Christmas

We had a great Christmas! It was a little bittersweet not getting to go home to KY and spend time with the whole family but we really enjoyed our first family Christmas. Liam was so excited when he woke up and there were presents under the tree, he was just excited about the boxes he didn't know there were toys inside them. It was really cute to watch him open the gifts and find out. We didn't go crazy and buy him a ton of stuff but he still got pretty spoiled I think :). I cooked my very 1st Christmas dinner, turned out pretty good     but I may have gone a little overboard for the 3 of us...I probably would not do it again while 37 weeks pregnant since I am still recovering from all the work but it was worth it. Liam and Josh spent the whole day playing with all Liam's new toys and watching Christmas movies, it was a really great day. I think the best part was that Josh had a 4 day weekend and got to spend some much needed time with our little man.
Liam has been with us for almost 3 months now. At Christmas last year we had just gotten home from meeting our little guy and were so ready to go pick him up and bring him home..what a long year, but I don't even think about the wait now, sometimes I forget he has only been home for 3 months. He has finally finished his Vitamin D supplements and has to have his blood draw sometime this week to make sure he is back up to where he should be. He is also ready for his 2nd round of shots (oh joy). He is also going to be starting a mother's day out program at one of the local churches one day a week, which I think will be good for both of us, he will get to play and learn with kids his own age and mommy will hopefully get some rest, and some time alone with Raegan. Its going to be another big year of change for him but he has handled everything so well I don't think we will have any issues other than some jealousy.
We are going through our can't let mama out of our sight faze right now, which seems to be getting better. I am not able to pet the dog without Liam crying or pushing the dog away and getting in my lap. He is very upset if we talk about the baby and I touch my belly...yesterday he laid across me so I could not touch the "baby" and would push Josh's hand away if he tried. Its cute now, but hopefully he gets over it pretty quick once the baby is here. I think he will be a really big helper, will love her, and will be a great big brother it just might take some time after being so used to getting all the attention for the past few months. I am very emotional right now anyway but I was trying to explain to him that he would be a big brother the other day and ended up in happy tears instead after thinking only 3 months ago he was an orphan living in a transition home with about 15 other children waiting for their forever families and now he has a mommy, a daddy, and is going to be a big brother! Isn't God Good! We are so blessed that we have had this opportunity, it was a hard decision to make, a long and emotional process, but look at our reward we have such an amazing happy baby boy! He is so full of personality and so full of love. I can't imagine life without him.
4 years ago tomorrow God gave me another amazing man! Josh and I will be celebrating our anniversary, I cannot believe it has been 4 years! There have never been 2 people so totally perfect for each other! I still remember our first few months together as we discussed how we would fold our towels so they would all be the same and the correct way to stack undershirts so they fit together perfectly hahaha true story! I am truly blessed with an amazing man, a man who loves God, loves his family, and loves his country.
Happy New Year!

37 weeks

Its hard to believe I am already at 37 weeks! January 14th is moving in fast and I am so very very ready! I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far other than the 1st trimester which wasn't as bad as others but it was still pretty rough. But this last month has not been very much fun at all, I am swollen, mostly my feet and my hands, I have carpal tunnel which my doctor said will go away but I seriously have not been able to feel my fingers in weeks....that is getting old. I am so uncomfortable, I am not sleeping very well since every position hurts after a while which means poor Josh isn't sleeping either. I'm short of breath, I can't breath through my nose, I am so thirsty, and I have to pee all the time. It is so beautiful :) BUT I am so thankful because it is so worth it and even though I complain sometimes I am so happy to get to experience this. I love to feel the baby move, it is so amazing how strong she is, I love that I can tell where she is laying because there is a big bulge sticking out of my belly. I had no idea I would enjoy being pregnant since I was so terrified when I found out we were pregnant.
I was afraid I would be a psycho pregnant woman, crying all the time, yelling at people for no reason, etc. etc. we have all known at least one :) but so far I have been pretty normal, maybe a little bit more blunt and a little short tempered but I really think I am keeping it under control...you may need to double check that with Josh and Liam hahaha. I am super happy that my belly button is still hanging "in" there for now, only 3 weeks to go will we make it??? We will see. :) So far thanks to my mama's awesome genes I haven't gotten any stretch marks, hoping to stay that way but we shall see.
Last Wednesday night I had contractions, every 20 minutes for 4 hours lucky me those were between the hours of 1:30 am and 5:30 am then they just stopped and I got to get about 2 hours of sleep before Liam woke up. I had a doctors appointment already for Thursday afternoon, he said that was pretty normal and that his wife had contractions every 20 minutes for a month, not really what I wanted to hear. I was hoping more for "ok lets have this baby"....but good to know its normal I guess. I haven't had any regular ones since then, I have had a few that were an hour apart but none that were consistent. I finally got my other ultrasound!!! Raegan is still a girl! She was still being difficult be he is pretty confident she is a she. Everything looks good, he said she looks a little chunky which is good for her, maybe not so much for me. I didn't get a picture, since she is so big it was a little hard to tell what we were looking at sometimes but I did get a pretty good look at her face, so exciting! I cannot wait to see her! Josh has been staying with Liam while I go to the Dr. so he missed it but its nice to actually get to focus on the doctor and not have to be watching Liam at the same time.
I am packed and ready to go, hopefully I will be able to go into labor on my own and will not have to be induced. This is the hardest part for me, having no control. My type A personality is really struggling with the inability to plan anything to do with when she will be born. I am a little nervous but I think I have just reached the point where I am ready to not be pregnant anymore and labor doesn't seem so bad after all.

only 1 month to go

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband! I have been sick all weekend and Josh has been so great taking care of Liam so I can get some rest. I love to listen to him and Liam it is so cute, Liam is always so happy to spend time with his daddy he gets so excited when Josh is home when he wakes up all he can do is laugh and squeal. They have so much fun together, Liam never stops talking :) so sweet to see Josh try to figure out what he is saying. This morning they are gone to church, Josh got him up, fed him breakfast, got him dressed, and left to teach my Sunday school class for me. It is crazy to think that Josh was supposed to be deployed this year and would have missed out on all of this, I am so thankful that they got taken off the list, I know eventually he will have to go somewhere again but this is such a big year it is so awesome that he got to spend it with us!
Miss Raegan will be here in 1 month!!!! We are so excited! She is moving like crazy and she has had the hiccups I think, its cute because Liam had them at the same time. My doctor said she is measuring a little small which is good since I have gestational diabetes and often that mean a big baby. The diabetes in under control, Dr. said it is just a lab diagnosis and I really don't have to do anything but limit my carbs and sugar intake. So most of my readings have been between 70 and 100 which is perfect! We are all set up for Raegan and after our newborn care class on Wed I guess we will be as ready as we can be. I am still pretty nervous about childbirth and bringing home our newborn but I am so excited to get to see her! I can't wait to see what/who she looks like. I am also very excited because my mama and my sister are coming to see us after she is born!
This is a very big year for our family! Most of you know: 10 years ago my dad was waiting on a kidney/pancreas transplant. He was a severe diabetic and was not doing well, we were pretty much having to sit back and watch him die. At this point he was no longer mobile, he was bedridden and barely able to lift his head from the pillow. We were praying he would make it until Christmas(what little faith we had). Sunday night, Dec. 22, 2002 our church joined hands and prayed for a miracle, we prayed for my dad to get his transplant. The NEXT morning, my mom comes running into my room in tears, I knew he had not made it through the night, but I was wrong!!! We got a kidney! and a pancreas! It was such a long surgery he came out on the 24th, we spent Christmas in the waiting room of ICU that that year, we had Christmas dinner in the UK cafeteria, and it was the greatest Christmas any of us had ever or probably will ever have. It has been 10 years, the pancreas has stopped working but which means he is back on insulin but his kidney is doing great! It makes me aware of how much we limit God's power, while we were praying daddy would live 3 days, God just waiting on us to ask for him to be healed. So often I am guilty of not wanting to ask God for too much when He is willing to give us what we need and more if we just have the faith to ask.

This will be the 1st Christmas that we have not been able to travel home at all. It is bittersweet because we won't get to see our family but we will be spending our first Christmas together as a family and we will be welcoming our baby girl in just a few weeks. On Dec. 31st Josh and I will be celebrating our 4 year anniversary!  January makes 1 year since we were stationed in TX, we love it here and have been so blessed with great friends and a great church. This has been a very crazy year! It has been a very amazing year totally worth it!!!

2 months already!

