This is who we spent New Years with!

Terri is a real party animal!!!

Aaron's 4th B-day Party

Today we celebrated Aaron's 4th b-day. We had 15 kids over and we decorated gingerbread houses. The kids had a blast! I just can not believe my baby is going to be 4 on the 23rd. Here are some pictures :o)

First Book

My friend Marcey gave me our baby's first book. It is so sweet ...
"God bless me and God bless all the children in my own country" is a quote from it; the book takes you all over the world to say good night, even Africa :o)

Court Date Court Date!!!!!

We received an email this morning that we have a court date!  February 10th then we will travel about 3 weeks later.  Sometimes the court date does not go through the first time, but we are just going to think positive and have faith that everything will work out.  I just can't wait to get my hands on her.  I fall more and more in love with her everyday!  The song I have set on this blog "I Love You"  is a song that I thought of after each of our boys was born and now it makes me think of her.  The love you feel for your child even though we have just met is amazing ;O)  Thanks for the prayers and finger crossing just need it a little longer... 

Great News

No not a court date but another fellow CHI family Angie and Joe recieved their referral for a sweet two month old baby boy!  They have been waiting for 19 months because they switched from the Viet Nam program after all the problems with the adoption process there started.  I am so ahppy to see this referral; it has been a long wait for them.  You can check out their blog to the left "love is spoken here".  Angie lets hope for some quick court dates!

I am Blessed

No court date

So remember when I whined about the wait?  Well that was nothing compared to this one!  I see her face and I want to hold her and squeeze her and never let go...  Right now we wait and wait to hear if we will have a court date.  Our agency will be closing the 19th for two weeks; this is for the Christmas holiday.  I would really love to have a court date before that so that this Christmas could be even more merry!  

On another note the boys are doing awesome.  Zack is a little book worm; he loves just sitting by the fire and reading his Goosebumps books and he is also learning to make hats with me.  We are planning on donating them to the NICU at the local hospital.  Aaron is learning to add numbers and really working on his letters and sounds.  He does not love to write yet but if you let him color he will be busy for hours (can't leave any white on a page).  

Keep those prayers coming and those fingers and toes crossed that our little lady will be home soon!

Thanks

Catch up

We had a great Thanksgiving- good friends, good food, good times!  Saturday we went on the Rail Runner to a Christmas festival in Belen it was lots of fun .  We went to a great cafe called The Rail Cafe; it is super cute and way worth the trip!  We are still awaiting our court date.  I am guessing it will most likely  be a couple more weeks before we hear anything.  A few families had court dates today that did not go through and they were rescheduled for January 15th.  I feel very sad for those families and hope that second time is the charm.

We accepted our referral

We took all the medical reports and her pictures to out Pediatric Dr.  She said everything looks great.  After the appointment we got all the paperwork together and sent it to CHI.  Now we just wait for a court date.  Our Agency told us we may have a court date in about 5 weeks!  I am going to try not to get my hopes up because of the holidays court dates may not come so quickly.  Keep your fingers crossed please :o)

Breathless

Today is just so surreal!  We got our call for our little lady; she is 2 months old,healthy, and absolutly breath taking!   Everyone always seems to want to know about the call so hear it is...

Jon had my cell phone today becasue the battery kept losing power so he took it back to the cell place.  I had not realized he put his in my car so neither of us had our cells.  Next apparently I had given a fax number on our application so Sharon called that number and could not reach me.  Then Jon was volunteerring at a place called Project CURE so he was not at work to receive the call.  When Jon got to work he got the message from Sharon saying she would like to speak to us but she would be in a meeting till 1:00 her time, 12:00 my time and then she would be leaving for the day at 2:00 her time, 1:00 my time.  We got this message at 12:45 our time so as you can imagine our frantic call to Sharon.

Unfortunately we got her voice mail.  I was so afraid we would not get her before 1:00 our time and we would have to wait till Thursday to know what she wanted.  I went home to get my son off the bus (he had a short day) then my phone rang and it was Jon and Sharon.  She told us we had a baby girl and that she was just beautiful (understatement) and that she was healthy, the rest is a blurr.  The boys are IN LOVE; they want her to sleep in their batman bed.  We have talked about changing the name we had picked (Hasina) to something else, so we asked the boys and so far GIRL BUZZ LIGHTYEAR is the front runner.

