Bad dad, even worse husband

I am leaving town for a couple days and leaving Jen alone with all of the kids. The reason? I am going to Denver with some friends to watch a football game. I know I should feel guilty and I do a little bit but I am also pumped for a weekend of fun. (not too much I promise Jen.) I got to go see the Packers in Green Bay a couple weeks ago but I was only gone a day and a half and I drove so it didn't seem so far. we are flying out Saturday morning and will be back Monday afternoon. The purpose of telling you all this? Please post comments, call the house, send an e-mail, to help make Jen feel less crazy. And me a little less guilty.

Here are a couple pics from Christmas, the kids had a blast seeing everyone and opening presents. Jen and I? It seems as the years go this holiday gets less fun and more work. I would like more fun for Christmas next year. Peace.

First Haircuts

So, after much pushing by daddy for the last few weeks, Tarik had his first haircut today! I was very hesitant because I liked the curls and I figured 7 1/2 months was too young for a haircut. Especially considering Anna had not had one yet. SOOOO, she got her first haircut today as well.

We went to a haircutting school. 1 - because I am cheap, 2 - because I didn't have an appointment and figured it would be hard to get in anywhere on a Saturday morning, and 3 - because I was hoping that they would be learning how to cut African-American hair and might do a better job than the local cost cutters or whatever.
They did a nice job - took off at least an inch or more from the top, then cleaned up the (bozo-like) sides, and teensy bit in the back just to even things up. And I really like it and now wish I had maybe done it prior to pictures. Oh well. It still has at least an inch, so hopefully I can still get my curls.

Annalise took her haircut very seriously, and just sat extremely still and wouldn't crack a smile or answer any questions. I just had them cut about 2 inches off of hers to even the back out. She was super cute.

Jackson also got his hair cut (not his first of course). He wanted a mohawk, but we opted for a buzz. It may be alittle too short for winter, but it grows pretty quick, so it will be long again in no time.

Sorry for the delay in posting - at least by me, I know it has been awhile. We have been really busing getting ready for Christmas. We started so early, but then all of a sudden it was just a few days to go. Jackson had strep again in the midst of it.

If we don't post again before Christmas, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, or a Happy Holiday of whatever you celebrate. Peace to all.

Who needs sleep?!

If you had told me years ago that it was possible for the human body to run on less than 5-6 hours off sleep each and every night I would have laughed. I remember a time when 8-10 hours was the norm, more than that if sleep was preceded by a night on the town. (For me that was most nights.)

I am bringing this up because Jen and I can't remember what a good night sleep means. I would love to blame this on having a new infant but he is just a small part of the equation. Since we have been home with T, he generally gets up once in the evening and we have been giving him a bottle. At 7 months does he need that? No, but when you are half awake and just want to go back to sleep, that was an easier option that rocking or walking him to sleep. (FYI, it is possible to feed a child in the middle of the night and not exactly be awake.)

Well after the doctor poked fun at Jen, asking her if she was a first time mom, we have decided to try and cut out that bottle and so far it has been okay but we each have spent a few hours sleeping on the couch with T in our arms.

Next up is our youngest daughter. She wakes up every night crying and will not be consoled until she is in bed with us. This in itself is not great and when you add the fact that she sleeps spread out and seems to like to kick me in the face periodically, it makes for more lost sleep time.

Now let me introduce our oldest son. He is 6 and can't seem to stay in his bed. We will on average take him back to his room 3 times a night. We have literally woken up with him in the bed, unaware of when he got there. I have put the CIA on notice since I think he will make a great spy when he gets older. He also walks around the house kind of in his sleep. I don't know if he is "sleep walking" but I suspect maybe.

Then there is the dog. She sleeps at the foot of the bed, usually not on our feet but not for lack of trying. We kick her off at least a half a dozen time. Once when T wakes up, once when A comes into our bed and 3 times when J sneaks in. I know that is only 5, the six is when I get pissed in the middle of the night and just start kicking!

Finally 5:30a rolls around and on occasion the oldest decides to join the group. I have woken up in the morning after my 4-5 hours of sleep with 3 kids and one dog in my bed and my wife asleep on the couch holding our youngest. And you know what? We make a pot of coffee, work through the day and start it all over again in the evening. And I wouldn't change a thing. Well... maybe the dog.

So I ask again. Who needs sleep?

New Look

Well we have officially made the switch to our new url. I hope we haven't lost anyone, though I suspect we may have. We will try and make the rounds and update everyone, but if you know anyone who may read this from time-to-time you may want to let them know. We have also changed the name and look of the blog. Since our son is home with us now we have decided to blog more about raising a transracial family in the midwest. Hopefully you all won't find that too boring.

On a side note I have also transferred this blog to another site. Take a look and let me know which you prefer or if you don't care at all. Thanks!

http://4goodreasons.wordpress.com

Weekend Reunion and Ch-Ch-Changes

Well after an eventful week, "Our Adoption Adventure" is back! After last week's phone call, the wife and I had some discussion about internet safety and whether or not we should continue writing this blog. (After all we started this to keep everyone informed on how the adoption process was going and we brought our son home in August. So maybe end of story?) But we have also enjoyed doing this and still have lots we can talk about. So after some cleansing and a couple tweeks, we are going to continue blogging. We have made a few chnages, the biggest will be our url. After this week our new address(assuming it is still available) will be:

http://4goodreasons.blogspot.com

I put our blog there for a couple days so I think we should be good. If not we will let everyone know. Also we are going to TRY to limit access to our personal information. Most of you know who we are, so we may not be posting our names or where we live very often. Probably a little paranoid but my better half would feel better if we didn't put that out there and I respect that.

So on to the news. We got together in Wisconsin this past weekend with a few of the families we traveled with. We had not seen any of them or the kids since we all parted ways at various airports. It was a lot of fun and we were even able to go out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. We spent the night and the kids, especially the oldest two, thought staying in a hotel was really cool. I am posting a couple pics of the kids for you to enjoy.




We are also starting to get ready for the holiday and Tariku's upcoming baptism. (See I just put in a name, man this is going to be hard!) Basically that means LOTS and LOTS of cleaning, so 40 some people can come into our home on Sunday. If we don't get that done I guess we take everyone out to eat instead. It's not looking good.

Weird phone call

So, tonight, about 4:00, Annalise was throwing a tantrum about something and Gary is feeding Tarik. The phone rings and some man asks for Gary or Jennifer XXXXXX(mis-pronounced our last name, as always). 'Long O' Gary says, as always.

The man said he saw our blog and was thinking about adopting and had some questions. He asked if all 3 of our children were adopted, Gary muttered over the chaos 'Well we have 4 and only 1 was adopted, the other were biological'. Long silence from this man.
Then he says again HE was thinking about adopting but didn't know alot about it. Then he asked if our adopted child was American or adopted overseas. Gary said it was an international adoption. Another long pause. The guy said 'international is kind of expensive isn't it'? Gary said 'it can be'. Again he said he was just looking for some information on adoption and Gary asked if he lived here in our state. The man said 'no, he lived in Illinois, but was thinking about moving back to our state'. Gary then told him we used CHSFS and he could contact them with any questions. The man said he had looked at lots of agency websites, but couldn't find any pictures. Gary said alot of times they don't post pics and then told the man that it wasn't a good time to talk. The man said he might call back if he has more questions.

