Paris

In two days in Paris, we have seen:




























But, what we really want to see is:

Packing

What do two people pack for a 16-day adoption adventure with stops in Paris, Dubai and Addis Ababa? An adventure that will include traveling home with a six-month-old baby girl? The list includes:



120 diapers

baby wipes

baby wash

diaper cream

6 bottles

2 cans of formula

$200 worth of baby clothes to donate to orphanage

12 outfits for our baby

baby blanket

camera

laptop

toiletries

clothes for 2 adults

shoes

medicines

reading material

adoption documents

etc.



We managed to pack all of this and more into:

Ta-da! Pretty amazing, right? We were able to carry everything on the plane with us. No checked bags. No worrying about lost luggage. It can be done.

Update on Sister

"Yidnekat is continuing her healthy growth, both physically and developmentally. She is now comfortable sitting on her own, and enjoys the position thoroughly. She likes to keep an eye on what is going on around her. She loves to be held, but is also okay by herself. She is doing great."

Take a look at that hair! She's no longer a bald baby. We also found out she weighs about 15 lbs. Baby Sister is getting big...hope the clothes we have for her fit!

Revelation

It really dawned on me yesterday that a baby will be coming home with us from Ethiopia. A baby who needs a car seat installed in the car, and a stroller that is assembled. And diapers, bottles and clothes. My heart has been ready to receive this baby for over a year, but my head is just now getting used to the idea of a real, living, breathing, little person in our house.

Yidnekat

Referral Photo

October

November

Success!

We had a successful day in court. Yidnekat is officially our baby. We'll travel the first week of January to bring her home. Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers. More pictures to come!

Big Days

Baby Sister is six months old today. Tomorrow is our court date. It's hard to think about anything else. Please keep Sister in your thoughts and prayers.

Memories

Our boys both celebrate birthdays in December. We started a tradition a couple of years ago - around the boys' birthdays, we pull out their baby books and look at the pictures and reminisce. The boys love to hear stories about when they were "little," and Chip and I get to take a walk down memory lane. Its a wonderful family exercise because it reminds us how very fortunate we are to have each other. Tonight, after we perused the pages of the boys' books, Chip pointed out that we'll need to get a baby book for Sister. I felt excited and a little sad at the prospect. Excited because we get to make new memories with our baby, and sad because we've missed sharing her first six months.

Our court date is fast approaching - four more days to wait. Please send positive thoughts and prayers our way. We need to start making some memories with Sister!

December Update

We received an update on our baby. Her most recent picture is adorable. She has bright eyes and a beautiful smile. This is what the agency rep had to say:

“[Sister] has become much more comfortable upright than she ever has before. This is probably a direct correlation to her terrific growth and the strong development of her muscles! She has grown almost 1.5 lbs since her last update, and she carries it well. I've mentioned that her grip is very strong. Well, she proved it when she held onto my fingers as I pulled her to sitting! She even lifted her entire body up when she was on her stomach. That is just one example of how she has grown in the past few weeks! Her eyes followed me around the room, and her attention stayed with me throughout our entire playing time. She has started to use her voice as well, which is great, and she can say ah-goo and other assorted vowel-consonant combinations. I should mention that [Sister] has one of my most favorite smiles of all the kids, because when she smiles, she also buries her face in the blankets!"



Now we hope and pray that our court date goes well and that Sister and all the other children in the foster center stay healthy.

Thankful

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to share Thanksgiving at our home with friends and family. Chip and I asked every guest to sign our Thankful Journal. We started the tradition a couple of years ago to give everyone a chance to reflect on and record what they are thankful for.

Some of the entries are fun. My youngest sister Anastasia wrote, "I am thankful for people and turkey and dogs. I love dogs!" My nephew Collin is thankful for water. My teenage sisters are thankful for sleep, chocolate and boys.

Others are poignant. Our friend Noline became an American citizen this year and is thankful that she was able to vote in the presidential election. Leon and Val are from communist Russia and are thankful to live in the U.S.A. My friend Jennifer, whose husband is a police officer, wrote that she is thankful "for my husband coming home safe each and every day."

I am thankful for my husband, beautiful boys, community, and extended friends and family. I am also thankful for all of the people who are lovingly caring for our baby girl in Ethiopia until she comes home to us.

Baby Sister's Dresser

Look what we did.

