Ok then!

We are off tomorrow.

We arrive in Addis Ababa at 6pm Friday night via Frankfurt. Ethiopia is 7hrs ahead of us.

We will unpack, eat and sleep. Or what will pass for sleep.

In the am on Saturday we will shop for some baby essentials and then go meet our girl!

For the most part I'll keep in touch by posting to this blog. We will have internet access although we may not always have electricity!

Thank you all for your support and kindness throughout this process.

Until we are four,

L

We're leaving

...on a jet plane!!

YIKES!!!

We have so much to do!! And I can't walk!

But my baby girl will be in my arms on Saturday! Even if I have to sit down to do it.

Humorous story--SO MUCH shopping still to do and I cannot walk or stand for long. So J took me to Target and we got one of those motorized scooter carts. Let me tell you. That baby hauled! It was FAST. I flew around the store tossing things into the cart. I may have to buy one of those. Sure, it was embarrassing especially the beep-beep sound it makes in reverse. And my husband running ahead of me to take pictures of me. I wish I rear ended him!

L
New Mommy and cleared to travel!

Time

I saw this sentiment expressed by a dad on another blog:

With children, the days are long but the years are short.

I look at my 15 year old son and I realize how true this is. The years have just kept marching along. Soon he'll be in college and we will be vacations in his life. If we're lucky. People say it all the time but it is important to stop for a second and think about it. Time passes quickly. The kind of time you wish would pass slowly.

There is a kind of time you wish would pass fast--waiting in line, bone healing, time until vacation, teething.

Then there is the time you wish would creep--vacation, time with your parents on a deck in the sun, that beautiful time between 4-6pm in the summer, ice cream in the back of the jeep with your son after a baseball game.

But you can't have it both ways, right?

As we look at the time ahead which will surely have some trying moments, trying moments in raising a baby at this time of our lives, I tell myself to keep this in mind.

Just as there were times when I'd turn to J and say:

I love this stage. You think if we stop feeding him and put him in a bell jar he will stay just like this?

There will certainly be times we can't wait to have pass. Tantrums anyone? Pubertitious rebellion?

Two more sentiments from dads come to mind.

My brother has said--A baby is a blessing.

And my Dad--Children fly out of your hands.

They are. They do.

I plan to try my best to keep this in mind through both kinds of time.

Until then, I hope the next 24hrs pass fast!!!

L

Give Me Liberty or...

Grandma hightailed it over to Target to score four of these babies for her granddaughter! They have been flying off the shelves... I think they'll look great under her daybed. And they match the chair.

Hey! Grandma loves matchy-matchy so maybe that is why she tore out to get them! :-)

Thanks Ma! Couldn't do it without you!

L

The last few "steps" (a term used loosely)

On Monday we should hear from the US Embassy in Addis Ababa that M's case is cleared and we can travel. Our flights leave Thursday at 5:30. We are hopeful!

Left to do--

Finish nursery: paint, rugs, wire lights, build out closet, window treatments, trim
Bathroom: Put decals up on walls, all hardware installed, shower curtains

Pack: this will be monstrous. We have 6 suitcases that need to go and 6 carry on. We have a lot of stuff to get over to the orphanages.

Tons of errands!

All this and I still can't walk or stand--bad foot injury this weekend in Pittsburgh. J is threatening to get a double stroller now to wheel me and the baby around. It is mortifying and couldn't have happened at a worse time!

L

Liberty

Every one deserves to have some liberty, right?

Isn't that why our forefathers threw caution to the wind?

Well our baby girl just got some liberty.

Liberty of London that is!!

Target is doing an awesome line right now with famed British store and fabric house Liberty of London. Gorgeous stuff! Clothes, housewares, decos. Limited time!

We scored one of the last of these in Massachusetts.

It will totally go with the 60s mod vibe in her room!

(There may have been a large dress haul too. Can't have the girl running around bare butt!)

Get thee to Target!!

L

Embassy

Today our paperwork will be filed with the US Embassy in Addis. They will do their investigation and let us know in one week if we are cleared to travel and pick M up. We are scheduled to leave that Thursday!

A nail biter to the end!

L

Getting excited!

In a tad over 3 wks we will have our daughter in our arms!

What is left to do?

Finish the nursery: Paint trim, move carpets in, build out closet. Paint some of the furniture, assemble and move in furniture. Hang window treatments. Put on wall decal. Wall paper closet doors (J's way cool idea). Hang art. Put in lighting.

Finish Bathroom: Install sink and faucet. Paint trim. Put on wall decals. Hang shower curtains. Put up hooks.

Buy stuff for the trip.

Finish vaccinations.