Gary called me at work and said it was a weird conversation, something about it made Gary feel uncomfortable. Gary really felt like there was more to it and was waiting for either some racist comments or comments against international adoption. Nothing like that was said though.

And we both wondered why, if he had read our blog, he would need to ask most of those questions. And of course now we are wondering if we should never have started this blog, or at least made it public. BTW - there were 2 hits from Illinois on our blog today - one a couple hours before the call and one just after.

Of course, after the fact, we wish we would have responded differently to this man. And maybe got his name, or just stopped him at the very first question. Like 'You SHOULD NOT be calling us at home and invading our privacy. Yes, we have a blog, but our phone number is not on there, so we are not inviting such calls.' Don't get us wrong, we love to talk about our adoption, but this didn't seem the appropriate way to do it. The guy could have posted a comment and asked if he could speak to us about adoption. That would have seemed more normal.

Personally I do not think normal people call up total strangers with such odd questions.

I have so many thoughts and worries going through my head. I would like assume it was harmless and he is really considering adoption, and maybe he doesn't have any social skills and didn't realize how weird it felt to us.
But in reality, we are now considering locking up the blog, or taking out all pictures and personal information (though it may be too late).

Any advice, are we over-reacting, over-worrying? And this is an FYI in case someday you trying to get into the blog and it is locked down.


And - sir - if you are reading this, I don't mean to be insulting, but we do not wish for you to call us again. Even if your questions are legitimate and your intentions are harmless, it was very uncomfortable and inappropriate.

Ethiopia, Chapter 6, The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters

Since I have been labeled either a dork, or nerd, or both, I decided to embrace my geekness and go with it. Letting you gentle reader, figure out today's title.

OUR journey in Ethiopia continues.

Monday was the day we went to the National Museum of Ethiopia. I was initially looking forward to this because this is where Lucy is. If you want to learn more about Lucy, just click on her name. However just before leaving the US I read an article in "The Daily Prophet" which mentioned that Lucy was going on tour in the States and what we would see in Ethiopia was actually a model, not the real thing. Then I learned that it is always a model so my chance of seeing the actual skeleton was always going to be 0.

To get to the museum we did not have to go to King's Crossing and board a train, instead we all piled into two vans and off we went. Traffic in Addis is interesting and very hectic. Not as bad as Cairo but definitely a close second. Both of our drivers for the week were very skilled in the art of placing a van in a lane of traffic designed to fit a Yugo which was very helpful. After about a half hour we arrived in one piece at the museum.

Once there we had to go through security and have our passports checked. I started thinking they might have "The Philosopher's Stone" inside, but alas all in all I was very disappointed with the place. It is incredibly small and Lucy's exhibit is in a corner in the basement with little signage to even let you know where she is. There was lots of art which I loved but not as much artifacts showing Ethiopia's history as I would have expected. After all Ethiopia has been considered the Cradle of Humanity.

After the museum we went back to the guest house and then went over to the care center to see the kids. We would have gone in the morning to see them but they were at the embassy getting their passport photos taken. Tariku was tired and slept most of our visit. We wrote it off as him having a long day and the fact that he was 4 months old and really at that age all they do is eat and sleep. Again we probably would have known he wasn't feeling well if he had been in our care and we were able to watch over him 24/7. I am not criticizing our hosts, they really did a great job and we understand they still had some last minute details to take care of including the passport photos. I just meant that since we did not have him with us the whole time it took us longer to realize he was sick.

Tuesday was the day we had Tariku the longest up to that point because it was US Embassy day. The kids had been to the doctor in the morning and had their blood drawn and then they were dropped off at the guest house. I have never seen so many excited adults in one room. Except maybe at the finals of the Quidditch World Cup.(Okay I will stop now. I promise!) Back to reality the children arrived and we all piled into the two vans again and headed through town to the US Embassy. After another half hour trip in the vans, security not once but twice, where some families had to drink the formula out of their baby's bottle, and another 2 hours of waiting we each went to the window answered a few questions and were told that our children were our and we could bring them home! Of course throughout the entire day Tariku slept and ate a little bit.

I should mention eating and then leave Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for next time. The babies in the care center are cup fed from these tiny metal cups. It is amazing to watch. We even saw an infant under 15 days old in Hossana's care center eating this way. They say it is safer on the children since it is easier to sterilize a cup that a bottle and nipple. I believe this is part of the reason they do this. It is also a lot quicker to feed the kids this way and when you have lots of hungry kids who need to eat every 4 hours or so, you need to do it quickly. (Just one man's opinion) Anyway, Jen fed Tariku on Monday out of a cup and she did a great job with it. On Tuesday we all brought cups and bottles not knowing if our kids would take from the bottle right away but all of us wanting to transition them to that point. Tariku took the bottle right away never once needing us to go back to the cup.

Eating for us included a great mixture of American cuisine and Ethiopian. The cook at the guest house made us breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and we walked away from most meals way too full. I never knew you could have dessert with every meal!

Again, this is way too long of a post so I am calling it quits. I better go make sure Jen doesn't think I am too much of a dork. Besides I am getting this pain from the scar on my forehead. Peace!

Growing Boy

All I have to say about the previous post is my husband is a dork. I didn't get the title, he had to explain what it meant, so maybe I am a dork and he is a nerd!

Anyway, Tarik had his 6 month checkup last Monday (not today, I am just slow). He weighed in at a whooping 17 lbs, 2 oz. This is just 50th percentile, I was kinda surprised because he has such chubby cheeks and an adorable big ole belly. Well, his height was just 25 1/4 inches, and that puts him at 15th percentile. Alittle on the short side at this point, which makes him look so chubby. He had to get 4 shots and had some big tears from that, but he was just fine the rest of the day. After his first set of shots, he had the worst mood we have ever seen from him, so I was alittle worried.

He is still working on his sitting, which he has been doing for quite awhile and not improving at any monumental speed. I would blame this on my lack of setting him down. I am sure that if he spent more time on the floor practicing, then he would be getting better. His cousin Ben has been a pro at sitting for a few weeks. Also, he is so funny because for the longest time he had only rolled from his back to his belly, which I think is the harder way to go. The a couple weeks ago, he finally went from him belly to his back. And for about 3 days, he rolled alot. Now it is like he forgot how.

The rest of the kids are doing great! Anna and Jack switched rooms, so now it is the girls in one room and the boys in the other. It was an easier transition than I expected. Hopefully after the holidays we can re-paint and decorate their rooms.

Gary had today off work for Veteran's Day, so I took a vacation day and we got a large chunk of Christmas shopping done. It was fun to spend the day together and the stores weren't too full. Still lots of people out, but not like it will be in a couple weeks.

Ethiopia, Episode IV, A New Hope

After only two and a half months we have decided to post some pictures and tell everyone a little bit about our time in Ethiopia. I know what you are thinking, "But Gary, we were really hoping you would wait another 6-7 months."

