God Bless the Broken Road....Led Us Straight To YOU!

Some new pics!!!

2010-09-18T19:33:00.000-04:00

WOW-I haven't posted since June..way too long!! Our family is doing amazingly well.. The kids are phenomenal and it feels like we have all been togther forever! They all get along, but they have such different personalities-it is wonderful! Summer was fun-we finally got pool completed so we were able to enjoy it for most of the summer-even though it is still summer here for a while in FL! We took a weeks vacation in Orlando-had a blast!

The kids went back to school in August-they love it and are doing well. Joseph is in 8th grade and goes to school with Dave so that has worked out good! Alex (he ended up moving from 2-4th grade because he had mastered the 3rd grade curriculum) and Yordanos are in 4th grade Danny is in 2nd grade! It has worked out well b/c they don't go to school with eitehr of us so it gives them some independence! We are so proud of how well they are all doing.

Most of our adoption paperwork has been taken care-just waiting on a few things to close that chapter. We went to court this summer and changed Yordanos' age-2 years older-she is definitely not 8!! We also readopted the kids in the state of FL! Nice to have that all done! Hopefully in the next few months or so the rest will be taken care of! Can't believe the boys have been here a year this week and Danny and Yordanos have been here 4 months! Life sure is busy!!!

Here are a few pictures from this summer....hope to blog more often!!

Where does the TIME go??

2010-06-06T22:11:00.000-04:00

Where does the TIME go?? Life is sure busy with 4 kids-but lots of fun! It will be a month this week that the kids have been here! They are all doing wonderful-Danny and Yordanos are adjusting so well and Alex and Joseph have been an amazing support for them. The only downfall is they don't seem to be learning English as fast as the boys did-we think it is b/c the boys are only speaking Amharic to them so they only have to speak English to us. Also b/c they are not in school yet either. We are working on it and I am sure they will pick it up soon.

Everyone asks....so how is 4 kids? We try and stay very busy doing lots of activities-we are in process of putting in a pool and they LOVE the water so that will be lots of fun! It's kind of funny- In some ways-it is easier with more kids-they definitely keep each other occupied and they get along very well. In other ways-like laundry, food shooping and cooking-some days are overwhelming. I am learning that my house (or my car) will never be clean again and I just have to accept it! Life goes on...

I am pretty tired tonight so just really wanted to post some pics-everyone has been asking me for some. We are working on a family picture-tried today, but didn't come out too good.
More later...

What a JOY!!!

2010-05-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

2 days in USA....what a riot they are!! Danny is more dramatic than Alex-if this could even be possible! He is a riot-thank goodness Joseph translates b/c he is just too funny! Sometimes Joseph can't even translate b/c he is laughing too hard! Language is coming already and he loves the boys!! They are pals already! Yordanos is such a girlie mommas girl! She is attached to my hip-but is warming quickly to the boys! Loves the trampoline and the beach today!! She always wants to help!

We are keeping busy-went to the pool yesterday, bike riding and beach today-they LOVED IT!!! Couldn't keep them out of the water! They all fell asleep early tonight-they were exhausted!!

Wow-4 is quite busy-but GOOD!!! Never any down time-except when they are sleeping!! I just can't believe the food-especially the fruit we go through and of course the laundry!!! SO glad I have off the next few weeks-we can get into a routine and get somewhat settled!
Here are a few pics of the kids....gotta get a family picture soon-will work on that...soon!
More later....

Home Sweet Home.....

2010-05-13T23:29:00.000-04:00

Wow!!! What an amazing day and such a blessing to have our whole family together! Dave and the kids made it home safe and sound! Everyone is doing well and on cloud 9!! There are just no words to even describe...so here are some pics from their trip! They are amazing!!!!

Slover Journey Last Chapter!!!

2010-05-12T21:23:00.000-04:00

It is almost over-the journey part that is-it is really just the beginning for all of us! Dave, Danny and Yordanos are in route as I type this! They left Ethiopia earlier today and landed in Dubai and are heading to JFK now. We spoke to them right before they got on the plane and they are all doing well and anxious to get HOME!!! We will pick them up from the airport tomorrow afternoon! The boys and I made a "Welcome Home" sign today and put the finishing touches on their rooms. Can't believe it is finally happening-someone might need to pinch me!!! Parents of 4 children...life is going to change big time tomorrow-but what a blessing!

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes! We appreciate the love and support from everyone! After 2 and a half years...we are ready to close this chapter and move on!!
Take Care and we will keep everyone updated! I will try and post some pics in the next few days.
Love,
The Slover Family

Heading Home....

2010-05-12T00:24:00.000-04:00

Huge sigh of relief....they passed through the embassy appointment today and are heading home tomorrow (Wednesday-really today already-it is 8am Wednesday morning in Ethiopia right now!!). Dave says-he will breathe a sigh of relief once they are on the planes back to USA! We were able to get the same flights as he had a few days ago...with a hefty change fee of course!!! They will get into Florida Thursday late afternoon. The boys and I will meet them at the airport-I keep imagining what the homecoming will be like after 2.5 years of waiting-almost surreal!

One of the things that Dave is most upset about is he will miss an important day for Alex tomorrow-Alex is receiving a Student of the Month award at school tomorrow morning. This is a HUGE accomplishment for him-as he has done a 180 change in the past 4 months-it has been amazing. He has been working so hard towards this goal and finally earned it this month. Makes me sad that Dave will miss it....but we will celebrate when they return.

Thank you to all for your thoughts and prayers-we felt them!

More later...

The Slover Family

Almost Home Part II...

2010-05-09T22:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers!! It looks like Dave and the kids will be heading home Wednesday night from Ethiopia. They should arrive in Florida Thursday late afternoon! They are all very ready to come home and we are so ready too!! Dave is doing all he can to entertain them-hiking, pool, lion zoo, but it is tough being cooped up in a hotel room and add the language barrier to that! But overall-they are doing very well. We talk daily and Dave always has a funny story about one of the kids. Today he said-well Alex and Joseph will have to talk to Danny about shampoo. Danny took a shower tonight and after he came out and dried off-he then put shampoo on his head and thought he was done!! Pretty funny. We just can't wait for them to come home!

The boys are doing well and very anxious for Dad and Danny and Yordanos to come home. We postponed Mother's Day for us until next week when we can all be together!! Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers!

Love,
The Slover Family

Another bump in the road.....

2010-05-06T20:55:00.000-04:00

Well....I guess I spoke to soon. There was a little problem at the Embassy appointment today and unfortunately Dave and the kids will have to postpone coming home until next week. In a nutshell, our adoption agency screwed up again and didn't order a specific medical test that is required and now they have to backtrack and get it done. So it looks like they will all be heading home next Thursday the latest and hopefully will be back in USA next Friday or Saturday-maybe sooner but we'll see.
Obviously, we are all upset about this, but we have come too far too let this get in the way and ruin our happiness! Best things in life...never come easy. We'll get through it and they will be home next week to join us! Dave and the kids are doing ok-they made a few plans for the weekend-hiking trip, visit to the Lion Zoo and they are going to try and swim at the Hilton.

Please keep us all in your prayers for a speedy and safe trip home.

Love,
The Slover Family

Almost Home....

2010-05-05T23:52:00.000-04:00

It seems like the longest week of our lives just waiting for Dave and the kids to come home!! I don't know if it is the stress or anticipation, but it feels like a never ending week! 2 and a half more days and they will be home!

Dave and the kids are doing very well. They weren't able to do the lake trip-it was too cold. Instead Dave spent the day with all of the kids in the orphanage-playing soccer and just having fun! It has been 2 years since Dave was there so lots has changed and the children have all grown! He said Danny was physically attached to him (literally on his back) the whole day and was ready to go! He will fit right in with Alex! Yordanos was a little more reserved, but is warming up very quickly! Kind of like Joseph!

Tomorrow is their embassy appointment and then they head home Friday evening. They fly to Dubai and then head to JFK. They have a few hour layover in JFK on Saturday morning and how cool-my sister is planning to meet them there!! Then my parents and the boys and I will meet them at the airport on Saturday afternoon! I can't wait to see the boys and Danny and Yordanos' faces when they meet!! I keep picturing it in my head-can't believe it will be real on Saturday!

Here are a few pics that Dave sent-Danny is so cute with his missing teeth! Yordanos is gorgeous!!!

More later...

Love,
The Slovers

6 More Days.....

2010-05-02T22:47:00.000-04:00

6 More Days until they are home!!!! I think it hit me today when I spoke to Dave this morning and he was actually in Ethiopia! Made it all so real! It is so cool-we have been able to speak through skype! He is doing well-safe and sound. He went shopping today for all of the stuff that we wanted from Ethiopia! I laughed-he said Ayele (our driver in Ethiopia) said I shop better and can spend money much better than Dave! SO true...Ayele and I were always shopping when I was in Ethiopia! Hopefully tomorrow he will meet with Hope staff and get the paperwork done and also meet with the Dr. from the orphanage. He is planning to get the kids on Tuesday-can't wait to hear all about it!!!

The boys are doing great-both missing dad, but they are good. Joseph spent the weekend with my dad and Alex and I ran around and did lots of stuff! We all spent the day today at the beach-nice end to the weekend!

More later...

The Slover Family

On his Way....

2010-05-01T08:44:00.000-04:00

It's still a little surreal and sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to make sure it is real-but yes Dave left yesterday (Friday) for Ethiopia to get Danny and Yordanos!! He is in flight as I write this-he will arrive in Dubai this morning (night there-about an 8 hour time difference) and stay overnight in a hotel and then leave in the morning (our night) for Ethiopia. Travel is a bear-the flight is about 14 hours to Dubai and 4 hours to Ethiopia-but it is all worth it!!

Along with all of the required paperwork and embassy visit, he has a lot planned while in Ethiopia. He is taking all of the kids from Bethel Orphanage (about 17 kids) on a Lake trip-should be a blast for all of them! He is also going to be able to meet with Alex and Joseph's family as well as Danny and Yordanos' families so it will be such an amazing experience! This will probably be our last trip to Ethiopia for a while so we made a LONG list of stuff to bring home-can't wait for Ethiopian coffee and spices!! Luckily, we have two wonderful gentlemen who we keep in close contact with in Ethiopia who will be joining him and helping him out a lot on the trip so he won't be solo all the time!

The boys are doing well-of course they miss their dad, but they are really excited about Yordanos and Danny coming! They are counting down the days!!

Please keep Dave and the kids in your thoughts and prayers! Hopefully I can give some updates on his trip-communication is not always easy there and they are entering rainy season so all depends on power and Internet outages!!

Here are a few recent pics of the boys! I had to post the one with Alex in a tie-he wanted to dress just like his dad one day-didn't last long-he took the tie and shirt off before he even got to school!

The Slover Family...of 6!!

Almost Home....

2010-04-16T00:10:00.000-04:00

We are getting closer-Dave is scheduled to leave on April 30th to travel to Ethiopia to pick up Danny and Yordanos!!! We are all so excited-they boys are making plans for their new brother and sister. Alex even wants to share his clothes with Danny-not so much Yordanos yet! Every day-it becomes more of a reality that we will soon have four beautiful chldren and be a family of 6! Wow....They will all return to USA on Saturday, May 8th-the day before Mother's Day! I can't believe we will actually have all of our children on Mother's Day-how special! We are truly blessed!

