Plane tickets, packing and birthdays!

The fantasy has finally become a reality! We've got plane tickets! The boys are leaving next Saturday and arriving in Addis on Monday night. We were able to finagle the stopover in Frankfurt so The Boy will be spending his 12th birthday in the city in which he was born. We're hoping to take an updated photo of the one shown here on the right. (Although, I think the Boy may be a little hard to pick up for the picture now!) My photographer extraordinaire friend, A, took this the day before we PCSed back to the States, as part of a cookbook/memory book made by the women with whom I shared my "military-wife" life.

After spending the week in Addis, they will all FOUR of them fly home on Saturday morning, December 2nd!!!

In preparation for their departure, a packing monster has taken over my body coupled with its evil twin the shopping monster. Between these two travel demons, there won't be much that does NOT get purchased or packed! My mother in law came over to help sort through the growing pile of things on the dining room table. (I'd get a picture but the camera lens is not large enough to capture it all!!!) However, with her help, we have now designated all the outfits that need to be washed and organized. On Monday morning, the plan is to lay out each complete outfit (include socks, underwear, etc) and roll/fold them up and tie a ribbon around them to hold them together. This way, Dad will have an easier time locating a complete outfit for each child. (Note: I will not be rolling his or the Boy's outfits with ribbon...) Then, I decided on each of the ribbons, to attach a little note for each day for H and inside each rolled outfit a little toy for Baby T, since I won't be there those first few days with them. I'll try to get a picture before it gets packed. Any suggestions for baby toys that would be small enough to fit in a rolled up outfit?

Of Passports and Birth Certificates

On the fifth day of Hidar in the year of 1999 (according to the Ethiopian calendar), the official birth certificates were issued for H and Baby T! We received a file containing copies of the certificates yesterday! The certificates are written in both Amharic and English. It sure is strange to see what our names look like spelled out in Amharic. I imagine, it is equally strange for H to see her name in the Roman alphabet! Either way, in Amharic or English, the papers were just another confirmation that this is real and they are really, really ours! Holding the papers is good, but holding our children will be oh-so-much better!

And, to top this good news off, we received another update from Anne this morning. She writes:

Just wanted to let you know that I went to the passport office with H and Baby T yesterday. Baby T got to wear spiffy tennies -- he looked very cute. He is a very sweet little guy -- and is so loved by the nannies. He makes lots of eye contact, smiles, reaches out, and seems to be doing great. H came into Wanna and was helping to get him ready, tying his shoes, etc. -- she is so nurturing with him, and also with the other babies. She was so cute -- she had barrettes in her hair and looked so excited and proud. She has REALLY gorgeous hair -- oh, my. Loose, beautiful curls -- wow!

B and I are wondering if the barrettes H had in her hair were the ones we sent in her welcome bag?!
We are getting really close and soon, actually, just in time for Advent, we'll all be home together!

Amharic Lesson

I promised I would include some information about the Amharic language. The picture to the right is of Genesis 26 written in Amharic. This information is from Wikipediapia. Ethiopia has eighty-four indigenous languages. Some of these are:
Afar
Amharic
Anfillo
Berto
Bussa
Hadiya
Harari
Konso
Ongota
Oromo
Saho
Soddo
Silt'e
Somali
Tigrinya
English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is taught in all secondary schools. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction, but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromifa and Tigrinya.

Amharic language
Not to be confused with the Aramaic language.
Spoken in:
Ethiopia
Total speakers:
27 million as a first language, between 7-15 million more as a second language
Language family:
Afro-Asiatic Semitic South Semitic Ethiopic South Ethiopic Amharic
Writing system:
Ge'ez alphabet
Official status
Official language of:
Ethiopia and the following specific regions: Addis Ababa City Council, Afar Region, Amhara Region, Benishangul-Gumaz Region, Dire Dawa Administrative council, Gambela Region, SNNPR
Amharic (አማርኛ āmariññā) is a Semitic language spoken in North Central Ethiopia by the Amhara. It is the second most spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the "official working" language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and thus has official status and use nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working language of several of the states within the federal system, including Amhara Region, the multi-ethnic Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, and Afar Region, despite the latter's homogeneity. It has been the working language of government, the military, and of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church throughout modern times. Outside Ethiopia, Amharic is the language of some 2.7 million emigrants (notably in Egypt, Israel and Sweden), and is spoken in Eritrea by educated Eritreans of the preindependence generation and younger deportees from Ethiopia.
It is written, with some adaptations, with the Ge'ez alphabet (used for the language of the same name) called fidel in Ethiopian Semitic languages (ፊደል fĭdel 'alphabet,' 'letter,' or 'character').

