Final Update Before They Come HOME!

For those of you who have been watching FaceBook you know that Sean and Jaime passed court!  Yay!  Prayers have been answered in that respect.  They should be getting on a flight as I type this and headed for home.  The next time they do this flight they will be bringing their beautiful babies home too!  More prayers that this will happen soon and without a hitch.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Sean's Sister

Update

This is just a very basic update for those who are wondering how Sean and Jaime are doing in Ethiopia.  They do not have internet access as they expected so our contact with them is very limited.  They have arrived safely and have seen both of their beautiful children.  Please continue to pray for the hearing which is Sunday night our time.

Two days!!!

We leave to meet our kids in two days!!! How crazy is that??

Still packing... but, I am pretty sure we have everything we need and won't need to be doing any last minute Target or Walmart runs.   Finishing up the laundry at the moment... then will move on to the clothing portion of the packing. 

Well, that's it for now...  will update you as soon as I can.  If we have a chance to go online we will e-mail some updates to my sister who will update this blog for us while we're gone. 

Have a good one!

Sean

The Count Down...

One week from right now we will be in the sky - flying to visit our kids and go to court.

There's a lot to do... so no time for a long drawn out post.  But, just wanted to say "Yay! We will meet our children in 9 days!"

Sean

We Received A Court Date!!!!

So, we got the call... we have a travel date (for Trip 1)!! 

We are excited to have found out that we have a November 22nd court date.   We will be heading out to Ethiopia on the 15th of November.  We are impatiently awaiting this trip as it will be the first time we get to meet our children. Well, they are "our" children in our hearts... not quite so legally - hence the trip to Ethiopia for a court date.  Der.  Keep up, guys!  :-)

Anyhow, all sarcasm aside (well, probably not for long... I can only go 5 or so seconds at a time without it), we are thrilled to be heading to Ethiopia and having an opportunity to meet these beautiful blessings in the flesh.  Not that (occasionally and obsessively) staring at their pictures is not great and all... but we'd kind of like to see the live action 3-D version... with sound included! 

Also, we have known their sweet faces for 3 months now and already have grown attached to them and have fully integrated/"pictured" them into our lives (in our minds/hearts).  But to them, we are nothing at this point.  Not a picture.  Not a thought.  Not even a figment of their imagination.  How sad is that?  We've got to meet these kiddos already... I mean, we have to get those weird "who the crap are these random strangers and why are they in my personal space?" moments out of the way.  I mean, we can't expect to move immediately into a close parent-child relationship without going through some awkward stages first. 

We'll be: strangers, visitors, playmates, irritants, those silly pale people who speak gibberish, and even those people who took me away from everything I've ever known AND much more.  All this BEFORE we even get close to becoming: the people who comfort me, the people who take care of me, the people I trust, the people who will always be around, the people that have got my back, the people that provide my every need, the people that make me laugh, the people who read me stories and tuck me in, the people that love me and I maybe love too etc...  mom.. dad...  

There's quite a road ahead of us, we are more than aware.  At this point, with our children not even knowing of our existence, it just feels like it's a road we can't even begin to travel... not really.  Yes, we are on track with our adoption agency, immigration, the Ethiopian court, and the U.S. embassy etc.. to make these children legally ours.  But, until the children are actually IN our lives - we can't begin to bond, form a relationship, and begin learning together how to BE a family.  Agencies, courts, and governments can't really begin to touch that. That's up to us ... and we are ready for that phase and challenge.  So, November... get your butt here already!!!

Well, on a lighter note:  we also recently received updated pictures of our cuties.  They are growing fast and looking good.  Our one year old boy is sitting up in a chair and looking beyond adorable with his gorgeous eyes. He seems a bit hesitant with this whole sit there for a picture idea...but, is not visibly irritated as in one of the last updates  Our 3 year old girl is looking cute as ever as well.  She is striking some fierce little poses that make me giggle just a bit.  She has awesomely expressive eyebrows - that in previous pictures have shown her laughter and mischief... and are now showing a little attitude.  She's already a true Greener... even if she doesn't yet know it!

Well, that's all I've got.  You can breathe a sigh of relief... this update is finally over.  Sorry, but since I update so infrequently I have to squeeze in a lot of stuff each time!

Have a good one!

Sean

Update From Our Agency...

So, it's been a while... I know, I know - we are evil for not updating this more often.  Sue us. 

Anyways,  earlier this month we received an e-mail from our agency with a bit of an update and current pictures of our beautiful children.

They are both doing well and looking as adorable as ever.  We can already see that they have grown some since their referral pictures.  This just makes us more anxious to travel to Ethiopia and meet them so we don't continue to miss out on their growth and development...and childhood in general! 

We did not get a court date before the court closure, which generally happens in August and September during the rainy season, so we are hoping for an October court date.  We will see...

Otherwise things are going well and moving along.  Our fingerprints expired with the immigration office (we've had like 3 sets/levels of clearance of livescan/electronic fingerprinting during this whole process) - so we have sent in for another appointment to get that done. 

