Four Things
Four Places I've Lived:
Ramona, CA
Davis, CA
San Diego, CA
Gallatin, TN
Four Jobs I've Had:
Special Education Teacher
Tour Guide at Sea World in San Diego
Bus Driver, UC Davis
Swim Teacher
Four Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die:
Meet my Grandchildren
Travel to Australia with my family
Get my Masters degree
Go on a missions trip to Ethiopia with my family
Four Favorite Desserts:
Birthday cake ice cream with snickers
Chocolate chip cookies
Cookie dough blizzard from DQ
Chocolate milkshake
Four Interesting Facts About Me:
-I have to limit myself when I clean because I will keep finding more to clean and will not stop until it's done. I can spend the whole day cleaning one room if I don't set a time limit. Another part of this is when we go out of town our house has to be totally clean, otherwise I'll be very cranky when we get back.
-I truly enjoy cooking and gardening. Two things I never thought I would like to do.
-In our king size bed, I take up 3/4 of it, while Kurt gets the remaining sliver. I move a lot when I sleep!
-I have to have a glass of water by my bed when I go to sleep, I usually don't drink any of it.
Four Favorite TV Shows:
Survivor
LOST
CSI
ER
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Learning English is hard...but very funny!!!!
Micah loves to build huge lego cars and drive them around the island in the kitchen. Inevitably they crash and break into a bunch of peices. When it happens he started saying, "I know!" This went on for about a week. I could never figure out why he was saing, "I know!" Then one day we were driving down our street, it had just rained so I was driving through the puddles. When the water splashed on the car Micah would say, "I know!" It finally hit me, he was trying to say "oh-no!" So I asked, "Are you saying oh-no?" He smiles and says, "yeah, oh-no." We all laughed!
Hannah has been impressing us with her counting ability. It is to the point where I feel like I have the Count from Sesame Street with me at all times. She has just started counting past ten. To give you an example, today in the car I was smacking my gum (which my Mom hates, but now I'm the mom so I can do it as much as I want), Hannah was of course counting how many times I popped my gum. Hannah: "....nine, ten, elephant, twelve." Kurt and I were laughing so hard. Me: "Hannah it's not elephant it's eleven." Hannah: "elephant, twelve." Me: " no eleven." Hannah :"eleven" Me: "good job." It still sounds a little bit like she's saying elephant.
I've realized there are a lot of English words that sound very similiar. Our poor kids, having to learn such a hard second language. :( At least it's entertaining for us.
Hannah has been impressing us with her counting ability. It is to the point where I feel like I have the Count from Sesame Street with me at all times. She has just started counting past ten. To give you an example, today in the car I was smacking my gum (which my Mom hates, but now I'm the mom so I can do it as much as I want), Hannah was of course counting how many times I popped my gum. Hannah: "....nine, ten, elephant, twelve." Kurt and I were laughing so hard. Me: "Hannah it's not elephant it's eleven." Hannah: "elephant, twelve." Me: " no eleven." Hannah :"eleven" Me: "good job." It still sounds a little bit like she's saying elephant.
I've realized there are a lot of English words that sound very similiar. Our poor kids, having to learn such a hard second language. :( At least it's entertaining for us.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Micah and Hannah's First Halloween
It didn't take long for Micah and Hannah to figure out that Halloween meant candy! They had a great Halloween. We went over to our friends' house, Melanie and Lamont. The kids got to hand out candy with Megan and Maddox, then we all went trick or treating. My absolute favorite picture is of Hannah with the Jason mask on while in her Tinkerbell costume. Hannah loved getting her glitter make up on, where as Micah hated the mustache I drew on him and asked me to take it off. Oh well, Captain Hook shaved that day. :) Micah also went on his first field trip to the pumpkin patch. He had a so much fun playing with all his buddies.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Why are we wearing these????
So yesterday we offically put the kids in their Halloween costumes. They had ran around the house with them on, but had yet to have all the parts on at once. In preparation for the church Fall Festival we woke them up from their naps to get them ready to go. Micah is Captain Hook (without a hat because when we tried it on in the store he said no and threw it on the floor) and Hannah is Tinkerbell ( without wings because I bought them and now I have absotluetly NO IDEA where I hid them). FYI neither of them have any idea what they are dressed up as. We told them they would get candy, so they were ready to go.