Note: The strange square boxes are the places where the Ge'ez characters should appear, but a special download was needed to translate them for this article.

Ge'ez (ግዕዝ Gəʿəz) is an abugida script which was originally developed to write Ge'ez, a Semitic language. In languages which use it, e.g. Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is called Fidäl (ፊደል), which means script or alphabet.
The Ge'ez script has been adapted to write other languages, usually Semitic ones. The most widespread use is for Amharic in Ethiopia and Tigrinya in Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is also used for Sebatbeit, Me'en, and most other languages of Ethiopia. In Eritrea it is used for Tigre, and it is traditionally used for Blin, a Cushitic language. Some other languages in the Horn of Africa, such as Oromo, used to be written using Ge'ez but have migrated to Latin-based orthographies.The Ge'ez script is an abugida: each symbol represents a consonant+vowel combination, and the symbols are organized in groups of similar symbols on the basis of both the consonant and the vowel.
Ge'ez is written from left to right across the page.
In Ge'ez, each consonant can be combined with seven vowels:
ä, u, i, a, e, ə, o

You can listen to the sound of the language here. As for how much Amharic my husband and I speak...tinnish! I'll let you guess what that means.

Batten Down the Hatches

The seas are getting stormy around here. Today, in no particular order, I was treated to the following:

• our three year old, CB, wailing and gnashing her teeth through a doctor's visit at which she required a breathing treatment and antibiotics for bronchitis.
• still no update on our travel arrangements---I've heard of "Ethiopia time" but is everyone in America who deals with Ethiopia required to be on it? Sheesh.
• our 6 month inspection for our foster care license, where I met our new case worker.
• my darling two year old, who speaks her own form of broken English, and her three year old sister cheering, "Hooray! Hooray! We've got lipstick!" This drew my attention for a number of obvious reasons. When I got to where they were, I discovered that the lipstick was actually a purple colored GLUE-stick!

It's no wonder we don't hear more about Mrs. Noah on the ark. If she was smart, she grabbed a cup of tea (or more) and headed to a quiet spot near the mice and deer and curled up with a good book for most of the trip!

Chicken and Biscuits

Last Sunday night, my whole family was headed out for a leisurely dinner with some very dear friends of ours, D and J and their three sons. We'd been planning this meal for a number of weeks now (she promised chicken and mashed potatoes-which my kids love-and asked me to bring some biscuits), and even after an extremely long and tiring week, we were looking forward to it. Now, that being said, our families are in and out of each other's homes (and lives) on an almost daily basis--for better or for worse, in sickness and in health...sorry, J, I know you think D and I spend WAY too much time together as it is!!! So, after the aforementioned long week, it was going to take all my effort to pull the pony tail holder out of my hair and put on something other than a "blue suit" (A, I'll allow you to elaborate if necessary). Needless to say, I was not planning to "dress" for the occasion, and just as a side note, my dear husband made no attempt at persuading me to, other than saying, "Don't you even want to take a shower?" So, at the last minute, I threw on a sweater, brushed out my hair and brushed (I think) my teeth. We loaded our crew up and headed off for dinner, but when we arrived, with our basket full of still-warm biscuits; we found this instead:

I imagine the look on my face said it all:

We walked in to find (much to the boy's dismay) no dinner, but lots of yummy appetizers, a roomful of friends and family and, more importantly, love--for us, for our family, and for our newest two ark riders...H and Baby T-- squeezing out of every nook and cranny of the room!