Let's see, when we last left our heroes...

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away"

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy….

Ooops, wrong story. WE were in Cairo. In my defense it did seem a lot like another world.



So let's see, we arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia on Friday night. We were met by a representative from our agency. His name is Masey and he was pretty much in charge of getting all of settled and assisting us with any and all of our needs. We were the third family to arrive. The rest of our group were due in the next morning. The guest house is amazing. It is a very large home with 7 or 8 bedrooms. It has a large living space were we gathered to watch TV and chat. There is a kitchen upstairs but it was not really used. The kitchen and dining area downstairs was were we all gathered to eat.

Saturday morning we got up and got ready to meet our children for the first time. I can't properly describe how it felt waiting to see Tariku for the first time. We were led into a large room at the care center and one at a time, each family was led to another room where their child was. The agency creates a video "Life Book" for each family and part of the video is our time there including our first meeting.

So once we were led into to room and shown Tariku, Jen of course started crying. I being the manly man decided not to.
On a side note, it must have been really dusty at the time because dust particles got into my eyes and made them water. I hate when that happens.


We only got to spend a short time with Tariku because we had to get to the office and meet the rest of our travel group and discuss the agenda for the week. What I remember most about our visit that day was how quiet and sleepy Tariku was. In hindsight I should have realized he didn't feel well.

Meeting the rest of the group was interesting since they had all just gotten off the plane and looked half dead. You are pretty much on a plane traveling for close to 18-24 hours and I can't even imagine what was going through there heads at the time or even how much they remember. After introductions they all left to meet their children. The rest of the day was getting to know everyone and preparation for our trip to Hossana the next morning.

HOSSANA

Sunday morning we all got up early, 4am early, in order to make the trip south. This trip is optional but it is an opportunity to maybe meet the birth family, see the care center where the children were dropped off at, and also see Ethiopia. Each family had it's own Land Rover and driver and at about 5am 8 vehicles drove out of Addis. The trip itself was really something, watching the sun come up and burn off the mist from the mountains was amazing. We were able to see small huts in the distance, some were close to road, and watch the Ethiopian people start their day.

Once we reached Hossana we went to the CHSFS office and waited for our visit. At first no one from Tariku's birth family was there and when it seemed that we would not be able to meet anyone, word came down that his birth father was on his way. Once he arrived we went into an office and had a nice conversation and afterward took some pictures. There is probably more to say but we want to wait until Tarik is older and we can tell him about it first.

On the way back to Addis we stopped at one of the homes and visited with the family who lived there. We were also able to go inside see how they lived .While we were there lots of children and adults appeared and watched us. We interacted a little bit with them. I found a small group of children who were facinated with my video camera. Once I turned the screen around and they were able to see themselves they about flipped and I had them had a large group of children. I did end up giving some change to them, we were encouraged not to since it has in the past caused some problems, but we were in the car and it seemed like the right thing to do. I forgot to mention that while in Hossana we stopped in the care center there. Jen and I had brought some gifts for the children in the area, crayons and granola bars if I remember right, and we asked the guard at the care center to hand them out to the children that had gathered outside the walls.
We made it back to the guest house in Addis late afternoon and spent the evening watching a movie I brought along. Thanks Netflix!

Jeez, I am only thru Sunday! I better call it quits for now and take up the next chapter later. (SPOILER ALERT!!! We find out some interesting news about Luke's father. You don't want to miss it.)



Oh, we also got new pictures taken and wanted to share some of them.

Happy Halloween!

Grandma K called it

Gary's mom was in town for a concert last night and stayed over. She was checking out Tarik's new tooth and said she thought the next one was right there too. She was right on the money. She left town about 2 hours ago and tooth number 2 is popping through!!! That sweet little baby, not a single cry from him about it. Maybe a little more drool than normal, but that is it.

So, this was my first week back to work. It was no fun. Tarik is not shy with strangers yet, so he happily went to his teacher each morning. By Wednesday he seemed to recognize her or her voice and was smiling away at her each morning as I left. He slept well, ate well and seems to be very happy there. Annalise is a different story. (BTW-we switched daycares while I was on leave, so this is a new place. We did visit a couple times last week to help the transition, but it didn't.) The first day, I kinda 'tricked' her. Stayed for about 30 minutes and she didn't want me to leave her side, so I finally told her I had to take Tarik to his room and I would be back to check on her. I did come back, but just poked my head in and saw she was OK and left. Well, she isn't a dummy...the rest of the week she insisted we drop off Tarik first each day. That way I couldn't sneak off. I stayed about 1/2 hour on Tuesday and Wednesday, but each time had to leave her in the teachers arms crying. They, of course, assure me that she is fine within a couple minutes after I leave and I am sure she is, but it is heartbreaking to just walk out when she is crying. Thursday I only stayed about 15 minutes and Friday about 10. One of those days I heard her wailing as I walked out, "My Daddy come pick me up!" over and over. The teacher said he will be here in alittle bit (or in other words - 7 hours). I think she is treated very well, the teachers seem very competent and all the other kids seem very happy. So, it was a really rough week for us. I expect next week to be bad too, but maybe by the 3rd week she will be doing alittle better.
Gary did confirm that the first couple days she seemed alittle sad when he came in, but by the end of the week she was happy and said bye-bye to everyone and the other little 2 year olds said bye back to her.

Tarik has his first cold. I think I thought he had a cold the second week back after we got home, but it only lasted a day. Now, Tarik, Jackson, Annalise, and I have icky colds. Jack and Tarik have a nasty little, croup-y sounding cough with it. Annalise and I 'just' have the runny nose, sore throat. No fevers or anything real bad though. I will officially blame daycare though. heehee When we were there visiting last week, I saw lots of runny noses. The daycare has the kids wash hands (in this cute little bathroom with 5 mini sinks and toilets) before snacks and meals. And they wash the kids hands after diaper changes, but I totally know they are going to pass it around. Just thought it was funny, because we were all doing really good, then started at daycare and now we are all sick. Oh well, it will only make us stronger or something like that.

Gotta run, lots to do on this beautiful weekend for the last 2 soccer games, me logging into work alittle last night, this morning, and tonight, AND visits from Grandma K, Grandpa M (thanks a billion for helping with the Halloween party last night!), and the Hickman family. Oh yes, and we need to squeeze in a visit to the pumpkin farm!!

Getting ready for a toothy grin

Okay I know I promised some video for my next post and I WILL get to it, but I wanted to spread some news today instead. It appears Tarik has decided to get his first tooth. We have joked since we picked him up that we would never be able to tell when he was teething since he loves to suck and chew on everything. Turns out we were correct. Last night Jen was having her finger munched on by the little guy when she felt something a little different. After checking and then having everyone in the family clustered around and in his face, we can say our little boy is growing up. Shouldn't be too long now until he is walking, saying "No," telling us he hates us, sneaking out at night, dating, graduating, telling us he loves us, going to college, getting married, and giving us grandchildren.

Damn! I'm getting old.

No pictures yet but if we can figure out a way to pry open his mouth...

