Journey To Ethiopia

Long Distance Dancing Party

2012-01-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

Rapunzel and her cousin Cinderella love to have dancing parties when they are together. The other day we tried a long distance dancing party which was a major hit with the princesses. These songs are from Liya's favorite movie "Tangled." I've had to limit her to listening to them twice a day. I'm not one for memorizing song lyrics, but having heard them well over 100 times I think I've got them down and as you can see Liya knows them quite well. Let's pretend there is no television with grubby hand prints and dust all over it, thanks.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T00:53:00.000-08:00

Spinal Muscular Atrophy

2011-12-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

These three words have radically changed our lives. Our daughter in China has Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2 or SMA. We have been told that this is probably an accurate diagnosis and not like what we experienced with Liya. This post is just a brief overview of SMA. I’ll save my thoughts for another time.

SMA Fast Facts-

SMA is a progressive neuromuscular disease.
SMA is the number one genetic killer of children under two. (SMA Type 1)
One in 40 people unknowingly carry the gene that causes SMA.
It is a relatively common rare disorder, one in 6,000 babies are born with SMA.
There is usually no previous family history.
SMA affects people of all races and genders.
The National Institute of Health selected SMA as the disease closest to a treatment of nearly 600 neurological disorders.
Researchers believe that a treatment will be found within the next 5 years with the proper resources.

Symptoms of SMA-

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is characterized by a progressive loss of muscle control and movement and increasing weakness due to the loss of motor neurons (nerves) in the spinal cord. Proximal muscles (muscles closest to the center of the body, such as those in the trunk and neck) are more severely affected than distal muscles (muscles furthest from the center of the body, such as those in the hands and feet). There is a wide range of severity of SMA; however, even in its moderate form, SMA can limit function and mobility. People with SMA either never acquire, or progressively lose, the ability to walk, stand, sit and eventually move. Although the disease varies in terms of age of onset and severity, most patients start to show symptoms during infancy or as toddlers. Respiratory illnesses may be more common for people living with SMA and can be severe. Good multidisciplinary care, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, and nutritional support, can improve quality and length of life for people with SMA. It is important to note that children with SMA undergo normal intellectual and emotional development and, with help and support, can participate in many childhood activities.

Types of SMA-

People with SMA are grouped into one of four categories, based on certain key motor function milestones and age of onset.

Type I, Acute Form of SMA (Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease): Patients typically exhibit limited movement and have difficulty holding their head straight, feeding, and swallowing. The progressive weakening of the muscles leads to respiratory infections, lung collapse and eventual death, usually by the age of two years. About 60% of patients with SMA are born with this form of the disease.

Type II, Intermediate Form of SMA: (Our daughter has Type 2) Symptoms usually emerge in patients between six and eighteen months, and the progression of symptoms varies greatly. Infants and children with this form of the disease are at one time able to sit unassisted, but do not walk independently. Kids with Type 2 have weak chest cavity muscles, though not as severe as Type 1. As with all types of SMA, the common cold can turn into a dangerous threat if it isn’t treated early and aggressively. Due to the varied progression of symptoms, life expectancy ranges from early childhood to adulthood. The majority of Type 2 patients live into adulthood.

Type III and Type IV, Milder Forms of SMA with a later onset: People with Type 3 and 4 often exhibit difficulty walking and have mild muscle weakness. These patients have a normal life expectancy.

Every person with SMA presents a unique case in terms of severity and rate of progression. As for our daughter, from what we can tell she is a strong Type 2 since she has never been able to walk but still has the ability to crawl, sit, and even stand with support for a few minutes. Sadly the degenerative nature of this disease means these abilities will diminish over time. Currently there is no cure or treatment for SMA. Caring for a person with SMA involves preventing complications of the disease. Since the muscles controlling breathing are affected, the most crucial aspect of care is to maintain respiratory health.

Since I am well aware that the information above is rather discouraging, I’ll leave you with this encouraging quote from an article I recently read from the Johns Hopkins Medicine magazine:

But now, with the help of better clinical care and new research, the potential has never been brighter for people with this disease. SMA patients are living longer and longer, and treatments that could radically improve their lives and outlooks hover tantalizingly on the horizon.

“SMA has gone from being one of the most hopeless of the neuromuscular diseases to one of the most hopeful,” Crawford says.

The information above is taken from these websites:

SMA Foundation

STOP SMA

Additional information can be found here:

Families of SMA

Fight SMA

MDA

Good Morning Medley

2011-12-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

I just heard this coming from Liya's bedroom as she is waking up:

I missed the first part of it so I'll just insert the original lyrics although I'm guessing she used her own creativity :) To the tune of "Are You Sleeping"

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Where's my mom? Where's my mom?
From there it went to a medley of London Bridge/Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Now This Little Light of Mine, etc...

We went in to get her up and find her missing the footie pj's she went to bed wearing and her diaper half-off. I guess she has to entertain herself somehow while I savor the last few moments of the quiet morning.

Homestudy, Yes!

2011-12-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

One huge thing can now be crossed off our adoption to do list. Finally, after a month long delay due to some paperwork we were initially told we didn't have to have, our homestudy is completed and now in the hands of our adoption agency! Yay!!! One major stressor (spell check tells me that is not a word) done...many more still to come. Our file can now move on to our agency's official China program and we will be assigned a China case manager.

While it looks like my timeline is out the window (those darn plans again!), at least we are moving in the right direction and one step closer to being united with "China" as Liya calls her. Since our homestudy is finished we can now send in our I800A (Application for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a convention country) to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). We will need to wait for them to give us an appointment to be fingerprinted and then wait for everything to be processed. It took two months for our last adoption so I am praying it will be as quick this time around if not quicker (I really should stop doing that to myself!). Once we get that approval we can send in our dossier (mountain of paperwork) to China! That will conclude the majority of our end of the "before we travel paperwork".

I Thought

2011-11-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be a while before we started our next adoption.

I thought our next child would be from Ethiopia.

I thought we would use our previous and familiar agency.

I thought we would adopt a child with a correctable or at least manageable special need like HIV.

I thought I was prepared to say yes to almost anything.

I thought an addition of another child would not significantly alter our comfortable lives.

I thought we would end up joining my sister’s family in Ethiopia someday.

I thought my child would have to fit in that box.

I know that our lives will never be the same.

I know that is a good thing.

I know that my life is not my own.

I know that our little girl is an incredible gift and we are amazingly blessed!

I know that I cannot wait to bring our daughter home and to give her the opportunity to become all that God has created her to be.

I know that God continually amazes me by giving hope at the right times, alleviating fears, and connecting us to people.

I know that even though my plans have all come crashing down, I can rejoice in the new direction our life has taken because God is writing this story and His plans are infinitely better than I could ever imagine.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart,

but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

Poor Deprived Child

2011-11-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

After visiting a friend and driving home-

Liya: I want to see Jenny!
Mama: She has to go home and feed her puppy.
Liya: Hey, I have an idea! We can get a puppy too! I want a puppy too!

Take a Closer Look

2011-11-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to get the full effect.

So Long Family Of Three

2011-11-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

I've procrastinated writing this post for some time because I've been at a loss for words (and time). Since I can't seem to get my thoughts together I've decided to let everybody in on the abbreviated, simple version of what we've been up to these last few months. As you have probably guessed if you saw the post a few weeks ago, we have been busily working on our second adoption. Liya is excited to become a little sister! Big sister is five years old and from China. She is described as active, independent, smart, stubborn, and silly. Sounds quite a bit like a certain two year old we know! She enjoys learning to play the piano and loves showing others how to play.

We are adopting through China's special needs program. Our little girl was one child of almost 2000 children on China's waiting child list. I will write about our daughter's special need at a later date. We are so thankful to know that she is living in an amazing medical foster home that looks out for her needs.