It was such a special night for our entire family. We received so many beautiful, thoughtful and generous gifts...to be the recipient of such generosity humbled us beyond words. ( Okay, well maybe not entirely beyond words. )

Besides all of the amazing gifts for H and Baby T, I think my favorite gift of all was a gift crafted by my...always willing to go along with my harebrained schemes, "I'll try anything once," carpool partner... and lovingly finished by this group of women whom I am blessed to call my friends was this:

It has already found a place of honor on our dining room table. The notes from everyone and the beautiful words from St. John's gospel remind me of what I told the ladies that night at the end of the shower: H and Baby T aren't so much lucky to be coming home to our family as they are lucky that our family has been blessed with friends and family like these; who are waiting, too, for them to come home.

I told my kids, I think we've got a new favorite meal. Can you guess? It's definitely chicken and biscuits!

Grateful

There is a family in our agency, who waited nearly 8 months for the referral of their baby girl. When they received the referral, however, they were just too late to make court before it closed until October. They were assigned to our group and were *scheduled* to have a court date on October 16th, too. As you know, court didn't happen until November began and then we received embassy dates for later this month. The family decided to travel early to not wait another moment to be with their darling daughter. So, they're in Ethiopia RIGHT NOW...Why am I telling you all this (especially for those of you who have followed this story, too)? I'm telling you this, because while they are there early to deliberately spend time with their new daughter, they have gone out of their way to A. find and spend time with H and Baby T and B. make the effort to get to an internet connection to upload and send this to us:

Outside at Layla House

Sitting up!!!

She also included this note:

I saw Bedlu and Helen briefly early last week. Bedlu is a happy boy -- he looks terrific. His spots are healing up, he's happy and looks very healthy! Helen is such a sweet, sweet girl -- you're going to adore her (I know you do already...). She was so helpful to us when we were touring Layla -- so polite, and just so precious.

I am so grateful to this family for sharing their precious time with our kids as well as their own whom they waited so long to see. This is really a great testimony to our agency that families who travel help each other out like this. It makes the surreal seem real to see this family, finally, actually in Ethiopia, and it is a light at the end of our own tunnel.

Sale and Travel Update and More Perspective

First, some very good news...thanks to some very kind and generous friends (you all know who you are!) our sale has BROKEN the $1,000 mark! Thank you all so much!!! I emailed our agency to tell them our results and hope to hear if they know how the money will be spent. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Second, some not so good news...the very sweet woman we were working with to make our travel arrangements suffered a mild heart attack on Friday. The travel office isn't sure when or if she'll be back at work. All this time while we were wondering why no one had returned our emails and we weren't getting any further by making phone calls, her family was probably waiting for news too. Generally speaking we know when we're traveling, we just don't have *official* dates or flight numbers yet. The good news is that we can and will get them. As I remarked to my husband, if worst comes to worse, we could by a last minute ticket the day before and just hop a flight to go. It's just not worth getting all worked up over. Life is too short, and it took a travel agent to remind us.

All in the perspective

B: Mom, my teacher has this book, but her cover looks different.

Me: Yes. Your teacher has a newer copy of the book. This cover is different, but the pictures and words are the same inside. Your mom just has an older book because she's a little bit older than your teacher.

B: No, no, Mom. That's not true...

Pause for dramatic effect

B: You're A LOT older than my teacher.

No Greater Love

When putting the flyer together for the Sacrifice Sale, I chose the scripture verse, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (Jn 15:13) It seemed an appropriate way to put in terms children could understand what it was we were asking them to do. Over the last few days, however, I've come to think that maybe the children really didn't need all that much of an explanation. As I spoke to children, teachers and parents about Ethiopia and the orphan crisis, I was continually humbled by the people who joined with us in making this sale a huge success, in many, many ways. For example:

• The fourth grade girl who held her dollar tightly in her hand, picking up and examining many items before her teacher called for the students to line up. She turned to me, looked at the dollar in her hand, and barely whispered, "Here. I just want you to have this. I don't need any toys." Sacrifice.


• The parent who asked, "Hey. How's the sale going?" And when I responded with the amount we had raised at that point she shook her head saying, "Oh no, no. That just won't do. We need to do more." She wrote out a check on the spot for over one hundred dollars. She took a single bandana to use for her kid's party games. Sacrifice.


• The family who delivered a sealed envelope with only the words, "Sacrifice Sale" written in pen on the outside. When the envelope was opened, long after this family was gone, we found inside a brand new one hundred dollar bill--no name, no note, their good deed known only to God. Sacrifice.