Reflections

Well we are back from our trip and really had an amazing time. Most of what we did probably could have been done at home, but you know how it is. There are always projects you could do around the house, friends to play with, errands to run, etc. Getting away from all that allowed us to spend time together without those interruptions and that was nice. I got to spend some quality time with Tarik, which I haven't been able to do much of since I went back to work. Boy has he really grown and become part of our family. I also took Jack and Katie to see an IMAX movie called "Mysteries of the Nile." I wasn't sure exactly what this would be about but thought the kids would like to see an IMAX, so off we went. Turns out it was a movie about a rafting expedition from the mouth of the Nile river to the Mediterranean Sea. The mouth of the Nile is in Ethiopia so the movie spent a great deal of time talking about and showing parts of Ethiopia. The river then runs through the Sudan and into Egypt where it flows into the Mediterranean. I found this amazing because it was a movie about all the places Jen and I were in only a short time ago. I also spent most of the movie answering questions from the kids who were thrilled to see the places mom and dad went.

I am bringing this up because it made me really reflect on our trip and also realize that we haven't said much here about our journey. I told you all the funny stories from Cairo and we kept people up-to-date on Tarik's medical issues while we were in Addis, but we have never given our thoughts on the trip as a whole. We haven't posted any pictures or videos except for a couple from Cairo. Well starting today I hope to rectify that problem.

Cairo

This was an adventure as anyone who has read our blog knows. Overall it was an amazing place, very hectic and noisy, and if we had to do it all over again, we would probably do everything differently. (Except maybe lodging. We LOVED our hotel) We tend to be independent travelers, liking to do things on our own terms and this has worked for us in the past. Not so much here. I would strongly suggest anyone traveling to Egypt to go with a group, preferably a escorted travel group. I think that 99.9% of things that drove us nuts there would have been eliminated if we had had that kind of buffer. It seemed to us that the people there (okay maybe only the ones we dealt with) enjoyed trying to take advantage of tourists. The things we saw were simply unbelievable but the manner in which we were treated at times, took away from this incredible place. I think Jen regretted taking the trip because it made our trip that much longer and by the the end of the two weeks she missed the kids terribly. I have to agree that it was a very long trip and would I never have guessed how much I would miss them, however I don't regret going. Seeing the pryamids up close is something I will never forget. I probably won't forget the taxi cab drivers either and that is not a good thing.

One other interesting piece of information. There were two main roads which you travel on extensively to get around Cairo. One was called "26th of July", the other the "6th of October." In case you don't know, Jen and I were married on the 26th of July and our first child, Katie, was born on the 6th of October.

I am going to try and find some good video from Cairo this week and post it and I will also see if Jen wants to add anything about Cairo. Next stop will be Ethiopia, and soon, I promise.

A good idea or sheer lunacy?

In about 6 hours Jen and I are packing our four kids into the car and taking our first family vacation. We decided last summer that since we couldn't take a vacation at that time we would do it now. The kids are out of school for part of this week and Jen is still on leave so we thought now was the best time. Did I mention we are taking all four kids on a trip? Did I mention we are driving to Branson, MO., about a 6 hour drive? Did I also mention we HATE country music and don't have a clue if there is anything to do in Branson that doesn't involve country music? So I give you this question.

Are we great parents who just wanted to give our children a little late summer fun?
OR...
Are we stark raving lunatics who will be lucky if all make it back alive?



Wish us luck!

No worries

I just wanted to make sure no one got too worried if they see some strange chic with my kiddos. That would be me! I got my hair completely whacked and colored today. In the back, I think I got about 12 inches cut off. Seriously, my hair was down to my bra line (always the ultimate goal in high school) Now it is ABOVE my hairline on the back of my neck. I have NEVER, EVER had my hair so short - she actually had to use the clippers on my hairline, which is a first. It is an inverted or concave bob, I think. So, the front is alittle longer than the back. I was looking for styles and printed off a Jenny McCarthy pic and that is what I was going for. I don't think she angled it quite as much and mine is shorter than Jenny's - but I really like it. It is colored brown - basically back to where it should be.

This all came about because I had bought a home highlighting kit and did a horrible job. It wasn't so bad in the front where I could see and reach, but the back was spotty, I missed sections up at the top and I couldn't stand it. So, I had to get it colored and then I figured since my hair was in a ponytail every single day, I might as well try something new. (check the ISU family pic from 2 posts ago - not cute!)
So, I will attach a pic of the inspiration and if you can picture it shorter, much darker, and with my face - that would be me.

BTW - Jackson cried about it and I had been warning him for weeks that I was wanting to cut it. He is obsessed with my hair, has been since a baby - he would put himself to sleep by playing with it and he never grew out of that. Poor kiddo.



So, that was off-topic, but I just needed to warn y'all.

Otherwise all is well. Tarik rolled from back to tummy on Monday and is getting pretty good at sitting for several seconds. I am still having a wonderful time at home with Annalise and Tarik. I totally dread going back to work. Katie and Jack are having a fun week at school. It is homecoming week and they dressed up - crazy hair day, pj day, cowboy day, dressup day (since it was picture day) and tomorrow is black and gold day. Here are a couple pics.









Lastly, but not leastly, Happy Birthdays to my wonderful Sister, Elizabeth and mother-in-law Cheryl!!!

The Perfect Weekend!

Hello all. I am back from Washington and wanted to take a brief moment to share some non-adoption, non-family news. I have had a desire for what I call the Perfect Sports Weekend for a very long time. Basically all the teams I love win and those that I am not partial to, lose. (I am trying to say that nicely since I have family and friends who may root for those teams and I don't want to make anyone angry.) Suffice it to say, this has never happened for me before; at least that I can remember. Maybe it is because I like bad teams and dislike too many good teams. For what ever reason it has been a dream unfulfilled,...until last week.

Iowa State - Won
Iowa - Lost
Packers - Won
Vikings - Lost
Cubs - Won*
Cardinals - Lost

In a word - Nirvana!

*A quick note. The Cubbies played three games against the Cards. A double header on Saturday and one on Sunday. They took two out of three so I think that counts.

Nap time

Both Annalise and Tarik are asleep, though I am sure Anna will be waking up soon. So, just a quick update. Gary is in DC for a few days. My parents came yesterday for awhile so I wouldn't go crazy. Not that I can't handle it, but it is nice to have some help and an adult to talk to.

Katie and Jack both had AWESOME soccer games this past weekend. I think they both soccer 2 or 3 goals. They are having tons of fun. We also are signing them both up for scouts this year and they are very excited about that.

Annalise is still being a wonderful big sis'. Always tickling Tarik's toes and marveling at him, saying 'mr tarik is so tiny' - with the cutest little voice. She has decided to bite him a couple times, not sure what that was about. I think they were both kisses that turned into bites, once on the thumb and once on the cheek. Poor baby. She got in major trouble the second time, so I am hoping she is done with that. (Katie was a big biter between 1 and 2 years old, I had bruises all the time, along with some of her best pals at daycare - it was not alot of fun. I don't think Annalise will develop into that though.)

