Photo Album

Snow? You have to be kidding me.
(This was his expression pretty much the whole time we were outside.)

Awwwwwwww. :)

Hmmm. Typical.

Bath Santa!

Whaaaa?!

I. Love. Cupcakes. Looove. Them.

At the Pun'kin Patch with Dad.

Detroit Mose! This is one of my favorite pics. Uncle Timmy gave him the hoodie. This was our trip to the pumpkin patch right before Halloween!

I Like Auntie Kristen!

Mose and Grandma in October. Great Auntie Spookie visited too and we went to an Ethiopian restaurant after his first visit to the zoo. Fun!

Learning to play piano with Cousin Ryan

Family Portrait after his welcoming party/shower at Auntie Janet and Uncle Rich's


I will put up more photos soon. As you might imagine, we have approximately one bajillion photos of this kid. But most of them are on Tim's laptop and he's at work right now. Sooo, I'll get more later.

Merry Christmas to all!

Ethiopia was wonderful. The people were great. The food was great. The culture was fascinating. The care center (orphanage) was nice and well run. And Moses is the best.

The travel was long and exhausting, but went smoothly, so we can't complain. And when you have a little baby, you get to do things like cut ahead in long immigration and plane lines!

We're settling in. Pretty much over the jet lag now, and working on getting a schedule established. And now- photo extravaganza!

the very first time we met Moses



visiting at the care center- a nice, clean, bright place


naptime at the center



front view of the Holt Ethiopia care center


This is the coffee ceremony. There is an incense burner, and note the popcorn. The beans are roasted fresh and brought around to all the guests to smell before being ground by hand in a mortar and pestle. I think this is the part where the coffee is being boiled.



The view of the care center from our hotel, next door. Note the cow in the road.



Here's the same cow. It did cause a traffic jam at one point, but we didn't get a shot of that. It walked down the road mooing. There was a lot of livestock in the roads there. Sheep, goats, donkeys, and the occasional cow, horse, or brahma bull. Once we saw a sheep being loaded into the luggage compartment of a bus.



Moses with Auntie Kathleen.



Moses sleeping with Auntie Shirley.




Bathtime in the sink with dad. Splashing is really fun.



Hangin' in the bouncy seat with Pete.



Sleeping on the couch with mom.




Tim thinks looks like a "Save the Children" photo. It's so cute, though! :)

Can't wait for everyone to meet him! Thanks so much for all the thoughts, good wishes, and prayers.

The care center really appreciated all the donations. We were able to take a lot of vitamins, baby wipes, rash ointment, cloth diapers, quilts, cool sock lady socks, etc., so it seemed like that was stuff they could really, really use. It felt great to be able to give that stuff, because he really did receive very attentive, loving care there. So it's nice to help them do the same for other people's children as well.

Also, special thanks to Mark and Kristen & Jef for watching the house/Pete.

-Jen

The Handsome Little Man!

You really never know what kind of updated information or photographs you might get as you go through the adoption process. So we were really excited when these arrived in Tim's email in-box today!


He already looks so much older than he did in his referral photos. And a lot less terrified, thank goodness!


I just want to squeeze him! We leave 2 weeks from yesterday. If you haven't yet heard, we're going to call him Moses Daniel. Daniel for my dad and also for a wonderful friend who passed away last year.

We're busily making lists and gathering things. Baby shopping is fun!

We are planning to travel with donations for the care center. Several people have already stepped up and given items to take. (If that includes you- thanks again!) If anyone else is interested, here is what our agency says is needed:

"RE: Donations: The care centers could really use cloth diapers, diaper pins, baby wipes, sanitizers, multivitamins w/iron for infants and toddlers, diaper rash ointments, etc...items like toys and clothing are more easily accessible than some of these other daily personal care supplies."

Ahhh! I'm so excited! =)

-Jen

Patience is Rewarded

"Delay" and "patience" are two words you get familiar with if you are in the adoption process. Our court date was originally scheduled for Monday. But, well....

The Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia apparently didn't get some necessary paperwork done in time to present to the court. What we were told was that they were doing an internal audit of all adoption agencies in the country. And while they like Holt (our agency) a lot... the paperwork wasn't done, and that was that. Just wait and see.

And then today... a new email message. (Have you noticed my fondness for elipses? They're so... dramatic.) "Congratulations! We received word today that all your cases were heard and approved by the Ethiopian courts." The "all your cases" refers to us and the other families who will be in our travel group- 5 total.

Hooray! And we get to leave in only 3 weeks! Yes, that's right- 3 weeks. Or slightly less! We need to arrive August 28th. So we probably need to leave something like the 26th, I'm guessing. We need to stay until at least Sept. 4th. The visa's for the kids will be issued Sept 4th mid-day. Cutting it close? Yes! That's why changeable tickets are recommended. Yikes!

In the meantime, continue to think good thoughts for us. And knit us some booties. Or something. Isn't that what you're all out there doing? I thought so. =)

-Jen