Oops...

I guess I forgot to update my blog about Kapend. Here was my post from Facebook that about it:

Hello friends. I wanted to share with you the latest on our adoption. A couple of days ago we received some disappointing- for our family- news. Kapend is no longer available for adoption. He has had a relative come forward to claim him. This is why I wanted to clarify that the news is only disappointing for us, because this is AMAZING news for him. Honestly, the disappointment for us lasted... about 2.2 seconds until we realized what great news this is for Kapend. He is no longer an orphan. He has been wrapped in the embrace of family. Someone, and given the close-knit relationships of families in Ethiopia, more than likely someone he knows very well, has claimed him as their own. Praise God! What better resolution could there be- aside from that of him being with his parents? As much as I love my sweet Aidan and couldn’t imagine life without him, and as much as I would fight anyone who dared try to take him now, if this had been an option for Aidan 2-3 years ago, I would have wanted this for him also. Adoption is hard. We often talk about the struggle it is for the adoptive parents and the birth parents, but truth be told it’s a hundred times harder for the child. Even more so with international adoption, because not only is the child losing his/her first connection to the world- his birth family- but he’s also losing his culture, traditions, language- everything that comes with being torn apart from one’s original community. If I could have protected Aidan from that, I would have, in a heartbeat. Anyone that truly cares for orphans will tell you that family reunification- when it is an option and IF it is in the best interest of the child- should always be the first priority. But for Aidan, there was no other option and all of the things that I mentioned before do not come close to the love and support of family. Kapend has all of that now. My heart is overjoyed. He is not our son, but that doesn’t diminish the extreme importance he has played in our lives- and the lives of our small community. Who would have thought that a little boy halfway across the world would have made a lasting impact on so many of us? Because of Kapend, we committed to beginning the joyous and chaotic roller-coaster ride of adoption for a second time. Because of Kapend, you came out and supported our efforts to bring him home. Because of Kapend, you gave of your time and money. And hopefully because of Kapend, you left with a bit more awareness of the plight of orphans around the world and the dire conditions for those living in sub-Sahara Africa. Maybe this was God’s purpose all along.

So, where do we go from here? Forward.

We’re still adopting, we just need to step back and decide our next move and this will only come after first consulting with God. He has already chosen our child and with an estimated 163 million orphans worldwide, the need for families is critical. We have the opportunity to move forward with an adoption from the DRC, or we can change course and move forward with an adoption from Ethiopia (or elsewhere). For countless reasons, this is what we are leaning towards at the moment. As always, though, we want to make sure that this is where God is calling us. If we proceed with an Ethiopian adoption, then the process will be very similar to the process with Aidan’s adoption. After we have an approved homestudy and our dossier has been received by the Ethiopian government, then we will be put on a waitlist. When we are close to the top, we’ll be matched with a child and then receive an email with pictures and that child’s medical and personal history. What an exciting day! Please continue to pray for our family and for Kapend. I told Liam that there was no way that I could have left him to be raised in an institution; that I would have always been haunted by what became of this little boy with the sad eyes. God knew my heart and answered my prayer. I know now. He’s with his family and I believe that that look of sadness that galvanized our family and so many others into action, has been replaced by supreme happiness. *One last thing, we received this news on the celebration of our FAMILY day- the day we were finally united with Aidan two years ago. How very fitting! God used what He knew would be disappointing news to remind us, yet again, how important family is and to steel our resolve for His purpose- adoption.

My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.  Psalms 145:21
 

Long Overdue Update

I have been really remiss in keeping up with this blog. So, here's a quick update on where we are in the process to adopt our second child. Whew! A lot has happened, but then again very little has happened. As I previously wrote about, we were notified that the child we were considering for adoption had family come forward who wanted to raise him. Praise God! This was amazing news for him- actually it proved to be good news for both of us as there are currently several complications arising with adoptions from the DRC. So, after much diliberation and prayer we decided to switch adoption agencies. We are now back with Holt International whom we used for Aidan's adoption. We are also really excited to be in the Ethiopian program- Aidan's brother or sister will be Ethiopian too! Our homestudy was approved in September. We paid all of our initial agency fees and have mailed in the I600A Immigration form (request for permission to bring an orphan from another country into the United States). Next, we await news of our appointment to get fingerprinted. From there, we await approval (171H) and then we can mail our dossier to Holt. From there Holt will proofread it and then forward it to Ethiopia for approval. After that, we wait for a referral. At this time, we've been told that more than likely that won't happen for another year. We will still travel to Ethiopia twice (once for court and then for the Embassy appointment and to bring our child home). So all in all, the process will probably take between a year and a half and two years. Oh, we also found out that we're number 41 on the wait list for a referral. This may change a bit once we have our dossier in. Well, basically that brings us up to date on where we're at. On the fundraising front, we haven't really done much since the zumbathon in June. I've been busy with school, work, and also with filling out grant paperwork for the adoption. There will be more fundraising events (and merchandise to sell) within the next few months though. :)
 

Our First Home Visit and the Simply Love Fun Walk/5k

We met a couple of weeks ago for a brief get-together with Judy Young to discuss paperwork requirements for our homestudy. Judy works for Holt International and was our social worker for Aidan's adoption. When we chose to work with the agency A Love Beyond Borders we knew that they would not be able to provide our homestudy because they only have the one office in Colorado.  We have to have a homestudy done by an approved adoption agency in the state of Missouri.  Holt's main headquarters are in Oregon, but they have a branch in Kansas City, MO.  So, for Aidan's adoption, we were able to just work with Holt.  For this adoption our primary agency will be ALBB, but our homestudy agency is Holt.  So, after a bit of finessing and communication between the two, we now have a contract with both Holt and ALBB.  Our first home visit was this past Friday, May 17th.  Since, Judy already knows us and has been to our house on numerous occasions, we were able to just have a quick Q & A and go over some of the paperwork that we had already completed.  She said that she thinks she can have our homestudy completed and approved within 3-4 weeks.  This is excellent news because as soon as we have a completed homestudy, we can apply for grants.  We can also inquire and ask for more information about Kapend.  So, this is where we're at right now in the adoption process.

