MitchellMania

2007-03-01T15:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post. I would like to say that we have done some amazing things in that time but it has mostly been day to day. With the anniversary of seeing the picture of our kids for the first time coming up I have thought so much about the changes in our lives this past year.

I have often thought about the feelings prior to going to Ethiopia and my feelings since.
Roman said to me the other day “I don’t even think about the kids being adopted anymore, they are just my brothers and sister.” It made me think about my feelings soon after coming home. I remember feeling like this was the longest babysitting job I had ever taken on and there wasn’t enough ice cream in the world that would make me feel less overwhelmed. I love the kids and knew they belonged with us but it just didn’t seem real yet.

I don’t know when or how the change occurred but it seems like I have been a mother of five forever. I have a hard time remembering my life before Ethiopia and can’t imagine my life without Ethiopia.
Just for fun I am posting a couple of the first pictures of the kids…….my how things have changed

2006-12-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

Blizzard Country

Well I have been trapped at home for the last two days with all the kids and a bunch of laundry. The Colorado blizzard has given me time to reflect a little and think about what I am thankful for. The neighbors are out talking to each other and I even got to let someone borrow butter, it is nice to see people digging each other out of the snow and helping each other out. We are all making sure the older people don’t have to shovel their own drive. Sometimes we don’t appreciate the fact that we need time to absorb the season and what it is about. Before our much larger family happened I used to have to tell Roman and Sierra “it is Jesus’ birthday not your birthday”, I haven’t had to say that much this year and that is okay with me, from the looks of the Wal-mart parking lot others may not have the same idea.

The other thing I have thought about since we got home from Ethiopia in June was how much we missed with our new kids. No first steps, no first words, etc, etc. A pastor who was a huge advocate of adoption once said “when you adopt a baby you get mystery, when you adopt an older child you get history”. I always felt that there was so much we missed. We did get their first blizzard, their first snow ball, their first sled, their first trip to the mountains to cut down their first Christmas tree. Can you get luckier than that?

2006-11-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

The latest family picture.....

2006-10-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

Halloween is here

This is all the the little ones with a couple of the neighbors thrown in, notice Batman and Robin hehehe

2006-09-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Proud Day
I learned how to change my backround and add a links section. Check my links out these are some of my favorite organizations.

2006-09-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am back to work so my posts are getting farther and farther apart. Just wanted to tell a few stories and update everyone on how we are. We have lost or misplaced the digital camera so we don’t have any digital pictures to post, hopefully I can rectify that situation real soon.

Roman is doing very well he seems to be enjoying his first year of high school. He explained to me that he really puts himself out there and has met a lot of interesting people that way. He says “I just sit down with different people at lunch, and get to know them.” He is doing well in cross country and is very committed, practice is everyday with some weekends thrown in there also. Next weekend is homecoming and I am still trying to convince him to go. I even tried to bribe him with offering to buy the tickets. I didn’t do any of those things in my high school career because I didn’t see the importance in it. He is so different than me in so many ways and so the same in others. Last weekend I took him to see the Dalai Lama speak he said “thanks Mom that was cool”, about 12 years ago when I wasn’t much older than Roman my mother took me to see the Dalai Lama, I thought it was cool too.

Sierra has really blossomed lately but you wouldn’t know it if you heard her getting ready in the morning. She is definitely like me when it comes to mornings. She has started girl scouts again, karate, soccer along with a kids religion club. She really takes charge now and as become a great big sister. This morning I lay in bed while I got to listen to her talk to Saba as she did her hair. They both like the hair in the eyes doo.

Taye is as amazing as ever; the stories that he is able to tell us are amazing. One cool thing that has happened since my last post was his reaction to the foster boy down the street leaving for a more permanent family. We have been playing with Carl all summer and he had become a regular fixture in our house so needless to say I was happy for Carl but sad for us. Trying to explain what was going on to our Ethiopian born children was difficult to say the least. I know they were surprised months ago when they got here that there were “orphans” in America. So I just explained it how I think it was explained in Ethiopia, “Carl is going to his new family”. “Carl has family” was all Taye said. When Carl came over for his banana split party to celebrate his family he walked in the door and was tackled by Taye, “I love you Carl, I love you” he was so happy for Carl. I imagine this was how it was when the kids got their photo albums in Ethiopia. We had a big party and sent Carl happily on his way. At this point he doesn’t realize that Carl has many years to come of being in the system.