And Mr Tarik - he gained 1 lb, 7 oz in 2 weeks!!! He was 14 lb, 1 oz at his appointment last Wednesday. He was still making up alittle weight from his loss in Ethiopia, where he was at 13 lbs on August 15th. He is doing well, contining to do alittle more each day. He was full of smiles right before his nap, talking and gurgling. He is a sweety pie.

Lastly, go Cyclones. They miracloulsy won against the Hawkeyes last Saturday. Here is a pic of our family cheering them on!

Welcome to the crazy life

The 4 cousins (booty order - Ben, Tarik, Quinn, Lucy - 7 weeks apart)



(mommies and babies)



Great-grandpa and grandma with newest grandchild

It has been 2 weeks and 1 day since we got home and I can't believe it has been so long. And at the same time it seems like forever since we were in Ethiopia.
Here is a quick replay of the last couple weeks.

We were all feeling pretty good that first week after we got home, once we got caught up on sleep. (I really felt like a walking zombie that first Sunday and if I had stopped moving, I would have fallen asleep wherever I would have been standing/sitting.)
Then on that Friday, I almost fainted at the store. Like seriously had to make a sudden move to a bench and then ended up laying on the floor, otherwise I would have went down. I came home and had lots of 'tummy' troubles. I slept most of Friday afternoon and Saturday. I don't take naps, ever, so this was weird and I slept and slept. Vomiting, icky stuff. Miraculously, I felt tons better on Sunday and Labor Day. We spent those days introducing Tarik to the Mangrich's and Krob's and had a wonderful time! But then on Tuesday and into Wednesday, I was back to the icky stuff and just felt plain awful. In the mean time, Gary started feeling bad on Wednesday but trudged into work for his first day back on Thursday. Thursday night he was sick as a dog, a very sick dog. He went to the doctor on Friday. Tarik has been feeling great throughout all this, but his diapers were alittle weird and pretty stinky - more so than a usual BM. So, I took in a sample and he has Clostridium Difficile, or c-diff. Gary too. They are both on meds now. But since my symptoms are gone, my dr said they wouldn't treat me. It seems odd that Gary and I would have such similar symptoms and I don't have it, so we will see what happens. (BTW - poor G - the meds he is on causes a violent vomiting reaction with alcohol and he has to avoid it for the 7 day course of meds plus an additional 3 days!)

So, you think that is it?!?! Nope, Jack came home with a note on Friday saying Strep is going around 1st grade. Guess who got it? Oh yeah, Jackson! Poor kiddo!

But now to the star of our show! TARIK! He is growing and changing every day. He is now finishing those bottles like a champ and easily getting in 30 ounces a day. He is grabbing toys, loves the kick-start gym, can supports his weight on his legs - at least for a few seconds at a time. He coos and squeaks and squeals - sounds like R2-D2 from Star Wars sometimes. It is so cute. We have gotten a few laughs out of him, but that has to been when he is in his best moods. Lots of smiles (when he wants, which is not when the camera is ever on and available!). What a little joy he is.
And alot of work! Despite being an extremely easy baby, it is still alot of work. Part of that is because I have terrible mommy-guilt if I am not holding him or interacting with him at some level anytime he is awake. I was that way with all my kids. When they are awake I want to hold them or sit by them and talk to them while they play or have them in a chair by me so I can look at them while I am cooking. And with him, I feel it is even more important due to his rough start at life. I have to catch up on all that lost time. Lost time with him and me as mother and son. As well as lost time just for Tarik to experience things. I hope I am not over stimulating him, but I just feel like he needs alot of interaction.

Tarik has regressed in one area, the first few days we were home, he woke up once a night, but the last few nights it has been twice. That is tough, and I am so tired and will do anything to get back to sleep that I feed him. Not sure if that is what he needs, but it works. I did spend 35 minutes walking around the house with him last night but it didn't work, so I just fed him anyway. And that just makes me thing, 'if I would have fed him right away we could have been to sleep that much sooner'. So, I need to get that figured out. I have never been good at the let them cry it out methods...

I am trying to make sure we spend some one-on-one time with all the kids to be sure that we don't have any jealousy issues. Not doing too bad so far. I do have to share some of the funny things Anna has done though. Tarik is a big thumb sucker, so Anna has decided to stick her thumb in her mouth a few times, just to get alittle attention. When I am holding Tarik, she loves to climb into my lap too and say, 'Mommy have 2 babies' (and I assure her that I do have 2 babies). She also likes to lie next to him on the play mat and play with his baby toys. And - the best - she insists on taking a bath in the plastic baby bathtub. I let her once, should have taken a pic, it was like an elephant trying to squeeze into the regular bathtub.

OK, I guess that is it. In general things are going pretty good now, between illnesses and I really am thinking those are behind us now. So, if anyone was wanting to visit and needed an invite. Here it is, please feel free to stop over, just don't look at the house - it will be a mess.

Updates

Well, it is hard to believe have been home for 4 days! Gary is home this week with me and the kids are in school, so you would think we would be accomplishing so much. Nah, just playing with Tarik and Anna and buying the baby stuff we seem to still need after 3 kids.

We needed a new mobile and a new baby bath. We also got him a new floor play mat with lots of fun things overhead to look at. Tarik was definitely loved and cared for at the care center in Addis Ababa, but the visual stimulation was lacking, so we need to get him caught up on a few things. When we first got him, we didn't get much eye contact. I am sure it was partially because of his illness and partially because of his environment. But since last Friday, his eye contact has greatly improved.
In addition Tarik isn't (wasn't) reaching for toys, isn't supporting his weight on his legs (an activity I never witnessed at the care center), and isn't laughing out loud. These are all milestones he should be reaching around the 4 month mark - which he will be tomorrow. I really feel like all this will come with alittle time as long as we are giving him the opportunities.

Tarik had his first doctor appointment today and it was pretty much a check-up and we kind of got a baseline for a few things. His last height measurement in the care center was 22 inches, but today he measures 24 (she measured him twice to double check) - this was 25th percentile. He weighed 12 lbs, 10 oz (10th %) today, which is 5.7 kg. He was 5.68 the day we left Ethiopia. So he has not lost weight, but hasn't gained much. He is doing well with the bottle, but still only takes around 3 ounces at a time, so we are having trouble getting enough in. He had 18 oz on Monday and 24 on Tuesday, and it looks like he will be higher today. Dr says he should be in the 24-36 range, so we will continue to work at that. Dr didn't seem too concerned with anything at this point, but we will be back in 2 weeks to re-check his weight and make sure all is going well. And probably to get some immunizations. :(

We had Open House at school last night and got to meet Katie and Jack's teachers. It was nice and fun for the kids to introduce Tarik to their teachers. They are both enjoying school so far and really like their teachers.
While we were gone, soccer started up and Mom and Dad got to run ragged between 3 practices a week and 2 games on the weekends. Now we get to take over, starting tomorrow with Jack practicing from 5:45-6:30 at one park and Katie from 6-7:30 at a different park. The religious education starts, then cub scouts, and the fun begins!!! But, we like it this way, hardly know what to do with ourselves when it isn't like this. (Yes, we COULD spend more time cleaning or something, but what fun is that?!)