We arrive at the Festival. The kids stand staring at this person in a giant dog costume. They weren't scared just a little suprised. Of course when someone asked them what they were, they got a blank stare in response. Both of them played every game and went on every jumpy thing. They were sure to pick up tons of candy at each booth. Micah went with Kurt to play a tossing game, when he finished he leaned over the candy bin and grabbed as much candy as he could possibly hold... I'm sure there was some rule about how much you could take but no one told him no. Kurt's cargo pants were full of candy because as new parents who have no idea what were doing half the time we forgot a bag to put their candy in...poor Kurt!
Micah was being particularly funny last night. He saw a balloon get let go and go up to God (how Micah put it). He told Kurt he wanted to let his go. So he let it go, Kurt caught it, Micah laughed, he let it go again, Kurt caught it Micah laughed, he took the balloon back walked away from Kurt and said, "Please, Daddy no." Micah let it go one final time and it went up to God too.
We arrive at the Festival. The kids stand staring at this person in a giant dog costume. They weren't scared just a little suprised. Of course when someone asked them what they were, they got a blank stare in response. Both of them played every game and went on every jumpy thing. They were sure to pick up tons of candy at each booth. Micah went with Kurt to play a tossing game, when he finished he leaned over the candy bin and grabbed as much candy as he could possibly hold... I'm sure there was some rule about how much you could take but no one told him no. Kurt's cargo pants were full of candy because as new parents who have no idea what were doing half the time we forgot a bag to put their candy in...poor Kurt!
Micah was being particularly funny last night. He saw a balloon get let go and go up to God (how Micah put it). He told Kurt he wanted to let his go. So he let it go, Kurt caught it, Micah laughed, he let it go again, Kurt caught it Micah laughed, he took the balloon back walked away from Kurt and said, "Please, Daddy no." Micah let it go one final time and it went up to God too.
Monday, October 22, 2007
good child vs. not so good child
Kurt and I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. As of Saturday, it did! Hannah has been testing the boundaries again and again. It is just like how she behaved while we were in Ethiopia. We tell her no, and she does it anyway. She spent the majority of her weekend in trouble. Micah on the other hand is being very good. He is of course sure to point that out as Hannah is taking the walk to the time out chair. The worst incident occurred at our agency's annual picnic. We were all sitting at a picnic talbe eating dinner. Hannah thought it would be a good idea to vigoriously shake her head with a mouth FULL of food. Oh yeah, our soical worker was sitting with us. This is an old behavior. She used to do it all the time while we were in country. I started counting, she continued to do it until I got to 2. Thankfully she stopped. I have decided that she likes the attention she gets from having bad behavior. The most frustrating part is that she is so cute, that most people around us when she is acting out think it's adorable. She sucks up all the glances and smiles. UGH!!!!
This morning I was leaving with the kids to take Micah to school. Kurt was working in the office. this is what transpired
I yelled," good-bye Kurt"
Hannah, "good-bye Kurt"
I said," Hannah you don't call Daddy that, you say Daddy."
Hannah, "okay, good-bye Kurt."
Kurt said," You can leave her here in time out."
Me, "Thanks, Hannah go to time out."
So frustrating. Micah just looked at me with raised eye brows as if to say, "oh well."
This morning I was leaving with the kids to take Micah to school. Kurt was working in the office. this is what transpired
I yelled," good-bye Kurt"
Hannah, "good-bye Kurt"
I said," Hannah you don't call Daddy that, you say Daddy."
Hannah, "okay, good-bye Kurt."
Kurt said," You can leave her here in time out."
Me, "Thanks, Hannah go to time out."
So frustrating. Micah just looked at me with raised eye brows as if to say, "oh well."
Sunday, October 14, 2007
First Days of School
Micah's first day of school was October 1st. He was so excited to go! I was way more nervous than he was. :) Hannah's first day at preschool was October 2nd. As you can see she was excited too! They both love school and each other. We have to count down how many days are left until they go to school again. Their teachers both say they are a delight to have in class. Everyone loves them!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Ethiopia Part III
Day 6- Embassy Day
Embassy day is the day that the U.S. government recognizes your adoption. You dress nicely, wait in a very sad looking waiting room, just to talk to a guy thru a glass window. I was expecting the US Embassy building to look a whole lot nicer than it did. I would show you pictures...but there were no cameras allowed. This was also the first time Hannah had to go into time out. She sat in a corner of the waiting area with me for a couple minutes, shed a few tears, and returned to playing with her friends. The whole Embassy appointment was a lot more uneventful than we originally thought.