Gizachew or Yigzaw whatever you want to call him, he will respond to both, is doing great. I was so concerned how he was going to do in school, we put him with a very structured teacher and both of them are in love with each other. It is not the same for the teacher’s assistant however. I think he loves her, but she really doesn’t love him. I got a call last week that as soon as his main teacher walks out of the room that Gizachew goes haywire. She would ask him something or try to reprimand him; “I don’t understand English” is always the response. “Gizachew do you want a snack?”, “yep, ah uh sure” he understood English then. I did explain while the other two Ethiopian children are so eager to please that Gizachew was not as much that way. He can smell weakness and fear a mile away. The assistant teacher is definitely more timid than the other and he knows that and will definitely play on that.

Saba as always is doing well in school. Both she and Gizachew tested in the middle of their classes which always amazes me that they have only been here a little over three months and they are doing better than some of their native counterparts. Saba is so diligent in anything she does. The other kids will be long done painting and Saba will be redoing what she had already done. I am not so happy about it when she is painting right on the carpet. She is always trying to find similarities between her and everyone she comes across “Mommy has brown hair with some black, Saba black hair with some brown”, “Sierra wear pants, Saba wear pants”

At this point I have a hard time remembering our lives without our new additions, I do realize sometimes though that it is not always that way for them. While they do amazingly well overall, they still long for good times in Ethiopia. There are not as many tears shed when we talk about Africa but they all want to go back, at least now they say they just want to visit Ethiopia then come back to America. I think that in our naiveté you think that they will always be happy here, but even I long for our days in Ethiopia and yearn to go back. I miss the people, the culture, the view and most of all the family that were only theirs but now they are all of ours.

2006-09-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Okay the latest and greatest, the kids (all of them have started school) I thought it would be the happiest moment of my life. I was surprisingly crying as we dropped them off, they were not! I had a hard time letting them go as I stood by the classroom door, they did not!
The last couple weeks have definitely been filled with firsts. Roman started high school, and all of our Ethiopian born children were separated for the first time ever (each is in his/her own class) no teacher deserves two Mitchells at once. Sierra got to be the big sister at school as she is now in 2nd grade. She was very concerned how hungry she would be by lunch time since she had to wait for the Kindergartners and 1st graders to eat (just like a Moss). Of all things new things happening this year she is concerned with will she get a snack before lunch!
Everyone is asking what grades we put the kids in so here goes…..
Saba and Gizachew(Yigzaw) are in Kindergarten and Taye is in first grade. He should probably be in second but I don’t think Sierra is ready for that yet. Maybe we will move him up in mid-year.
Taye is quite popular and has been invited to one party so far and Saba yells to all her friends in the parking lot, however we hear she will not talk in class. It bothers me just because she might quite possibly be the most advanced in her English skills however she is to shy to show it. Gizachew’s teacher says he is so well behaved, our response was “really?” We used to enjoy being the ones he mimicked now he is saying “chop, chop” like his teacher.
No on to the fun stuff, last weekend we went to a friend of mines wedding, we felt very honored to be invited with all the kids. Just a month or two ago we would not have been able to go because the kids would not have been able to handle it, however they seemed to be the life of the party. Mitch and I got to pretend for a couple hours that we had no kids as we sat and ate in peace while they all heated up the dance floor. Taye spent his time mimicking a older more mature dancer and needless to say only one of them looked cool. In case you were wondering, Roman also had his share of dance partners and I was not one of them.
Well that’s all for now.

PS we have had another trip to the ER for stiches. If you are following the count we are still at 6 teeth and two sets of stitches in the last two months

2006-08-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Teeth Loss And Homecomings

Roman is back from his time in Hawaii, and the other kids were more than excited. Roman seems to be adjusting well to being an idol, and he sometimes even helps watch them while I take a shower.

I took this picture while we were at the airport waiting for Ro to get off his airplane (yes, Gizachew is wearing cowboy boots).

This is Roman being idolized……………

In other news, with our latest tooth extraction between all four kids still losing teeth we have had six teeth to deal with so far. I tried to explain to the kids about the tooth fairy with help from Sierra, they want no part of that. It seems that in Ethiopia the say a few words throw the tooth up to a bird that then carries it away. I am told by Taye that if you do that Jesus will give you a new tooth. Hello!!! Sierra says, you are going to get a new tooth anyway. Lets hope they explained in Ethiopia that Jesus only does that once per tooth.

2006-07-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

for your viewing enjoyment!!!!

