Author: Stephanie Adams

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we made it!

We just got a chance to use the internet today (wednesday ETH, Tuesday night USA).

The flight went really well. 16 hours is a really long flight for 2 adults. We’ll see how it goes with the boys. All of our luggage made it!

The boys are super cute, and doing well. The first night was a little rough, as all 4 of us had no idea what to really expect. The second night went much better. We figured out a system that works (for now). Attached is a pic of the 4 of us in the guest house courtyard (excuse the laundry, its not even ours).

Ethiopia is very nice this time of year. Actually cool for us from AZ. Very hilly, and busy, lots of people, cars and traffic.

Well thats it for now. I dont think we will get to use the internet again before we go, so we will see everyone when we are back on tuesday night.

Wish us safe travels!

Matt, Stephanie, Noah & Ezra

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My Garden

It has been quite some time since I have mentioned my garden on here.  Poor thing is feeling a little neglected.  It has not been a stellar spring, most of my seeds did not take, but I do have a few things growing.

Cantaloupe and the little tiny plants are a desert mellon similar to watermelon.

Cucumbers!

Pomegranate

An artichoke in bloom, it is a really vivid purple

I also have two tomato plants that I will try to keep alive through the summer, some okra starting to sprout, and peppers.  My fig tree is starting to get fruit, I should have plenty by the time we get back.  I also have a nice rosemary bush.  My basil shockingly did not come up on its own this year, so I just put out some seeds this morning to see if I can still get it to grow.  On a sad note it looks like I have killed another peach tree, I guess me and peaches are just not meant to be.  I will try a citrus next year, if I can make up my mind on what I want to grow.

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My Handsome Guys

We received more pictures of our boys today.  Thanks to Stefany for taking them!  We are so happy and extremely lucky that CHI started allowing traveling families to take pictures for families waiting to travel.  We have been able to see the boys grow and are thankful to everyone who took pictures for us.  You all are a tremendous blessing!

Look who’s not crying!

 

I added the rest of the pics to the photo gallery.

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Busy, Busy

Matt and I have been very busy making sure everything is in order for our trip.  Can you believe we leave this Saturday?  It is coming up quick!  We have been busy getting a few projects done around the house and making sure the business will run smoothly while we are away.  I think we are doing pretty well, our to-do list is getting shorter even with a few glitches thrown in last week.  

So what have we been up to?

Paperwork, I know you think you are done with it but there is always something else.

Laundry, all the boys stuff is washed.  The cloth diapers are ready to go!

Yard work, we didn’t want to have much to do after we return home, so we have been busy making sure the weeds are pulled and the shrubs trimmed.

Matt has also steamed cleaned all the carpets in the bedrooms.  To me this was necessary as our animals seem to barf a lot.  

Making baby food.  This last weekend we made a trip to the farmer’s market so I could by some local, organic produce to make baby food.  I didn’t buy too much as I didn’t want to overwhelm myself the week before we left.  I wish I would have bought more!  It was so easy.

mmmmm sweet potatoes

and peaches!

Both foods I love, so hopefully the boys will love them.  (These are seriously the best peaches I have ever had.  I wish I would have bought more!)  I cooked the sweet potatoes in the solar oven and they were perfect and the peaches didn’t need to be cooked.

We also attempted to put the car-seats in the car last night for the first time.  I think we got it.  We didn’t install them and leave them though because my parents have to use their car to pick us up from the airport (so we all fit)  and the seats will need to be installed in it.

What do we have left?

Packing!

Steam clean the living room carpet.

Some accounting stuff for the business.

Finish adding the boys to the health insurance.  (waiting on a letter)

Clean the house. 

Run a few last errands.

Not too bad if you ask me.  I think it is totally doable.  I have some other things I would like to do before we leave, but they aren’t necessary.

We are both excited and anxious for our trip and cannot wait to meet the boys.  🙂

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Good News All Around

First, Congratulations to Gregg and Meg, Sam officially became their son today and he is adorable.  

Second, Abby made it to the 3rd and final round of Baby Idol!  Please keep voting for her!

Matt took this adorable shot and is very excited to see her make it so far.  It doesn’t hurt that she is just so freakin’ cute!

Third, Our visa appointment was confirmed for June 11.  We leave June 6!  We are so excited to finally be leaving and super excited to meet those two cute little boys of ours!  We will be back home to begin our new life together June 16!!!

