Danica, the kids, and some pics

Since Vancouver, Canada is only 3 hours away, Danica thought she'd do a quick day trip yesterday. The border police ended up being so mean to her because she lost her purse and they seriously interrogated her and searched her car. If you knew how sweet, innocent, and sensitive she is you would understand that this about gave her a heart attack.. Poor thing came home with her eyes all swollen up and just needed to be home for the night. Like they say, "no place like home". Otherwise prior to the whole border thing they had a really good time since the Olympics were still going on.

Today was a really awesome day, I had all the girls to myself while the 2 guys were helping a friend move..

Danica in Vancouver, Canada

The picture below is quiet interesting. Danica is not into the girly stuff but look how she dressed Amira for me.

Anastasia and the little ones playing legos on Biruk's bed. This is really special because I never imagined Anastasia getting along with the little ones but she has come so far and just adores them and they adore her. They always include her.
This was last weekend. It was so beautiful ouside and Danica was trying to get her a quick tan, and Anastasia is in heaven because her favorite Danica is home.

Still Waiting

For those wondering if we have a travel date yet? Not so, unfortunately. I will posted it here the minute I find out. This Friday was 3 weeks since the kids passed court.. Without the adoption decree the agency will not schedule an embassy appointment. Plus after that we are still waiting for the birth certificates to schedule the flights..

(most) People that have passed court January 25 and 29 havn't gotten a travel date either.. In a way this is sort of bad because these people need embassy dates before us and they only schedule the embassy dates every other week.. We were told by the agency that if we had not gotten an adoption decree by yesterday that most likely it would not be possible to get an embassy date in late March..I guess we are now looking at late April which would have taken us almost 3 months for them to come home after court..

A picture of Micah

I just received this today and love it so much.

We are on the Home Stretch

I don't know what happens after I pass court but I tell you what, I am completely checked out from the world rather it be at home, at work or anywhere I go. Sort of when you first get pregnant, you have temporary brain loss? All I can think about is picking up my kids and be a family. I still remember how sweet and smooth it was right before we started this newest adoption. But now I am just out there in the left field somewhere checked out.

Of course I am afraid to say anything negative of STILL WAITING because this adoption went super fast and we past court the first time. So for me to say, wait 2 more months, its like hello, stop whining but I still feel like whining because I want my kids now.

Anyways, not much of an update but here is what's going on. 99% sure that my dear sweetheart will pick up our kiddos. His incentive is stopping in Germany to see my folks, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews prior going to ET. Kevin hasn't seen my family in nearly 20 years and they all are just crazy about each other. It was fully and completely his idea to travel he will even take it as far as missing school but he wants to go. If it takes seeing my family for him to travel to ET and see my love and passion for ET through my eyes, amen to that. Honestly I am a little jealous I can't travel but I zip it right here. Unfortunately Kevin doesn't want us to travel together because he doesn't want our Anastasia to be with other people. He is really protective over her. Plus its too much money anyway to tag on a fourth person.

As for a date, I have no clue. Things are different now. When I left for Amira and Biruk I got an embassy date the day after they passed court. I am hearing first off they need an adoption decree to schedule an embassy appt and that can take some time. I am not sure about the birth certificate but i need them to schedule my flights because I have no clue what the kids' birth dates are. Lastly, I also heard from agency that the embassy is only having appointments every other week, and that it can take them up to 4 weeks to log the cases from the NVC.

If I have any great news or travel dates, I will post immediately.

Ramblings

Here are some answers to the questions people have asked.

First of all, Amira and Biruk are absolutely ecstatic to have a new brother and sister coming. They tell me every day not to buy beds and please let them sleep in their bed. I think the way we will set up the rooms for the moment is making a sleep room (with all 4 together) and a playroom. If Misrak and Micah have night terrors we might split them up. But that is what we are planning on doing.

Biruk hasn't changed much with his crying and know it all attitude so I am hoping that will change some with Micah coming. We keep explaining to him that he is an older brother now and he needs to set a leader example because Micah will look up to him.

Amira is happy to still be the baby. Its good that way because she still is so dependant and attached to me. I told her she will still be my baby girl and Micah will be the baby boy; she said that's fine. I am really looking forward to the girls playing house and doing all the girly things together. Biruk gets so annoyed when Amira asks him to play house. And they boys can do their boys toys stuff.

As to the kids' sizes I am pretty right on I think with having Micah in an 18mo clothing (it might be big on him) and Misrak in a 6. I know Amira is in a 5-6 now and per Misrak's measurements she is Biruk's height basically just about a head taller than Amira. But she looks just so petite I am a little stressed out about the shoe sizes. I think I buy some crocs in a few different sizes. Although Micah has his beloved pink crocs right now which he cannot wear them anymore once we pick him up. They will have to go in his memory box (:

Oh and lastly, Danica was a little shocked or disturbed (she thought we should have waited longer:) but than after I wrote her that we will be fine and we could handle ourselves she wrote this:

I know mommy I am very proud of you, your doin a wonderful thing for these children no matter what! And your an awesome WONDERFUL mother no doubt about that or else I wouldn't be the way I am and we wouldn't have the relationship we do! Your great!