PACK! This will be somewhat monstrous.

We have most of the baby stuff, thank goodness.

Lauren

In this corner, tipping the scales....

at 16 pounds...



It's M R D! (@ 8mos)

I think the caption of this picture should be:

"Enough already with the pictures, when are you picking me up??"

and

"Bring a hat, I have no hair!"

laid low

Those vaccines kicked my butt!!

And we need to get two more this week!!

Waaaah!

Lauren

Travel Vaccines...and we leave in 4 wks!

We go tonight to get our vaccines. Fortunately our trip to Africa in 2005 leaves us in good shape, we got most things then. We need HepA booster, HepB and Yellow fever. Some good news on that front--we were enrolled in a yellow fever vaccine clinical trial so J and I will make $575 for our trouble.
Not bad windfall $$ for the trip!

Bought our plane tickets--we fly out 3/25 and arrive 3/26 on Lufthansa (let's hope they resolve their strike), one stop, and best news--the lowest price I have ever seen to ET--$1200, and very best news--we got two sets on our credit card miles (good thing J and I are spendy and have lots of reward miles stored up on the credit card) and A is coming with us!

We are getting seriously excited. Mimi girl will be in our arms in no time!

Lauren

PS: We also needed Meningococcal. That one was the worst!

A video snippet!

Her brand new mobile, and crib toy!

I could be imagining it but doesn't she do a double take when she hears "mommy"?

Lauren

Embassy Date

Looks like we will move forward with the March 29 Embassy date. We want to get Lil' Mimi into our arms as soon as possible.

Reservations are not bad, one stop, through Frankfurt on Lufthansa. A has Good Friday off so he would only miss 5 days of school. We are waiting for his Principal to approve his absence.

Starting to mildly freak OUT.

Lot's of reno still to do.

Lot's of gear still to be gotten.

Ranger is a little concerned that he will have to sleep in the dog crate with Mimi like had to do with puppy Skyler. Or have to sleep with her draped over his belly like Jem and Scout did (and still do). We have assured him that he has done his part in raising the little ones, we'll take over now...



Lauren

Court

Court was to have been today.

But the Court closed! No reason given! Must have been sunny, or rainy! Beach day! Who knows? Those crazy kids...

Any way, we are rescheduled for tomorrow.

They asked for it:



They had better get their act together.

Lauren

From Jenny!

My e-friend from Italy is in ET to pick up her 10 mos old daughter H from an orphanage named Miskaye. D is at an orphanage called BZ but Jenny joined some other families at the goodbye coffee ceremony at BZ. Jenny is also a pediatric nurse. I asked her to hold D and cover her with loud sloppy kisses. Here is her report!

Lauren, we went to the goodbye ceremony at BZ today. They did a coffee ceremony and the nannies said goodbye to J and Y.

I held D for a long time. They call her Doo, Doony, and Dun-ee-ya, and Dunya. Very cute. She's petite and serious most of the time, but I saw her smile several times, especially for the nannies. They feed the babies every 2 hours even at night with fast flow nipples. (AHA! That's why they get so chubby!) The bottle they gave to me to feed Dunia was 4-5 oz and she drank about half of it and fell asleep and they were ok with letting her not finish the bottle.
I saw her butt-naked while we were there for a diaper and clothes change and I got 3 naked photos of her on Lissa's camera. She will send them to you. D looks great. She is alert, makes eye contact, babbles and coos, raises her chest and head while on her tummy, is not quite sitting unsupported yet, and puts some weight on her feet when you hold her upright. She has a bit of a belly but is not chunky like J and Y(yet). She is light skinned but not pale in my opinion. Whites of the eyes are white. Her eyes are watery (clear) and her nose is crusty with dried boogers. No cough. Very tranquil. The cribs are small and have a solid dividing wall between them so the babies don't interact with one another which is a shame. Definitely don't get much stimulation but I do not think they are neglected, so I know whatever delays she may have she will catch up. The mobiles are a fantastic idea. They need them. Her photo book of you guys is in her crib and we looked at it together. I gave her several wet loud smooches and millions of smaller kisses and told her over and over that you are coming. She liked that.

Gosh, my heart is breaking with joy and love.

The network of mom-friends that forms around adoption is a blessing. We keep each other propped up in so many ways. Thanks Jenny for this simple joy!

Lauren

PS: Just about every photo we get of D she has a dried booger in her nose! To be honest I have been photoshopping them out to spare you all, and me! When my lil' booger gets home she won't have those any more!! Enjoy the pic above of milky bliss!

another tidbit....

