Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday was a pretty rough day. We took TJ to the dermatologist because he had a rash all over his face and neck. We were told he has eczema, which is easily treated. However, the dermatologist also noticed that TJ had 2 extra digits on each of his hands and told us it would be very easy and not painful to remove those extra digits. My husband and I were a little taken a back but the doctor told us it was very simple and not to worry. 30 horrible minutes later, the doctor had finished the procedure. I ended up having to wait in the waiting room for most of it because I felt like I was going to throw up. After the procedure was finished, the doctor never came back to tell us how to take care of his hands. Therefore, we went home and called our pediatrician and told her we were FREAKING out and needed to see her right away. She let us come in early, assured us that he would be o.k., and told us how to take care of his hands. TJ seems to be over the whole ordeal but it will take a long time for my husband and I to recover.
He did not sleep well last night, I think that his hands may have been hurting him and he was having a hard time settling down. However, by 5:00am he was a happy camper and seems to be doing much better.
Funny how such a little person can wiggle his way into our hearts. Both my husband and I were so upset and certainly love that little boy!

Pictures!

I posted some pictures of TJ at our guest house in Ethiopia. He is such a cute and loving baby.
We had a good night last night. TJ decided he wanted to go to bed at 5:00pm, so we let him. We woke him up at 8:00pm to give him a bottle and then he went back to sleep at 9:30pm. He then slept until 3:00am. He is gradually getting used to our house and time zone. I am hoping that by the end of the week, he will have transitioned and will be on a better schedule.
He is a lot of fun and gives us lots of smiles. He only cries when he is hungry, tired, or I try to put him in my sling. He is very nosey and gets mad when he can't see. TJ, my dog, and I went for our first walk yesterday. He fell asleep in the stroller and seemed to like being outside.
So far TJ loves his soft blankets (especially the one with the silk on the back) and his rain forest moving sound machine that is attached to his crib.

TJ sleeping on our bed at the guest house, Wednesday morning.

He always sucks on his fingers when he is sleeping.

My husband, TJ, and I our first 1/2 day together. We bought

the picture behind us at a store to put in TJ's room. It is a

famous church in Northern Ethiopia.

My husband with TJ at the guest house, Monday morning.
TJ got to stay with us for 1/2 the day. The outfit he is wearing
is the outfit we sent him when we received his referral.

We are home!

We are home. Our flight arrived yesterday at 1:45pm. TJ was a great baby. He slept through the entire first flight which was about 8 hours. We had a 5 hour lay over in Amsterdam and then another 9 hour flight home. He only slept about 3 hours during the last flight but he was very good. He does have a rash on his face because we have been holding him so much and he likes to rub his face on our clothes while he is sleeping. We are taking him to a dermatologist on Monday. However, some very nice older women gave me great advice on how to take care of his skin. They were waiting for their ride while we were waiting for my dad. These women told me that African American skin tends to be very dry and that we need baby oil for his skin and VO5 in the tube for his hair.

The kids and my mom were waiting outside for us when we got home. They ran up to the car to meet TJ and were so excited. He is going to be a very loved boy! He really loves my daughter. He can not stop looking at her. She was worried that he might not like her but he proved her wrong within 1 minute of meeting her.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking, picking up our dog, going to Walmart, and getting supper at Subway. My husband stayed home with TJ and by the time I got home at 4:00pm, TJ was out for the night. He is still on Ethiopia time and VERY tired, so we just let him sleep until 12:30 am when he started to fuss. He then had a bottle and stayed up until 2:30am. He woke up at 3:30am and at this time my husband and daughter were up. By 4:00am, my son woke up, so we decided to give TJ a bath and lather him up with baby oil, Vaseline, and VO5 for his hair. By 5:00 am, he was ready for another nap and went to sleep in our bed with his sister. They slept for over 2 hours.

I have never been so tired in my life. I did not sleep well in Ethiopia and our schedule was so busy that we were unable to take naps during the day. However, we feel so blessed to have had to opportunity to go the Ethiopia to get our son. He is a wonderful boy and we are looking forward to raising him.

I will post some pictures of our trip and TJ once we get a little more settled.

Wednesday Morning

Yesterday was an emotional day. We had a going away ceremony at the care center for all of the children being adopted this week. The nannys love the children and it is hard for them to see the children go. They are happy that they are being adopted but will miss them. They also said a prayer for our children and for the families and then Tesfahun got to put his hand print into a book. We then headed over the the US Embassy. Then we brought Tesfahun back to our guest house. He has a great night. He sleep on me for half the night. I was worried that he would be scared, so I wanted to make sure he was close to me. Then he slept inbetween Tim and me. This morning I went back to the school. I would love to return in 3 years with Tesfahun to teach for a month. Hopefully, I will be able to make that work.
We leave tomorrow at 10:45pm. I am pretty sure we will not be able to get internet access, so I will post when I get home on Friday!

