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!!

Additional donation information

I mentioned in our last post that Jen and I plan on bringing donations to our care center and another organization, AHOPE, which cares for HIV infected orphans. Since 2004 with ARV medications becoming available for the HIV positive children in care, their mission has changed from providing care for an expected short lifespan to providing care and education as appropriate that will allow the child to develop skills for an independent adult life. The following message was posted on our message board this morning and I thought I would pass it along. It gives a little more information about AHOPE and some of the things they are needing. Thanks for listening.

AHOPE donations
Hi Everybody (and my apologies to those that will get this more than once),

This is Erin Henderson... I have taken over as the donations/supplies coordinator for AHOPE for children, an organization that provides a nurturing home in Addis for orphaned HIV-positive children and helps to educate the community about AIDS prevention. At the moment there are about 80 children (which is up from the 60 or so kids they had last year, thanks to increases in sponsors and funding) living in AHOPE's orphanage, from infants to 14 years old. The children are now receiving antiretroviral drugs--thanks to Jane Aronson's Worldwide Orphans Foundation--and are all thriving. (For more about the organization, please see the website: www.ahopeforchildren.org)

We adopted our daughter from AHOPE in the fall of 2006 and the children at AHOPE are very much still in our minds and hearts.

Because AHOPE has a very limited budget for basic items like clothing, diapers, and toys, we depend on the generosity of individual donors for these things and on traveling adoptive parents to help deliver the donations. We realize that the adoption agencies also rely on traveling parents to transport supplies for their orphanages, and we do not wish to commandeer luggage space that the agencies depend on. But if any of you think you might still be able to squeeze some extra things in your baggage, we would be very grateful for your help.

Below is the list of items that are currently most needed.

In the past we have had people gather some things off of the list and carry them over on their adoption/volunteer trip. If you are willing/able to gather some of these supplies and are not traveling, I can put you in contact with someone traveling that is willing to carry stuff over.

And on the flip side, if you are traveling and have room, big or small, to carry over donations, but do not have time to gather them, let me know and I can put you in contact with someone with donations to send.

Every little bit helps...even a gallon-sized Ziplock bag of things would be appreciated. I have found that many dollar stores carry a lot of the medical items for $1 or less, and have heard from some families that Walgreens and other stores have been willing to donate items when asked.

Once in Addis, we can arrange for the items to be picked up from you at your hotel or you are more than welcome to deliver them yourself if you would like to visit the orphanage. You can contact me for more details.

The best way to contact me is at ahopesupplies@gmail.com
Thanks so much for your help and support.

list of needed items March 2007

Eye drops
Anti fungal for oral thrush
Benadryl for allergic reaction
De-worming agents taken orally
Oral Suspension Ibuprofen
Antiseptic and Pain reliever
Savlon Antiseptic
Benzalkonium Chloride towelette Antiseptic
Instant Hand sanitizer
Burn cream
Poison Ivy Cleanser
Povidone Iodine USP Prep Pad
Plasil drop
Infants Mylicon
Gloves
Digital thermometer
Bandage (roll)
Sterile dressing gauze (packed)
Cold compress (Hot compress).. Pack which is reusable
Cough syrups
Gas Relief
Hyopan (Hyosine Syrup)
Hyosine tablets
Cloxacillin 125 mg/5ml syrup
Cloxacillin 250 mg/5ml syrup


always needed
1. Cotton diapers
2. new/gently used kids shoes
3. kids' underwear and pj's (like sizes 6mos. to 12/14)
4. antibacterial lotion
5. rubber gloves
6. simple English books for the new library
7. balls, simple games/puzzles (that don't require language knowledge)
8. arts and crafts supplies

Are we there yet?

Well it appears that week one in our wait to pick up Tariku has passed. Only 11ish more to go.

"When do you leave" seems to be the number one question followed closely by "How do you pronounce Tariku?" We have touched on this but I thought I would take a second to explain, as best as we know, how the process works.

We officially accepted our referral of Tariku on Friday. That means that our dossier has arrived in Ethiopia (or will shortly) and has been prepared and submitted to court for processing. Once the dossier has made it through the court process and the court approves our adoption of Tariku we should then be given a travel date. This is when we will go over to Ethiopia to pick him up and to go to the US Embassy and finalize all of the paperwork needed to take him home. Since the courts close by the end of July due to the rainy season, we assume we will know by then when we leave.

DONATIONS
Jen and I plan on filling one suitcase with donations for the care center as well as for AHOPE, an organization I think we have mentioned before. We have lists from both on the types of items they need. If any of you out there would like to help we can send you the list. We would be more than willing to pick any donations up as long as you are in the contiguous United States or in Iowa, which ever is a closer drive. Just send us a message by either clicking on the little envelop below this post or emailing us at krobzoo@mchsi.com. I am also including a link to AHOPE's website and a blog posting from the person here in the U.S. who handles donations. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Oh and we have heard from a family who was over there recently that Tariku is pronounced like Erik with a T.