2006-07-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Okay so I realized it has been a month since my last post, my how time flies! It is not like nothing spectacular hasn't happened it is just that we are so busy and my typing skills are not great so everything takes me longer than the person that took typing in high school.

I wanted to let everyone know who gave any kind of donation for the orphanage in Ethiopia that it was needed and put to use right away. Also with the cash donations along with some of our own funds we have sponsored a ten year old boy from Ahope ( a HIV positive orphanage in Ethiopia) for two years. I am sure we will continue it until he leaves Ahope but we wanted to make sure all the donations we were given got put to use right away.

The boys name is Abenet and he is at Ahope alone as sister, mother and father have all passed away. Abenet loves soccer and was just promoted to grade three. Out of 66 kids in his class he ranked 28th....not to shabby.

If you want to know more about Ahope or you want to sponsor you own child feel free to go to their website.
www.ahopeforchildren.org

2006-06-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

Wonderful Family
I wanted to post this before I forget......I know I need to post about Ethiopia and our homecoming since...I promise I will do that later but this first and maybe you can get an idea of how happy we are with everything.

As I write tonight I have tears in my eyes. I feel such an urgency to get people to think about the joys of older child adoption and consider this as a wonderful option.

Today we went to the Ethiopian church service and followed it with a trip to the Ethiopian grocery store nearby. At the grocery we planned to only pick up injera since our three new children have been asking for it since we all returned from Ethiopia two weeks ago. The oldest of our Ethiopian children Taye soon realized I was looking for any kind of spice that I could make something resembling Ethiopian food for them, I realized I would probably find something with best intentions to make a masterpiece and would years later find the unmarked bag behind my other spices and throw it out. Taye quickling began rambling in Amharic and pacing the store looking for god knows what. I couldn’t imagine what he would find since none of the bags were labeled with anything, not even Amharic. He quickly found what he was looking for and I picked up a couple onions since I knew we would need them for most things I could make.

We arrived home and didn’t even unpack the bags just placed them on the counter all but forgotten. We proceeded outside to finish the endeavor of building a playset that similar to the unmarked spices I expected to give up on someday…hopefully soon. A few good friends came to help and along with them they brought ice cream for the kids. Ice cream has been the big novelty since our arrival back to the states and seems to always be a big hit and bribery tool. We ate our ice cream around dinner time and I halfway hoped that it would be the sustenance of our dinner. I am so tired lately and dinner and dishes is just overwhelming since we doubled our household size.

As most afternoons lately in Colorado we have been having rains storms that are accompanied with thunder and lightning so we eventually had to come in. That was the moment I realized that the kids were expecting injera tonight and topping it with peanut butter and jelly wasn’t going to cut it. I begrudgingly got on the internet and began my search for some quick Ethiopian recipes. Tibs and some lentil dish, that would do if one of them turned out okay since we had the ice cream earlier. I hit print and was on my way to the kitchen.

I am embarrassed to admit now, but I wasn’t really looking forward to my next half hour in the kitchen and when the kids came to help I really wasn’t looking forward to trying to cook with children all around getting in my way and touching everything. However that was not in Taye’s plan. I soon realized his plan was to cook this meal for me and my internet recipes were not to be involved. Hesitantly I stepped slightly back, and watched from a close distance as he went to work. Methodically he made three different dishes timing them just right so that everything would be done at the exact same time. Nothing was measured but it was obvious that there was method to his madness. Still I thought that how good could this turnout and thank goodness for plain injera.

I have always loved Ethiopian food and frequent all the local restaurants; this meal by far was the best I have ever had. With every bite I took I became more and more full. It wasn’t my stomach that was filling however it was my heart. As I sit there crying as I eat and look at all my children both new and old, I quietly ask my self what took so long to get here. As Taye kept looking at me through this process I realized this was a gift he wanted to give me. Not only was there the gift of food but the gift of who he was, who all of them were and where they came from. I believe as he smiled and I cried he realized I accepted his gift.

2006-06-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Look out Ethiopia...here they come!!!

The bags are finally packed, repacked and packed again and they are on their way. Becky asked me (her sister-in-law, Lisa) to post the photos of them and their luggage, and it really was quite impressive! The whole family is traveling with their personal clothing as carry on so all 12 (70 lb.) suitcases can be devoted to donations to the orphanage.

"Hey Mitch, how many more of these bags are there?"

Grandparents in tow and ready to go!

