Please Pray

I've been reading some other blogs of people who are waiting to travel. It seems that the Ethiopian government has added another step to the process after the referral, and it is going to add a lot of time to the wait.

I know from personal experience that having a child in Ethiopia while you are home waiting desperately to hold her is the most painful of experiences. I am tearing up right now just thinking of how miserable I was while waiting for R and knowing that other families are going to have to wait even longer to hold their precious children.

Yes, I know... All those blogs I read keep saying, "God's timing is perfect." That may be so, but waiting to hold your child is almost too hard to bear. It is really hard to have faith in that when your heart is longing for your child.

With that said, I'm also living proof that once you are home with your child, all that waiting, heartbreak, and pain melts away.

I promise.

I'm Totally An Ethiopian Chef

(I made this!)

Ok, so that's not entirely true, but I did help make Ethiopian food today! And I feel like I could probably make a lot of what we made, too. So cool.

We are in a group for other Ethio-families in our area, and one of the families knows an amazing Ethiopian woman named F. F just personifies everything I know of Ethiopians. The kindness, the happiness, the smiles and cheerfulness. The woman cooked all afternoon with us and helped us to learn how to make it for our own families, too, and was nothing but gracious and kind the whole time. She insisted on not taking any of the feast home or any of the injera she brought. She didn't want us to pay her for the groceries or anything. (Of course we did.) About 15 minutes after meeting a lot of us, she was saying that she wanted to have us all over to her house some time to have an Ethiopian breakfast. I just loved her!

I arrived there at 1:30 and was thinking I'd probably be home around 3:30... at 6:30, however, I was finally on my way home. Originally, we were supposed to make only one meat dish and one veggie dish... we ended up making:

1. Tibs

2. Siga Wat

3. Lamb

4. Spicey Lentils

5. Regular Lentils

6. Ethiopian Spinach

7. Cabbage with Potatoes

8. Shiro

9. Carrots, Green Beans, and Potatoes

And we made enough for all 6 women who showed up to have plenty to take home to their families. It was so awesome! And it really did taste great. We made it a bit milder than usual, but it was still absolutely amazing.

Not only that, but it was so nice to be with other Ethio-moms... We are planning to do a culture camp next summer in our state and are talking about starting a "Moms only" type of group. I'm all for that!

Here's a cute picture of my darling Ethiopian Princess, just for the heck of it. Gosh, I love that baby girl!

8 Months Home

It was a cold February day 8 months ago today, probably pretty typical for most of you. For my little family, however, it was a new beginning as a family.

(My princess, in her homeland about 2 days after we became a family.)

After the months of deciding to adopt, waiting, applying to an agency ,waiting paperwork, waiting, referral, waiting, travel date, waiting... You get the idea. We were finally united with our daughter. The excitement of meeting R overshadowed the reality of what would happen once we came home.

I stepped off the plane on US soil with my Ethiopian daughter not knowing what would happen next. I was so happy to be home but so scared of what it would be like to BE HOME with our daughter.

Today, a mere 8 months later, I cannot imagine my life without my itty bitty baby girl. Although she is getting so big and is almost one year old, it hard for me to believe sometimes that it has actually already been 8 months. My, how time flies!

My darling child is the absolutely most amazing gift I have ever been given. It is hard NOT to believe in a God and His power when I look in R's eyes, knowing that although we do not share DNA, she was meant to be my daughter just as fully as if I had carried her for 9 months.

And today, we stop to remember that day 8 months ago when we came home. Although my baby kept me up from 11:15pm to 4:30am last night, my worst day with her is better than my best day without her.

(My sweet baby girl now at almost a year old.)

The Perfect Fall Weekend

We had a great weekend, and I am so sad that it is Sunday night already!

On Friday, before we left to visit my sweet cousin, R had a photo shoot in the backyard. One of R's "aunts" gave her this adorable fall outfit, and she finally got to wear it. I HAD to photograph R in it, especially since our yard is a fall wonderland right now, and I thought the outfit was super-adorable. So, enjoy!

Shortly after the photo shoot, we left on the 2 hour trek to visit my cousin, C. When we got there, she was still at class, so we walked around uptown and did some shopping. Just as we were driving by where I lived my freshman and sophomore years, she called, we picked her up, and the fun really began! R absolutely loves C, and she was so happy to be with her. We went out to dinner because R was pretty hungry by that time. C choose Applebee's so that's what we did.

