Decorating the Tree

I love Christmas and all the activities that lead up to Christmas especially decorating the tree! When we decorate the tree, we go though each ornament and the story behind it. More accurately would be I quiz Sam on the back story in which he usually fails, but he plays along anyway just to humour me. Here are a few of my favs.

From our niece Stella this year, isn't it beautiful!

 Aunt Barb was able to recover these angels from a house fire and gave them to us when she heard we were adopting from Ethiopia.

My parents gave us these this year for Jack and Hayley.

Sam has a real Ford truck just like this given to him from his dad on his 1st birthday. I found the matching ornament a few year back.

Love it!

Check out these great scarves made by ethiopian women! I know a little late, but they would make great Christmas gifts. You can give back while giving this holiday season.

My personal favorite:

Watch the video below to learn more or purchase your scarf here:

http://livefashionable.com/

A Few Tid-Bits

As I have mentioned, I can’t share personal information or post the pictures of our little peanuts until they are officially and legally our children. However, I will give you a little preview of what we know and what I can share.

Hayley will be 4 months old at the end of the month. At 2 months 3 weeks she weighed 9.1 lbs. She has huge, I mean huge, eyes and no hair yet. Her lips very defined and she has the most beautiful skin that you just want to touch. Most people’s reaction to her is ‘She is so beautiful, and she has the biggest eyes!’

Jack, is 13 days younger than Hayley. At 2 months, 2 week he weighed 9.8 lbs. His eyes are also beautiful and he has gorgeous lips that make you just want to give him a big smooch! Opposite of Hayley, he has a full head of locks! Most people’s reaction to him is ‘He is going to be heartbreaker,’ or some of Sam’s friends say ‘He has more game already compared to what you ever had.’ I love you Sam, but I think they are right, ha ha ha.

They are both healthy and thriving at the orphanage. Jack is even babbling already (I wonder if that means he will be a chatterbox like his Grandma Beth?)! We will get monthly updates on their health and new pictures. I already CANNOT wait until we get the next update.

We are very very very thankful this Thanksgiving.

Referral #2

We had spent the week celebrating the good news of our little Jack. I couldn’t help but show off his picture to everyone at work. I was for sure a proud mama. Having his referral gave even more anticipation and excitement to receiving the second referral. Our adoption director alluded to the fact that it shouldn’t be much longer and she was hoping to have news by Friday. We had a pre-scheduled meeting on Friday with our director to discuss Jacks medical/referral information. The meeting was at noon, and when we didn’t hear from the agency before noon, so I thought that meant we weren’t get our second referral until the following week.
Sam was at home and I was at work and Tami called us on a 3 way call for our meeting. She said, “Well, I have more good news for you, we have a daughter for you”. Yes, yes, yes! She proceeded to tell her name, age, etc. Then we asked to move our meeting to later so I could go home and Sam and I could go over her information together. I had to take the train home and it seemed to take forever!!!!

I get home and run upstairs to join Sam and meet our little girl for the first time. Sam’s computer had been acting up and just before I got home he had to reboot. It took FOREVER to get his computer running and email up. I kept on saying, “I will just get my computer downstairs and it will be faster.” Sam thought his would be faster, so we waited and waited and waited. Then we saw her precious face for the first time. Those eyes, she has beautiful eyes, when you look into her eyes it is like you can see all the way down to her tippy toes. All I wanted to do was give her a hug. It was sooo hard to not be able to be there with her and care for her and give her all that she needs. Ooooohhhhhh, how I love my baby girl.

Sam and I had our meeting with our agency to go over all of their information later that day. We went over all their medical history, their family information, where they are from, when they came to the orphanage, etc. It was a very smooth and encouraging information. To celebrate, Sam and I went to our favorite spot, Al Vento, and did a little happy hour to celebrate. Of course we had to tell the bartender the good news and share pictures. One of their staff adopted a little girl from Ethiopia too! They made us an appetizer on the house to congratulate us, it was salmon crostini (sounded like Sam-and-christini) hee-hee, I thought it was pretty cute.

My parents drove up from Rochester with my niece to celebrate again! I mentioned a while ago that Sam and I are in the process of a kitchen remodel. Our contractor was finishing it up on Friday and the plumber was also over hooking up a new sink! That being said, our house was not very usable to have a houseful of people and 4 dogs (my parents brought their dog and were also watching my brothers dog). So we ended up going across the street to Kathie and Nick’s house to celebrate (thanks you for being great neighbors).

We shared her picture for first time and we shared some ooohs and ahhhs, hugs and tears. I love my baby girl and I can’t wait to hug her and kiss her and snuggle her. We shared a nice meal, some toasts and prayers. Later Alivia fell asleep clenching the pictures of her new cousins (okay, I may have encouraged her taking the pictures to bed with her, but it was so worth it).

Looking back, it was great that we got our referrals on two separate days. Both Jack and Hayley received their own special attention and celebration that was deserved.

It has been a whirlwind of celebration and tears with friends and family the last week. Sunday after receiving both referrals we had some wonderful friends over for chili (thanks Tara), appetizers and champagne. Thank you to all our friends who have followed and supported our journey. Jack and Hayley will be sooo lucky to have you in their lives.

So what is next? We wait for court! We anticipate our court date being the second half of January. It would be the best Christmas gift if we could travel over Christmas, so please hope and pray for us!