"#*@#*@!%# Becky and her 70 lb. minimum!"

Good luck guys, we're thinking about you...and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you!

2006-05-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Moving Forward
Nine days and counting! So far we have gotten one donation suitcase packed, I think I counted 30 little kid shoes in that one. If I can pack one suitcase a day up until we leave I think we will be okay. Now I have had friends that have said what are you so stressed about just through all the stuff in suitcases and call it good. Well since we are trying to deliver donations to at least two orphanages I am trying to divvy everything up just perfectly while maximizing the space under the weight restrictions, all the while thinking I will need to add 20 more lbs of stuff to each suitcase in DC.
This weekend Saturday and Sunday I am finishing the kids rooms.....I have a couple people in mind that I am going to beg for help( Rachel and Tracy). That's the heads up that you may want to avoid my phone calls.
On other family drama Romans graduation or continuation from eighth grade is this evening......I don't remember anyone being real impressed with that when I was that age, but I guess it is a big achievement now. We are having a little get together for him on Friday. For the ceremony he wanted to wear slippers and a tye dye shirt, and he is still begging to have his hair dreaded, they do it professionally now and so it is not as gross.

Sierra and I went camping (not really roughing it) at Estes park with her girl scout troop last weekend. It was really nice to have that time with her and somehow I got to chaperone four girls by myself the first nite...ugggh. There was a tour guide for our rock and ice class that all the girls fell in love with I even heard one of them ask him "do you have a girlfriend or an ex-girlfriend" (not sierra, one of the older more mature third graders).

That's all for now I will keep everyone posted on my packing endeavors

2006-05-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this you are invited
So we are having a "family shower" as it is now called. One of my favorite over achieving friends has decided to throw us a shower. We just don't want gifts, we are hoping to collect donations for the orphanage. As it is now though we have a lot of people that have come through for us last minute and may not have enough room in our luggage. Warrens boss donated two suitcases and filled them with medical supplies...WOW. Anyone that is still wondering what to get I am trying to convince them to sponsor a child or even give a one time donation to one of my favorite charities that I posted in a earlier post. And not to worry Ethiopia will be in our hearts forever and gifts can be given year round to help a child or family in need.
Let me know if you need directions to our shower

2006-05-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Off for the summer
I have some news, good or bad it depends on how you look at it. I have been told by my employer that I should plan on taking my family medical leave all at once and not work part time. This isn't what I was expecting, I was hoping I could work part time and use my 12 weeks of time off intermittently. Flexibility is not their forte here so all and all this is a nice time of year to be off of work. I don't think I have had a summer off since, well, ever since my mom had that rule of work or school in the summer. Sorry Mom I will look at summer classes at Mines since I only need six more credits for my masters.
Financially it will be a little harder on us since we were expecting some money coming in on my side, but we have always planned our finances on just one of our incomes, just not with five kids in the picture also. Back to the days of coupon cutting!

In other news I have been an emotional roller coaster, I have so much I want to get done before we go that my head is spinning. I took all last week off of soccer and I don't think I am any better off than I was before that. The most important thing for me is to finish getting the bedrooms set up and pack our suitcases. Anyone want to help?

2006-05-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

HIV Orphanage
The Bead Project
World Wide Orphan Foundation

2006-05-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

We got tickets!
Okay our plan so far is to arrive in DC on the 2nd of June and leave for Addis on the 3rd, we wont arrive in Addis until the 4th at 6pm. We have court on the fifth and the kids will legally be ours....yeah. Our Return will be on the 11th with the arrival in Denver on the 12th. Now the time is flying and I can't seem to get ready quick enough. Work is crazy trying to prepare for time off without all my reservoirs being full, I am sure they will figure it out though, Don't worry lakewood you will still have water, I just have some really important things to take care of. I am making sure we are filling our suitcases with everything that the orphanage needs and we don't exceed the weight requirements. Calling all DC friends and family, we are only able to take 8 fifty pound bags to DC but from DC to Addis we are able to up that to seventy lbs, no bones about it I am asking for help to get exactly 70 lbs in each bag so start collecting. Here is the list of suggested items. This list also goes for my friends and family in Denver...we will fit it in no matter what.

