Because that's the way we roll.

Meadow has her ears pierced. All the cool girls in Deutschland are doing it.
Our first trip in the mega van as a complete family. Tyden is crouched in the corner for some reason?
At the mall. After the dirty deed was done. Not a single wince, flinch or tear, but this doesn't really strike me as a smile either. How about you?

Celebration at Jason's Deli afterward. (Our family of 9 ate for $39 including drinks and desserts for everyone. Not bad, not bad!)

That's better.

Starting to get well, I think a full recovery is on its way. Until then, we're lying pretty low and trying to take it *easy* Ha! Have lots to write about, but little time to do it. Kids climbing all over my chair and speaking repetative Ahmaric in my ear as I type this. It's super helpful for focus ☺

Participating Children

Sweet kids. Definitely welcomed us with open arms (meaning they were all over us like glue :) We loved every minute of it. What a fun and inspirational experience and time that was for us.

The Feeding Program for Yezelalem Minch

For some reason the boys were enthralled with Bob's big guns :)

The little girl I would have liked to take home.

The food, prepared by extended family members of orphaned children who are employed to cook every Saturday for the feeding program.

Yoseph, the person who showed us around and gave us the scoop on the ministry and the Yezelalem Minch boys' and girls' homes (can not recall his official title, but he's really important!).

That explains a lot.

Bronchitis, ear infection, and sinus infection is the verdict from the Dr.
I feel better about all that whining now ☺
Not great for bonding and attaching. MOM IS NOT LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME! Don't worry kids! They wouldn't get it if I told them. It will be a pleasant little **surprise**
Armed with plenty of meds, I'm settling in for a long winter's nap.

We love the Warners!

Ok, that's better :)

A whole new meaning 4 pooper scooper

Stool samples required for both kids as part of their overall (we're in America now!) health and wellness assessments. Lots of poo. In several little cups. You weren't eating now, were you?
Bobby is doing it for me. Yes he is. With my cough/congestion situation I might start gagging and never stop, choking out a lung, taking my very life and breath away and that man needs me, so he took the nasty poo one for the team. How much do you think I owe him?
**************
We met this family on our trip and oh how we loved them! They are too far away, in Michigan. Boo! But, I'm thinking we'll make plans to reunite and see each other again. Aren't they gorgeous? The have 4 children (youngest age 13, oldest age 22 pictured on the right) and adopted 2. They are super cool people, easy breezy to be around with a great sense of humor and light hearts. They know how to take things in stride. I can learn a lot from them. Is it wrong to put them on the poo post?

Just when I think it's getting better...

it takes another turn for the worse.
My health. It's not good. At all.
I don't know when I've been so sick for so long. Bad timing.
This is seriously hindering my campaign for Mother of the Year Award.
Me at the Chicago airport with my handy dandy, constant companion, precious as gold in the land of few paper products, one shouldn't be ill on the trip of a lifetime, kleenex on the way to Ethiopia.

Flint at the same Chicago airport on the way home. Yep, he's really sleeping like that. Can you blame him? :)

A World of Firsts

First snow (followed by first falls on the ice), first American Dr. appointments (where viles and viles and viles of blood needed to be drawn and not even a tiny whimper was heard!) first bowls of cereal, first time doing puzzles, first trips to Starbucks following first American Dr. appointments......the list goes on. The kids are transitioning astonishingly well to a world of firsts on the Colorado countryside. We could not be more proud of them. ♥ JOTSC are handling this with grace and ease, welcoming Meadow and Flint seamlessly, joyfully, gladly, happy for more playmates. We could not be more proud of them either. ♥ This is turning out to be a really fun time. We are counting our blessings, they are abundant.

((Hello)) am I speaking English?!