In fundraising news, we held the first annual Simply Love Fun Walk/5k, Bake Sale and Craft Fair on May 11th.  I included some pictures below.  My great friend, Bobi, came out to raise both awareness about malaria and money to buy mosquito nets for the southern region (Kembata tribe) of Ethiopia.  This is where Aidan and two of her three girls, Ella and Faith, were born.  I also had another good friend, Hiwot, there.  She is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and made injera (complete with lentils and shirro) and coffee for people to sample.  All and all, it was a great day and we raised around $3,500!  Together with our salsa sales and donations page, we've raised just under $6,000!!!  Praise God!  Next up is our Simply Love Zumbathon on June 28th. 

My handsome hubby

Me and my little man

Check out the picture of Kapend on my hip

Just a few of my awesome co-workers and some of the volunteers at the event

These are a few of my favorite things...

I think I might have already written a post with this same title, but I've found something new to add to the list.

As a transracially adopted family there is something that we have a great deal of- books. Seems plausible too since we're both teachers. Books for us about adoption, books for Aidan about adoption, books for us about raising a child that is not of our own race, books for Aidan about being proud of his ethnicity, TONS of books about Ethiopia. You get the picture.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a post on another blog about this book and it got my attention:

I had to have it for our collection, because- with the exception of one or two details- it tells the story of our family. Most adoption books are written about domestic adoption, the ones that are written about international adoption typically feature an Asian child with American parents since adoption to China and South Korea has been the norm for years. So, to all of my friends with little African babies and children, this is a MUST. Aidan loves looking at the pictures and points to the baby and says, "That's Aidan in Africa." Since Aidan's our only child and the book features a family that have two biological children when they adopt their son, we call these children his cousins, Jake and Ella. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKrdapzGvsU


 

Simply Love Fun Walk and 5k

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”
 ― John Lennon

I was a bit embarrassed to tell anyone that Liam and I were contemplating another adoption. I tend to be a person that dwells in the hopes and faith realm and for many, Liam included, life it about living with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Something about this little boy moved me, though. I knew that if I didn't fight for the opportunity to be his, then he would probably be lost to us. So, I told one person- just one...and then another...and then another. That person told a friend, who told another friends and pretty soon something amazing happened. Our dream of bringing Kapend home became their dream too. Once you have that kind of momentum, it's impossible to stop.

We're hard at work now on planning a Fun Walk, 5k, Bake Sale and Craft Show. We're going to have information booths set up about the adoption process and life in Africa (namely Ethiopia and DRC). Once we started with one idea, it just kind of snowballed. We called the local police chief, who happens to be a good friend of ours, and they are providing a police car. The fire department has promised a fire truck. We have a school bus too. There will be inflatables and face painting too. I think Liam said it best when he wanted to make a shirt that read, "Clever- little town- big heart."

The event will be held May 11th at the Clever EleMiddle School from 8am-12pm. The Fun Walk and 5k will begin at 9:00 am. You can register at any of the Clever Schools or online at: www.simplyloveadoptionfund.com. If you live around the area, we'd love to have you stop by. If you don't but would like to support us in our efforts, you can purchase a t-shirt (or 5 or 10 *lol ) on the website or make a donation at http://www.gofundme.com/297sc8. Thank you.

 

Fundraising 101

I just need to put this out there. I have some pretty amazing friends and an AWESOME God that is willing to move mountains to get this little boy home to us. Eleshia, my co-worker and friend, approached me last week with the idea that she and her husband could make homemade salsa and sell it as a fundraiser for our adoption. She said that she normally makes about $60 when she sells it at our school and thought she might be able to sell slightly more than that. Of course, I took her up on her kind offer, because quite frankly we need all of the help that we can get. Our donations page has brought in $1,400 in about 2 weeks. This is completely unexpected and we feel so blessed. Well, we sold 50 some salsas by the end of the first day (last Thursday). As of right now, we've sold around 250 salsas!!!!!!!! Even with taking out about $200 or so for supplies, we've made between $700 and $800 just in salsa sales. That's amazing.

The next step is our homestudy. Now that we're within a comfortable amount from the fee for the homestudy, I am going to contact the social worker that helped us with Aidan's adoption. She works for a different agency, but since A Love Beyond Borders is located in Colorado, we need to have a Missouri agency complete our homestudy.  We only need about $300 more before we will have the fees for the homestudy, so I am hopeful that we will be able to begin the process soon.  It usually takes about two months to complete a homestudy as the social worker will need to come to our house twice and interview us.