DONATIONS NEEDED FOR HORIZON HOUSE AND
OTHER INSTITUTIONS IN ETHIOPIA

Neosporin or antibiotic ointment
Hydrocortisone creams
Infant and child Motrin, Tylenol or other fever reducer
Pedialyte or Kaolyte (preferably powdered form)
Infant and child decongestants
Infant and child vitamins
Milk based infant formula (Similac is preferred)
Sheets for children
Infant clothing
Bactoban ointment
Nystantin (Mycostatin)
Standard bottle nipples
New or like new condition children’s shoes
New or like new condition children’s clothing (infant to 14 years of age)
Developmental toys for children
Baby shampoos
Baby bath soap
Baby oil
Baby powder
Body wipes
Infant toddler and size diapers
Disposable surgical masks and gloves.
School supplies
Books for very young children ( board books and easy readers)

For those so inclined to give $$$$$$$ we will also accept that and make sure it gets to the orphanage. I also have found a few organizations that I really respect for their work that they are doing in Africa. I will post their links and maybe you could just do that. In this process we have realized that the Children of Ethiopia and Africa, are their greatest resource and if we can help at lest a few stay in their native country maybe they will be the ones that solve their next water, war or famine crisis.
Peace
The Large Mitchell Family

2006-05-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

As soon as we know you will
I know it is driving everyone crazy wondering when our actual dates to leave to Ethiopia are. We hope we will have definate answers by the end of the day today. I double promise I will post as soon as I know.

2006-05-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Good and Bad News
We are going to Ethiopia the first week of June to get our kids. A few of you may be aware of the latest issues we have been having with immigration. As it turns out although we may be parents in the eyes of Ethiopia our change request for three children has been held up at the immigration offices here in Denver. That being said I may be in Africa for quite awhile this summer and Mitch will meet me out there with the paperwork that allows us to bring our children home. We are in process of contacting senators, congressman and anyone that will listen that has any pull with the Department of Homeland Security. Our last resort, which is right around the corner is the local news stations. Many of you may recall me saying that waiting for our children has been the hardest part of this whole process, knowing that now they are waiting for us is truly the most unimaginable pain that one can comprehend.

2006-04-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

Life is a whirlwind
Well we have made our photo albums and have sent them to the agency to send to the kids.
This took me a little while because how I understand it is that the kids each get their albums and then it is like a brag fest while they show off their pictures of their new family. Of course we had to have the best albums ever. We did put in the picture of our family pyramid with Sierra in her cheerleading pose proudly on top. We chose not to put in the one with her on the bottom crying, they will get that soon enough.
In discussion about the letter we wanted to put in with the album, we thought we would discuss with Roman what he thought his new brothers and sister should know since he was around those ages when I married Mitch. Without hesitation he said make sure that they know "we are coming to get them, and they are 100% sure that nothing can go wrong...we will be there." Throughout this process Roman has definately been the one who has been cautiously optimistic for a lack of a better word. For that reason we kept him out of all of the decisions so he would never blame himself for children we did or did not take, he actually requested to not see any pictures. He never ceases to amaze me.
We also spoke to the agency about talking to the kids before we get there, they have agreed to bend some rules and let us call after the kids get their albums....yeah. They need someone there that can translate when we call, so it does get complicated. We will let you all know how that goes. I also sent a disposable camera with the albums so hopefully someone will take pictures of the kids when they first see the albums. That is when they know they have a family.

2006-04-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Wow life is different planning for seven......
So I am trying to make reservations for a good friend of mines wedding in September in Estes Park, Colorado. We are hoping to actually stay up there and make our first family of seven vacation out of it. We have to rent a cabin rather than staying in the lodge because there are just to many of us....who would have thought seven people can't just fit in one room.

We are sending off our acceptance of referal today along with a large check, we would have sent it back right away ( on Monday) however with the addition of one more and the lack of wait time for referal left us a little behind in what we budgeted for. We withdrew some funds from our retirement to cover the difference, Mitch says who needs that money when we have all these kids to take care of us.
For your viewing enjoyment.....

I have to say we were most concerned about Taye, with being the oldest and the burden it was on him to be so responsible for his two younger siblings (and every picture we had of him until recently he seemed angry), however people that know him and friends of his from the orphanage have being coming out of the woodwork eveyone he has come in contact with remembers him and he has made an impact on, I talked to a 6 year old boy yesterday that says Taye is his best friend "he is AWESOME and funny", he also can't wait until we go out to Florida again where he is so they can reunite. A picture may not be worth a thousand words.......

2006-04-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Taye Saba Yegzaw

Well here they are............the labor was difficult but as always worth it.