OK, sorry for the long post! Just had to try to get caught up alittle.
One last thing, thanks so much for leaving comments on the blog. It is awesome to 'hear' from all of you!

Sweet Home Iowa

Well it is 5am Sunday August 26th and I am sitting here at MY computer holding our son. We were able to bring Tariku home, and although he is still having some minor problems we are very happy to be here. After a flight from @^&$ we finally arrived in home last night around midnight. Tariku and I got around 5 hours sleep and we decided that was good for now. (Drat)

Our flight home was horrible only because of one place that I hate more than any other in the world, O'Hare International Airport. We got in on time and should have left Chicago around 2:45. The first time on a plane we were speeding down the runway to take off when the pilot suddenly, and I mean suddenly, stopped the plane because a gauge went out. Back to the terminal we went and off the plane we came. About an half hour later we were ushered back on the plane. This time we only had to move a short way down the runway when another guage went bye-bye. Back to the terminal and off the plane we came.

Hold on a second Tarik is saying some to me and being cute.

Okay I am back. Back at O'Hell we spent the next six hours being ushered from one gate to another. Having one flight after another cancelled or full until there was one last flight out. (The one that got us home at midnight.) I am currently downloading pictures and should be able to put something together soon, but until I do here is a shot of Tarik at O'Hell International.



Now I need to introduce my son to SportsCenter. Goodnight, or good morning, what ever it is.

Nervous Parents

Sorry for the lack of posts, it has been had to get to the office computer and we have been busy worrying about Tariku. He has gotten sicker each day we have been here and he is still in the care of the doctors and nannies in the care center. He has lost quite a bit of weight over the last week and they have been trying to keep him hydrated. Besides the vomiting and diarrhea he had a slight fever last night(100.8). They did some blood work to check his white cell count and that number came back normal.

This morning and this afternoon he has been alittle more alert and babbling a bit which is nice to see. He is still very sleepy and needs to gain some more of the weight back. The staff here has been very friendly and helpful to us during this time and have told us not to worry. It is kind of hard not to when all you want to do is take him home. And that is where we are right now, we want to come home, see our kids, family and friends, and for our son to be better. Hoping to see all of you soon.

Ethiopian Holiday

So, we met Tariku Saturday morning and then saw him Saturday afternoon and
Sunday night. We haven't gotten him to smile at us yet. The nannies and doctor
assures us that he does smile, but said it does take him a little more time to
warm up then some babies. So, we will keep working on that. :) We met the
doctor Monday and they said he had diarrhea and vomited the previous night and that
morning, so they put him on Pedialyte and then decided to start antibiotics,
since we are leaving on Friday. They want him healthy before we go. We went to
see him that afternoon, but he was sleeping and we figured he needed to rest.
We are worried that we got him ill with all the kisses we have given him.
I did get to feed him Sunday. They cup feed out of these tiny tin cups, but
it was pretty easy and very quick. On Tuesday we went to the Embassy with Tariku and got his Visa approval. We had him with us most of the day and feed him with the bottle. He did great!

Things are going good, we had a special dinner last night which was authentic Ethiopian food and dance. It was a really fun time. Today we went shopping and bought tons of stuff. Tonight is the farewell ceremony and we still want to go to AHOPE to drop off donations, but we are ready to come home. It is super hard being away from the kids. We just hate it. I can't wait until Friday/Saturday.

P.S. Pictures are not uploading on this computer so you all will have to wait until we get back for photos. Sorry.

Internet conncetion not great but Tariku is.

Well we are here and having a wonderful time with Tariku. We have a lot of things on the agenda so we have not gotten to see him as much as we would like but that should change after today. He seems very healthy and in good spirits. We have not been able to get a smile out of the little bugger yet but WE WILL!!! I was going to attach a picture but the internet connection is not great here. We will be at the Hilton tomorrow I think and I will try there. Sorry for the brief info but people are waiting to use this and I should go. Miss you all.

Gary and Jen

Cairo: The Pyramids

I'm back. If you haven't read our earlier post from today I would suggest you do so before continuing with this one. There are some more funny taxi cab stories to continue with and you need the background information to understand. I'll wait....

Okay, so after leaving the museum, which again was awesome, it was time for lunch. We ventured out again on our own. That took some courage after the morning debacle., but we found a great restaurant that was suggested in our guidebook and had a marvelous lunch. Afterward it was time to hail a taxi and go to the pyramids. We got a driver and agreed on a price, slightly more than we wanted to pay but we were in a time crunch. On the way our driver talked about taking a camel ride at the pyramids. We said no thank you. (We had read about that scam in the guidebook) So when our driver pulled into an alley and said here you go, we were a bit confused. When the camel owner came up to take us on our trip, we were pissed. We started arguing with everyone, I decided screw this and started to walk away. Jen continued to argue and got the driver to agree to take us the rest of the way to the pyramids like we had asked. Score one for the wife, following my lead we would have had another long walk. Once we got to pyramids our driver said that we could get a ticket for his cab and he could drive us around so we would not have to walk. Cost 2LE which is about .40 cents, we said fine whatever and went to get our tickets in.

At the gate a nice older man said we did not need the driver, and sent him away. He helped us get our tickets and get us in. THEN he offered to be our guide. I was like GREAT! is everyone here after something. I said no thanks and he said that he was not going to charge us anything, I then said thanks. He started walking and telling us some interesting facts, took some humorous photos of Jen and I, and showed us old burial grounds but in the process lead us away from the Great Pyramid. He lead us to a horse drawn carriage and said this was best way to see the pyramids. To say I was disappointed in the old man is an understatement. After much haggling we agreed to the ride but told him and our boy driver a hundred times we wanted to see the pyramids not go shopping. (Another scam we had read about)

The pyramids can't be described. We were awestruck at the size and how unbelievable it was that they were even built at all. When we got to the Sphinx we were having a great time. When the carriage tried to leave the area and head to the market we were pissed again. I nearly jumped out, yelling that we DID NOT want to go shopping and had made that clear. Luckily he was a little boy and agreed to stop. We got out, thanked him for his time and walked into the Sphinx. Again it was truly amazing, and again truly frustrating. There were vendors everywhere trying to sell us stuff. They were in our faces constantly until the tourist police would show up and make them back off. Aside from all that we were very thankful to see this place. Here is a another picture.



When we got back we showered and went to dinner in the area here. It was a great place and we had a nice time. We are now getting packed to head off to Ethiopia and get our son. I think we are going shopping for a little bit as well. Wish us luck and talk to you soon.

Cairo: The beginning

I was going to give this a clever title like "Cairo: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" but have decided just to play it straight. Sorry if you are disappointed. It is actually 6am on Friday here, Thursday night around 10p for most of you. We are leaving this afternoon and have had an amazing, crazy, and at times chaotic time here in Egypt.

