Well, here is another (long over-due) update. Unfortunately, we don't have news of travel plans coming quickly or anything. It is what it is.
Anyhow, for those of you that aren't aware of what's going on and that we've experienced some delays - I'll give you a quick run-down.
We passed court (in Ethiopia) in November when we met our two children. Since then we have been doing finishing touches on our apartment and the kids room while waiting to get clearance from the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia to go pick up our kids and bring them back to the U.S.
We are still waiting at this point. Things are just taking longer than expected ... and in the meantime our I-171H expired (the form that allows us to bring two children into U.S.). Sooooo, we had to update our home study. We just finalized that and sent it in to immigration services Friday. At this point we are delayed on two ends of it... here in the U.S. (trying to get our I-171H extended) and in Ethiopia (with the U.S. Embassy gathering all the documentation they need to ensure that the proper channels have been gone through and all parts of the process have been done ethically).
So, we are trying to deal gracefully with the wait. Hopefully everything will be resolved soon. When it is resolved you will surely see this blog updated with several pictures of our amazingly beautiful children. We aren't allowed to post any until we are granted physical custody in Ethiopia. We have many pictures of them from our first trip and we also get updated pictures of them each month.
Anyhow, I am finally posting pictures of some of the projects that have kept us busy these past few months.
Enjoy.... or don't, I can't really pretend to care at this point, I have more important things on my mind. :-)
Below is our new dining area. Previously, there was a bar height table and backless stools that just wouldn't work great for family dinners with two little ones. Oh, and yes... I did pick up a random branch off of the ground after a windstorm, paint it red, and hang it on the wall.
Next, is the "before" picture of our kids room. Well, not really all that accurate of a before picture...considering that before we began transitioning it to a kids room it was an "everything" spare room/office. Pictures of it in that state are really not necessary (and are not in existence anyhow).
Here is a pic of their dressers and bookshelf. Notice the paintings. I (Sean) painted the brown one on the left (you can't really tell...but, the circles are all different colors - but it didn't show up well in pic) and Jaime painted the one on the right. We decided to do custom paintings for our kids with the extra paint from the furniture and such that was used in their room.
Below is a couple pictures of Selah's corner of the room. In the second picture, near the corner of the wall, you see a straight line of butterflies. That is a mobile made in Ethiopia that we purchased on our trip in November. Kaleb has one also has one (that is rhinoceri) that you can kind of see a little in pic above to left (right next to white curtain). The "headboard" tree and butterfly/flower swirls are wall decals.
The next two pics are of Kaleb's area...showing his bed and toy shelf. The doll in the blue and white striped outfit on the toy shelf was also purchased in Ethiopia. There is one for Selah on her shelf as well.
This last one is a painting that Jaime did. You can see it a bit in the pic above as well (in the corner)...but, here's a better view of it.
Well, that's it for now. Have a good one everyone! Hopefully we'll be heading to Ethiopia again soon to pick up our children... an then we'll get some pics of them up on here too.
Bye for now,
Sean
