Happy "Forever Family" Day

One year ago TODAY, I met Miss Sabah for the very first time. Oh what a wonderful day that was. I remember the anticipation very WELL. The drive to the orphanage with the other two families was so surreal. We were all so quiet, just taking in the scenary. We had all arrived the night before, in the dark, and so this was our first time seeing the "real Ethiopia". We of course were all so anxious to get to Toukoul to see our wee ones. We were running late, and so were a little upset that we would only get to spend about an hour with our babies, but we were excited none the less. As we approached the blue gates to Toukoul, you could have heard a pin drop. We all had so many emotions going through us that no one knew what to say.

We pulled into the orphanage, and piled out of the van and proceeded to wait..and wait....and wait....and wait. The nannies were busy getting the babies ready. We were busy being impatient as the nannies got the babies ready. We couldn't understand what was taking so long. Then, from around the corner comes the first baby. Little Weredesh. We all cried as they placed her in Lisa's arms for the first time. Leah and I were still waiting for our little girls to make their appearance. We waited and waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity. And just when I thought I couldn't wait another second, there she comes. Sabah and Aslynn, in their nannies arms, coming toward us. I was about to jump out of my skin. The nanny holding Sabah made her way over to me, and handed me MY DAUGHTER. My precious baby girl, who I had longed for for so so long. She was finally in my arms. There are very few perfect moments in this world, but the first time your child is placed in your arms (whether from birth or from adoption), it is so magical and so perfect and there is nothing else in the world that can top it.

Happy Forever Family Day Sabah. I'll never forget the moment you were placed in my arms, and we officially became a family.....a little family of two.

Here is a short video of that precious moment.....

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And here is a video of my little sproutling a year later....Dancing in the living room....

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And a picture of us THEN:

And a picture of us NOW:

It's Official

OK, so there are actually two things that are OFFICIAL. Number one....I'm a terrible blogger. But you all knew that already, right.

Number two....I've officially started adoption number two for a waiting child. My dossier is almost complete. That's right people, it's almost ready. It seems SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy the second time around. I feel like I'm missing something. But nope. It's done. Just waiting on my doctor to send my medical form (she was getting it notarized on Friday), and then that's it. I also have to wait on my homestudy update. They can't officially finish the update until I get them the medical form. Then, once that is done, I send it in to INS to get a one time extension on my I-600A and ammend it to say two children instead of one (NOOOOO, I'm not adopting two more, I just need the I-600 to say two TOTAL. Sabah is one, daughter #2 will be two). Once that is done, I have to get re-fingerprinted as my fingerprints expired(whodah thunk a thing like fingerprints could expire). Then I can send my dossier to Ethiopia and officially get my referral. If all works out, I will be referred a 7 year old girl named H (this is all the info I will post for now). I can assure you, she is so sweet and very cute, and I can see her fitting in with Sabah and I and making us a family of three!!!

Anyway, I'm excited to have the dossier almost done and being that much closer to bringing H home, but I'm also very SCARED! I feel it in my heart that this is absolutely the right choice for my little family, but that doesn't keep my mind from being scared and going through all the "what ifs". I mean, what ifs can drive a person INSANE if you let them. I know it will be a challenge. A completely DIFFERENT challenge than bringing Sabah home. H speaks absolutely NO ENGLISH. NONE, NADA, ZIP. This will be one of the biggest challenges we will face together. I plan to start learning as much Amharic as I can, and I'm getting people lined up that I can call in emergencies when I need translators, but it will still be hard, and it DOES scare me. I also don't know H's background yet. I don't know why she is in an orphanage, how long she has been there, or even if she WANTS to be adopted and come to "America".

I have a lot of research and reading to do on older child adoptions. And even with all my fears and worries, I still go to bed at night, thinking of little H and praying to God asking if I'm doing the right thing. And sometimes, I actually want to hear a NO from him. But I don't. Every night, I still feel like this is the right thing for Sabah and I. Every night, I can imagine two little girls sleeping in the next room. Every night, all the what ifs from the day seem to disappear and I'm left with a calmness and a feeling that THIS is the path I should be taking. THIS is what is right for me. For Sabah. And for little H. So forward I go, and hopefully in a few months (maybe April/May) I'll be taking another trip back to Ethiopia to bring daughter number two home.

And with that, I leave you some pictures of Sabah and her cousins at Halloween (like I explained above...I'm a TERRIBLE blogger).
My Little Ladybug






Elijah the Boxer and Superman Ethan

Little Lamb Elizabeth

Mini Toukoul Baby Reunion

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to join 4 other local families who adopted babies from Toukoul. Some of us were from Adoption Avenues, and some from Dove. ALL the babies were from Toukoul orphanage.

What an amazing site it was to see EIGHT babies all under the age of 2 (actually I think everyone was under 20 months). Some of us have been home almost a year, and a couple families have been home only a few months.

We had lunch at Laurelwood, and give them HUGE KUDDOS for accomodating such a large crowd and for having enough highchairs on hand.

It was fun seeing the looks on the faces of the other customers as we lined all the kiddos up for the photo below. I don't think anyone captured a picture of all babies looking at the camera at the same time, but it's a great picture non the less.




From Left to Right

Ruby, Roman, Elisha, Mariah, Allegra, Alec, Haven, and Sabah.

We are hoping to get together every few months to keep the kids connected.

Sabah and her Cousins

I just had to post a picture that Tina took of Sabah and her cousins. All four kids are looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Those of you with more than one kid knows that this is just absolutely amazing. :)

Ethiopia Trip

I just got back from a week in Africa. No, I wasn't there to pick up daughter no. 2....it doesn't work that quick, even with a waiting child.