Thursday night after I posted, Jen and I decided to take a felluca ride on the Nile. (Kind of like a sail boat)I went to the owner of our hotel and told her what all we wanted to do and she gave me a itinerary on how to do it all, including how much to pay for everything. It seems in Cairo that there are no set prices on things like taxis and felluca rides. So we set out hailed a taxi, told him where we wanted to go and the fun began. The dock we wanted to go to was right by one of the big hotels downtown. It seems that our driver had no idea where it was. He asked a couple people on the street, who helped interpret for us. He still didn't quite have it but off we went.

I should pause here and say something about driving in Cairo. I COULD NEVER DO IT!!! Lanes are really more of a guideline that you can follow if you choose. Most drivers do not. Honking is a religious pastime and can have many meanings. The main one being "I am going to try and squeeze into a space between you that would not fit a car half my size." Also people walk across the street anywhere and in any type of traffic, which is good since there seems to be no traffic lights anywhere so you would wait for ever to cross if you didn't. In fact Jen and I have gotten quite good at it. I don't think we are ready to cross on of their major highways where cars are going close to 55 yet, but I have seen it done, with small children in tow. Anyway back to the taxi ride.

Luckily I saw our stop and was able to let our driver know that this was where we needed to stop. When I handed him the money our hotel owner told me to pay, the fun started. Seems he thought that was not enough and started to yell at us in Arabic, we just walked away which is what we were told to do. We were also led to believe that would be the end. Instead he got out of the car and followed us down the street, continuing to yell in Arabic. A couple other taxi drivers tried to get him to stop as well as a police officer and he finally did. As of this writing I still don't know for sure if he was actually offended but since them I have tended to give a little more that was suggested to us. American sucker I know. (FYI the ride cost us about $1, I have given $2 since for a similar trip and everyone was happy. Go figure)

So now we are stressed but we continue on and find the fellucas. We are a little worried about the price we were told to give since the taxi cab incident but we went forward and everything went like clock work and the ride was really great. Here is a beautiful shot.

The trip back was uneventful and our night was over. Next up the Egyptian Museum and the the Pyramids.

I was going to stop here but no one is waiting for the computer so I guess I will continue. Day two started with us getting money exchanged and some water for the trip. We walked around a bit and found what we needed including the bridge over the Nile which put us in about the right area for the museum and since we had a interesting trip the previous night we decided to skip the taxi and walk. We had a city map which showed us exactly where we need to go, so off we went, the world travelers we are. After walking close to an hour and not finding the museum we knew something was up. Here is where I mention that our hotel in on an island on the Nile called Zamelak.

Note: Now for those of you who don't know, islands have two bridges which cross over a body of water, and if your map shows your island don't assume the bridge before you is the bridge you want. In fact you may be going the exact opposite direction from where you wanted to go. Also if you are in a city which does not have street signs you can walk to close to an hour before you discover your mistake.

After hailing a cab, and going the right way we arrived safely at the museum. (Taxi cab fact #3 it seems they don't know where the museums are either. After showing pictures and the map of the city he was able to figure it out.) The place itself is completely unorganized but one of the most amazing places I have ever been. The things they have on exhibit actually took our breath away at times. I would love to post a picture but cameras where not allowed inside. Someone is waiting so I am going to have to talk about the Pyramids later. Peace.

Cairo Day 1

Well we have finally made it to our first destination. We did spend the night in Addis Ababa but it was only because our flight to Cairo was not until the next day. Can't say much yet about Addis since we only saw it at night and briefly this morning. I am sure we will have much more to say next week! Speaking of which I checked e-mail before posting and we had an update on Tariku as well as his birth certificate and a new photo! Everything looks good and we can't wait to get our hands on him.

Cairo seems nice so far. The hotel is very comfy, kind of like a bed and breakfast. We are sitting on the patio having a few beers right now, trying to get caught up on everything and trying to figure out what we want to do tomorrow. We also are trying to get a hold of the kids and make sure everything is going okay.

Guess that's it for now, gotta get back to the patio, my beer is getting warm.

11 hours 'til takeoff

OK, in 11 hours (10:15 AM) our plane takes off. I am (oh, yes, again) freaking out alittle. We have weighed and re-weighed our bags like a gazillion times. Same with carry-ons, which have given us the most grief. Ethiopian Airlines has a 15 pound weight restriction on carry-ons and since we want to put all out Cairo clothes in those, it has been tough. 15 lbs?? The 2 rolling suitcases, that are the correct size for a carryon are 9 lbs EMPTY! So, we decided to use duffel bags. And then I think the scale is getting tired because every once in awhile it gives me a really weird number. (it is digital with a battery).

But, I think we are ready to go now. Gary is double checking the list as I type. I have 2 more lists for the morning. One is all the last minute stuff that cannot happen until we are walking out, turn up the thermostat, fill the cat water bowl, put the weekend feeder in the fish tank, etc. The other is last minute tips for Dad. I have a 3 page word doc that I sent him twice and now this list is all the things I have thought of in the last 2 days. Such as soccer practice. Jack's coach called yesterday and Katie's today, both wanting to start practice this week. Ugh. I was sure that would happen though.

Kids are packed and ready to go too. They have been real excited, but I am getting hints of sadness now. It will be a very tough morning. Heck, I am tearing up right now. We took some pics at the fair today and had them printed, so they could each have some to look at so they 'won't forget us', as Jack said. :)

I have not had time to get really excited yet. In fact, I just don't even want to go yet. I am nervous, about Egypt (will the Hotel driver really be at the airport?). And I am very nervous about Addis. I cannot beleive I am going to meet my new little baby in 6 days. That is exciting, if I can just get on the plane, maybe I can think about it alittle.

Nik, I got the first 3 of those books you mentioned, The No 1 Ladies Dective Agency. I thought a trip to Africa might be a good time to start reading them.

Happy birthday little Sis! You looked great yesterday, Laura!

Here are a couple pics from today at the fair! I am not sure you can tell it was in the 90's and a heat index of 103! You should have seen us walking to the car, not a pretty sight.

Finally an Update on Tarik

We have an update on Tarik's growth. This is very exciting and looks like good news.
On 5/31 he was 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 1/2 inches
On 7/1 he was 9 lb 15 oz and 20.8 inches
On 8/1 he was 12 lb 5 1/2 oz and 21 1/2 inches

Sounds pretty chubby, huh?! Seriously, my first three kids were all in the 7-8 pound weight at birth and were 21 inches. So he is 21 1/2 inches and over 12 pounds. :)
Isn't that just great news? And it might adjust my packing needs alittle. I was going with all 0-3 month clothing, but I might be able to do 3-6 for some things now (like pants which I was short on anyway).

Speaking of packing...it is totally stressing me out. It takes me 10 minutes and a couple tries to pick out clothes for work each day and I have a current weather forecast and a whole closet. NOW I have to pack for 12 days in 2 climates (100 in Cairo and 60 in Ethiopia). AND I need to fit it into 1 suitcase. And then there is makeup, toiletries and enough meds to last a year. Should I take 2 pairs of sandals? I was just going to take an older, though very comfortable pair that are brown. But then realized my outfit to wear to the Embassy is a long black skirt, so do I take a whole other pair, just for that outfit? Yes, I guess, the brown ones will look stupid and are very casual. Hairdryer?? Straightening iron?? UGH, decisions, decisions.
I need to relax, but I can't - might be time for a couple glasses of wine (not RIGHT now, it is 2:00 in the afternoon, maybe tonight - heehee).