Our next huge financial hurdle will be the agency/contract fees.  These are about $11,000 and we will need to pay them before we will be considered for K.  If you had asked me two weeks ago if I thought it was possible for us to have that money within the next 6 months to a year, I would have said "NO!!!!".  However, God is proving yet again that He is faithful to those that trust in Him.  We're planning a huge fundraiser now that I hope will be very successful.  This again is just amazing to me.  Can I use the word "amazing" too often?  I feel like, and this is going to sound corny, like we released a prayer into the universe- Lord we want to welcome this boy into our family- and God has put some pretty incredible people in place to help us.  Pretty amazing.  This next fundraiser will take place the first part of May.  The money that we bring in from that, as well as money for grants that we will be applying for, will hopefully give us the necessary fees.  If not, then we'll have another fundraiser.  This adoption is already so different from Aidan's in the fact that we had nearly all of the money for Aidan's adoption when we applied with our agency and we had no idea who God would match us with.  With this adoption, we have a little boy that we desperately want to join our family, but no money to make that happen.  Go figure. :)

So, here's what we need.  First and foremost, please continue to pray for us.  Please pray that our social worker will be thorough, but efficient, so that our family doesn't have unneccessarily long delays.  I keep saying that once we know that this little boy is ours, that I'll be able to relax, but I'm afraid that I'm just fooling myself.  Please pray for K, and for all orphans, that the protective hand of God will be placed on them while they wait for their forever families.  Please pray for us and Aidan.  We're very careful not to show Aidan pictures yet, since we don't want to get his hopes up, but we have begun talking to him in generics, "do you want a brother or a sister", "what should we name him/her", "should he/she be from Ethiopia, Congo, Uganda, etc."  Aidan is very adament (when he's not saying he wants to be an only child *lol*) that he wants a brother from the Congo.  When asked what we should name him, he says, "Camden".  The other night we were looking at a picture of K when Aidan came running up to me, looked at the picture and said, "That's Camden.  That's my brother."  Wreck my heart.  I see God's signs in EVERYTHING, so I'm trying not to read too much into this gesture, but... :)

Oh, one other sweet Aidan moment (Don't get me started, as I could list a ton more).  Liam and I were talking about the donations that I am collecting from my school to send to Ethiopia and he said, "Mel you have a good heart."  Aidan overheard and said, "Mommy, you have a good heart.  I love you."  Love that boy beyond words.  Oh, how you have blessed our lives my sweet little A.

 

The Application is in the Mail!

Our journey has officially began! We mailed our application into A Love Beyond Borders Adoption Agency yesterday. Please pray for us as we begin this exciting new adventure.

Aidan's Adoption Video

This is Aidan's adoption video. It covers our journey to bring him home and the first year of his life with us. Hope you enjoy. It's hard to believe that we're coming up on the 2 year anniversary of our homecoming. My little boy is growing up so fast. :):(

 

Why Congo?

During the early stages of Aidan's adoption, I posted about the harsh conditions throughout Ethiopia and the reasons why we felt lead to adopt from there. I feel as though I need to do the same with the Democratic Republic of Congo- more for myself, as some days I get so discouraged thinking about the money aspect of this adoption and worrying about how we will possibly raise the funds, that I forget why God has placed it on our hearts to go there in the first place.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the poorest African nation.  From what I have seen and read about the DRC, you can compare it somewhat to Ethiopia  in terms of poverty and disease.  However, then add a civil war that has lasted on and off again since the 1990s and that is responsible for more than 5 million deaths- the vast majority from disease and starvation.  Even though a peace treaty was signed in 2003, bitter conflict has continued to rage in eastern DRC between the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the Congolese government troops.  While I won't go into a history lesson here, one of the main causes of this war is, ironically, because DRC is a very mineral and diamond rich country with nearly 1 billion dollars in gold exportation alone every year.  That money does nothing, however, for the Congolese people as rebel troops continue to exploit the DRC and its citizens for its natural resources.  What have the outcomes of the conflict been?  As I mentioned before, more than 5 million deaths, an estimated 2-3 million rapes committed against women and children, and boys as young as 5 or 6-years-old forced to become soldiers- for some their initiation is killing their own family members or watching as their family is murdered in front of them.  Imagine that for a moment.  Because of the continued conflict, nearly 2.5 million Congolese are homeless and an additional 500,000 have become refugees in neighboring countries.  And one of the most heartbreaking outcomes is that the DRC is now home to over 5 million orphans (the entire population of Scotland).  In fact, the autracities in the DRC are so great that numerous humanitarian groups have listed it as the worst place to live if you're a woman or a child.

• More than half of Congolese people live below the extreme poverty level (living on less than $1 a day), with the vast majority of those living in rural areas.
• The infant mortality rate is nearly 1 in 10
• 1 in every 5 children die before the age of 5
• 15% of children under the age of 18 are orphans
• 700,000 of these children have been orphaned due to the AIDS epidemic
• Many children in the DRC who are orphaned by AIDS face further problems as they are often accused of witchcraft or sorcery in a nation where superstitions are often seen as reality.  In fact, nearly all of the children accused of witchcraft are either orphans, disabled or albinos.  The vast majority of these are boys (75%).

I'm reminded of the movie Blood Diamond.  There's a scene where Danny (Leo DiCaprio) is talking to Maddy (Jennifer Connelly) about the autracities occuring in Africa, namely Sierra Leone.  He remarks that "God left this place (Africa) a long time ago."  I remember that statement so clearly because it really struck me. 

Of course, we know that's not true.  God is everywhere.  God can be seen in the hands of the humanitarian workers that work diligently to bring aid to war-torn villages.  God is in the heart of people like Haregewoin Teferra who fought for the lives of orphans living on the streets in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  God is in the feet of men like Muis Mumbara, once abandoned himself, who- refusing to give up on children accused of witchcraft- walk for miles every day along the streets of Kinshasa, DRC, caring for these homeless and cast out youth.  And God is in the face of a child, who the world calls "unwanted", but whom God will never abandon, when he finally finds his "forever family".

