Fav Photo Friday

This is my all time favorite photo. Some people might think it weird to post a picture of the little girl, who I thought was mine for 5 incredible weeks, butI can't help it. It's my favorite photo. Aliyah Ann (Ali-Ann) is still a huge part of who I am and it's because of those 5 weeks with her that I'm so passionate about being a mother again. Yes, my heart breaks everytime I see this picture and I think of all the hugs and cuddles we are missing together, but my heart also smiles and melts when I remember those 5 amazing weeks.

I miss her terribly, but I look forward to bringing Sprout home and being the best mother I can be to her. I know Ali is ok. She is with her birth mother, and that really is the blessing of the story. I recently was able to see some pictures of her. Bittersweet to see how much she's grown in the last year, but not to have witnessed it. Bittersweet to see her beautiful face, but not to be able to kiss it. Bittersweet to see how long her hair is now, but not to be able to brush it.

She's a lucky little girl because she has two mommies who love her. One she just doesn't know about (and I hope she never does).

A Special Comment

A very special person, left me this comment after one of my posts. I decided to give it it's own post because it touched my heart so much. He (yes, that's right HE....a MALE wrote this beautiful letter from Sprout) knows the struggles I've had with trying to conceive when I was married, then the failed adoption with Aliyah, and then trying to conceive on my own after the divorce and not succeeding. He knows the tears that I have shed and he knows what the sound of a heart breaking sounds like. He'll probably be embarrassed for me posting this and for naming him, but "HE" is my brother-in-law Ron. Thank you Ron. Sprout will be very lucky to have an Uncle like you.

A letter from Sprout
Dear Mommy,
While I lay here in the vessel of my carrier, growing impatient to be delivered to the hands of the one who prayed for my being , I decided to write you a simple note.I just had a baby talk with God- He told me how much I will be loved and cared for. He said, I am the product of the tears you'd shed- He even said, you could have flooded a room in Heaven if He didn't give in to your prayers! He told me a lot of things about you-He said if He had made the world a square, you would already have fallen off the edge in your search for me! Your Love and prayers gave a reason for my existence, I am truly blessed!I'm already having dreams about you and I'm not even born yet! I already miss your touch before I could even see your hands. I lay in the cradle of your thoughts, your heart is the womb that I sleep in! I am growing inside a garden fenced with love, under the care of the one who truly wished for me.I am so grateful mommy! My true birth will be the day they put me in your arms!( I just hope I don't get gas that day, it will surely ruin the moment , don't you think?!) I just can't wait to be home!You are my mommy, not by chance, not by luck or not by any technicality, but simply because God chose you to be mine...and I guess, He did pretty well! Hugs, love and butt kisses, Sprout

( By the way, the above words were actually translated by God...all I really said was googoogaga...and lots of it!)

So incredibly sweet (except the gas part.....but you'd have to know Ron).

Fingerprinting is done

Well, I built up my fingerprinting appointment in my mind to be this wonderfully fabulous and exciting experience, but it turned out to be pretty anticlimactic. Here's the rundown:

5:00am - wake up thinking "YES, I get to fingerprint today"
7:00am - tell boss "I have a very important appointment at 10:00 for fingerprinting"
8:00am - can't really focus on work....excited to get to the appointment. Must watch clock so that I'm not late
9:00am - one more hour. Still must watch clock. Argue with myself about what time I should leave. USCIS is only 7 minutes away (according to google), so I should leave at 9:30. No that's too early. But I don't want to be late. OK, let's compromise (YES, I compromise with myself), I'll leave at 9:35 (ok, not a FAIR compromiser, but at least I budged a little). OK, 9:35 it is
9:35am - YES, I'm outta here. Bye bye boss. Be back soon.
9:42am - Yep, google was right. Wow, now I'm TOO early. Wait, where is the office. I don't see anything here but a little hole in the wall. Oh, THAT's the USCIS office? Hmmm, woulda thunk for my $80 per print they could have a nicer pad. Oh well.
9:55am - OK, I'll go in.
9:56am - Guard greeted me, handed me a paper to fill out, pointed me to waiting area
9:57am - Filled out form, gave back to guard
9:58am-Guard looks it over and tells me to go to desk around the corner
9:59am- Hand my paperwork to "receptionist" He gives me my number (31) amd tells me to have a seat.
10:00am - I sit for literally 1 second and I hear "number 31"
10:00am - sit at desk with person doing fingerprinting. He types info into the screen
10:03am - He finishes with computer and has me stand next to him and takes my prints. All five digets of the left hand together then all five digets of the right hand together. Then he continues to take each digit seperately of the right hand. Was doing fine with the first four (got the green ok light), but when he did the pinky I got the red warning light. So, he takes it again. Same red light. So, he takes it again. Same red light. So he moves on to the next hand???? Huh, what about the warning???? Left hand...all digits get the green light except the index. Same procedure as above....same outcome....Hmmmm, I hope I pass.
10:08am - Done with prints. He gives me my paperwork back and a yellow comment card and says to me to go fill it out, put it in the box and I am done
10:09am - fill out card, put in box, leave.
See, very anticlimactic. But at least it's done.