It's what I used to say to the kids sometimes when they weren't responding to me.
Funny thing is.....now, that's the problem ☺

Keeping up with the Deutschs

Will wear a kid out. Meadow and Flint are the first to fall asleep every night. Yesterday evening, they cashed out while the other kids were still tallying their American Idol votes before dialing 1.866.idols.0? They sleep well and quietly too. Only once so far has one of them popped into our room and turned on the light asking for a drink of water. Amazing! It's really a good thing because have I mentioned there are 7 children here day and night none of which are over the age of 8? Oh, how we need our rest ☺

This has been a Deutschland sleep update for inquiring minds.

Just the facts ma'am

I'm up nice and early (6:38 Yes! That's Early! I still have a fierce cold with a smoker's cough and would adore snoozing all day.) to have a moment to myself that I may sit and type.

The instant I saw Meadow and Flint standing outside the orphanage as our taxi bus pulled up in front, I did feel great emotion for them. It was surreal to see in live, 3D, whole moving beings the children I had looked at in pictures, prayed for, longed for, hoped for, all those months.

{I'm currently being joined by those surreal blessings + a bundle of joy that came to us 5 years ago. They're awake! Oh wait, here comes the 3 year old too. We'll see how far I get.....}

I can't say it didn't get harder after that, because it did. When things seemed to be going so wrong in Ethiopia at the end, and we simply could not communicate with them, and Flint had a tenacity for running off at the many places and events we had to attend, and I was exhausted and ill the whole trip, trying to eradicate head lice in a place with little hot water where our shower was our bathroom so showering meant drenching the entire bathroom floor where the standing water stayed no matter how hard Bob tried to squeegee it down with a flip flop, and the kids did not know how to use a toilet or brush their teeth or do a thousand other 'normal' things, and the smallest tasks are ultra challenging when you don't speak the same language, and I could not figure out how on earth we would ever survive the travel home as I was vomiting every few minutes, and I was missing, missing, missing JOTSC, and tensions were rising between Bobby and I as we tried to deal with the visa situation and didn't always agree on the best next step to take, and the stress was high.....it was tough. If someone had offered me a chance to take those ridiculously long plane home, alone, I may have said a big, fat, resounding, reverberating YESSSSSSSSS and then pumped my fist in the air a few times, relieved at the chance to be free. I'm not proud of that.

And then, in His graciousness and benevolence, God showed up and taught me about compassion and mercy and grace. He gave kindness to me when I needed it most, when I was growing weary and selfish and disillusioned with the entire notion of what we were there to do, when I was questioning everything that brought us to this point. As my immaturity was rearing its ugly, ugly head, He came along side me and did not condemn. He offered sufficient grace to carry us through. I couldn't stop thinking of a dear friend who experienced a level of grief after bringing her child home I could now see more clearly what she was facing. Breakthrough. Humbling breakthrough.

This is God's work taking place in my life. Heart wrenching, exposing, truth facing, time to get busy and grow up work. He is good to me. When I do not deserve it, He is there - present, near, faithful. I am His. They are His. We are in this together.

I do love them. I am glad they are here. Happy to see them as we move throughout our busy, adventurous days. As I suspected and was told, there are parts that are really challenging. Absolutely. I wouldn't advise blindly, naively going into an adoption with rose colored glasses. Yet, I would not trade those very children, this experience, this opportunity for big, abounding, transforming love to grow and take root in my heart, for the world. What a privilege.
They are my teachers.

I have tons of pictures to share - over time. Here are a few.
Hey Mickey! You're so fine you blow my mind.

The beautiful Meadow.
Our showerbathroomsinktoilet. Everyone should use one of these for a while ☺


The rest of the room.

A precious moment spent with you all through the computer at the guest house.

The smile that melts me.

Consumed

With this:
And this:

Which becomes this after it's clean:

And this:
Yes, the kids came home with lice. Baaaaad lice. Prolific lice. They had found a HOME if you know what I'm sayin. Meadow's (we are calling her that by the way. We've met them, we know them, he does not respond to Samson, they are Meadow and Flint. They like it. If you don't, okey dokey. I don't mind :) hair was a haven with her kinky curl which is IMPOSSIBLE to really comb out. We tried cutting it to this level with the shaver. Cute right? Um, it didn't last.