• The child who carried a ziploc bag filled with 100 pennies he had counted out at his home. Sacrifice.


• The families whose children brought home toys that chirped, buzzed, squawked, beeped and rang. Sacrifice.


• The teacher who bought less than 10 items and said, "Everything is just one dollar? That doesn't seem like enough. I'm going to give you a little more." Then handed over a check for fifty dollars. Did I mention she teaches at a Catholic school? Sacrifice.


• The people who stopped to ask about adoption from Ethiopia and in asking, shared their own stories--of infertility, of miscarriage or of loss--with me. Sacrifice.


• The parents who volunteered at the sale, while juggling work schedules, child care, parent-teacher conferences and illness. Sacrifice.


• The child who found the book she had donated when her class came to the sale and spent her own dollar to buy it back. Sacrifice.

Kimberly Hahn says, "We have been bought, at a very, very high price. God loved us so much that he sent His only Son, who lived only to die, that we might see Heaven." SACRIFICE---and do you know what? These children, these teachers, these parents, they get it.

We have always loved our children's school and felt that it was the best decision that they attend. However, with the prospect of H starting school there shortly, followed by CB next fall--the cost of ever rising tuition has been a frequent topic of conversation here on the ark. If anyone learned about the meaning of sacrifice from this sale, maybe it was me. The cost to educate our growing family here may be a sacrifice for us, but after witnessing the generous hearts of our school community these past two days, this is one sacrifice we're willing to make.

***Our sale went on to raise $729.71 and gather a suitcase full of socks and underwear, which is an amazing gift from our school children to the children of Layla House (our orphanage). This donation will be matched, up to $1,000.00. So we're going to try to come up with the last $270 and change to get the full match for Layla House before my husband and son leave in about 2 weeks!***

In Brief

I'm fighting a little cold and I need to be at school again tomorrow for the sale, but...a brief update--we had already raised approximately $230.00 when school ended today. We're hoping to raise even more!!! We also had some donations of socks, underwear and toothbrushes/floss made to take with us. There were also a few families interested in adoption information. So, it seems like so far--so good! The sale ends tomorrow night so I hope to have some more news when it ends. Before I turn in, however, I wanted to share this interesting article my brother forwarded to me. It has to do with some changes in international adoption policy according to the Hague Convention. It gives a lot of great information, particularly for people just starting the adoption process or those who might be considering it. That's it for now. G'night.

Sale Starts Tomorrow!

The "Sacrifice Sale" that our family, along with two other families who have adopted children from Ethiopia and who go to our school, begins tomorrow! We're really hoping that this will be a great opportunity in many ways. We hope to raise funds for our agency's orphanage and also to educate other families about adoption--specifically in Ethiopia. We want to promote cultural understanding and teach our children about sacrifice. It's funny, though, how we as adults are quick to think we are always the teachers and our children are always the students. In spite of ourselves, our children manage, on more than one occasion to remind us that they, too, can teach; and in some cases, the lesson is better taught, when it comes from them. Pray for a successful fundraiser tomorrow and to learn more about sacrifice, stop by and read this story (told by one of the other families hosting the sale) for a lesson you won't soon forget.

Scripture Request Update

Thank you for all the various scripture verses for us to ponder. We're trying to narrow down the list. Here's what we have so far:

• "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me. Don't stop them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are like these children.'" -Matthew 19:14
• "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before your were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." -Jeremiah 1:5
• "He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will..." -Ephesians 1:5
• "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." -Romans 8:17
• "...So that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, "Abba! Father!" So that you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God." -Galatians 4:5-7
• "Let us love one another, for love comes from God." - 1 John 4:7
• "May the Lord bless and keep you, may his face shine upon you and be gracious and give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26

A few of these were shared with us in a very special, very surprising way over this weekend, about which I will post later once I can let my words wrap around my thoughts. Thank you everyone for your help and if you have further suggestions--send them my way!

Halloween 2006-Part 2

N, as Snow White and CB, as a pink poodle!

B, as an angel and The Boy as a soldier.

Minus the sneakers (yes, A, I said "sneakers") he is wearing all of his Dad's old BDUs from his time in 3/5 CAV when The Boy was born! Twelve years ago, you couldn't have possibly convinced me that our first, sweet baby would have ever fit into his Dad's Army uniform! (sniff, sniff)

Halloween 2006

The boy and CB before trick-or-treating started.