Later that day, Hannah found herself in her second time out. This time Daddy put her in it. She was not happy. She proceeded to tantrum for an hour and a half while Kurt held her on his lap. Micah and I played in the room while Hannah screamed. Eventually she gave in and told Kurt she would listen to Daddy. I think everyone within ear shot thought we were torturing her. :) So on this momentous day no pictures, except for Hannah screaming while on Kurt's lap.
Day 7
We went on a sight seeing trip with the other two families who were picking up there kids. We traveled up to Entoto Mountain on a "minibus." The view of Addis Ababa from the mountain was breathtaking. We found out that many of the Ethiopian olympic runners come from the village on top of the mountain. They train by running up and down the windy road. I found the donkeys traveling down the mountain with wood and eucalyptus on their backs to be hilarious. They just followed the road and would trot down with all these branches bouncing on their backs. The heart wrenching part was seeing women with just as large of loads walking up and down the mountain, knowing the very little amount of money they would be paid for their effort.
We toured a beautiful church, said to be where the Arc of the Convenant had been hidden hundreds of years earlier. We also visited a church carved out of rock in the side of hill, the Arc was hidden there prior to moving into the other church they built to house it. Then we traveled down the road to visit the weavers. Men and women work on the weaving machines making different linens to be sold. It takes them five days to make one tablecloth.
This evening we went to dinner with all the families and some of the CWA staff to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant. Micah and Hannah were the only ones not wearing their traditional clothes we had bought them while at the weaver's stores :( Hannah ate a TON of food. I could not even beleive everything she shoved into her mouth. In ethiopia it is custom to feed the people you love. Since you eat with your hands, you are being fed from the other persons hand right to your mouth. So here is Hannah with her little fist over flowing with squishy spicy ethiopian food holding it up to me to eat. Of course you have to eat it all, otherwise it would hurt her feelings. I was sweating...the food was SO SPICY. My stomach was quite upset after that meal. We just let Hannah and Micah eat as much as they wanted because we knew it was the last time they would have Ethiopian food while in Ethiopia. Unfortunately both of the kids were VERY SICK the next day. We learned that we need to put some limits in place with eating otherwise they would make themselves sick.
Embassy day is the day that the U.S. government recognizes your adoption. You dress nicely, wait in a very sad looking waiting room, just to talk to a guy thru a glass window. I was expecting the US Embassy building to look a whole lot nicer than it did. I would show you pictures...but there were no cameras allowed. This was also the first time Hannah had to go into time out. She sat in a corner of the waiting area with me for a couple minutes, shed a few tears, and returned to playing with her friends. The whole Embassy appointment was a lot more uneventful than we originally thought.
Later that day, Hannah found herself in her second time out. This time Daddy put her in it. She was not happy. She proceeded to tantrum for an hour and a half while Kurt held her on his lap. Micah and I played in the room while Hannah screamed. Eventually she gave in and told Kurt she would listen to Daddy. I think everyone within ear shot thought we were torturing her. :) So on this momentous day no pictures, except for Hannah screaming while on Kurt's lap.
Day 7
We went on a sight seeing trip with the other two families who were picking up there kids. We traveled up to Entoto Mountain on a "minibus." The view of Addis Ababa from the mountain was breathtaking. We found out that many of the Ethiopian olympic runners come from the village on top of the mountain. They train by running up and down the windy road. I found the donkeys traveling down the mountain with wood and eucalyptus on their backs to be hilarious. They just followed the road and would trot down with all these branches bouncing on their backs. The heart wrenching part was seeing women with just as large of loads walking up and down the mountain, knowing the very little amount of money they would be paid for their effort.
We toured a beautiful church, said to be where the Arc of the Convenant had been hidden hundreds of years earlier. We also visited a church carved out of rock in the side of hill, the Arc was hidden there prior to moving into the other church they built to house it. Then we traveled down the road to visit the weavers. Men and women work on the weaving machines making different linens to be sold. It takes them five days to make one tablecloth.