Before:


After:




I found the dresser on Craigslist for a great price. I knew I wanted to paint it a distressed black and add crystal knobs. I found the knobs at Home Depot for $10 a pair. They're actually door knobs that Chip adapted. I sanded and Chip painted. More nursery pictures later...

November Update on Sister

We received an update on our baby. She weighs 13 pounds and is growing and learning every day. This is what the Gladney rep in Ethiopia had to say about Sister:

"Her favorite is when you rub her stomach or shake her hand - she will give you a huge smile. Even just talking to her holds her attention, and she'll gaze at you with her big brown eyes till the sun goes down. Developmentally she is doing so well! She is ahead of the curve and can almost lift her head to 90º while laying on her stomach... Also, the caregivers tell me that she is eating quite well, which may explain her terrific weight gain. I'm so happy to see her doing so well, and can't wait for you to meet her!"



Take a look at her big brown eyes. Beautiful.

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, my dear friends Eleanor, Eva and Jen threw a shower for me at my parents' home. The party was beautiful - fresh flowers, baby bootie petit fours from Stein's, champagne Mimosas, homemade girly hor d'oeuvres and lots of friends from all different phases of my life. What a wonderful way to celebrate our baby girl.

The hostesses and I started talking about a shower a few months ago when the time frame for an adoption like ours was much shorter. As our wait became longer, I was hesitant to commit to a date until it felt right. I think lots of adoptive parents struggle with the same thing. We don't want to be ill-prepared, but we don't want to get the nursery ready and fully-stocked only to have it sit empty for weeks or months. And we are scared to celebrate an arrival that could be delayed again and again.

For me, the time finally felt right, and the shower was October 19th. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and thoughtfulness of my family and friends. As I opened gifts and everybody oohed and aahed, this whole baby girl thing became very real. A couple of different times during the shower, I lost it and boo-hooed. Not dainty, lady-like tears, but serious awed-by-the-miracle-of-this-baby tears. I realized that our little girl is already loved by so many people. Family, friends and neighbors are all excited for her to get here. Can't wait to get you home, baby sister.

State Fair in October

We go to the State Fair of Texas every October - we play hookie and go during the week. It's a tradition Chip and I started in the early 90s when we moved to the Dallas area after college. The boys love the fair - the Ferris Wheel, corn dogs, funnel cakes, games, three-headed snakes, butter sculpture and petting zoo. This year we even ate a fried Nutter Butter. You gotta love Texas! All day, the boys kept commenting, "We can't wait to show Sister the fair!"

Court Date

We have a court date. December 17th is the magic day.

No News

We haven't heard anything new. A few families have received court dates, but things seem to be moving slowly right now. The peace I've felt through this whole process is beginning to erode - I'm a little on edge. Even the boys are frustrated. Hopefully, we'll hear something soon.

To help maintain my sanity, I'm working on a few projects:

1. Finish the dresser for Sister's room.
2. Create a Pablo Picasso costume for my 6-year-old for Halloween.
3. Organize and put away all the lovely gifts I received at the baby shower.
4. Start planning Thanksgiving and birthday parties.

I'll post about the baby shower soon. Just think pink, pink and more pink. It was lovely.

Sweet Gift

I love my friend Ann. And I love the way she is raising her three daughters. Her eldest, Isabel, has a strong desire to serve others. When Isabel heard that we were adopting a baby from Ethiopia, she decided to have a lemonade stand and donate the proceeds to the infant care center in Addis Ababa. Isabel and her friends raised $80.94 in one afternoon! Chip and I hope to hand-deliver her donation to the care center in the next couple of months. What a sweet gift from a girl with a sweet spirit.

Update on Sister

We received an update today from Addis Ababa. This is what the in-country staff has to say about our baby:

“[Baby] has grown so much since the last time I saw her! She is getting heavy, which must be a result of her eating so well! She has come a long way developmentally as well, now being able to pay attention to small objects and things that move around, as well as smile back when you smile at her! She has developed some vocal skills as well, which she shows off to anyone willing to listen, that is when she's not resting in her bed. She is a very calm and trusting young girl, and has also perfected the two-finger-suck, which she enjoys very much in between meals.”

We received a picture with the update and I can verify that she is filling out. Round cheeks and pudgy fingers!

A Simple Prayer

May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of you.

A dear friend shared this prayer with me. These powerful words helped motivate me to begin our adoption journey. Thanks so much to all of you who have sent love, prayers and positive energy our way the last few months.