It is so crazy to think that we have already had Liam home for 2 months. At the same time it feels like he has always been here and I cant believe its only been 2 months not 2 years. He is such a perfect fit with our family, it is so funny to me that he is exactly like Josh in so many ways! I may have the only 2 year old who has to have a napkin on his high chair in order to eat because he cant stand the mess. :) We have had such a busy month it is hard to remember what all has happened.
Thanksgiving was great, we had a little meal at home as a family!!! Then we put up our Christmas tree and turned on our lights that Josh put up the weekend before. Liam loves the tree, he just keeps pointing at it and saying "tree"..."pretty" its really cute, but I don't think we will be putting any presents under the tree until it is time to open them this year.
We went to Santa's Wonderland, which is a little shopping area with a petting zoo, live music, and a hayride through the Christmas lights. We had such a great time, Liam really liked all the lights, he was so excited. He got to take his picture with Frosty but saw Santa in the bathroom and completely freaked out so I don't think we are going to get a Santa picture this year. They also had a snow machine which was really cool, all the kids were dancing and playing in the fake snow, Liam LOVED it!
We had our homestudy which went fine, she had no concerns and saw no issues. Liam did throw his stuffed animal and hit her in the head during the interview portion.....great.....he has never done that before. But we still got a good review even though that made it into the report....oh well.
He is learning so much, we go to music makers at a local church on Friday's where he learns songs, plays instruments, they have a parachute, and story time; it has really helped him pick up on English fast, he also learns some sign language it amazes me when he can say a word and sign it at the same time after just a couple of months. He loves to sing and knows a lot of the words to a lot of songs, of course he would never sing them in front of anyone but us so I have no proof :). We also go to story time at the library which is about the same thing but not as much fun. He is talking so much at home and will repeat just about anything that he hears, so last night Josh took him to batteries plus with him and the cashier apparently thought it was ok to curse in front of not just his customer but his 2 year old son...who oh yes picked right up on that word...thanks man! of course Josh corrected the cashier really quick but why would you do that!?!?! Anyway we are working on colors right now but blue is the only one we really down so far, he loves to look at books and the pictures are awesome at helping him learn, I had no idea there were so many great children's books.
We were at Wal-Mart this week and this older lady walks up to me and asks if he is mine, I say yes. She stares at me and then says "yes but are you his mother" I automatically answer "yes" then she stares some more, until I finally realize what she is asking. So because I think she meant no harm I explained that we had just adopted him from Ethiopia and now we are his parents. Then she asks if my husband is white...if we got to pick him out....etc. I don't think she meant to offend me in anyway but had she been any younger I would have probably told her it was none of her business but I went on and answered her questions and then she told me how beautiful Liam is and how lucky we were so I am glad I was nice...but really does it really matter what race my husband is and no we did not go pick out our son like a puppy from a pound. Wording is very important, next time try how does the adoption process work there instead. Anyway it was nice of her to tell me he is beautiful even if she followed it up with he looks nothing like you hahaha geee thanks. What a fun trip to Wally World.
It is getting harder and harder for me to play or do pretty much anything that involves bending or sitting on the floor. I am so very ready to have Raegan so I can actually play with them and not be out of breath and in pain...not much longer though! Liam can say Raegan and is getting pretty excited about all the baby stuff floating around the house now even though I am pretty sure he is going to be very upset when he learns that he has to share his Mommy. It will be sweet  to see how he reacts, he really likes babies but I have never held one in front of him either so we will have to wait and see. Thankfully we have found a great family for him to stay with while I am in the hospital so Josh will be able to stay with us, it is really hard when you live so far from family and it is still going to be hard to leave him even though I know he will be in great hands. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful church family and a wonderful military family! God knew exactly where we needed to be right now!

Gestational Diabetes

Week 31-32
I had my monthly doctors appointment last week where I found out that apparently I do have gestational diabetes. I am really disappointed I have never eaten many sweets but now I am really craving chocolate. Plus french fries have been my favorite food for the past few months and now I have to really watch how many carbs I eat. I am also pretty aggravated that no one from my doctor's office called me to tell me that I have diabetes and its been about 3 weeks since my test. My Dr. had even faxed in a prescription for me to get a glucometer and supplies but I had no idea they were there until last week. Somebody is really slacking. I was too mad to even say anything to the Dr. about it I was afraid I couldn't say it in a nice way.....But since I have to go back again this week I will probably mention the fact that the nurse really should have called me or sent me something in the mail....oh and she had still not called me back from a month ago when I had a question about Liam's medicine. Its very aggravating, I know she is busy, I have also worked for a Dr. and I know things can pile up but you still have to keep your patients informed about their healthcare especially something that can effect their unborn child! Ok vent over.
My 1st 3 days of checking my blood sugar have been up and down, day 1- it was perfect, day 2- it was sky high, day 3-kind of low....ugh this is stressful and all I really want is a chocolate shake....I go back to the Doctor on Wed. if my blood sugar looks good from this week I will just have to watch what I eat, if he thinks it is a little too high I will have to take medication, if it is way to high insulin is in my future. I don't think I will have any issues though, probably can control it with my diet.
I am doing good, Raegan is still growing, and seems to be measuring just right. I feel like I am doubling in size everyday now :) I have pretty much outgrown all of my T shirts now. Thank God for my wonderful husband who forces me to go buy clothes that will fit even though I think it is a waste of money to buy something I can only wear for 2  more months. I am a lot more comfortable now though that my shirts fit :) (Thanks Josh). I am having horrible back pain, drinking water like a fish and taking 2 Tylenol before bed is helping me to get some sleep. It is not too bad on the weekends since Josh is able to help with Liam and I don't have to do as much lifting or bending. I am so glad there are a lot of 4 day weekends between now and my due date.
Our childbirth classes are going good only 2 more to go. I am so glad we took them, I feel so relieved now that I actually know what is going to happen or supposed to happen. It really doesn't seem that bad after all....or so I think now. Josh is going to be a great support person, we are going to work on a way of communicating with everyone during the delivery that keeps him off the phone as much as possible, you may just have to wait until after she is here to get any updates because I am pretty sure I will kill him if he is on his phone the whole time :).
Liam is doing awesome, he is so much fun! I will have to write about him another day or this will turn into a book not a blog. Good news! We finally rented the condo in TN yay!!!10 months of 2 house payments has not been fun! Could have not come at a better time.

1 month in the US

Liam has been an American for 1 month! It is hard to believe, time has flown by. He is doing amazing! I cannot believe how quickly he has adjusted and how it seems as though he has always been here. He is amazing, I cannot explain how much happiness he has brought to our lives. He is 2 so of course we have our good days and our terrible two days :) but more good than bad. Josh has been home all week! Well he is working but he is in the same state and has been home every night. That has really helped, Liam loves his Daddy or "Dallie" as he calls him which is an improvement from "gaggy" hahaha. We have still not received his citizenship paperwork so I called and the lady I talked to said to call back if we hadn't gotten it in 45 days.....we were able to get a social security card though yay! We just have to take his citizenship paper to the Social Security office when we get it.

Liam did amazing with his shots, he didn't get sick, no fever, no soreness or at least he didn't act like he was sore. We went to the Halloween carnival at church where he was the cutest little bear and totally knew it. Wednesday night he went to his AWANA class all by himself, I have been going with him every Wed. but he seemed like he did fine, no one came and got us anyway. It was good for him and for me, I enjoyed actually getting to open my bible and hear the entire lesson for the first time in weeks. He also stayed with a babysitter on Monday and did great! Didn't even cry! We have a great sitter!

Veterans Day weekend is a 4 day weekend for Josh which is awesome since he has worked for the last 17 days straight and we have missed him. I am hoping to get some rest while they play! I am also going to use my birthday present from Josh finally and get my maternity massage!!!!!!So Excited about this!!! 

Jumping head first into being a parent of a 2 year old while 30 weeks pregnant is a little crazy! I am exhausted all of the time, thank God I am not having any complications with the pregnancy so far. I was dreaming when I though "oh while he is napping and sleeping I'll clean" yeah so while he is napping I am laying down! Its hard to get used to not having any energy and my belly is totally new, I keep bumping into stuff and bending down to pick stuff up and ooo I cant bend like that hahaha. Liam is so cute because he keeps rubbing my belly and saying "baby" I don't think he actually knows there is a baby in there but its sweet. God knew what He was doing after all (of course) there is no way I could have chased him and kept up during my 1st trimester when everything made me sick, 2nd was defiantly the best time to travel, and now 3rd I have my little guy to pick stuff up that I drop, which is pretty much everything I touch :) he is such a helper. God is so good! Why is it so hard to trust Him and wait on Him when His plan is always perfect!?!?! We have been so blessed, Liam is such a little miracle! And of course Raegan is too! Only 10 more weeks until we get to meet her,

We started our prepared childbirth classes on Monday, that's kind of scary....But I am glad we signed up since I have no idea what I am doing and I am so far from family I think its a good idea to be prepared. Plus I am one of those people who wants to know everything about the situation so I can have at least a plan ABC and a possible D. I cant help myself....We also did our baby registry today at Target, why are there so many different types of bottles??? Really? which ones are you supposed to use? I just scanned them all I figure someone will know what I need :( Josh said I was way too stressed after we got finished, but holy cow I didn't really realize how much stuff we needed. I think we will have to get a bigger house! Just kidding (kind of) good thing the Army will move us in a couple of years. 

I know this is kind of a mixture of both I have been trying to keep them separate but like I said I'm exhausted and this pregnancy brain is kill me...I can't seem to keep my thoughts organized so I hope it all made sense :) 

3 hour glucose test & shots

Today I had my wonderful 3 hour glucose test. I had a fasting blood sugar of 89 with is perfect. I had to drink the Glucola (yuck) but it didn't make me sick again yay! I passed first hour, failed the second, and passed the 3rd by 1 point. Sooo now my doctor has to review my results and let me know what to do. I think I am fine since I passed 2 out of 3.