Referral #1

I have been waiting to make this post so I can do it justice, which I am sure I won’t, but I will attempt to. It was Tuesday afternoon and we received the call. Sam actually received the call. I was in my team meeting, and this week I had a guest speaker. As the guest was presenting I glanced at my phone and noticed a missed call from Oregon. At first I thought, ‘huh, that is kinda weird, who would be calling me from Oregon.’ Okay, I know, probably a blond moment. In my defense I had saved our agency’s number in my phone, but they called from a different line and it didn’t show as ‘Jack and Hayley’ which is what I saved the number under. So I frantically checked the number that ‘Jack and Hayley’ was saved under and compared it to the missed call. The missed call was one number off from the number saved. So I thought, ‘could this be the call? No, we just talked to them last week. It is too soon, but maybe I should just better check.’ So I left my team meeting and then as I was checking my message and I hear that it was our adoption director, Sam is calling me on the other line. When I saw Sam calling me, I knew instantly. IT WAS THE CALL! I answered trying to fight back my tears. Sam said, “Christina, we got the call, and I am waiting downstairs for you.” I gathered my things from desk and went downstairs to meet him. As I am going down the escalator I am checking my email (why? I don’t know), but there was an email from our adoption director and it said, ‘Inroducing L****”. How crazy and amazing is that? Seeing my son’s name for the first time! So I jumped in the truck and we kissed and the rest of the ride home was kinda a blur. We got home and ran upstairs and I wanted to read everything there was to learn about our son, but Sam went right for the picture. That is when we saw his face for the first time. The most beautiful face that I had ever seen. My heart melted. I loved him from the second I saw him. Then I thought ‘I am a mom, I am his mom.’ It was wonderful.
Sam and I called our parents first, and then our siblings. The best part was that it was my mom’s birthday too. Coincidently, our little guy was brought to the care center on my parent’s anniversary. My parents drove up to the cities from Rochester to celebrate the good news. Sam’s bro and sister-in-law and their little girl, came over as well to congratulate us. Kathie, Nick and Anna also joined us in the celebration. It was pure joy.

Because we are not legally the parents of Jack yet, we need to protect his privacy so I can’t tell you much. What I can tell you is that he is 3 months old, 9.8 lbs, and has the most kissable lips and most beautiful eyes. And did I mention that he has head full of curls? He is a heartbreaker.

On a side note, Sam and I are not sharing Jack and Hayley’s back story on their biological parents. This is something that we feel should be shared with them at an age appropriate time. God has given our children two moms and two dads on this earth. It is a bittersweet love story.

Don’t judge a book by its cover

This common English idiom even adults need to be reminded of. In my last post I received some Anonymous comments that suggested that my comments are marginalizing to adult adoptees , that my wants are above those of my children, that my adoption is second fiddle, etc. If you don’t know what I am referring to, you can read the comments that were left and the blog post of an adult adoptee that was left by Anonymous readers.
To start, your comments hold little merit if you cannot put your own name behind it. I feel if you are so inclined to leave a message on my blog, especially one that is controversial, sign your name and don’t hide behind ‘Anonymous.’

Don’t judge a book by its cover. The name on my blog, is Two Less, we hope there will be two less orphans in the world and in our arms. There are 55 million in the world. 55 MILLION. And that, unfortunately, is the reality. However, would I ever refer to my child as an orphan or make them think or feel that they are anything but our children because of their circumstance or where they came from? Absolutely not. If you have read my blog you would know that I refer to our children as ‘our children’ or ‘Jack and Hayley.’ They will be loved unconditionally and treated as nothing other than our children.

I agree that the children who come to our family should not and will not be expected to be anything other than who they are. But does that make it wrong for me to want a healthy child? That would be like a biological mom not wishing her child to be healthy. That is absurd. There are no guarantees in adoption and if my children are not healthy, they will still be loved the same. Please don’t assume or insinuate otherwise, because it is offensive.

If you knew me and my husband you would know our decision to adopt a child. And to insinuate that that adoption is second best or our second option, it is just not true. Adoption was our BEST and FIRST option. Maybe I had the option to have a biological child, but you quickly assumed that adoption is our second best choice. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Even if I didn’t have the option to have a biological child, is it fair for you to assume that children who are adopted because of infertility are second string to a biological child? It is not fair, not right and not true. Here is a mom’s story that proves my point.

People choose adoption for multiple reasons. This could be because they have all boys and want a girl, or they want a son, they have battled with infertility, they felt a calling from God, their mission it to help the orphan crisis, etc. Whatever path it is that leads a family to adopt, is their path, and should never be judged unless you have walked their path in their shoes. More time should be spent celebrating adoption and less time judging ones decisions to adopt or who they adopt.

On Tuesday before I went to work, I ran around the lake and I cried. I cried because someone whom I have never met was questioning my character and it downright just made me mad. Little did I know that this day would turn out to be one of the best of my life. There was nothing anyone could have said or done that would have changed that. Oh how quickly things can change.

To be continued…

Update on 'The Wait'

Sam and I had a phone meeting with our adoption agency last night. We wanted to discuss why we were still waiting and if it made sense for us to open our age range that we requested. We also wanted to confirm that they have inquired with their Ethiopian contacts that they have Sam and Christina’s file and that they are in fact working on it, and not that they are just inquiring about waiting families in general.

The conversation was…well…interesting. We spoke with the Director of the agency and she heads their Ethiopian program. Sam and I are both in sales, we talk sales, we ask the uncomfortable questions, we ask lots of questions, we control the conversation, we gain commitment, and we don’t give up easily. So I don’t think that she was prepared for all of questions and our persistence. Essentially we were trying to get information to make an informed decision on if we should open our criteria to 0-3 months to 0-6 months.

What we were able to find out is that with changes in May, The Department of State requires an orphan investigation to ensure that direct recruitment of children from birth parents by adoption service providers or their employees is not occurring. This is a good good thing. However, this new investigation and documentation process takes 2-3 months and needs to be completed before they can be matched with a family. The process usually starts at birth when the child is either abandoned or relinquished.

Are you people picking up with what I am throwing down here? If this process takes 2-3 months and we have requested a child between 0-3 months, there isn’t a lot of wiggle room here. The documentation process would have to be done within 2 months of their birth, they would also need to be transported from their care center to Toukoul in this time (and that is assuming Toukoul has openings to take in new children), they would need to be in good health and have all of their medical testing completed, and then finally matched. After thinking about it, it seems that this would be a lot to have happen in just 0-3 months of their life. Not to mention we have requested two children, one boy and one girl.

