2008-08-17T08:08:00.004-05:00

There are things growing in my crazily overgrown garden! Dagny and I went out yesterday to explore and found six acorn squash, three summer squash, a nice handful of beans, a tomato, and three ears of corn. Okay, so the corn is feed corn and inedible, but it was fun to find anyway.

We ate the tomato and the beans for dinner with hamburgers and we're going to trade a bunch of the squash for beans and sweetcorn from a neighbor. Those can be frozen. Who knows, maybe he can teach me a trick to freeze squash this afternoon, too. I'm not sure how I would do that, other than cook it first. Which I suppose is the way to go. Now I have to decide if I want to buy a pressure cooker and canning jars or freeze everything in ziploc baggies, which is what a lot of people do around here. I just need to organize the freezer!

No news on the adoption front. There haven't been any referrals in the past week, so I'm trying not to think about it too hard. Of course, when I went shopping on Thursday for socks and underwear for Dagny, I found a romper with a lion on it at Gymboree and I bought it for Ephraim. It was on sale, I couldn't help myself. At least I didn't buy more than one!

Civil War Reenactors

2008-08-16T13:37:00.003-05:00

Have I mentioned my husband and I are insane? Every two years, Pipestone hosts Civil War Days where reenactors from all over the United States come to dress up and pretend it's somewhere between 1861 and 1865.

Two years ago, when we had just moved here, we got hired to read letters from soldiers to their wives at the festival. We enjoyed it, so we agreed to do it again this year. AND we got roped into doing a talk on hot air ballooning during the war. Don't get me started on that, since I'm the talker and I could go for hours. Suffice it to say that hydrogen balloons were used as spies for both the Union and the Confederate Armies, though the Union was much luckier with them. I've really enjoyed the research and the talk, so if you want to know more, you can always email me.

Two years from now, I pledge to have a dress that belongs to me (the one in the picture is borrowed) and I pledge to make Marc a nice vest that matches. I may even be able to make both kids matching outfits and we can attend as the entire family! I'm really looking forward to that.

And yes, there's a bunch of guys dressed as soldiers running around and shooting each other. The Union Commander even court-martialed and shot someone this morning...all in good fun.

Yeah, we're crazy.

Excitement!

2008-08-13T07:52:00.002-05:00

Dagny has started pooping on the toilet! What an exciting entry for the blog. :) I just know you all wanted to read that today.

Also, one of the women who is in Ethiopia right now say there are 50 kids at the transition home. 18 of them have referrals, so does that mean we might get a referral soon? I'm on the edge of my seat!!

Goat Races 2008

2008-08-09T18:50:00.003-05:00

You may feel free to laugh now. I just know you were all wondering what the heck we did in Jasper to pass the time in the summer and now you know. Once a year, the residents of Jasper get drunk and laugh at goats. Okay, I wasn't drunk, but I was laughing!

Since it was the last year, I rented a goat for 15 bucks and participated. I had the meanest nanny, but she followed along well enough on her leash (snork) as we got into the racing pen to get ready. My goat is above. She was kinda ugly, too. But hurray for the goat!

We won third place in the adult division. I got a trophy. With a goat on it. Now you can laugh really hard! See the picture below of said trophy.

I should be very proud.

Fishing Our Hearts Out!

2008-08-09T18:42:00.002-05:00

The picture above is Dagny's BASS! Yes, bass. Not a panfish or a tiny fish, a bass. Probably about a half pound, but a bass nonetheless. Dagny loves to fish. She had a pole without a reel, just a bobber and hook which I filled with worms, and she flipping loved it.

She must have caught thirty fish this week, which was just the most wonderful thing. With each fish, she patted them and told them they were good fish before throwing them back. She even took a fish off her own hook once when we didn't get to her fast enough. It was hilarious.

Vacation was excellent. We visited an Emu Ranch (very large birds) and did a little shopping. Dagny rode the jet ski (with Marc) all the way across the lake and seemed to enjoy herself. We went swimming, picked up shells, and went to the science center about an hour away, where she touched hissing cockroaches and a tarantula before following a tortise around the exhibits. It was a great time.

Most of the time she was pretty good, and we also got Olde Tyme photos taken with her a Southern Belle, which she loves. We'll frame it on her wall one of these days. But now we're back to the daily grind of things, which involved the goat races today...see the next post for that one!