Liam had 6 shots, bless his heart he is so behind so he will have to go back every 2 months for the next 6 months to get caught up. He screamed and cried but as soon as we got to pick him up off the table he was fine. He seems to be doing ok, no fever yet and he hasn't been complaining about his legs so hopefully he will do fine with them. Josh was able to go with me and bring him back home after his shots while I stayed for my test, that was such a great help, I would have hated to keep him there for 3 long hours after he had shots. His blood work all came back good, except he has vitamin D deficiency which is common in African children, so now he has to take vit. D everyday and have his levels rechecking in 6 weeks. He has been doing good about taking the vitamins after I figured out how to sneak them into his food :) I am really surprised they gave him a gel capsule that he has to swallow....but we've got this thanks to a ton of support and suggestions from our friends and family!
Tonight is our Halloween carnival at church, Liam is going to be a bear! I am so excited to see him in his costume! I hope he feels up to going. I think he will have a good time. He is Mr. Social, looks like this mama wont be doing anymore blending in for awhile since we have to say hello to everyone we meet hahaha I am glad he wont be shy though!

1st "normal" week

Liam and I have adjusted into a pretty good routine. We have stayed pretty busy this week, it amazes me how little time is in the day when you have to work around potty breaks, lunch, nap time, dinner time, bath time, and bed time. I used to worry that we would not have anything to do during the day but now I wonder where all the time goes. We have so much fun! Liam is such a blast he has the best personality, he is always making me laugh. He is super cute and he knows it.
We heard back from the health department about his shots and because they don't match up just right we are going to have to start all over to make sure he gets what he needs. Poor baby, we are going to go Wednesday to start them...poor mommy :(
We went to the park on Tuesday, he loved it! I don't think he has ever been to a park other than the slide that we went down while we were in Ethiopia. He had such a good time going down the slides and watching the other kids play, he wasn't ready to play with the other kids yet but I think he liked being around them. He always has a good time at church where he gets to play with the other kids, he is so social, I guess that comes from being around so many little kids his whole life. Today we went to music makers with some friends from church and he really loved that! They had music, marched with tambourines  played with a parachute, had story time, and got to play with puppets he was so happy. I am so glad that we have an opportunity to be around others so much, I think it is really good for him. I was afraid he might get lonely after always have 10 or more kids to play with, I think he really enjoys being the only child, the center of attention...but he is always happy to be around others his age. We are very lucky that he has adjusted so well.
Bedtime and nap time are getting easier, we have found it works better if we just lay him down and walk out of the room. When he is completely asleep and you lay him down he cries and cries but when he is sleepy he just lays there. At nap time he usually cries for about 10 minutes before he is out which is actually a lot faster than when we try to rock him to sleep or keep going back in and picking him up. Bedtime we lay him down and then just sit in there for a few minutes and he goes right to sleep normally with no tears. It is a lot less stressful now that we kind of have a plan and a routine, I think we are all handling it better.

I had my 1 hour glucose test on Wednesday, which I failed boo! I had to drink the super sweet drink tasted like a flat extra sweet orange soda yuck! But this time I did not even feel sick so that's good I was really dreading having to drink it. I needed a blood sugar of 140 or lower and I think mine was 171....so on Wednesday I am going back for the long test, I think it is 3 hours. I cant eat after 8 pm and have to be there at 8:30am to do a fasting blood sugar, then I get to drink another awesome orange drink (yay) and then have my blood sugar checked every hour for 3 hours. We are just going to take Liam to get his shots after my fasting blood sugar since I will have an hour to kill and we go to the same doctor. Then Josh is going to take him back home while I hang out at the doctors office for a few hours what an exciting day....Josh is going to take a half day so he can watch Liam because no way I can keep him entertained for 3 hours in a doctors office and he is just not ready to stay with anyone else just yet. I really hope that I will do okay drinking the drink this time since it will be on an empty stomach, I really hope I wont get sick again.
Raegan is doing great, she is moving like crazy now! My belly is moving with her it is such an amazing sight. I think its funny when Liam is laying his head on my belly and she is kicking him in the head, I wonder what he thinks is going on. I don't think we have actually gotten him to understand that there is a baby in there but he can look at a picture of a baby and say baby then rub my belly and say baby, not sure if he is putting 2 and 2 together though.

1st (2nd) birthday party

Today we celebrated Liam's 2nd birthday, it is on Thursday but since Josh will be going out of town we decided to celebrate today. It was very small and very simple we didn't want to overwhelm him since he has already been through a lot in the past few weeks. A friend came over with her 2 kids and we had a cake. It was really fun to see him open his gift and play with the other kids, I know he loved getting to be around others his age. Plus he LOVED the cake.
After his party we went to the pumpkin patch and got our pumpkins, we had a blast, there was a petting zoo....well a goat, Liam actually wanted to pet it! Finally an animal he isn't afraid of! He thought the cute little pumpkins were balls so every time he saw one he picked it up and threw it so we didn't get any great pictures of his with his pumpkin this year. :) He is such a bundle of joy, always smiling and waving to everyone I love it! It just amazes me how he can be so happy after all he has already endured. We are so blessed!

Finally Home

We got home on Monday night, Oct. 15th. The flight home was actually more stressful than the long flight from Ethiopia since our boy was tired and cranky! But he did pretty well, all the passengers bragged on what a great baby he was....they must have been sitting pretty far away from us but it was nice to hear. We were so super tired after traveling all day but were surprised at the airport by my FRG girls!!! How sweet! A great big thank you to Greg and Whitney from church for taking such good care of Sam for 2 weeks, dropping us off and picking us up at the airport. It was so nice not to have to worry about anything while we were gone.
Liam is doing amazing! So much has happened I don't want to forget anything but I am sure I will, the pregnancy brain is not helping :). He absolutely loves taking a bath now, he is always so excited for bath time so he can play with his toys. He never wants to get out of the tub. He is also doing awesome using the potty woohoo we are so lucky! We have so much fun, he is so full of energy and has such a great personality. He always wakes up with a huge smile on his face which makes it a lot easier to climb out of bed.
Wednesday night we went to church, he had a blast with the kids. As usual he loved all the attention. We are so lucky to have found our church here so quickly. They baked him a welcome home cake and gave us a bag of gift cards! What a great gift! We had no idea how much stuff we needed until we got home. We have already put some of them to good use.
Today was mine and Liam's doctor's appointment. I am doing great, right on track. Raegan is at 27 weeks and can survive on her own if she is born, after next week we will be able to stay in Bryan if she is born and not have to be transferred to another area. Big milestones! I have not been having any more swelling and the leg cramps are much less severe and are not happening every night thank God!
The doctor seemed to think Liam was doing great, he has no issues adjusting to us or to the USA. He is right on track as far as developing goes for a 2 year old. He has to have a lot of shots but they are going to call the health department first with his shot record to see what they recommend he gets since some of the shots are different here. We will do those once the nurse call us to tell us what we need. He had a lot of blood work done, the lab techs could not find a vein and he hated being held down while they looked so they sent us to the hospital which is next door. He was asleep when we got there and only woke up when we took off his shoe to find a vein in his foot to use, he whimpered a little when the needle went in but never cried or fought, he did such a great job!!
He has met so many new people and been so many new places I am so impressed with how well he is handling everything. I don't think I would be handling the situation as well as he is. He is just the light of our lives! I didn't realize there was such a big hole in our hearts until he filled it. I can't imagine life without him. It is like he has always been with us. It is just amazing how God picked the perfect baby for us, he is so much like both of us in so many ways.
Sam is not adjusting to Liam as well as Liam is to Sam. Liam loves Sam, he chases him all over the house and the yard it is so cute! Sam however hides under the table or my legs to attempt to escape the little screaming monster that is after him. Poor Sam.
We have moved on from going right to sleep when it is nap time and bed time. These are now the most hated hours of the day, full of screaming and fighting and crying.....lets pray this will pass soon. The doctor pretty much said we weren't facing anything that other parents haven't faced (which I guess is a good thing) and that we would figure out a way to handle it. He also hates riding in the car....he doesn't understand why that when he drops something we can't just pick it up. Plus he does not like being tied down.
Overall it has been a really great week, we are so happy to  finally be home. Josh has to be gone for a few days next week so that might be a little tough on us but we will survive! And hopefully I will even get to shower :)