Our director would not say that changing our age range would to 0-6 months would speed up a referral, and she also wouldn’t confirm that by keeping it at 0-3 months would limit our opportunities to get a referral. It seemed pretty clear to us and that opening our range to 0-6 months can only help. The only reason we requested 0-3 months was because our agency assured us that this would not impact the ‘wait’. Certainly we would want the children as young as possible, but what is the difference if they are 3 months or 4.5 months? The goal is to be parents to healthy loving children. We requested today to change our referral age to 0-6 months. We also added that we were open to triplets.




Kidding about the triplets part.

Perspective

Please watch this video, she is amazing. Everytime I watch this video it gives me hope and perspective. When I hope the clock would just tick a little faster for my own selfish reasons, I am reminded that I really don't have things so bad. I think of the suffering that Jack and Hayley must be going through and that they are the ones who really need to hold on, not me. I know of others who are suffering from a loss of a friend and how terribly saddened they are. Perspective is good. Even my bad days are still good days.

Weekend

• Sam picks me up. Head to Roch.
• Drop off dogs at my parents.
• Meet Brent and Kim at their house. Played with Livliv.
• Went to new bar Doolies.
• Met Amber and Andy at City Café. Kara, my bestie was our server. It was yum. Sam and I shared the steak and seared tuna. Found out Amber does not like to share.
• Went to 63 club. Old friends. Played pool.
• In the a.m. went to the farm. There were 7 -10 horses loose. Told neighbor horses were loose in the road.
• Rake, rake, rake, rake, rake, rake
• Play music from car while we rake some more.
• Car battery dies. Dead. On a farm with no farm equipment or way to charge it.
• Sam takes the John Deer rider to neighbors.
• I am in a scary movie, like children of the corn. I keep busy raking trying to not to think about it.
• Neighbor helps. Neighbor is nice man, but hasn’t seen a non-Amish woman in a while. Awkward.
• Drive to Harmony nursing home to visit my grandpa.
• Grandpa lost his teeth.
• Sam finds teeth, but they weren’t grandpa’s teeth. Gross. Yuck.
• Grandpa very happy to see us.
• Drive to Lanesboro. Very pretty.
• Go to a martini bar. More my style. Key lime martini. Yum.
• Meet Casper the friendly ghost. Yes, Casper.
• Casper spills about her bad business break up and divorce from the turkey farmer.
• Have dinner at the Old Village Hall. Delicious.
• Meet Dana, our server, nice gal.
• We help her narrow down her top 5 college pics.
• She is going to Univ. of Iowa. Pre-med. She plays Volleyball, a setter, has a boyfriend going into the military, 2 older sisters, parents are both vets, she has traveled to 5 continents.
• Dana said we made her night. We pretty much did.
• Stay at Coffee Inn. The Inn Keeper compared the Inn to Italy. It wasn’t even close to Italy.
• Drove back to Roch. Met my rents for breakfast.
• Picked up dogs. Drove back to Mpls.
• Wrote a paper. Competitive Analysis on Diapers. Exhilarating.
• Unpack, Laundy, etc. etc. etc.
• Clean out Kitchen for start of Kitchen remodel.
• Sam made Chili.
• Went to Fritz and Mel’s to watch the Vikes.
• Vikings lose. Sad.
• Long weekend. Tired. Bedtime.

8 Months Waiting for a Referral

What is your guess?

I wanted to thank everyone for their support that you have shown us this week. We have received a lot of extra kind words and we appreciate everyone thinking of us!  I wish I had more to share, but we are still waiting. 8 months will be this Saturday. Sam and I have a little get-a-way planned for the weekend and it would have been a great way to celebrate a referral, but it isn't looking like it is in the cards for this week. Oh well, we didn't plan this weekend with the intent of celebrating a referral, it just would have been icing on the cake! We are going to go to Lansboro MN and hopefully do some biking and enjoy what is left of the Fall colors. The main reason we are going is to check on my grandpa who recently broke his hip. It will be a great weekend with or without a referral.

Last night I went to the play Rock of Ages and it was FANTABULOUS! Soo funny and great 80's music. We also celebrated Anna's 28th birthday (the one on the right). Uhhgg, that makes me feel OLD.

I didn't get the babies room painted last weekend. But I did get a lot of stuff for the babies! Okay, not tooo much stuff, but I do need to cut back on buying stuff. I have a closet full of clothes with no babes! I will post some pics later of some of my favs.

Sooo, to all my blog readers...when do you think we will get our referral? Leave a comment below on when you think we will get the CALL! I know I have some closet blog readers out there, don't be shy, leave me a note and your guess!

Nesting

I haven’t blogged in a while because I have no news to blog about with the adoption. So instead of blogging about no news, I will just blog about other happenings in our life.

So in case you are wondering, here is what we have been up to. Friday was spent at Amyjo’s new house discussing our book for book club, or in my case the movie! Ha! Yup, I am a slacker and didn’t finish the book. It was the The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo. Great movie and worth seeing. I watched the Swedish version and would recommend going that route if you watch it. It was an early night for Book Club (considering it was a Friday night) because we had a date with Miss Stella on Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch for her first birthday! We did the whole shebang! Petting zoo, pumpkins, hay ride, apples (a 23.00 bag of apples I might add), etc. It was good times had by all! I have to say though, it felt like having a kid or being pregnant was a pre-requisite to get in the door! I guess adopting counts too!

Later in the evening we meandered over to the Stiles house for some Fallapalooza! Good food, drinks, bonfire and lots of laughs. Of course, it ended up being much later night than anticipated. I guess we may as well pack in these nights while we can! It was a beautiful fall evening: smell of autumn, no bugs, perfect weather, harvest moon and cumulous clouds all around.

Last week I painted our new guest room and Sam and I moved all of the guest room furniture in from the former room. It looks great! Now the babies room is empty and ready to be made into a nursery. I have been holding off as long as possible getting it set up, but I just couldn’t wait anymore. I will probably start painting this weekend. Sam is in full nesting mode moving all sorts of furniture around and organizing in preparation for the babies. Our basement storage area looks great now that Sam organized and re-arranged it to make more room for all this ‘stuff’ that we have started to accumulate!

