November Numbers

#44 girls (last month 47)
#33 boys (last month 36)
#16 siblings (last month 17)

Slow but steady. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's. I will post photos but need to find my phone adapter. Snowing in Wisconsin today!

October Numbers and Fall Photos

#47 girls (last month 48)
#36 boys (no change)
#17 siblings (last month 15) 

Sigh, these have been some slow referral months. There's not much news, not much to say about it, just waiting. I guess that's about it for this month's adoption update. [NOTE: Since I initially wrote this, there has been news of at least 5 referrals!]

So, besides chronicling the steps to our next child, this blog is also serves as the most reliable journal I keep. After a good reminder from other blogging moms, I finally printed all the blog posts from 2011 into a book. I have one now for 2009, 2010, and 2011. Seeing 2011 in print and recognizing how inadequately I journaled the events of that year, I am feeling some motivation to finish out 2012 a little bit better. 2012 is going to be a very skinny book if I don't do something about it soon.

So, a few fall highlights of Milfammilwaukee.

First field trip. Bear's been talking about moving to the Giraffe room at school with much anticipation for a few months now. Being a Giraffe is big deal in his words because 1) Giraffes don't wear diapers, and 2) Giraffes ride on a school bus to take field trips! This September, Bear and his friends took their very first field trip to the pumpkin patch. I don't know what was more thrilling, getting on the school bus, riding on the school bus, bouncing on the school bus, yelling on the school bus, or the pumpkin patch. It was also my first time being a parent chaperon. Whoa. My senses were exhausted after the 2 hour excursion with 100 swirling kids. I don't know how teachers do it! But the kids (and the parents) had a lot of fun. They learned about migrating animals, fed goats and llamas, ran through the corn maze, took a hayride, and last and perhaps least, picked their pumpkins from the patch. Bear's highlights were 1) riding a school bus, (hope I'm conveying how huge this was) 2) petting a snake, and 3) a raucous hay throw with friends and teachers. I think the pumpkin was just a nice take home bonus.

Visit from The Uncles. My sister is one of the most beautiful, lovely, fashionable, feminine women I know. Which makes it especially cute to me that Bear calls her Uncle. "Uncle B" to be precise. We were lucky to have a quick visit from Uncle B and Uncle Kevin in October. It allowed for another (muddy) trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maze, and the Great Pumpkin Carve of 2012. We also got to celebrate Uncle B's birthday. I LOVE how thoroughly loved Bear is by the Uncles.

New job. Dodd has had a lot of work life the past 3 years, not as much family life. He's been trying hard to get to a place that will allow more balance. He started in a new position this October that I think may finally get him there. We've seen more of him in the past few weeks than we've seen in a while. It's good to see Dada having fun again.

Halloween. Bear has a one track mind these days. Race cars. [Thanks to a birthday gift from grandma and grandpa, I have had the pleasure of watching Cars 2 more times than I can count in the past 3 months.] So when I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, it was not surprising that he said "a race car!" I thought it would be fun to make the costume together but he did not like anything I came up with because it wasn't McQueen. However, he changed his mind when he saw the fire fighter jacket hanging next to the McQueen costume at Goodwill. So dressed as a fire fighter, he trick or treated his way through my workplace again this year. The kids came away with obscene amounts of candy. I am pleasantly surprised that he lost interest in the candy just a couple days later. Unfortunately I only got 1 photo of him in costume. 

Election. We talked about the election a lot. Bear even hung with me through a couple of the debates. He loved hearing NPR talk about Mitt Romney and President Obama on our morning drives to school/work. [Side note, when Bear was a baby, I felt guilty for listening to NPR in the car, feeling like I should be talking to my baby. But it was and still is, my only source for news as any reading and TV has gone by the wayside. However, when he broke out singing the NPR theme song with a big smile on his face as a toddler, I realized it was a positive thing. Now, if I turn it off while we drive, he asks me to turn the news back on.] It's important to us to teach Bear to respect leaders regardless of their views. We speak respectfully of both candidates. After hearing Obama in a debate, he said "Mama, he's a gooood talker!" After hearing Paul Ryan in the VP debate, he said "I like Paul Ryan, he's a good guy." He asked at least once a day when we were going to vote. When election day finally came, I asked him if he knew who we were going to vote for? He replied, "President O-Bomney!" I guess we are raising a moderate.

First day as a Giraffe

Hanging out with Dad and a chocolate milk at the historic grist mill

Mom, we're on a SCHOOL BUS!

Hay throw!

The Giraffes - how do you get14 three year olds in one photo?

Hanging out with Uncle B and Kevin. There were a few jokes about the donkey.

MUD makes a corn maze exciting to a 3 year old!

Happy Birthday Uncle B!

Bear's first presidential election.

I was so proud of how brave he was.

And now we march on into November. Wow, where has the year gone? Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

September Numbers and Half The Sky Tonight!