This evening we went to dinner with all the families and some of the CWA staff to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant. Micah and Hannah were the only ones not wearing their traditional clothes we had bought them while at the weaver's stores :( Hannah ate a TON of food. I could not even beleive everything she shoved into her mouth. In ethiopia it is custom to feed the people you love. Since you eat with your hands, you are being fed from the other persons hand right to your mouth. So here is Hannah with her little fist over flowing with squishy spicy ethiopian food holding it up to me to eat. Of course you have to eat it all, otherwise it would hurt her feelings. I was sweating...the food was SO SPICY. My stomach was quite upset after that meal. We just let Hannah and Micah eat as much as they wanted because we knew it was the last time they would have Ethiopian food while in Ethiopia. Unfortunately both of the kids were VERY SICK the next day. We learned that we need to put some limits in place with eating otherwise they would make themselves sick.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Ethiopia Part II
Day 4
We spent the morning relaxing at the hotel. In the afternoon we met our guide/driver Gustacho for a little shopping trip. Driving through Addis Ababa is quite an experience. No seat belts, in a little 1987 toyota sedan with two small children who keep trying to play with the door latches and roll down the windows. There are absolutely no traffic laws in Ethiopia. You can stop in the middle of the road while trying to make a left hand turn, (they drive on the right side of the road like in the US) fail to stop at a light, drive around someone on the shoulder, or just make your own lane if traffic is going too slow. We went to a little shop, basically a small shack the size of a large walk-in closet. As we got there it began to pour! We made it inside. Micah and Hannah were incredibley clingy. They had never been in a store before. The owners served us hot tea and the kids coke. Our kids each took one sip and didn't want anymore :) As Kurt and I were shopping the owners offered the kids different things. I was a little annoyed because we were shopping for other people. We didn't want the kids to think they could have whatever they wanted. Thankfully after showing Micah and Hannah a couple things, they stopped. It was a nice store because they sold so many different items we were able to buy a lot in just one stop. After shopping we headed back to the hotel. I was not feeling well. I eventually figured out I could not drink the tea in Ethiopia. We're not sure what kind it was but everytime my stomach got upset. The smog and crazy driving did not help either. We rested in the afternoon then had traditional Ethiopian food for dinner. The kids love Injera!!!! Hannah asked for at every meal while we were there.
Day 5
We needed to go back to the CWA Care Center to complete our paperwork for the Embassy Appointment on Tuesday. It was a cold rainy day just like most every day was while we were in Addis. The driver came to pick us up at our hotel. It was really fun to see the other families and their kids. We were all so focused on the kids on Saturday we didn't visit much. We enjoyed sharing stories and soon found out that Hannah and Micah were very easy compared to the others those first couple of days. Many of the kids were not sleeping well, others were very quiet. We could see early on that our kids were easy going, and generally happy. It was also neat to see all the kids talking and playing with each other. The care workers enjoyed seeing the kids one last time. There were several friends of Hannah and Micah's who were still waiting for their parents that were really excited to see the kids again. Kurt and I let the kids play and eat lunch with their friends while we finished up our paper work. We had done most of it at home, which made everything go much faster that day.
Kurt had left our backpack on the front porch of the care center while we did paperwork. We came back to put something away in it, Kurt noticed that all the snacks were gone and just the wrappers remained. We then found two small plastic figurines, a dog and a horse. Micah and Hannah had gotten in our backpack and shared the snacks, then they tried to take the toys from the care center home with them :o So sneaky. Eyob told us the kids could take the toys, I said no it was okay they needed to stay here, we had the kids take them back inside. When we returned to the hotel room we found that both the kids had a ball in their pocket from the care center. Whatever! :)
We spent the morning relaxing at the hotel. In the afternoon we met our guide/driver Gustacho for a little shopping trip. Driving through Addis Ababa is quite an experience. No seat belts, in a little 1987 toyota sedan with two small children who keep trying to play with the door latches and roll down the windows. There are absolutely no traffic laws in Ethiopia. You can stop in the middle of the road while trying to make a left hand turn, (they drive on the right side of the road like in the US) fail to stop at a light, drive around someone on the shoulder, or just make your own lane if traffic is going too slow. We went to a little shop, basically a small shack the size of a large walk-in closet. As we got there it began to pour! We made it inside. Micah and Hannah were incredibley clingy. They had never been in a store before. The owners served us hot tea and the kids coke. Our kids each took one sip and didn't want anymore :) As Kurt and I were shopping the owners offered the kids different things. I was a little annoyed because we were shopping for other people. We didn't want the kids to think they could have whatever they wanted. Thankfully after showing Micah and Hannah a couple things, they stopped. It was a nice store because they sold so many different items we were able to buy a lot in just one stop. After shopping we headed back to the hotel. I was not feeling well. I eventually figured out I could not drink the tea in Ethiopia. We're not sure what kind it was but everytime my stomach got upset. The smog and crazy driving did not help either. We rested in the afternoon then had traditional Ethiopian food for dinner. The kids love Injera!!!! Hannah asked for at every meal while we were there.