Pins and Needles

2008-07-31T07:13:00.003-05:00

Okay, so Jori thinks perhaps we're about number 10 in line for a boy. By my calculations, we're right around 12 or 13, but either way, we're getting much closer. That's good news!

On another note, we just cancelled our Christmas Trip to Phoenix. Since they will want to see Ephraim anyway, we decided to go later instead of twice close together. Now I have to break it to Dagny, but she might not notice the time difference in the trips. At least, that's what I'm hoping. We just have to use our tickets before July 9 of 2009. So...you all think we can be back from Ethiopia before July 9th? :)

Time Goes By

2008-07-29T07:12:00.002-05:00

When Dagny was in the womb, Marc found her a very special clock when he was in Las Vegas, at a clock shop. Her clock is painted with a picture of a baby sleeping in the moon and has the poem Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on it.

I found this clock for Ephraim in the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue, of all places. I couldn't help myself. I bought it right away.

Ragweed

2008-07-28T07:23:00.003-05:00

So, I look out the window at my garden and am quite impressed with myself. Everything is healthy (mostly) and growing (pretty much) and there's this large plant in the middle which I thought was a pepper. Only there's no flowers, its not producing anything, and its taller than I am.

So Marc tells me to take a picture and take it to church, where there are a lot of farmers that can probably help me figure it out. I take the picture and guess what Alan tells me it is?

Ragweed! A giant ragweed in the garden! And I'm really allergic to ragweed! Well no wonder I've been miserable weeding. Anyway, Marc pulled it right away and underneath, low and behold, we find that the potato that Dagny and I planted on a lark is growing merrily away.

So next year I'm going to plant potatoes in one corner of the garden, just to see what happens.

What is it with kids being afraid to poop in the toilet? Dagny is doing it again, holding everything in until it hurts. She already knows if she keeps it up, we're going to do the same thing we did last time, which I really don't want to do and neither does she. We'll see what happens.

And Sunday, Marc and I got another date day. My friend Maria came over to watch Dagny and we went to Sioux Falls and saw the Dark Knight, which was excellent. I haven't seen a movie that good in a long time and I really hope they nominate Heath Ledger (Rest his soul) for an Oscar. He was fabulously awful.

We're getting ready for vacation at the end of the week, so I'll probably not be blogging until we get back. Four families have passed court and will be travelling in August (YAY!) and there's been a few more referrals. Just keep your fingers crossed that things will keep moving along!

Yuck

2008-07-19T15:23:00.004-05:00

(do not read if you have a weak tummy!)

Okay, so now there's poop. After the laxative and the suppository failed to work and it's been four days, I called the nurse this morning for some advice. Luckily, I got a friend of mine and not some random nurse, but someone who actually knows me and Dagny. Whew. I didn't feel like a complete idiot describing what was going on.

Meanwhile, while we're talking, Dagny is screaming that she's fine, which so wasn't true. She sat on the toilet with Marc for an hour and a half. Okay, Marc wasn't ON the toilet, he was sitting next to it and encouraging her and it got nowhere. So what did the nurse say to do?

Put vaseline on my finger or buy an enema kit from the drugstore. Yerks. I figured the vaseline was actually a better option, so Marc held her and I did you know what.

It was not even remotely pleasant, but it achevied the desired end. No pun intended. And I thought she'd never get near a toilet again, but when she woke up from her nap just now, she immediately went to the potty to pee.

Now, if I could only convince her that pooping is fun. We're off to Sioux Falls to get her a backpack and the book "Everybody Poops."

More Referrals

2008-07-19T11:24:00.003-05:00

(still no poop...)

So, there were five referrals on Friday! Five families got the call about having been matched with a baby! Awesome!

According to Alecia, there are about 20 families in front of us, both boys and girls, so who knows. If we go at ten referrals a month, we'd get a referral in September. I bet it'll be slower than that, though. I'd like to have a referral by the end of the year. I don't have much more to say on that topic, because it's kind of hard to talk about. I want it to happen so badly...

No Diapers?

2008-07-18T11:21:00.002-05:00

So while I was gone to California, Marc put Dagny in big girl panties for the first time. She did okay, wore a pull-up to bed, but on Sunday, she wanted back in the diaper. When I got home, she wanted panties again, so she wore her panties to Bible School.

