Home.

Our daughter is home and her life will now have equal billing with her brother over at our family blog: www.nosmallfeat.typepad.com

Thanks for your support, encouragement, cheers, tears and prayers. They all meant so much to us!

Family Fiesta!

They did it again! Uncle Rick and Aunt Leah came over and outdid themselves with a fantastic Mexican meal (and Zoe brought a balloon for her big cousin)! After dinner, Aunt Leah made a fresh batch of cookies for the kids to decorate and devour while we drank coffee (oh, we ate cookies too!) and talked until it was the kids' bedtime. These two have taken such good care of us these past two weeks and I am so thankful.

Missing Daddy

Over the weekend I began to see cracks in our son's tough boy exterior as I was seeing more and more evidence of how deeply he was missing his daddy. By today it was so apparent, and heartbreaking, that I left work early to make some time for fun with my favorite little boy, and fun we had...

First we went for ice cream with his good friend "George." We sat outside on a bench and talked about our day and enjoyed our ice cream. Someone enjoyed his ice cream so much there was evidence of it all over his clothes and his body... so the next thing we did was take a bubble bath. Yeah, George did too:

Then after his bath he was led into the kitchen where a present from Daddy awaited him. He shrieked with delight and anticipation as he opened the package. Most of you know that our son has a bit of a dumpster fixation. Well, what better gift than a garbage truck, complete with dumpsters... what a Daddy!!

Comfort Food

This morning Uncle Rick, Aunt Leah and Zoe came over for breakfast. They did not just come to have breakfast... they came to MAKE breakfast and it was SO good. I'm talkin' cheese eggs, hashbrown casserole, biscuits, sausage gravy, bacon, coffee and OJ. I am going to be full until tomorrow!




They also had the opportunity to have a video chat with our family's world traveler (well, one of them... his older sister is currently in China with her husband). They also got to see our sleeping beauty snuggled up next to Sarah for a rest during the call. I was encouraged to see she is a heavy sleeper because our house is rarely quiet.


Now our little man is napping (HOORAY!) and I get a break this evening as our babysitter comes and I can visit with my friends in small group. This day should pass quickly and I cannot believe that we are less than a week from them being home. I can't wait!

Smarty Pants

Today Mimi's Daddy got to sit in her class. She is the star of the class, very smart and the first to finish her assignments. When done she is known to walk around and help the other students. She does not speak english, but can say her alphabet and say english words. She speaks and writes fluently in her native tongue (Oriyan) but the consensus is that she will be a quick study given her love of school and quick learning skills. Thankfully my sister-in-law is an elementary school teacher and is helping us figure out how to proceed with her education in the American system and at home tools to assist her school studies.

In other news... she had chocolate ice cream for dessert at dinner tonight. She LOVES her little blue purse and carries it with her everywhere. She is by all accounts a "girlie girl." She is experiencing some grief and sadness, which we expected. What is most encouraging is that she already seeks out her Daddy for comfort and reassurance. Tonight at dinner when she seemed sad and teary, her Daddy scooped her into his lap and she leaned into him, placing her hand on his arm in a show of tender trust...

(Sorry no new pictures to share; Heidi's computer is having issues.)

Building Blocks

Tonight my friend Maribeth came over for dinner (and by dinner I mean leftover pizza) and she brought yummy HOMEBAKED cookies for dessert. They were fantastic and thankfully she shared the recipe. Yes, my almost 3 year old son is sitting in a highchair... his baby cousin was in it last night and I guess he felt the need to reminisce about the good ole' days ... I will say that it was nice to have him "contained" for a minute. :)

The Hubs called to talk to his little man who was thrilled to hear from his Daddy and told him all about his day. When I got the phone back, I heard more about his visit with our daughter but with all that he said with words all I heard in his heart was this intense motivation to protect our little girl from any harm. In one day she completely wrapped him around her little finger. I was again proud and oh so thankful that he is my husband and the father of my children. His dedication to them both and to me as his wife is remarkable.

Oh and I also showed our boy a picture of his Daddy with his "big" sister. He was excited to see them together. It was fun to see his warm reaction to them together and thankfully Maribeth was here so she was able to take some pictures for me.

Ringing off the hook...

I spoke to "Marco Polo" while I was at work and he was laid over in Dubai. It was such a great surprise to hear his voice. He sounded great, but tired. He told me an absolutely hilarious story about Heidi bringing a rollout mattress that she puts on the floor in front of the seat and curls in a ball on the floor to sleep. The imagery given was "think George Costanza sleeping under his desk when he worked at Yankee Stadium." But the real funny part was that when he woke up from a nap down there and turned, he got stuck between the seats. Unfortunately, Heidi did not have her camera ready to memorialize THAT.


My in-laws came over to keep me company. We were hopefully expectant that we would get a call from India. The phone rang (a lot) and each time my heart would jump and then sink when it was not him.

When I put our son to sleep tonight he was crying that he wanted his Daddy. I did a pretty good job reassuring him and was able to bring a smile back to his sweet face and help him drift off to sleep. ... and now it is 10:20 p.m. and if I am correct their last flight is now underway and I pray to hear from him before I leave for work tomorrow. I miss him terribly.

... and they're off.