Actually Danica and I are extremely close so it means a lot to me that she wasn't totally blown away by this new adoption.

A SLIDE SHOW OF THE KIDDOS

I have had these beautiful slide shows all made up for days but this morning I couldn't do it because they wanted to charge me for it. No, no, I want free stuff. So unfortunately, there aren't any captions but please enjoy this one.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

IT'S OFFICIAL

God has just been amazing throughtout this adoption and was there the whole way every step of the way putting old friends and new friends into my life that without their love and prayers I couldn't have made it thorough or woudn't have even started just yet. To say the least, I am seriously speechless. And I had a whole nice slide show made up but for some reason its not working, of course.

My I introduce to you:

MISRAK MOGES HILL

MICAH GETNET HILL

Welcome Bags

Finally today the kids received their welcome bags. It was such a joy to see them together with our t-shirt from home! My little man was drowning in the shirt while Misrak's fit nicely. My Misrak looked really content and happy in her picture by herself. I think she was happy to know that she finally has a family that is coming for her soon. I think Micah is still too young to realize what's happening. That's always nice when adopting older children because they understand so much more.

I think there was lots of confusion per the email from ET as to where the kids meet up for the picture to get their welcome bags. Even in the picture together one has the welcome bag the other one didn't. I mean they looked at them separately. I really hope it wasn't too awkward for them to meet.

Still waiting for my I171 to come in the mail but at least its on the way.

Good News

Thanks for your answers yesterday. It really got me motivated to jump in there early this morning. My letter was all written up and phone numbers were ready to be called.

First thing in the morning I contacted my agency and spoke to the lady that has a dear relationship with our USCIS office and she nicely ask me not to call the senators just yet. She wanted to email them first.

Mind you last Thursday I had written another email the USCIS office asking where my file is in the process. So while I was getting this all figured out, and decided not to do it and wait a few more days, I received an email in my inbox saying "YOU HAVE BEEN APPROVED AND WILL RECEIVE YOUR I171 IN THE MAIL THIS WEEK.

What an amazing God we serve. I was just blown away by this very good news. Now lets just hope it will get to ET in a reasonable time.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. I really am counting on them and they mean so much to me.

My Gut tells me to fight

I am sort of puzzled of what to do. The kids have court Friday. Should I start to plead with the senator's office now or wait till Friday to find out if the kids even passed court? Chances are, two separate cases... you know what I mean..

Lets be realistic here as to when I could possibly receive my I171 approval. I have contacted our USCIS office weekly to inquire how my file is moving and I hear the same thing every time. Its on the adjudicator's desk to be looked at. Do the math. I only had my fingerprinting done 1 month ago today. When I went onto the various websites for congressman and senator under questions and answers for petitions, it says that the adjudicator just cannot move your petition up if you haven't waited long enough. So can the senator's office really help me with where I am at in the process?

I am crying out for help. Does anyone have any advice for me as to who to contact or what is wise to do. Rather if I go to the congressman site or the senator or whatever public office site, they all point me back to our Tacoma office. I will not deal with those people in my city, I have already dealt with them twice and my problems were much larger than what I am facing now and they didn't get anything done. Have you guys dealt with the people in your city or in your capital if you needed a rush job?

The fact is that if my kiddos do pass court this coming Friday, I am strapped to my chair and cannot even schedule an embassy appt. Plus, once I get the I171 approval, the packet still has to go the ET..

Awhhhhhhh, join the wonderful world of adoption.

Court Date

I am happy to announce that we have a court date of February 5, next Friday. That is just one week out.

Although I am extremely happy, I am bummed to know we still don't have a I171 approval. And even if I had the approval, it still needs to be physically forwarded to ET. The agency cannot schedule an embassy appointment without that.

Please keep this in your prayers. Thank you.

Patience, Patience is the Virtue

I thought you could teach an old horse some new tricks! No so.

I never thought I would be the same as I was the first time when I was adopting but I am finding myself slowly but surely falling into the same trap again. First, things are going smoothly and than stuff just stops and other weird stuff start happening. I have the tendency of driving myself crazy with things that are happening to people and it hasn't even happened to me yet. I am finding out that the USCIS office is going over the I600A with fine tooth combs and many applications having to be supplemented with stuff and some of the stuff they want doesn't even make sense especially for the positive adoptions. And its not just here in WA but I am hearing that people in other states are being rejected too.

Also our cases were submitted on 12/30 and nobody has gotten a court date yet. Ahh, I just want a court date so I have something to look forward too.

My welcome bags were at the office since the beginning of December and I know they were taken to ET the beginning of this week. I really really am hoping that the kids will find out any day next week that they have a family.

Anyways, I could have the mind set of Kevin's brain but I don't. So I need to retreat to my favorites verses in the bible and just be quiet.

I'll keep you posted as soon as I find something out bad or good.

Finally an email about Misrak

This first email came to me from the dear mom that has met Misrak right after she got to the orphanage. This amazing lady will be forever in Misrak's in my life.