And she had an accident. In front of everyone. She was terribly upset, but the next day wanted to wear panties again. We have had no accidents since then and she has been in panties every day. Of course, she wears the diaper at night, but this morning, she was dry!

She went to the potty right away, peed, and then said "Wow, mommy, that was a big one."

Only problem is, she won't poop on the toilet. She says her butt is too big (shoot, girl, if yours is too big...what about mommy's?). And she won't put a diaper on because it's not a "big girl" thing to do. So she hasn't pooped in three days.

I know you all can't wait, so I'll keep you posted on that.

She's riding her bike around the driveway every night and getting much better at it. She likes to go fast (yeah, she's my kid) and loves to chat with me while she rides, and then stop for a kiss every few rounds. I love it. I can sit and watch her and read my book, and she does circles endlessly. Perfect for both of us.

On the adoption side, I think my heart is breaking. There haven't been any referrals yet this month and I so desperately want other families to be united with their children so that I can realize my time is coming closer. I want to bring him home. Now. Like on the plane in an hour. *sigh* I keep telling myself its all in his good time, but that's not making it easier at all.

Hurry up everybody!

Going to the Chapel...

2008-07-14T10:55:00.002-05:00

One of my best friends was married this weekend and I had the good fortune to attend the wedding in Nevada City, California, which is close to Sacramento. And my, was it an exciting weekend. Let's start with Friday...

My friend (the groom) is Matt. Now, Matt said he would pick me up at the airport in Sacramento, but we neglected to exchange phone numbers before the arrival date. Dumb. So I arrive and no one is there. No one that I recognize is even in the terminal. I call my husband, who informs me there is another terminal, about a half a mile away, that he might be waiting at. So I schlep my stuff down to the other terminal and low an behold, he's there. So I hook up with Matt and Paul (the best man) and we walk BACK to the other terminal because someone else is coming in that morning, as well. Granted, we dropped off my stuff at the car, first.

So we pick up Teresa, who is also a groom's person and my room mate for the weekend, and we get in Matt's Prius to head back to Nevada City.

Did you know a Prius can run out of gas? Ha. It did, right on the side of the interstate. Matt calls roadside assistance and Paul and I decide to walk to find a gas station. So we cross a field of thistles and three lanes of traffic, jump a fence, and find a gas station about a mile away. We buy a gas tank, fill it, and walk back, jumping the fence once more, crossing traffic, and the field of thistles. We STILL beat roadside assistance, so Matt cancels the appointment and we're finally on our way.

We get back to Nevada City and go to the bride's father's house for a luncheon, but we're pretty late so most of the people head out shortly after we get there. Since the rehersal is at four, we don't have much time to get to the hotel, but we make it, get ready, and head up to the place where the wedding is going to be held.

The bride's mother's house is lovely, with an English Rose Garden in the back where the wedding will be. Matt asked me to do a reading, since his sister Karen (who was originally going to read) just got out of the hospital and was worried about doing it herself. Since Karen is a good friend of mine as well, I agreed. The rehersal went off without a hitch, but it's really hot.

The rehersal dinner was way cool (only Mama Floyd can plan a party like this). We took an open air train to the top of a mountain for dinner and we were 'robbed' along the way. Outlaws stopped the train and 'stole our hearts' (we were instructed to bring small heart shaped gifts for the couple) and later, they shot the engineers and hijacked us. It was loads of fun.

The rehersal dinner itself was served up on the mountain under the pine trees and was quite lovely. It wasn't quite so hot up there!

I decided to go to bed after that, though the rest of the groom's party was going to go drinking. They didn't make it, though, because the rings went missing and it took two hours to find them. It's way too long a story to type out here, but suffice it to say that housekeeping was quite questionable and it was no fault of the groom's party. I ended up in charge of the rings the following day and didn't let them out of my sight until the ceremony. Just call me Frodo, kids.

Saturday morning I had breakfast with Matt and Shannon and Roy, two of his friends, and then went shopping with Karen. It was very nice. We bought pasties for everyone, then went back to where the groom's party was getting ready and I helped with Karen's nails and her sister Anne's hair before getting ready myself. I didn't have to be there early, so I wasn't worried.