I'm sure everybody would love to see a photo and I am sorry to say you are just going to have to wait! Although it is not an official rule, we have been advised to wait on posting any public photos. The pictures we have seen of her are so sweet. She's always smiling for the camera and she has a dimple on her right cheek just like Liya!

My Baby Is Two

2011-10-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Liya's second birthday last week. I can't believe our baby is two! We gave her a Dinosaur Train train set in the morning. She had fun with mommy during the day and then we met daddy in town for some birthday frozen yogurt. She had her own cup for the first time and enjoyed every messy bite.

Birthday call from aunt Laura.

Watching daddy leave for work.

Fun with colored water.

Two hours later!

Yogurt with all the fixings: fruit and marshmallows.

Here's a Hint

2011-10-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Wednesday

2011-09-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

Playing Liya's favorite game. Mamasaurus is coming!

Kite Flying With Daddy

2011-09-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Conversation

2011-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Conversation from our walk this morning.

Me: I love you. Do you know that?
Liya: (shakes her head yes)
Me: Do you love me?
Liya: (shakes her head no)
Me: Well maybe someday you will.
Liya: I don't know. I think so. Maybe. I have teeth mama.

Going out the door for our walk she grabbed my keys and declared "I have to go to work." She makes me laugh (sometimes).

My Little Singer

2011-08-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

Singing is one of Liya's favorite things. She picks up songs very quickly and knows the words to quite a few songs. She was singing during lunch today so I told her if she would sing for the camera she could see herself on video. Surprisingly my tactic worked. I love that she is getting old enough to be reasoned with.

She is singing Dinosaur Train. Lately she is obsessed with dinosaurs.

Singing 1234.

ABCs with a little flair.

Sentences

2011-08-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

I was working on this post two months ago but still wanted to post it...

June 12, 2011
About a month ago (at 18 months) Liya started speaking in sentences. It seemed to come out of nowhere and then all of a sudden she started saying all kinds of things. Here are a few of my favorites.

I want to try it.
I want (insert anything and everything)
Stop! Don't do that!
No help you! or Help you mama/daddy! (translation- Don't help me! and Help me mama/daddy!)
Hold you. (Means hold me. I hear this phrase all day long.)
I can do that!
I need it!
I'll be right back.
No Piper! You settle down! (said to our parrot when he's off on a rant)
I'll get it.
Bye Daddy! I'll miss you!
You don't hit your mama!
Oh my goodness.
I'm gonna get you! Tickle tickle tickle! (while making tickling hand motions while chasing a garter snake)

Starting about the same time as speaking in sentences, Liya finally learned her colors.
She knows:
Purple
Pink
Orange
Yellow
Blue
Green
Black
Brown
White

August 8, 2011
Liya is a constant chatter box. I don't think there is much she can't say. Every day she surprises me with the things she comes up with and comprehends.
For example, lately I've heard her say:
Hmmm, I think so.
I have an idea.
Mama's shirt is beautiful!
I'm probably the only one impressed by that, but I think that's pretty good for a 21 month old. Of course every parent likes to think his/her kid is a genius.

One of her favorite things to say is still "hold me mama." This is most often said while I am doing something other than paying attention to her. She likes her presence acknowledged :) Another favorite phrase I hear constantly, "NO! STOP! Don't help!!! (or Don't do that!)" Half the time I have no idea what she wants me to stop doing. Toddlers are so much fun! Stay tuned for some videos.

I want cheese!

2011-06-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

"I want cheese!" is what she exclaimed while taking my camera out of the bag earlier today. I took this rare opportunity and said go over there and do something for the camera.

Sandbox Fun

2011-06-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

Cornrow update

2011-06-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

After five days I started redoing the cornrows by splitting them into two. Tiny cornrows took a lot longer to put in! I spread it out over 3 non-consecutive days and they took about 3.5 hours total. Now there are ten smaller cornrows. Most of them have been in a week now and I still might leave them in for a few more days, depending on how much the fuzz bothers me. It's not the two weeks I was hoping for, but it's been a nice break for her hair (a break from styling and from the toddler whose favorite activity is rubbing her head on everything).

This picture was taken after most of the braids had been in 4 or 5 days
already and before daddy made a Liya burrito in the comforter.

Previous cornrows for side by side comparison.

First Cornrows

2011-06-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I got brave and finally attempted cornrows on Liya. I have been wanting to try for quite some time now so I decided it was time to just do it. I've previously done two-strand flat twists on her so I think that was a good base for learning how to cornrow. I only did 6 large short cornrows for my first attempt. They aren't perfect, but they look decent enough. Surprisingly I didn't find them all that difficult since they are similar to the flat twists that I've done before. The hardest part for me in any hairstyle is parting the hair. Ugh, I despise it!!! I spend way too much time on that (mostly due to wiggly toddler and partly perfectionist mama/thick curly hair). In all it took 1.5 Sesame Streets (hours). One half hour was spent trying to part the hair and then deciding it might be a good idea to make it simpler the first time around. Next time I hope to make the cornrows half this size so they will be less fuzzy and hopefully last longer. That might be wishful thinking for the toddler who loves to rub her head on everything.

This is what I get when I say smile for the camera. This face also makes an appearance multiple times throughout any given day.

Outtakes

2011-05-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

One Year Together

2011-05-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated our one year anniversary of being together as a family! One year has gone by so quickly. I can't believe it's been a whole year since we were in Ethiopia meeting Liya for the first time.

Then

Now

Then

(and the only family photo we have from our week in Ethiopia)

Now

Readoption Day

2011-04-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Blurry photo with the judge.

Today (ok it was Monday...) Liya's adoption was finalized in the United States. This means she is granted the full legal rights of being our child and is now a US citizen! Her name was also legally changed from Ephrata Travis to Liya Ephrata.

A court appearance during a toddler's naptime is not the greatest idea anyone ever had. I was going to write about how our day went but can't ever seem to get to it so I'll just abbreviate a bit. I will say we had to pry crackers out of Liya's hands before the judge walked in the room because the sign on the door said "No food or drink allowed in the courtroom, no exceptions!" I'm betting they wished they made exceptions. Envision a toddler running amuck (in a delirious sort of way) in an otherwise tranquil courtroom. Confining her to a seat ends no better than the aforementioned cracker incident. She ended up in the court reporter's booth several times saying some very enthusiastic, mostly unintelligible things to her and threw some nice tantrums when Travis removed her. She's probably on record wailing "Momma!!!" and also saying repeatedly "Hi momma! Hi momma!" when I had to take the stand. When Travis took the stand he had to say he didn't know what I had said. Our attorney then asked the judge if he had any questions about my testimony. He just smiled and said he didn't hear what I had said either.

Travis' Update: I would have to say without a doubt that this the second worst part of the whole adoption process. The first obviously was sitting next to a guy having a 13-hour panic attack on the flight home because he was scared out of his mind to fly. That should give you a sense of just how awful it was trying to manage this hungry and tired toddler.

Waiting for our court appearance with crackers in hand.

Looks innocent enough, right?

Running amuck in the courtroom.

Sitting still for a half a second. Of course that was before court was in session.