 

Wordless Wednesday

Two posts in two days- WOW!

You might have noticed that I've updated my blog- and honestly, if you're still checking in from time to time, you are a more patient person than I am.  I wanted to include a picture of my cute little man.  He's getting so big.  I look at pictures from when we first brought him home and I'm filled with both pride that he's such an amazing child and continues to marvel his father and me and sadness, because he's getting so big.  I just want to stop him now, but then I'm also more than curious to see what type of man he will be and all the plans that God has instore for him. 

I also changed the title and background.  I was going to keep the same title as before, but "hope" to me means a deep desire- a longing.  Faith is the trust that God will answer the hope that lies within us.  I still don't know if Kapend is meant to be our son, yet I know that if God wants him to be a part of our family, He will provide the means to make that happen.  That's faith.  And boy, do we need a great deal of it with this adoption, because unlike Aidan's adoption, we're starting from scratch.  We have no savings set aside for this adoption, but I look at that sweet, sad face and I know in the deepest part of my heart that he's ours.  God has called us to be his family.  So, here we go, hold our breath and take a HUGE LEAP OF FAITH!

 

Exciting News

Well, so much for my great plans of keeping up with my blog.  Aidan will be three in July and I think I've updated this blog twice since he's been home.  I will tell you all about Aidan in my next post as I can spend long hours talking about my sweet baby boy, who's *sniffle* not really a baby anymore.  However, this post I want to devote to some exciting news...

We're adopting our second child!

Now, before I put the cart before the horse, let me clarify.  We're hoping to adopt our second child.  His name is Kapend and he's waiting for us in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We have a long ways to go before we have the money to proceed with this adoption, which is where you can come in.  If you click on the link to the left, you'll go to our donation page to raise funds for Kapend's adoption.  You can read our story and make a contribution to our fund.  Please consider giving.  Without your help, we can't bring Kapend home and this little boy desperately needs to be part of a loving family.  Whether you can give $5 or $100, your gift will be greatly appreciated and go a long way to putting a smile on this sad, little face.  Thank you and God bless.

Kapend, age 2

Long time, no write...

I'm embarrassed that I haven't updated my blog in over 8 months. I'm reminded of that old Doug Stone song, Too Busy Being In Love.

"I could have written a play so sweet and so funny
Given old Mr. Shakespeare a run for his money

Written the words to the prettiest tune

That would never leave a dry eye in the room

My only excuse for not doing enough

I was too busy being in love

Yes, I was too busy being in love."

I'm completely in love with this little boy of ours! My days are filled with Aidan, Aidan, and more Aidan.

Let me try to update you a bit on the miracle that is our son:

-Aidan is 19 months! I know, I can't believe it myself. The time is just flying by.

-He took his first steps on September 2nd. From there it took him about a month and a half to fully walk and not rely on crawling any longer.

-He loves to show his running moves now and makes Liam and I laugh hysterically by getting his arm-action going. Liam is convinced that a gold medal is in his future. :)

-He has more teeth than I can count. I could try, but he won't let me. He has all 8 up front (top and bottom), his four molars in back and is getting his "canine" teeth now. Poor guy slobbers all of the time. I change his shirt, only to have it drenched within an hour.

-He loves to dance and has serious moves. LOL. He gets his whole body into it. It's the funniest thing I've seen. His favorite dance music is anything with a beat, but he especially loves the Irish songs that his daddy sings to him. I sing a quick version of "You are my Sunshine" which also starts his foot tapping. In the morning, we turn on a c.d (usually The Corrs) before I have to go to work and he puts on a mini-show for us.

-Speaking of work, I started back in August. It was REALLY hard, but I'm lucky that Liam can stay home 3 days a week (he does have one class this semester on Wednesday afternoon), so Aidan is with him most of the week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he goes to the sitter. I couldn't ask for a better person to watch my child. He loves Miss Hope! On Wednesdays, he goes to my sister's house for a couple of hours until I get off work. It's about the best set-up, aside from me being a stay-at-home mommy.

-He has just learned to slide down the big slides at the park all by himself. Liam and I have been taking him to the mall playground for the past several months, and I was so proud of him the day (about a month ago) when he learned to sit down and put his feet out in front of him so that he could slide down the little, bitty slide. We must have clapped for five minutes straight. Well, after he mastered that, he was onto the next challenge. He saw an older boy slide down on his belly, and so Aidan had to give it a whirl, as well. From there, he wanted to slide down the bigger slides at the park. Liam takes him often on the days that he has him and then we go a lot over the weekends too. This past weekend, I climbed to the top of the equipment and sat down and then went to put A in my lap. Liam said, "He can do it by himself now." So, I watched as my 19-month-old son's little body whirled around the big slide all the way to the bottom and into the waiting arms of his daddy. He was laughing hysterically the whole time. I don't think I took a breath until he was safely at the bottom.

-He loves to eat! His favorites are grapes, cheese, applesauce, bananas, manderin oranges, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, pizza, crackers, and cookies (of any type).

-He weighs about 30 pounds

-He climbs on everything and loves anything with stairs. Seriously, he could entertain himself for hours with some stairs.