AHOPE
http://transracial.adoptionblogs.com

*Almost forgot to mention that on Sunday we had a surprise visit. Our neighbor brought her sister-in-law, husband and baby Silas over. The Bottomlys went to Ethiopia in May to pick up baby Silas and were in Iowa visiting family. It was really neat to meet them and their son. The only downside was that it made me want to leave NOW and pick up Tariku. I know the wait will be worth it, but it still is going to seem like forever. That's it for now. I will have Jen post something beautiful and thought provoking next time. Her posts put mine to shame.

Tariku

Wow, it is amazing how you can love someone you don't know yet. Someone that has only been a dream and only has been a face for 36 hours. Really, truly, I love this little baby boy. I think about him so much, and what he is doing right now, what his temprement will be like.
Having a picture and just a little information on him has made this long wait end with such joy. He is going to be one of my children. I still cannot believe it. I just feel so blessed.

I pray for Tariku's family and the decisions they had to make, and the difficult life they have had to live. More difficult than many of us can even fathom.
I pray for Tariku and his health and happiness and growth until we can get there to pick him up.
I pray for our family to work through the challenges of bringing home another child.


So, the kids are excited. Annalise insists on calling him Benamin, (Benjamin) as she does all babies. And she really seems to be OK with bringing him home, as long as I call him Benamin. She can say Tarik very well too, but still wants to call him Benamin. Katie is eager to get to know him and Jack is excited to have a brother. He is 25 months younger than Annalise. Katie and Jack are 22 months apart and they really have fun together. So, I bet Anna and Tarik will be buddies. Katie is 5 1/2 years older than Anna and they have lots of fun together. Jack will be 5 1/2+ years older than Tarik, so I hope they also are able to have fun together. I guess I am just trying to put it all into perspective.

Also, I think Tariku will have so much fun with his cousins. And can you believe that there are 4 cousins within 7 weeks of age?! That is amazing. They are going to be such pals.

8-12 weeks to travel - I think that puts us between August 10 and Sept 7. I really think August will be here fast. It is summer and we have several things going on, so I imagine it will go quickly. (that is my attempt at a positive attitude). The kids go back to school on August 20, I think. So, I just have a bad feeling we will miss the first day of school.

OK, that is it for tonight, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts since Gary has posted the last couple times.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

Well we have had some news and it makes for a fantastic birthday gift.

I had been checking messages all day yesterday and was getting a little depressed since there was a bit of activity on the message boards. Three people ahead of us had gotten the call mid afternoon and I was so sure we would be next, but there was no call. I went out for drinks after work, tried to call Jen and let her know about the other referrals and also tried to forget about everything for a while. Around 6:30 or so things broke up and I finally was able to get a hold of Jen. We were happy for everyone on the boards but a little sad, trying to stay optimistic. I hung up the phone and decided to call home one more time and check the machine. Keep in mind I am currently 10 minutes away and could have waited. And there it was, THE MESSAGE from Angela to call her back. I quickly called Jen again who was still on the road coming back from Iowa City, she said to hang up immediately and call Angela back without her. I did just that.

Our son's name is Tariku Adnew, he was born April 30, 2007 making him 6 weeks old right now. He weighed 6.75 lbs and was 19.5 inches long when he was brought into the care center on May 31st. We have not received all of the paperwork yet because our Internet was down last night. When I got it fixed I tried to get a hold of Angela so she could send it, but she was gone for the night.

We are not supposed to post pictures on the internet until the case has made it through court and the child is legally ours. This is at the request of the ET government. We will of course e-mail the pictures to family and friends as soon as we can. I am sure there is more to say but I am emotionally exhausted right now and just want to see my son. Only 12 weeks to go until we can. Damn, and I thought the referral wait was hard.

And then there was one

Well the last of Jen's sisters had her baby yesterday. Laura gave birth to Lucille Helen around 2:47pm in high paced style we do so well in the family. Jen and the kids are going to visit them today while I am at work. I should be able to post a picture sometime soon.

So that leaves just one baby left to arrive, ours. There was of course no news on the boards yesterday and with 3 days to go things are getting a little tense. On the plus side I fixed the garage door opener, I was able to get a good night's sleep and I am going out after work this afternoon for some drinks to celebrate my B-Day tomorrow. Things are looking up, and I feel good about today. (Of course I have "felt good" about other days but who's counting.) Enjoy the day, congrats Laura and Mark, and welcome baby Lucy.

Also, wanted to share a picture from Jackson's kindergarten graduation. What a handsome little man.