I started another class this week. I only have three left! I am trying to pack them in before the babies come. It can be done!!! This weekend Sam is playing in the State Flag Football tournament in St. Cloud. I will be getting the babies room primed and painted! We are also starting a ‘kitchen on a budget’ remodel so I will be picking out some stuff for that with Kathie’s help!

Pics of the new spare bedroom:

Cute little outfits for Jack and Hayley, I couldn't resist:

AMHARIC – The Basics

Through the wonderful world of blogging I have found sound some great Amharic resources amongst other invaluable adoption resources. I found this one here. I know, I know…some of you probably wonder why I post things like this, as if I would expect everyone to read the whole thing or that everyone would see the value as I do. The reason I post things like this is because it is helpful to other adoptive families, to me, to Sam and to our children. I plan on having our blog made into a book for our children so this process will be documented for them. I think this will be very valuable to them at some point.


To Jack and Hayley:
…………………………………………………………………………

Amharic (Amarigna/Amarinnya) has 33 letters, all of them consonants save for 1. The one vowel letter produces the 7 primary vowel sounds. The vowel is "A", and derived from it are the following vowel sounds.

uh, oo, ee, ah, ay, ih, and oh.

Take the letter S, for instance. The "S" consonant is made to produce 7 different 's' sounds with the addition of those.

Suh - as in supply, suffer etc

Soo - as in soot, sue, Sudan

See - as in see, Sierra

Sah - as in sand, South Africa

Say - as in -well- Say,

Sih, or just s - as in distance, asks (scant or no vowel sound)

Soh - as in so, sort

Every word in Amharic is made up of letters with one of those these vowel sounds since you can take any consonant and make the 7 sounds out of it.

L would be … Luh, Loo, Lee, Lah, Lay, Lih, Loh.

D would be… Duh, Doo, Dee, Dah, Day, Dih, Doh.

M would be… Muh, Moo, Mee, Mah, May, Mih, Moh.

...and so on.

..............Take these English words and say them out loud the way you'd normally say them while paying attention to the underlined syllable.

bundle, behoove, seat, tar, great, grape, snore! …There you have it!



• A is pronounced like Ah • E is usually the uh sound as in Selam • I is short i. • O is long o. • U is oo • G is a hard G. • AY is pronounced as in Bay, Stay ...etc. • EW is uh followed by the consonant W sound (Not oo). • Double letters usually denote emphasis on that syllable. The Amharic word for cat, “Dimmet” is pronounced Dim-met but as one word. • CH and TCH are pronounced as in Church or Watch. No discernable difference • GN is like the Spanish N with a tilde over it, or like the French gn sound. There are different words/word endings depending on if you are talking to a Male, a Female, Either, Plural or Formal (important or elder person). There are also hard consonant sounds that don't have an English equivalent. Usually, the closest approximation (the softer English consonant) is used in transliteration. For example, the Amharic word for Beautiful should be written Qonjo to denote the harder consonant. But, Konjo will do just fine for now, so as not to complicate things.



GREETINGS

Hi/Hello - Selam (literally meaning peace)

How are you?/Are you well? (to a Male) - Indemin neh?/Dehna neh?

How are you?/Are you well? (to a Female) - Indemin nesh?/Dehna nesh?

Please (to a Male) - Ebakih

Please (to a Female) - Ebakish

Thank you - Ameseg'nalehu (Ah-muh-suh-gin-ah-leh-hu)

Bye/See you - Ciao (Italian)

Be well (to a Male) - Dehna hoon

Be well (to a Female) - Dehna hoogn

Be well (to a Group) - Dehna hoonoo

Highlighted is the easiest and most common greeting if you want to say more than a quick Hi (Selam) to someone.

The response to all of the above is “Dehna” - Fine/Well; or “Dehna negn”- I’m Fine/I’m Well. Almost all religious people will add on “Igziabihayr Yimesgen” – Blessed be God. Muslims would say "Allah-Amd’ilah."

Also Note: “Igziabihayr Yistilign”, maning “May God bless (give) you on my behalf”, is often said instead of or in addition to “Ameseg’nalehu.” The response to “Igziabihayr Yistilign” is “Abro Yisten” – “May He bless us both/all” ........... The most formal greeting is "Tena Yistilign" - (May He grant you health on my behalf.)



FAMILY

Mother - Innat

Father - Abbat

Sister - Ihit

Brother - Wundim

Uncle - Aggot

Aunt - Akist

Grandmother/Grandfather - Ayat

Friend – Guadegna

…

Yes - Awo (Ah-woh)

No - Ayi (Ah-y) or Ayidelem

I love you (to a Male) - Iwedihalehu

I love you (to a Female) - Iwedishalehu

Come here (to a Male) - Nah

Come here (to a Female) - Neyi

Foreigner - Ferenj (White person)

Ethiopian - Habesha

Beautiful/Handsome/Good Looking - Konjo

Very - BetamClever/Good Job!/Smart – Gobez

Language - Kuankua

Important: “New” in amharic is pronounced Nuh-w, …like how ‘No’ sounds in English. It means “is” and you may see it a lot.

What's your name? (to a Male) - Simih man new?

What's your name? (to a Female) - Simish man new?

My name is ___. - Simay ___ new.

Good - Tiroo,p>

Bad - Metfo

Very Good - Betam Tiru

Small/Little/a little - Tinnish

Big - Tillik

Sorry (my apologies) - yirkita

Other words you may find useful:

Child - Lij

Boy - Wuhnd Lij

Girl - Sayt Lij

Children - Lijoch

Education – Timihirt

Pen - Scripto

Pencil – Irsas

Book – Metsihaf

Ball - Kuas

You (Male) - Antuh

You (Female) - Anchee

You (Plural) - Enantuh

I/Me - Inay

My/Mine - Yenay

Your/Yours (Male) - Yantuh

Your/Yours (Female) - Yanchee

Your/Yours (Plural) - Yenantuh

He - Issu (Issoo)

She - Issua

Clothes – Libs

Shirt – Shemeez (French)

Pants/Trousers – Sooree

Dress/Skirt - Kemees

Shoes – Chammah

Handbag/Purse – Borsa (Italian)

Luggage - Shanta

Coat is Coat

Jacket is Jacket

Sleep - Inkilf

Hands - Ijj (ih-j)

Legs/Feet - Igir

Finger/Fingers - Tat/Tatoch

Head – Ras

Hair - Tsegoor

Face - Feet (funny, I know!)