New US citizen. Those smiles may have been manufactured.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

From the Mouth of a 15 Month Old

2011-02-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

My postings are pathetic I know. I'd love to blog more, but that would require giving up something else like dishes, sleep, clean clothes, showering, morning quiet times...not enough hours in the day. Anyway in an attempt to keep track of some milestones I thought I would write down some things that Liya is saying at 15 months. This list of words/phrases is what she will say without us asking her to say them, though she will attempt to repeat most things when asked (if she feels cooperative). At this point Travis and I are probably the only ones who can tell what she is saying. It's so incredible to hear her add new words almost daily.

hi
bye
See you!
I love you!
mama
dada
Liya
Piper (Piper no!)
Squeaker (Squeaker no!)
apple
banana
cheese
cracker
cereal
Bible
ball
thank you
There you go
Get down!
help
out
shoe
sock
car
no!
yeah
tickle
Good girl!
One, two, three, four, five
fish
hippo
rhino
puppy
cow
orca
turtle
mouse
zebra
Peek-a-boo!
baby
all done
sticker
stop
book
dirty
eeew!
uh oh
Where are you?
snow
tv
snack
eat

And here is Miss Sassy Pants herself:

One Year Ago

2011-01-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

One year ago today we saw this beautiful face for the first time.

Whether smiling or not this is still the most beautiful face I have ever seen.

New Friend

2011-01-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry the music is a bit loud, we were having a dancing party prior to this and the stereo knob was behind the mirror.

This Was Worth The Wait

2010-12-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

Last year at this time I was longing to know my child. I had been sure that we would be celebrating our referral with family over the holidays, but a few weeks before Christmas our first match fell though. It was a lonely Christmas, not to mention the two of us got snowed in on Christmas day. Now a year later we are a family of three, exactly how we were meant to be. I am still amazed by the way God knit our little family together. This was definitely worth the wait!


The one year old is almost as big as the three year old.

Liya got a sled for Christmas from my parents. As you can see Liya loved her sled and being out in the snow and cold. In fact, she loved it so much that she took the longest nap of her life (3 hours 10 minutes!, ordinary = 1 hour 20 minutes) afterward and even took her nap 1.5 hours earlier than usual.

Faceplant in the snow!

Having so much fun!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day

2010-11-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.projecthopeful.org/

Where's Frata?

2010-11-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!

2010-10-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Our little girl turned one (a week and a day ago)! We had our first first birthday party at my family's house. I had planned on writing a bit more for this birthday blog, but alas, here are a few birthday photos instead.

This is a horrible photo. The cake looked better in person. Travis and I and my mom and sister modeled farm animals out of fondant. Lots of work but they were cute!

In case you were wondering, the sheep were my creation.

She pretty much only ate the cream cheese frosting.

Not a fan of the cold ice cream!

Cousin Charlotte enjoying her cake.

Sugar and Spice

2010-10-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

She's not all sugar. She's quite a bit spice too :) I'm afraid we've hit the "terrible twos" a bit early. For the last month or so she has been perfecting her tantrum skills. From the squirming limp noodle in our arms to the flailing on the ground and most recently the stomping around. We have to try hard not to laugh at her antics, but it really is quite hilarious at times. In this video I don't even know what provoked the tantrum, possibly a result of telling her daddy was coming home soon and she didn't see him when she looked out the window.

Happy House

2010-10-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

We have had this play house from Liya's cousin stored in our basement for a while. Travis brought it upstairs today thinking that she was probably too young for it, but it would be fun to see what she thinks of it. The sheer joy and excitement it brought her was hilarious! I don't think we've ever seen her quite this happy. Squealing, laughing, talking, and lots of smiles :)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

Walking For Real (updated with video)

2010-09-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

I can finally say it's official, we now have a walker on our hands. Liya started walking across our living room last Tuesday and hasn't stopped since! Liya basically went from not walking to walking across the living room one day. After she took her first ten steps that I captured on video, she quit attempting to walk or even stand by herself, though she mastered the art of walking while holding onto someone's finger and running while holding onto the furniture/walls. It is so astonishing to see how much her walking improves each day now. Just this evening she walked from our couch to the bathroom without falling down, probably 30 or so steps. She pretty much can get to wherever she wants by walking now. Amazing how fast that happened!

And here's a video for grandpa :)

I think these are the only pictures we have of her really smiling (not goober smile) so I had to post them!

Ethiopia Day One- The Introduction

2010-08-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

It has been three months since we first set foot in Ethiopia so I thought it appropriate to start blogging about our trip.

Monday May 24-
Our day started out early in Dubai. A short flight later we landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was all very surreal. I couldn't believe we were just a mere few hours from meeting our daughter. We were greeted at the airport by Travis N.(Gladney staff) and our driver Yaftahe around 11:30am. Travis N. asked us if we wanted to meet Ephrata today or wait until the next day. Of course we said today, as soon as possible! We had to wait until Matt and Eryn arrived at our guesthouse for Travis N. to bring both little girls to us. Upon arriving at Bejoe's guesthouse we were greeted by Mark and Heidi and their boys. So fun! I couldn't believe that we were actually there. I'd seen so many pictures from other people's trips and now it was finally our turn.

At 2:30 we met our sweet Ephrata. She wasn't quite sure what to make of us at first. She looked a bit dazed and confused but didn't seem to mind us too much until little Lucy started crying. Ephrata soon joined in in sympathy cries. I was walking around with her trying to get her to calm down when all of a sudden I felt something warm go running down my front. She had had a diaper explosion and it was everywhere. And I do mean EVERYWHERE. I ran her down to our room while she cried even harder. I really had no idea what to do. We were both a mess and I couldn't put her down to grab anything. I was able to get a very small changing pad and lay it on the bed. Then I found out she was wearing a pull-up and not a diaper! Of course pulling it off meant smearing poop all down her legs. Now I had a naked screaming baby covered in poop and I was also covered in poop. A baby wipe wasn't going to help that mess so I decided she needed a bath. I was in a bit of a panic as I had no idea how to hold a screaming poop covered baby, run a bath, and find the bath supplies. I couldn't figure out why Travis (husband) hadn't come to my aid when he heard the inconsolable crying. I ran into the courtyard with my dirty, naked, screaming child and yelled for him. Luckily he was just coming down to see what was taking me so long. It turns out they couldn't hear a thing from where they were all sitting upstairs. We gave Ephrata a quick and not so thorough bath because she was still crying and we couldn't get any warm water (poor baby!). Finally after the bath she calmed down and we were able to pacify her by letting her chomp on our fingers. I felt so bad for her. What a traumatic introduction to her new family! After we went back upstairs to get the necessary info from Travis N. we played with her for a bit and then gave her a bottle. We all crashed for the next 4 hours and woke up at 8pm.

Bejoe's Guesthouse

Bejoe's- looking at front gate and garden area

Bejoe's- walkway to our downstairs rooms

Bejoe's- backyard where they do laundry

Waiting Dad

Nervous Mom

Our baby has arrived!

Not too sure about the paparazzi

10 Months Old

2010-08-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here She Comes

2010-08-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

She's only taken three steps a few times and today I happened to catch this on video. Liya took several steps before I got the camera rolling, so about a total of ten steps! Of course she wouldn't do it again for me after that.

Ready, Set, Go!

2010-08-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Liya at 9 months. I am sorry for the brevity of the videos. You have no idea how hard it is to capture her on video!

What you didn't see in this first video is her taking a step before I turned the camera on. I was really only trying to catch her standing anyway.

And we thought she was already too mobile with her crawling. So far she has taken three steps at one time. After hearing from other people who have had early walkers, we are not trying to encourage her too much with the walking, though it is terribly hard to contain our excitement when she does something new.

Goober Face

2010-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry family and friends that I have been such a poor blogger and have not been keeping you all up to date on photos and life. Right now I am neglecting a very messy kitchen to post a little something. I'll try to post a real something soon. No promises though. I don't have much computer time these days.

The following are a few photos of what we call her goober face. She has this really cheesy grin where she throws her head back, squints her eyes, and shows off her two widely spaced front teeth. It's hilarious! These photos really do a poor job depicting it. FYI- Liya's afternoon nap was precisely the time it took to get this posted. So my kitchen remains a disaster.