Our first week

I'm playing catch up, we have been super busy since we have been home, haven't had a lot of time to write.
Our Last Day In Ethiopia - Sat. Oct 6
On our last day we were able to drive around the city and see some of the outskirts. It is such a beautiful country, the mountains are gorgeous and the overlooks are even more gorgeous. The area that we drove to is were the "poor" live, the women in this area get up every morning and walk about 2 miles up a mountain to the forest, there they cut branches, vines, etc. then carry the huge 100-150 pound bundles on their back, back to there home where the sell them in the market. I have pictures but I will post them later. There is also a well on the top of the mountain so there were lots of children and women carrying the huge jugs of water on there backs back to their homes. This was such an eye opening trip, I am so glad that we were able to see some of the areas outside of the city on this trip.
We arrived at the airport around 4pm even though our flight didn't leave until 10pm because there is really only so much you can do in Ethiopia....it was good though, we ate supper and Liam and Josh played for a couple of hours before we boarded the plane so he was worn down enough to go right to sleep. Our flight ended up coming in almost an hour late, then we had to sit on the plane for almost an hour before we took off. We flew 6 hours to Rome to get fuel, which was supposed to take an hour but there was an electrical issue and it took 3.5 hours (we did not get off the plane) this made our total time on the airplane about 21 hours :( Liam did awesome, he slept most of the time, played, sang, flirted with all the women around us, but never cried! He is a champ! Josh and I however were ready to get off the plane!!! I had a little more trouble with the flight home, my legs and ankles were swollen, my knee cramped, plus the wonderful charlie horses that woke me up, I was completely exhausted, since we were 7 hours ahead in Ethiopia, I had been up for almost 48 hours before we finally got to check into a hotel. We of course missed our connecting flight, were put on standby, then sent to from Dulles to Ragen Airport in DC only to miss that flight because they sent us too late, but we were finally put up in a hotel where Liam and I went to sleep as soon as we walked in the room. It was a very rough trip but we finally made it to KY Monday afternoon.
Week in KY
I am so glad that we decided to stay with my parents for a week before we headed back to TX. Liam loved all the attention and had such a great time. He adjusted so quickly we woke up at 3:30 on Monday but after that he was pretty much on schedule to get up sometime between 6:30-7:30 which was awesome. It really helped me and Josh to adjust having my parents there to play with him while we got to sit down and relax a bit, especially me. We also managed to pass a cold around to all 3 of us that week, but we are all better now. Liam has done so great, he has hardly cried at all, only when it is time to sleep which he HATES but there has just been so much going on he has wanted to stay awake so he wouldn't miss anything.
He is scared of the dogs, even Melanie's Yorkie, and the chickens, and cats....I am sure it is all new to him. By the time we left we was petting Molly the Lab but only if she was asleep :) We got to see some friends with kids his age while we were there, Liam really loved it, he was shy at first but he played his heart out after he got warmed up. I am so glad he has not had any trouble adjusting or bonding, there is definitely nothing wrong with his personality. He is always laughing, smiling, winking, hugging, and now waving.
A lot of people have asked about his clothes from the baby shower, most of them still fit yay! He is in 18 month clothes now but some of the 12 month stuff still fits.

Farewell Ceremony

Today we went to the transition home for Liam to play with his friends for a little while. Just Liam and I went, Josh we think may have food poisoning from some fish he ate yesterday he is feeling better now though a little. Liam loved getting to see all of the kids and his nannies. He is so spoiled, he is always sitting with or on somebody. He has not said anything since we have had him but today he was talking up a storm. One of the little girls touched his shoes and he said "don't touch my shoes" of course someone translated for me but I thought that was pretty funny. He did not want to leave today, he cried and pulled away, our driver had to carry him out, he wouldn't go with me. It is a lot of change for him and he has been a trooper so far, he stopped crying before we got outside the fence to the car so it wasn't too bad, but it was hard for me.
This afternoon there was a goodbye ceremony, we didn't really know what to expect but it was way more than I could have ever dreamed of. The workers from the transition home provided us each with a gift of traditional Ethiopian clothes; I got a dress, necklace, earrings and a bracelet; Josh got a shirt and a bracelet, and Liam got a pair of pants and a shirt with a bracelet. We all got changed into our new clothes and had a traditional Ethiopian meal, afterwards our driver (Girma) had told everyone that it is my birthday so they had the best cake I have ever eaten. I have no idea what it was but it was layered with cream icing and tasted like it had been soaked in cream every bite had a squirt of milk in it. Oh man I may have to come back here next year for more cake :). There is more, we also had another coffee ceremony then took a ton of pictures. This has been the best birthday ever! The director and our driver took turns recording the entire day, which means there are a lot of close ups to me eating....but they also went to each worker and asked them their name so Liam will have this forever, I am so excited that we will be able to show it to him one day (all 2 hours of it).
It was another struggle to leave but once again once outside the gate he was okay, he cried a little when we drove away but just for a minute. He is not much of a crier, only a couple of tears and he is over it. It is a lot for a little guy to understand. He is so happy, playful, and smiling as long as we are in our room but once out in public he tries to pretend he doesn't know us hahaha thought we had a few years before we got to that point.
He is a crazy sleeper, he is all over the crib, today he took a nap on his knees cross ways  the crib....that's not how we put him in there. Last night he woke us up talking in his sleep which is pretty stinking cute since he wont talk to us any other time. Too bad we don't know what he is saying.

Embassy Appointment

Today was our second day of parenthood! We are loving every second of it. Liam is such a sweet boy, he has only cried once and that was only for about 1 minute. He is an awesome napper and sleeper, all we have to do is lay him in his crib and he is out like a light. It is precious! We brought him back to our hotel yesterday around noon, had lunch, he took his nap, we played in the room all day then had supper, a bath, and in bed by 8. The bath was an experience, I am pretty sure he has never been in a tub before, it took a lot of convincing to get him to sit down, finally with some assistance he gave it a try...but getting him to stand back up was another thing all together :) he was ok with the bath but you could tell he thought we were crazy people trying to freeze him to death hahaha.
Today we had our embassy appointment at 9 am, it was an in and out kind of thing. We were outta there by 9:30. All we had to do was sign his visa form, our agency will pick up his visa on Friday and we can be on our way back to the US on Saturday, once his paperwork is scanned in by the immigration official in the airport he will be a US citizen! We spent most of the day in the hotel again today, I took a long much needed nap while Josh and Liam played. Tonight we went to the mall to buy a jacket for our little man since I left his at home and believe it or not it is pretty chilly here in Africa! It may have something to do with that wonder 90-100 degree weather we are used to but I pretty much wear my jacket all of the time. We ate supper at a cafe, Liam loves to eat, I think he may be over eating just a bit so we are trying to slow him down and at least get him to chew most of his bites, he had chicken nuggets and fries and loved them! We had american pizza and hated it .....oh well.
We have tons of pictures, but for some reason none of us all together. We will work on that tomorrow. I will post them when I get home, right now I am stealing the computer from Josh and his homework.

I am blown away by the way of life here, it is so hard for me to ride down the street and see all the hunger and illness. Every time the car is stopped which is quite a bit there are homeless people mainly women and children holding their hands out to your car window. I wish there was away to feed them all, I keep thinking, whatever you do to the least of these you do to me...but how can you help so many? The nights are so cold and the bridges are lined with people sleeping wrapped in only a tarp or a blanket, women, children, babies, cripples, we are so truly blessed in America to have to many opportunities to help those who are homeless and hungry, these people have no opportunity. There is no welfare check or hud housing, no food stamp card, not nearly enough shelters, it is really hard to explain the pain in their dim eyes. It makes me feel so guilty that I am going home to my full refrigerator and pantry, with my soft comfy bed, and throw away half of what I cook or order when so many have not had a full meal in days or maybe ever. What can we do to change the world? As Christians we are called to care for the poor and the hurting but what do we really do? Look at these people, read these words, hear about it on the news, and say how sad and then go on with our lives like nothing is happening. I am very convicted about this because that is sadly my typically way of thinking...wish there was something I could do, and moving on while doing nothing. I know I am ranting but I really believe there is more I can do, that we all can do.

Made it

We arrived safe and sound in Addis Abba this morning at 7 am. Which is 1 am EST 12 am CST. After taking advice from other adoptive parents we met on the way and our adoption agency we decided to go and see Liam today but not to bring him back to the hotel with us since we have not really had any sleep and he is still adjusting to us. So today we went and fed him lunch, played a little, he fell fast asleep for his nap, we got to experience an Ethiopian coffee ceremony which was pretty neat and delicious! Plus the coffee was much needed! Now we are back in our hotel room which has wifi yes! We have had a nap and a shower and are ready for tomorrow to get here so we can go and spend more time with our little man and bring him back to our hotel! Before we leave the agency is going to do some type of small ceremony for us after we receive his Visa. 

The kiddos were not very happy today, they all cried as soon as we walked in the gate the nurse said they always do that now since they are used to their friends leaving when people come....that was hard but they didn't cry long. Liam took some time warming up to us today, he never really smiled or seemed comfortable which is to be expected since I am sure he has no clue who we are. But I think he was also very sleepy since he was falling asleep eating his rice and then was fast asleep in about 10 minutes after lunch. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. 

We got to see photos of his birth mother, the first thing I said was "wow, she is really young" she is around 16 years old, in there village it is unacceptable and a great dishonor to be a mother at such a young age and and even greater dishonor to be an unwed mother. In the picture was his mother, a very beautiful young girl, her father, who is a very tall man, and her younger sister. Her father apparently was very embarrassed to have a grandchild without his daughter being married and being that it is such a great dishonor he was the one to decided that Liam would be put up for adoption. This breaks my heart, I had always imagined a young mother who was just not able to care for her child and had no other option....I have a really hard time understanding the culture in that area where it is better to give a child us than to be dishonored by your village. I am very thankful that we will have the opportunity to give Liam so much love, a family, a church, a group of friends, that love him so much already and have never even had the chance to meet him. We are so blessed! 