Day 5
We needed to go back to the CWA Care Center to complete our paperwork for the Embassy Appointment on Tuesday. It was a cold rainy day just like most every day was while we were in Addis. The driver came to pick us up at our hotel. It was really fun to see the other families and their kids. We were all so focused on the kids on Saturday we didn't visit much. We enjoyed sharing stories and soon found out that Hannah and Micah were very easy compared to the others those first couple of days. Many of the kids were not sleeping well, others were very quiet. We could see early on that our kids were easy going, and generally happy. It was also neat to see all the kids talking and playing with each other. The care workers enjoyed seeing the kids one last time. There were several friends of Hannah and Micah's who were still waiting for their parents that were really excited to see the kids again. Kurt and I let the kids play and eat lunch with their friends while we finished up our paper work. We had done most of it at home, which made everything go much faster that day.
Kurt had left our backpack on the front porch of the care center while we did paperwork. We came back to put something away in it, Kurt noticed that all the snacks were gone and just the wrappers remained. We then found two small plastic figurines, a dog and a horse. Micah and Hannah had gotten in our backpack and shared the snacks, then they tried to take the toys from the care center home with them :o So sneaky. Eyob told us the kids could take the toys, I said no it was okay they needed to stay here, we had the kids take them back inside. When we returned to the hotel room we found that both the kids had a ball in their pocket from the care center. Whatever! :)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Trip to Ethiopia Part 1
Day 1
We left Nashville, TN on Thursday August 30th on a small Untied commuter plane headed for Chicago. We had 4 large checked bags full of donations and clothes and 4 carry on bags full of neccessities like paperwork for our US Embassy apointment. We arrived in Chicago to begin a four hour layover. After eating our last American meal for ten days at Chili's we read and talked while we waited for our Lufthansa 747 to leave. We slept a lot on the flight across the Atlantic but did not miss a beautiful sunset over Newfoundland, Canada. We landed in Frnakfurt, Germany on Friday morning at 6 am.
Day 2
Killing time for a 5 hour layover is not fun and the Frankfurt airport had little to nothing to do and barely any seats. Thankfully it was early in the morning and wasn't too busy yet. We found seats and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Kurt got us a healthy breakfast of McDonald's cheese burgers and fries with soda. Already the food tasted different. Our meal was almost $20. We went to the holding area for our next Lufthansa flight to Ethiopia. It was here we figured out we would be stopping in Sudan to let people off the plane and refuel. We were glad that we didn't know about that sooner, I don't think our parents would have been happy to hear about that stop. We flew on another big airplane to Addis Ababa. On this flight we slept and watched Music and Lyrics.
We landed in Addis Ababa at 9:30pm on Friday August 31st. We got our Visas and exchanged money quickly without any issues. On our way to baggage claim we saw Eyob and Cazzoon our CWA escorts for our stay. They helped us get our luggage and we headed out to the car. I pictures a lot more people outside of the airport begging or wanting to help with our bags for money, but hardly anyone was there. We got to our hotel the Ghion and checked in. I though I would be awake all night anxiously awaiting meeting the kids, however the jet lag got the best of me and we both slept very well.
Day 3
We woke up, got ready (Kurt had to hold the plug for my hair dryer in the wall while I did my hair-he's the best!), and went o breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet provided by the hotel. There were a lot of interesting foods, I ate bread and eggs. We then had to wait until 11 am for Cazzoon to pick us up and take us to the kids. He ended up being late :(
On the drive to the care center it was so exciting to see Ethiopia that the time passed quickly. We arrived and walked up to the gates. Cazzoon told us that our kids were very excited about meeting us, they kept asking him when we were coming. We walked in and two little girls ran up and hugged us. One would not let go of Kurt (it wasn't Hannah) We made our way to the building and opened the door. I saw Micah grinning first and Hannah was right next to him. I hugged Micah then Hannah. Kurt hugged them next. The first couple minutes were ackward. Since they didn't speak English and we didn't speak Amharic we just kinda stood there smiling at each other. Hannah almost immediately was on my lap and Micah with Kurt. Micah loved Kurt's digital watch so Kurt let him wear it. They called us Mommy and Daddy from the first time we saw them. Then the kids all went and washed there hands. Kurt and I followed them. We noticed Hannah walking up the stairs crying. Kurt picked her up. Then a Care worker came and took her from Kurt. She went in the house with her. So Kurt and I just followed up the stairs and sat down to eat. Hannah came back with a smile and a new shirt on. She had gotten the sleeves on her other shirt wet, which is why she had been crying. We all ate lunch together with the other two families there picking up their kids. Afterwards we left and took Micah and Hannah back to our hotel room. We all took a nap.