Unless you've dealt with lice in a home with 7 children; And unless you returned home from your 30+ hours of travel at 1:00 am to IMMEDIATELY treat lice for the 3rd time (twice in Africa) in an attempt to squelch it before your other kids came home; And unless you have treated YOURSELF 3 times; And unless you have set your alarm throughout the night to transfer laundry all.night.long; please don't judge. Meadow and Flint are both bald now. They are the only 2 with shaved heads. Jayla and Clover's hair is straight and thin and easier to treat and they are not accustomed to baldness the way the African kids are. They didn't bat an eye because their heads were shaved pretty regularly at the orphanage, which was quite gross. We went back for a visit while we were in Et and I'm sure ALL the kids there had the hair bugs. We bought lots of cute headbands for Meadow and her hair will grow back. She is still gorgeous and wonderful and we tried and tried to rid her of this problem before taking such drastic measures.....to no avail.

Go ahead, criticize us for shaving our daughter's head. I double dog dare ya.

Stupid bugs

I can deal with a lot, but this head lice is driving me to the brink of cRaZy.
Shaved heads for all is next! Told you, crazy.

Just a few pictures

Mission: (Nearly) Impossible

Traveling 33 hours with 2 children who do not speak English.
We made it!! The kids did really well considering. We had someone tell them in Ahmaric before we left that we were going to America. All those planes, seatbelts (which were entirely new to them) layovers, security checkpoints, later they must have been thinking, "America = NO GOOD." Finally, when we arrived here they were incredibly happy. It looks just like the single possession they had to take with them from the orphanage, those picture books of our home and family we sent them that they covet and flip through all the time.
The plan was for JOTSC to stay with the grandparents one more day to give us time to rest. Although we feel foggy and fatigued, and I have a head/chest cold and a stomach problem that added much joy to my travel (bad water?), we can NOT wait to see them. So, they are on their way.
I will have to return phone calls later - I'm not feeling well and am quite groggy and in need of trauma counseling after the end of that trip ☺
Tamene just woke up.....and threw up.
JOTSC are here.
What an adventure this will be.

What a Day

4:45pm Thursday afternoon in Ethiopia (8:15am Colorado Time), and we received our visas before the close of the business day - just in the nick of time. We will be leaving on a 2:00am flight headed for home!! What a relief after a day filled with turmoil. We are completely exhausted and we haven't even begun the travel yet. Maybe I'll be able to sleep on the plane this time :)

As they say in Addis Ababa, Chao Africa!

Stressful Tiring Day

Received this message from Tisha at 3:43am Colorado Time...

Extremely stressful tiring day. Much difficulty with Tamene's visa - not our fault, not our paperwork, but definitely our problem if we can not make it back to the US with him! After many challenging phone calls and several paperwork shuffles back and forth from the agency to the US Embassy, things may be clearing up. We will know within a couple of hours.

If the issues are not resolved, we will not be able to come home on our flights tonight, or I will have to fly alone with Masso and Bob would bring Tamene back when he gets his visa. It was an Ethiopian court/adoption agency discrepancy that was not our responsibility, but fell in our laps. I sincerely hope there was much learning from this situation with the agency to prevent any other families from going through this.

It will be so sweet to step on US soil. The Ethiopian people we have met are hospitable, warm, generous, kind hearted, God fearing, and friendly. We can learn so much from them. If we were here for a vacation, it would have been a wonderful experience. Conducting business here is difficult though. The expectation for efficiency and effectiveness and accuracy are quite different than ours in the US. $670 additional dollars, plus our blood sweat and tears to get this resolved may equal a happy ending with the 4 of us boarding a plane at 2:00 am Ethiopian time, as scheduled. If so, I will sing praises to God on the plane which will be an enormous treat for those traveling along with us ;-)

The children are still doing extremely well, much better than we expected. What a blessing that is! If you don't hear from me again, we are on the plane tonight and will return to Denver at 10:00pm Friday night. If we have to reschedule, I will let you know. Thank you for your prayers and thoughtful sentiments.