Roy was my 'date' since Shannon was in the wedding party, and we got to ride in a limo to the wedding. Never been in a limo before and it was quite fun. We debated skipping the wedding and just going to Las Vegas, but figured since I had the rings, I had to show up. Ha.

The ceremony was beautiful (I cried, as always) and then we were back in the limos to go to the reception, which was just down the hill. Dinner and dancing lasted until 11 PM that night, at which point I was TIRED so I tried to go to bed. I didn't quite manage it, and ended up getting up at 4:45 to go get on a plane not feeling any more rested than I had the night before. Oh well. I slept from Sacramento to Denver and felt a little better.

All in all, it was the best wedding ever. I saw people I hadn't seen in a long time, namely Matt, Brian, Karen, and Anne, met a bunch of new friends in Teresa, Paul, Roy, and Shannon, and had a hugely great time with all the dancing. Great weekend, even if I now feel as if I've been hit by a bus...

Three Day Weekends

2008-07-07T11:03:00.002-05:00

Sing praises for three day weekends! Whoo hoo!

Friday was our outside day, where we took care of the things outside the house. We finished weeding (finally) the garden in the morning and Marc cleaned out the eaves, which were a bit clogged, and we picked up all the pine needles and got the composting going.

We also went for a family bike ride and a barbeque at a friends house. It was so great. Three three-year olds together are very funny. The parents even got to chill for awhile while the kids played. Bratwursts, potato salad, and home-made rhubarb pie. Yum. We were thinking about going to the fireworks, but they were so late, we decided against them. Instead, we drove home and on the way, someone was shooting fireworks off at their house (we live in the boonies) so we saw some anyway! And then, when we got home and had PJs on and everything, Marc said "Dagny, let's go outside" and we could see the pig farm on the other side of the highway shooting off fireworks, too! Not to mention the lightning bugs...it was a great night.

Saturday was the inside day. We had a furniture moving vacuum day! Dagny helped (well, kind of) and we moved all the couches and tables and vacuumed. Wow. Don't think I've done that in awhile. It was pretty nasty. Had to dump the vacuum like three times! But now the house smells better. What a sad comment. And I got 6 loads of laundry done, since I washed the quilts, the mattress pads, everything. And we STILL had enough time to go for a nice bikeride in the afternoon.

Dagny is getting pretty good at her bike now. I'll have to get her a helmet next time I'm in Sioux Falls.

Sunday, since we got most of our chores done Friday and Saturday, was a lazy day. I finished the laundry, did NOTHING while Dagny napped (what a treat) and then we decided to ride our bikes out to a friend's farm, since he bribed us with fresh lettuce. It was a longer trip than I thought it would be, but I made it and I'm quite proud of myself! Hauling an extra forty pounds of trailer and kid behind the bike, uphill, is not easy. But it was worth it. We got fresh lettuce and Dagny got to help dig up some potatoes (which were very yummy) AND she sat and ate peas off the vine. She must have eaten almost a pound of peas.

We had a great weekend. I love weekends that you get to spend with your family. Wonderful. I feel a bit refreshed now, like my head is more straight than it was before. maybe I can live through this summer yet!

Nobody Gets In to See the Wizard!

2008-07-03T07:09:00.002-05:00

HAHAHAHA! Jori, you rock. For those of you who haven't read the comments on the previous post, Jori has reminded me that No is a perfectly acceptable answer to things. "Nobody gets in to see the wizard. Nobody!" I'm just not good at saying no, but I'll work on it.

The Wizard of Oz is now over, which is good and bad, honestly. We had a great time and out of eight shows, we got seven standing ovations. People loved it. It felt good to be involved in a production that was so well-attended. I mean, I've been on stage before, but never in front of an almost sold-out house, which we had the last weekend every night. The witch is glad not to have to paint herself green anymore (the make-up gave her hives) and the kids are glad not to have to sit downstairs and be quiet during the production, but I think we all miss each other.

So now the summer gets into high gear (except it was 45 degrees this morning. 45 degrees!?) and I need to get my head back into real life. The garden is out of control with weeds, so I have been up at 5:30 every day for the past three days weeding before the small one gets up. I've got the delicate weeding done (the stuff that has to be done by hand) and on Friday, I'm taking the garden claw back there and going for it. The squash are all doing great, the watermelon are growing, and most of the tomatoes are doing well. The beans and peas are growing, too, just not as fast as the rest.