My house has been grand central station with all the calls and I can't seem to get this smile off my face :o)  Now the real wait begins!

Still no referral...

We still have not gotten our referral but the Ethiopia program is still giving them out, boys lots of boys!  I am very happy for any family and child finding each other .  I know I may be a little partial but I think boys are amazing so all the boys finding homes makes me smile ;o)  Don't let me fool you it still makes me a tad jealous but still happy all in one, I think I've mentioned my emotional roller coaster ride.

On another note I got to see my friends Andrea and Ryan's new additions and they are soo sweet!  I got to help  out a little and play with them while Andrea put the older kids to bed; that was fun and Naomi fell a sleep on me...  I must say I am SO ready for Hasina to come home!  Soon Soon

Noah and Naomi Home at Last!

My friends Andrea and Ryan have had their referrals for Naomi and Noah since June!  They had to wait through the two month court closure so it has been a long wait to get them here.   They are all home now and really getting to start the bonding process with their new little angels, Check out their blog link to the left "St Clair" :o)

Sibling Referral Today

A family today received a referral for twins!  Sibling referrals are harder to come by they have been waiting for 11 months!  I am sure they are over the moon and I am so happy that they will be a family soon ;o)  

The Wait

I feel compelled to write this post regarding the wait for our little girl.  When we started the process for Ethiopia the wait for a referral was 3-4 months.  We have now reached 7 months today; this is nothing compared to domestic adoption for an infant nor compared to the wait in China, but when you prepare yourself for 4 months and you go seven it gets to you.  I have been on an emotional roller coaster.  I can be totally positive and know she is coming to us soon one minute then go to bawling because I am so anxious to have her but her Ethiopia Mom will have to do something so selfless so that I can have a daughter.  I have always  been so excited to see referrals come in but now that we are so close I am so jealous that it is not us.  Some days I feel that it may never happen!  Jon and I have now stopped calling each other during the day; instead we email because it is almost painful to hear the phone ring when it is not the news we wanted.  I thought this process would be easier than pregnancy but right now I feel as though I am in my tenth month and it stinks!  I know these feelings will subside as soon as I see her face and know that there will be an ending to this pain when she is in my arms,  but for today I ache.  

ZACK LOST A TOOTH!

My baby has finally lost a tooth!  He has been agonizing about being the only second grader who has not lost a tooth and now he has finally joined the ranks of the the toothless crooked smiled kids ;o)  He did have to have the dentist pull it because the tooth behind it was really coming in and he was kind of reminding us of a shark.  Here is the after shot ...

Zoo and Pumpkins

I worked a half day today so I picked the kids up early and we went to the zoo.  I know this is something our North East friends can not do right now given all the SNOW!  (hey got to hold something over all your heads)       We had a wonderful time and there  was a couple of new babies and an addition

                                                    to the play area!                                              

                            We also did some pumpkin carving.

No News...

Hey all no news yet on the adoption.  There has not been any referrals the last two weeks I am just hoping we are not going to go through another dry spell!  Keep you fingers crossed :o)

Pumpkin Patch

Here are the pictures of our wonderful time at the McCall's Pumpkin Patch...

Hannah Banana's 2nd B-day

We had our family from Tucson here this weekend and we got to celebrate our niece Hannah's b-day here is her with her First whole cookie... oh yeah and we celebrated Jon's 4th anniversary of his 29th b-day and his millionth cookie ;o)

Lewis Twins Come Home!!!!

Well today is the day Keira and Molly finally come home! They may look small in these pictures but they have actually doubled in size. Congrats Jenn and Ryan and Miss Katie ;O)

More Referrals!

Our blog buddies Kane and Dawn Webber received their referral for a 7 week old baby girl!  I am supper excited for them they waited 6 1/2 months.  We have now been waiting 6 months and 4 days I am feeling very anxious that we could be next or very soon, but at the same time I feel it may never happen...  I know it must be close because even Jon my cool calm and collected man is jumping whenever the phone rings :o). This wait is making me a little nuts!  I know after we know who she is this ache will finally subside, oh but wait then I have to wait to go get her.  I am guessing this wait will be just as tough or even harder.   

Our Tucson Family is in town so we are going to the Pumpkin Patch today.  I will post pictures soon. 

Referrals...