What can I say about the trip that won't take two days to read? It was fabulous(as expected) and horrible (not expected). I'm not going to write a lot of detail, but in bullet point format, here is how the trip went:

The Good:

* The staff at the guesthouse were even more amazing than the last trip. It was good to see them again, and meet new ones. Because I was the ONLY person staying at the guesthouse, I certainly got individualized attention. I feel like I really got a chance to connect with each of them, and enjoyed watching them play an impromtu game of soccer and also got to sit down during staff lunch and share a meal (an ethiopian meal) with them.

* I got to go on an overnight trip to Awassa. I enjoyed a fabulous visit to the fish market. If any of you go to Awassa, you HAVE to visit this place. Monkeys eat out of your hand, and the pelicans are as big as you are. SO SO SO worth a visit.

* I got to visit Sabah's FIRST orphanage. The director was able to find her paperwork with her very first picture ever on record (that we know of). Such a special and emotional visit. I took lots of pictues of the baby room and the outside courtyard. I can't fully express what it meant to me to be there and to see this place. Ugh, bringing tears to my eyes as I type.

* I drove by the bus station where she was found. I tried to picture exactly where she might have been left and tried to imagine what her mother must have been feeling like that day. Again, very emotional.

*I got to exerience part of the Rift VAlley! THE RIFT VALLEY! One word: AMAZING. I also got to see Lake Awassa and Lake Lagano up close, as well as several other large lakes from a distance.

* I'm ready to start adoption no. 2 for a waiting child. Visiting the orphanage and seeing the older children again, has made it clear to me that this is what I want to do. Sabah will have an older sister soon (if everything works out as planned).

The Horrible:

* We were in a car accident coming back from Awassa

* My wonderful driver, Katama, hit a boy as he (the boy) darted across the HIGHWAY!

* It wasn't his fault and by the grace of God, he was able to slam on his brakes hard enough to not KILL the boy.

* I keep picturing the impact in my mind...it replays itself over and over and over

* There is no emergency service in Ethiopia. We had no choice but to put the boy in the back seat and find the nearest hospital

* The boy has a head injury and as he is drapped across my lap in the backseat, all I could do to comfort him was to stroke his cheek while holding a sweatshirt to his bleeding head.

* Ugh...hospitals in the country of Ethiopia are shall we say...different.

* In the course of waiting, at some point I hear the most horrendous moaning coming from the father. A lot of chaos follows. Lots of talking in Oromo. No one tells me anything. My driver is upset, my lawyer is crying(yes, Abebe was on the trip with us...I didn't know whether to put that in good or in horrible section). I thought the boy had died. Apparently he passed out and had to be revived.

* After three hours, the staff decides the boy should go to Addis Hospital...there is no ambulance service for this, so we have to drive him (another car/driver had been dispatched from addis to get me).

* a four hour drive back to Addis with a dying boy in the car....who is puking the whole way....not fun

* My driver is taken to prison. Like Mexico, if you get in an accident in Ethiopia, you are thrown in jail until court decides you are not guilty. He was still in prison when I left on Thursday.

* Boy goes to Addis hospital and last I heard, he was going to be ok.

* In all the comotion at the hospital, my camera was stolen from the car. I lost ALL the pictures I took of Sabah's first orphanage.

* The slamming on the brakes threw me forward and then back, so a pre-existing neck injury has flared-up like you wouldn't believe, making rest of the trip, as well as the long journey home, almost unbearable.

* the guesthouse STILL charged me for the full trip to Awassa! Unbelievable!

There were other good and other not so good things, but these were the highlights of both (good and bad). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post.

I'm so thankful to live in a country that has great emergency services and a justice system that says you are innocent until proven guilty. I pray everyday for Katama. It was his first accident ever (and he's been driving for a long time). He was visibly shaken up by what happened, and I didn't get a chance to say goodby to him and to tell him that it wasn't his fault. I still don't know how he is doing....

Pumpkin Patch

A couple of weeks ago (Yes, I know I'm behind in my blogging), Tina and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It was the first Pumpkin Patch visit for both Sabah and Elizabeth. We got to try Pumpkin Bowling. Elijah got a strike on his first throw. Sabah had one good throw and then threw one big fit, so she didn't get her three turns. Her cousins were happy to each have one of her turns. We got a hayride out to the field then spent about 20 minutes trying to find the perfect pumpkin. The rule was, if you can't carry it, you can't get it". How was it that Tina and I still ended up each carrying a pumpkin? The boys each got a good sized pumpkin in the patch, and the girls got baby pumpkins back at the check out line.

Fun Times.

Friends!

Last week, Sabah and I got to have dinner at Mudai (a GREAT Ethiopian restaurant here in Portland) with the Zeltins. I met Corey and Lisa in Ethiopia when we were both picking up our girls. They live in Bend and were in town for the weekend and we decided to re-unite the girls. Here is a sweet sweet moment that Lisa was able to capture on film of Sabah and Weredesh:

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Oh my gosh...it just makes my heart smile every time I watch this.

Sabah's list of Ethiopian friends just keeps growing and growing. Her Toukoul buddies that she's met live and in person now includes:

Weredesh Blog
Aslynn Blog
Janissa Blog
Jeremiah and Josiah Blog
Ruby and Roman Blog
Alec and Haven Blog

And not to forget little Zaela, who isn't from Toukoul, but is actually her first Ethiopian friend she met after coming home to the U.S.

We are lucky to have so many of these friends living in Portland and thankful for airplanes that allow us to visit those in California and Arizona. What a blessing for these children to keep this special connection with each other.