And there's a stalk of corn out there. CORN? I didn't plant any corn. Of course, we live across the street from a corn field, so it could have just come for a visit in some small animals droppings, but it's funny. It's right in the middle of the peppers and we decided not to pull it, but to see what happens. It's very healthy and rather tall at the moment.

The adoption feels very slow, but there were ten referrals in June, so keep your fingers crossed. Those families at the top of the list must be going insane. I keep checking to see if we're in the top ten yet, but so far, no luck. We'll get there when it's time, right?

We're planning on going to a friends house for a barbeque on the 4th of July and then going out to the fireworks. Dags has never seen fireworks, so it should be fun. The other couples also have three year olds, so it should be quite the party with three 3s, and two 1.5s. Should be tons of fun.

And other than that, we're not doing too much, which is wonderful. It feels good to be able to go home every night, have a nice dinner (not rushed) and watch some TV before we all go to bed with the windows open. It might be summer, but we've only had the air on for 12 hours so far...weird weather. Maybe I should go buy a Prius...

Three Years Old?!

2008-06-02T13:54:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it. Dagny turned three years old yesterday. Three! She can go to preschool next year if she gets toilet-trained! My baby in school? *shrieks and faints*

I remember being pregnant. I don't remember it being that long ago, but I guess it was. She holds up her three little fingers and beams. "Three, mommy. Three!" Amazing.

Her party went very well. We had about 20 kids and with their parents, I must admit I was very glad it didn't rain. All those people in my house would have been a bit awkward! But we had a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, and I didn't plan any activities, I just put out lots of toys for free play and it went great. We had bubbles, the swing set, balls, a frisbee, balloons, the grass, silk flowers, that sort of thing. They had a good time. We had cake around four and presents after that so people could go home for dinner or stick around and play a bit more. We got the whole yard cleaned up before I had to go to rehersal and Marc took care of the inside.

She got more presents than she needs, of course, so I think one of these days i'm going to have a toy cleanup and remove a bunch of her old toys and box them away, to be unveiled later if she needs a boost. I think that'll work pretty well, since she doesn't need to have all those toys at once and a lot of them are just little junky toys she picked up here and there, like from her grandpa's happy meals. Yes, my father buys happy meals. Don't tell.

It was a great weekend, too. On Saturday, Mom, Dad, and I took Dagny to the zoo while Marc had a business meeting, then we all met up for lunch. Again, great weather, so the zoo was quite a treat. We even got to watch the bears take a bubble bath, which was endless entertainment for Dagny. She also saw a monkey breastfeeding, which puzzled her a bit, but she remembered doing that. We talked about it a bit, quietly, and the monkey seemed to have no problem with us being that close. It was very neat.

A note on the adoption, the wait times seemed to have increased. We probably won't go until early spring of 2009 to get our son. It really hurts and I'm not sure I can really talk about it a lot yet, but I keep telling myself that God has a plan and I'm just along for the ride.

Growing Things!

2008-05-19T16:26:00.002-05:00

I have a garden now! Some of you might laugh, since you know I have black thumbs, but you gotta give me credit for trying! On Saturday, Marc got a neighbor to come over with a rototiller and really dig up a back corner of our yard, which he (my husband) then raked and prepared for planting. he even put up chicken wire around the back to stop the rabbits from getting in. Once I'd planted, he built a fence in the front with shorter chicken wire and stakes. In other words, I can step over it, but it's Dagny and doggie-proof.

Dagny and I planted together. We planted tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, cucumbers, squash, beans, peas, and peppers. I'm not completely sure where some of them will grow, since Dagny ran off with seeds and planted them herself, but who cares? She enjoyed it and that's all that matters. And she found some GREAT worms, which she played with for an hour, carrying them around and calling them names. It was very funny.

And the garden looks great. Now all I have to do is weed and water and cross my fingers that I don't kill all the nice produce that we'll have for salads later. And who knows, maybe our halloween pumpkin will be grown by us! If we get a lot of tomatoes, I'm going to learn how to can and make tomato sauce for the winter. That would be very nice.

