Monday, July 23, 2007

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.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

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

Saturday, July 14, 2007

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)
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