Our plan (at least for now) is for us both together to take off a week with the kids-doctors, fun, etc...and then I will take off until the end of the school year. It really is too late to officially start them in school this year, but we will spend some time socializing and acclamaiting and visit school a few times. A dear friend who has been right along side of me through this adoption process just returned from Ethiopia with her two children (they are at the same orphanage as our kids) and they have had a wonderful transition-very happy! Hopefully we will have the same and the boys will be a HUGE help with the kids. What a godsend-who better to help than the boys-who have already been through this and can speak their langauge. She also sent mesome pictures of the kids-hey have grown so much! Danny has gotten taller and Yordanos is a young lady now. We haven't seen a picture of them since August of last year-way too long. SO precious!

The next 2 weeks will be busy with planning, preparing and packing-so much to do-so little time. Hopefully my next post will be an update on how Dave and the kids are doing in Ethiopia-so stay tuned!

Here are a few pics too!

Love,
The Slover Family of 6!!

Slover Family of Six....

2010-03-12T00:22:00.000-05:00

The day has finally come for us....after 2 years, 3 months and 6 days we finally passed court for Danny and Yordanos. We are just so elated that they are officially our chilren! It couldn't have happened on a better day-also Alex's birthday! It has been such a long journey for us all with so many ups and downs, we are just so glad this part is over and we can't wait to bring them home into our family. The boys are extremely excited about their new brother and sister and are already making plans for them. No travel dates yet-we expect to travel in 5-7 weeks hopefully. Dave will go to Ethiopia this time to pick up the kids, while I stay home with the boys. As much as I'd love to go (and yes it is killing me not to go)-It's still to early to leave the boys or to bring them back to Ethiopia. They have made so much progress and are really doing wonderful it has just been an amazing transition the past 3 months. God works in amazing ways and always has a plan-I think we needed this transition and healing time with the boys before we could bring Danny and Yordanos home. I guess this was always the plan. We always kept faith and knew in our hearts it would happen.

I can finally post some pictures of Danny and Yordanos YAY!!! Here are few of the boys also and I will try to update this weekend more on the boys, who are officially Slovers now also-their adoption was finalized on 2/16/10! I am going to try and be a better blogger-but with a family of 6 it may not happen!!

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-24T07:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted much lately, but I wanted to post a few pics of the boys before our trip to NY! One more day until Christmas...what an exciting year it has been for us-full of surprises and wonderful new experiences!! The holidays are so different with kids-we thought it was a busy, crazy time before kids-we had no idea!! The boys had no idea who Santa was so that was pretty funny explaining. Last night we did this portable north pole experience on-line where you personalize a message from Santa to your child (ww.portablenorthpole.tv/home)-Alex loved it-Joseph kind of smirked and laughed-but itwas too cute watching them take it all in! All night-Alex talked about Santa's majic eye- too funny! It really has been such an amazing experience to watch this through their eyes. We feel it is important to be careful not to let them ge too caught up in the Christmas craze (it's pretty easy o get caught up in it) so we did a few things to make sure they know what Christmas is really all about and that they never forget where they came from.

We are all vey excited about our trip to NY-we fly out Christmas day at 4:30 and then we rented a car and we are driving back home right before New Years. We plan to stop in Wash. DC where the largest Ehiopian population in USA is and do some shopping and go to a restaurant. We are almost out of berbere (their spice) so we MUST get some more. I am learning to cook Ethiopian food and te boys tell me I am pretty good-for those who know Ethiopian dishes-I made doro wat this week-took 4 hours and my house will never smell the same, but they really apreciated it!

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. We are thankful for so many things thisholiday season, but especially that we get to be parents to Joseph & Alex! Thy have learned so much in the past 3 months it has truly been an amazing experience to be their parents!

We are blessed!

2009-11-30T23:57:00.000-05:00

I haven't been too good about blogging lately so here is a quick update. Thanksgiving was great! We went to my brother and sister in laws house and they had a guest from Ethiopia. He and his wife were so nice and they made Ethiopian food and brought it for the boys-injera and doro wat! They were so excited it was so fun to watch them enjoy this meal! This was a true treat for them! They loved speaking Amharic to him and I think it was comforting being around someone from their country! Truly a blessing for the boys!

It was so nice having some time off from work and school-we took the boys on their first camping trip! We take our boat to an island in the intercoastal and camp there. Besides the mosquito bites-the boys had so much fun! We went with another family-the kids played well together-they had a blast fishing, swimming, playing, etc... Joseph finally got his cast off so he enjoyed being able to do all these things too! I learned a lot about camping with kids (all new to us!!)-bring LOTS of clothes-you never seem to have enough! It was pretty cold too (for Florida)! We can't wait to do it again!!

We have some good news on Danny and Yordanos-we are waiting for a court date for Danny-should have it in a week or two and Yordanos' paperwork is just about done an then they will file for a court date for her-probably next week! In 2 days-it will be 2 years we have been waiting-I can't believe it has been that long. We just want to have them home with us and hopefully it won't be much longer now!

We truly are blessed....here are a few pics!

2 months in the Country!!!!

2009-11-13T22:32:00.000-05:00

Wow-I can't believe it-yesterday was 2 months that the boys have been in America-feels like much longer!!! They have done so much and learned and grown so much too! Where does the time go?? It really makes you keep things into perspective when you think-gosh it has ONLY been 2 months-they have come so far! Sometimes our expectations are so high that we forget these little guys (not so little anymore!!) were taken away from everything they'd ever known-food, culture, people,country, etc... and placed with a family they barely knew. They really are doing great considering all of these factors!

Last weekend we took them to Orlando to an Ethiopian restaurant-it was amazing!! Great food and the nicest owners-they spent time with the boys speaking Amharic-the boys really enjoyed it! The boys said it was GREAT injera-that is a HUGE compliment!!! We even brought some home and the owner told us we can freeze it-we did and it wasn't bad a few days later! The boys really wanted these wrist and headbands with the Etiopian colors-I will post a picture-it is really cute! I love it how they are so in tune with their culture-we hope they never forget where they came from and always have a piece of Ethiopia in their heart. After lunch, we took the miniature golfing and then we went to a gathering of families who are in the process or who have adopted from Ethiopia-that was nice to meet different people. Most of the kids were younger, but the boys enjoyed it! Hopefully we can find a few kids from Ethiopia who are in their age range-still searching!!!

This week we baked cookies-that was a riot! We ate more of the batter than we had for cookies-just kidding-but they really enjoyed it! Alex couldn't believe how the cookies got so BIG in the oven! It is so much fun watching all of thee "FIRSTS" through their eyes! They really want to see snow so we are contemplating going up to NY after Christmas. Then we could also see our family and they can all spent time with them! We'll see-hopefully it will all work out. I get tired just thinking about a trip like that-but I know it will be totally worth it when we are there!

Tonight I took Alex to "Movies in the Park"-a huge screen outside where all the kids and parents watched Monsters and Aliens! The weather was perfect-just needed a little blanket (yes-even in Florida!!)! It was the first time our town did it-huge success and a lot of fun for the kid! Joseph didn't want to go so he went with dad to baseball! Sometimes it is good for the kids to get quality time alone with each parent-we are learning that quickly! Life is good.....

Hoping to hear good news on Danny and Yordanos soon-Danny's paperwork is all done and Yordanos is close if not already done. Just waiting for them to be filed for a new court date-it is 2 years this month we have been witing for them to come home. Makes me sad...but we will wait as long as it takes-they are our kids.

Here are a few pics of the boys-more later! Take a look at th last picture of Alex on his "man-made contraption"!!

Quick Update

2009-11-08T08:49:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I posted! Everyone has been asking "How was Halloween for the boys?" We did a lot of prepping ahead about Haloween-books, pics, internet, etc... so they were pretty prepared! Joseph dressed up as a vampire-he is going through this vampire stage right now-wants to watch vampire movies and find out abut them so the costume was very fitting. Alex was a storm trooper-we started out with the costume and that didn't last very long-I think he trick or treated in is clothes, face make-up and of course all of the guns and swords!! We went trick or treating in a friends neighborhood and there were TONS of kids and and stuff going on so they got a good taste of Haloween! Alex loved going to the houses, Joseph got a little bored-but he's 14-not too surprising! Alex sorted out his candy in catgories-right up his alley as a kid who likes everything to have a spot/place. Joseph wanted to send his candy to Ethioia to his friend in the Faith/Hope orphanage-so sweet! The boys are very motivated by money so we decided ahead of time that we would participate in our dentist's program where they pay you $1.00 for every pound of candy and then tey send it to the soldiers. We went on Sunday and turned in candy-The boys really ejoyed this and didn't complain at all. They also enjoyed carving jack-o-lanterns-didn't like the pumpkin seeds too much or the pumpkin smell!

Overall, things are going very well. School is great-they are learning so much. Joseph gets his cast off in2 weeks-YAY!! They can swim again and ride bikes-Woo Hoo!!! Alex is doing a lot better with following directions and boundaries-but he is definitely a give him an inch and he wants a foot kid!!

We are heading to Orlando today to go to an Ethiopian restaurant and to a gathering of families who adopted children from Ethiopia! Should be a blast-we are all looking forward to it!! Can't wait to see them interact with ther children from Ethiopia!! They both stll speak Amharic all the time so we are so happy about that-we want them to keep their langauge! Will post about it this eek-at least try to!

Eoy the pics!! More later....

Finding Time....

2009-10-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

My blogging is getting worse...it's been over a week-Ugh. So here goes a quick update and some pics!

Joseph "Yoseph" had to get another cast on Monday-he was trying to itch his arm last weekend and pulled his cast over his hand and well let's just say that his fingers were turing blue b/c there was no circulation. Freaked out a little (me-not him), but he is fine and definitely won't do that again! The Dr. shared that next time he'll have to get a cast up to his shouder if this happened again-he got the picture and just asks for itch medicine now! We also celebrated his birthday last weekend with a few friends and he really enjoyed his first birthday in America! He loved his camera and is taking pics all the time! He is doing well in school and his English is really expanding! This week at dinner-he asked for "damaged" potatoes....AKA "mashed" potatoes-pretty smart connection!!

Alex "Fitamlak" is almost too smart for his own good! He picks up things so fast and has taken up "taking things apart"!! He was trying to make a remote control boat and took apart 3 different toys to take the engine out and yes his middle name is still "EASY"! Like a bull in a china shop! He loves school-this week he came home and told me all about solids, liquids and gases-full English explanation with examples-I was so impressed! He's trying lots of new foods and loves to buy lunch at school! His laugh is so contagious-makes me smile everytime I hear it!

The boys met Grandma and Grandpa this week (they came in from NY)-they really enjoyed it! They definitely understood who everyone was and loved the attention! We ate dinner last night at my parents and both ofthe boys said-"Grandma is a good cooker-like you mom!!" We laughed-roasted chickens (already cooked) from Walmart-can't beat it! Dad and the boys made a soccer goal today out of PVC Pipe-very cute to watch! They are learning all about Halloween and already have their costumes-we have a few things planned this weekend!