Forehead - Ginbar

Eye/Eyes - Ayin/Aynoch

Nose - Afincha

Mouth - Af

Lips - Kenfer

Teeth - Tirs

Tongue - Milas

Stomach/Tummy - Hod

Sickness/Ache - Himem

Food - Migib

Water - Wuha

Breakfast - Kurs

Lunch - Misah

Dinner – Erat

Salt – Chew (Chuh-w)

Sugar - Sikuar

Plate - Sahin/Sahan

Tray is Tray but Ethiopians pronounce it Tiree

Drinking Glass - Birchiko

Cup - Sinee

Coffee - Bunna

Tea - Shahi

Milk - Wetet

Pop/Soda/Soft Drink - Leslasah Metet

Beer - Birra (Italian)

Home brewed Eth. Beer - Tella

Home brewed Eth. Honey Wine - Tej

Home brewed Eth. Moonshine - Araki

Banana - Mooz

Orange – Birtookan

Lemon/Lime - Lomee

Apple - Pomme (French)

Strawberries - Injoree

Tomato - Teemateem

Lettuce – Selata

Eggs – Inkulal

Meat - Siga

Time - Geezay

Year - Amet

Month - Wuhr

Week - Sammint

Day/Date - Elet/Ken

Hour - Sa'at

Minute - Dekeekah

Second - Second

Morning - Tewat

Daytime - Ken

Evening - Mishit

Night - Matah/Layleet

Today - Zaray

Yesterday - Tinant

Tomorrow - Negeh

Sun - Tsehai

Moon - Chereka

Star/Stars – Kokeb/Kewakibt

Sky - Semay

Earth - Merayt

Country - Hahger

City - Ketema

Neighborhood - Sefer

Road - Menged

Car - Mekina , Machina (Italian)

Compound – Gibee

Tree/Trees – Zaf/Zafoch

Plants - Atakilt

Flower/Flowers – Abeba/Abeboch

Roses – Tsigayreda (Tsi-gay-ruh-dah)

House/home - Bet (Bay-t)

Door - Ber (buh-r)

Window - Meskot

Living Room - Salon

Bathroom - Bagno Bet (Bagno being Italian for Bathtub)

Bedroom - Megnita Bet

Kitchen - Wot Bet/Cuccina (Italian)

Bed - Algah

Sofa - Sofa

Table - Terepayza (Teh-reh-pay-zah)

Hot - Mooket

Cold - Bird (bih-rd)

Rain - Zinab

Mud - Chikah

Dog - Wusha

Cat – Dimmet

Goat – Fiyyel

Sheep – Beg

Cow – Lam

Ox/Bull - Beray

Donkey - Ahiyah

Camel - Gimel

Store/shop/kiosk/stall - Sook. Sometimes spelled Souk.

Price - Waga

How Much - Sint

Discount - Kinnash

It should be noted here that when you are out shopping and you're interested in an item, you may say "Wagaw sint new?" (how much is the price?), but whatever the seller may quote you (usually in English), and it may be ridiculously cheap, assume the look of shock! ...And throw back the "Oh, come on?!" look with the word "Kinnash?!" Welcome to the age old custom of haggling! No one really wants to pay "retail"!

Miscellany

What - Min

Why - Lemin

Where - Yet

When - Mechay

Who - Mann

How - Indayt

Green - Arenguaday

Yellow - Beetcha

Red - Keh-yi

Blue - Semahyawee

White - Netch

Black - Tikoor

Brown - Bunnama

Monday - Segno

Tuesday - Maksegno

Wednesday - Erob

Thursday - Hamoos

Friday - Ahrb

Saturday - Kidamay

Sunday - Ehood

Heavy - Kebbad

Light - Kellal

Hard - Kebbad

Easy - Kellal

Alphabet (letters) - feedel

NUMBERS

Ahnd 1

Hulet 2

Sost 3

Aratt 4

Ammist 5

Siddist 6

Sebatt 7

Simmint 8

Zetegn 9

Assir 10

Haya 20

Selasa 30

Arba 40

Hamsa 50

Sidsa 60

Sebah 70

Semanya 80

Zetena 90

Meto (Muh-toh) 100

Sheeh 1000

Milliyon Million

“Asra”, derived from “Assir”, which means 10, is a prefix for 11,12 and teens

Asra Ahnd is 11

Asra hulet is 12

Asra Sost is 13

Asra Aratt is 14 … and so on.

All numbers are straight forward otherwise.

Haya Ahnd is 21, Hamsa aratt is 54, Sebah Siddst is 76 and so on.

Meto / Ahnd Meto -- is -- a hundred / one hundred

Hulet Meto – 200

Sost Meto – 300 and so on

467 would be aratt meto sidsa sebatt – same syntax as four hundred sixty seven.

895 would be simmint meto zetena amist. And so on.

6000 is siddist sheeh.

Good News -

I know most people probably read that and thought we got a referral. Nope, no referral. The good news is that courts re-opened in Ethiopia yesterday. What does that mean for us? It just means that hopefully things will start moving at a quicker pace. When the courts are closed there are less families taking custody of children. This slows down children leaving the orphanage, meaning there are less openings for children to be brought in to Toukoul to get matched for a referral. Now that more children will be going to their forever families and leaving Toukoul, more children will be coming in to be adopted. So we are thinking we should be hearing something in the next month or so!

Lucky Number 7

We just past the seven month mark. I can't believe we have really been on the wait list for seven months. If you look at the entire process, we started it over a year ago. Wow!  I am past the point of feeling frustrated that we are waiting longer than the average. I know it will happen when the time is right. Waiting between month 5 and 6 were the hardest, because I think I had an expectation that that is when we would get our referral. After we hit 6 months, I have come to realize that I can't have that expectation on something that I have no control and I just need to let the process take its course. Thing have been much better this way.