-He can say between 40-60 words, but its hard to keep track because he's learning new ones everyday and will repeat whatever we say. Out of those, he uses about 30 on a regular basis. He says, "Mama", "Dada", "Yay-Yay" (Uncle Jason), "NeNe" (Aunt Nichole), "Yake" (Jake), "Lella" (Ella), "Baby" (Ava and every other child around his age or younger), "mil" (milk, along with sign), "ju" (juice), "caker" (cracker), "cooky" (cookie), "baba" (drink), "Nana" (either banana or his Nana- my mom), "Papa" (my dad), "Mamaw" (his "Grandma-Great"), Nay-Nay (Aunt Lindsey), "Lello" (hello and telephone), "Bye" (he's constantly going up to strangers and telling them "hi" and "bye"), "box" (blocks), "puppy", "soo" (shoe), "meh" (mess- he says this each time he finishes a meal and looks at all of the food on the floor), "tee" (teeth for when he wants to brush his teeth), "wok" (walk), "no", "my" (mine), "Mimi" (Mickey Mouse- His Favorite!), "Gooy" (Goofy, a close second), "li" (slide), "dow" (sit down), "luloo" (I love you), "choo-choo" (train), Gigi (Gidget- the name of one of our dogs), "boo" (book), "spoo" (spoon). It's seriously too many to try and name, but he's talking up a storm.

- He knows the names of many animals and some of their sounds. Some of his favorite are cow ("moo"- he knows both the name and sound and will point them out whenever he sees them), horse (the "neigh" sound comes out like someone clearing their throat), puppy, fish (he makes a fish face), gorilla (he pounds his chest and says, "oo-oo-oo", duck ("quack"), he makes the roaring sound for lion, tiger and bear, cat ("kitty"), giraffe ("raf").

-He loves to bring books to Liam and I and ask us to read them. ("boo")

-He loves to explore and gets into everything! We're way past due for child-proofing the house.

-As I mentioned, Mickey Mouse is his favorite. He loves him (and Goofy, Donald Duck, and Minnie Mouse too)! First thing in the morning when he wakes, he always asks for a drink and then "Mimi", which means he wants to watch a Mickey Mouse cartoon. His daddy will usually go find one on YouTube and then they'll watch it together for a few moments. I'm planning on having a Mickey Mouse themed birthday for his 2nd birthday.

- His new funny trick (he loves playing jokes on his mommy and daddy) is when you ask him how old he is, he holds up 5 fingers and says, "five". We taught him about 6 months ago to hold up one finger to this question. Well, one day, I asked him and he held up one hand. I laughed and said, "You're not five, you're one." Since then, he always holds up 5 fingers and laughs hysterically when you correct him. For a variation, sometimes he says "nine." Such a funny boy!

-His receptive language is AMAZING. He understands so much of what we ask him to do. The other day, Liam asked him to go and get his shoes and put them on the couch and he did!

-When he goes to the bathroom now, he'll point to the front of his diaper and make a whiney noise and say "pee-pee" or "my pee-pee". Not sure if this will translate to an early potty-trainer, but here's hoping. I'm planning on starting this over summer break.

-He loves his cousins so much! He idolizes Jake and Jake is so patient with him (unless he starts messing with his football figurines- LOL). He and Ava are so sweet together and hug and kiss on each other. About the only time that the tears start is when their arguing over the other one's sippy cup, but Ella is his favorite (if he really does have a favorite). She's also the one he fights with the most. They definitely have this love-hate thing going on. It will be interesting to see how their relationship will change and grow as they get older.

-He loves giving kisses, though most of the time when we try to give him a kiss, he wipes his face after and says, "Yu" (yuck). A funny thing that his daddy taught him.

-He can't be perfect, though we think he's pretty close, so of course we're dealing with some pretty major defiance at times. If he wants to do something that we've said no to, he'll kind of smile and continue on his way. When we go to pick him up, he often throws himself on the floor and starts to cry. Get ready for this...he's been known to hit us too. :) This all started around 14 months of age. The terrible twos hit us early!

-My favorite time of day is when we snuggle up together at night for bed. I know it's probably not the best way to get him to fall to sleep, but we love to cuddle up and watch t.v (after reading, of course :) ). Aidan drinks his bottle (I know, another thing that we need to make a break from) and we hold hands. Love that little boy of mine!

-I know that there are about a zillion more things that I should add, but I can't remember just now. So, here's what you've all been waiting for...PICTURES!

Aidan and his Papa Des (Liam's dad) when he was here visiting from Ireland over the summer


The thumb is never far from his mouth, though now its only when he's tired or unsure of something or someone new

Aidan and Ava (July 2011)

Taken about two weeks before his birthday

Aidan and his cousins (September 2011)

Gotta love this face!!!!

The kids were dressed as the Wizard of Oz for Halloween. Jake was The Tin Man, Ella went as Dorothy, Aidan as The Cowardly Lion, and Ava as Glinda, The Good Witch.

Aidan and Ava entertaining the family on Thanksgiving Day

Family Picture (December 2011)

Not really a fan of Santa

Introducing...

Aidan Birhanu Miller Robinson


Birhanu = bir-hahn-you

u

I know that this post is WAY overdue. If you've been waiting anxiously for pics of our little guy, then I apologize and I'm also a bit impressed that you're still checking in with us. I know now why so many of the blogs that I follow only have one or two posts a month after the kids arrive. Finding time to shower or eat is hard, let alone blog. As we settle down into a routine (hah, what's that?!?), I'm going to try to update more often. For now, though here's some things about Aidan.

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  Aidan's 11 months old (he'll be one year on the 29th of this month)




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  He's a happy baby who normally wakes up with a smile on his face first thing in the morning




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  He loves his mommy and daddy, but mostly daddy. They're the best of buds.




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  He has a belly laugh that will make you want to eat him up.




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  He's extremely ticklish, which usually is how we get him to do the belly laugh. :)




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  He's a good sleeper. He falls asleep usually between 8 and 9pm, wakes up at around 4am for a diaper change and bottle and then falls back asleep until around 7am.