What's For Dinner?

2010-07-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

Our girl is so active it's really hard to take a photo of her without it being blurry or having to use the flash. The high chair is one of the only places in the house I can take photos of her in natural light without her reaching for the camera or moving around.

Teething biscuits are a serious business.

No, I did not put my baby in a frying pan. She sat there by herself. She even got out and then went back in.

Speaking of food...today we had a breakthrough at lunch. It's been difficult to get Liya to eat much besides her bottle. She really doesn't like being in the highchair and could care less about eating solid food. This afternoon I served her black beans for the first time and she loved them! It's a good thing because it is my staple food item so she'll be eating a lot more of those. She also ate green beans for the first time without making a "this is the most disgusting thing I've put in my mouth" face. She ate all I prepared except for a couple mouthfuls (which I hid in some pear-blueberry blend). I've lost count of how many times I have tried to feed her green beans. And, she actually drank water from her sippy cup instead of using it as a chew toy! Hurray for progress! We'll see how supper goes.

A few days ago I was working on my first Ethiopia trip post and then I lost access to my hard drive to get to the photos. One of these days I'll get it together.

Some Photos

2010-07-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Okay "Anonymous" (I know who you are), here are some pics until I post a real update.

When Daddy feeds Ephrata

Cousins

Cheese!

Two Weeks Home

2010-06-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

We have been home two weeks today (actually yesterday, I started this post yesterday and due to a sleepless babe never finished). Hard to believe! We've been slowly adjusting to being a family of three. The first week home was a little rough and overwhelming. Liya has been having some sleep issues, food issues, and a case of Salmonella. That made for some tired parents and a crabby baby! I do have to say she handled the major life changes better than I would have! We also have had some learning to do as first time parents.

I'm happy to say that things are going much smoother now. We have been working on getting into a daily routine and that is making everyone a little happier. I think/hope we are wrapping up with the Salmonella; although the public health nurse (did you know they have to notify the Dept. of Public Health?) said it can get worse again (and rarely lasts more than a year...what?!). For the most part Liya is back to being a happy baby most of the time. She still doesn't like going to sleep though or staying asleep. Speaking of... she went to bed at 7pm tonight and it is now 7:23pm and I can hear her talking/complaining in her crib... Two hours later...we went for a walk in the stroller, which is good for getting her to fall asleep, and I just spent an unsuccessful hour with her trying to get her to go to sleep. Now it's daddy's turn. Well, it's 10:30 and she just finally fell asleep. It's not like I had planned a productive evening writing thank-yous and a blog post or planned on going to bed early. I'm just glad that in the last week she has started taking a little bit longer naps in comparison to the one or two 15 to 30 minute naps she had been taking and had slept in until 7am the last three mornings. Does anyone have any tips for getting a newly adopted 8 month old baby to go to sleep?

Liya (aka Liyaphrata or Ephrata or Frata or Frata-poo) has surprised and amazed us since we first met her. We didn't even know if she was able to sit on her own before we met her. She could sit but would do a lot of face plants in the process and used her head to push herself back up. Fast forward three weeks and she is completely mobile. She crawls like a pro and pulls to standing on whatever is within reach. We thought we would have time to baby proof our home. Definitely not the case! She gets into EVERYTHING. She is so curious and loves exploring. This means that when she is awake momma can't do much else besides keep an eye on her Frata. This was especially challenging the first week home when there were hardly any naps taking place and Liya was waking up at 5:30 or earlier every morning (amazing because that is the time she would also awake in Ethiopia). Thank goodness she started sleeping through the night when we came back from Ethiopia!

It seems like every day she learns something new. She learned peek-a-boo in the car one day. It is so adorable when she does it. Most of the time she only covers one eye though so she can see what you are doing. Many days she will come up with some new sound to practice. Whether it's a new way to whine or talking in a high pitched voice or saying something new. The last few days the raspberry has been a favorite. I am especially fond of when she does it just as I spoon a mouthful of food into her mouth. Yesterday she practiced saying mm mmm mmmmm all day long. Today she started saying ma ma ma ma ma! Yay! She already had da da da down. It is so fun to watch her pick up new skills.

Hopefully next week I'll post about our time in Ethiopia along with pictures. Until then enjoy these photos.

Finally, a family photo

Momma and her baby

Trouble maker! She emptied the whole first shelf of her bookcase by herself.

She enjoyed her second time in the pool a little more than the first. I ended up joining her because it was so hot that day and the pool has a nice shade over the top. We had to flee when a wasp was hanging around the outside of the pool.

Pool Time Fun

2010-06-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Some hot and humid weather called for a dip in the pool. She loves her baths, but she didn't smile once in the pool. I think she was too busy concentrating on crawling around in the water and splashing with the toys.

Are we having fun yet?

All Clear!

2010-06-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

We had our CT scan and consult at Mayo Clinic on Thursday to see what we needed to do for Liya's head. The consult portion was very quick. Basically the doctor asked us "Why are you here?" They saw no evidence of craniosynostosis at all!!!! None of her cranial sutures are fused. Praise God!!! All those months of worry and her head is normal!!! We celebrated this very exciting news with an ice cream cake :)

Photo with my sister who is a resident physician at Mayo. She was finished with her morning rounds so she accompanied us to the CT scan.

One Of These Days

2010-06-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

One of these days I'll get around to blogging. Today is not the day. I am choosing sleep instead. I know everyone is dying to see photos so I'll leave you with one :)

In Her Shoes

2010-05-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

While adoption for us is mostly a happy and wonderful thing, it is a very surreal and traumatic experience for the child no matter what their age. The analogy below may seem a little bit silly but bear with it as it does a decent job illustrating a point. Really think about what the woman in the story must be feeling and how it parallels international adoption .

Imagine for a moment....
You have met the person you've dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse. You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancée. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For the first time in your life, you understand what is meant by soul mate, for this person understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow.

The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonderful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day's events, but relaxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the worldthe person who will be with you for the rest of your life. The next morning you wake up, nestled in your partner's arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for his face. But it's not him! You are in the arms of another man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man?

Where is your beloved?
You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. The new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back. . .even trying to stroke your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay. Your beloved is gone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him? Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn't speak your language-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn't seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened...that your sweetheart is gone.

You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact. Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradually you are learning to trust this new guy. He's finally learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don't understand his bedtime songs, you like the lilt of his voice and take some comfort in it. More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive. Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking you?

You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and up to a room filled with people. Many are crying. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried. The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you. You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy. The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar face starts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy. The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guy tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to get along. You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation.

Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of people are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another guy who hugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kisses your cheek. Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair. Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you've ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you've never heard before.

He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you're used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for the black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black. You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in bed for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to asleep.

People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy's hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one other, marveling at how quickly you've fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to be a part of the happiness. Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you're hanging on for dear life, you've learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for the next one to come along.

Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly. A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take the cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait.

How would each of us handle all these changes?

How would this impact us for the rest of our lives?

Original found here.

Then and Now

2010-05-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Our little baby is growing up so fast! I can hardly believe how much she has changed since her referral photos. In the first photo she is 2.5 months old and 12 pounds and in the other one she is 6 months and a whopping 19 pounds.

We cannot wait to hold our "little" Liya in just 11 days!!!! SO EXCITED!!! And we found out today that we will be traveling with Heidi! And we are traveling with Eryn! And we are all staying at the same guest house!!! What an amazing experience to be able to share with each other.

World AIDS Orphans Day

2010-05-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

Today is World AIDS Orphans Day, a day dedicated to bringing awareness to the crisis surrounding AIDS orphans.