Sam was gone all last week and part of the previous week traveling for work. He arrived home on Thurs. so to celebrate we had dinner at Heaute Dish. A fun and fancy joint that does a gourmet spin on Minnesota Hot Dishes. We had the sweetbreads (which I kinda had to trick Sam into, but my friend Anna gave him the DL so he was on to my tricks), foie gras, steak and eggs which was tartare and it came with an oyster shooter, and lastly tator-tot hot dish. It was delicious! That evening also marked out seven months of on the wait list!

This weekend was spent babysitting Alivia, my brother and sister-in-laws daughter. I think Brent and Kim thought this would be good training for parenthood, but in all honesty, she was a piece of cake! We actually liked having to go to be early and staying close to home for a change!

A quick shout out to my lovely sister Laura, who did a style on the Denver Post Fashion Editor last week! We are hoping she will do a write up on Laura and her salon. If you are in Denver and need a sassy stylist check her out here.

Colombian Orphans Needing Families

Spread the word. They are little heartbreakers I tell ya!

http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=83660@wcco.dayport.com

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/colombiankids

The Bestest Birthday Card Ever

Once there was this guy.

A nice guy, really.

And he me this girl.

An incredible girl-truly amazing.

So naturally the guy falls

head over heels in love with her,

and pretty soon they're picking out

china patterns and rings

and there's a wedding

and the starry-eyed couple

rides off into what will surely

be a rosy future.

Okay, so now some time has passed

and the guy is living in that future.

He's still married to the girl,

but now their life includes a lot stuff -

appliances and bills and loads of laundry

and home repair projects.

But between all the to-dos and have-tos,

there are these moments

when the guys stops for a minute

and looks around him.

He looks at his wife,

who is still truly amazing,

he looks at their life together,

all the ways and different

directions it's grown,

he looks at all

the responsibilities he's got,

and thinks to himself,

so, this is my life.

And the he thinks,

I am one helluva lucky guy.

Happy Birthday

I LOVE YOU

Whoever said that cards were a waste of many and over rated, are wrong. Plain and simple, you are just wrong. This was the best part of my birthday. I love you babe and you make me the happiest wife on this planet.


Here is another wife's birthday surprise from her husband.


Background info: 35-year-old Sydneysider Kristian Anderson was recently diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Despite his illness, he wanted to express his gratitude for all the support he’s received from his wife Rachel, so he made her this special birthday video, complete with cameos by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and actor Hugh Jackman.

Better get the plumber on the phone, because you’re about to break a water main.




Rachel's Birthday Video from Kristian Anderson on Vimeo.

If you are wondering why no posts lately…

Well, to be honest, there is not much to write about. Don’t get me wrong, Sam and I are enjoying life, but I don’t think most readers care about what we have been up to, but rather, where are things at with our adoption. Well…they are the same place they were 6.5 months ago. Still waiting.

So let me talk about the ‘waiting’ period a little bit. It wasn’t not hard for me, at all, up until month 5. At month 5 we were smack dab in the middle of the average, so I think at that point I started to have expectations. When you have expectations they don’t come to fruition, it is disappointing. Regardless of what the expectation is. It is a constant wanting for something, and being let down. Every day when the clock strikes 4:30, I figure today won’t be the day.

If you know me, you also know that I am also a planner. So this whole waiting thing, doesn’t really mesh with my personality or my ability to plan. So this adds a whole other element that is equally frustrating. For instance, Sam and I have been saving as much of our PTO as possible for our adoption. Lucky for me, my company will allow me to carry over 80 hours of PTO if it is not used before the end of the year. Unfortunately for Sam, his company does not allow to carry over his PTO and he has banked over 100 hours of PTO. If we don’t travel to Ethiopia yet this year, then what is unused is just lost.

Another ‘planning’ snafu that we ran into is we have been putting money into a Flex Spending Health Savings Account with the idea that our kids will be home by Christmas. Well that just isn’t going to happen. We need to spend the money in this account otherwise it is forfeited. I originally thought, not a problem, we can stock up on diapers and formula. Well, come to find out neither will qualify. We need to figure out what we are going to spend this money on. If you have ideas, please let me know. *sigh*

The last planning issue that we are running into is I am finishing up courses for my MBA. After my current course, I only have 3 courses left. Yeaahhh for me, although this is a long time in the making (6 years). The challenge is when to schedule my classes when we don’t know when we will be traveling. Ideally, I would like to have them all done before we have the kids’ home, but we don’t know when that will be. *uhhggg*

So with all of this bubbling up, I pressed our agency yesterday for some answers. The first response I received was a bit generic. I understand the agency doesn’t have all the answers either, but I still wasn’t satisfied with her response so I pushed harder. I did feel better after their second response. Here is a summary of what we were advised.

SOS EE matches the appropriate child to the appropriate families as they see fit. Part of this decision is based on the information we provided with our request letter to the Board of SOS EE, what we are approved for in our home study, and the children who have been determined fit for adoption at Toukoul and other factors. During the court closure (they are scheduled to re-open on Sept. 30th) referrals slow down because there is no room for children to move from the regional centers to Toukoul in Addis because families are not being granted custody travel to bring their children home, which opens up space for another child to move into. Dove did receive a few referrals in the first part of the court closure.

There are no families who are in their 8th month of waiting for a referral who are working with Dove and historically they have only had one family who waited 9 months. Since they don’t know exactly when we’ll be matched they can’t estimate when we’ll travel for court but the earliest would be December.

So I just did a lot of writing with not a lot of information to report. I am still hopeful, even though some days are hard, that our referral will come soon. I know when we have our referral, the time we spent waiting will just melt away.

Some people ask us a lot, ‘any news yet?’ While this doesn’t bother me as a I know people are just genuinely excited for us, but honestly, if we have news, you will know. What does bother me is when people say “just try to keep yourself busy.” Clearly if that is your advice, you don’t know us. Sam and I are busy busy busy people. I am honestly looking forward to our social calendar slowing down once we have kids.

