Court day is almost here!
3 things keeping me busy while I wait
1. Spring Cleaning
2. Organizing the boys stuff
3. Spending lots of quality time with my man. 🙂
4 days
4 days, 4 life lessons I hope to teach the boys (you know, because 4 is all they really need).
- God loves them. No matter what, God wants the best life for them. A life of freedom, choices, & exploration.
- Love, respect for others opinions / beliefs, and hard work go further in life than anything else.
- Never put a ceiling on what you can do. Big dreams cant have 8 foot ceilings.
- Respect women at all times. Open doors, listen, be gentle and kind.
i am sure there are more lessons I hope to teach them, but this is my top 4 for the moment.
5 days!
Only 5 more days! I am so excited.
5 things I cannot wait to do with Noah and Ezra
1. Cuddle
2. Laugh, I cannot wait until they fill our house with laughter
3. Read, I hope they get my love of books
4. Bake (I know I might have to wait a little bit on this one, but I plan on starting them young)
5. Garden, I cannot wait to share my love of gardening with them
7 Days!
One week left until court! Can you believe it? I thought today I would share 7 reasons I think Matt will be an awesome daddy.
1. He is fun, he loves to play. (see day 8 )
2. He is creative. I can’t wait to see the games he and the boys invent together and the creations they will make.
3. He is loving. He is great at giving comfort when you need it.
4. He is excited about teaching them things. I cannot wait to watch him finally get to share with the boys all the things he wants to teach them.
5. He is involved. I know he will be a very hands-on, involved dad.
6. Just the right amount of strict. He will be a good disciplinarian, but not too tough. 😉
7. Values. He lives out his values and expects the boys to do the same.
8 days
with 8 days till court, I cant help but be excited about 8 specific toys i look forward to playing with the boys.
- legos. I really enjoy legos. Even if the little ones will destroy anything tall i build.
- cars and trucks. seriously, the cool stuff they have today.
- hot wheels! I know, i need to wait a few years for that one.
- bikes. These boys are gonna be on bikes way early. I’ll pull the pedals and cranks off so they can be walkers / running bikes so they get the hang of balance. No training wheels here.
- coloring books. i didnt wait for them here. I already enjoy them. I have my own box of crayons.
- art projects. glue, stickers, markers, cutting paper. all fun stuff.
- musical instruments. I suck and melody and rhythm, but that wont stop us from rocking out on the kid instruments we have already.
- remote control cars. they have them for little kids now. super simple, but noah and ezra will enjoy them for sure.
9 days
9 days until Ezra and Noah’s court date. Since I am a worry wort, I thought I would share 9 prayer requests.
1. That the boys stay healthy
2. That all the paperwork is done correctly and turned in on time for court and that we pass on the first try
3. That we receive a May 28 Embassy date, June 11 is the next possibility after that, and I am done with waiting, plus we kind of purchased plane tickets (I know, I know not the best idea)
4. That we are able to stay at the House of Hope, they only have two rooms and it is looking like 10 families will be traveling when we do, but I would really love to stay there
5. Safe travels (you mean we have to fly over the polar ice cap? seriously freaked out!)
6. Sleepy babies on the flight home 😉
7. Health for Matt and I
8. That Abby’s upper GI goes well on Thursday (hey not everything involves Noah and Ezra, I want their cousin to be in tip-top shape for their arrival)
9. My Grandpa’s health
10 days
It’s only 10 days till Noah & Ezra’s court date. I thought I would share 10 big things we are looking forward to (in no real order).
- finally holding you boys
- hearing you giggle and make goofy baby noises
- seeing you discover new things for the first time
- napping on the couch with you
- seeing you be fascinated with the cats, yet they wont let you catch them (yet)
- taking way too many photos
- oddly enough, I do look forward to trying to figure out two of you at the same time.
- Watching you play with your toes and your tongue.
- seeing you in all the awesome clothes we have and fun cloth diapers. You guys are gonna look so cool.
- did I say holding you yet?
Stephanie thinks we can keep a list a day up for each of the 9 days left. We’ll see how that goes. I stole most the good stuff here. Any ideas on what other lists we can expand on over the next 9 days? We probably need the challenge to keep our minds occupied.
Baby Shower #2
Me and the cloth diaper cake
Yesterday I had a wonderful baby shower and received some wonderful things for the boys. I had a great time celebrating the soon to be arrival of Noah and Ezra.
Of course, a few games were played. The most entertaining being the toilet paper diaper game.
The winners (they finished before the time limit and even put bows on their diaper)
All the diapered bottoms (my mom was in charge of the one on the left, note to self don’t let her diaper the boys)
Me holding the “quilt” Kimberly B. made for me
The quilts her mom made the boys, she even put their names and birthdate on the back (she encouraged me to color code the boys, Ezra is green, Noah blue)
The very chocolaty cake
The silverware my Grandma used with my dad
The now very messy nursery
I have a ton of organizing to do in the nursery! Thanks to everyone and their very generous gifts and donations.
Okay totally not related to the shower, but Matt took new pictures of Abby last night and this is my favorite picture. She is too cute!