To be continued...
We left Nashville, TN on Thursday August 30th on a small Untied commuter plane headed for Chicago. We had 4 large checked bags full of donations and clothes and 4 carry on bags full of neccessities like paperwork for our US Embassy apointment. We arrived in Chicago to begin a four hour layover. After eating our last American meal for ten days at Chili's we read and talked while we waited for our Lufthansa 747 to leave. We slept a lot on the flight across the Atlantic but did not miss a beautiful sunset over Newfoundland, Canada. We landed in Frnakfurt, Germany on Friday morning at 6 am.
Day 2
Killing time for a 5 hour layover is not fun and the Frankfurt airport had little to nothing to do and barely any seats. Thankfully it was early in the morning and wasn't too busy yet. We found seats and watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Kurt got us a healthy breakfast of McDonald's cheese burgers and fries with soda. Already the food tasted different. Our meal was almost $20. We went to the holding area for our next Lufthansa flight to Ethiopia. It was here we figured out we would be stopping in Sudan to let people off the plane and refuel. We were glad that we didn't know about that sooner, I don't think our parents would have been happy to hear about that stop. We flew on another big airplane to Addis Ababa. On this flight we slept and watched Music and Lyrics.
We landed in Addis Ababa at 9:30pm on Friday August 31st. We got our Visas and exchanged money quickly without any issues. On our way to baggage claim we saw Eyob and Cazzoon our CWA escorts for our stay. They helped us get our luggage and we headed out to the car. I pictures a lot more people outside of the airport begging or wanting to help with our bags for money, but hardly anyone was there. We got to our hotel the Ghion and checked in. I though I would be awake all night anxiously awaiting meeting the kids, however the jet lag got the best of me and we both slept very well.
Day 3
We woke up, got ready (Kurt had to hold the plug for my hair dryer in the wall while I did my hair-he's the best!), and went o breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet provided by the hotel. There were a lot of interesting foods, I ate bread and eggs. We then had to wait until 11 am for Cazzoon to pick us up and take us to the kids. He ended up being late :(
On the drive to the care center it was so exciting to see Ethiopia that the time passed quickly. We arrived and walked up to the gates. Cazzoon told us that our kids were very excited about meeting us, they kept asking him when we were coming. We walked in and two little girls ran up and hugged us. One would not let go of Kurt (it wasn't Hannah) We made our way to the building and opened the door. I saw Micah grinning first and Hannah was right next to him. I hugged Micah then Hannah. Kurt hugged them next. The first couple minutes were ackward. Since they didn't speak English and we didn't speak Amharic we just kinda stood there smiling at each other. Hannah almost immediately was on my lap and Micah with Kurt. Micah loved Kurt's digital watch so Kurt let him wear it. They called us Mommy and Daddy from the first time we saw them. Then the kids all went and washed there hands. Kurt and I followed them. We noticed Hannah walking up the stairs crying. Kurt picked her up. Then a Care worker came and took her from Kurt. She went in the house with her. So Kurt and I just followed up the stairs and sat down to eat. Hannah came back with a smile and a new shirt on. She had gotten the sleeves on her other shirt wet, which is why she had been crying. We all ate lunch together with the other two families there picking up their kids. Afterwards we left and took Micah and Hannah back to our hotel room. We all took a nap.
To be continued...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
New American Names
So I know I promised to post details about our trip to Ethiopia...however a funny thing happened that we just had to share. Kurt and I took the kids swimming on Friday to the YMCA. They both love the water (of course...they're our kids ;)). We have been trying to transition them to their American names, Micah and Hannah. They do respond to both Leyuneh and Nigist (their Ethiopian names) as well as their new American names. Yet they still call each other and themselves Leyuneh and Nigist. This is the exchange that occurred:
Kurt: "Leyuneh come here."