It was a busy day getting ready for the India trip. Heidi and Sarah came last night and slept over. We woke up early, had breakfast and enjoyed an early visit from my brother-in-law. While the brothers continued their visit over another cup of coffee, we gals took off to do what comes naturally (shop and have lunch). Later that afternoon my father-in-law came over to see his son off, bring me an amazing bouquet of yellow roses and a ragdoll for his granddaughter. It was a full and very happy, love-filled house and I was thankful for it.

The time finally came for us to say the goodbye. Naturally, I sobbed ... and naturally my husband prepared our son for this inevitability as he said from his carseat as we drove away from the airport, "Mommy, you cry tears of joy. You so excited! Hooray!!!"

I slept okay (albeit lightly) and anxiously await word from India that they have arrived.

Itinerary Confirmed!

Got the call this morning ... they leave July 8th and they and our beautiful daugther WILL BE HOME on July 19th. Okay, so the story of "they..."

India requires one parent to travel so we decided that my hubby (who is a far better traveler than I am and also the epitomy of grace under fire whereas I am the dry brush that spreads the fire) would go to India and I would stay home with our son. Sometime after the referral of our daughter we were told that a man cannot travel alone but must either bring his wife OR a female escort. So, I said, we will ALL go to India. However, he was adament that a 2 year old cannot take such a trip. The plane ride to India requires several transfers and very many hours in flight.

Enter Heidi. Heidi is a friend of ours who we came to know after we both adopted our children from Ethiopia around the same time. In fact, Heidi met our son in Ethiopia before we even got the referral for him. It is hard to call her a friend because where I come from when someone is as important to you as she is to us they are referred to as "family." So, Heidi... she was ready, willing and able to act as the female escort to go with AND she said she was going to bring her 11 year old daughter, Sarah (who is an AMAZING young lady, and that's an understatement).

So that's the "they" -- my better half, Heidi and Sarah.

Oh, and one more thing... Heidi is a professional photographer who will chronicle the entire journey in film (er, digital) so we'll actually have pictures from this adoption journey (as this is the ONLY picture "proving" he was in Ethiopia):

Why I love my agency, and other musings....

It's always easy to get frustrated when you want information and aren't hearing anything but for those of us who have done this before we have a sense that you can only be told what is known. Why I love my agency is because they don't just give you information, they seem to share in your joy. I was receiving email responses from our agency rep. at 11:00 p.m. last night. Surely that constitutes as going above and beyond, right? So big ups to AIAA.

Also, the news is still seeping into me... I am absorbing this news quickly and slowly if that makes sense. I just cannot wait to meet our daughter. It is all so surreal to me.

... and our son. What a great kid! He is SO excited and has been saying things all last night and this morning, like: "hooray, Mimi come home! I so excited!!" This morning he pointed to his Dora flashcards and said he wanted to give those to Mimi. I told him she was not home yet but when she arrived he could. Then he said, "I want Mimi to play in my playground." I reminded him that it was both of their playground and he said, "Okay, Mommy. I want Mimi to go down the slide with me." I said that she would. He said, "Mommy, Mimi need a brother." I said yes she does and you need a sister. He smiled and said "Okay, Mommy."

Birthday Gift from God

Last night a friend asked me "any news on Mimi?" I said, "I keep praying that God have her pass court when it reopens on her birthday tomorrow but I know that kind of stuff only happens in the movies, so...." Well, God reminded me that He is the Director of our lives and so it should come as no surprise that He ordained it such that WE PASSED COURT ON HER BIRTHDAY!

We got the word at noon today. She is officially cleared and ready for take-off... they are obtaining her passport and then she comes home. We don't have a date yet but it will be within the month.

I am humbled by God's amazing love for me, to hear my prayers and to answer them SO specifically and to show Himself to me like this.

I am thankful and so SO happy!

I AM THE MOTHER OF TWO CHILDREN... TWO BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN!!!!!!!

Picture Perfect

I went shopping for Mimi again today after work at a local children's boutique that is usually high priced. Once a year they have an incredible firehouse type sale and I was able to buy a really great canvas print for her room (retail $85; I paid $19) .




You know the Truman Show type photo where kids are all wearing the same PJs as they open their gifts on Christmas morning? Well, I have always had this fantasy of the family wearing matching PJs to open gifts and with this sale I was finally able to buy the kids matching PJs (for $8 a piece, retail for $40). I resisted the urge to buy them for their folks ... I know there was NO way I'd get their father in the adult version of this (but it's perfect for the kids!):





I am SO excited for Christmas morning... she BETTER be home by then! Stomps. foot.

Brotherly Love

We were given the news yesterday that our daughter was told about her forever family. I will post later about that as I am still waiting for details from our super fantabulous agency. However, because of this, we spent last night getting her care package ready to send. Her little brother wanted in on the action and told us that he wanted to make something for his big sister. He took out his art supplies and with a little help from Mommy (completely under the direction of the artist) made her a card. When finished he proudly exclaimed "I made art for Mimi!" He also chose sticker books to send her so she can share with her friends.

Oh, brother...

Proof that possession is 9/10th of the law:

Little Brother: Mama, Mama. Come here!

(.... leads Mama by the hand from the family room into his bedroom)

Little Brother: Mama, MY clock!

Mama: Where did you get this clock?

Little Brother: Mimi's room.

Mama: Well... if you took the clock from Mimi's room doesn't that make it Mimi's clock?

Little Brother: MY clock in MY room!