Getting late...enjoy the pics!!

Life with BOYS!!

2009-10-14T23:56:00.000-04:00

I don't even know where to begin...my dreams of blogging daily didn't last too long!! It has been over a week since I last posted-reality hit....and also back to work too! It's late so I will post some highlights of the past week and a few pics!

The boys had so many Dr. visits and samples last week-I think they just woke up and said-which Dr. are we going to today-but all tests have come back great-they are very healthy boys-Yoseph "Joseph" gained 10 lbs in 2.5 weeks (hence all of theSams trips!!) and Fit "Alex" (will share later) gained 5 lbs!! Fit had some dental issues and had to have 3 teeth pulled last week (poor kid)-but he was a riot at the dentist. He actually wanted to watch the whole thing-mirror and everything and when they got his tooth out he cheered!! The ladies in the office (who were phenomenal with him) were cracking up and insisted that he will be in the medical field when he gows up!! Just when we thought the Dr's visits were over.....get ready for this....Joseph broke his wrist/arm Friday night. He was trying skateboarding and fell and attempted to brace his fa nd landed right on his wrist. Dave took him to ER and they put him in a soft cast and then he wnt to orthopedist yesterday and they hard casted it. He was pretty miserable this weekend and in some pain-but he is doing 100% better now! I went through the whole-I am a horrible mom-how can I let this happen...but soon realized BOYS will be BOYS and it will probably not be our last ER visit. We can't keep them in a bubble and want them to live their lives so things like this will happen-I just wish it didn't happen so soon!

The boys both started school Monday. 2nd and 7th grade at Dave's school. The night before- Fit (once known as Peter) decided that he wanted to be called "Alex"-he's been watching "Madagascar". Well-he put it on all of his school books so the name has stuck and all the kids in school call him by Alex. Kind of funny...We still call him Fit and sometimes Alex. When the time comes to change it-we will probably go with both names-Fitamlak and Alex. They both love school and are doing very well. Joseph was pretty nervous (I can't even imagine being in his shoes)-but he said today that the kids help him and he has made a few friends and school is now "good"!! We are getting a pretty good routine with school, dinner, homework, play. Not much time for anything else though!! Huge relief that school is going welll!!!

They also met some of their cousins this weekend and had a fun time playing with them! We were at my aunt's house and the boys were playing he piano too and having a blast! They just love learning new things!

There so much more...but it is almost 12 and I have to work tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the boys. Few of the first day of school in daddy's car, Fit with injera (Ethiopian bread that we ordered from internet-it was great, but the whole 20lbs of bread lasted about 4 days) and them playing the piano (yes Fit also has a harmonica in his mouth).

More later....

They are Growing and Growing and Growing....

2009-10-06T21:33:00.001-04:00

What a day-full of Dr's, shots and bloodwork!!! The boys did great at the Dr's-they were great with the boys too-shots and everything! We thought the bloodwork was going to be the worst-they laughed through it-Yoseph was making fish faces as if the were sucking all of his blood out and Fit just giggled the whole time! So I guess they are eating well-Yoseph gained 8 lbs in 2 weeks and Fit gained 4 lbs. It was funny-we took them to breakfast afterward and Yoseph loves breakfast (eggs, bacon, potatoes) and he kept saying-now 12 lbs! They are somewhat particular about wat they eat, but when it is something they like-they eat a lot of it!! Yoseph asked today if they could Western Union him some Injera from Ethiopia-we cracked up. We have Western Unioned a few tims lately and he picked it up from there-pretty clever-I wish they could-they miss injera and our local ET restaurant is almost 2 hours away (not so local). Next best thing-we ordered it on-line and it will be here Thursday-hopefully it will satisfy them!

We took them to the batting cages after the Dr. since they did so well and they had a blast. I will post a few pictures-they were doing pretty good hitting! We are going to try and get them in a soccer league this week-we'll see!

I don't think I have posted in a few days, so here is a quick re-cap. We started them on daily chores last week with an allowance and it is working quite well. They are definitely motivated by earning money! They have a daily check sheet with all of their chores and responsibilites and they earn a certain amout for each item. Going much better than we expected-they seem to like having specific jobs-for now anyway!

I also took them to a local school to use their Rosetta Stone-they were flying through it-it really is amazing how much they know. Academics is definitely not an issue-just language and vocabulary and they have already made so much progress in that area. I'm sure school will still be a struggle because f the language barrier-but they will be immersed in English all day long and will pick up so much! They will start school on Monday-Yoseph is a little nervous b/c the school is big and he is very serious when it comes to school-but he will do fine. Fit is pretty social and will get along well. They will both be going to school with Dave so that makes me feel so much better-huge sigh of relief!!

One more funny thing-Yoseph made a Ethiopian dish for lunch yesterday and they wanted the leftovers for dinner tonight (I don't remember the name-but it was carrots, cabbage, onions, and potatoes and ET spices). Dave and have been craving shrimp so we figured it was a good time to make a shrimp dish for us and maybe the boys would taste it. Yoseph wouldn't even try it-almost gagged. Fit attepted to twice-He didn't like the smell so he held his nose and tried to take a bite-I will post the picture-it was hilarious. So no shrimp-but we did have fish last night and they loved it. Maybe next time....

The last picture I have to post is just something to laugh about- I have this posted on the top of the toilet bowl and since I am overtaken by males-I have to remind them of this!!!

Off to another dentist appt. tomorrow...poor kids and all these appoinments. More later....

Where Does the Time Go?

2009-10-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

I've been saying this a lot lately....Where does the time go? I've never really been an on time person (just ask my family & girlfriends!!), but now it's real bad!! What I thought would take an hour-more like 2 hours, etc...kind of funny-hopefully I will learn soon to get it together! But it is all GOOD! It seems like I just posted yesterdy, but my last post was Thursday!!

Well-now when the boys introduce themselves to someone-they are just using the names they asked for-Joseph & Peter. I still call them by Yoseph & Fitmakes me sad and we probably won't officially change names, but I do ee their point and understand why they want American names. Maybe we'll do those names as their middle names-we haven't fully decided. We also found out their official birthdates-(the ones on their birth certificates are from the adoption agency) and Yoseph has a birthday coming up 11/5-he officially turns 14. Fit will be 9 on 5/14. We will definitely celebrate on these dates-even though birth certificates say otherwise. They are special days and we always want them to remeber where and who they came from.

Well-Yoseph has officially turned into a teenager in a matter of days!! I hve no idea how this happened, but it just did. We were going to a church Family Fun event on Friday evening and he was like-"Mom do I have to go-it will be no fun". Then he asked for a mobile phone...kind of crazy, huh?? He tried to convince me that someone else adopted from Ethopia his age has a phone already. I told him-When you turn 16-we'll think about it!! Then the IPOD craze....we have to limit his time on it. It's so funny-I feel like I am at school with my middle school kids! Really-he is doing well and picking up so much more English and using it so appropriately!

Fit is doing well too! He loves video games and we have nicknamed him"Easy, Fit"-he hears it so much from us-he is so hard on everything (maybe just the way boys are) and we are trying to teach him to be easier on things. He is quite social and really enjoyed church family night-he went in the bounce house and played a bunch of games. You could never tell he's only been in US for less than a month! He jumps right into everything! He is doing much better with sleeping too-he was having nightmares for a little while and didn't want to sleep at night.

Both of the boys want to go to school so bad! We are planning school for next week-Dr's visit this Tuesday and then vaccinations and blood work, etc... We also go back to Dentist on Wednesday. I'll post some more pics this week.

People have been asking me-if it is what we expected and how are we doing. It's so surreal. We have been waiting and preparing for 2 years now for kids from Ethiopia and we think we were as prepared as we could possibly have been. But really-you never know until you are in it! Is it hard-absolutely, but by far the most rewarding thing we have ever done! We just love them to pieces!

Good Teeth Report!!!

2009-10-01T22:56:00.000-04:00

The boys did so well at the dentist today it was impressive! We were so proud of them! For never going to a dentist-their teeth were very good! Maybe lack of candy? 2 more visits and we should be good-a cavity or so and few extractions-but NO braces needed-YAY!!. They were great with the boys so that made us much more comfortable!! We go the Dr. on Tuesday so no school next week. They will start the week after-which is fine-am enjoying being home with them! We are doing lots of schoolwork at home so they are getting prepared! Our house is fully labeled top to bottom with all English words and they really are picking up on and using so many new words from the labels!

Quick funny story-yesterday we stopped at my school and two of my friends gave them each a card and a small giftbag with a giftcard to our local movie/game place in it . When we got to the car-they opened the gift bag and Fit said "Oh, soft, huh??" with a puzzled look on his face. Soft in Amharic is toilet paper-they thought it was a bag with toilet paper because of the tissue paper wrapped around the giftcard!! Quite funny!!

Off to bed.....more later!

One More Thing....

2009-09-30T23:51:00.000-04:00

One more thing...our boys have such big hearts! They both expressed that they really want to "give back" to Ethiopia in some way. We decided that we will sponsor a child to go to school in Ethiopia! The boys picked out a lttle boy named Yohannes and we signed up yesterday to sponsor him with a monthly donation for school. They were excited and will also be able to send letters! If anyone is interested in sponsoring there are a more children left to help-this is through Ethio-American Family Services-a non for profit group I just LOVE!!! The link is http://www.ethioamericanfamily.org/sponsorship.

Lisa

The Boys!!!

2009-09-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

My hope was to post daily, but I already missed a day! Wait until I go back to work, Ugh!!! I crashed on the couch last night and slept like a baby-all catching up to me! So here's a quick re-cap of the past 2 days!

We took the boys on the boat yesterday-they loved it when Dave went FAST!!! "Speed" they yelled! I guess it is a guy thing-I prefer a nice, quiet boat ride, but obviously I am outnumbered! They loved fishing and swimming and were in awe over everything! It was a fun day!

This morning we were talking at breakfast and the boys shared that they really want to change their names-moe American. I am torn-I am really against it-we both want them to keep their Ethiopian given names. But we had to laugh-Fit explained to us "WHY" he wants an new American name. In perfect English and some good visusals/gestures-he said-"when meet people they say what is your name" I say "Fitamlak" and they say "Fit a who, what, etc... and they can't say it". He also had all of the gestures to go along with it-very dramatic. It was so funny-we nearly fell out of our chairs. We all got a good laugh. He said he wants a bible name so he looked through the bible and chose three names-Joshua, Jacob and Peter. Yoseph wants to change his name to Joseph. This is definitely something we need to think long and hard about-I just love their ET names and can't imagine them as anyone else.

Here are few pics of "the boys"!!! Off to the Dentist tomorrow...should be fun!!!

Funny Times...