Okay, so this post wasn't really about the adoption. I'm honestly trying not to think too much about it because my head scrambles when I think about how longit could be until my son comes home. I was hoping for Christmas, now I'm not so sure.

We're (roughly) 23rd in line for a baby boy and the referrals have been slow. Cross your fingers!

Too Much to Chew

2008-05-12T15:24:00.002-05:00

I have officially bitten off more than I can chew. I really need to just take a few steps back and breathe before organzing myself and starting afresh. It's a good time for that, considering all the plants are coming up and in a week or so, my day lilies will start to bloom. Perhaps I can get my head around that.

Along with the waiting for our son (which is far harder than I thought it would be), I've taken on being the secretary for a Board of Directors, helping out my husband at his work, my own part-time job (which I've had for several years), trying to be perfect at weight watchers, holding a position on another board of directors, being in the play, and still being a mommy. When I started doing everything, it didn't seem so bad. Now, it seems like it's far too much for me to accomplish.

The secretary position is doable, I just have to schedule in a few bits of time each month to write the minutes. Helping my hubby is doable, since he is working on finding someone else to take on that position full time (I'm just not trained as a book-keeper). And the other board is something I love.

The play will be over soon (well, June) so there's a light at the end of that tunnel. And my job is handleable. I'm just struggling with the other two: Mom and Weight Watcher.

Weight watchers has become very difficult as I don't seem to be making any progress. That could certainly be because of the other stresses in my life. I tell myself that I will feel better if I eat the foods that are good for me and I *do* but that doesn't stop the cravings for the things that are bad. Donuts, pie, peanut butter and jelly, all those things. What I need to do is try to fit those things into the points, instead of cheating to eat them.

I think that's my problem. I think the entire time I've been trying (well, this time) I have been sabotaging myself by cheating on small things here and there, which makes it worse and becomes a vicious circle because all I want to do is eat and, once I fall off the wagon, it's very hard to get back on. I need to work on that. I keep telling myself that today is the last day of being bad and then the next day, I say the same thing. Now it's really time to stop.

When I get home from work, I am so tired I just want to watch TV for the rest of the night, when I know my daughter would much rather go for a walk and see the cows. I've got to get myself to the point where that walk is enjoyable and not a chore. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

This is a downer of a message, isn't it...maybe tomorrow I'll feel better. Must be a lowpoint in the month.

Referrals

2008-04-25T12:43:00.003-05:00

There were at least four referrals today! WHAHOO! Those families are so excited and I'm sure their hearts are so full for seeing their little ones for the first time today! Those photographs must be the most precious things and April 25th will always be remembered in their hearts as that first glimpse of their son or daughter. I am so happy for everyone, I can hardly stand it!

Ords, Gibsons, Ducommens, and Coxs....amazing, completely amazing. I can't wait until it's me!

May blessings be showered on those families and may their court dates go successfully, without hitches, and may they travel in short oder to bring their little ones home!!!

Spring Fun

2008-04-23T07:43:00.002-05:00

Well, tis that time of year where sometimes you need to find things to occupy yourself (see the sarcasm there?) as if playing outside and riding bikes wasn't enough in the first place. I auditioned for the Wizard Of Oz musical in Pipestone and got in, a speaking and singing part of the Guard at the Gate. You know the guy, who argues with the group about a sign on the door? yeah, that's me. I know, it's a guy's part, but that's where they cast me, so I'll make do and enjoy myself anyway. Should be fun.

Bowling is pretty much over. I could bowl singles if I wanted to in the tournament, but even with my hadicap of 213, I don't think I'd get very far. Yes, 213 shows that I am pretty bad at bowling. My average is 91 and last night at doubles I got a 96, 95, 94 in that order. At least I'm over my average, but I didn't break 100. One week, after a beer (or as the guys call it, aiming fluid) I actually bowled a 167 and got my name in the paper! Shut up, everyone, it's a small town. Things like that are exciting.

The weather has been beautiful the past few days and Dagny is playing outside at daycare which means more baths. My child is a dirt magnet! I picked her up yesterday and there was dirt on her face, all over her hands, and her dress was perfectly clean. How does that happen? I didn't spray it with teflon, so it should be as dirty as she is! Who knows.