From the AHOPE website:
"This year we are expected to surpass 20,000,000 AIDS orphans worldwide of which well over 2,000,000 are HIV positive themselves. Fewer than one in ten AIDS orphans are receiving any external support. For many children, the loss of parents brings destitution, an end to schooling and stigmatization by family and neighbors. Even when a child loses only one parent to HIV/AIDS the high incidence of HIV infection within marriage means that many children soon lose both parents, and often become the responsibility of the extended family. Child-headed households, once a rarity, are now increasingly common in sub-Sahara Africa."

Most of these AIDS orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa. As a mother of a daughter from Ethiopia these children are very close to my heart. And if you are adopting from Ethiopia this crisis should hit close to home too, whether your child is one of these orphans or not. Want to do something to help?

Text "ahope" to 85944 to make a $10 donation to AHOPE today. Or text HIV (space) and amount you want to donate to 27138. You can also sponsor a child through them. AHOPE for Children is a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the children of Ethiopia, with a primary emphasis on caring for orphans infected with HIV.
Support From HIV to Home an organization that helps care for HIV+ children and connects HIV+ children with adoptive families.
Support Project Hopeful and their mission of encouraging, educating, and enabling families adopting children with HIV/AIDS
Educate yourself and spread awareness
Consider adopting a child. Not a solution to the crisis, but it makes a world of difference to that child.

For a great blog post from a mother of two of these children go here. For more information on ways you can help go to the World AIDS Orphans Day website.

Photos and Delivery Sevice

2010-05-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

For the last 3.5 months we have been so blessed to have many families take pictures and care packages to our daughter. Thank you to all of you!!! Now it is time to return the favor :) If anyone would like us to take photos and bring packages to your little ones please send me an email (lengelhaupt @ yahoo) with your child's name, house #, and a photo. We plan to depart the US on May 22.

Am I Dreaming?

2010-04-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your comments and congratulations! I am still on cloud nine and can hardly believe that she is ours and we are hers. I didn't really think we would pass court the first time, but we did! We travel in 3 weeks!!! Our Embassy date is May 27th. I cannot wait to hold that sweet thing in my arms!

This morning I received some new pictures from the Knight family who just returned from their month long trip to Ethiopia. Thank you! It seems so strange to be able to post these after having to keep them private for over 3 months. Strange, but so good.

The bib says it all!

We Have a Daughter!!!!!

2010-04-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One more day!!!!!

2010-04-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, tomorrow!!! It's finally almost here! By this time tomorrow we should know if we passed. I am feeling reservedly hopeful at this point :)

For Kristi

2010-04-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, two posts in one day! Okay Kristi, and Laura too, since you keep ~~pestering~~ asking me to post some photos of the bedroom here you go. We still need to put up the wall border and baseboards. I was planning to wait and post the finished product, but who knows when that will be. This much has been done since October. Every morning I sit in her room to do my Bible study and pray for my girl. Soon those quiet mornings will be a thing of the past. I can't wait!

The onesie on this cabbage patch is what Baby E was wearing in her referral pictures :) My mom bought it for me when we spotted it at a second hand store.

Two Days!

2010-04-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Roughly 48 hours from now we should know the outcome of our court date. I am so unsure of the emotional state I should assume now. I really want to be excited, but that could very well lead to disappointment. I feel like I should be realistic, realizing that things may not go as we hope, but that seems like no fun. It is so hard though not to get my hopes up. I want my baby girl home and I want her now. That's not asking too much is it? :) What I want most of all is for her to come home soon so she can be evaluated by the doctors here and they can tell me everything is going to be just fine and no surgery is required. That would be the best news! Passing court this first time would go a long way toward easing my worries.

Here is what is going to be happening in Ethiopia the next couple days (8 hours ahead of central standard time). Late tonight/early tomorrow morning MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) will look over our file and all the documents pertaining to Baby E. If they feel everything is in order they will issue a positive opinion and hand it all over to the court. Then tomorrow night/early Thursday morning the Judge will review everything and issue a verdict. We may pass this first time around, we may not. If we don't pass, sometimes the file can be left open and the issue can be resolved quickly, other times it may be a few more weeks until the next court date. Please be praying that all the paperwork would be in order and that the people who need to show up will show up and that nothing would hinder either MOWA or the Judge from giving a favorable opinion. Stay tuned...

One Week To Go!!!!!

2010-04-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

One week from now we should be hearing whether or not we passed court! These past two weeks have been the longest two weeks of my life! I only hope this next week will go a little faster. Thankfully while I'm waiting I have Heidi and Eryn's court dates (tomorrow!) to look forward to and keep me distracted. Something else that helped keep my mind occupied last week was our first baby shower last weekend with Travis' work. We feel blessed by all who came together and put this on for us.

Pretty cupcakes

Onsie painting

Artist hard at work

Handmade dress from Ghana

Two Weeks!

2010-04-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

Piper has the right idea!

(Yes, he sings Old McDonald to every song.)

Look At Those Legs!

2010-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

No worries about this girl getting enough to eat! I think I need to lift some weights :) Can't wait to squish those legs.
Thanks Katie and Michael for the lovely photos!

Court Date!!!!!!

2010-04-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

We have a court date, April 29th!!!!!

While it's a little further away than we would like, I'm glad to finally have a date after almost 11 weeks of waiting. Looks like the earliest we will travel if we pass court on that day is the end of May.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

There is love that came for us
Humbled to a sinner's cross
You broke my shame and sinfulness
You rose again victorious

Faithfulness none can deny
Through the storm and through the fire
There is truth that sets me free
Jesus Christ who lives in me

You are stronger, You are stronger
Sin is broken, You have saved me
It is written, Christ is risen
Jesus You are Lord of all

No beginning and no end
You're my hope and my defense
You came to seek and save the lost
You paid it all upon the cross

Some Good News

2010-03-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

We received some good news today, though not exactly the news for which we were hoping. Our file has been confirmed as having been submitted to court! For those of you not in the adoption loop, that means that we won't have to travel to Ethiopia twice :) I neglected to write about some of the recent changes in the Ethiopian adoption process. In a nutshell, a new rule will go into effect for any family who does not have their file submitted to the Ethiopian court by April 9th. These adoptive parents will be required to be present for their court date in Ethiopia and then will have to travel a second time to bring their child(ren) home several weeks after passing court. We are now assured that we only have to travel once, meaning we don't have to spend extra money on traveling costs and we won't have to leave our little girl in Ethiopia after meeting her :)

The downside of this news is that it still may be a few weeks before we are assigned a court date. We had been hoping to hear any day now, but it looks like that is not the case. I'm looking at the bright side though and that is our file has been submitted! I am relieved!!!

Craniosynostosis

2010-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

A fair warning, this will be too much information for the casual blog stalker so feel free to stop reading any time. I've been debating for a while whether or not to post about our little girl's medical concern. I know many of you are probably curious, and well, all too soon it may become readily apparent if she needs to have surgery because she will be sporting a large zigzag scar, running from ear to ear, across the top of her head.

Our little girl has craniosynostosis. Craniosynostosis is a birth defect in which one or more of the sutures (fibrous joints) between the bones of an infant's skull close prematurely, before the infant's brain is fully formed. As a result, the infant's brain can't grow in its natural shape and it is forced to grow in the direction of the open sutures, often resulting in an abnormal head shape and facial features. Treatment of craniosynostosis usually requires surgery to separate the fused bones. Sometimes the condition only affects the physical appearance of the head, but it can inhibit brain growth and also lead to increased intracranial and intraorbital pressure. Craniosynostosis can occur by itself or it can be associated with a syndrome that affects not only the skull but the extremities and multiple body systems as well. Syndromic craniosynostosis requires numerous surgeries to correct defects throughout the body and can cause blindness, deafness, and developmental delays.