Burqitu Restaurant

If you want to have some great Ethiopian food, check out Burqitu East African Restaurant. It’s a cute little restaurant recently purchased by Kamso and Zubeda (it used to be The Horn of Africa).
Now, before I tried Burqitu, I had never tried Ethiopian food. And since I’m kind of a picky eater, and I HATE spicy food, I was a bit hesitant to try it out. OK, I was A LOT hesitant. But, I figured I’d better try it here in the States before traveling to Ethiopia so I know what I’ll be in for. Well, I can tell you that not only was I pleasantly surprised, but my mom and my sister were as well. In fact, we were more than pleasantly surprised….we were amazed at how much we liked the food.
I’m so happy I have found this restaurant. My Mom came to Portland on Mother’s day since my sister was in town visiting from Houston, and we decided to finally try some Ethio food. We had no idea which restaurant to go to, but I literally have 6 to choose from in a two-mile radius from my house (apparently I live in the heart of the Ethiopian community…..I didn’t plan it that way, but what a blessing that will be for me and for Sprout). So anyway, we just drove down the road till we found one that was open. The only one we found open was Burqitu, and I’m sooooooooooooo glad we did. Kamso has served us (and cooked for us) each time I’ve been there (4 times now since mother’s day) and she is so friendly. She makes me not want to try the other restaurants and keeps me coming back to hers. I always order my food VERY mild, and she has always tried to talk me into spicing it up “just a little bit”, but I’d always said no. That was until last night. We finally told her to go ahead and spice it up a bit, but to not go crazy. It was so so so so good, and not too spicy. She said “see, I told you you would like it”. She was right. THANKS Kamso.
So, for all you Portlanders out there, please go and try Burqitu. They are at 3939 NE MLK (503-288-3366). And if you aren’t in Portland, I encourage to find an Ethiopian restaurant near you and give it a try. You just might be pleasantly surprised too!

The picture turned out a bit blurry, but here is a sample of their delicious food.

Woo Hoo.....LOVE the mailman today

I got home this afternoon, and not really having any expectations of anything in the mailbox, I was pleasantly surpised (OK ECSTATIC) to find the following:

This is my OFFICIAL "INVITATION" from Homeland Security to get my biometrics recorded. Simply put....I get to go have my fingerprints taken. I'm sooooooooooo excited to get this. Once they have my fingerprints, it should be just a few more weeks before I get the "golden ticket". The appointment is at the end of next week......I wish it were sooner!

But wait, that's not all.....I also received a package containing these:

Aren't they adorable? Some very special people sent them to me and I LOVE them (the wall plaques AND the people who sent them to me). :) Thank you so much.

What more could I ask for....ok, the golden ticket would be nice....but all in due time. All in due time.

Fave Photo Friday

OK, so a lot of blogs that I've seen have what they call "Favorite Photo Friday", and since I can't come up with my own unique posts, I guess I will have to copy them and start my own Fave Photo Friday posts (hey, at least you will all know that there will be at least one post a week). :)

I'm at work, so I don't have that many photos saved to my computer, so this is one of my favorites from the limited selection I have here:

This is a picture of Eli trying to play the piano, and Ethan being a typical little brother and bothering him (and as you can see he's also a HUGE ham).

Waiting Waiting Waiting

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but that's because there is no new news. The mailman is once again my worst enemy. I sent in my homestudy to USCIS last week (overnight, so I know they got it last Monday), so now I'm waiting for INS to "invite" me down to their building for a round of fingerprinting. Every step is important, yet you have to wait for each step to start the next one.....it gets frustrating. I'm a multi-tasker......I want to work on ALL steps at the same time and get it all done at one. But, it just doesn't work that way with adoption. Each step, in it's own time, and in it's own order. That's just the way it is, and I'm just going to have to learn to deal with it.


So, in the meantime, since I have nothing too interesting to blog about, I thought I would introduce you to Sprout's brother............







This is Tanner.....he's, oh, about 9 now (yes, I'm a terrible cat mommy....I don't really know how old he is even though I got him when he could fit in the palm of my hand). He's a great cat, but he suffers from bi-polar disorder. I self diagnosed him, but I'm pretty sure it's an accurate diagnosis. Because if it's not, then I have to admit to myself that I raised a nasty mean cat (at times) and I just can't accept that harsh reality.


Seriously though, he's a great cat. He just is stubborn and knows what he wants when he wants it. He could be laying beside me (he is NOT a cuddler and will NOT sit on my lap) and I could be happily petting him, and he would SEEM to be enjoying it (you know, he's got the purring thing goin on, and the drooling thing (he drools when he is content)), and then all of a sudden he will apparently be done, because he will reach out and swat at me and hiss at me. The little shit! Luckily it's not enough of an issue to seek therapy for him and put him on medication, but he better watch it, or I just might.


He is such a pretty cat though and has the most beautiful blue eyes (yes, I'm biased, but just take a look....he's gorgeous, no?). And YES, I do realize that his BMI is probably in the morbidly obese catagory, but most of that is his fluffy hair. No, really, it is! OK, maybe I'm in denial about his "fur weight", but I'm not good at diets, I don't know how I would expect him to be.




He's my baby, and I love him. He is NOT going to be happy about the arrival of his baby sister though, I can tell you that much. He already has decided the crib is his, and I have to keep the door shut to the baby's room, otherwise I will undoubtably find him snoozin and snugglin in there with the blankies.