Anyway, we're working on an exhibit on photography at the museum and hopefully I'll get a bunch done today, like placing objects and getting some labels and photographs in place. I need to move two manniquins upstairs and dress them in wedding clothes, since we have a photograph of a wedding couple AND we have the dress and suit in our collection. We're getting creative and trying to fill the space with fun stuff so it's not such a static exhibit. And downstairs we're working on carpeting maybe this summer, which would be grand since we're going to do a railroad exhibit next year. Railroads have been really important to the city of Pipestone.

I hear my small one waking. I'll write more later!

Alone at Home

2008-04-20T20:57:00.002-05:00

Marc is gone again for a few days, which always makes me bummed. It's hard with him traveling, even though I know its for the good of the company and the family in the long run. I just wish he didn't have to do it all the time. But we'll survive.

On a lighter note, Dagny can't get enough of saying her brother's name. She says "Ephraim" to anyone who will listen, though it's not very clear and people always need a translation. That and people who don't know me look questioningly at my stomach to see if I am pregnant. Ha. Talk about a conversation starter.

I don't feel much like writing tonight, though maybe tomorrow. The first night is always the hardest.

Toes

2008-04-19T07:26:00.003-05:00

Per request, here is a picture of the pedicure. Ha. It's a dark purple with white flowers. The flower has a tiny white gem in the middle and is trimmed with pale green and silver swirlies, which you can't really see in the picture. Anyone else ever tried to take a picture of their own feet? It feel very silly!

Birthdays

2008-04-18T07:32:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was my 35th birthday. I feel old, though I shouldn't since I'm not even close to actually being old. I suppose it was just one of those milestones maybe I wasn't expecting.

I had scheduled our appointment with the travel clinic for the afternoon, figuring my husband would take time off from work, we'd get our shots, then we could go get some ice cream or lunch just the two of us before picking up Dagny at daycare. But alas, this was not to be. Something came up at work for Marc and I ended up driving to Sioux Falls myself.

It wasn't bad, though. I got a pedicure (purple with flowers) and found a nice shirt at the mall, as well as getting a few other errands run, so all in all it was a pretty good afternoon. On the way home, I called a few friends and asked them to meet us at Pizza Ranch for dinner and they did, so dinner almost felt like a party. And that was very nice.

And then, of course, we just went home and watched TV. Marc bought me the book A New Earth, which is on Oprah's List and my pastor is reading right now. He wants someone else to read it so we can discuss it and that seems like a fun idea. Pastor Gene is an awesome guy and I think a theological discussion with him sounds like it would be enjoyable. Of course, with all the other books I have to read, it might take awhile.

While we were watching TV, Dagny fell asleep on my lap, her head pillowed against my chest. I have never felt like more of a mommy than I did right then. She is so incredibly beautiful that my heart aches when I look at her. So, of course, I cried and thanked my husband for the best present ever, a family.

And soo nthe family will grow and be even more of a blessing. Ephraim, we're waiting for you with open arms and eager hearts. Even Dagny tells people she's getting a brother and she can even say your name.

Other Journeys

2008-04-15T08:42:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I attended a lunch in Pipestone where the guest speaker was a family in town who has adopted five children internationally, two from Guatamala and three from Ethiopia. They have TEN kids all together. Are they insane? No, they have a lot of love. It was so obvious to see them together, it was amazing. They brought all ten kids to the lunch (though they left since some of them are very young) and then showed a slideshow and gave a talk that made me cry. The children from Ethiopia were so beautiful and I couldn't stop staring at the little girl, who was three years old. My son will look like her, I kept thinking to myself, holding hands with my friend Angie who went with me for support.

I'm a big cryer, so I knew I'd need someone there to explain why tears were constantly running down my face. The slides were amazing. Ethiopia is beautiful and now, not only can I not wait for my son, but I can't wait to take him BACK to see the country when he is old enough to remember. I can't wait to show Dagny where her brother came from, to explore a world through two pairs or eyes that are lower to the ground and much more connected than mine. Does that make sense? It makes sense to me...

The wait is horrible. And I've not been waiting very long. Maybe I will get used to it or it will get better the longer it goes, but right now it's aching inside.

And one of my best friends had to put her cat down last night. Good bye, Jazz, we'll miss you. Meet Maria in heaven, will you?