Syndromic craniosynostosis was one of our biggest concerns after receiving our little girl's somewhat cryptic medical reports prior to receiving her referral. From what I can gather she has at least two fused sutures with the possibility of a third. Multiple fusions along with the specific sutures that are fused in our little one occur more frequently in a syndrome. Even though it sounded like that was a possibility, and a very scary one at that, we knew we could not turn this little one down. We were trusting that God would equip us to handle whatever came to be and would provide for us financially for as many surgeries as needed. After lots of research, prayer, and coming to terms with the worst case scenario we let our caseworker know that whenever the referral was ready we were ready to hear about our daughter. Sara then told us that she had talked at length to the in-country staff that morning and found out that the neurosurgeon in Ethiopia thought it likely that she would not need surgery! She also told us that just by looking at the photos of our girl you could not tell that she even has craniosynostosis. What a relief after picturing in our minds the worst case scenario. Later that day we laid eyes on the most beautiful three month old girl and life as we knew it has never been the same :)

Nothing about her medical diagnosis is certain at this time, and for a woman who likes to plan ahead and be prepared, this not knowing anything is killing me. As far as we can tell our little girl does not have syndromic craniosynostosis. We had her X-rays and CT scans sent to a team of specialists in the US in hopes of a more definitive diagnosis; however, it seems that doctors in the US are a little out of practice when it comes to reading 3rd world radiological technologies. Much to my dismay, they cannot determine a whole lot from the current scans and we now have to wait until she comes home to get any answers about her diagnosis and surgery prospects. In January I wishfully set up an appointment for her for April 20th hoping for a miracle that she'd be here by then. I guess I need to reschedule that.

For the last eight weeks we have been anxiously waiting for news of a court date because surgery for craniosynostosis is usually advised as early as possible and preferably by six months of age. Our girl turned five months old last week. I had hoped that things would move along a little faster because of her medical need. Our wonderful agency assured us that they would do everything within their control to get us a court date as soon as possible and give us priority on travel, if only all the other parties involved were as kindly accommodating.

I just want to take one more moment to be totally honest (if I still have any readers left) and add that saying yes to being open to certain special needs on paper really did not prepare us emotionally for the reality of when we were asked "will you consider this little one?" It is heart wrenching to even think of saying no to a little one in need and yet it can also be heart wrenching to say yes. To know that your child may have to deal with lifelong medical issues or disabilities. To know that your life may look different than you had imagined. Even though we signed up for this and thought we were prepared for it, I actually went through a short period of grieving for each child with whom we were matched, grieving both selfishly and for the girls, for what might await them down the road. I am still very sad at the thought of my newly adopted baby going through major surgery so soon after we bring her home. (What will that do to her attachment?) No one wants their own child to deal with these kinds of things, but the reality is there are children in the world who are waiting for a family that will love and care for them no matter what their needs. At the beginning of our adoption journey I felt God leading me to be open to more than just a healthy, "perfect" child and I'm glad for that. I'm glad for the many ways it has challenged me to grow and mature both in faith and character.

Hand Me Downs

2010-03-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

I have a post I've been working on for a while, but it's not ready, so in the mean time...

It's nice to have a 2.5 year old niece who's outgrown her baby things :) There's more stuff not pictured, including more clothes hanging in the closet.

Thank you Charlotte for all the nice stuff you gave to your cousin! You are growing up way too fast!

Happy 4 months!

2010-02-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

Our sweet baby girl is 4 months old today! I so wish we could be celebrating that with her in person. I keep thinking about all the milestones we are missing out on as we wait for court. All of her little firsts that I want to share with her. I am missing all her babyness (spell check is telling me that's not a word). It's funny though because I never imagined I would care about that. When we received her referral it came as a little bit of a shock to us that she was so young. The whole time we were on the wait list I had been preparing myself for and expecting a toddler so I honestly wasn't quite sure what to make of an infant. But now that we have a 4 month old I wouldn't change it for the world! Oh how I wish for time to stop so that she stays the same until we can go get her.

Yesterday we received our first developmental update from Gladney. This really made our day because we had been worried about some of the milestones she was not achieving. I know it's normal for these kids to be somewhat behind developmentally, but that still doesn't make me worry any less. Additionally, we know that her medical condition can put pressure on her brain and lead to delays. Much to our amazement, in the six weeks since her last assessment, she has met so many new milestones and has far exceeded our expectations! She smiles, laughs, and squeals with delight now. It makes my heart so happy to hear that!

We also received our first updated picture of our cutie from Gladney yesterday. All our previous pictures were over a month old and she has definitely changed quite a bit in that time. I thought she had chubby cheeks before; but oh my goodness, somehow they got even chubbier! I don't think I've seen an Ethiopian baby with such smooshy cheeks :) They make me smile and I love them!! At least we can be sure she is well nourished!

Last Update Hopefully!

2010-02-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

From our caseworker:
"Belay said that E is out of the hospital and was released around noon today. She is doing much better and her oxygen saturation levels are normal. She will continue to be monitored back at the foster care center by our pediatrician, and hopefully will be much much better soon!"

What a relief!!!!! Well that was certainly a nice introduction to parenthood!

Thank you for all your kind words and prayers!

Updated Update #3

2010-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Many many thanks to the awesome Gutwein family for checking on the status of our girl and especially for answering a frantic email while in Ethiopia! Little girl was still in the hospital when they visited the Gladney care center today, but the caregivers said she was doing much better and hopefully would be released today. Goodness, five nights in the hospital, my poor baby! I am so bummed that she was not at the care center to receive our care package, get some lovin, and have photos taken. At least I can rest a little easier now knowing she's hopefully improving. (seems like deja vu) It's probably a good thing, for my sanity at least, that I didn't know anything before yesterday. Thanks everyone for your prayers and support, they mean more than you know!

*Update*

Not being released today, still on oxygen, hopefully will be able to go back to care center tomorrow.

Update #2

2010-02-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Our baby girl ended up being admitted to the hospital on Friday night for her pneumonia. Belay (in-country staff) visited her on Saturday and hoped she would be released Saturday night. We are not sure of her status since then because our caseworker has been unable to get in contact with the in-country staff to get an update. Hopefully that means the news isn't too bad.

Over The Top

2010-01-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

My friend Heidi game me this award. The challenge is to answer the questions below with one word answers and then nominate others to pass the award along. Consider yourself nominated by me if you are reading this and want to participate :) (and then let me know I nominated you so I can read your answers!)

1. Where is your cell phone? Upstairs

2. Your hair? Thin

3. Your mother? Kind

4. Your father? Frugal

5. Your favorite food? Chocolate

6. Your dream last night? Disappointing (Someone got a court date 6 days after their referral...and then I woke up...)

7. Your favorite drink? Tea

8. Your dream / goal? Mommy

9. What room are you in? Office

10. Your hobby? Baking/Reading

11. Your fear? Bees etc.

12. Where do you want to be in six years? Africa

13. Where were you last night? Church

14. Something that you aren't? Extroverted

15. Muffins? Poppyseed (almond)

16. Wish list item? Children

17. Where did you grow up? MN

18. Last thing you did? Dishes

19. What are you wearing? Squeaker

20. Your TV? Obsolete

21. Your pets? Messy

22. Friends? Special

23. Your life? Blessed

24. Your mood? Hopeful

25. Missing someone? Smooshface :)

26. Vehicle? Toyota

27. Something you're not wearing? Ring

28. Your favorite store? Amazon.com

29. Your favorite color? Pink

30. What was the last time you laughed? Now

31. Last time you cried? Thursday

32. Your best friend? Travis

33. One place that I could go over and over? Duluth

34. One person who emails you regularly? Dad

35. Favorite place to eat? Kitchen

Update

2010-01-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all you wonderful people for the prayers and support! Our girl is doing better today and breathing easier. I found out she was never actually admitted to the hospital but sounds like she was taken there a couple times for breathing difficulties. Whew, I hope I never have to go through another day like yesterday!!! There's nothing like being across the world from your sick baby to make you feel helpless!