All smiles for candy!

My youngest in-law, J, walked the full TWO hours outside with the oldest group of kids and came home with a ton of candy!

Inspiration requested

I'm looking for some assistance. I have gotten into the habit (okay, maybe it's more of an obsessive hobby) of stamping--thankyouverymuch, AG, my own personal stamp pimp--our family Christmas card. I'd also like to do an insert card this year with our adoption announcement on it. I had planned to include the scripture verse from 1 Samuel when Hannah says, "For this child, I prayed...". I really like it, but as I have shared with some of you, my thoughts on this verse have changed somewhat since I first found it. Originally, it seemed like a perfect fit. We had prayed for our adopted child (as we have for all of our other children) but now we have TWO adopted children and "For the children, I prayed..." Well, it just seems off a bit. That's the smaller of the issues with the verse, however. As we've gone through the adoption process and come to a greater, although not yet full I'm sure, understanding of adoption; one thing has been really driven home: as great and wonderful as adoption is, especially considering the alternatives in some cases, at the heart of adoption is great loss. Our children will have lost their birth parents, the first family they knew, their homeland, possibly their language and probably more that we haven't yet realized. We wouldn't have "prayed" for this for anyone, let alone our own children. So, I'm looking for a new scripture verse or a way to spin the one we've chosen to reflect how we really feel. Any suggestions? Go ahead, I'm listening...

What to pack?

We've been thinking of some very basic things we need to bring as well as leaving room for the items we're bringing to donate, but after seeing these pictures of Baby T, it seems some "gender appropriate" clothing may be in order!!!

Gotta love the pink sleeper covered in little hearts! Look at his face, he's just screaming, "Will somebody pleeeease take this off of me!!!" I wonder who his friend is?

A nice picture. First, because our sweet boy is in it, peering up at the camera from the bottom right corner; and second, because we can see him in relation to some other babies--it's hard to guesstimate sizes when he's the only one in the picture!

Thank You!!!

To all of our family and friends, who overwhelmed us with phone calls, emails and blog comments today! We are so grateful for all of your support and encouragement. It seems surreal that less than 4 weeks from now we'll be journeying halfway around the world to bring H and Baby T finally home. My Ethiopian mentor of sorts must not be too far removed from their journey this summer because she hit the nail on the head when she commented, "You're probably wondering now how to get so much done in such a little amount of time!" This is so true, but we're staying the course, and perhaps, as we do you'll be inclined to hang out just a little bit longer on the ark (is anyone counting-have we even been on board 40 days yet?) and see what happens as we prepare to drop anchor later this month.

Tacos for dinner

Not really news of note, but each time I've called my dear husband today to give updates on our court situation, I apparently make note of this. Sorry, dear. So, I told him on my next blog entry I would mention that we were having tacos for dinner. (At this point, he's probably sighing and shaking his head that I actually did just that.) But, the REAL reason for this subsequent posting today---after receiving such good news is to announce that we ALSO have an EMBASSY DATE!!! Our embassy date is on November 29th. The boys need to arrive is Addis no later than November 28th and can depart for home (what a nice ring that has) as early as December 1st. If memory serves from other traveling families, they could be home as early as December 2nd! We always believed we served a God of miracles, now we know for sure.

We passed!!!

Sorry hon, trying to contact you before blogging this news, but I just couldn't wait! We just received word that ALL of the Group A cases passed court today! Guess we'd better start packing!

Prayer Request

If you are so inclined, a couple of prayer requests:

For our court case tomorrow, and for all the other Group A families that court passes smoothly and without a single snag leading to the assignment of Embassy dates and travel dates in the near future!

For the peace talks and growing hostile environment on the Horn of Africa (where Ethiopia is located). The attempt at peace talks failed and the next attempt won't be until mid-December. There are long-standing issues here--religious, border disputes, etc...to name a few. You can read more about the situation unfolding here. It is so easy to be disconnected from the in-fighting of a few impoverished, ancient nations a continent away until pieces of your heart sit, helplessly, away from you, while the situation deteriorates around them.

For these intentions---Lord, hear our prayer.