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  He LOVES to eat. He eats 5-6 containers of baby food a day (1-2 fruits mixed with cereal for breakfast, a veggie mixed with cereal and fruit for lunch, and veggie with cereal and fruit for dinner) along with 20-28 ounces of formula per day. He'll eat anything, but his favorite is sweet potatoes and pears with cinnamon.




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  Until about a week ago, he did not like table food AT ALL, but he's slowly learning that it's pretty good. He now loves pizza, Gerber puffs (eats these all the time), and cheese.




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  He loves bath time and swimming, actually he just loves the water in general. He splashes and tries to put his face in. He laughs hysterically everytime that he splashes himself in the face. He's fearless in the water. We took him to the pool and he tried to crawl out until the water was neck deep. Crazy!




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  He will wave at everyone, and is learning to blow kisses, but he only wants to be held by Mommy and Daddy. When we leave the room- even for a second-he starts to cry.




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  He's started screaming when he wants something, usually food. I'm teaching him sign-language. He knows the sign for "more" and "all done". We're working on "food" and "milk" now.


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  He says "mama", "dada" (I believe he's starting to associate these with Liam and me), "baba", "nana".




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  He mimics EVERYTHING!




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  He likes his stroller and ergo, but mostly just wants to be on Mom or Dad's hip.




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  He reaches for Liam and I to pick him up.




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  He's crawling all over the place, can pull himself up, and stand with one hand anchoring him. The other day, he actually stood all on his own for about 10 seconds. He cruises all around the livingroom.




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  He's starting to get brave and will crawl out of the room that Liam and/or I am in, turn around to smile at us, and crawl back.




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  He claps at random things. :)




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  He has two teeth on the bottom, three on top, with one more coming through on the top.




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  He gums most everything.
  

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  He has the most beautiful, smooth skin; bright brown eyes; delicious, kissable lips; soft ringlets; and little button nose. He's perfect!




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  In the last month, I have laughed more than I have in my entire life. He's a complete blessing and has captured not only mine and Liam's hearts, but everyone that has met him. We love you, Aidan!
  
  

One more thing...

Happy Birthday sweet Aidan. You're 10 months old today!

Days 2 and 3 back in Ethiopia...

I slept well my first night in Ethiopia. I think it really helped to divide up the trip with layovers in New York and Dubai. Liam said that he woke up about every 2 hours, but for the most part he slept well too. Part of the issue is that Ethiopian beds are EXTREMELY hard. We were kind of used to this because Korean beds are similar in that they don't give very much. However, Ethiopian beds don't give AT ALL. It's like sleeping on a hard wood floor with a rug on top.

I ate a bit of breakfast and then since we were up so early, we got a fresh start on the day. We didn't get to adventure out of the guesthouse on our last trip (mainly because we had spent most of our time traveling south to the Durame), so this time Liam and I decided to walk around Addis a bit to "see what we could see".

Addis is very safe, but the one thing that you have to worry about is panhandlers and pick-pocketing. It's understandable in a third-world country, and honestly, the little children that approach you for money, break my heart. It's dangerous, however, to give them any, because a few children crowded around can quickly escalate into a mob situation.

We visited the largest church in Africa, an Eastern Orthadox Cathedral. We were able to take pictures and tour the inside. It was awe-inspiring. I don't know about you, but I love old churches. This one was only about 6 years old, but the feel of it was old. The stain glass windows showed scenes depicting Christ's life and several of the painting were of the disciples and stories from the Old Testament. Up front there was an altar that led to a room of the back that was called the "Holy of Holies". Only the priests were allowed in the room. The scenes above the alter were that of Christ's birth, the Holy Trinity, and Christ's transfiguration and ascension into heaven.

After our tour- our guide turned out to be a runner, so as you can imagine, he and Liam had quite a bit to talk about- we found a little shopping center to browse around. We wanted to visit the National Museum, and since we had no idea where it was, we flagged down a cab.

The National Museum of Ethiopia is quite large (about 4 stories) and it's biggest boast is that it contains the skeleton of Lucy- the oldest "person" whose remains have been uncovered. She's estimated to be around 3.3 million years old. The rest of the museum was interesting too. Ethiopians are very proud of their history, mainly that of prehistoric times.

Terry, our cab driver, had waited for us while we were in the museum. He next took us to do some shopping.

The first place was in a traditional Ethiopian market with little huts housing goods of all kinds, especially Ethiopian clothing. I bought my nephew and nieces all traditional outfits. It's hard to choose, because their are no sizes, so you have to guesstimate how big or little you need to buy. I know the one that I bought Ava is too big, but that was the smallest they had. After getting it back to our hotel, I think Ella's might be too small. So, I hoping that at least Jake's is the right size.

After, we went to the Friendship Center which is their equivalency of a shopping mall. We just browsed the stores, but didn't buy anything.

We had Terry return us to our hotel, ate dinner- where we met Jennifer and Aaron who are here for court, and just "laid-low" a bit.

I thought I'd get some sleep, so I laid down at around 4:30pm and my 2 hour catnap turned into 5 hours. I woke at 9:30pm and was up until 4:30am and slept until 8:30am. I had been so proud of myself that I had accustomed myself to Ethiopian time, but clearly I was wrong.

We met SEVERAL families here for court in the morning and planned an impromptu lunch and shopping get together. Since Liam and I had already experienced Ethiopia we gave several suggestions for things to do. Liam had also made plans to meet with an Ethiopian man that ran track and field for Liam's old coach in Ireland. After asking the front desk to make arrangements for a taxi, all 9 of us (with 2 more meeting us at the restaurant) piled into the taxi.