No news is good news (really?)

I am not sure if I agree with that statement (or at least right now). We want and we are ready for some good news!  This is only news that we have received from our agency which came yesterday:

Dear Samuel and Christina,

As you continue to get closer to the date you receive your referral, we want to encourage you. Although the average wait continues to be 4 to 6 months, there are times when the wait is outside of this average. We continue to be in direct communication with our international contacts and will contact you as soon as we have referral information.

We hope that you will let us know of anything we can do to help as you are waiting.


So to keep you entertained while we wait...here is an adoption video of a family who recently adopted using the same agency and the same orphanage that we are adopting from. Enjoy!

P.S. If any of you could call in a favor for us, now would be the time :-) (Sigh)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

How did Africa get in my belly?

I bet you have never seen an ultrasound look quite like this before. Ha!

It's a Poppy Dip!

 I won this dress for Hayley, on a blog giveaway. They are called Poppy Dips! They are custom made dresses and the funds raised goes toward their Ethiopia adoption costs. If you know of a special little girl in your life, be sure to order one for this great cause and because they are absolutely adorable! Here is the one for little Hayley. I chose this fabric becasue it has purple in it and Sam thinks purple will be Hayley's color, I guess it is a fathers instinct.

Faith

Last week Sam and I had a discussion around religion and adoption. I will spare you the details of our conversation, but what we concluded was that through this process, you need to have faith and believe in something that is far bigger than ourselves. This concept is nothing new, but what is new or different (for us) is how much we need to rely on this, practice it, live it, and believe it through this adoption process. I read this today on this blog, from another adoptive parent to be, and it is just what I needed. It was just another reminder…


"God says, never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that rises in your heart as you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle even more with My response. You must stumble in confusion before you dance with joy.

Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?

The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world. You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see My glory from the mountaintop of faith.

Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence.

Struggle well! Wait in hope!"

[from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, copyright 2009]

Bittersweet

This post is bittersweet. I am bitter because we have not received our referral yet. Average wait time is 4-6 months. Today we have reached the end of the average and will be one of the families who need to wait longer than the average for their forever family. However, I say it is bittersweet because I know that when we do have our referral, it will have been well worth the wait and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I know that when we have our referrals the feeling of impatience, anxiety, and hopelessness will immediately go away. Good things come to those who wait and I will wait as long as I need to if that means that we are waiting to have the perfect match for our family. And really, who am I kidding, my wait isn't nearly as bad for me as it is for Jack and Hayley. Some days I really need to practice having more perspective. Please pray for Jack and Hayley to have a safe journey to us.

Their First Gift...

This is the first gift that I bought for Hayley and Jack. I bought it on our annual girls ice fishing trip. That trip was also significant becuase Sam had called me to let me know that we received our Immigration Approval! This was a big step in moving forward with the adoption process. I plan to hang it in their room. It doesn't really go with the turtle theme I have in mind, but I still love it.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step." There are so many parallels that can be drawn from that phrase and adoption. In literal terms, Jack and Hayley are on a journey of a thousand miles! There first step being strength; the strength to survive, their strength to trust, their strength to love.  They have a journey ahead of them like no other. In thinking of this phrase, it also resonates with adoptive parents, or parenthood in general. Adoption is a journey that starts with the first step of saying yes. You are trusting in process to grow your family in a way in which you have little control.

I will continue to trust in the fact that we will receive a referral, as hard as it may be some days. Whether it comes sooner or later, I trust that when we have our referrals, it will have been well worth the wait.

Thanks for all the support!

I'd like to make a formal in-formal thank you to everyone who has inquired about our adoption updates. Christina and I appreciate the support, encouragement and "ear" to listen to our comments. Quality friends and family make life more enjoyable and simplify it. We look forward to being able to supporty all of you in our futures together. - Sam

Another Week -

So we are at the start of another week. All I can seem to think about these days is, will this be the day? I try not to think about it because I don't want to be disappointed each day, but it is extremely hard not think about it...every second of every minute.

Sam leaves tomorrow and is traveling near the Canada border. He won't return until Thurs. Sam is sure that we will get the call tomorrow. Tomorrow would be the worst possible time being we will be so far apart from each other. It is not realistic for him to turn around and drive all the way home, should we get the call. So, that means we are faced with a few options: 1) We will open the information over the phone together on our separate computers 2) We wait to open it together until Sam gets home on Thurs. 3) I don't even tell Sam we got the call until he is able to come home, which would be wed. night or Thurs. morning. When Sam and I discussed our options, 3 seemed like the best option until I realized that I would not be able to not tell him. I could not hold the excitement in, even it was for only 24-48 hours. If we went with option 2, Sam would not be able to contain himself and wait for us to be together to open the information. He is like a kid on Christmas when it comes to things like this. He can never patiently wait to open his birthday or Christmas gifts. So that leaves us with option, 1. There are so many what ifs in this situation that I know I am worrying way too much about something that I can't control.

Sam and I have also been talking about what information regarding our children's past that we feel comfortable sharing with others. For instance, how they became an orphan. I am sure depending on what the story is, will somewhat dictate what we feel comfortable sharing with others. It is likely that we will keep parts of it private as this is their story and we would not want others to know before they are old enough to understand and comprehend it for themselves.

Send us good thoughts and prayers for a referral this week!

Today or Tommorow? Please?

Tomorrow we will have been waiting 5 months and two weeks!  It is seriously getting quite frustrating. I think every morning I ask Sam if today will be the day. And it never seems to be the day, but I know it has to be coming...soon!  I told Sam a few weeks ago that I thought that TODAY would be the day that we got our referral. I am still hopeful that we will get it this week. Sam said he thinks we will get it tomorrow. Next week Sam will be traveling near the Canada border for work. So if we do get the referral next week, we will have to figure out what to do being we won't be together. We decided not to worry about it now and we will just figure it out when the time comes (if that is in fact when we get a referral).

The frustrating part is the waiting and not knowing. It will be such a life changing moment and we have NO idea when that moment will come. I literally jump now when my phone rings! We have heard of another family who did receive their referral this week of a little girl and they had been waiting just 5 months. So this is encouraging that people are getting referrals!