Things that make you go hmmmm...

So we have been busy getting things finalized for our trip. Tickets have been purchased and are in our hands (yes, they are the old-fashioned paper kind, no e-tickets). We made reservations at a nice little hotel in Cairo, Hotel Longchamps, and are starting to get all of our packing organized. In the midst of this I had an interesting conversation and revelation I wanted to share. I was talking with a co-worker about our adoption and she asked when Tariku's birthday was. I told her that he was born on April 30, 2007. She asked if he had been conceived before or after we started the process. That got me thinking and started some goosebumps.

Assuming a normal pregnancy, and I think we can assume that because we have not been given any information that he was born prematurely, Tariku was conceived around August 7th or so. If you click on the link titled "Our Adoption timeline" you can see we have kept track of all of the dates throughout the process. On August 2nd we decided to use Children's Home as our agency and on August 9th we completed our registration and on August 17th we sent in our application. If that isn't a sign that Tariku was meant to be ours, I don't know what is.

Also, it is quite neat that we will be in Ethiopia exactly 1 year from the date we sent in our application.

There is so much to do in the next (gak!) 11 days! Having 3 children, I assumed we had everything we needed for a new baby. But we headed to Wal-Mart with a long list of things we need for Tariku.

Lastly, but not leastly...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON!!!!! My little guy is turning 6 today! How could that be? It seems so old! Love you little buddy! xoxo

The Judge said Yes

We were talking to the kids this weekend about Tariku and how his case had to go through court on Monday. We had to explain what court was and how a judge makes a decision.
This morning, as Jack was crawling into the car for daycare, he said with a little hope in his voice, "I hope the judge says yes." For just a second, I wasn't sure what he was talking about, then I realized. 'How sweet of you to rememeber' I told him. And it was. So, tonight at dinner Jackson says, "Mom, did the judge say yes?". I said he said yes. Katie and Jack were very excited. Man, I love these kids.

And my new little one. I just love him so much! Here he is, our little guy at 6 weeks. Officially ours and ours in our hearts.

Travel preparation 101

Even though we haven't received official clearance for travel we have started to do some of the preliminary work. Vaccinations are almost all done. We went in yesterday to get our Yellow Fever shot but were told we need to come next week. It seems since we had our MMR shots done about three weeks ago, there needs to be 28 days between live vaccinations. (Probably should have checked with one of the three medical professionals in the family on that one.)

We have spoken with a travel agent up in Minneapolis, one of three recommended by our agency, and have gotten a tentative itinerary and costs. Let's just say after we picked ourselves up off the ground, we talked about the fact that we knew it was going to be pricey, and how what is really important is why we are going, not the cost. Currently we are looking at leaving on August 13th (a Monday) and spending three days in Cairo before we go to Addis Ababa. As is turns out a round trip ticket to Cairo with a stopover in Addis is cheaper than a round trip ticket to Addis. Not a lot cheaper but enough that we thought "why not." After all, there is not telling how soon, or if we will get back that way.

The other thing we started was a massive list project. If anyone stops in our house now our fridge is currently covered with 5-6 different lists. Each one is for a different subject and lists everything we need to do under that subject. We have a list for getting the kids ready for the start of school (which we will be missing), a list for packing, a list of things we need to get before we leave, a list about Jack's birthday (which we will NOT be missing), a list of housework projects that need to be completed before we can leave, etc. Looking it all over, we have decided we have no free time left between now and when we leave. Of course after making that observation we have decided to go out with friends on Friday night and camping with the Hickman's on Saturday. Might as well make things interesting.

Here's to hoping for some good news on Monday!


Blue Nile Falls in Ethiopia

Tentative Travel Date!!!!!

Jan called yesterday and to let us know that Tariku's case is scheduled to be in court on July 23rd. That means we should plan to be in Ethiopia on August 17th. This is all tentative right now because we won't know for sure until the court date but with the Millennium celebration in September, CHSFS wanted to let all the families know as soon as they could so we could start making flight arrangements. So now all the fun, panic, excitement, panic, and organizing, panic starts!

We also want to apologize for the lack of posts over the last couple weeks. We have been trying to get some home improvement projects finished around the house. Now with 4 1/2 weeks (crap!) before we leave we should have lots to share. I am also thinking about bringing the laptop along and posting while we are gone. There is an internet connection at the guest house but I am guessing it is not high speed, so my plans are to type up our posts before hand on the laptop and then copying them into our blog. Thus not tying up the phone lines for the rest of our fellow travelers. Well I better go, so much to do and so little time...

To Tariku,

Nafekenye betam (I miss you a lot)

I WUB TARIK

Annalise plays this 'game' with me. Every night, I say "Night, night, don't let the bed bugs night. If they do, hit them with a shoe, and I love you!" But she loves to steal the last night and say "I wub momma!" So, we go back and forth with I love Anna, and I wub momma, over and over and over. It is quite cute and she laughs and laughs. Sometimes, I throw in I love dada, or I love Katie, or I love Jack. Last night Anna said "I wub Tarik!" I thought it was neat that she is thinking of him too.

We sent a care package to Tariku yesterday. Gary and I went shopping separately, and ironically picked out matching things. I picked a cream and sage blanket, that has silky patches and really soft cotton-y patches. Gary picked out a sage baby/blanket. It is one of those things you are supposed to sleep with before giving to your baby. The parent's scent stays on it and the baby learns our scent (or mine, I hogged it all night the 3 nights we slept with it). Then we had a picture book made by Kodak Gallery. It has 10 pictures of us and the kids and then 1 each of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (from a recent holiday or something). He might be alittle too young to look at the pictures, but hopefully they will show him anyway. I hope the scent thing works. It would be neat if he recognized us in some way when we get there.

We had a conference call today with our agency. It was information on the trip south to Hosanna. This is the city many of the children and babies are from, or near there. We will take a day trip down there, so they wanted to go over the specifics of that. It is 4-5 hours each way, by LandRover. Though she said the paved road is almost complete, so the trip is much smoother and less dusty than it used to be. We have to bring a snack because we won't stop for food and will be using traditional Ethiopian pit-style bathrooms, which is a hole and she mentioned there is nothing to hold on to. I think I will go light on the beverages that day. I avoid using a porta-potty at all costs, and this sounds very much worse. She said we would make one stop at a hotel, where there are more modern bathrooms, but even those don't flush. I know it seems stupid and naive of me to be so surprised by this, but I just hadn't thought about not having flushing toilets. There will be much more important things to think of that day. We will (hopefully) be meeting Tariku's parents. What an emotional experience that will be. I really can't even imagine how it will feel. It will be very, very sad and alittle scary - what will they think of us? what will they ask us? But, I am happy we have the opportunity to do it.

I gotta go, need to clean up the house and get to bed. (Sorry for the abrupt end, I never was good at the endings of my papers back in school.)
I WUB TARIK!!