After our lunch at Top View Restaurant we had thought to go to Entoto Mountain, but it had been raining, so we knew that we wouldn't have a very good view. Instead we made plans to return to the two places that we had gone shopping the day before. I bought Aidan two traditional Ethiopian outfits in different sizes, Kirk and Joy and Nichole and Jason Ethiopian crosses, and Lindsey an Ethiopian shawl.

We returned to the guest house and some of the friends that we had met the day before (from the yahoo board) had returned from making the journey down south to Durame, so we decided to eat at Yod Abyssinia- a traditional Ethiopian restaurant that we ate at on our first trip. I sat NOT watching the dancing and listening to the music, because all I could think about is that I'M GETTING MY SON TOMORROW!!!

Now, it's nearly 10pm and I'm experiencing a mixture of excitement and feeling like I'm going to throw-up. Earlier I returned to find a crib in our room, so it's all seeming very real now. This is my last night without my son!

Please pray that Aidan accepts Liam and I and has an "easy" transition. I'm off to bed now, but will try to post pictures tomorrow. Love you all!

We're Back!!!!

No place will ever mean as much to me (besides home, of course) or hold as many fond memories as Ethiopia. I'm so excited that we're back. This journey of our story is nearly over and a whole new adventure will soon begin.

We arrived yesterday morning around 11:00am (it's now 5:00am on Saturday morning). But let me begin with Tuesday, May 24th.

We arrived at the airport at around 9:30am just to discover that our flight had been postponed for an hour. Jake, Ella, Ava and Nichole were there to see us off. As much as I was looking forward to seeing my sweet little man again, it was so sad saying goodbye to "second babies", though Jake would take great offense to me calling him a baby.

We checked in all of our luggage and luckily everything weighed in under or around the 50 pound mark. We took one huge suitcase of donations for the orphanage, 2 large suitcases of Aidan's things, and then one suitcase of Liam's and my belongings (Aidan's spill-over items managed to find their way to this bag). Our carry-ons consisted of a small suitcase and bag each of things that we considered necessities (one outfit each, some items for Aidan, our adoption notebook full of all of the important paperwork over the last year, etc.).

Our flight left at 12:30pm and flew into Atlanta, Georgia. From there we had a couple of hours to kill, so we had dinner. Note to self: when ordering a chicken sandwich in Atlanta, expect to receive fried chicken still on the bone, 2 slices of bread, lettuce and tomatoes.

After Atlanta, we flew on to New York. When we boarded the plane we discovered that we had been upgraded to First Class. This was my first time ever riding in First Class (I know, pathetic). Let me tell you there is NO COMPARISON! I had a lovely woman who popped by every 5 minutes to ask me if I needed anything. The chairs were made of leather and nearly folded all the way back into a bed. Even though the flight was only an hour and a half, I slept nearly all of it.

Since we spent the night in New York, we collected all of our baggage and rode the airport shuttle to the hotel we had already booked. The rooms were very small; only about the size of a walk-in closet. I'm exaggerating here, but you get the picture. There was enough room for a full-size bed, small dresser and table. We literally had to crawl over our suitcases to get into bed. I couldn't help but think that some poor chap was probably renting the same size apartment for around $1500 in New York. Made me thankful for my spacious-in-comparison, yet cozy home with a mortgage about half the price.

The next morning, we got up early (5am!). Our flight was leaving at 11:30am, but Liam insisted that we arrived no later than 6:30. :) Delta and Emirates' scales are a bit off of each other, so we had to maneuver some of the donations around so that the bags met their weight requirements. Once checked in, we ate breakfast (McDonalds!) and waited about 2 and a half hours to board our flight. Imagine that. :)

The flight to Dubai is 12 hours from New York and there was no First Class this time. I was sardined (and when I say sardined, I'm not exaggerating) between Liam and a very nice Nigerian woman. Our new friend apparently loves Ballywood movies. She watched about 4 during the flight and each time a song would come on (these movies are all musicals) she would say, "Oh, my G-" in her lovely accent, clap her hands and start dancing from side to side, singing along. This, unfortunately, made sleep rather impossible. She really was very friendly and my only other chief complaint is that low-rise jeans and an undone belt when you are rather voluptuous is perhaps not the best fashion choice. Each time that she got up, which was quite frequent, NOTHING was left to the imagination. Oh, my poor hubby.

The staff at Emirates is so friendly. We met a nice young man named Sam, originally from Syria, but had spent most of his life in England. He currently lives in Dubai and answered all of our questions and gave us great tips on what to do while we were in the city.

Dubai is like no city that I have ever seen or experienced. It's in the middle of a desert, but it's immaculate. The buildings literally gleam in the desert sun. We rode the metro to our hotel and their was not even a gum wrapper on the ground. Nothing was out of place. It was really amazing. The staff at the airport are so helpful too. When we approached one man to ask for help, he took us on a two hours Odyssey around the airport, taking us to the money exchange, the ticket booth, found us internet service, the baggage check office, and finally to the metro station to help us buy tickets. All of the information staff were men and their uniforms are (and forgive me Chugthai, because I do not have the right terminology) full white Muslim attire from head to toe. Around the top of their head scarves, they wore a black tassel that hung down their backs. It's really a very crisp and clean uniform and looked like it would keep then cool in the heat. Aw, the heat. I've never experienced anything close to the heat of Dubai. Imagine a blow dryer set on hot, blowing merely inches from your face and you would begin to get the picture of how hot Dubai is in the summer. Liam did the conversion math for me, and it was about 125 degrees. This poor little gal from Missouri was nearly cooked alive!

