More pictures, more wonderful details.....

This week we were so excited to get several new pictures of E2. More than that, we got a fantastic report from a family that visited their soon to be son who is about a month older than our little guy. I guess their son is E2's roommate. Here is what she wrote: "E2 is thriving. He is very quick to smile and can clutch little toys. He loved all the Lamaze toys in the room and just by saying his name you could crack him up so easily! We got to know him so well!! We held him a lot, fed him and even changed his diaper!!!! We are very lucky to have two of the nicest nannies in there, they are very sweet and attentive, they coo at the babies all the time and hold them constantly...You have a lovely son!!!!"

Through her report, we also found out that E2 is at Wanna, not Layla as we originally thought, as it was never confirmed where he was at by our agency. They also found out their court date is April 23, as we are in the same group as them, we are assuming our court date is the same date, but will hold our excitement for official word from our agency.

It is great to hear E2 is being well taken care of and seems to be a very happy baby. Work on the nursery is progressing, though my painting skills are a bit rough. We will wait for the final product to pass judgement, but for now, it seems to be turning out ok. Well, back to painting...

Traveling Mom Reports on E2

We were so blessed today to receive word from a family that just returned home from Ethiopia with their daughers that they were able to meet and hold our little guy! I got all misty when I read her e-mail that described how smiley he is, how soft his hair is (yes, the big beautiful curls are as soft as they look in the pictures!), how tiny he is, and what a little honey bunny he is! She said she was holding and smiling at another baby and E2 was on a blanket, when he saw her smiling, he started smiling and cooing back at her! Everyone, one, two, three...Awwwwwww! Sounds like another little charmer we know......

No word on the court date yet. The group before us found out last week that their date is at the end of this month, so we are expecting an early April date for court.

On the nursery front, I painted 2 stripes of the Ethiopian flag over the weekend (dog gone dark Green bleed like the dickens!) Anyway, you can probably figure out what the room looks like at this point.......yes, I am ashame to admit, Greenbay Packer Green and Yellow! Yikes, I better get that orange stripe up asap! I don't want the neighbors thinking we switched sides or something. Go Bears!

Catching up...

Its been awhile. So much has come to pass in our home, and yet as it is Good Friday, what comes today, is really what is important.

J has posted on the adoption front. E2's case has been submitted to court, we should know the date within a few days. If we are succesful in getting through court the 1st time, we could be cleared to travel to Ethiopia very soon. Soon enough that there is a slight level of panic in our home. Trying to get out heads together about where, what, when, and how we want to take care of things.

Kitchen is now substantially complete. We have final inspections scheduled for early next week. I hope to piece together some before and after photo's and video clips. Perhaps this weekend.

I was out sick for a good 5 days. As such, I've not had a chance to really post a new reading. This reading comes from the Gospel readings for Sunday March 9. Perhaps its a bit heavy to some, but how meaningful, true, and important it is...

Reading of the day...

Romans 8:10
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

May you not only have a Blessed Easter, but may the resultant gifts of our risen savior bring new life to you.. and in you..

Peace

More Excitement on the Home Front!

I forgot to mention yesterday that we pick a birthday for baby E. We decided on November 24, 2007 based on the intake report from our agency. So it will be a turkey birthday for this little guy!

I was also thrilled to see a package from our agency in the mail yesterday. It turned out to be the camera we sent with the welcome bag. All the pictures seem to have been used, so cross your fingers and hope for some good pics of little E! It sure has been quite a week on the adoption news front!

Also the guys finished hanging the mirror and bathroom accessories yesterday as well as tiling the backsplash. We are so close to being done with this remodel, I can taste it!

T came down with the flu yesterday so he has been locked in the spare bedroom all night. E and I prayed for him, so hopefully he is feeling better today. There are so many people I know that are sick with this flu right now, on the news last night they reported that the hospitals are overrun with people with the flu and said it is some strain that is only partially covered under the flu vaccine we all got. Hopefully that means quicker recovery. I am crossing my fingers that E & I stay healthy!

I finished with Disc 1 of Amharic EZ and am on to disk 2, there are quite a few more phrases I would like to learn from this disc as many of them pertain to meeting people and resturants, we will see how it goes, I am really feeling my lack of memorization skills on this one, I figure if I listen to it about 500 times, I might start catching some of the phrases. One that I found funny was "Are you stupid or something" and another was "You are ugly". I wonder who thought these phrases might be useful for a first time visitor to a foreign country?? Oh well, two less I have to memorize!

WE ARE IN GROUP E!!!!

We were so excited to find an e-mail from our agency in our inbox telling us that we were filed for court with Group E! This is wonderful news and means we are one step further to bringing baby E home! After the paperwork is filed, it will be about 10 days before we find out when the court date actually is. Typically we are told that court dates are 25-35 days from the day the case is filed, we are moving right along, which means I really need to get started on that nursery now that the contents of the kitchen are back where they belong, in the kitchen!

The work on the remodel has slowed to almost a complete halt. Hubby and I worked like mad-men all weekend last weekend getting ready for our first dinner party in the new digs. T was still hammering when the doorbell rang and E's grandparents arrived for his birthday celebration. The meal, cooked in the new kitchen, went off without any major cooking disasters (we are novices at using the induction cooktop and convection microwave and oven, to say the least). When all the cake was eaten and the presents had been torn open, the grandparents said goodbye and T and I said hello to the couch, we both drifted in and out of consiousness for several hours, only waking when E would try his stuntman techniques out using our mid-sections as his landing pad. All is not lost though, as T points out, most of the work remaining is on my to do list, so last night I hung a picture (a pictures, as in one picture). At this rate, I should be done by sometime in 2009.

In a parallel universe

Did you ever have one of those days that seem like you are in some sort of crazy nightmare that won't end, and afterwards, it seems so unbelievable that you aren't even sure it happen? The flooding started Monday with rain on the frozen ground, which spells big trouble. I was first out with a series of drainage issues in a financially challenged area of town. My pepper spray and I headed to what seemed like a pretty straight forward issue of no sewers in a hole only to find myself learning about detailed intimacy issues (or lack there of) from a kind senior citizen and reasons not to eat grapenuts. My next call found me walking along the railroad tracks with the sound of pitbulls barking and leaping against chainlink fences as I dodged the possum bodies strewn everywhere, which began me wondering if something was killing them, or they were just that dumb to keep crossing the tracks in front of a train. As I contemplated the exact reason for their demise, it occured to me that I had not packed my scuba gear that would have been necessary to traverse the now lake front property the homeowners were faced with. I returned to the office around 3:00, hungry, cold, smelling like I had been to a smokey bar that served road kill, and frankly, feeling a bit violated by all I had seen and witnessed. Maybe I will take them up on that offer of free counciling.......