He looks great! He has a chubby little tummy and the cutest bottom lip that he already know how to use to melt his mama's heart. He is a big eater :) but doesn't complain when the bowl is empty. He even had on shoes today, they were a little big and on the wrong feet but yay he was wearing shoes thank goodness because it is a little chilly, I have been wearing a jacket. The transition home looks like a totally new place under the new management. The kids really seem to be doing great and they are so loved by all of the workers, these caregivers are truly a gift from God, they treat each child as if they were the only child in the whole place, everyone is known by name and hugged and kiss, I know this is not just a front because Liam knows how to give "lots of love" (kisses).

We had a good flight, I did not have any issues, I did not sleep since I had to walk every hour by the time I got back to my seat and settled in I was afraid I would miss my next walk and ended up taking about 5, 10 minute naps. I also wore a ThermaCare heat wrap for my back which has to be the greatest invention of all time! 13 hour flight with 0 back pain it was wonderful. We ended up and the same row with another man from KY, thought that was kinda funny with hundreds of people on board from all over the world and all the KY people sit together.

Sorry for such a long post, just wanted to update you since I am not sure how often I will be able to. Today is Monday at 6:12pm in Ethiopia hopefully this will post on time this time :) Thanks for the prayers! 

1 more day

I cannot believe we are really going to Ethiopia and we are really going to bring Liam home! It has been a rough journey with so many ups and downs I keep expecting someone to tell us we cant go yet. But they aren't going to! We are all packed and ready to go, well I am, Josh needs to get moving hahaha but he is pretty much a professional packer so I am not worried. I look like a hoarder with all the food I have packed :) but I am not going to be sick this trip! God is so Good, we are so blessed I am so thankful that we have this opportunity and that He has worked out all of the kinks.
We are leaving College Station tomorrow (Sat.) afternoon, we have an overnight layover in DC which is nice since we will get to sleep in a hotel and not on the plane. Then we will leave early Sunday morning for Addis Abba, Ethiopia. This is a pretty big city, there are so many people everywhere; walking, driving, begging in the streets, it is overwhelming. There are not really any traffic laws or I couldn't tell if there were, everyone is driving however they want the intersections are CRAZY with everybody turning their own way its a little or a lot scary. The air is so polluted it is hard to breath, its dust and car exhaust. There is also no trash system so there are just piles of garbage on the sides of the road and sidewalk. The people are beautiful! They are all so friendly and helpful. The lifestyle there is so laid back its like stepping back in time from the hustle and bustle of America. At night it gets cold, I froze last time, we didn't have AC in our hotel so we slept with the small windows open, the first night only, big mistake! I think the hotel we are staying at this time is a lot nicer so I hope I wont freeze (Josh loved it). There are hyenas and/or wild dogs that bark all night long, it sounds like hundreds of them, I never saw them but they bark from dusk till dawn. The prayer is played over the loud speaker for the Muslims to pray so early in the morning, this was something I was not used to at all, again Josh didn't notice, I guess he had had a chance or 2 to hear it before. So pretty much the dogs keep you awake and the prayer wakes you up, ear plugs may be a great idea.
We had some issues getting in touch with our agency in Ethiopia on our last visit since the phone networks were down, which caused us to not be able to see Liam on our 1st day, we also didn't have a driver so we couldn't leave the hotel. I have sent out itinerary to them this time and made sure they know where we are staying and when we will be ready to be picked up so hopefully there will be no issues with this trip. Our hotel is supposed to have wifi this time woohoo so I hope to be able to update our blog while we are there but last time it took 3 days for the post to actually post so don't worry if you don't hear anything from us. We will be in back in the US on Sunday Oct. 7, we are supposed to arrive in Lexington at 3:45 if anyone wants to meet us at the airport that will be fine just keep in mind we are leaving Ethiopia at 10pm on Sunday and traveling for 26 hours since Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead, so we might look a little rough :) We will be back in College Station at 9pm Sunday Oct. 15th, again feel free to meet us at the airport if you want to we may look a little more refreshed on that trip.
Big thank you to our church for all of there prayers and support! Thank you for the ride to and from the airport and for watching Sam while we are gone! And to everyone else for your prayers and support! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel.

embassy appointment

Our embassy appointment is on Oct. 3rd, the day before my birthday! Happy Birthday! This is a 15 minute appointment that will just be to ask us a few questions to make sure everything that we have done has been legal. After the appointment we will go back the next day to pick up Liam's visa and his envelope with all of his immigration documents in it. We are going to leave on Saturday morning and be back in KY on Sunday.
We have no had a lot of time to plan anything for when we get to KY. Anyone who would like to meet Liam feel free to let us know when and we will try to see you, we will be staying with my parents in Lancaster from Sunday Oct. 7 - Monday Oct. 15. Saturday and Sunday may be crazy but we would really like to see everyone. I don't think we will be driving to Louisville since the long flight and culture change will be hard on Liam and us too so we will want to give everyone time to adjust a little.
We leave on Sat. and will be flying from DC to Ethiopia on a 13 hour flight woohoo! We have a couple of lay overs on the way home but nothing too bad. Be back in TX on Oct. 15th. We will try to see everyone here as soon as possible.
Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and too and from. And that everything will go okay with the Embassy.

God is Good

After months of waiting, we finally got the call yesterday morning that we have been cleared by the US Embassy and can go pick up our boy! We had to submit 3 dates that we would be willing to travel, each on appointment is on a Thursday. We are hoping to go the first week in October. They sent an email today to remind us that Josh's finger prints that are on file with immigration expire on Oct. 6.....so hopefully we will be going before then. We should find out tonight or tomorrow morning when our appointment will be. We are planning to leave on Saturday if all goes as planned.
It is hard to believe that it is finally happening. We have waited for so long and now the time is finally here but it seems more like a dream or that it is happening to other people and we are just watching. We have been packed for months now, I unpacked and repacked Liam's clothes with ones that will fit him last week. Now all we have to do is pack our bags and book the flight.
I am really nervous about traveling pregnant. I am very uncomfortable even sitting on the couch, I have been having a lot of back pain and round ligament pain. I dread the plane ride. But it will be totally worth it. I have a doctors appointment before we leave, so maybe he can suggest something for easier travel. I have to walk every 30 minutes to an hour while on the flight so I wont be getting much sleep, I am afraid I will fall asleep and miss my walk and end up with a blood clot....yes I know I worry too much. I was so so so sick the last time we were there I don't know if it was jet lag, the food, or maybe the shots I had 2 weeks before, but I am praying I will be able to eat this trip. We are planning to stay in a more Americanized hotel that is newer, the guest house we stayed at last time was ok, the people we super nice but we didn't have running water or electricity the last day we were there and it smelled super bad. Didn't really help my nausea and vomiting.

I had my 1 hour glucose test this morning. I managed to drink the awful drink and keep it down for 45 minutes but for the first time in my pregnancy I threw up blah! 15 minutes too soon now I have to go back tomorrow or one day this week to try again. I am so aggravated with myself. The tech told me to walk and drink water, I think that really made everything worse, I should have just gone to the car and laid down. But I got to bring the drink home with me so I can just drink it and drive up there after my hour is up. :(

anxiety

One more week until the birth mother interview! I am so anxious, I feel like time is standing still. I have been trying to stay busy but there is only so much you can do when you are not working.I really hope everything will go okay and we will hear good news by Tuesday. The rainy season should be coming to an end so there shouldn't be any issues with travel, the embassy verified they have an appointment so there should be no issues there, now just getting the orphanage to get the mother there....will there be an issue...nope, hope not anyway!
I am a little nervous about the fact that there have been so many riots in Africa so close to Ethiopia. We have a different circumstance than many adoptive families since Josh is technically property of the US Army he has to have permission to travel to different countries. I really hope things settle down because if it gets any worse I am afraid he will not be allowed to go....That would not be the end of the road though because they do offer an escort service to fly back to the US with our child but it would be really disappointing if neither of us could go. And of course I will not be going alone right now.
Praying that all the craziness will settle down and that we will get good news next week.