2009-09-29T01:04:00.000-04:00

We all had a blast at the beach/park today and the boys were so good! A few friends came with us and the boys fished (Yoseph caught 2 fish!!), swam, played-had lots of fun! Few funny stories to share-at least the ones I can remember-Fit was in the water playing ball with 2 other kids and the ball went far out so I swan out and got it for them. On my way back, I overheard a coversation between the boys. They asked who was getting the ball and Fit said "my mom". They said-"who is your mom" and he said-"that's my mom" pointing to me and they looked at each other and said "that's you mom" with puzzled looks on their face and Fit said- "Yeah, that's my mom" (with attitude-like how could you NOT know that was my mom) and they said-"Oh, Ok" and carried on playing". The whole exchange was kind of funny and I just love how Fit didn't think anything of it. Obviously we don't look the same, but that doesn't matter one bit to him! I was tickled by it!

Yoseph is so sweet! We are still learning this whole parenthood thing and aren't used to food shopping for more than 2 so I have gone to the grocery store basically every day (not to mention the boys are GREAT eaters!!) since we have been home. Today, I decided I really needed to make a Sams trip to stock up. I went to Sams after dinner (my first time away from the boys) and Dave took the boys bikeriding. About 8pm I get a call from Dave and he says-Yoseph wants to know when you are coming home-he doesn't like it when you are not here when it is his bedtime. He misses you. How sweet from a 14 year old, right? That is just the way Yoseph is-very true, caring and thoughtful-touches your heart!

One last story and then I must go to bed....bedtime and Fit don't always see eye to eye! He came out of his room tonight after about an hour (we thought he was sleeping) and told Dave that he was hot. Dave went in his room and found the DVD player hiding under his pillow! No wonder it was so hot-the DVD player gives off tons of heat when you are watching it. Meanwhile-we were celebrating b/c he went to bed pretty easy tonght in his own bed-little did we know why!! Typical kids....

Here are a few more pics from today!!

Lisa & Dave

Life is GOOD!!!

2009-09-28T00:13:00.001-04:00

It was only 2 weeks ago today tht we received a call about the boys...feels like they have been with us much longer and we can't imaine life without them! They have mastered bike riding and swimming already along with many other things! They are like sponges constantly soaking up new information-faster than we can imagine. Ha Ha-If anyone knows how to set up parental controls for ALL electronic devices-Please call me!! I need to learn these things FAST!!! I think Fit had taken apart everything he possibly can get his hands on-he is a spit fire-total boy and we love him for it!!! For those who are familiar with the Ethiopian shrug-Fit is a master at that too-but it is short lived and we all laugh and respond by saying "Ethipian Drama"-including Yoseph!! Yoseph has the funniest sense of humor and always comes out with something that makes us laugh-it is amazing how much English he knows and understands! He is so mature and has experienced more than we can ever imagine, but he is finally able to be a kid and he is enjoying it. They truly are amazing-we are blessed!

We took them to church today-they enjoyed it and were even singing the songs! Finally got a photo of the 4 of us-not the best, but will get more soon. I will post a few more that I took!! One of my favorites is Dave and Fit sleeping on the chair-it is adorable!

We decided to chage the name of our Blog to "God Bless the Broken Road"...for those Rascal Flatts fans (we love them!!!)-the song says it all. Here are the lyrics if you are interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Nzs-r9ZUc
We have had so many ups, downs, twists and turns in our adoption, but God had truly blessed the broken road for us and will continue to do so. You just never know what your path will be!

We are bringing the boys to the beach/park tomorrow for fishing, soccer, and lots of playing!! Should be fun! We are taking another week off with them and then plan to put them in school the first week of October.

Thanks to everyone for their support!!

Lisa & Dave

Our New Additions!!!!

2009-09-26T23:24:00.001-04:00

Well...it has been an amazing 2 weeks for us-I don't even know where to start! Dave and I are now the proud parents of 2 amazing boys-Yoseph (age 14) and Fitamlak (age 8) from Ethiopia. Circumstances came about recently that gave us this wonderful opportunity for the boys to join our family. Lisa met the boys while in Ethiopia in May and spent a lot of time with them and just fell in love with them then! We received a call almost 2 weeks ago (Thank you GRACE!!!!) that they needed a family and the rest is history!! We traveled to Chicago last week and spent the week with them in a hotel while the paperwork was being finalized and then came back to FL this past Wednesday! We didn't expect to be in Chicago that long, but it was a blessing in disguise-it was great bonding time for all of us! The boys have been in he US since September 12th and are doing so well with all of the adjustments-they are phenomenal kids!! We just love being parents to them!

We have had so many "firsts" already...here are some pics (yes-I need to dote and show them off!!) of the boys and I will do my best to keep up with blogging our funny stories(there are already so many already) and new info!! They are learning and experiencing so much each day-it is truly amazing and blessing to be a part of it with them. They are the BEST!!!
We have been waiting for our kids (Danny and Yordanos from Bethel) for almost 2 years and often asked ourselves why? God truly works in amazing ways-can't even begin to tell you-I guess this was the plan all along! To answer your next question....Yes we are still adopting Daniel and Yordanos-we've always wanted a big family!! Things seem to be moving along with our case so we hope to have more good news soon!

We look forward to you all meeting our sons!!! Sounds so good to say that!!! I just realized I need to change the title of our blog....will think of a new one!!!

More later...
Lisa & Dave

The next best thing....

2009-09-03T20:32:00.003-04:00

So today is my birthday and Dave has been asking me for the past 2 weeks....what do you want, how do you want to celebrate...well unfortunately we all know what I want, but I got the next best thing-New Pictures and Updates on the kids! Funny-they came by e-mail at about 11:30 last night! I have been sick all week and not really able to sleep so I was on the computer and was so excited to see the e-mails!! It is so uplifiting and energizing to get updates and new pictures-even after waiting as long as we have-it still has the same effect on us! The picture above is of their orphanage in Ethiopia-can't post any others. We sent a package of stuff with a traveling friend and she was gracious enough (in so many ways!!!) to visit our kids and take pictures and spend some time with them! Boy-do we miss them, but they are healthy and well cared for, which gives us some peace of mind.

I know people are wondering what is going on with our case and how could it ever take this long-but we are in it for the long haul no matter what-they are our kids. They are working on our case and that's about all I can share-we are optimistic, but cautious so hopefully we will have news in the next month or so. Technically, courts are closed (except for open cases-which ours is) until October 1st and supposedly they have 1 judge staying on to hear open cases as they are resolved. We'll see...

Keep praying for us and especially the kids!

They miss us...

2009-08-23T17:33:00.004-04:00

We received an e-mail today from Ayele (our driver in Ethiopia) that he went to Bethel yesterday and visited the kids and brought them our presents. We sent a bunch of stuff with a friend who was traveling to Ethiopia to pick up her two children. He said "they are happy, but they miss you a lot". Breaks our hearts-more for them than for us. We don't want them to ever think that we have given up on them or that we are not coming for them. I'm sure it is hard for them to understand what the hold up is-heck it is hard for us to understand it and we are adults! It will happen and at least they know we are thinking of them!

Hopefully we will have some pictures too when my friend comes back-it always puts a smile on my face for a few days after we get pictures!!

More later...

Lisa & Dave

Ethio-American Family Services!!!

2009-08-15T17:08:00.002-04:00

Ethio-American Family Services is an organization that is doing amazing work in Ethiopia!! Two wonderful women started this non-for profit organization after returning home with their children from Ethiopia! I had the privilege of meeting Dedra last April through a mutual friend and was in awe of the work she is doing to help the people and children of Ethiopia. They opened an orphanage a few months ago and are in the process of opening another orphanage due to the need for more services for children. This is all done through donations-how phenomenal that so many people have been touched! They welcome any donation-small or large and will use the funds to bettr the lives of Ethiopian children!

Check out the you tube video below of their last visit to Ethiopia!

Twist of Fate!

2009-08-10T21:53:00.002-04:00

I am still in awe over this!! Yesterday my friend and I were shopping and I ran into a teacher from another county that I used to work with about 6 years ago. We chatted and I asked about another teacher who I was friendly with, but lost touch with and she said "You are NEVER going to believe this, __ just adopted three children from Ethiopia-she just got home in late July with the children". My jaw nearly hit the floor and I was almost speechless! I shared about our adoption and we couldn't believe the coincidence!! It was so cool-we exchanged #'s and e-mail info and I can't wait to contact my friend to talk more!! Not too often you run into someone in this situation! Funny how people come in and out of your life at different times-I just love twists of fate like this!!

Lisa

A Package of Love!

2009-08-06T23:25:00.003-04:00

A Package of love....today I sent a package of goodies (clothes, pictures, kids stuff, etc...) to our kids-not directly, but through a traveling parent! Thank you Kim!! Kim and I traveled together to Ethiopia in May and she recently passed court (Woo Hoo-so happy for them!!) and she is going to visit our kids when she travels to pick up her kids! We are so grateful for this!

We are looking forward to getting some new pictures and an update on how the kids are. I can't wait to hear about their reaction when they see the pictures from my last visit! We do get an update about every other week or so-the caretaker and I e-mail back and forth, but internet connection can be sparce in Ethiopia so you never know! Hopefully we will all be together soon....

Love,
Lisa & Dave

Summer Fun!

2009-08-03T20:54:00.004-04:00

One of the perks of being in education is enjoying some time off during the summer-for us we had most of the month of July off! We planned a few getaways and family trips to stay busy while "waiting". We went to the keys and stayed in key west for a few days-had a blast and also went to NY to visit family and friends!

One of the highlights from our summer was to go fishing with a "pro"! We fish (Dave more than I) when we go on the boat, but we don't catch much or what we catch is not the best so we wanted some tips on how to really fish! Earlier in the summer we won a fishing trip from our church casino night and we went last week. Check out these snook we caught-yes they are REAL!!! We caught about 15 snook in about 3 hours!!Unfortunately, we had to release them-not in season and they were too big to keep-but it was a riot reeling them in! My wrist hurt for a few days! Now that we know what to do we will definitely try snook fishing once the season opens!

Our Long and Winding Journey…or shall I say “Crusade”

2009-07-31T23:24:00.002-04:00

I know… it has been a while!! I have been procrastinating posting in hopes of some good news to share, but finally decided today to sit down and update everyone on what is going on with our adoption and also about my trip to Ethiopia in May. I’ll start with the “nothing major to report” and end with the amazing-seeing the kids again! Just a warning-this is a LONG post-I’m making up for the past 2 months!

We have officially decided to change “Our Journey” to “Our Crusade” because that is sure what it feels like! After 20 months of waiting, we are still waiting on specific paperwork on guardianship for our children-crazy, huh?. When I went to Ethiopia at the end of May and spoke with the lawyer for our agency she shared that we would get through court this summer and we should be getting another court date within a week-we have been an open case on the court docket since our last court date in April due to some paperwork that was needed. We waited and waited and didn’t hear anything. After many calls and e-mails, we received an e-mail from our agency director a few weeks ago stating that we weren’t going to get through court this summer due to some changed court rules and they will have an update for us in September. We spoke on the phone and he explained the challenges and what is still needed (too long to go into) and he said he is hopeful they will get what is needed for court approval, but can‘t give us a time line. Needless to say, this was devastating news to us. We felt so sure it was going to be this summer and we would finally bring our kids home. We are sad, mad, angry, frustrated, hurt…the list of emotions goes on, but there isn’t much we can do at this point, but wait, pray and hope for a miracle. Our hearts break for our kids who are waiting and hoping we will come for them soon. We feel in our hearts we will bring our kids home sooner or later and we will wait however long it takes and do whatever we have to do to bring them home.