Hannah: "No Daddy, that's Micah."
Not only was it adorable, it was also so exciting that they are really beginning to identify with their American names.
Today Hannah also was referring to herself as Hannah. For example if she wanted the ball to herself she said, "Hannah's quais" or Hannah's ball.
Just had to share.
Kurt: "Leyuneh come here."
Hannah: "No Daddy, that's Micah."
Not only was it adorable, it was also so exciting that they are really beginning to identify with their American names.
Today Hannah also was referring to herself as Hannah. For example if she wanted the ball to herself she said, "Hannah's quais" or Hannah's ball.
Just had to share.
Monday, September 10, 2007
We made it home! After 30 hours of travel we are back in Tennessee. Micah Leyuneh and Hannah Nigist are amazing! We are so blessed to have them as our kids. They have been so good in spite of all the changes they have endured. I am planning on doing a play by play of our trip but being jet lagged and sick that will have to wait. Just wanted to show off our kids and to let everyone know we are home safe. I'll write more soon.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
We are off!!!
We leave tomorrow for Ethiopia. Neither of us can fully wrap our minds around the idea of us as parents. It will probably take a couple days with the kids before it sinks in. I think we are as prepared as we can be at this point, as far as stuff we're bringing, I know we'll never be prepared to be parents. :) We have two large bags full of donations, two medium bags with our stuff, the kids things and snacks for while we're there. We also have four carry ons. Luggage tends to get lost on the way to Addis Ababa so we have packed half our clothes and half of the kids clothes in our carry ons...just in case. Today I am taking the dogs to the Kennel for TWO WEEKS!! :( Poor doggies. I know they'll get great care since they stay with our vet. We have Laura (one of our neighbors) getting our mail and watering our plants. Once I drop the dogs off then I need to do last minute cleaning so we come home to a beautifully clean house :)
Kurt has been working very hard. He left for work this am at 5:30. He went in early so he could be back for our meeting with our pediatrician at 4:15 today. He is the BEST husband!!! We are both stressed, we haven't barely been sleeping and our eating habits the last couple days have not been good. We are looking forward to resting on the plane ride over. I will definitely be taking some sleep aid.
We have had the painters here all week working on the bonus room (it looks like a lava lamp, we love it) and the downstairs bathroom (it will have stripes). They are great because I can just leave them in the house and not worry about them. So that has helped a lot...plus our house will look pretty when they're done.
We won't be able to post until we get home. I can't wait to tell everyone about the kids and post there pics. Be praying for us while we are away. Thanks.
Kurt has been working very hard. He left for work this am at 5:30. He went in early so he could be back for our meeting with our pediatrician at 4:15 today. He is the BEST husband!!! We are both stressed, we haven't barely been sleeping and our eating habits the last couple days have not been good. We are looking forward to resting on the plane ride over. I will definitely be taking some sleep aid.
We have had the painters here all week working on the bonus room (it looks like a lava lamp, we love it) and the downstairs bathroom (it will have stripes). They are great because I can just leave them in the house and not worry about them. So that has helped a lot...plus our house will look pretty when they're done.
We won't be able to post until we get home. I can't wait to tell everyone about the kids and post there pics. Be praying for us while we are away. Thanks.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Preparing to Travel
Well, the past few days have been spent trying to get ready to travel to Ethiopia. There is such a mixture of emotions. First off it is quite serial to think that in just two weeks there will be kids running around our house. We have prepared for this for so long...I just can't believe we're about to be parents. All of the things we're taking ont he trip are in our downstairs bedroom. I have packed the two huge bags full of donations. We basically have to pack our stuff and the kids things. YEsterday we got our shots for yellow fever and Typhoid fever. My arm was killing me yesterday, I had to take advil the rest of the day. Of course Kurt's didn't hurt at all....figures.
We had our Baby Shower today!!! Our good friends, Melanie, Laciana, and Lena threw it for us. We had it at our house. Lots of people came!!! Most of our neighbors, some people from Mom's ALIVE (Joi, Christine, and Julia), and friends from Northeast. We also had Michael from our chiropractor's office join us. She's very sweet. :) We got so many wonderful gifts. We definitely have the basics we need for when the kids come home.