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Making myself smile

Yesterday as I was waiting for the news and needed a distraction, I found this site.  It was a big hit on facebook and it kept me occupied for quite a while.

Today as I am waiting again, I decided to look up how to fix something in wordpress for Meg, I stumbled across another fun find.  From now on if you don’t have a gravatar picture, you will be a randomly selected monster.  Hey its the little things that entertain me.

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Why

Our case was not heard today, even though all the paperwork was in order.  The Ministry of Woman’s Affairs wanted a meeting to clarify why the piece of paper was incorrect last week and they did not have time today to have the meeting.  There is a meeting tomorrow with our agency, the orphanage, and MOWA to discuss our case.  If all goes well, and I am holding onto my last shred of hope that it will, the judge will hear our case sometime after that.  It could be tomorrow, or it could be next week.

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Not it

Today was not it either.  We might hear something tomorrow, or next week.

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Hanging with Abby, Court tomorrow

Yesterday Abby and I hung out for a few hours.  We had a lot of fun.  She is getting very talkative!  She loves to rollover and play in her exersaucer.  Can’t wait to see her and the boys play together.

 

Tomorrow is our 2nd court date.  We received word this morning that the piece of paper has been corrected and everything should be fine tomorrow.  Please pray that court is held, that we pass, and that there is electricity so our in-country representative can let us know what happened.  I am really hopeful that we can finally share our boys with you tomorrow.  Monday was three months since we first saw their sweet faces.  I cannot believe it has been that long already.

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Last Friday

10 families did not pass court last Friday, we were the only ones rescheduled.  The other nine families didn’t even have their cases heard.  When I heard why they didn’t pass on Friday I was absolutely devastated for them, and worried for the future of the Ethiopia adoption program.  Unfortunately not all people involved in international adoption act ethically.  They facilitate adoptions where the children are not actually orphans, but rather someone’s child.  Because a few people working in the adoption field in Ethiopia acted unethically, nine families hearts were broken on Friday.  No one from our agency was involved in the alleged acts, but these families were still affected.  Their cases are on hold until the Ethiopian government can figure out how to properly handle the situation.  The government does not want to risk children who are not orphans being adopted, neither do adoptive parents or ethical adoption agencies.  Please pray for these families, their children, and the government of Ethiopia.  I can only imagine the pain of these families, knowing their babies’ faces, but not knowing when the wait will end.  When you adopt, you fall in love at different rates, but most all fall in love before they ever travel.  These families love these children and want what is best for the children, please pray.

For some info and overall feelings on corruption in international adoption you can start with this blog post and click on some of the links if you want.

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Today was not the day :(

We didn’t pass court today.  One piece of paper did not have both boys names on it.  Something so simple!  We are both bummed.  I really wanted to share the boys with ya’ll today, more than anything.

Our new court date is May 14.  So please pray for that one stinken piece of paper to come back correctly.

6 days until court!

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Today is the day!

I am so excited to find out the news today.  I truly believe court was a positive outcome.  We will hopefully find out by 11 am our time, but that isn’t a guarantee.

On another note, yesterday we figured out for sure that the boys are not identical.  We were originally told they were, but I always had my doubts.  They always looked slightly different in pictures, but we told ourselves it was the camera angle or the lighting and chose to believe the medical reports.  With the most recent set of pictures and the video we received, I just couldn’t believe they were identical.  So, I asked Angie who took the pictures and she said she never would have thought they were identical.  They are both cute as can be and I can now easily tell them apart.  🙂

I hope to share the pictures with you sometimes in the next few hours!

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1 Day! 1 Day! 1 Day!

 

I am so excited!  Only one day left until the boys legally become ours!  (Yes I know there is a chance it won’t happen tomorrow, but I am trying to be optimistic.)  Sometime while we sleep tonight a judge on the other side of the world will decide the fate of our family.  She looks at all the information given to her by us, our agency, the orphanage, and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.  If one piece of paper is missing or incorrectly filled out we will be rescheduled.  I am optimistic though that everything is done correctly and will be there.  I am so excited to possibly being able to share our boys with everyone tomorrow.  Please say a prayer tonight that we pass court and that we find out tomorrow that we passed.  There isn’t always power in Ethiopia and our agency could have trouble getting the news to us, so pray that they can.