We definitely have been through the ringer with this adoption-nothing like we thought it would be, but what really is? We laugh-we chose Ethiopia for many reasons-love the culture, always had a deep interest in Africa, etc…but also because of the short time frame to adopt and the fact that you only have to travel once when you pick up your kids. Ha-Ha….I have already traveled there twice to visit and we have waited twice as long as originally thought-never as we think it will be! BUT…we have learned so much along the way, met lots of great people and have really grown in our faith and as a couple. There definitely are some positives along the way that we are grateful for! I will blog soon about a non-for -profit charity that I am getting involved in through someone I met along the way! We believe things happen for a reason and sometimes it takes a while to get to the big picture.

I saw this funny shirt on someone’s blog and it really sums things up, but I can’t remember whose blog it was so I can‘t post a picture. Anyway, it says something like:

WARNING: I am in the process of adopting and yes I am still waiting. I am subject to cry and be cranky at any moment so bear with me until I am on the plane to Ethiopia! How true…so bear with us if we are cranky or not wanting to talk about it. We know everyone cares and is truly supportive of our adoption, and we so appreciate this, it is just not easy for us to talk about it when we have little news to share. As soon as we have some good news, believe me you will hear us screaming-even in NY!

I settled for this shirt, but it is pretty neat too!

Now for the fun stuff….my trip was absolutely amazing-better than I could have ever imagined! I traveled with another adoptive parent who got to meet her children for the same time-what a touching experience! I flew Emirates this time and went through Dubai-interesting experience and a much nicer plane! It was great to have some in-flight entertainment on my 16+ hour flight-I probably watched about 10 movies! I used the same driver-Ayele that we used on our last trip! I just love him-he is an awesome guy-funny and really takes care of you! He drove us every day and stayed with us for shopping, dining, etc… My first visit to Bethel (where the kids are) was amazing. Yordanos came running up to me saying Mommy as soon as she saw me-it was so sweet. She had the biggest smile on her face and all of the other kids were saying-Yordanos and Danny’s Mommy is here! I loved hearing that-I wish I could post the pictures, but not allowed until we pass court! Danny came up soon after and gave me a huge hug and kiss and said I love you Mommy. We spent some time together and I gave them special gifts from Mommy and Daddy-a necklace for Yordanos that says a saying about family on it and a watch for Danny. Dave made a video for them before I left and I showed the video-they were so excited to see Daddy-they wanted to see it over and over! One of my favorite pictures is the kids watching the video of Dave with huge smiles on their face-it is so cute! I also spent some alone time with the other kids who are being adopted and spoke to them about their families in America and told them how much they loved them and are waiting for them.

We gave out lots of donations to all of the kids. We had so many donations from various people so everyone got tons of stuff! Thank you to all who gave donations-it means the world to the kids. We brought a bunch of great school supplies for them too. Books, flash cards, markers, etc… I even brought a pennant from President Obama’s inauguration that one of my teacher’s gave me. They knew who president Obama was and were so excited to hang it in their school. We spent some time in the school house and the kids showed me how they could write in English. It is wonderful how much English they know-speaking, understanding and writing. My kids wrote on the black board-I am so happy-I love you Mommy and Daddy. Danny was so funny-he was intently writing on the board all of the words he knew in English (days of week, etc…) and spelling them pretty good. They are all so smart and gracious kids-it is amazing that they have so little and want for nothing. It was also great to see Mame-the caretaker at Bethel. She is such a kind and caring woman and just loves the kids. We stayed for a few hours and played with the kids, didn’t want to leave but we had to get back to Addis.

My next visit to Bethel was just with Ayele and myself-unfortunately my travel partner got sick and stayed behind. We stopped at a fruit stand and bought a ton of fruit and water and goodies to bring with us. The power goes on and off (seemed like more off than on) in Ethiopia frequently so we wanted to get them a good supply of water. The owner of the fruit stand was so kind-he invited us in for a fresh mango and pineapple fruit drink. In turn, I shared my trail mix with them-they had never had chocolate before-they loved it, but who doesn’t like chocolate! The PTO at Dave’s school donated about 50 shirts for the kids so I brought them for them and got some pictures of all of the kids with their school shirts on-it was fun! We spent some time with the kids-laughed, hugged and really got to know their personalities! Danny is hysterical-much different from our last visit. He was much more reserved last time and quiet. This time-he was climbing and running all over and wanted his picture taken -he would say-“photo Momma, photo” in his cute little accent. He was sticking out his tongue, making funny faces and giggling to be funny! He was a riot! Yordanos loves attention, but what 8 year old girl doesn’t! She loves soccer and competition-plays with the boys all the time as the goalie. She does well in school, but definitely has a preference for sports! She likes to play around and have fun! Before we left, Mame said that the Dr. wanted to meet me and to call him to set up a meeting. He is the reason why are kids are there-he created bethel for the kids so I was so excited to get the opportunity to meet him. I actually met him that day at the hospital and what a nice man he is. He really cares for the kids and wants them to be in a good home. I felt so honored to meet him and really thought about how his starting this orphanage and bringing Yordanos & Danny there has changed all of our lives. It was truly a wonderful experience to meet him.

My last visit to Bethel was an overnight visit. I was fortunate to be able to stay overnight with the kids and spend 2 days with them-can’t even put it into words how wonderful it was. Just spending so much quality time with the kids and getting to know them-all the kids, not just mine was a heartwarming experience. I got to eat with them and learn their habits, likes and dislikes. Danny hates macaroni, but likes pasta (long thin spaghetti). Yordanos is not picky at all-likes most everything. We spent time looking through photo albums that we sent them (we’ve sent 3 each) and they knew who everyone was! They even knew their cousins names and ages-it was so cool. They told me they can’t wait to meet them. We played games and listened to music-they loved my I-Pod! We made videos for Daddy and just hung out together. That evening the Dr. came to visit and spend some time with the kids with 2 other visiting Dr’s from Israel. They just loved the kids and the orphanage and it was nice getting to know them better. They played with the kids and showed them some funny tricks-we had fun!

Mame, the caretaker let us all sleep in her bed that night so we would all be together. This was so nice of her to do-what a blessing. We took some funny pictures in our pajamas and said a prayer thanking God for this time together. The kids fell asleep pretty fast, but I stayed awake most of the night just watching them.
I knew leaving the next day would be hard and it was even harder than I thought it would be. I am so grateful and blessed for the time with them, but it is so hard leaving them and not knowing when we will be back. I know they are well cared for at Bethel, but we just want them home. We said goodbye and they kept asking “when come back”? My only response was “soon, as soon as we pass court “. I tried to hold it together so they wouldn’t get upset, but we all teared up and hugged goodbye. I felt a pit in my stomach for about a day after our goodbyes and was so drained from all of the emotions.

My visits and time with the kids was truly amazing and I feel so blessed to have these memories to get us through the “wait”. Each time I get down and think how more can we possibly take-I look at photos, watch the videos and remember how amazing our kids are. They are worth all the time in the world and we will wait as long as it takes.

We did lots of other things on our trip, but it was really all about visiting with the kids-went to an Ethiopian Cultural restaurant-Fasika where they danced the night away and I got to try Ethiopian wine (strong!!), met lots of amazing people and learned so much more about Ethiopia. The more time I spend in Ethiopia, the more I love the country. Even the chanting at 2 or 6 am in the morning or the dogs barking at all hours of the night didn’t bother me much this trip. Maybe I was getting used to it, who knows. I am not sure how someone can go to Ethiopia and not be forever “changed” or “touched” by the people and culture. Sara Groves has an amazing song titled ‘I saw What I Saw” about her trip to Africa and it is so true (the you tube video is at the bottom of my blog). She says, “Something along the road has cut me to the soul, your pain has changed me, your dream inspires, your face a memory, your hope a fire, your courage asked me what I am made of, afraid of”. In another song, she sings, “It’s too heavy to carry, but impossible to leave”. So true-I guess that is why this trip has compelled me to do more in Ethiopia-beyond our adoption. Will blog more about that soon.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip!! Thanks for being there with us on our “crusade“-we truly appreciate all of the support and encouragement and know it will happen eventually. Keep us-especially the kids in your prayers and we hope you hear us screaming good news soon!

Love,
Lisa & Dave

Update

2009-05-23T04:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I posted and I have lots to share. No new major info on our case, except that they are gathering the needed paperwork and waiting on a new court date. We don't expect our 4th court date to be too far out-one of the families whose kids are at our kids orphanage did not pass a week or so before us and they just got a date of June 5th. Hoping to hear soon when ours will be. There has been lots going on in the courts in Ethiopia. At this time (started about 2 or so weeks ago), the government has temporarily halted hearing cases of abandoned children due to some possible fraudulent cases. They are currently investigating a few cases, but expect to start hearing abandoned cases again in a few weeks. This does not involve our agency, and this is actually a good thing. They really do need to be sure everything is done properly and these children's situations are what they say they are. For once, we are not in this boat!!! Our children were relinquished rather than abandoned, so the courts are still hearing these type of cases.

Our other news...I am leaving tomorrow (really today-Saturday) for Ethiopia to visit with the kids. We have been talking about this for a while and an opportunity came up to travel with someone and we just knew it was the right thing to do. Will arrive in Ethiopia Monday morning and leave the following Monday. I am very excited to see the kids and most importantly reassure them that we are coming for them. I can't imagine what is going through their heads right now. I will be able to see them pretty often-can't wait to give them hugs and bond with them! Believe it or not-they know we are coming! One of the families was there this week and she shared the news with them! Since Dave is not going, last night we made a video of Dave talking to them and I will show it to them! Have lots of donations, hugs and love to bring. So...off to Ethiopia-will have so much to share when I return! Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels!

Lisa & Dave

Court Update

2009-04-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, we did not pass court on Tuesday. While the adoption process is so complex, this is what we have deciphered is the issue-more paperwork. The courts need more accurate information about the kids history. They want to make sure that they have been relinquished/abandoned and that any living family members are aware of their situation. We were always told that both of our children do not have any living parents, which we don't have any reason not to believe, but unfortunately, the kids were brought to Bethel with NO paperwork, which makes things tougher.

Right now, our cases have been left OPEN on the court dockets. This means that if our agency can find what the courts are asking for and it satisfies the judge- they will hear our case again and hopefully approve the adoption without having to re-assign us another court date. If within the next few days our agency can't get the information needed to the courts it is likely that we will be assigned a new court date and go from there.

Our agency director seems confident that the kids will come home to us. He has asked us to be patient and know that they are doing everything they can to make this happen. He leaves for Ethiopia next week and says dealing with our cases is a priority.

We asked if this would happen before the next court closures/rainy season (end of summer)and he said that he hopes so. He is hoping and praying that this will all be resolved soon.

We truly believe one is not given more than they can handle. For whatever reason, we have been given this challenging adoption journey. WHY? It's hard to tell right now, but we know eventually we will see the big picture. We have learned many lessons along the way, made new friends and have grown tremendously in our faith. Of course we are heartbroken we did not pass, but more important and bigger than us, we just want our kids to have a home full of love and not grow up in an orphanage. We are optimistic this will happen.