Let's see...what else?  Oh, Jaime began a new position at World Vision International in mid-July.  There's a bit of travel involved in this new role and it has already taken her to Madrid for one week.  Everything is going well so far as she makes this transition. 

Now that we know the age/sex of our children we have been working on their bedroom more and purchasing items for specific children.  That last part might sound weird... "for specific children".. but, it really does change things and is sometimes interesting to get used to. 

Previously, we purchased clothing and other baby/toddler items without knowing the age and sex of our children OR anything about them really.  It is very "different" purchasing items for a child that is only imagined and/or anticipated in your head.  In reality, you don't even know if the cute clothes you just bought will EVER be used... because it could very well be a smaller size than you'll need. 

So, it is DEFINITELY more fun knowing who our kids are, having a real picture of them in our minds, and purchasing items for them personally as an individual that we have seen (at least a picture of) and know some stuff (their age/development etc...) about. 

What is really odd is going back through purchases we had made prior to the referral.  Because, before it was just:  "wow, this is a cute outfit."  Now, it is "ahhhhh, this will look so cute on him/ her...."  OR "Ah crap! This is adorable and will NEVER fit either of our children... whoops, should've left the shopping until we had the referral."   :-)

We have also received quite a few outfits from family and friends that seem to be enjoying making purchases now that they know who and what size is going to be joining the family! 

So, that's it for now.  Since we can't post any pictures of our (beautiful and nauseatingly adorable) children online (due to Ethiopian guidelines... which makes perfect sense, after all they are not even legally our children at this point...) I will at least try to post some pics in a few weeks with the progress we are making in the kids bedroom. 

We have already purchased bedding for both of the kiddos and made sure we have an over-arching color scheme that works well for both kids (since they will be sharing a room for the time being).  Translation of that last sentence:  "Sean is being psycho-anal, painting furniture like a mad man, carrying around paint color cards and swatches to make sure every item purchased passes his unrealistic perfectionist expectations, all while driving Jaime crazy in the process." 

Okay, I'm done.  If I don't stop now - I'll just ramble on forever...which I've already kind of done!

Sean

We got our referrals!!

Hello All,

Well, drumroll please..........

Monday, June 21st, we got the referral call for a beautiful little 3 year old girl.  We were told then that we would be hearing (within a week or so) about our 2nd child.  Paperwork was still being processed in Ethiopia regarding him, so we would not be receiving their referrals at the same time. 

So, after much joy and celebration...we finally calmed ourselves down a bit over the next few days. 

Then comes Friday... we were both in an all day work function.  We had just been dismissed for a break when we received the call for our little boy!!  He is 10 months old.  Boy was it hard to pretend to care about work after the break was over and remain there until 3p.m.   I probably didn't pretend very well, and quite frankly - I don't even care...  I had other things on my mind and I'm not making any apologies.  :-)

Anyhow, we still have quite a process ahead of us.  We still have to wait our turn to GET a court date, then TRAVEL TO the court hearing, PASS court, LEAVE for approximately two months (while waiting for an embassy appointment), then FINALLY - travel back to Ethiopia for the embassy appointment and to pick up our children.   So, although this is a joyous time for us... we are not quite done with the waiting.  But, we knew that was going to be the case when we started this remarkable journey. 

Well, that's it for now.  Thanks for all the support and kindness we have received - it has been amazing. 

More updates to come.....

Sean

Waiting....Same Old Same Old

Hello all,  no new news really.  We are continuing to wait, and trying to do it as gracefully (and patiently) as possible.  So, for those of you that actually know us... yeah, patience isn't our forte. 


We've been waiting about 6 1/2 months now... not the longest time that people tend to wait for a referral, certainly.  But, feels like forever and a half to us nonetheless.


Just wanted to give a quick  update, that's all for now.


Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.  I'm a little early, but I'm sure you'll get over it!


Sean

Happy Easter!!

Hello and Happy Easter (okay, a bit late... deal with it gracefully please)!!!

So, I hope you all had a great Easter and all that jazz.   Jaime and I had a good one.  We ended up attending church at Angel Stadium, it was Saddleback church's 30th anniversary celebration and Easter service all in one.  We went with some family who attend the church regularly in Lake Forest.  The pic below is the view we had from where we were seated.  It was a good service, although we had to miss the Easter service at our own church to go. 

We went to lunch with a LARGE group of family members and then headed to my grandfather's place to hide Easter eggs for the kids.  But, before we hid eggs some family members gave Jaime and I some Easter gifts that they had gotten for our children.  We are still waiting for our referral call, so at this point we don't even know who our children are...but, they have plenty of gifts waiting for them when we finally get to bring them home!