2006-04-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Who is on first......
We have actually requested those three waiting children. So no referal of two kids. Our matching meeting is tomorrow afternoon, we will know for sure then if they are ours. How it works with our agency is when you request waiting children, they send out somewhat of a last call to anyone that has asked about them and if anyone else asks to be matched then they discuss which family is best for the specific children. As of 2 minutes ago no one has requested to be matched so it may go pretty easy tomorrow (crossing fingers). We did have to resubmit to immigration to change to three kids, when they say put on that form more than you expect, it really is a good idea. When we started this process we wanted one-count it one infant. Now we are hoping for a 4, 5 and 6-year old. How did we get to this point? It definately has been an eventful ride.
It has been a pain to change the homestudy and 171H. We just resubmitted about 10 days ago, the hold up again was the homestudy which had to be amended. Once we know they are ours I will post pictures.

PS anyone know where we can get a cheap van??????

2006-03-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

To three or not to three, that is the question….
Dear friends and family sorry to not write in quite a while, we have been dealing with the hardest part of the adoption process so far. Last Tuesday we were told that that our immigration approval had been accepted and we were officially waiting as of March 14, 2006 (that is the date from immigration). Oh the joy that comes with that……..On a side note our social worker with the agency mentioned that she had checked to see if there were any sibling groups that fit our criteria (two healthy kids under 5…that’s it). She said there were none at the time, she did however say that she felt like she should tell us about two sets of sibling groups of three, that were waiting for families. Apparently most people are waiting for single infants and don’t budge on that, there is a novelty in getting a beautiful perfect baby, however I don’t believe that was ever a need we needed to fill. There are very few families willing to take older children and more than one, that must have been the sucker sign they were looking for.

The first sibling group of three consisted of a almost one year old boy, a almost two year old boy and a four year old girl. These children are some of the most beautiful children you have seen, and with a history that no child should have to deal with.

The second set consists of a four year old girl, a five-year-old boy and a six-year-old boy. I have say there was an immediate connection in me to these children, even before I knew anything about them. As far as attachment goes they have been loved by immediate family until August of last year. Pardon the cliché but in terms of adopted children it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, or in their case been loved.

Before I write anything more it is important for me to preface with the fact that we have made no decisions on this as of yet.

In general our adoption process would have gone like this……fill out a crap load of paperwork, have people scrutinize our lives, get approved by social worker, get approved by US government, wait for call about which two kids we could have, wait for travel dates, pick up kids, come home. After the paper work the thinking is out of our hands. Did I mention spend lots of money?

This how it has worked…..fill out a crap load of paperwork, have people scrutinize our lives, get approved by social worker, get approved by US government, be told about children that have been waiting in the orphanage 8 months for a family to love them, have three children’s fate in our hands along with the two at home we have been thinking about this whole time, go back and forth on the decision at least 100 times. Have paperwork changed to be able to take three kids (just in case), refile with immigration for three. Did I mention spend even more than lots of money?

I can’t write much more now, I have to go back to going back and forth.

2006-03-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

Good News...we got our immigration approval. I will post more later.

2006-03-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well no news is good news........Thats a big fat lie. We are still waiting for US immigration approval and customer service is not their forte. I set up an appointment and Mitch even went in to talk to them last Friday 3/10 to see the status of our application......yeah no news. Mitch says that was the only place where people didn't worship him in his uniform (not exact words, my interpretation), I guess he hasn't been home lately, I worship him when he does the dishes.

Even though a lot of our time is spent guessing how the next few months of our lives are going to go we are able to fill it with the day to day bump and grind. We are finishing the basement for Roman, who has lately been feeling deprived due to our lack of high speed internet access. He wrote a little rap in his spare time........."it ain't no fable, we don't have high speed cable......" I guess he has time to think of these things while he is waiting for his next website to come up.
Sierra is quite the social butterfly and keeps us busy driving to all of her activities, she starts soccer again this month and thank goodness she decided to break from cheerleading while soccer is in session. She has continued cheerleading for the last year even though I did try to reason with her that we don't cheer......we do!

Back to the adoption saga..still waiting. I do have somethings to be thankful for, we went to five more hours of our 40 hour parenting class commitment last Saturday, the class was filled with people adopting from everywhere including a friend of ours going through a different agency who got their referal for 2 boys the day after her paperwork was submitted even before final immigration approval. Both Mitch and I thought it would be overwhelming to have children in Ethiopia waiting for you with no idea when you will be able to go get them. Of course most of this process we have had no idea whats next. Another couple that is planning on adopting a infant girl from China have been going through this process now for 2.5 years uggh. So it doesn't seem so bad now.