Monday PM/Tuesday AM

Yesterday was a really busy day! We had Tesfahun with us in the morning and then did more sightseeing in the afternoon. We toured the hospital and school that our adoption agency sponsors. We also went through a museum and did more shopping. I am finally on Ethiopian time and able to sleep through the night with the help of Tylenol PM but I am still pretty tired. I am looking forward to tomorrow when we get to just hang around at the guest house. I will probably be taking naps with Tesfahun.

Monday Morning

Tesfahun is with us at the guest house today. He is such a little honey. He still loves his daddy and is sitting on his lap right now. We have to take him back to the care center at 12:30 but he is with us forever tomorrow. We are having a great time! Ethiopia is a fascinating country and the people are wonderful!

Sunday Afternoon Update

Today we went down south to Hossanna to see the city where TJ was born. It took 3 hours to get there and the scenry was beautiful. It was fun to look out the window and take in Ethiopia. We also got to look through a hut and that was fun. A lot of children came over to greet us, shake hands, and give us high fives. It was a great experience. Tomorrow we get to have TJ with us at the guest house in the morning, tour more of Ethiopia, and then go to AHope (a care center for children who are HIV positive). We have had a very packed week so far and we are running on very little sleep but we are enjoying our time here.
Tim and Amy

Update-Saturday

Today was another good day. We got to see Tesfahun this morning and he was cooing at us. He is such a little cutie and very happy. We then went shopping, which was an experience. We then went out to an Ethiopian restaurant. They had a drawing and who ever got the paper that said yes got to put on an Ethiopian dress and help make coffee. Tim drew the yes but since I am a nice wife, I did not make him wear the dress and I put the dress on instead and made coffee. It was quite an experience. Then after dinner we got to watch some Ethiopian dancers and singers. I was pulled out of the crowd and was taught some dance moves! Yikes! It was fun but way out of my comfort zone. The good news it that I got to keep the dress. Tomorrow we will go down south. We are looking forward to looking at the scenery. We will try to post tomorrow.
Tim and Amy

Friday Afternoon Update

We arrived safely in Ethiopia and we have already met Tesfahun. He is amazing. He is a happy baby and LOVES Tim. He kept looking at him and smiling. We were able to spend the morning and afternoon with him and can't wait to bring him home. Tomorrow we will spend more time with him, go shopping, take a tour of AHope and then go out to dinner. We will try to post more later!

They Made It!

Tim and Amy arrived in Ethiopia at 3:30pm our time, but it was 11:30pm in Ethiopia, on the 18th. They are both doing fine. They are super anxious about meeting their son...today! Keep them in your prays!

We are leaving!!!

We dropped the kids off at school today and then I have been picking up and cleaning our house. It isn't really dirty but I feel like I need to be doing something. My husband is calmly sitting on the couch watching TV:)
We are heading to my parents house and then to the airport in a little over two hours. Our flight leaves at 3:15 and we will be arriving in Ethiopia, Thursday at 9:05 pm (1:05 pm our time). I feel like I am on a roller coaster...I am so excited, but at the same time pretty nervous. I just can not wait to meet my new son!!! We have been waiting for over two years to meet him and to think the time is finally here is pretty overwhelming.
We are going to try to post as much as possible when we are in Ethiopia!

Tomorrow we leave!

Tomorrow we leave!! I can not believe it! We had a great day together. My husband and son went golfing. My son really enjoyed washing the golf ball, riding in the golf cart, and looking at the squirrels, grasshoppers, and frogs. He did not mention to much about the golfing though. My daughter and I hung around the house, played a game, and packed. We also went to my parent's house to drop off her and my son's things. Then, we went out to supper for my husband's birthday and got some ice cream. We had planned on doing more fun things together, however, we found out that the pipe from our kitchen sink is leaking, which explains why the dry-wall in the laundry room was looking so funky. We are going to get that fixed while we are gone.
I will post tomorrow morning right before we leave.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading our blog and sending their prayers and well wishes. It really means a lot to us!!!

2 more days.....

My mom took our family picture today. We need to take it with us to Ethiopia. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take it outside.

Today I was busy running errands. I do not think I have ever run so many errands in my life!! I am thinking that adopting and re-modeling our bathroom within the same month was probably not the best idea. Oh-well. I also dropped our dog off at my sister's house. Our dog will be there for over two weeks. It seems so strange not having her here tonight. She does such a nice job greeting everyone when we get home.