Thanks you for your support, prayers and encouragement and we will keep you posted!

Love,
Lisa & Dave

3rd Time a Charm-Hopefully!

2009-04-27T18:08:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is technically our 3rd court date (January 30th, April 6th and April 28th). We are hoping and praying that the 3rd time is a charm!!! It has been a long, hard, but also an enlightening 16 months of waiting. We have learned so much about ourselves and life during this time and we have also learned to have a lot of patience! We know that we will have our children soon and this will be a distant memory. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for our court case tomorrow. We hope to be able to start a new chapter in this journey-the most exciting part-building our family!!

Love,
Lisa & Dave

Home Stretch....

2009-04-23T17:57:00.000-04:00

It's Thursday, April 23rd...5 more days until court. Thinking positive and hoping the third time is a charm! We should know sometime Tuesday morning about our case! Last court date (which was on a Monday) we stayed home all weekend and couldn't stop thinking about it-barely slept. Well-not this one! I am leaving tomorrow with a group of my girlfriends for a fun girls weekend in Orlando! Will be back Sunday-really looking forward to it! Dave will have some "Man" time with his guy friends too...golf and whatever else guys do! Life is good...we will bring our kids home soon!

Lisa & Dave

Our Due Date!

2009-04-18T21:47:00.000-04:00

Had to share-This is kind of funny and ironic!! The other day Dave and I were in Michaels getting something framed and after picking out the frame, matting, etc.. I asked the girl when it would be ready. She checked a few things in the computer and turned to us and said "Your due date is April 28th". We both looked at each other and smiled and said-"yes,it sure is"! It was funny-she really had no idea what we were chuckling and smiling about or how significant her comment about our due date was! So-there is it...our Due Date is April 28th-let's hope and pray this is our final date with few labor pains and we can officially say that we are the proud parents of Danny and Yordanos (and finally post some pictures)! 10 more days!

Lisa & Dave

Time Off!!

2009-04-16T07:58:00.000-04:00

We are on spring break this week and enjoying some much needed time off! Sometimes you don't realize how much you go, go, go until you stop! It's going to be hard to get back going again on Monday!

Some good news...3 families passed court this week and 2 of them have been waiting a very long time (over a year). We are always happy to see families pass-especially when their kids have been waiting for them for so long. Our old-timers list (those in our agency who have been waiting over a year)is dwindling-just a few of us left so we hope the list will be gone by the end of the month. Less than 2 weeks until court!

I finally finished an album I have been working on. I did an album of pictures of the kids from our first referral picture (11/07) to now. Boy-have they changed and grown so much-which we are grateful they are healthy-just wish they were growing with us :(! It is amazing how many pictures we have and just to look at all their different expressions-they are so funny! These pictures will be real special when they grow up!!

Off on the boat...to RELAX!!!

Lisa & Dave

Ethiopian Connections

2009-04-10T22:02:00.000-04:00

We spent the day in Orlando with a family that just returned from adopting their daughter in Ethiopia. Their daughter was at the same orphanage as our children so we were very excited to connect! We received letters from our kids as well as some new photos! It was so wonderful to see new pictures and just be with a family who was recently with our kids. We also met another mom, Dedra who adopted 3 sisters form Ethiopia last year. Dedra is also the founder of EthioAmerican Family Services, a non-for-profit organization with a mission to educate, empower, and enrich the lives of Ethiopian orphans and their adoptive families. Her organization supports programs in Ethiopia for orphans, provides educational programming, and cross-cultural opportunities that are vital to the development of Ethio-blended families. Their web-site is: http://www.ethioamericanfamily.org/home. They just recently opened an orphanage outside of Addis! We hope to be able to visit their orphanage when we travel to pick up our kids! We really enjoyed visiting with both of these families and hope to continue our connections!

Happy Easter and god bless

Lisa & Dave

Our Journey Continues

2009-04-07T22:52:00.000-04:00

Well...it certainly wasn't the court news we expected or hoped for yesterday. No recommendations were made from MOWA so our court date was moved to the 28th of April. Basically, our case (or any of the other cases) was not heard and has been rescheduled. Maybe because of the power outages going on in Ethiopia-we are not really sure. After the crazy range of emotions we experiences yesterday - anger, frustrations, sadness (you name it-we experienced it) we toasted to the 28th and the fact that it is not too far away. International adoption is so unpredictable and we are just so blessed to even be adopting our kids. We will bring them home soon-just not in the time frame we were hoping and praying for. Soon...

A friend of mine (Thanks Jackie!!) sent me this poem-it's a tear jerker-but so special. Hopefully we will not be "blowing kisses in the wind" much longer.

KISSES IN THE WIND (The Waiting Child's Lullabye)

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

© Pamela Durkota, written for Josh

Keep us in your prayers for the 28th.

Love,
Lisa & Dave

1 More Day!!

2009-04-05T07:20:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is our big day-Court! It is also my nephew's birthday and holy week so we have lots going for us!! This morning I went out to let the dogs out and in our backyard was 4 little bunnies-thought that was kind of special! I feel like we have been waiting for this day forever-well about 16 months! Believe it or not-we are pretty calm, just anxious to move forward and bring our kids home. Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us so we hope to hear news early on Monday. Most people hear pretty early-at least before 12:00 noon. One of the families who passed in the last 2 weeks told me she got a phone call at 6 AM!! Not sure if we will be able to sleep tonight listening for the phone or stalking e-mail!

Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts for a successful court date for Daniel and Yordanos!

Lisa & Dave

A Glimmer of Hope and so much more...

2009-04-01T21:02:00.000-04:00

I was looking at a few blogs of fellow Hopesters (Thanks Sandee...) and found this You Tube video...Glimmer of Hope! Thought it was fitting for our situation with our court date coming up on Monday, April 6th. We do have a Glimmer of Hope (and much more...) about passing on Monday and finally bringing our kids home in May!

This is a very touching and real video about the plight that people in Africa face daily. The Glimmer of Hope Foundation seeks to make a sustainable difference in the lives of people living in poverty, specifically Ethiopians. There are so many resources that we often take for granted-see how the simplest of resources- "Fresh, Clean Water" makes a difference in the lives of thousands! Check out the video and their website: http://www.aglimmerofhope.org/

The Countdown...11 Days

2009-03-25T22:19:00.000-04:00

Well...11 days and counting down! We almost don't want to bring attention to our court date just because of bad karma, but we are feeling very positive about April 6th. Good news from our agency this week-3 Old-Timer Hope Families passed court this week! Huge celebration-we are called Old-Timers because there is a small group of us who have been waiting a minimum of a year and many even longer. We are so excited that they passed and will be getting their kids soon! We plan to be in that mode in just 11 days!! There are so many ups and downs in adoption, and we all know this going into it, but the emotional toll is still very hard. It will all be worth it in the end!

One of the families from Hope will be going to pick up their little girl from Bethel (where our kids are) this weekend. While the kids have such wonderful care there, we are so excited for the first child to leave Bethel and be with their forever family! I am sure this will be emotional since the kids have been together for a long time. We sent some pictures and a letter for the family to share with Danny and Yordanos! Can't wait for some pictures-keeps us going!

Lisa & Dave

Saw this on another blog...had to borrow it....You'll see WHY...

2009-03-11T23:33:00.000-04:00

"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it...but I'm afraid God might ask me the same questions".

~Anonymous

Never really thought of it that way...but it made me think of more things I can do to help...I see it as part of pur responsibility...no child or adult should have to live life this way...what can we do to help? Last week we sent formula and this week we sent $$ for a traveling parent to buy more formula to bring with her to Ethiopia. Every little bit helps!

Lisa

25 days....

2009-03-11T23:05:00.001-04:00

Less than a month to go until our court date...Woo Hooo!!!! Every little step counts as we get closer to bringing our kids home! We are feeling very optimistic about our court date and being able to bring the kids home very soon.

Still keeping busy...I have been going through pictures lately and trying to organize into albums. I finally realized...no...I won't be able to scrapbook them all (it was all just a dream) so I am working on putting them into albums and then I can scrapbook what I want to. I have so many pictures of the kdis and their friends at the orphanage so am also working on an album that is in consecutive order from when we first started the adoption process. It is kind of sad to look at our first pictures from 11/07 and to see how much the kids have grown in the time frame that we have been waiting-16 months. Danny was a little boy 16 months ago and now he looks like a young man. Yordanos has gotten so tall. While we weren't with them during this time, at least we have pictures. Can't wait to close this part of the journey and begin our family journey!!

Also, just sent some of the donated formula we received with a family that is traveling to Ethiopia on Friday. There is still a major formula shortage so they were happy to take formula to the orphanage.

More later....

Lisa & Dave

36 Days 'Till Court!!!

2009-03-01T12:18:00.000-05:00

Yes, 36 days until our court date!! Seems a lot closer now that it is March! We did have some very hopeful news this week. There are 4 families adopting children from the same orphanage as ours. One of the families passed court on Friday and this was the the first try! This is very good news for us because all of our paperwork was done at the same time so hopefully we will sail through on April 6th. We are definitely more hopeful now!

Lisa & Dave

The Countdown is on Again!!!

2009-02-22T07:42:00.000-05:00

We got word this week that our new court date is Monday, April 6th! Not as soon as we'd like, but we are happy to be counting down again and actually have a date. I've heard of people with May dates so glad it is not then! There are 5 families from our agency who are in the same situation and we all have the same date. We've even started a countdown clock on-line-43 days-yes, waiting does make you crazy!!

Yesterday, we had to go get re-fingerprinted at the USCIS office because our fingerprints expire April 4th- 2 days before our court date. There are a few more paperwork issues we have to take care of because of the longer than expected wait, but nothing too major. It will all work out!!

Lisa & Dave

No news yet...but lots of blessings!!!

2009-02-08T18:20:00.000-05:00

No news yet of a new court date. There were about 8 of us in our agency who had court dates postponed and one of the families got a new date for March 26th. We are really hoping to hear this week of our new date and to start the countdown again. While this has has been extremely hard and discouraging, we try to look for something positive to focus on-One of the families from Hope is visiting her daughter in Ethiopia and she spent some time with our kids last week. She explained and assured them that they have a family and we are coming for them soon, but the process is taking longer than expected. She shared they are doing well and are happy. We are so grateful that this has been shared with our kids. We often think about their perspective of adoption and how much they really understand and how confusing things must be. Once they are home, it will be a distant memory!

Another amazing blessing-the basketball team at Dave's school was putting together donations for us to bring to Ethiopia and one of the girls shared our story with her mom. Her mom shared the story at her workplace and they all got together and supplied us with tons of amazing donations for the children and orphanage. From shoes to medicine and clothing-truly amazing!! We are so appreciative of all of the support and graciousness of people, many whom we have never met, who are touched by our story and of the children in Ethiopia. These kids have touched many people's hearts and they don't even know it-how wonderful!!

Hoping and praying for good news this week!

Lisa & Dave

Thank Goodness for Good News!!!!