After that, we visited C's dorm... Her room was a lot like what I lived in the first 2 years. We didn't meet her roommate, but we did have a nice time just visiting. R started to get really tired so we left, went to our hotel, and put R to bed...

The next morning, we went to one of my favorite coffee shops for breakfast (got my fav coffee drink) and waited for C to wake up and call me. We walked around a little, and C called and met us on campus.

We took C to Wal-Mart to get some groceries, and then it was time for lunch.... at the BURRITO BUGGY!! Yum!!!! It was just as delicious as I remembered, and R even enjoyed it, too. (Can you believe that it was only the 2nd time C had eaten there?? Insane!)

After that, we went to the bookstore to get C a shirt. She protested, but I insisted! We also got the baby a cute hoodie. By that time, R was in meltdown mode, so it was time for us to get going.

We had an awesome time, and I can't wait to go back to visit again, maybe in the spring. I love my sweet cousin, and it was so great to be "home."

8 Months Since Gotcha Day

(The picture is from a few weeks ago. A was in Minneapolis for business and went to the Mall of America. He bought a stuffed alpaca for R at an alpaca store. R was fussing when A pulled it out of the bag. When R saw it, she immediately starting cracking up. It was adorable, and I wish I would have gotten it on film! The alpaca's name is Angie.)

Today marks 8 months of being a family. So amazing to think about how quickly the days pass and how life has changed while at the same time, it seems that R has always been a part of our family.

R is an absolute joy. I was so frustrated this morning with her, and she leaned over to me and gave me a kiss and a hug. Is there anything sweeter in the whole world? Obviously the frustration melted away in about a second.

I wonder how I got to be so lucky. I could not ask for a more amazing child. She was truly handpicked to be my daughter.

I've Been Tagged

7 Things about me you may or may not know:

(In no particular order except how they pop into my head)

1. I LOVE ice cream. I don't eat it every day, but I could. It is hereditary. My grandmother loved it, too.

2. I HATE cleaning and cannot stay organized. No matter how hard I try, the piles and mess keep coming back. This is probably my least favorite character trait.

3. My first job when I was a kid was when I was 9 years old and in the 4th grade. I would go to my grandmother's store and help her for $.25/hour!

4. My favorite color is red, and I drive a red Volkswagen Beetle. (Not the best car to haul a baby around in, but I've had it for over 6 years, and it is paid off.)

5. My underwear always matches my outfit.

6. I am obsessive about my teeth. When I had braces, it would take me about 15 minutes to complete my cleaning ritual.

7. I never planned to become a teacher. My parents were both in education, and I didn't ever want to be "like them" (or whatever). I was "undecided" my freshman year of college but gave in and declared education right at the end of that year.

8. (Yes, I know I am only supposed to have 7). I'm extremely stubborn.

I guess I will tag Melissa! Considering I think you are the only person I know who hasn't been tagged already.

Home Sweet Home

Tomorrow, I have the day off work. Glorious. Couldn't come at a better time. It's nearly the end of the quarter, we haven't had a day off since Labor Day, and my students have been nutso this week. On top of that, the other week, I asked A if we could visit my sweet cousin, C, who is a sophomore at my alma mater.

My college experience was a wonderful one. I LOVED school, even after I met A and lived 3 hours away from him for 3 years.

And in the fall, it is the most beautiful place in the world. I first set foot on campus on a beautiful, sunny, and crisp fall day my senior year of HS (do you remember that, M?). My father and uncle (mom's brother) had both gone there. As soon I as I stepped onto the brick sidewalk and gazed up at the rolling hills and brilliant leaves, I was sold.

I was home.

And tomorrow, I get to go back. I haven't seen the campus in the fall since about 2000, and I've missed it. Can't wait.

I'm going to photograph my baby on college green, among the brick sidewalks and autumn leaves.

I'm going to breathe the chilly fall air as I walk up the step of the English building, where I spent a lot of time.

I'm going to savor the taste of a burrito from the Burrito Buggy and once again marvel that something made by a hippie in a buggy uptown can be the most delicious thing in the world. (Don't worry, M, I am bringing some home for you.)

I'm going to visit my cousin's dorm room and wonder how I ever lived in a dorm for two years.

I'm going to go to the College Bookstore and buy a shirt, maybe something for the baby, too.