The lighting in the pic below isn't great...apparently my halo was shining too bright - which really distorted it.  It's actually quite a common occurence.   :-) 

Last year we didn't seem to have all that many eggs to hide, so this year everyone overcompensated (by bringing too many) and we had way more eggs to hide than we had places to hide them. That led us to some more artistic (and not so "hidden") places to hide eggs. Once our creativity waned we just started throwing them on the grass. Below is some of our more interesting hiding places.

Someone decorated my car...

So, I took the liberty of creating a "wheel of many colors" out of my sister's car.

At least the hidden egg matches the wiseman's ring and collar of his robe.  Yes, there is one of the wisemen out in the yard, and no I don't know why.  Thanks for asking.    ;-)

Well, that's it for the egg hiding. 

Now, to the update portion of the post.  It's been 5 months and 3 weeks since we have been awaiting our referral.  We have no news yet....we are still waiting.  Hopefully we will hear something soon.  Guess that's it for now.

Have a good week everyone!

Sean

Adoption Alert Information

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for your continued prayers relative to Sean’s and my adoption journey. The latest change to the Ethiopian adoption process (effective Wednesday, March 10, 2010) is that Ethiopia is now a two-trip country meaning that Sean and I will both have to travel to Ethiopia to attend the court hearing for our children. We will probably be there about a week, and we will get to meet our children, but we will not be able to bring them home with us. Then, depending upon when we pass court, we will travel there again (possibly 2-3 months later) to pick them up and bring them home.

Please pray for the extra finances as this extra trip will cost us more than we had “budgeted.” We will also both miss an extra week of work which will take up more of our vacation time and lessen the time we will have to bond with them when we bring them home on the second trip.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support! Sean and I greatly appreciate it!

Jaime

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello All,


Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and All That Jazz! 


We have been horrible about updating this blog, but we have been pretty busy. 


First, Adoption Process Update:
     Our dossier has been in Ethiopia for nearly 10 weeks!  We are awaiting our referrals. The referral call could still be a few (or several) months away...or it could come this week - ya just never know!
     On December 9th we had another conference call/ "training" session with our agency.  This was to go over a sample of the referral form we will receive for each of our children (just so we know what information we can expect... medical and social history etc.) and to give us an introduction to traveling to Ethiopia.  This was just an overview, but it certainly does get our minds prepared for when we do actually get our referrals and then get to the point where we have to think about traveling and all that entails.
     I have been working some in the kids room over the holiday break, so although there is much to do.... progress is being made and it doesn't feel so overwhelming now.  That is a good thing!
     I guess that's it for news in the adoption... I am (of course): still reading adoption books and magazines, researching online, a part of several (Ethiopian adoption specific) yahoo groups, blog-stalking multiple families who have adopted from Ethiopia or are in the process of it, and chatting with new friends (who have adopted or are in process) I have met since we began our own adoption journey.  I can never seem to have enough information... I'm always looking somewhere else or talking to someone different.  I have to, in order to feel somewhat prepared. 
      One last adoption-related thing!!  We asked my sister (Stacy) if she would like to go with us to Ethiopia when we travel to pick up our children... she said yes, is thrilled to do so - and has already gotten a passport and taken steps to be ready for the trip when the time comes.  That will be such a blessing for Jaime and I....as having another adult with us in the airport, in country, in flight etc.. (with two children that don't really know us or speak our language!) will be a great help indeed!!


What's been going on in our lives....


     Well, on December 19th (one of my nephew's birthday) - Jaime and I participated in our graduation ceremony.  I have completed a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership, and Jaime has completed (well, has a few weeks of class left, but has just about completed...) a Master of Arts in Human Resources and Organizational Development.  It is nice to have that over with!

     Then there was the holidays to keep us busy!  The picture below if Jaime and I with one of my adorable nephews at Thanksgiving.  I actually meant to put a Christmas picture here...and totally didn't realize, until after the fact, that I had put one in from Thanksgiving.  Oh well, it was a better picture than the Christmas ones...so, deal with it gracefully!  :-)

     We had a good Christmas.  We stayed in California this year, which means we did not get to see Jaime's family  :-(   and Jaime had to pretend it felt like Christmas with no snow (and it being 80 degrees here)! But she managed, and our plan is to visit her family on the way back from Ethiopia (at an unknown date...hopefully soon!!). 

     We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family.  There's lots of them!  We ate, exchanged gifts, ate, played games, and ate some more.... I think we're all still full even a week later!! 

     We haven't even been referred children yet, and therefore don't know their ages/sex etc... but they still raked in quite a bit of stuff from my family for Christmas!  There is a pic below of some of what they have received thus far. 

     We didn't have any guests over (to our place) for the holidays this year... well, except for Santa of course.  We tried to wait up for him so we could have a chat, but he's a sneaky little buggar!  Anyhow, he did seem to enjoy the milk and cookies we laid out ... 

     Jaime thought it odd that he makes his "S"s similar to mine.  But, I think it's just a pretty common way to write them... no biggie!   :-)

     That's All Folks!  Happy New Year!!  Hope it's a great one for you all! 

Sean