2006-02-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

Still Waiting..........I am considering this the last trimester of pregnancy. We are in week four of waiting for our 171H approval --ugh--once we get that we will know a little more about the timing, so I guess that is when our last trimester really starts. I often have to think about the fact that we are impatient to get our kids but I have to remember the sooner we get them the sooner they have to go through the traumatic experience of losing their biological connections, patience becomes quite a bit easier then.
The hard part of this is there is really nothing to do to get ready since we don't have a clue what we are having. Preparation is totally different if we are having two toddlers versus two infants or one of each, not to mention we don't know the genders.......What I have done to pass the time so far is gotten some travel books on Ethiopia, a amharic language set and eaten a lot of ethiopian food.

2006-01-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

Good news I have had chicken pox. Yes my doctor says contrary to what my family has told me that I have had chicken pox. This is good news if you don't think about the fact that no one can remember any of the major illnesses I have had. Also this is just a reminder that I had to use my brothers baby picture for my senior yearbook baby picture because we couldn't find one of me.
This chicken pox news came out in my adoption physical with all the extensive blood work that was done.

As for the adoption we are just waiting......waiting......waiting. What we are waiting for at this point is our 171H, our approval from the US government to adopt internationally. We did get our biometrics done last weekend so we are one step closer. We expect to get approval within the next 4-6 weeks. We don't officially go into the waiting for child pile until that gets done. The time frame after that is 1- 3 months for a referral, however presently there are waiting children that fit our criteria if we ended up choosing waiting children that referral time is virtually non-existent. After the referral, if we accept it we go into another waiting period of about 4-6 weeks until we travel.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a patient person but we are sure all the waiting will be worth it.

2006-01-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

MitchellMania
Thanks for your comment James, now I know for sure at least one person has read my blog......Okay the latest info is we have sent off our I 600a application to the US Citizen and Immigration office, if we check out okay we will get a I71h which is like gold and we will be set to go to Ethiopia. Our expected time for travel is sometime in 2006, okay okay more like sometime in April or May of 2006. We will be expecting a referal of two children sometime within the next 10 weeks or so. The referal comes with pictures, videos, a medical history and a family history if available. The video and picture will be taken to an international adoption doctor that we have already selected here at childrens hospital for a review and advice on any issues that may be apparent. You would be surprised what they can find in a video. We will definately let everyone know how that goes.
I did find a bed and breakfast in Addis that has three bedrooms and offers a maid and driver for around fifty US dollars a day. Ethically I thought there was something wrong with hiring the maid to cook and clean for us, but in talking to some of my ethiopian friends realized, that it would be a beneficial situation for everyone involved.

I have decided that I will offer a movie suggestion since we often watch movies that can't be seen at the mainstream movie theatre, I am hoping to do this on a regular montly basis or whenever I feel like it....probably just whenever I feel like it.
My current reccomended movie is
Tibet Cry of the Snow Lion
I especially think James, Mary and Mom will enjoy this one......I was crying in the first 5 minutes, there is a lot of good info along with beautiful scenery shots.

2006-01-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well this is where we are at…..
So far we have an almost complete homestudy, which means that an outsider has met with both Mitch and I and decided that we are good enough, or with the 24 hours of parenting classes that we will be good enough to adopt two more kids. Basically the homestudy consisted of conversations about adoption, the process and a discussion on our views of adoption. The social worker also visited our home to make sure we would be able to provide decent shelter for these kids (I didn’t mention I lived in a closet as a kid) and we would provide a safe and loving environment. Roman and Sierra got to talk to the social worker and Roman requested that he talk to her alone….Scary. Any way it went well until she was about to leave and all of the sudden yelling from upstairs filled the house “ROMAN, STOP IT” Slam of the door “SIERRA YOU ALREADY GOT TO PICK WHAT TO WATCH” crying exaggerated yelling and screaming continued…the social worker Brenda just looked at us and said “ the perfect family crumbles” (exact words). All I could think of is I am going to kill those kids and I hope I didn’t clean the house for nothing!!!! It turns out other families fight also and we were still okay, plus the added bonus of a clean floor for a couple more days.

2006-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here is my first attempt at blogging......we will see how this goes.
I really wanted to be able to keep everyone we know in the loop about where we are in the adoption process and be able to post photos for everyone to see.