Mispellings...

2008-03-31T15:27:00.002-05:00

So, you all know the title of the blog is Ephroms Family...well, I spelled it wrong. It's a very long story. Originally, it was not me that misspelled the name, it was Marc.

See, Dagny has a drawing of her name downstairs that her granpa John got her in New York City while he was waiting for theater tickets. It's her name drawn in rainbow colors and dolphins and rainbows, and things like that. When Marc was at Disneyland (on business, if you can believe that...) he bought one for our son, with bamboo, dragons, and other oriental symbols and its fabulous. Only he spelled his name Ephrom.

In my head, it had always been spelled Ephraim, so I was a bit shocked by the spelling from Marc, but I thought "Well, it's not bad, really" and I ran with it.

The other night, Marc told me that we had to spell it right and we'll get Ephraim a new name sign to frame, one that is spelled correctly.

So his name is EPHRAIM, which means fertile in Hebrew and Amharic.

I told you it was a long story.

Today schools were closed and the museum wasn't open due to weather, so Dagny and I are home doing mommy and daughter things. The snow has sort of stopped, but Marc says the roads are still bad, so we'll just stay home. I had been so hoping for spring...

Hooray for Isaac!

2008-03-30T16:12:00.002-05:00

Isaac went home! His sodium level has stabalized and he has finally gotten to leave the hospital with his mommy and daddy and go home to be nice and cozy with his new family. I am so happy, I'm crying tears of joy.

Learning to Blog!

2008-03-30T15:56:00.003-05:00

Well, thanks to Candy Tennant, Pete Juvinall, Jori Armstrong, and Rebecca Caldwell I might have a handle on this now. Might being the operative word.

Please notice on the side that I have put up a paypal button for our fundraising tee shirts. Of course, I don't know if it will work until someone actually buys a shirt (this is subliminal...buy a shirt!) and then I'll post whether or not I was successful.

You guys rock. Without you, I would have a sad little blog, stuck in cyberspace, without any sort of interesting things attached to it, much less the stunning blogs of others and a fundraising opportunity.

I can't say enough good things about the yahoogroups for AWAA members adopting from Ethiopia. Everyone there is so wonderful and so supportive, I've never felt more welcome. And I've never met any of them in person! How's that for silly!? We've heard each other's voices on conference calls, I read their blogs, I even have a few of their pictures on my refridgerator, but I've never met them. I might have a chance to meet a few families that live close by in the Twin Cities sometime, but I look forward to some sort of gathering where we can all meet up, even if I've got to fly to get there!

Go buy a shirt! (Just kidding...)

Even more waiting!

2008-03-28T11:26:00.004-05:00

So I saw in that last post that I copied over that we mailed in our paperwork at the end of February. We are DTE as of March 3, which means our dossier traveled to Ethiopia on the that date and was then picked up by Girmachew the following Sunday morning. And now we have joined the ranks of the truly 'pregnant' moms, who are waiting desperately for their referrals from the Ethiopian government.

They tell us it will take about 5 months, possibly as many as seven. That puts us right smack dab into July. That wouldn't be a problem except the courts close in August and September. Which means we might get a referral in July and have to wait until October for a court date, which would mean we wouldn't go and get him until November, which will throw a wrench into my parents plans, since they were supposed to go to Japan in November and they might have to cancel to watch Dagny. Whew...that was a long sentence. And there's no use worrying about the timing. That'll come as its supposed to, right? We'll just cross that bridge when we get there.

We had nine referrals this week on the yahoogroups site for Ethiopia through AWAA. NINE! that means in a month or so (hopefully) more children will come home! I am so happy for those families and I can't wait until it's my turn to go and get my son.

In other news, Granny is doing fine physically, but she is now on the medication for Alzheimers, since she no longer really recognizes us or knows what year it is. It's very hard to visit, but we try for a couple times a week at least.

My cousin Terri Jo had a baby this weekend as well, Sunday (Easter baby!) at 3:46 PM. His name is Isaac and he weighed 6 lbs, 11 ozs. They have not been able to take him home yet because he is having problems with his glucose levels, so keep him in your prayers. He is at the NICU in St. Paul, undergoing tests. He's so beautiful though.

And the wait just might kill me.