The highlight of my day was being at school with my son and daughter. My daughter told me that I only embarrassed one time while I was eating lunch with her. I consider that a success. I told one of my daughter's friends that her outfit was cute but her friend was sitting at the table next to my daughter's table. Apparently you DO NOT talk to students that are sitting at another table. Who knew?? I also had the opportunity to eat lunch with my son and also talk to his class about Ethiopia. His classmates were so excited and had great questions about adoption and Ethiopia.

Tomorrow we get to spend the day together as a family.

We leave in 3 days!

This morning we went to church. I wanted to go to church before our trip. I really felt like I needed to be reminded that God is in control and that I need to let go of some of my worries. It helped!
We then resumed our fall tradition of stopping by Subway to get our lunch and then going home to watch football. I only watched the 1st quarter and then took my son to get his haircut. My husband and I also had the chance to go to the gym to workout. It will probably be awhile before we will be able to do that again. We also stopped by the store to pick up some last minute things for our trip. Finally, we finished the last of our paperwork that we need to take to Ethiopia with us.
It was kind of a rainy day. Pretty similar to the weather in Ethiopia. A person who is in Ethiopia right now posted that it is rainy and kind of cold. She also recommended that we bring sweaters and warm pajamas.
Tomorrow will be very busy but Tuesday we will be able to enjoy our family before we leave.

4 days and counting...

I can not believe we have only 4 days left until we travel. Wow!! It feels like we have been waiting for so long but at the same time I can't believe how quickly it went by.
Today we got to watch our daughter get her brown belt in Karate. We are very proud of her. She did a great job and we just had to go out to lunch to celebrate her accomplishment. I also said good bye to my friend and co-worker. Her daughter was also getting her brown belt, so that was a lot of fun.
We were also able to get a few things done on our list. We went to Target and Walmart. My husband did all of the bills and I packed. We only have a few more things to buy and pack and then we will be ready to go. I am just hoping that our luggage is under 50 pounds!! We will be taking 2 large suitcases, 1 medium suitcase, 1 suitcase from our adoption agency full of supplies, a back pack and 1 small carry on suitcase.
We also decided to buy the kids small gifts to open for every day that we are gone, so I wrapped them up and I now just need to write out 20 notes. My daughter was having a hard time tonight, so I am glad that we bought gifts for her and her brother. I am hoping it will help them get through the 10 days we are gone. My daughter is very scared for our safety and is worried about her baby brother. It was hard to keep a brave face and assure her everything will be o.k. She is such a little worrier (takes after her mom and Grandma).
We really appreciate the well wishes and prayers that everyone is sending us!
I will post more tomorrow.

5 days until we leave!

Today was my last day of work until Jan. 5. It seems strange to be done since I only worked for three weeks. The time just flew by!! I will really miss the support that I have received from my friends at work.

We have a pretty busy 5 days ahead of us before we leave to pick up our son. Tomorrow our daughter graduates to her brown belt in karate. We then need to mow the lawn, finish packing, go to Target (of course!), get some groceries, do the laundry and pack the kids for a 10 day stay with Grandma and Grandpa. On Sunday we will be going to church and going out to lunch to celebrate my husband's birthday (he will turn 36 in Ethiopia) and then probably finishing whatever we did not get done on Saturday. On Monday I will be dropping our dog off at the groomers, dropping the kids off at school, going to the adoption agency to pick up some donations and our homestudy, looking at a daycare, eating lunch with my children at school, talking to my son's class about Ethiopia, meeting with our contractor about our bathroom remodeling project, picking the kids up from school, and dropping our dog off at my sisters where she will be staying until we return. On Tuesday we will be taking the kids out of school to spend the day together as a family since we will be apart for 10 days. On Wednesday, we will drop the kids off to school, finish any last packing/shopping and then head to the airport at 12:00. Our flight leaves at 3:15!

I attached pictures of TJ's nursery, the first day of school, and our bathroom remodeling project. I certainly hope our bathroom looks better when we return!!

I am going to try my hardest to post everyday until we return from our trip!

First week of school, Baby Shower, and Update

The kids had a great first week of school! They love their teachers and were so happy to see their friends. My first two weeks of school went pretty well. I am very busy trying to get everything ready for my leave. My sub will be working with me this week, so hopefully my students will have an easier transition while I am gone.

My sister and two of my friends threw me a baby shower on Sat. I was very overwhelmed, to say the least. My friends and family were very generous and I can't even begin to say how much it meant to me. I am very blessed to have such great people in my life!

We received an update yesterday on TJ. He is almost 14 pounds!!! He has been doing a great job of growing. In just 10 days we will be leaving to meet him. I am very excited and nervous. I have never been away from my two kids for so long and it will be very hard to leave them. I know they will be well taken care of but I will sure miss them!