Masso got her hair braided and she looks lovely. :)
Tamene is super cute too. :)

Full Day Yesterday

Spent much of it on the taxi bus on the extremely busy streets of Addis Ababa, and waiting at the Embassy for our appointment and interview to obtain the kid's visas. Unfortunately, there was a hang up with our case, and unless it gets cleared up today, we will not be able to get our visas tomorrow and make our flight tomorrow night. It has to do with an unclear story of how Tamene was brought to the orphanage and who relinquished him. The agency's staff has to take his whole file (all the way!) back to the Embassy today for them to review (not an easy task here) and they will decide if they have sufficient information. Apparently, they have really beefed up security to make certain no children are being adopted in an unethical way.

We pray, pray, pray that everything gets cleared up and we can make our flight out tomorrow night. We are missing JOTSC terribly. I am counting the hours until I see them. We have had no electricity for the last 24 hours at our room (which is in a different building from the main guest house where I sit right now) and cold showers are not fun. :) Masso and Tamene are doing wonderfully and they were real troopers for our long day yesterday. Today, we will celebrate Masso's 6th birthday, because she is definitely NOT 5!! I don't think she's older than 6 though. Tamene is really 4, I believe. He is much more comfortable going by Tamene (Ta-ma-nae) than Samson, so we're calling him that for now. Not sure what the future will hold for their names. They are sweet and we are happy together, but ready to be united as a FULL family!!

Thank you again for your comments. This trip is not the easiest thing we've ever done, and I treasure my time spent hearing from you, such a comfort to me.

I'm In Love

We happen to have 2 of the most gorgeous, smartest, kindest, cutest, and most clever children in Ethiopia with us. I was unable to get an online connection at all yesterday, and it's time for breakfast now, so I'll have to keep this brief, but things are going very, very well.

The goodbye for the kids at the orphanage was tough. It is a small, family like home and the children are very close to one another and to their care takers. There was a good bit of crying. I was unprepared for how sad the nannies would be to say goodbye. It was heartbreaking.

Tamene is a happy, happy boy. His smile is easy and infectious. He ADORES Masso! He calles for her Maaaaasooooo. Masso is a sweet, contentious and affectionate girl. She is really taking to me, but not in an over the top clingy way. She is comfortable with being touched and hugged and holding hands with me. Both kids like Bob too, especially Tamene. They both took their shower last night perfectly and slept all night long without a peep. They are really enjoying backpacks of little things for
them we brought for each of them and their new clothes. I know they will miss their friends and home a lot, so I expect reality to set in sometime soon. In the meantime, we are treasuring this time with them when everything is new and they are happy to have a new mommy and daddy. (Yes, they call us that!)

The picture books we sent were their favorite possessions and they "knew" their parents well from our pictures. I did receive your comments through email even though I can not log onto blogger. Thank you :) It means a lot to me.

Happy Valentine's Day

I think I've gained 10 lbs already. I just LOVE this food! Ethiopia is for me. We're moving here - just as soon as I can convince Bob that Ethiopia is for him too. :) The weather is perfect, no temperature control needed. As is, is just right.

Met some adorable, super friendly, wonderful kids yesterday at the feeding program. They welcomed us so warmly and with great interest. Oh, my heart.

Going to church today, then having spicy dorowat for lunch with a freshly butchered chicken.

Tomorrow morning we will go to the agency's office for some paperwork and information about the kids, followed by lunch at a local restaurant, then go meet them. They will come back to our guesthouse with us at that time. We are definitely excited about our opportunity to meet them drawing near, and yet we have enjoyed this time of resting, visiting with the other family who is here from Michigan, and the 2 of us just being together. The agency is quick to tell you that "this trip is NOT a vacation". I don't think they had 5 kids at home. ;) Gladly, the 'vacation' portion ends tomorrow and the work begins.