2009-01-28T20:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was full of wonderful news and then unfortunately, a bit of bad news. Let's start with the good news!! My sister, Elizabeth had her twin boys yesterday-Patrick and Zachary!! It has been a long haul for her, an unlike our paper pregnancy she has been on bed rest since week
10 and in the hospital for the past month and a half-Ugh!! Mommy and baby boys are doing as well as expected, considering due date was in March! Patrick had a little difficulty breathing and had to go to another hospital that had a NICU so we are hoping he will be back with mom and Zachary very soon. He is showing signs of improvement hourly!! We are so excited to add them to our family!! Please keep them in your prayers!!

The bad news...our court date has been postponed. I received an e-mail yesterday that MOWA (Ministries of Women Affairs) is moving this week so they are not making any recommendations and therefore they are not able to hear any court cases this week. We are hoping that we will be rescheduled quickly and that seems like the logical thing, so we will wait to hear something. Basically, it could be next week or in 4 weeks-we really don't have any idea. There were a bunch of us who had court dates this week (all of our Adoption Agency's old timers who have been waiting a LONG time) so we are all pretty upset about this news. Thinking positive and hopefully it will be real soon and we can put this behind us! We know once we have our kiddos at home, it will be a distant memory! So thank goodness for our wonderful family news today and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a speedy new court date.

Lisa & Dave

Pay It Forward!!!

2009-01-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

What a heartwarming and touching day it was! The staff at Dave's school threw us a shower and collected TONS of donations for us to bring to Ethiopia-formula, medicines, school supplies, clothing, and lots of other goodies for the kids and orphanage! I think we may be able to fill a truck with all of the donations. They even made us shirts with our family picture with the kids-we can't wait to wear them on "Gotcha Day" when we pick up the kids!! It truly is amazing how caring and supportive everyone is! Thank you so much for your genorosity!

In the evening we went and spoke with a large group of kids from the local 4H club. They do a community project as part of their club and they wanted to collect donations for the kids and orphanage in Ethiopia as part of their service project. We shared about life in Ethiopia and how they don't have much, but they are some of the happiest people we have ever met! They asked great questions and seemed very touched by this opportunity. Each child is going to fill a ziploc bag full of goodies for the kids and we will bring it with us when we travel. It is so nice to see kids helping kids-it's contagious!!

We feel so blessed to have so many friends who support us and our mission to help those in need in Ethiopia. Winston Churchill said it best... "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

4 more days until court-please keep us in your prayers.

Lisa & Dave

Happy Birthday!!

2009-01-16T21:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Daniel and Yordanos!!! So...today is Daniel and Yodanos' birthday of record. Since we don't have any record of their actual date of birth, Ethiopia gives them a birthdate, which is actually the date of their first medical exam for adoption-January 16th. Can't wait until we can celebrate with them!!

We also plan to celebrate "Gotcha Day"- this is the day that we actually get the kids! We plan to celebrate this each year by doing something special with the kids and also by giving them a gift from Ethiopia so they will remember their birth country and culture. We already have enough gifts from our first trip for both of them for about 8 years and will pick more up when we go again.

14 more days until court...Woo Hoo!!!

Lisa & Dave

Pictures!!!

2009-01-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

We got some of the best pictures yet tonight!! A fellow adoptive parent just returned from Ethiopia and she was kind enough to go visit our kids and bring lots of donations that we sent with her. Well....she got the most amazing pictures!!! It was funny...I had so many things on my "to do" list for tonight, but nothing mattered once we started looking at the pictures. We looked at them a dozen times...since there was over 300-it took a while!! Daniel looks so different in these pictures-he is in tons of them and is always smiling, giggling and playing. Usually, he is pretty quiet and reserved, but not in these pictures-it is really cute!! And Yordanos...full of facial expressions as always!! Wish we could post a few, but not until we pass court!

16 more days until court...keep us in your prayers. January 30th is the big day.

Lisa & Dave

Come and Play!!!

2009-01-10T09:06:00.000-05:00

Dave and a few friends built this swingset/fort for the kids in December-isn't it great? We can't wait to see the kids play on it! It's pretty neat-it has a fire pole for them to slide down and a pipe (dug underground) on both sides so they can talk to each other from both sides of the swingset!!

Thank you Tommy, Dave and Fred for helping build this-the kids will love it!!

20 Days until court....

Message from Ethiopia

2009-01-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

We received a message today (below) from one of the adoptive parents from our agency who went to go visit Bethel Orphanage. How exciting-we can't wait until she comes home to get updated pictures and information!!! Boy do we miss our kids.... We'll be there soon!!

I was at Bethel today. I have lots of pictures to post when I get home. The kids had a blast trying on all the shoes and clothes. It was like a giant fashion show. They are all fantastic. The caregiver Mame is wonderful. If your kids are there, they are lucky. The air is clean, they have grass to play in and lots of open space. They are also all doing great in English.
Donna

24 Days until Court..but whose counting?

2009-01-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

Yes-we are counting down the days-it felt so good to get below the 30 day mark!! January 30th is the big court day! Hopefully we will pass on the first try and travel late February! Keep us in your prayers!!

Today is the day that Christmas is celebrated in Ethiopia! Pretty neat-we got to send our kids as well as all of the other kids at Bethel Orphanage a Christmas present!! One of the families in our adoption agency was traveling to Ethiopia on 1/2/09 and she had room to take donations with her and was planning to go to Bethel. On our drive to NY for the holidays, we made a slight detour to Pennsylvania and dropped of 22 pairs of shoes and lots of shirts for her to take to the kids! Thank you Donna-we really appreciate it!! We were hoping to have our kids home for Christmas this year, but this is the next best thing! She was planning to go today to Bethel so we are anxious to hear how her visit was and of course to get new pictures of the kids!! It's amazing how content a picture and little information on your kids can make you (at least for a few days or so)! More later....

Court Date-YAY!!!

2008-12-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

We found out today that our upper court date is January 30th!! We are so excited-can hardly believe it! On CLOUD 9!!! It was funny because we have been waiting to hear if we passed lower court and then got the news today that obviously we passed lower court and even have a date already for upper court! Communication in a third world county can be sporadic so sometimes we don't know what is going on. This is basically the final thing before we can travel. What makes it even sweeter is that Susan & Becky (other Bethel moms) have the same court date as we do. It would be so wonderful if we can all travel together since our kids have been together for a while (over 2 years) and we have all been on the adoption journey together! If we pass on Jan. 30th, then we will travel about 4 weeks later-probably the last week in February!!

Keep us in your prayers...we couldn't have asked for better news-we are truly blessed!!

Lisa & Dave

November Update!!

2008-11-24T21:12:00.001-05:00

November has flown by and has been filled with good news for us!! About 2 weeks ago, we got word that all of the paperwork in Ethiopia is complete for Yordanos and Daniel and they were ready to file for a court date. The paperwork has been filed for about 2weeks, but we still haven't gotten a court date. Hope to hear this week. We know we have to go through lower court and then upper court and then we can travel. We are thinking February/March that we will travel to pick up the kids, but one never know until you pass court!

We also received some amazing new pictures of the kids from Heidi & Greg, who were visiting their new daughter at the same orphanage. They are growing so much-it is hard to see, but we are happy that they are healthy and doing well. Of course, we can't post them now, but as soon as we pass court, we will post some!

A few pictures I will post...my wonderful girlfriends and I decorated/decoupaged letters of the kids name for their rooms. They came out wonderful and we had so much fun doing it!!

Please keep us in your thoughts for a speedy and successful court date!!
Lisa

Top 13 for Adoptive Parents!!

2008-10-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

Saw this on one of the Hope families blogs...thought it was cute! For those adopting-you will so relate!!

YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN ADOPTIVE PARENT WHEN...
1.The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of the population adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convincing to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
8. You have never taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
9. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
10. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
11. You know what the word "Dossier" means, and you can actually pronounce it!
12. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
13. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.
-Author Unknown

October Update...

2008-10-07T21:19:00.000-04:00

No new major news on the kids! One of our fellow Hope families who is adopting a little girl from Bethel is traveling to Ethiopia on November 1st to meet her! She was nice enough to take a package to the kids for us! Since she lives in Germany-we sent the package out last week to be sure it gets there in time! We sent both Daniel and Yordanos an album wiht updated pictures from our trip in July! It was so neat to make an album for both of them with all pictures of the four of us! Also sent a few other things-doll, pencils, books-lots of fun stuff! We can't wait to get some updated pictures and information from her visit! Hopefully we'll have some good paperwork/court news by then too!

Ona sad note, one of our Hope families who recenbtly brought their 2 boys home from Ethiopia suffered a major tragedy this past weekend. Their youngest son Samuel is very critically injured. We met them while we were in Ethiopia in July.
This is from their blog:
Samuel was injured today in an accident involving the tractor. He was airlifted from the park behind our house to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee. We need prayers.
Currently he is still in surgery and will need many, many more. He has lost one leg below-the-knee and the other they are trying to save to the ankle. One arm is broken near the shoulder but the elbow is more critical - open fractures with tissue damage/missing.
His pelvis is also fractured on one side. His buttocks and back are injured and he needs a colostomy. If he continues to do well in surgery tonight that will be performed now.
His vitals are good. He was awake up until surgery where we were able to kiss him.They have set up a website where you can stay updated if you would like:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/samuelphillipson
Please join us in praying for this family and for Samuel. Samuel's picture is above.

Adopting Older kids...this is precious!

2008-09-14T20:03:00.000-04:00

This poem was posted on my yahoo adoption group! It was written for one of our members about 10 years ago when she was adopting her older boy. It is really precious as we think of our kids, Danny and Yordanos who are now 6 and 8!

The Waiting Child
By Debbie Bodie
I saw you meet your child today You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her I pretended that you'd chosen me
I'm happy for the baby, yet Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by Does no one want a child of three?
I saw you meet your child today In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out I knew it wasn't my turn yet
I recognize you from last year I knew I'd seen your face before
But you came for a second babe Does no one want a child of four?
I saw you meet your child today But this time it was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand And then she gave my hand to you
Can this be true? I'm almost six And there are infants here, you see
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me!

Still Waiting...

2008-09-14T13:44:00.000-04:00

We received word this week that we probably won't have the kids home for the holidays. They have to first go through lower court (because they don't live in Addis) and then upper court. Lower court takes about 6 weeks and then they will apply for an upper court date and this will really just be a formality. They are predicting January-March the latest. So...we wait!

So...we are occupying our time with some new things while we wait! We just bought an Amharic 101-104 DVD that will teach us the kids langauge! This should be fun and will help us a great deal with communication when they come home! Also, we are finishing the touches on Danny (have to get used to calling him this-they call hime Danny in Ethiopia) and Yordanos' rooms. We just bought some letters (for their names) to hang on their walls. We are going to decorate them! My friend Jodie (master of everything) decoupaged one of the letters and it came out awesome! We are planning a girls day to decorate the letters-should be a blast! In October we are going to Dave's sister/husband, Cindy and Jim's place in Texas-we are looking forward to it!

The waiting is hard, but at least we know there is an end soon and the kids are well cared for in the meantime. Above is a picture of their school room at their orphanage. They attend school daily and are learning English, Amharic and Math! I was amazed at how much English Yordanos' already knew and could write!