The baby is doing good, she is moving around like crazy! Those little nudges have turned into big kicks, she is finally letting Josh feel her kick. Such a show off already :) I am 23 weeks pregnant! Only 17 weeks to go WOW that went by fast!!! I am feeling pretty huge right about now, just going to get bigger. I feel great though other than the fact that have a really hard time getting comfortable to sleep so I am very tired most of the time. I am going to go preregister for labor and delivery sometime in the next couple of weeks and sign up for our classes. I love classes!!! Thank goodness for classes, otherwise I would have no idea what I am doing. Just kind of hits me every now and then that we are going to be bringing this tiny little person home with us, just us, scary! I always thought it was the labor I was afraid of but I realized it is what come afterwards since I have no idea what I am doing! Times two since we wont have Liam home for long before the baby gets here. I don't think I have spent more than 2 hours with a newborn baby ever and only about 30 minutes alone with one and that was in the hospital so it doesn't really count......so yeah I am pretty nervous.

more waiting

This has been a hard week for me, we were so excited to hear some good news from Ethiopia on Monday but we heard nothing. Tuesday I sent an email to Hope Ethiopia (the agency in Ethiopia where Liam is living) to ask if his birth mother was able to make it to the interview and how he is doing. The response: "Tamirat (Liam) is doing great! The birth mother interview is scheduled for Sept. 19." no explanation, no sorry we didn't tell you anything ever.....I am getting more and more frustrated everyday, I know my crazy hormones have something to do with this but it is killing me not know what is going to happen. It has been one horrible waiting game all year. Now it is even harder because the 19th puts me at 23 weeks in my pregnancy, I am getting closer and closer to my third trimester which should be an exciting thing but for me it is closer and closer to not being able to travel to get my son. I will have to ask my doctor next week how long I will be able to travel and of course when flying internationally there are more strict guidelines for pregnant women so I will have to get their approval also once I am so many weeks along, not sure about their time frame yet. Plus I also really do not want to deliver my baby on an airplane or in an Ethiopian hospital :) I think everyone can understand that. I have just been feeling pretty down this week and wish I didn't have to talk about it sometimes but I know everyone is anxious to hear the "good" news when we finally get it.
Today I got an email from another lady who is also adopting and was in Ethiopia for court while we were. She has also been through the waiting game with us, she had spoke to the US Embassy via email and they told her that Hope Ethiopia had NEVER contacted them to set up an interview for the birth mother. Why then did they tell us we had one on Monday and why did they tell me there is one on the 19th??? I have no idea what is going on and neither does our agent here in the US. We also sent an email to the Embassy to see if we actually have an interview scheduled for 9/19 we wont hear back until probably Tuesday or Wednesday because of Labor Day. I really hope it is positive news.

Miss Raegan is doing great though, she is moving more and more everyday! It is so exciting! She refuses to move for Josh :) she will be kicking like crazy and he touches my belly then nothing.....he moves his hand she kicks some more hahaha. Its too cute but I think he is a little disappointed. I have an appointment next week and hopefully we will be able to confirm that Raegan is in fact a girl since she was being a little difficult last time.
I am blown away by how blessed we have been this year and how much has happened! God is so good and I know that everything works to the good for those who love the Lord! We just have to be patient and wait on His timing not our own. Sorry this was so long, I just need to vent sometimes. We still have NO regrets other than possibly our choice of agencies, but I feel God led us to this agency for this child, he will fit in perfectly in our crazy little family.

Please keep our friends the Vance family in your prayers, this week they lost their newborn daughter. I cannot even imagine what they are going through right now but I am sure they could use all the prayer they can get.

It's a GIRL

We had our ultrasound today! We had 3 doctors to do our ultrasound 2 residents and my doctor it was a very crowded room! The big screen was broken so we only got to see the baby on the tiny little portable machine which cant print pictures so we will have to take a usb drive to save them on next time. I was kind of disappointed but it was so exciting to see the baby that the disappointment didn't last long.
Everything was right on track! She looks like a very healthy baby! Still have the due date of Jan. 15th. She had her elbows up and her legs crossed hiding her hands and her feet and making if very difficult for the resident doc to figure out the gender, but our doctor took over and nudged her a little so he was able to tell the she's a girl :) but he said he is only 80% sure and we will do another portable ultrasound next month just to make sure (for free). We love our doctor! He is so nice and I think he is almost as excited as we are :)

We also heard yesterday that Hope Ethiopia the agency in Ethiopia has found the Liam's birth mother and has a interview planned with the embassy on Monday the 27th, hopefully they will get her there and we will pass! If everything goes as planned I think we should find out sometime next week when we will be going to get our little man. YAY!! Everything is falling together nicely finally!

boy or girl

Tomorrow is the BIG day for baby Wise! We get to find out the gender. I can't sleep, I am so excited! People are pretty evenly divided on what they believe we are having, I seem to be the only one with no clue.
I am carrying low-boy
I was sick as a dog-girl
The pencil swung across my arm- girl
Sweet cravings- girl
Sour cravings- boy (I have both)
no acne- boy
I love the way we justify things to make them say what we want! But tomorrow we will hopefully know for sure. We are having more luck on the names now since I really want to have a name when we find out we have been thinking hard (poor Josh). So here we go:

Girl: Raegan Alexa
Boy: Jasper Levi or Levi Jasper

exhaustion

Whew I seriously think I have over done it in the past couple of weeks. Whenever Josh is gone I try to stay busy and I usually do but its a lot different now that I'm carrying this little one around with me. I drove to KY the week before last for the unexpected death of my uncle, its about a 17 hour drive = no fun ever and especially not when you have to stop every couple of hours. The week was so busy with the visitation and the funeral. I also took my dad to Lexington to the wound care clinic so they can hopefully do something about the ulcers on his foot that keep getting worse even though he has been going to wound care weekly since May. By the end of the week I was exhausted! Got home on Monday night, went to the doctor on Thursday, flew to San Diego, CA on Fri. I was in CA for 3 days for Family Readiness Training (FRG) which is a group of soldiers, families, friends, and other volunteers that help put on events for the soldiers and work to keep their families informed and up to date on resources. It was a great training, I learned a lot, met a lot of great women, and got to enjoy beautiful San Diego. I got home late Sunday night and have been feeling a little under the weather ever since, I think I have just pushed myself a little to hard. I cannot do what I used to do and I am having a hard time accepting that.
The baby is just moving around like crazy! I love the feeling! I can sometimes feel a little nudge too it is so awesome. On Tuesday the 21st we get to have another ultrasound and find out the gender! I have been feeling pretty nauseous this week, I hope its only because I'm exhausted and it will go away again when I finally get rested up. Until then Zofran is my best friend again.....
Still no news on Liam, I am getting so anxious again I cannot wait to get that email from the embassy telling us we passed and we can go get our son! He is getting so big and we are missing so much. I am just glad that we know he has a great team of caregivers taking care of him. My Dr still says I am okay to travel and that the 2nd trimester is the greatest time to travel, but I have to walk every 30 minutes to an hour on the plane ride...awesome.
I have another funny embarrassing story: Last night Sam and I went for a walk, I always go out through the garage door and use the key pad to close it behind me and then to get back in the house that way my house is locked and I don't have to carry a key. Yeah so when we got back from our walk it was dark and the battery on the key pad died. So I was locked out. I thankfully have roadside assistance on my car and my insurance will cover to have my car unlocked. That way I could use the garage door opener in my car to get back into the house. When I called USAA the rep I talked to laughed and laughed and laughed at me. Yes it was funny but not at the time.  Finally by 10 pop a lock came and unlocked my car which set off my alarm so any neighbor who didn't notice me locked out before definitively knows now hahaha. Never a dull moment here. I can laugh now, but at the time it wasn't so funny :)

week 17 dr. appt

Went to my 17 week doctors appointment today. Got to hear the babe's heartbeat again. Such an amazing sound, I am nervous for every appointment but as soon as I hear it I am fine. The doctor said everything looks good and right on track woohoo! I am feeling so much better finally, I have been Zofran free for 2 days now hahaha. It is a miracle drug, I could not have survived this long without it (its for nausea). I gained weight yay! Never thought that would make me happy but up until now I have lost about 8 pounds but I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
The computers were down today so I could not schedule my next ultrasound but I am supposed to schedule it around Aug. 25th and we will know the gender!!!!!! According to the spinning pencil trick (whatever its called) its a girl....don't really believe in that but it will be neat to see if its right. We are very excited to find out, we have a girl name but no boy name yet. I am able to feel little flutters now that are sometimes more like little nudges sooo cool!

Embarrassed myself today!!! The tech that took my vital signs had a name bagde on that just had a  "J " on it so I said...you just got a letter, no name? WHY do I have to think outloud?!?!!? Well apparently that is his name. Yep open mouth insert foot. But I got to hear the whole reasoning behind his name, yep should have kept that thought to myself!  

blessed

Not a lot of people get the opportunity to combine their pregnancy blog and their adoption blog :) It is a little confusing: "hows the baby?" ....which one hahaha. We have been very blessed! I feel like my emotions are on high alert right now, I guess those are the hormones talking but I have been stressed out to the max this week over everything. Even the little things like what am I going to wear today almost push me over the edge when ummm choices choices my t shirt or Josh's t shirt :) I am eventually going to have to buy bigger shirts I guess. I am so very thankful for my church and the people that I have met there. I was given several pairs of maternity pants by one member who got them from a friend, its great to not have to worry about spending money on clothes right now when there are so many expenses piling up.

(I hope this makes sense, I am having a little trouble keeping my mind on one track for too long right now, I am not complaining I am simply trying to point out how God has provided for us and how my eyes have been open.)