Some good news, our friends just passed court in Ethiopia. You can see their new baby boy here and read their story!

My work also started a baby pool and they are all guessing on when we will get our referrals! If you have a guess on when we will get the referral, leave a comment on my blog and put in your guess!

Last night Sam and I went on a run and here is a recap over our conversation. I think it is kinda funny, if you read my blog and you don't actually know us, this is normal humour between Sam and I.

Sam: I heard you put a new picture on the blog?
Me: There are a few, what are you talking about?
Sam: Is there one on a deck? Dave asked where the picture was taken on the deck?
Me: Well if you actually read our blog you would know.
Sam: It would be nice if I could get our blog email updates instead of my friends.
Me: It think he probably referring to my last post and the picture was taken last year when we were in Hawaii. Plus this is your blog too, you don't need automatic updates.
Sam: Where are we adopting from again?
Me: China
Sam: Oh yeah, that is right.

Here are some pics, in honor of my dear husband. Some of his fine, and not so finest moments.  Love you babe!

No News Yet...

Hi All -

We have not received any news of a referral yet. We are hoping that it will be very soon so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Here is the last update we received from our agency:

Dear Sam and Christina,

 We are emailing to check in and see how you and your family are doing; we know you are hoping to hear information about who your children are. Please be assured that SOS EE in Ethiopia are doing their part in finding the perfect match for your family. The current average wait times are still the same time frame of 4-6 months, although each adoption is different. Some families will wait outside the average time frame while others will not, as Ethiopia matches the child to whom they feel will be the best family for them.


We do hope to deliver the exciting news soon. Please contact us with any questions or concerns you may have. We always welcome the opportunity to support you in every way we can.


We also want to remind families that the courts are scheduled to close on August 9th with the official opening date to still be announced, however, courts dates have been scheduled for October 2010.

Warm regards,

So we wait...and wait...and wait...
Here is us waiting....only the view isn't this nice in MN...and it is humid with lots of mosquito's!

On a positive note, tonight is the finale of the Bachelorette! Who will Ali choose?

Chris L?

OR

 Roberto?

I am hoping she is going to pick Chris! Ooooooooooohhhhhhh, I can't wait to find out! My friend Kathie is having a little shindig at her place for the finale, should be a great time!

I crack myself up...

As I have mentioned before, the ONLY time our agency will call us is when they have our referral. So when they call, it will be the real call with our babies! I realized that since I have changed phones, I didn't have our agency number in my phone yet. So I thought I should program it in so I know to answer it when they call. Instead of putting it under the name of the agency, I put it under 'Jack and Hayley'. When the agency does call, it is really like Jack and Hayley calling!  I can't wait for the number to ring! Hopefully it will be soon.

This video is very touching, inspiring and emotional. I hope you take the time to watch it. On this adoption journey I have come to have a much different appreciation for those who have adopted, have been adopted, or given up a child to adoption. I realize that adoption isn't in the cards for everyone, but everyone can have an impact on a child's life, even if it is just reading them a story or giving the a hug.

"As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person."

5 Months

As of Friday we have been on the wait list for 5 months! 

The first 5 months has gone by fast, but now I can tell I am starting to get anxious and much more excited. The last two families that I know of who got referrals got their's at 5 and a half months. I am hoping that will be the case for us too! keep your fingers crossed for us!

What I Miss...

As you can tell, I have redesigned my blog once again. The new picture was taken on my 30th birthday. My sister, who was my amazing stylist, gave me my fab blowout that day for my birthday...then she moved Denver. So looking at the picture above makes me miss my sissy (and her crazy ass skillz at doing hair). Miss you and love you Laura!

Getting Close...

I read the blog this morning of another family who just received their referral of a 7 mo. old girl. They are using the same agency as us and they have been waiting for a referral 5.5 months. You can read about their referral story hear.

Tomorrow marks our 5 month mark of on the waiting list!  Knowing that this family is only slightly ahead of us and got their referral is encouraging to us. I even wore my Ethiopia necklace today for good luck!

In the meantime, I have slowly been collecting clothes for Hayley and Jack. We have been VERY fortunate to have friends and family who have given us a ton a stuff for them.  I have also been hitting up the garage sales too. I also discovered Saks 5th Ave has some great deals (thanks to Melis - my sisterinlaw)!  Here are some of my favorite finds!

Coming Home

People all over are waiting and praying for their loved ones to come home. Whether that be a soldier or child through adoption. These homecomings make everything worthwhile and makes everything else melt away.

Ouch!

Today Sam and I had our travel Dr. apt. and immunizations. Every day we seem to be one step closer. Here are the immunizations that we got today.

-Hep A
-Pollio
-Meningitas
-H1N1

We also received Malaria pills that we take prior to being exposed to Malaria risk areas. We also chose to take the Typhoid pills rather than another shot. We will take those soon as the side affects from these immunizations ware off.

We did NOT get the Yellow Fever immunization today. This shot is not required, but reccomended if you are traveling to remote areas in Ethiopia, which we plan to. Here was our conversation with the Dr. today on if we needed the shot.
Me -"Is there any reason we should consider not getting the shot"
Dr - "Yeah, it is the nastiest of nasty of all immunizations out there."
Me - "What do you mean?"
Dr - "Most people get sickness and a fever for a few days. There is also a 1 in 300,000 chance you could die."
Me - "I think I really need to decide if I want to get this one"
Dr - "It is okay if you are a chicken. What, you don't want die?"

Then he made balking chicken noises at me with the arm motion and everything. Who does that?

Two Down

Two To Go!

Is that I tear I see in Sam's eye?

Almost done Sam, you can do it!

After we done with our shots, here was the conversation with our nurse:

Nurse -  "Wow, you guys are pretty brave"

Me and Sam - "huh? It wasn't too bad, but we can feel it."

Nurse - "No, you are pretty brave, I would never get four of these suckers at the same time."

Huh? What is that supposed to mean?  I guess only time will tell. Pray for us please. Ha!