I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I fell in love with Misrak when we were in Ethiopia, and was praying a family would quickly come forward to adopt her. She is so beautiful, and her eyes are mesmerizing.

*****************
Yesterday I was really down on myself. One of these days, feeling totally overwhelmed not knowing how I am paying and fundraising all this money to finalize adopting and travel. So my day was immediately changed by this email below which I got from my friend Signe. God spoke to me through Signe and assured me it will be okay. She was able to write while at the airport. I think its always a blessing when your friends see your kids v. people you just offer to take pics. They love on your kids like they belong to them just because they are your friends. My dear Signe went all the way to Kidane to meet Misrak and I am forever thankful to her because she most certainly had the most busiest schedule while there and I don't know how she fit it in.

Misrak is a sweetheart. I played soccer with her for a bit. I talked to the nannies and they said she would be a blessing to you. She was very sweet, gentle, happy, all good. The nannies asked about Biruk and Amira. I assured them that they are wonderful and you are very excited about adding Misrak to your family.

Now I have another adoption mama traveling picking up her daughter from Kidane so I am hoping she will love on my sweetie too.

Emails about my little man

I have been hesitant to post these emails about my boy because I have not gotten any emails on my girl. I wanted to be fair. Its also sort of hard because they are not together at the same orphanage and it seems like not too many people go to M's orphanage. But since a few people are traveling to her orphanage soon or are in the process of I am hoping to get some input on her. In the mean time, please enjoy these ones I have gotten so far. Some I wasn't able to post because they were confidential. This first one below cracks me up, I just love it and I think when you read it, it feels like you can just picture his personality.. I was so worried about his height in the beginning but even if he is tiny, he will make it in this world because he has so much to offer with his precious personality.

Your son is cute as can be. He is super tiny, and you think that he should just be walking, but then he opens his mouth full of teeth and talks to you in complete sentences. He has this tiny high pitched voice that is adorable. He likes to be a helper and wanted to hold my baby who was about the same size as he was. He had his toenails painted blue while I was there and thought that it was great fun. He has the sweetest laugh and likes to be held upside down. That snookums, I could eat him. He seems to be completely potty-trained, at least he was wearing underwear the whole time I was there and didn't smell like pee. So I think he is truly potty trained.

He is small and that would make more sense about his size. We just loved him because he had so much personality. I think we sent you a pic that showed some of that. He makes all sorts of faces. He has very good English and can say some sentences completely in English. I also liked how he didn't seem to realize he was smaller than his friends and just played right along with them. I wouldn't say that he is reserved or anything, but he wasn't pushy for attention like so many of the .......... kids are. He is happy to play with kids of all ages.

Yes, I remember G... you couldn't miss him, I was amazed when I learned how old he was but it was interesting that if you pushed him and expected age 4 behavior.. you could get it.

Home one Year

It has been such a joy this last year to have our kids home. I still remember when we arrived at the airport. Kevin and Danica were just balling but also really shocked just how tiny they were. Actually since my family didn't believe that we would finally bring children home, I didn't text them until I arrived in WA DC telling them I have the children and am on American soil. This time it was for real, not when I came home from Zambia, without child.

All the bad memories of previous adoptions and court failures have ceased. So many people used to tell me when I was waiting that once the children are home you forget all the pain prior to it.

So much happiness has entered our house. Even Anastasia (who I never thought could handle small kids) is so happy with the kids. They take Ana to their room and play with her as she is one of them. They don’t even look at her size. Danica is happy too. She finally knows what its like to fight with siblings she said. Most certainly Biruk is giving her a run for her money because he is so mouthy and argues with Danica about everything:)

Kevin and Biruk are still soul mates. They are so much alike it just freaks me out. Most and foremost they are just very social able people who talk all day and make friends anywhere. They also always sneak food behind my back and than giggle after they did it. Usually I know they did it by their giggles.

Amira is still an introvert with lots of sass. Her wedding has completely stopped, even at night.

Health wise, they have made tremendous progress. They are now going to the doctor only every 2-3 months. Biruk is still not an any meds and his viral load is awesome. Amira has no more molluscum left and it took about just a year for all of them to go away.

Biruk went from size 4T to 6 and shoes from 10 to 12. Amira has going from size 3T to 5. Shirts she can wear a six. And shoes from a size 8 to 9 sometimes 10. I think both of their feet are just tiny.

Amira is still the smallest kid in her class and Biruk has almost caught up with the kid in his class. He is just so long. Where before Biruk was a half head taller than Amira he is now almost a head taller than Amira.

Their English is amazing. Biruk is almost there but Amira still gets stuck a whole lot but she has gotten so good at expressing what she needs.

I got this picture below the same day I got bad court news. I just wanted to post it because I have long forgotten about the sadness that day like I reported in the beginning of the paragraph.

LOVE THIS PICTURE BELOW. THIS PICTURE SHOWS THEIR TRUE CHARACTERS. AMIRA MISS SASS AND BIRUK MR. KNOW IT ALL.