Thank you for reading and for your kind words.

-Sandy, on behalf of Tisha

p.s. - I don't know about you guys, but I'm dying to see the pictures! I guess we'll have to wait until they return for that.

Here!

Tisha's Blog Readers,

Received an email from Tisha this morning... she is unable to blog from there. The Internet is flaky and she is using dial-up only, but she wanted everyone to have this update:

"We made it. Sleep is waaaaaay overrated :) Today we are going to work with a feeding program that will serve food to over 200 kids. Super excited. Won't meet the kids for a couple days. Getting a true Ethiopian experience at the Guest house and loving it. Weather is gorgeous. Love Ethiopia. Love you. Missing JOTSC. Will update again soon."

Thanks and hopefully I'll be back soon with more updates,
Sandy

Until we meet again

There is nothing you can do to make me stop loving you -

It's something I often say to the kids. They are my babies. My beloved blessings from the beginning of their days, long before they were born. They are mine and I am theirs. For this time, we belong together. Yes, we disappoint one another. We fall short and tantrum and show our ugliest side and ask for forgiveness....repeatedly. I will not agree with their every decision as they grow older. They will not agree with mine. We flail and flounder, lose our bearings and painfully, slowly find them again. We walk through the valleys and emerge anew. We laugh together and cry together and sometimes we cry alone. We hold each other softly, and turn our backs on one another. We give love, take love, offer love, and refuse love from time to time.
We like to call it living life! Through it all, nothing they could ever do would sever the tremendous, fierce, protective love I have for them. Even if it is very, very bad, unthinkable, unfathomable, unmentionable, undesirable. Even when they hurt me, or if they break my heart.

I have committed myself to loving them.

While preparing to pick up our newest additions to the family, I am reminded over and over that adoption can be really tough. People definitely flail and flounder and those bearings can be difficult to locate. The cost is great. Fatigue, monotony, lack of visible effectiveness, may lend itself to feelings of uncertainty, inadequacy, regret, a longing for the way things used to be.

I'm not going to lie - it's scary. Not knowing, having really zero clue what these two are actually like, day to day, or how they will respond to us, our family, our home, our parenting, our children, leaves many questions and room for more than enough doubt. I keep seeing good, good people struggling. My heart goes out to them. I know this is not easy. It is not plan A. It is not the natural order of things. It's almost enough to make me want to take my packed suitcase to the Bahamas instead!

But, I am deeply comforted by the fact that I know God has called us to this place. To these children. The events surrounding this adoption are strange and unusual and I believe absolutely supernatural. It's not something I carelessly quip - this is God's calling. Not in a general, just following James 1:27 way either. I believe this was God's specific calling for our family, at this time, with this agency, toward these particular children. He has shown Himself present in ways that speak clearly to me.

He will not fail us. He will not leave us. He will not forsake us. He will walk us through whatever valleys lie ahead. He will. I just know it.

To Masso and Tamene,
Before we meet, I wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts with you.
There is nothing you can do to make me stop loving you. I say that knowing full well you may try! Perhaps hard. And I am sure this will not be simple or easy for any one of us. Most of all you.
I pray God's protection and grace over our family, over your lives and your young hearts. May He draw near to you and give me wisdom and strength and endurance and a love that knows no bounds, so I may learn to be your mother, your safe place.
I pray for an openness that is willing to look beyond how I think things should be and humbly offers you what you need instead. For this time, may God meet my needs, so that I may meet yours with a servant's heart.
I pray that you may come to know that I am unconditionally grateful for the gift of your presence in our lives. You, just as you are, are exactly what I needed.
I pray that I can grow up and be mature and offer the purest affection I have.
I pray that 1 Corinthians 13 will be vivid in my mind's eye and that my selfishness will die down.
I pray that I will not grow weary in well doing and I will count on seeing good fruit, even after dry seasons, even when I'm not sure the sun will shine again.
I will not give up on you. I will be faithful to you as God is faithful to me.