Bethel Orphanage

2008-09-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of where our kids are, Bethel Orphanage in Ethiopia! Also a picture of the view from Bethel, which is located on a farm. It is an amazing view-so pretty!!

Update from Ethiopia

2008-09-06T17:01:00.000-04:00

This week we receieved some awesome updates from Ethiopia on Daniel and Yordanos! One of the families from Hope was in Ethiopia for a month and she visited our kdis at Bethel! We were so excited about this-Thank You Jaclyn!! She took great pictures and spent some one-on one time with them both! This is what she passed on to us:
Lisa-
Yordanos or Yanenash told me that she was 8 years old, her favorite color is yellow and her favorite food is pasta!
Daniel said he was 6 years old, his favorite color is blue and he loves to eat mangos!
Both of your kids told me to tell you that they miss mom and dad and love you very much. They can't wait to see you again. I hugged them and told them that it was a hug from you and Dave and they gave me hugs for you guys in return. Daniel was quiet but he stood with Jeff quite a bit. You could tell he was missing his dad! They were wearing necklaces that I assume you gave them.

What a wonderful brithday present it was for me!!! She also sent us a picture that Yordanos drew that said, "Mom and Dad...I Love You"!!

It has been really hard waiting since we came back so this update was so wonderful to get! Wish we could post pics...not until we pass court!! We also heard from Hope that Shemeliss (founder of Hope Adoption Agency) met with Bethel and all is moving along with our adoption. He comes home from Ethiopia next week so we hope to get some more specifics. Courts are closed until October 1st...so hopefully we can get a court date soon after!!!

Reflections on our trip to Ethiopa

2008-09-06T15:09:00.000-04:00

I had the best intentions of faithfully updating our blog...well didn't quite work out that way. For some reason, we couldn't upate our blog while in Ethiopia and internet access was pretty slow there anyway! After returning from Ethiopia, we went right back to work and it took quite a while to recoup from our trip! We were emotionally and physically exhausted and now know what true jet lag is!!
So here goes the readers digest version... sorry it took so long and so glad we kept a daily journal!

The flight to Ethiopia was quite long, but we were just so excited to meet our kids that it really didn't matter! The airport was quite a funny experience. We waited about an hour or so to get luggaage. The funny part was that we got swindled (not really-maybe out of $5.00 total) by a baggage carrier-it was funny because we thought we were so prepared-NOT!! There was a gentleman waiting for us (and others) outside and when we got to his car, we thought he was kidding because it was so tiny. We had 4 HUGE 50lb bags (we don't usually travel this way-only one had our stuff in it-the rest was donations) and we had no idea how this was going to work! It did-we had bags tied to the top and every space in the car had luggage in it! The whole way to the geusthouse, we envisioned our luggae falling off...but it made it! We stayed in a room at The NewFlower Guesthouse in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Helen, the owner as well as her workers were so amazing-they helped and taught us so much during our trip!

Our first day in Ethiopia, we traveled with Simara, a wonderful nursing student to Bethel Orphanage to meet our kids, Daniel and Yordanos. Traveling in Ethiopia is interesting...you share a road with goats, cattle, donkeys and anything else imaginable! There really are no road rules...just go and honk if someone is in your way! We opted to hire a driver anytime we wanted to go somewhere! It took about an hour to get to Bethel, which is on a farm outside the capital. The grounds of Bethel are absolutely beautiful-they have an amazing view of the mountains. The kids were all eating when we arrived. Once they finished, we all went into their living area and Simara told Daniela dn Yordanos that we were their "Mommy and Daddy" from America. Yordanos' face lit up and her jaw dropped. She had the biggest smile I've ever seen and she came running over to me and gave me a hug. Daniel was a little more reserved and he just smiled. But boy did he warm up in the next few hours. He wouldn't leave Dave's side the whole time we were there! We spent the enxt few hours with Daniel and Yordanos and the other 19 kids at Bethel. We gave them tons of donations (clothes, toys, school supplies, etc...) and they were all so appreciative and excited! It was funny-when the kids got clothes, they just whipped their older clothes off and put their new ones one! They were all so sweet! Some of the other families who are adopting kids from Bethel sent some stuff with us to give to their children. We were able to spend some one-on-one time with them and talk to them about their families (with Simara translating). One of the neatest things was that all of the kids had the photo albums that were previously sent to them from their adoptive families, including Daniel and Yordanos. They actaully told me that they sleep with these albums-how precious-this made me cry! We took lots of pictures and got tom know their personalities. Yordanos is very outgoing, smart, funny and bossy-she will be a great big sis to Daniel! Daniel is quiet, but very inquisitive and smart! It was so amazing meeting them...we were exhausted by the end of the day!

The next 2 days, we spent sightseeing and experiencing Ethiopian culture! We went to the weavers and saw how they weave scarves. We bought lots of souveniers and gifts for family and friends. We were able to buy gifts for the kids for their birthdays for when they come to America. Another adoptive mother had shared with me that she bought gifts from their country so that the kids would have an Ethiopian gift each year. Our driver, Ayeli was wonderful-he helped us in so many ways and was very protective-even though we never felt scared in any way-it was very safe in Ethiopia! We did have a scary experience that we now look back and laugh about! We were passing the US Embassy and I had my camera out. Ayeli quickly said, "don't take any pictures here", but it was too late. The armed guards stopped us and asked fus to pull over. They asked for our passports and camera. Luckily, I didnt actually take a picture, but that didn't matter to them. It was a scary 15 minutes-but they let us go! Lesson-don't even take out your camera when close to a US embassy!!

On Sunday, our 12 year anniversary we traveled to the country to visit Village of Hope (VOH)and Sheshemane-home of the Rastafarians! This was an awesome experience and we are so glad we went! It took about 4 hours to get there and it was so different from the capital. The village people are amazing, so self sufficient, welcoming and appreciative of everything! It is truly amazing what the Village of Hope is doing for that area-they are in the process of building a cultural recreation center for the village people. The best thing is that the people from the village are the ones building it-what buy-in! They have also recently supplied the village with clean water. This is so important because the village people used to get their water from the river...many were dying from disease. We spent some time touring the compound and at the VOH orphanage-it was wonderful! We stayed at the Lily of the Valley Hotel, which is owned by Rastafarians-it was really neat! We found out the significance of Ethiopia and Rastafaraians. Years ago, Jamaica was in a major dry spell, people were dying, etc... and Haile Selassie, the Emporer of Ethiopia at the time visited Jamaica and right after, the rains came! Haile is looked at as a Messiah in Jamiaca. Haile also set aside 500 acres of his personal land in Shashemene, Ethiopia as a "thank you" gift to the rastafarians, which is where many know live.

The next day, we spent the entire day at VOH Orphanage with the kids. We played soccer, volleyball, sang songs, danced, laughed, listened to the I-Pod, you name it we did it! The kids were amazing and so loving! One of the families with Hope (our adoption agency) is adopting 2 girls from VOH so we spent lot of time with them. I told the family, if they weren't adopting Talile and Basa...we would in a heartbeat!! They are wonderful teenage girls- we promised to visit them when they come to America! Definitely a life changing experience and we will cherish it!

Out trip home the next day was really long-6 hours! We stopped on the way home at a Leopracy Hospital-it was neat. In this hospital, people diagnosed with leopracy make all kinds of things (scarves, souveniers, clothing, pocketbooks, etc...) for sale. We bought lots of souveniers in support of the hospital and people. The ladies even let me spool cotton! We were exhausted when we got back to the guesthouse. Sleeping in Ethiopia is quite an experience! There are lots of wild dogs and they bark ALL night!! Thank goodness we brought earplugs-but I thinkwe just got used to it!

The next few days we spent visiting Hope's Orphanage and we went back to Bethel where Daniel and Yordanos are. Hope's place had about 60 kids when we were there-they do such a great job caring for the babies and kids! We brought lots of donations and took lots of pictures and spent time with the older kids! We taught them songs and they taught us a few-took some video-it is precious!! I think all of the kids there are in the process of being adopted so that is wonderful! The kids were so happy and funny! Our last day there, we went back to Bethel. We brought tons of fruits (watermelon, bananas, oranges, etc...) and goodies! When we arrived, the kids were all dressed in their denim school uniforms waiting for us! They were so cute!!! We played games and had lots of fun! Yordanos and Daniel showed us their school books and all that they are learning! They are learning basic English and phonics skills-we were so excited about this! Yordanos could read some English words and they both know the alphabet! They told Simara to share with us that they are both first in their class at school--that is our kids!!! When it was time to go, we had some one-on one time with Yordanos and Daniel with Simara and the caretaker at Bethel. Dave and I bought Ethiopian cross necklaces for them. We gave them to them and said to always wear them to remember and think of us until we can come back to bring them home with us. Yordanos jumped up to say a prayer. It lasted about 5 minutes and was all in Amharic, their langauge. Simara started crying and shared what she was saying. She prayed and thanked God that we came to see her and Daniel, she prayed for our safe journey back and for Simara visiting and being able to translate. Lastly, she prayed that we would come back soon for her and Daniel. This was such an emotional experience....we were all crying. Maybe that is why it has taken me so long to post...because I couldn't write about it without crying. They are such amazing kids!!!

We headed out the next day...long flight...they lost our luggage and we missed our connecting flight...we could tell we were back in America!!

Ethiopia was truly amazing and certainly more than we expected! I'm not sure one can ever be prepared for a trip to a third world country. We read books, researched, viewed pictures and watched videos and movies and it was still very overwhelming. The easiest way to explain is that it is a "life changing experience"! We have already changed our ways, thoughts and actions. The poverty is really beyond belief. We will never forget our time there not just in meeting our children, but experiencing the people and life there. We were reminded daily how blessed we are in the America and how easy it is to take things for granted. We have no idea what it’s like to have absolutely nothing. We know that in addition to adopting Daniel and Yordanos, this experience will be with us forever. This has really been an eye-opening experience for us and while we can’t help everyone in Ethiopia, at least we can make a difference in the lives of two very special children, Daniel and Yordanos!

Our Adoption Process Journey

2008-07-13T22:58:00.001-04:00

This is our journey so far...

July 16, 2008~We leave for Ethiopia to meet and visit (unfortunately not to take them home YET) with Daniel and Yordanos. We will also be visiting and taking donations to a few orphanages in Addis Ababa and Village of Hope. We hope to journal our trip (depending on internet availability) so stay tuned!!

July 8, 2008~Received some great pictures of the kids receiving a package that we sent them- Thanks Grace!! Each picture gives insight into their little personalities-we can't wait to meet them!! Sorry we can't post any pictures until we officially pass court and they legally become our children:(

April, 2008~ Received video of Daniel and Yordanos receiving first photos of us and being told they are going to be adopted-What a precious video!!!

March, 2008~Dossier arrived in Ethiopia, was translated and ready to go! Waiting on the kids paperwork in Ethiopia in order to get a court date.

January-March, 2008~Completed homestudy, adoption classes and all other paperwork (now I know why they say adoption is a paper pregnancy). What an accomplishment!!

November, 2007~Matched with Daniel and Yordanos from DVD

December, 2006-November, 2007~Researched adoption and agencies, chose Ethiopia, and started the emotional rollercoaster!