No HOTEL YET!!!!! Unfortunately we have yet to find a place to stay in Addis Ababa. It is totally stressing me out. Kurt feels like we have enough people working on finding us lodging that it will work out. We are praying it does. I can't imagine that our agency would send us to Ethiopia wihtout somewhere to stay...but who knows.
A week from now we will have our kids!!!!
We had our Baby Shower today!!! Our good friends, Melanie, Laciana, and Lena threw it for us. We had it at our house. Lots of people came!!! Most of our neighbors, some people from Mom's ALIVE (Joi, Christine, and Julia), and friends from Northeast. We also had Michael from our chiropractor's office join us. She's very sweet. :) We got so many wonderful gifts. We definitely have the basics we need for when the kids come home.
No HOTEL YET!!!!! Unfortunately we have yet to find a place to stay in Addis Ababa. It is totally stressing me out. Kurt feels like we have enough people working on finding us lodging that it will work out. We are praying it does. I can't imagine that our agency would send us to Ethiopia wihtout somewhere to stay...but who knows.
A week from now we will have our kids!!!!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Embassy Date
Just to update...our court date on August 3rd was successful. We found out via email from Sue Kramer at about 11am on Friday morning. We were thrilled. It was like this huge weight had been lifted off of our shoulders. They are officially ours!!! :) We went out to dinner at Chili's with our friend's Laciana and Chad Hall and their kids Casey and Alexis; Melanie and Lamont Chumbley and their kids Megan and Maddox. We had a wonderful time celebrating our new parenthood.
Yesterday we got the call that our Embassy Date is on September 4th!!!! We will be traveling to Ethiopia on August 30th, in just 10 days we will be on our way to meet our kids and bring them home :) We go through a myriad of emotions. At times we are excited, at other times we are stressed and scared. We know that God has His hands on us and our kids. He has brought us together for a reason. We take comfort in knowing that His plan is always perfect. We ask for your prayer as we get ready to travel. Especailly pray for a smooth transition into becoming a family.
Yesterday we got the call that our Embassy Date is on September 4th!!!! We will be traveling to Ethiopia on August 30th, in just 10 days we will be on our way to meet our kids and bring them home :) We go through a myriad of emotions. At times we are excited, at other times we are stressed and scared. We know that God has His hands on us and our kids. He has brought us together for a reason. We take comfort in knowing that His plan is always perfect. We ask for your prayer as we get ready to travel. Especailly pray for a smooth transition into becoming a family.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Court Date
On Monday, July 16th we got some good news and some bad news. Our morning started off with a trip to the orthopedic specialist because Kurt's ankle that he hurt three months ago was still bothering him. Turns out Kurt needs surgery! He tore his achilles tendon more than 50%. After surgery he will have to be in a cast for 6 weeks, a walking cast for 4 weeks and a brace for another 3 months after that. So we were laughing the whole way to the car. I think it was shock that he would be having another surgery.
We arrived home at about 10am. I ran upstairs to check my email. With the adoption..that is all I do. I was so excited because I had received an email from Sue Kramer (our case manager with CWA) the subject read "Court Date." I opened the email and scanned it as quickly as I could. Then I saw it, you have a court date of August 3rd! WE MADE IT!!!! I proceeded to scream at Kurt while running down the stairs. We yelled and jumped, hugged and kissed! Oh my gosh!!! We are really going to be parents. It was crazy! So we figured out that we could be traveling at the beginning of September, right after Kurt got his cast off.
Later that day we had our first appointment with the kids pediatrician, Dr. Ervin. He told us the kids were very healthy. He is a great doctor and we are excited that we found someone so close that specializes in international adoption.
By the end of the day...we were very tired but happy!
We arrived home at about 10am. I ran upstairs to check my email. With the adoption..that is all I do. I was so excited because I had received an email from Sue Kramer (our case manager with CWA) the subject read "Court Date." I opened the email and scanned it as quickly as I could. Then I saw it, you have a court date of August 3rd! WE MADE IT!!!! I proceeded to scream at Kurt while running down the stairs. We yelled and jumped, hugged and kissed! Oh my gosh!!! We are really going to be parents. It was crazy! So we figured out that we could be traveling at the beginning of September, right after Kurt got his cast off.
Later that day we had our first appointment with the kids pediatrician, Dr. Ervin. He told us the kids were very healthy. He is a great doctor and we are excited that we found someone so close that specializes in international adoption.
By the end of the day...we were very tired but happy!
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