You are my beloved blessings.

I commit myself to loving you.

May God be gracious to you and bless you and make his face shine upon you.
Tenderly,
Your mommy

Dropped

Blogging has plummeted to the bottom of the priority list. Lots to do.
So, I'm spending my precious time rearranging furniture and dusting baseboards behind things as I pull them out from the wall.
Because apparently, when I'm short on time and slightly anxious, I deep clean.

Really, we are doing well. I would have thought I would be nervous, but I am not. Amazingly, I am eating (lots!) and sleeping fine (until 8:00 this morning) and life is going on pretty normally considering the hectic pace while preparing to leave. The lingering cough I have from our cold bought should be a pleasant companion for the long plane ride. If you're on our flight - you're welcome!

Onyx's team won the game. I think they play each other one more time this season which is great because I get such satisfaction from watching them roll their eyes at me as I say, "hey guys, I hope YOUR team wins!"

Will try to post some pictures before we leave - THURSDAY MORNING. Wow, that's coming up.
And, maybe I'll record my last will and testament here so you will know my dying wishes should Turkish Airlines plane # 1147 plummet the way my blogging has. Haha. No? That's not funny? Okay, let it suffice to say if I die, I am the lucky one! Throw a big fat party and eat lots of cake!

Alive!

Yes, we are!
Kids are (still) sick.
Little 2 have terrible colds with ear infections.
Big 3 are in various stages of getting over colds.
Biggest, (adult sized) 2 are fighting, fighting, fighting it off with overdoses of a slew of vitamins, fizzy drinks, and homeopathic medicines, but are definitely under the weather.
These things take F O R E V E R to run their course.
Just when we had nothing else to do but sit around, sip hot tea, and recover.

Tomorrow, Jayla and Onyx's teams play each other in basketball ☺

************

Count down = 6 days to departure.

Things seem to be moving along well in Et.

Kids have (the cutest) passports with their new last names.

Medical tests are going (very!) well. TB tests = negative.

Packing and weighing suitcases will be this weekend. May the force be with us.

We really wanted to do something special and fun with the kids before we left, but with the health situation here we probably will have to change plans.

Being home watching mom and dad pack is special, right?

Hi again testing from itouch.

This is a test of the e mail blogcast system.

One thing leads to another

1. Plane ticket emergency.

Led to

2. No lack of wailing and nashing of the teeth (on my part).

Which led to

3. A sore ear from too many phone calls with too many people who could not help.

Which led to

4. Ignored children.

Which led to

5. A morning of eating/doing whatever they want for 4 consecutive hours.

Which led to

6. Their immense joy and satisfaction with the way the day was progressing.

Which (finally....eventually) led to

7. New plane tickets.

Which led to

8. A reduction in price!

Which led to

9. A great big stomping, jumping, clapping, spinning happy dance (on my part).

Which led to

10. The kids staring at me, scratching their heads with bewildered expressions, wondering how their mother can go from THAT (see #2) to THIS (see #9) in no time flat.

They clearly still have a lot to learn about the emotional rollercoaster women who are 13 months pregnant with 2 unrelated preschoolers tend to ride.
****************************************
We are not taking a laptop. Because, uh, we don't own one. And, blogger is apparently blocked in Ethiopia. So, Mrs. Natarajan (aka Sandy, aka the ONE who makes the FOOD that I LOVE and eat way too much of every single chance I get) will kindly take my e mails sent to her on my itouch and blog updates at Deutschland.

So you know, she has strict instructions to politely, brilliantly, fluffily, gloss over any and all bad, negative, or unattractive admissions that may portray me in a less than absolutely splendid light. Rather, she will paint an artistically rosy, pristine picture of our entire experience, highlighting my exceptional ability to travel internationally like a pro, taking each new experience in effortless stride, and seamlessly welcome beloved newly adopted blessings into our nearly perfect family. ☺

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Feb. 11.
That's 10 days away.
Have I mentioned I've never been east of Ohio? ☺