Adoption Process

Every adoption is different, but for us, the basic process has been:

1. Select agency and country.
2. Submit application and supporting documents to agency.
3. Begin gathering foreign dossier documents.
4. Home visit.
5. Agency approval.
6. Submission of foreign dossier.
7. Wait list for referral.
8. Referral.

Our next steps:

9. Court date issued.
10. Successful court date.
11. Travel date issued.
12. Travel.
13. Baby in our arms.

Notice from previous posts that we began this journey over a year ago. Every step in the process has a period of waiting built in. One thing I've learned: patience is not a virtue - it's a skill. And you have to practice a skill to get better at it. By the end of this process, I should be an expert.

Why?

We get this question a lot. Why a third child (gasp)? Why adopt? Why an infant? Why adopt a third child (gasp) that is an infant from Ethiopia?

A little background:

Before Chip and I married, we talked about what we wanted our family to look like. We hoped to have biological children, but we were also interested in learning more about adoption. About two years after we married, my parents adopted a baby girl. Three more girls joined their family over the next few years. We saw how beautiful adoption can be. We also witnessed how frustrating the adoption process can be - great training for the future! As we started our family the traditional way, we continued to discuss adoption. After having two babies in two years, I decided to take a little break. The years flew by, and before I knew it, our youngest was three years old and his brother was five. That's when talk of adopting a baby really began in earnest. Chip and I both knew we wanted a bigger family, but neither of us wanted to go through another pregnancy. Around this time, a couple of families in our community had baby girls. The boys began to ask when they would get their baby sister!

We talked with the boys about adopting a baby. Because their four ZaZas are adopted, they understand what adoption is all about. But there were still questions. Will Sister have yellow hair like us? Why won't Sister grow in your tummy? Why did Sister's mommy and daddy give her up? Big questions from little guys. Chip and I have worked hard to make sure the boys understand what we are doing. We've also made sure the boys are excited about bringing a baby sister home. And are they excited!

We began the adoption process in September of last year. We looked into other agencies, but we opted to use the Gladney Center because my parents had a good experience with them and they are local. Gladney has programs in many different countries, and we meet the requirements for most, but something about Ethiopia struck a chord with both of us. Because we have two children at home, we decided we would request a baby instead of an older child. We didn't want to upset the birth order. We requested a girl for the obvious reason - this family needs a little more estrogen!

The "Whys" of any adoption are complex. But, I can simply sum up why we opted to take this journey to grow our family.

Why?

Because we want one more child to love.

Stroller Angst

My dear friends Eleanor, Eva and Jen are throwing a baby shower for me, and at their urging I went and registered at a couple of stores. Oh-my-goodness. I forgot how overwhelming picking a stroller is. What, exactly, is a travel system? And do I need a full canopy and a parent cup holder? A belly bar or foot muff? I called my husband at least three times for his counsel. Ultimately, he told me to follow my gut and pick what I thought was the best stroller. So I picked the pink one.

I got home late that afternoon and looked online for customer reviews of the stroller I'd selected. Hmmm. Not good. Pink and cute, but not so safe. I ended up going to Consumer Reports and doing a little research. Ultimately, I chose a different stroller. One that is safe and easy to use. Not so cute. Not pink. But definitely the right stroller for our sweet baby.

Nesting

In the last couple of months of both of my pregnancies, I went through a period of intense nesting. You know, when every nook and cranny of the house MUST BE CLEAN, and every shelf in every closet MUST BE ORGANIZED, and every onesie and baby blanket MUST BE WASHED IN BABY-SAFE DETERGENT AND PUT AWAY. Well, I'm there. And I must say that I am really proud of my husband. I've started to get the baby's room ready, so I purchased a gallon of pink paint Friday afternoon and left it on the kitchen counter. I took the boys to the park today for a couple of hours and came home to find a pink baby room. I love my husband! I may even forgive him for making fun of my frenzied-manic-nesting vacuum cleaning.

Finally...

I've been toying with the idea of a blog since we began the adoption process last September. Now that we are getting closer to bringing our baby girl home, friends and family are anxious for regular updates and often inquire about my state of mind. And so, to communicate where we are in the process, to preserve what little sanity I have left, and to satisfy my husband, I am officially entering the blog world. I plan to post about the baby and adoption, daily life as a stay-at-home mom, my boys, my thoughts, and family and friends. My only goal is to entertain and enlighten. Wish me luck and enjoy!