Referrals have come in this week 4 were baby girls and one baby boy.  Congrats to the families!  Two of the girl referrals were for families that submitted their dossier 2 weeks before ours.  I hope that this means soooooon!  I am kind of bumming today this process has been a lot harder than I thought, with all the emotional up and downs of the WAIT.  My boys keep me so busy but I find my mind wonders often when it comes to when will that phone ring and it be OUR turn.  I know the wait is nothing like other countries but it is still a tuff one.  I feel at this point she is out there somewhere needing me and I don't even know her yet.  It is also hard on the boys they ask all the time when is my sister going to be here, can I put this toy in Hasina's room for her, when Hasina is here  I am going to show her how to play this, or when my sister is here she can sleep in my bed or I will sleep in hers :O)   They are just so sweet and are going to be amazing big brothers to their sister!  That's all for now but cross your fingers it's soon, I don't know how much more I can take... (JK)  It's all in G-d's hands and I know he has the perfect match for our family somewhere out there.

Little Sunday Hike

This was the first Sunday in a very long time that we did not have Volleyball to stop us from doing anything on a Sunday afternoon. I had a Softball game at 12:00 and then after that we decided to go for a hike. The temperature was perfect and the boys just love being outside so it made for a perfect afternoon as you can see :O)

Official

We have now officially stopped discussing her first name! We have put it on the wall in her room so it will be HASINA (means Beauty in Amharic)! The middle name is going to remain open until we know if her birth mother has named her something that means something special to her. The courts open this Friday so we are hoping to hear something very soon. Our friends Andrea and Ryan have a court date for Friday to make it official in Ethiopia that Noah and Naomi are theirs. They have had their referrals since May and did not make it through court before the closure so this has been a very long few months for them. I am keeping everything crossed that everything goes smoothly from here on out!

Baby Room

We have been trying to distract ourselves with little projects, so the boys and I decided to get the baby's room ready. My mom bought her this adorable bedding set with pinks and greens and lots of flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, and lady bugs. I decided with my Mom's help to use two shades of green and Jon put a brown chair rail up in the room. Then after setting everything up I decided to add some flowers to the wall free hand so don't look to close (ha ha)! Jon is also cutting out lady bugs , and the other shapes to put up in the room and the boys and I are painting them to match. Now all we need is our little girl here to make it complete! FYI the courts open October 3 rd and last week CHI had 5 referrals four boys and one 6year old girl. Our Congrats to the happy families!!!!!!!!

Happy b-day Jay!

This past weekend we went camping to celebrate our friend Jay's b-day, the adults got to stay up late play games and sit around the fire to talk religion politics and whatever else Jon decided to say from atop his soapbox :o)

The boys had fun too cooking out, hiking and freezing their butts off!

Jon's box for Nana

Nana wanted to be cremated, so Jon decided to make her the box for her final resting place next to Papa Pete. I think it turned out perfect, and I am sure she loves it :O)

Lewis Twins

Lewis Twins are here!!!!!!!!!! Kera and Molly were born Friday Sept. 5th check out these cuties http://ryanandjenn.spaces.live.com/, P.S. Nothing new on the adoption front but keep those fingers crossed that soon:o)

I'm Fine

Well I am well on my way to recovery! I am still out of work till Thursday, if all goes well at the Dr;s on Wednesday apparently when you have fmla you can not return to work till the Doc gives the ok :o( Sad thing is I really miss work since we were on sabbatical for 6 weeks and I was only back for a week before my little vacation in the hospital... I got to say THANK YOU to all that sent cards and good wishes it is so nice to know how much people care about us! I also have to say having my sister Jackie and my Mom Linda fly in on a moments notice to surprise me was a G-d send, they took turns staying in the hospital with me and helped me get back on my feet I truly appreciated them for all their help! Thant's all for now Oh yeah no referral yet keep your fingers cross it will be before courts open so we can get her here by Christmas!!!

Letter from Jon

Hi all-first off, if this is my first communication with you about Robin, I apologize. I’ve tried to contact many of you, but I’m sure I missed many.

What happened:
On Friday night, after dinner at our house with friends, Robin had a very sharp pain in her belly, but thought it was just a bad stomach ache and made it through the night. When she woke up Saturday, her lower right torso was very sensitive to the touch. I urged her to go to Urgent Care. I won’t bore you with the hospital frustrations after that, but in the end her appendix had burst (probably Friday night) and she had an emergency appendectomy ~2am Sunday morning. The procedure was done laparoscopically, which was a good sign as it meant the ‘gunk’ in the appendix had not spread too far. However, she did have an abscess (infected area) near her appendix that also needed to be removed. The procedure lasted about 1.5 hours.