Two Weeks!
OMG I have been freaking out lately. Only two weeks until court and then after that two weeks, one day until we travel! I am getting so excited, anxious, and nervous. I am starting to feel a little unprepared, even though we have been preparing and waiting forever, I don’t feel like I know enough or have everything they need. I am, of course, most worried about the flight home. I have been worried about this since we started the process and now that the day is drawing near I am getting scared. I have never even packed a diaper bag for a short outing, but now I have to pack for two infants and a total of 33 hours and 26 minutes of travel time (flight and layovers). Can anything really prepare you for that?
Okay beyond freaking out about travel, I am totally excited to meet my boys! I cannot wait to cuddle them, give them kisses, smell their little heads, watch them sleep, and hear their giggles.
We just can’t wait to be with them. 🙂
Also, I cannot wait to share their pictures with you. Please keep our court date in your prayers. I really want to share them with you in two weeks.
On a side note, if you haven’t been to our site in a while because you read blogs in a reader program, Matt added a new countdown to the top of the sidebar. At the time of this post: 28 days, 23 hours, and 34 minutes until we leave for Ethiopia.
new wheels times 2
We did get a new (to us) car. One of just a few cars out there that fit the 2 rear facing kids and me.
The 03 4runner. Its a 4×4 and a v8 (i know, I know, you are thinking gas hog). Its actually pretty fuel efficient for its size. So far we are getting 21mpg (way better than a suburban or something). I think its pretty cool. Very comfortable, quiet, and lots of cool toyota features.
and yes, i already added the appropriate stickers. I just need to get some good biking related ones.
(click for full view)
This week I also got my new bike. Finally after a few months of no road bike, the replacement is here (last one was stolen from a friends house). Its a 2009 Jake the Snake Cyclocross Bike. Meaning its a road bike, but burly, can fit knobby tires, and is meant to be taken in the grass, dirt & mud. Not sure if I will ever run a cyclocross race, but its cool to have a bike that is quick on the road, and can cut through the park when i want to.
25 days and a little glitch
Only 25 days until court! I am getting more excited and anxious every day. We are trying to get everything prepared and it is keeping us pretty busy. We went to the doctor this morning to get the last of our travel vaccinations and I am sick (nasty cold) so she said I should wait :(, but Matt is all done with his shots and is ready to go! We received our car-seats on Friday as a gift from my parents. We decided to see how well they fit in the car.
That would be Matt completely crammed into the dash, he could only operate the clutch with his hand. Needless to say that just won’t work. Since, we have two rear-facing seats, we can’t just put them behind the passenger seat, we need to be able to put them behind both of us. 🙁 We went to a couple of dealerships on Saturday night to get a feel for what fits, NOT a lot fits Matt and two car-seats (Pathfinder, Camry, Pilot, Rav4, Forester, just to name a few, basically all mid-sized cars and small SUVs). One salesman even joked that I should have just married a shorter guy. The only vehicles that fit in our price range get around 20 mpg :(, makes my environmental heart sad, but safety and family first. Right now we are trying to decide between a Forerunner and a Sienna, used of course, the newer models now get 25 mpg, but too expensive for me. The hybrid Highlander would also work, but that one was way out of our price range. Matt really, really likes the Forerunner, so that is probably what we will end up with, but we will see what we find.
One month!!!
I am starting to feel like this might actually happen! We have been keeping ourselves busy preparing for the boys and doing stuff we think we won’t have time for once they are here. The nursery is pretty much ready, house projects are getting done, and we are trying to have as much time together as we can. The next 30 days are filled with church events, mountain biking, trail running, a baby shower, house projects, doctor appointments (couple more shots), home study visit, and a couple of trips to the vet, and maybe even a movie.
We know a few more families traveling before our court date and we will be receiving a steady stream of updated pictures. Seeing new pictures of the boys every few weeks sure makes this wait a little more bearable. Please keep Noah and Ezra’s health and our court date in your prayers.
Update and Pictures
We received an update and pictures of the boys today thanks to a traveling family. We learned they share the same crib and are in 0-3 month clothing. Still so tiny! She also said they were healthy looking, strong, and super sweet. I wish I could share the pictures with you. Only 32 days until court, hopefully I can share pictures on then.
1st Baby Shower
Matt and I had our first baby shower yesterday. (I am a lucky girl and get to have two. 🙂 Matt gets to babysit for my second one, oh no he might actually have to change a diaper, Eric you’ll have to help him with that.) The one yesterday was thrown by our church. We did take our camera, but didn’t really get any good pics, except of the cake (Matt did manage to get two bad profile shots of me, thanks honey!). Lesson: if you want pictures of your shower hand your camera off to someone! The boys did receive some lovely gifts. Everyone was excited to see their pictures and ask lots of questions. We had a very nice time and are very grateful that everyone already loves our boys so much.
The Cake
Memory books and Frames
Sippies, bottles, dinnerware
Bibs
Snugglies and onesies
Diapering accessories and pacifiers
Bath accessories