From a different traveling mom--

The orphanage is beautiful and clean and bright. The nursery is clean and there is someone in there constantly....the older babies are sitting, etc....which is great news!! Their cribs are clean and orderly and they seem very well cared for...

I still want to grab her and run.

Lauren

PS: I sent over a crib mobile and another mom did too. My goal is to have two per crib rig. I just scored four more on Ebay. The kids really need to have more stimulation. We are getting crib mirrors too. If you have anything you don't need, send it on to me, I'll get it over there.

a tidbit!

One of my adoption e-friends, B, is in ET right now picking up her two(!) infant boys. One of the boys is from the same orphanage as D. Becky got video of her and said that she has "gained weight, is growing hair, and looks really good"! We can't wait to see the video!!!

Lauren

What does the rest of the process look like?

After a satisfactory court ruling D is legally our daughter but still a citizen of Ethiopia. We need to get her a visa issued by the U.S. Embassy in ET that will allow her into the U.S. This is how I understand it works:

-After we pass court, the Ethiopian government has to issue a birth certificate for D. Children in Ethiopia don't automatically get birth certificates when they're born (birth dates aren't kept track of there like in the U.S. Indeed, D's birth date is estimated). By the way, D's name on her Ethiopian birth certificate will be "D J L" Kinda cute. It follows the ET'ian custom of giving a child a first name but her last name is her father's first name.

-Once D J L gets her birth certificate then she can get her Ethiopian passport.

-Next, the court decree, birth certificate and passport are submitted to the U.S. embassy (keep in mind that all this stuff has to be translated from Amharic to English first).

-D must have a physical exam performed by a US approved embassy doctor. She'll be screened for HIV, tuberculosis, etc. (she was tested for all these things at the orphanage before we got her referral, too). I imagine they would deny her a visa if she had certain diseases (I'm not sure what though. But I do know that being positive for TB gets her a 6mo quarantine).

-Finally, a U.S. embassy appointment is scheduled (this is when we get to travel). We accompany Dunya to the US embassy, answer some questions, and a visa is issued allowing her to enter the US!

-Once in the US we will need to get her a US birth certificate, US passport and go through a "re-adoption". This is a formality as she is already legally our daughter.

Right now we are tentatively scheduled for an Embassy date of 3/29. But things don't always go through court perfectly the first time so we'll see. Also, we may want to go two weeks later so A can travel with us.

Lauren

Oh YEAH!

A court date!!! Seems like blowing your top off once in awhile gets results!! Who knew?? ;-)

FEBRUARY 9 2010.

If all goes well that day, D will legally become our daughter.

Everywhere.

A few images to sum up my emotions today...





and whaddaya know!



Lauren

Happy D approved this message:

Still nothing.

We should have our court date by now. It has been a month. I am getting peeved. Downright ticked off.

The process works thusly--

We sign our CPR. We did this on 12/21/09.

A case is opened in the court.

Once opened, MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) must issue a letter allowing the adoption to go forward. They consider things like the circumstances through which the child has come to be available for adoption and if things are in order. In our case this should be straightforward. It is more likely that MOWA is behind, or going through one of several trainings, overhauls, etc that have repeatedly slowed things down with them. But this has been too long.

When the MOWA letter is sent to the court we get the next available court date. For most people this is within a week or three of the case being opened. And the date is usually a month+ out.

Where we appear to be stuck at the MOWA step, my agency's attorney in ET has petitioned the court to find out what is holding MOWA up, this alone usually gets their attention. We did this on Tuesday.

So we'll see.

We want to get our D home. This is a needless waste of time and all I can think about is her in the orphanage, though a nice one, and not getting the stimulation and loving care we can provide.

This week another set of new parents travel so luckily we will get some new pictures and hopefully a video. I have asked that they cover her with loud, sloppy kisses from us.

Still.

Lauren

D's Monthly Update!

We got D's update (our agency sends out monthly updates). She has gained weight and is doing age appropriate things!

Tipping the scales at 12.79 lbs....Our New Year Baby D!



Still no court date...arrrgggghhh.

Lauren

It's a very happy new year!

We had a great Christmas! 12 adults and 4 tots for the seven seafoods on Christmas Eve at our place and a nice get together at my brother's on the big day. Santa showed up, made my niece cry, and beat a hasty exit.

New Year's was spent up in Maine with N here and the four guys snowboarding everyday; big pot of stew, some rib eyes, a birthday dinner for J, chicken and dumplings and we came home to a broken furnace! Yup, home at 10pm to a house at 50 degrees. We all piled into the master with a space heater, which got up to a toasty 57.

As for Little Miss D, we await news of her court date which better come soon... so we can turn this:


into this!