I'm going to open the door to the library and inhale the smell of books. (Love that smell.)

I'm going to drive past all the places I lived and see how they are the just the same.

And, I'm going to remember my college years.

Don't get me wrong. It wasn't a perfect time, but it was a time in my life that helped to shape who I am today. I met friends I will have for a lifetime and grew from a scared 18 year old who had no clue what to do with her life to a first year teacher.

Catch ya when I get back. Go Bobcats!

An Article You Should Read...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7665826.stm

11 Months Old Today

(I will update this later with some pictures; doing laundry right now and not enough time to download.)

R is 11 months old today.... In one month, she will be a year old, and I can hardly believe that. She was so teeny tiny when she came home, and now she is thriving and HUGE (at least to me).

She is starting to take more and more steps and more frequently. She has one tooth coming in on the middle bottom right, and another directly above it about to cut through any second.

SHE IS AWESOME!!

I LOVE YOU BABY (for another month anyway) GIRL!!

Referral!!

A couple we know from our international adoption classes got their referral yesterday! We are so excited for them. They used a different agency than we did and were in about the same place in the process as we were in July 2007 when we met them at our classes. We are so, so happy that their daughter will be home soon. She is 7 months old and absolutely beautiful. Let's pray that she is home Christmas!

YAY!

How and Why?

As my heart continues to ache and break for the children of Ethiopia, I often think about my child and how easily the plight of millions of Ethiopia's orphans could have been her fate. What makes R different from any other child of Ethiopia? How did her birthmother know where to go? How could she bare to give up her child for adoption? And why? Why did I get the honor of being R's mother?

Oh, God, how R's birthmother must miss her.

I think about R's life in the first few weeks, before she came to HH. She was at another Ethiopian orphanage, one which we visited when we were in Ethiopia. I think of my child, in her most helpless moments of her life, without me, without her birthmother, without someone who loved her. It breaks my heart. If you saw photos of me taken at that place, you would see the misery and pure angst written all over my face. I know well that once she came to HH, she was loved by the director, A, and the amazing special mothers who cared for her. As much as it kills me to think of R being at the first orphanage, it kills me even more to think of the children we left behind in that orphanage. (One of these children, T, touch A and I so much that we planned to adopt him after R had been home the required 6 months. That didn't happen, but he will soon be with another forever family here in the States.)

I also think of my other child(ren) in Ethiopia at this very moment. (Our next adoption will be of an older child or a sibling group.) For I know he/she/they is/are out there. Where? What circumstances will bring our journey here on this side of the world together with his/hers/theirs? And how will I be able to go to Ethiopia again knowing I will again be faced with poverty unlike anything I could have ever imagined?

And all this leads me again to try to figure out what my role is in this. I do not know where God is taking me. I do know that my work in Ethiopia is far from done, in fact, has hardly even started. The monthly pledge we have sent to HH or the money we recently sent to another adoptive family to help buy shoes for Ethiopian children is but a drop in the bucket.

But will this "drop" lead to bigger things? I prayerfully hope so.

5/10 Years

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the day we officially started dating. A few thoughts:

1. I think if you would have told me that A and I would get married when we first started dating, I may not have believed you. We lived 3 hours away from one another (I was away at college and he lived at home and commuted to a local one). I was pretty young, and I wasn't looking for a serious relationship at all, especially a long distance one. A, on the other hand, would probably have told you he did know I would one day be his wife.

2. I am the luckiest girl in the world. A loves me wholly, unconditionally, and completely, just as I do him.

3. If you would have told us on our wedding day 5 years ago that we would one day travel to Ethiopia to bring home our adopted daughter, we both would have laughed in your face! At that point, A had never even ridden on a plane!

4. Although it has been 10 years, we still tell each other multiple times a day that we love each other, still hold hands, and are more in love now than ever.

5. Our daughter has changed our relationship and our family forever, and we can't imagine it any other way.

For many years of our relationship, A did not like change. It took him a while to decide to ask me to marry him and even longer to decide that he, too, wanted to have a child. However, when I said to him out of the blue one day in spring 2007, "Let's adopt a baby," he didn't even hesitate. He told me tonight that he "had faith in us" when he said, "Ok, let's do it!"

And, so, darling husband of mine, I thank God for you, am so proud to be your wife, and will love you forever.

Thanks for having faith in me and in us.

Love you,
Your Wife