Please Pray

2010-01-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

We would greatly appreciate anyone willing to pray for our little girl. She is in the hospital with pneumonia and has already had quite the impressive list of respiratory and other illnesses in her short life.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

January 21, 2010

2010-01-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

Today, after 8.5 months on the wait list, we were introduced to a beautiful, precious three month old girl! She has perfect chubby little cheeks and gorgeous big brown eyes!

We did things a little bit backward, first getting her medical information yesterday and then a referral today. That just seems to fit our process so far :) She has a medical condition that I researched all day yesterday and that had me awake until 3:30am. We knew we wanted to go for it no matter what, but we wanted to be prepared for anything. We had prepared ourselves for worst case scenario yesterday and today we were blown away with how perfect she is! It turns out she may not even need the invasive surgery we had anticipated! God is so good and we are blessed beyond measure!!!!

Anybody have any pictures of our little girl? She's been in Gladney's care since December 8th.

Help Haiti

2010-01-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

Haiti Earthquate

I am asking you to please consider donating to Compassion International's Haiti earthquake relief to help the precious children and their families who are sponsored through Compassion. Compassion serves more than 65,000 children in Haiti. At least a third of them live in the areas that were hardest hit and they anticipate there will be many deaths and thousands who have lost everything. We sponsor a child through them (not in Haiti) and are very impressed with the work that they do and their commitment to each child. Please reach out in the name of Jesus to bring relief, comfort, love and restoration to precious children and families whose lives have been devastated by this crisis.

Eight

2010-01-06T12:43:00.001-08:00

Eight months on the wait list today. We started this journey in May of 2008 and here we are in 2010 still waiting. Really hardly anything has gone smoothly or according to plan. I knew going into it that international adoption could be a wild ride and nothing is predictable. It's funny though, because I was so sure we would have one of those mythical perfect adoption experiences. What was I thinking? Has anyone even had one of those?

My expectations have shifted so many times I can't keep track. When we first began the adoption process we were with a different agency. This agency told us the entire adoption process from application to homecoming would be just 4 to 7 months! If this had held true we would have been home with our child(ren) for a year already! I was sure we'd have our little one home by last summer at the latest.

When we started out with Gladney the estimated wait for a referral was 3 to 5 months, but when we finally went on the wait list (after many more expectations had been challenged) the estimate went up to 8 months for a healthy infant referral. Being optimistic, I thought there is no way it will take until January to get a referral; after all, we are open to a variety of special needs and our age range is broader than most. Every holiday or special family event that has passed since we've been on the wait list I've thought for sure we'll have our referral by then.

I really am okay with the way things have gone so far. (Though it would be nice if just one or two things would go smoothly!) Many people have waited a lot longer than us, like this wonderful family who waited over 12 months for their referral of twins! I have learned a great deal along the way that will prepare me for things to come. Through this process I am learning I am not in control nor should I try to take control. I like to make plans and know what's going to happen every step of the way. Sometimes I just need to chill out. It's not about me. It's about God and it's about the little person(s) waiting for us in Ethiopia. God's plans are usually better than mine anyway.

“Be still, and know that I am God”
Psalm 46:10

Letting Go

2009-12-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure where to begin this post since we have kept this information mostly to ourselves up until now. We were advised from the beginning not to become too emotionally involved and not to tell anybody until things were more certain, which I see now was a very good idea indeed. Six weeks ago we were unofficially matched with a 17 month old little girl with a special medical need and today we were told that her birth family decided that they would like to try to raise her. My heart is breaking over this little girl I never even knew, but amidst the pain there is also joy. I rejoice in the fact that she will be with her birth family because in a perfect world that is where every child belongs. I do hope that they will be able to provide the medical care that she needs. I know I need to let go of my worry over her care and put her little life in God's loving hands.

I have no regrets about our decision to pursue this child even though we knew things were a little uncertain (although her birth family taking her back was the one thing I was very sure would not happen!). I am sincerely glad for the time God allowed us to imagine what our life would be like with her and for challenging us to step out of our comfort zone to obey Him. Our eyes and hearts have been forever opened to the needs of this world and this will not be an end for us. Now for the process of letting go our dreams of parenting this little one and all the life changes we were prepared to make in order to accommodate her needs.

Seven

2009-12-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

I am hopeful this seventh month will be our lucky month! Never did I think that we would pass seven months on the wait list, but I already know it is going to be so worth every second of waiting. I can't wait to see that little face!

Get Involved

2009-12-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Ways to get involved today:

From HIV to Home give $5 a day for 5 days starting today, World AIDS Day, each day funds a different project serving orphans living with HIV.

AHOPE an organization that cares for orphans in Ethiopia that are HIV+, through them you may sponsor a child.

Compassion International AIDS Initiative offers comprehensive services that allow them to proactively fight this widespread disease one child at a time.

World AIDS Day

2009-11-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day is coming up on December 1st. If you are adopting from Ethiopia, chances are that your child's life has somehow been touched by HIV/AIDS. After hearing many personal stories and reading several books about this devastating crisis in Africa I cannot ignore it. Millions are dying of a disease that is so treatable. Moms and dads are dying leaving their children behind. Children are being forced to be parents. Parents are watching helplessly as their children die before them. I feel so small and inadequate in the face of such an enormous crisis, yet I am compelled to act.

It is so easy to just sit back, do nothing and say this is too overwhelming for me to even think about let alone to make a difference; but I believe we can make a difference, even if we only reach out and touch the life of a single person we are making a difference. For some ideas on how you can help take a look at this blog of an adoptive parent and choose one of the 5 things she mentions to get started. I highly recommend the books There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Her Country's Children by Melissa Fay Greene and 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolan, though be warned, they may change your life. Here in the United States we have been blessed beyond belief, will you share just a little of what you have been given and take a step toward action in honor of World AIDS Day?

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Luke 12:48

November: National Adoption Month

2009-11-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

In honor of National Adoption Month:

6 and 30

2009-11-11T05:58:00.000-08:00

I neglected my six month post so this is it. Six months on the wait list, not much more to say :)

Today is my 30^th birthday, ugh. I feel officially old. I have been dreading this day for a while now, mostly because I am not where I wanted to be at this time in my life. My plan was to be done having kids at 30; but, for a variety of reasons I am not yet a mother. I expected to at least have a referral by the time I turned 30. Even as I write these words I am not discouraged. I know there is something amazing and beautiful at work. When I gaze into the sweet face of our child I will know that all this waiting was meant to be. If we had done things any differently we would never have the little girl who is waiting for us. If you pray would you please lift her up in your prayers, specifically her health and the transitions in her care.

Waiting

2009-11-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

"Waiting is one of God's most powerful tools of grace. God doesn't just give us grace for the wait. The wait itself is a gift of grace. You see, waiting is not only about what you will receive at the end of the wait. Waiting is about what you will become as you wait." -Paul David Tripp

I am in awe of His ways.

The Current Stars of Our Household

2009-11-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

Can you guess the song? (he actually does know more but won't perform for the camera, I think I've tried a dozen times)

This is what happens when we leave a chip bag unattended.

Travel Ban Lifted

2009-10-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is great news in the adoption world as well as for many others.