God is teaching me so much right now. I have never had to experience a lot of debt possibly because I was too broke to buy anything for most of my life. Josh and I have been very blessed with great jobs and a comfortable living until now. I think it is very funny how God works, just when we think we have it all together and are totally ready to start a family: we get transferred, we cant sell the condo, the renters move out of his house in KY,my renters moved out, we have to become renters, and 2 new babies :). He is in control and we have to rely on HIM not on ourselves . It is so hard to totally rely on God to take care of our needs and provide for us. But He has and He is and He will, I think we had gotten to comfortable relying on ourselves and He needed to remind us who is really the bread winner in this house.
~We love TX, we have met so many great people and have made so many great friends
~We have rented the house in KY and they are planning to buy it within a year
~the condo....the person who has been trying to buy it for months now is finally looking into a conventional loan instead of waiting on the VA, should close in 2 weeks
~My wonderful brother-in-law is going to look into helping us make the repairs on my trailer so we can rent it again, someone has been asking about it. Its impossible for us to work on it since its 1000 miles away.
~We have a great home in TX, good location and plenty of room, best part we don't have to worry about selling it or renting it when we are transferred woohoo! Plus the owners are super nice and very quick with any needed repairs.
~2 babies in about 4 months wow! I have learned the art of finding really great stuff at yard sales! Who knew lol

My point is, when we felt the most helpless God was in control! He also has a plan, which for those of you who know me well know that I always have a plan A,B,C and sometimes D. None of this was in my plan but look how it has just fallen into place, almost like He knows better than we do :) Everything works to the good of those who love the Lord, sometime He just needs to remind us to not get so confident.
Things are tough but we have learned that we can still make it and even still have fun on about 1/4th of the money we were used to which is amazing! Just think if we had been doing this all along we would have no debt. God has really opened my eyes over the past few weeks. 

Adoption is very expensive but we have no regrets whatsoever just to clarify. We have an amazing, beautiful, happy, healthy baby boy who deserves to have a mama and a daddy and after 2 years of waiting he will finally have one (soon I hope). I do not want to scare anyone away from adoption, there are many grants, loans, tax credits, and employee benefits out there to help cover the costs. It is very rewarding and most of our costs will be covered by the tax credit and the military benefit.
We are also so so so excited to have a newborn, this is totally new to us but we cannot wait to get our little family started. So happy that Liam will have someone to play with that is so close to his own age. I think it will help him adjust to have a little brother or sister to play with. ~Again I am not complaining and I am also not saying we will not be able to provide for our children just trying to point out how awesome God is.~

completed screening

What do I love most about working with the US??? The sense of urgency and the communication!! Although we may not understand exactly what they are talking about it is nice to be updated! The screening of our I-600 (which is the petition filed in the adoption department for adoption to make an orphan an immediate family member) has been completed. Before it can be approved the I-604 (this determines if a child meets the requirements of the US to be adopted) must be completed, in order to complete this in some cases the Embassy official can request an interview with the birth mother or relative, or they can request more information from the agency. In our case they have requested an interview with the birth mother.....which means the agency in Ethiopia is supposed to help them contact the mother....this worries me because we know just how quickly they move. I do not know what happens if the birth mother cannot be contacted but I do know if Liam does not meet the criteria for adoption in the US he cannot get a VISA, I am pretty confident that he will be fine since he has spent almost all of his life in an orphanage but I will feel much better when that is approved. 

Once I604 is approved the I600 can be approved and Liam will have a health exam. After this I believe we will go for our Embassy appointment to finalize everything and then get his visa. But I am not 100% sure about this. We had to turn in several other forms so I am sure they have to be approved at some point. These are all immigration forms in case you are wondering it is NOT easy to become an American. 

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Week 14 day 1

As far as the pregnancy goes I am finally in the 2nd trimester and as promised I am feeling much better and have a lot more energy. I am still having trouble sleeping but other than that I am feeling pretty good. My doctors appointment went fine, I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! Very exciting, Josh missed it :( I am also fine to travel to Ethiopia! Just have to walk every hour on the plane to prevent blood clots. Not much to tell this week. Still have a few weeks until we find out if its a girl or a boy.   

Case Filed with Embassy

Yesterday morning we received an email from the US Embassy in Ethiopia infroming us that our case had been filed! According to the email it can take a few weeks to a few months for the Embassy to go over our paperwork, complete their investigation, and set up an appointment for us to go to Ethiopia and pick up Liam and meet with the Embassy to get his visa and his citizenship paperwork. 

Our adoption agent also emailed me to say that Liam is doing great and that he is always smiling. :) He is such a happy baby! We are so blessed! He also attached a new picture of him, he is getting so big. We cannot wait to go pick him up!!! It’s finally happening after 7 long months of waiting we are so close! Jimbo said that it normally takes 4-6 weeks to get an appointment with the Embassy which is awesome I am praying for 4 weeks but planning for 8 weeks from past experience.....

As of right now Liam's name is actually Tamirat Joshua, we will have to change it once we get back into the US. We decided to change his name since Tamirat probably isn't a very good name to go through school with in America, especially since his nickname is Tami. Kids can be very mean. Tamirat is a very popular name in Ethiopia and in most Muslim countries; it means amazing or miracle, which suits him very well. His original name is Tamirat Abreham but had to be changed to complete the adoption. We are going to keep Abreham as his middle name. I have read a lot about changing names so it might be challenging at first but he should adapt very quickly, especially since everything will be changing for him. But in case you hear us calling him Tami Liam or Liam Tami this is why, you say both names together and then eventually you just keep the one name when he is used to hearing himself being called by his new name.

I'm very nervous about traveling back to Ethiopia since I will be 4-5 months pregnant, I was very very sick the whole time we were there in December and I am afraid it will happen again. I am also nervous about the two 8 hour plane rides there and back. Please pray for me that I will not be sick or have any issues traveling. 

We are so thankful and so relieved that Liam is healthy and happy! It is so nice to know we are in the home stretch and that we will be bringing our baby home very soon! Also very glad that now we are working with America! God is so Good!!!

ultrasound

Yesterday was our first official ultrasound! We have had a portable ultrasound but this was totally different, we got to see our baby on the big screen :) we also got our first picture and found out we are 11weeks pregnant making my due date Jan 15th. Jan. 15th is my nephew Curt's birthday, Josh's mom's birthday, and my sister's anniversary! Wow! What a popular day in our family.
The baby is doing great, moving around like crazy and growing so quick! We will be able to find out the gender at 19 weeks. I am so excited! It would be so sweet for Liam to have a little brother to play with, but it would be just as sweet for him to have a little sister to watch over. We really don't care either way just very excited to start our family!!!
I am feeling a little better this week, I felt great over the weekend, thought maybe I was over the worst of it but I guess I still have a little ways to go. I am starting to have cravings I have eaten way too much watermelon (thanks Jill!) but I also cannot stand anything too sweet which is good I guess.

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We haven't heard anything from Ethiopia yet, I hope Jimbo is having a very successful week! I am praying he is able to figure out what is going on with Liam's birth certificate and get it fixed and hopefully get our case filed with the Embassy before he leaves. This is a lot so I am not sure he will be able to get it all done, I just really want to get that birth certificate. This was supposed  to be the easy part, which is why it is so hard to wait. I am so thankful for our new agents! They have been wonderful so far, Jimbo is great about keeping us up to date and he seems to be doing everything he can to get all of our cases back on track. There are 5 families total from Hope Adoption Agency that are in limbo right now, we are one of the two lucky families who have passed court and are just waiting on our birth certificate and to file with the US Embassy. I feel like if we can get to the Embassy everything will be okay since we will be dealing with the USA!!!
Please continue to lift Jimbo up this week, we is not only dealing with a very busy and stressful week but he is also adjusting to an 8 hour time difference and a totally different culture.

Wise Child #2

Most of you already know Josh and I are expecting a baby sometime in Jan. I am 10 weeks pregnant, we have our first official ultrasound on June 26th, after this we should get an actual due date after they are able to measure the baby. We are so excited! We were very surprised! Two babies within just a few months of each other wow!! I am very nervous, I was pretty confident that I could handle a toddler with a little practice but now I am going to have a 2 year old and a newborn :) it is a great age difference but most folks have a couple years head start hahaha! I know Liam will love having a little one to play with, it will probably help him adjust since he is so used to being around other children. I just hope we are able to still give him all of the time and attention that he needs. I am very nervous about how I will be able to give him enough attention while pregnant and then even more when the baby comes. Josh is of course very confident :) and knows we will be just fine. I love how he is always to positive and so supportive. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband, I know God made him just for me.
I have been very sick.....my doctor is very pleased. He said that the sicker I am the better the baby is, this is one happy baby! I thought I had gotten through it last week but this week it came back full strength (yay). I have morning sickness, morning, noon, and night.....I am so excited for the 2nd trimester, I hope that I will feel better.
We have still not heard anything about Liam, I think God is giving me time to get over the morning sickness. I am going to contact our agency today to see if they can tell me anything new. I don't want to bug them since I know they came into a huge mess and I am sure they are being overwhelmed with questions. But I cant wait any longer. I need to know something very soon or I am going to go crazy....
~update~
Our agent will be in Ethiopia all of next week working on getting the cases worked out.

