To My Little Boy

We learned about you this year, April 8th 2010
We asked and were chosen to be your parents this year, June 2010
We received so many smiley adorable pictures of you April-December 2010
We shopped for you and planned for you and told others about you July- Dec 2010
In 2011 you will become part of our family
In 2011 we will discover more about your culture and country
In 2011 we will leave you for a few weeks, which may be the hardest wait of all, but we will be back
In 2011 our hearts will swell to encompass the love we have for you
In 2011 we will take help make a family for you, but in the process you/we may feel sadness about leaving the group of wonderful caregivers you already knew.
In 2011 you will gain new family, friends, language and experieces
We are extremely excited to have you to look forward to.
We are happy to leave a very stressful 2010 behind...but do remember some great times with our family and friends.

FAVORITE IMAGES OF THIS YEAR

ringing in new years last year-

*playing APPLES TO APPLES at new years eve party

SPRING BREAK - MYRTLE BEACH- GABE AND DALE

GABE ON BEACH

Mothers Day weekens at Great Wolf Lodge (we began our Home study interviews the very day before)

*My parents joined us

*cute husband!

NEW KITTEN FOR MY BIRTHDAY- JUNE

BIRTHDAY TRIP TO FL TO VISIT FRIENDS

*Gianna and Charles (also on FL trip)

GABE AT SUMMER SCICNE CAMP- EDVENTURE

FAMILY TRIP TO THE BEAC H

ROAD TRIP WITH GABE- TO NC AND OH
*TWEETSIE RAILROAD

GRANDFATHER MT 0 1 MILE UP

IN THE HAMMOCK - AUNT SAMS IN OH

AMUSEMENT PARK WITH THE KIDS

ICESKATING

PUPPIES

BOYSCOUTS!

THANKSGIVING (JUST ME AND JOHN!)

 

GABES BDAY

FUNNY FAMILY PICTURES

TREE TIME!

VISIITNG MAMA RUTH IN OH

SMILEY ME

FUN IN THE SNOW

PRESENTS!

SNOW IN SC!!!

retail therapy

I woke up this morning with frustration and unknowing- lack of pictures since July, inaccurate health reports, mishaps with finanicial issues, doubt about when we will get a court date. I felt the need to do some shopping for Little Man S. Although i was encouraged, slightly, by Pat's email but still confused about when we were submitted and along with how many families.
Well after finding the most awesome Nine West red-hobo bag - marked down to $19.99 from $79 , and buying three news outfits for our little guy my heart and spirits were lifted.
WE GOT NEW PICTURES OF S!!!! They are absolutley adorable. Unlike the children many AP's with solemn looking faces, S is smiling and giggling all the time. He is chubby and walking. He has his special shoes on - to help his feet after surgery.
He isnt totally dressed like a girl...pink pants but a more gender neutral shirt hehehe.
I am going to make a new family album on shutterfly- which i do at the end of each year. So these pictures couldnt have come at a better time....now for court dates- please oh please.

Bittersweet Christmas

I have read many blogs of waiting APs who are having a hard time this year being in the festive Christmas mood. Count me in as one of them, in a big way. I really thought by now we would have our court date and/or at least some new pictures of S- yet we have neither. Not only that, but we were called by HOLT on Dec 22 to inform us that there was a problem with a  pretty large check (the very last part of our agency fees). What is really irritating me is that that check was sent in on Dec 3rd (2nd day air), we called on the 9th and the 14th b/c the money remained in our account and we were perplexed as to why. It took them 2 and 1/2 weeks to notify us of a problem- all the while possibly holding up our chance at a court date. It turns out that our bank needed preapproval for checks over $1,800. BUT we already authorized a check for $5,000 for HOLT the month prior...we have no clue why they gave issue to this one and no clue as to why it took 2 and 1/2 weeks for HOLT to call us and ask about it.
Compound our adoption frustrations with a 7 year old boy who is very *present focused* right now, and who feels that if he asks Santa he can get anything....well he is not getting a DSi this year and does not seem to understand why....i am very frustrated to the point that i may as well spill the beans and explain to him that I will not be paying $175 for a new DSi when he already has a DS and access to a camera and computer....i can't help but think he was kinda disappointed with his loads of presents from us and our family....oh well. We did have a couple of discussions and i showed him some videos and pictures of care-centers and of those who are sturggling in ET, and elsewhere.  I told him that I was hoping Santa would visit them this year, and we can wait for a DSi.He is in better spirits now- but just seemd deflated...or it may just be my perception of it. After the check mix up- i emailed HOLT to explain ad John left two messages...no one ever called us back or returned our email- which was upsetting...since it was about 10:30am Pacific time. We at least thought we would have some knowledge of how they wanted to handle this or if it delayed our submission to court.....we haven't heard of court dates being released in over two weeks. February 14th has already been released....nothing after that. I am hoping we are in the next batch, but not sure now.

Health Update

Well i am struggling through my final paper and procrastinating, dreaming of winter break, hoping for new pictures of S and obsessing about a court date. We did get a health update last week (no new pictures)....S seems to be doing well. The doctors did remark on language delays and mild motor skill delays, but nothing too alarming. Although i did not like the mention of "lacks stimulation for language development" :(

Other HOLT families are already getting February 14th court dates :( We are not one of them....not even sure when we were formally submitted to court.....so we continue to wait. We have the holidays to sidetrack our minds :)

We should have enough $$ for our plane tickets there :) Fundraising has been good, plus school grant overage- woo hoo

*i need to change this chip-in thingy......not sure how

Whats in a name?

Well our little man S has a very Western name that was given to him by either the police officer or nuns at the Mother Theresa Care center. John and I have been debating and discussing if we are going to keep his name, which I think we will. However, he does not have an Ethiopian name as of yet - and we first thought nothing of it...we chose Micah as his middle name and felt fine with that.....until recently. The more we anticipate going to Ethiopia, the more we feel so excited about being connected to his culture. So today we have been looking at Ethiopian names and have come across Yohannes in honor of a wonderful 'hero" of education in Ethiopia and a one time political assylum refugee * check him out here http://www.cnn.com/search/?query=YohannesGebregeorgis&primaryType=mixed&sortBy=date&intl=false
This name also has a connection to John- which is my husbands name....so that may end up being his middle name!
Aside from thinking of names, I have also been thinking of babywearing...in this case- toddler wearing...and found this : This is what I want for xmas
I want the cool leaf/birdie print :)
This has been one of the main reasons I need a health update so I know how much this munchkin is weighing. This carrier goes up to 45 pounds- and my near 7 year old just broke 48 pounds...so i am thinking we can be safe with this one

Waiting for a court date- all documents translated!

Well well last night i emailed and asked Jenn specifically if our dossier had even gotten to Ethiopia yet, since I had not been told anything. Just now I got an email from Jenn (part of the HOLT Africa program)  that said our materials all arrived the first week of November, and it took about two weeks to translate them- and they were all set for court. Which means in 4 to 6 weeks we will be notified of our court date (possibly sooner, since HOLT tends to give the longest possible range). What is odd about this is that we were never officially told our dossier was even in ET, let alone translated, let alone submitted for court...which i think is/will be done this week (since Jenn said we are expecting to know the date in 4-6 weeks)...its great news, and we are moving right along. It seems that the court dates have tended to be about 6 weeks from when the family/agency is notified. So if we get notified of our court date around Xmas, then most likley we will be going to court in Ethiopia in mid-Feb....what a great Valentines gift. Althought i havent gotten a health report in month, this is great news...maybe even better news because it puts us several steps closer