Five Months

2009-10-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

The call did not come last week while we were on our yearly mini vacation to the North Shore. I thought for sure we would be celebrating our referral on this trip. I'm sure I didn't enjoy our hiking as much as I should have. One day we spent several hours out of cell phone range. The whole time I anxiously awaited our arrival back to cell phone land, in fact, I planned that we had to leave our location by 2:30 so that we could be back to our villa by 4:30 in case we did get a call. This kind of planning happens every day in my world these days.

Today we have officially been waiting for 5 months. I thought last month would surely be our month, but hopefully October will bring us the news for which we've been eagerly anticipating!

Here are a few pictures from our last (hopefully) vacation sans kids. This year we didn't hit the fall colors at their peak but it was still beautiful as always!

Wisconsin side of Lake Superior looking at Duluth, MN. I never knew Lake Superior had sand dunes until this trip!

St. Louis River

An overlook from up high, you can see Lake Superior in the back of the photo

Shovel Point

A large cargo ship that came into port as we were walking along the canal one evening

No News Yet...Maybe Today?

2009-09-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

For all the blog stalkers out there, I just wanted to let you know that no we have not received our referral yet. Rest assured I will update this blog the moment I get a chance after we get our call :) I am still hoping that maybe we will get some news today and hopefully not next Monday or Tuesday when we will be in the middle of nowhere in Northern Minnesota (meaning possibly no phone/internet access as we will be hiking around the shore of Lake Superior). How awful would that be if we returned to civilization only to find out we missed the call and had to wait until the next day to meet our daughter?

Truthfully I thought we would have a referral long before this, and funny as it seems, now that we should be getting closer the waiting is getting easier. I'm not allowing myself to think about it all day every day, maybe that's just a coping mechanism. I do however think about all the different calling scenarios every morning and figure out how that works with our schedules. Sometimes I feel like it's never really going to happen and somehow they forgot to put us on the wait list. I know, strange fear since we've only been waiting 4 months 2 weeks and 5 days, but that is what is going around in my head these days.

Out With the Old In With the New!

2009-09-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

We are finally saying goodbye to our huge beast of a piano to make room for our daughter. I'm sad to see it go, but the happiness of putting together a bedroom significantly outweighs it. Now I can finally start doing some painting and decorating to make it look like a real bedroom! Maybe everything will feel a bit more real then. It seems like I've been waiting forever to have my way with that room. We've been putting off getting rid of our piano until we could purchase our new one. We bought a digital piano because it is portable and we will be able to take it with us if/when we move to Africa.

Sorry for the bad photos...

Old piano, 800+ lbs: (note the edge of the crib/toddler bed in the photo)
New digital piano, 77 lbs :)

Four

2009-09-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Today marks 4 months on the wait list or 17.5 weeks. Hopefully we'll get our call this 4th month.

From Garden To Freezer

2009-09-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

We love growing our own produce in our garden. There is something inherently satisfying about planting a seed, watching it grow through the summer, and finally serving it for dinner. This past week I've been busy using up our garden spoils and freezing them for the winter. I had to clean out our deep chest freezer earlier this week to make room for new things. The prize for the oldest item goes to the chicken drumsticks from 2006, I decided to throw them out.

Freezer contents from our garden this year:
-Garden vegetable soup
-Tomato soup
-Moroccan lentil soup
-Chili
-Zucchini bread x 3
-Zucchini muffins
-12 cups of grated zucchini (should make 8 loaves)
-Spaghetti sauce
-Pizza sauce (really a bad spaghetti sauce that turned out to be fantastic on pizza!)
-Pureed pumpkin
-Pumpkin seeds

We had three pumpkin plants and each one produced one pumpkin. I planted them just for the seeds because the birds and I love them. My goal was to save some money by growing our own. Since I've been in the saving money mode I decided I better not waste any of the pumpkin so I roasted and pureed it. I plan on using the puree for muffins, bars, cookies, and soup.

A belated three

2009-08-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts for those who check obsessively...Laura... We have been patiently waiting for just over three months now. I keep my phone near me at all times and everyday I think this could be the day! I'm only setting myself up for disappointment if that call doesn't come for months yet; however, I am optimistic that it will be sooner than later. Let's hope :)

Some big news around here is Travis has become a Master. Yes, he has finally earned his Master's degree after three long years. He has worked so hard and I'm very proud of him and so very glad that he is done!

We also just celebrated 8 years of marriage! I love my husband and I'm so thankful God has put us together.

Two

2009-07-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today marks the end of two months on the waitlist :)

Speaking of two, our niece Charlotte just celebrated her second birthday. My sister made a nice homemade bee cake for the occasion and Charlotte dressed in character as well.
Our other niece Emma turned four a week before Charlotte turned two. Here she is playing with her new horses while eating cake :) What more could you ask for on your birthday?

Christmas in June

2009-06-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of having slightly older girl cousins is that we will never have to buy toys or clothes. We are now the proud owners of The Rose Petal Cottage along with a number of other outgrown/unused toys. I really have no idea where this will fit in our house, but it's too cute to pass up :)

Mmmm!! Is that good?!

2009-06-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

The blog title wouldn't be appropriate without some birdies and since it will probably be many, many months before there is any adoption news, I thought I would post a little something for you all. For those of you who don't speak parrot, the post title is a translation of what he says as he is enthusiastically licking the ice cream.

One down revised

2009-06-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

The other day when I posted that we had been waiting one month, what I considered a month was 4 weeks. I guess officially it should be on the 6th of each month that is counted as another month. So anyway, now we have been waiting one month!!!

One down

2009-06-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

We have been on the wait list for one whole month now! How many more is anyone's guess...

Maybe a little too soon...it was a great deal though!

2009-05-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we purchased our first item for our daughter! I hadn't planned on buying anything yet because I knew once we started buying things and had to look at them every day it would make the waiting all that much harder. I went to a few garage sales yesterday and just couldn't pass up a crib/toddler bed selling for only $10!!! Since we saved like $200 on a crib and mattress, we decided to splurge a little bit and bought a few bedding items to go with it. Hopefully our girl likes birds as much as we do :)

The dolls and animals are courtesy of grandmas. (The clothing I couldn't pass up because they have birds on the shirts.) Looking at this makes us so excited! It all actually seems more real now. We are going to be parents :) All this bed needs now is a little person to fill it. Perhaps it was a mistake to buy this so early on...

Dossier

2009-05-10T11:27:00.001-07:00

This is our authenticated dossier paperwork just before sending it in!

Officially Waiting!!!!

2009-05-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that we start our waiting for a child referral! I was surprised to get an email from our caseworker today saying that our dossier looks perfect and we are now on the wait list. Yippee!! I was not expecting it this quickly but what a nice surprise :)

We are waiting for a referral of one girl up to 18 months old or two sisters, one of which is under 18 months and the other up to 4 years old. More than likely we will end up with a referral for one girl.

I know everybody is wondering how long will this take. Right now the average wait time for a referral is around 8 months, so we have a lot of waiting ahead of us. After the referral we will still need to wait to receive a court date and then wait to pass court, which may or may not happen on the first try. Any prayers for patience would be greatly appreciated!

CIS Approved and Dossier Complete

2009-05-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

If you haven't figured it out already, today we received the long awaited, much anticipated I-171H in the mail! This is our CIS immigration approval form. After five long weeks of daily stalking the mailbox it is finally here, woohoo!!!

Today we ran around like crazy getting documents notarized and then authenticated at the Secretary of State. We had to come back home and scan the documents and assemble our completed dossier. Finally, we rushed out of the house to make it to FedEx just a minute before they closed. Our dossier should be in Texas by 10:30 tomorrow morning! I'm just praying that our dossier is done correctly. This marks the end of our great paperchase and the beginning of our waiting for a referral, though we are not yet officially on the waiting list.