a little news

Our new agent Jimbo let us know that they were not able to get an appointment with the US Consul until after June 19th. He doesn't know an exact date yet but is going to let us know when he finds out. This appointment will just be to register Jimbo as manager of Hope. Once he gets there he should be able to see what is holding up Liam's birth certificate and hopefully get us filed at the embassy. After we file it should take about 2 months from them to process our paperwork and finally give us an appointment to go get our boy!!! We really thought that when we finally passed court it would only be a few weeks till we could go back. It is getting harder and harder to wait. I cant believe we have been waiting on an Embassy appointment since December. This has been a LONG 6-8 weeks.....they should have said 6-8 months. We are getting very excited and anxious to go get him. I hope it wont be much longer. The courts shut down in Aug for the rainy season, I hope that doesn't mean that the Embassy shuts down too. I really hope we can get there before the rain starts. I don't want to have to worry about delayed flights or cancelled appointments, plus I really want to go to the market to get Liam some traditional Ethiopian things for him to have here.
There is a lot going on right now, which is for another day. Just please keep us in your prayers this week!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7 

orphans

I have had a lot of time to sit and think in the last few days. So many things are running through my mind right now. Annie was on television this morning, even though I have seen it several times I think I finally get it. I am so luck to have been raised by both of my parents, parents who loved me, gave me what I needed, and are still there for me today. I think this is something we all take for granted honestly I had never really thought about what it would be like to be an orphan. Alone, scared, unloved, hungry, cold, lonely. What would that be like? Growing up in an orphanage or a foster home always dreaming of the day that my new mama and daddy would walk through that door and take me home. It amazes me how that God's love is just like that, we were alone, scared, lonely, feeling unloved and there was God waiting to call us his own, his child.

It bothers me when people don't understand why we would adopt. So many peoples first reaction is not "wow that is great" its closer to "really? why? oh so you can't have your own kids". Then when we explain that we feel lead to adopt that we are able to have children but want to give a child a home, a mama and a daddy, unconditional love, and more. They still don't get it :) but that is okay because we "get it".

There are so many children in this world who are considered orphans. 147 million orphans worldwide. What can we do; we can pray, we can support funds like feed the children, the clean water programs, there are foster children here in our own community, there are organizations like big brother and big sister, the possibilities are endless. Would we really miss that $20 a month honestly would we? We make excuses why we cant help, why organization are probably not legitimate anyway and just forget that there are millions suffering, starving, and dying everyday. Would we turn our heads if that was our niece or nephew, how about your neighbor, or your own child? I encourage/challenge you to do some research find an organization, find out how you can make a difference in a child's life, a difference that could save that child's life.

I'm getting off my soap box now, but I hope you will consider it anyway. Still no news on our baby boy, we are hanging in there. Getting very anxious again! Please keep us in your prayers, I haven't been feeling 100% lately and I hope I will be back to myself before we go to Ethiopia.

answered prayers

Last night about 9:30 we received an email from our agent Shimeliss stating that he is retiring and that the owner of small world adoption would be taking his place and finishing our adoptions. The new agent is Jim, he also sent an email saying that he has done thousands of adoptions and is planning to go to Ethiopia ASAP to get everything worked out. I emailed him to ask about the kids and if we needed to send money, he told me not to send any that they were taking care of the problems. I feel so much better, I feel like he is straight forward and is not trying to con us out of more money. I am really happy that they are already planning to go the Ethiopia and make our open cases the top priority.
It feels like a huge burden has been lifted off our shoulders and that our son is being taken care of. I think that we should be able to go back to Ethiopia very soon, they should be able to pick up the birth certificate and turn in our embassy paperwork and we should be able to go back soon. I am so excited!
I know it seems like this has taken a very long time but most adoptions take 18-24 months from the time the dossier is turned into the country, we just turn in our dossier in April I think so it has only been about 13 months. It has just been a crazy ride for us. We are so thankful for the opportunity to adopt and to give a child a home, we are also so thankful for what a blessing Liam has been to us already. We cannot wait to get him home so we know that he is being cared for and getting everything he needs (and more).
God is so Good!!!! I will keep you updated :)

update

I know my last post was kind of stressed, I am feeling a lot better today. We have found out more bad news but I am confident that God is in control and that He will take care of our baby  boy while we cannot. The adoption agency that we have been working with in the US doesn't seem to be telling us the whole story. Apparently he has not been sending the amount of money he and the Ethiopian agency had agreed on, actually he has not been sending them any money since July. We and the other families has paid most of our fees post July so there is no reason why he would not have been able to send the money. The result in this is that there has been no money for the transition home to pay their rent, to pay the workers, or to buy food for the children.    Today they were supposed to be evicted from the home. We are not sure yet what is happening, the time difference is making it difficult to communicate. 

We were told by the Ethiopian agency that even if Shimeliss from St. Louis went to Ethiopia it would not do any good since the children are in the custody of the transition home not Shimeliss. At least this clears up whether we should give him more money or not. The other families and ourselves plan to make sure the children are taken care of and that we get out children home. 

We are very upset because we did so much research on agencies before we chose one and we really felt that Hope was the way to go.  We would have not been referred the same child if we had gone with another agency so we still feel that God lead us to Hope. Liam is such a perfect baby, his little personality is so close to ours it is like he grew up in our house :) It is just amazing how close we feel to him already, I cannot imagine what it will be like to get him home. 

We have so much going on right now, I feel like I am running as fast as I can but I am always 1 step behind. But one day everything will slow down and I will be in great shape :) Please pray for the children of Hope Ethiopia and Faith Children's Home Association. Also pray that we will be able to make the right decisions in the next few weeks.

Patience

Honestly, I am very discouraged right now. It seems like whenever we get past one obstacle there are two more there waiting for us. Our case passed in the Ethiopian court so now the next step is to get the birth certificate which just has to be picked up. Easy right? No of course not, here is a far fetched story....the land lord of Hope Ethiopia didn't record that the agency is leasing from him or didn't record the income, something to this extent. Because he did not do this there is no proof that the agency exists to the people holding Liam's birth certificate....now they have to get the land lord to go there and say they are leasing from him. Easy enough....apparently not, he doesn't seem to be going up there. Now the only thing we can do is sit here and wait. Our agent from the US is very aggravated with Hope Ethiopia and has decided that after he finished the last 4 families adoptions that he is working on he will be closing his agency. He thinks it will help if he goes to Ethiopia to get these problems worked out and get our case filed at the Embassy (4-6 more weeks). But of course he has no more resources so in order to get there we the families are going to have to pay his way. 


I am so frustrated, I just don't know what to do....we will of course do anything to get Liam home. He is our son! We were so sure he would be home in Feb that the longer we have to wait the harder it gets. I didn't look for a job after we moved to TX because we were so sure we were going to Ethiopia right away, even now I don't know what to do because I don't want to take a job and then turn around 3 weeks later and take a month  of leave. There is just so much weighing on our shoulders right now that they are literally sore. 


On a plus side we should find out this week or next if we have sold the condo in TN and we are pretty sure we have leased to own the house in KY and the people will be moving in on June 1st Praise God!!! James say to rejoice in your trials because they prude perseverance (patience), we know that God is with us and that there is always a purpose for trials, they make us stronger, we learn from each of them. There are so many verses that I keep quoting myself but one of my favorites is "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."  Isaiah 40:31.

Sorry for venting I know that everything will be okay and that we will be in Ethiopia picking up Liam before we know it. Thanks for reading and please continue to keep us in your prayers.


2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

what a week

We are still waiting....no news about the US Embassy at all. I am not sure if our case has been filed yet, last we heard Hope was still waiting for the new birth certificate. It has only been about 3 weeks so there is really no need to get impatient yet.....though I think this wait has to be the hardest of all so far. 


It has been a very eventful last couple of weeks. I had to make an emergency trip back to KY because my great aunt who I call Ninnie was very sick and not expected to make it. After being named the queen of gall stones by her doctor, for having more stones than he had ever seen, she made a full recovery and is now back to living by herself at home (with the close supervision of Melanie and Mama). God is so Good!


We also were very upset to  hear of the death of Lt. David Rylander who was killed in action last week in Afghanistan. He and Josh were friends that met last summer during BOLC. David was a great guy and a great Christian. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. Please continue to pray for those who lay down their life everyday for us. 


Lately I feel like there is so much more sickness, death, and hurting all around me. I am so glad that I have a Savior who hears and answers my prayers. I have the assurance of knowing no matter what tomorrow brings to my doorstep Jesus will be there with me through it all. It gives me an overwhelming peace and the ability to persevere through whatever opposes me. 


Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

Passed Court

Ok, let's do this again....WE PASSED COURT!!!!! For sure this time! They are collecting the necessary documents now: the adoption decree, birth certificate, passport, and medical info which will take a few days. Once this is collected they can turn our case into the US Embassy where we will get his visa. This is when the 6-8 week wait begins.
Once the US Embassy gives us an appointment we will fly back to Ethiopia and go to the appointment. We should be there for 1 week, during this time we will be Liam's official parents! We will get to pick him up from the transition house and take him back to our hotel. Once we have received Liam's visa we will be able to return to the US!
The plan is still to spend 1 week in Ethiopia and 1 week in KY. We plan to have a welcome home party for Liam so everyone will have a chance to meet him. We will not be traveling around KY at that time due to the stress he will already be under with the huge transition so feel free to come to us :) I will let you know more when we have an appointment.