48 girls (last month 49)
36 boys (last month 36) 
15 siblings (last month 15) 


There is a documentary airing on PBS tonight and tomorrow night that's too good and too important not to share. If you have been overwhelmed and hurt by the things happening to women and children on this planet, watch this! It will help you get smarter about the realities facing women and girls around the world AND it will motivate and inspire you. If you don't know what I'm talking about, definitely watch this! It will be worth your time.

Happy Referralversary Bub! #3

Three years ago yesterday we looked on this face for the very first time.

September 2009

Now this is the face before us. 

September 22, 2012

A new teacher in his class at church today told us,  "He has this incredible zest for life. It's like he's so excited to be on the planet." That's our Bear. We saw it in fuzzy photos 3 years ago, and we are blessed by it today. I am the luckiest mama.

Dästa. Joy. Energy. Love. You. Bub. 

August Numbers

#49 girls (last month 53) 
#36 boys (last month 39) 
#15 sibs (last month 15)

Another waiting story for this month. 

Every night at bedtime after we read books, Bear gets all snuggly and asks for one final story. "Tell me bout Baby Bereket mama." His eyes just glow as he asks. Then I tell him all about mama and dada's long search for Baby Bereket. I try to add new details as he is able to comprehend them. He likes that his story is evolving over time. The basic story involves mama and dada talking to God, all the places we looked for Baby Bereket (which usually involves various locations in the house and yard), the people who helped us, finding day (referral day), Ethiopia, and the day God's promise came true (gotcha day). I usually leave a few seconds of silence between each of those chapters. This drives him crazy with anticipation. Then I ask him why it's so quiet. He knows the answer. "Bee-cause you wait!"

Just this weekend I realized that hearing his story is helping Bear understand what is going on now as we wait for baby brother or sister. He was 18 months when we started the adoption process again and it was hard to tell what he understood and what he didn't. Now at three, he is starting to tune in. Yesterday he decided he wanted to wear pull-ups again. I told him I put them away because we are saving them for baby brother or sister. We talk about baby brother and sister but the conversation doesn't go any further than mentioning their name. It surprised me when he asked more.

"Ohhhh, they in E-tee-O-pia mom?" Without thinking about it I said yes they were. I was just relieved he wasn't going to throw a toddler fit about the pull-up. But he got super excited. 

"We go there NOW mama? Bring them home?" Shoot. I didn't realize he would take my answer literally. He thought I was saying we got the call.

"I go with WITH you mama? I get my backpack!" Shoot, shoot, shoot. How do I explain? 

I said I wished we could go to Ethiopia right now, but we haven't found them yet. This clicked in his brain. He loves the looking and finding part of his own story. 

"You are looking and looking!" Yes bub, we are looking really hard. And you know what we have to do right now?

"Wait!" You got it kiddo.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa

Dear Grandma and Grandpa, 

Thank you for.....

Letting me come visit you and.....

Your love of rocks...

Keeping up with me at the beach...

Making sure I get to 6 feet... 

My truck birthday cake....hauling my favorite...blueberries!

 And for just plain...

Loving me!

I had a great 3rd birthday with you!

Love, 

Bear

July Numbers - Ahh good news!

• 53 on the girls list (last month 64)
• 39 on the boys list (last month 49)
• 15 on the siblings list (last month 22)

As you can see from the numbers, this has been a good month of positive adoption news. After a couple months with little movement, referrals came through like a flood this month! Besides that, court dates are coming really fast after referral, and embassy clearance, which has been so difficult in the past year is coming very quickly as well. The new rigorous investigative procedures Almaz put in place in Ethiopia seem to have slowed down referrals for some time, but are paying off now. Seeing the numbers this month even got Dodd's attention. They make us excited for us and just plain happy for the kids who are getting a family. Ah, blessed good news, we love you!

The good news AGCI foreshadowed last month was a new orphanage relationtionship. The orphanage, called Miskaye Children's Welfare Association, serves children from the Benishangul-Gumuz region in Ethiopia. The region, located in northwestern Ethiopia near the Sudanese border, is described as "a beautiful and forested area that is quite remote and has high rates for malaria." The children referred from Miskaye will not move to Hannah's Hope right away. They will stay in the care of Miskaye until after the court hearing. This is a different approach for AGCI and we are interested to see how it goes. 

A little waiting story I thought I would share. Bear and I were at a rummage sale last month. The woman was selling lots of girl clothes, all freshly washed and folded neatly in perfect lines on three different tables. Seeing Bear, she asked if I was looking for boys clothes and I said yes, but said that considering how well kept everything was maybe I should take a leap and just buy some girl clothes. This made her ask if I was expecting. I took brief moment to decide which way to answer the question. I really didn't want to have a long conversation at a rummage sale so I just said yes, no further explanation. She proceeded to ask how far along I was. Again I had to decide how to answer and decided to have some fun and go for it. "About 12 months," I said, no further explanation. I thought she would kind of get it since Bear was in my arms, but my response made her eyes pop, then the confusion set in. I did take the time to explain my answer and be a good adoption "educator", but I took some guilty pleasure in the initial shock value. A girl's got to have some fun in the waiting. :)

Our homestudy and clearance checks are about to expire so I am in the process of renewing them. I will be busy with that while hoping for another great month in August!