Because the appendix had burst, she is required to stay in the hospital longer than if it hadn’t, in order that she gets enough antibiotics to stave off any further infections. She may be released tomorrow. She is doing well and is in good spirits, as always. She’s still pretty sore, and having a bit of a tough time getting back an appetite. Her mom and sister flew in Sunday night to be with her, and she appreciated that very much.

Thank you all for your very kind words, thoughts, prayers, and offers to help. It is so comforting to both of us that we have such good friends that are there to help in any way possible when life throws these curveballs at us. It means more to us than you know.

Also, a direct order from Robin: if you were thinking of sending flowers, while she very much appreciates the gesture, she asks that you don’t (though if you want to handle that task for me for the next couple Valentine’s Days, anniversaries, etc, that’s cool).
Thank you all again,
Jon

Back From Sabatical

Well our 6 week vacation is over and we already miss our families! Jon still has two more weeks but I went back to work today, it was nice to go back they all seemed to miss me. Jon has a lot of hunny do things for his two weeks off alone... Painting the babies room. No news yet but I figure it is better to paint with the kids out of the house and I really don't like to paint...

Disney

Well we had a great time at Disney! We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge which was AMAZING! We had Gerafes and Wildabeast outside our window everyday... We went to the differant park early and left late everyday. Check out Pics soon on our Picasa link ;o)

Canoeing

Today we borrowed a friend's canoe and went out at Woodcock dam. It was perfect weather kind of overcast and a nice breeze. Jon thinks if we ever go to move home he would like a boat but Zack and I agree we would like a canoe first for the exercise!

Boating

Today we took the kids out on Pymatuning Lake on a pontoon boat it was very relaxing! Jon let the kids fish but they didn't have much luck but they did like to drive...

Cedar Point

Today my Dad, cousin Lori, Kevin, Jon and I went to the biggest roller coaster park in the world! We grew up at this park and we still can't get enough of the hair raising excitement! The boys went with Grandpa Ed to the beach and they had a great time!

Joey

This has been a very difficult trip. Our cat Joey who we have had since a week before our wedding 11 years ago had to be put to sleep today. He had just recently been diagnosed with heart failure but we had him on meds and he seem to be getting better but it didn't last long. We had two of our very good friends Christine and Marcey come in daily to see the cats but unfortunately his heart was too far gone. I cannot express the gratitude we have for Marcey and Christine they were so wonderful to us! The boys have had to learn a lot about death this trip but I think being in PA with their cousins is serving as a great distraction.

Greek Festival

Today we did a little sight seeing in Erie Pa, we went to a Greek Festival and watched the wonderful dancing and ate great food. We then went for a surrey ride around the bay.

Julie Jacobson!!!!!!!!!!

Our very good friends received a wonderful gift today... A baby girl they did not find out what they were having and they have a sweet beautiful boy Nathan who is almost 4 already, so Julie makes a perfect addition.

Our Nana

Our Nana went to heaven today... She was a wonderful women who was very loved. She was 87 and thankfully went very peacefully in her sleep. March 11 1921 - July 9 2008

Travel Shots

Well we are getting a lot closer to a referral so we decided while we were in Pennsylvania to get our travel shots because it seems to be a little cheaper here and because my mother in law will be traveling with us and so we all got our shots together. The nurse and doctor were very informative and nice but still, OUCH!

Petting Zoo

We took the kids to the Deer Park today; they got to feed lots of different animals and ride a train. This was fun but we are not big fans of animals out of their natural habbitat and they had tigers and leopards and many other exotic animals that were not in very nce enclosures. Probably will not go back!

Geocaching

We have been geocaching a lot during this visit: at the Nature Trail, at the beach, at Presquale. The kids love finding their little treasures. The one we found at the beach had a Geo bug in it that the mission is to get to Georgia so we figure we will get it a little closer on our way to NC. It is a whole different world here compared to NM! Lots of huge trees and green grass and humidity!

All Stars

Since we have been home we have watched a lot of baseball! My nephew Jake and his two cousins all in different age groups have been playing in an All Star Tournament so that means we can watch a differant game just about every night! All three teams are doing really well and 2 have not lost yet in the double elimination tournament and one has lost one. This means more baseball, and we love it !