After checking into our hotel, which was VERY NICE, I slept for about 3 hours and then we ventured out into the city. We spent less than 24 hours in the city, so there wasn't a whole lot that we could do. We went to the Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world and saw the Burj Kaliffa (the largest building in the world). There's no way to even describe the enormous size of this thing. I imagined that the Tower of Babble looked very much like it, with it's spire stretching into the clouds. All of the architecture in Dubai was impressive. No two buildings look the same and shapes of every imagination are on display. Pyramids, upside-down cones, ones that resemble boat sales. You name it and Dubai has it! I imagine that the world's most talented architects make Dubai their home. With over 80% of the population living in Dubai being foreign, this is very likely true.

The greatest part of Dubai was meeting some of Liam's former neighbors from Ireland. Elaine and Amanda had the best stories to tell about Liam. They both work for Emirates airlines and their stories of traveling all over the world were so fascinating. We went out to dinner and had a great time. The musical fountain show outside of the mall, is truly amazing (I'm using that word a lot, heh?). Don't worry, I promise pictures are soon to follow this post, because words just do not adequately describe the beauty.

So, that brings us to Ethiopia. Our flight left at 8:30am, so it was another early wake-up call for us. One of the great things about Emirates Airlines, though is that we were able to re-check our baggage the day before. So, other than our carry-ons we had no baggage to worry about. When we boarded the plane, we discovered that we were once again bumped to First Class. I'm not sure what Airline gods shined down on us during this trip, but it was wonderful. Liam and I were like two kids in a candy store. The chairs reclined all the way down into a bed, complete with foot rest and massager. And of course, complimentary drinks were served and a very nice breakfast. I felt like a queen! The only disappointment? The flight was only 3 hours long.

Our first day in Ethiopia was like coming home. There's no better way to describe it, and all of my fellow adoptive parents most likely will concur. We met up with Erin Sibley, who's also here for embassy, Cami Brudenthal and Autumn Perkins, both here for court dates. We all know each other from the Yahoo forum. We decided to go to the leprosy hospital together. The main reason that foreigners go to the hospital is to buy things that the patients and nurses sale. We bought a traditional coffee set, salt and pepper set, and sugar bowl all carved out of wood. Everything together cost us about $15-20. I only ever thought of leprosy as an old biblical disease. The fact that there are still people in 2011 suffering from this curable infliction is really heartbreaking. We also visited AHOPE, which is a wonderful organization that cares for HIV+ children. I read about it in There Is No Me Without You. We brought a few donations and learned more about the program and the services they supply. From there we toured the facility and visited with some of the kids. There's no more humble experience than sitting on the floor putting together jigsaw puzzles with sick, and in some cases (though far less, with programs like AHOPE) dying children and seeing them smile up at you. It puts all the small problems that you may experience in you life, into true prospective. We visited the baby room and saw a little boy that had been brought to AHOPE nearly dead 3 months earlier, but that under their care, was flourishing. On our way home, we stopped off at the coffee shop and I bought my parents, Des, Andy and Megs some good, Ethiopian coffee. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but since coffee originated in Ethiopia, how could I leave without buying some?

We ended our day with dinner at Advante, a lovely Italian restaurant a couple of blocks from Jemimah Guesthouse, with our group. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day.

Less than 24 hours...

Until we leave to go get our son. I can't believe it!!!!!

Packing, packing, and still more packing...

So, as you can imagine the last few days have been filled with TONS OF PACKING. Not only am I packing for our trip, but with it being the end of the school year, I'm also packing up my classroom and tearing it down for summer. UGH. Major. Stress.

I think it's kind of comical that I'm trying to fit Liam's and my belongings into one suitcase, while Aidan's things already take up two suitcases and are flowing into our carry-ons. How can one little guy require so much stuff. I guess this is an omen of what's to come, right? The largest suitcase is for the donations that I was unable to fit into our baggage on our last trip. Everyone has been so generous in their giving. I'm truly blown away.

Only six days to go, and then we'll be on the plane (well, really many planes) that will take us back to our son. So stinking excited!!!!!

Travel Dates!!!

Got the confirmation email at around 3:30 this afternoon that we have an Embassy appointment for Aidan on May 31st!!!! After calling my dad, sister and of course, Liam in stunned excitement, Liam came to my work so that we could book our flights. We were told that we had to be in Addis by May 29th, so that would have us leaving on or around May 27th. Unfortunately, with our short notice, all flights were booked from May 25th-28th. So, we're leaving May 24th from Springfield, Missouri. Since my last day of school is also the 24th, this should be interesting. :)

We fly into New York, but because the next flight does not leave until early the morning of the 25th, we'll spend the night in the city. From there, we fly to Dubai and then onto Addis, arriving on May 27th!

I'm not sure yet whether we'll take custody of Aidan on May 29th or 30th. Normally, families take custody of their adopted child on the Sunday before the Monday Embassy date. However, since Monday is Memorial Day, our Embassy date has been set for Tuesday, May 31st. I'm really hoping that we'll still take custody of him on the 29th.

After a seven day stay in Ethiopia, we'll leave the morning of Friday, June 3rd and arrive in Springfield the evening of Saturday, June 4th (around 8:30pm) WITH OUR SON!!!! We'd love for everyone to come and welcome Aidan home, so if you are able, we'll see you there. :)

I can't believe that we're only a week from making the journey to bring our son home!!!!!