testing, testing, 1 2 3

Grandpa M gave us this really cool little camcorder and we finally tested it out today...yeah, this video doesn't make any sense but I wanted to see if it would work and if I could figure out how to post & email videos.

p.s.

for some reason my dogs get all wacky if you say "Y'know I don't speak spanish!" ala Ron Burgundy/Anchorman style

Dear My Happy Lil' Watermelon Eating Munchkins (aka Smokey, Peanut & Maeby),

You have no idea how much your lives are about to change :)

Love,

Mom & Dad

Oh, silly man

Ryan insists that all we need to bring to Ethiopia is one (yes, 1) large suitcase, a small carry-on & a bag of donations.

HA!

He's hilarious!

I've pretty much packed all I *think* I'll need for Nora.

See the LARGE suitcase? The one that we were going to use for all of us? Yeah, that's all Nora.

And the tiny carry-on is filled with mostly Nora related items, and an extra pair of underwear and socks for us.

HA!

When will he realize that 1) I am ALWAYS right and
2) We will never travel light ever again :)

UPDATE!

We received an update on our little Nora today!!!!

On May 16th, Nora weighed 4.47kg (9.85lb) and was 55cm (21.7in) long.

She is now 5.57kg (12.28lb) and 61cm (24.02in)!!!!

Sadly, we don't have a current photo :(

I should be out grocery shopping but instead I have been online for the past 30 minutes making Simpson's avatars of Me, Ryan & Nora.......Thanks (again) Diane!

Ooops, I forgot to put lipstick on myself....oh well, at least I remembered my glasses!

And Ryan doesn't have that much hair in real life ;)

WE ARE OFFICIALLY MOM & DAD!

We got word today that our case has cleared court and Nora is legally our child!
So, without further delay, here is our beautiful daughter.........



She will be in our arms for the 1st time on August 18th!!!!!

D-Day

Our case is being decided by the judge tomorrow.....and I'm really nervous.

really, really nervous.

I don't even want to think about it.

I'm just going to close my eyes and cover my ears and wait for it to be over.

Jena, Louisiana

Also, check out this posting by Bill Quigley on COUNTERCURRENTS.org

It's disgusting that this kind of crap is still happening in 2007

Jena Six, a photo story

wheels in motion

I spoke with the travel agent today and went ahead and sort-of made reservations (they are holding our tickets) even though our date is still tentative. The prices were good and I figured I should jump on 'em now, I can always fork over the $100 (it would be worth it just to book now) or so a ticket IF we have to change the dates if needed (if our case is delayed)

So, our plans are as follows:

We depart from Chicago on Thursday afternoon and arrive in D.C Thursday evening. We are staying the night at a hotel near the airport and our flight to Ethiopia leaves Friday morning. I wanted to stay overnight in D.C to avoid any delays on the Chicago leg and avoid possibly missing our Ethiopia Air flight or having to run frantically through the airport to our gate. Go ahead, ask Ryan about our trip to Mexico, he'd love to tell you how we had to run, him dragging me like a whiny, shuffling my feet cuz they hurt in my flip-flops 2 yr old ....I do not do well under that kind of stress...running through the airport to catch a plane kinda stress ;)

We arrive in Ethiopia Friday night and get to meet Nora Saturday morning!!!

Aaaahhhhh!!!!

On our return we will arrive in Chicago Saturday afternoon. I know we will have a very small gathering of family there to greet us-I didn't want too much craziness. I always hated watching those Adoption Stories on TLC where the family would be greeted by a gazillion people with balloons & banners, screaming & crying, cameras like the paparazzi, crowding the poor kid like she was Paris Hilton or something...the kids always looked absolutely terrified.

And the poor new parents...they always look like they just want to go home...and sleep.

passing the time

Thanks Diane for pointing me in the direction of this cool website!

Apparently, I have only visited 2% of The World.
I really need to get out more.



create your own visited country map

I've seen a tad more of the US....33%
I only counted states that I actually spent some time in...not just driven through or have had layovers in....they don't count.


create your own personalized map of the USA

TRAVEL!!!!!

WE HAVE A TENTATIVE TRAVEL DATE!!!!!!

Our case is being heard on July 23rd and we should expect to travel on August 17!!!!!

I can't believe it!!!!! She's almost in our arms!!!!

Holy crap, I have SO much to do!!!!!

waiting...and waiting...

Today marks 4 weeks of waiting to travel.

It's very hard not knowing if our case is in court or when it will even be in court...and it's killin' me not knowing when we will travel.

Mid August?

Late August?

September (gasp!)?

I really hope that we hear something soon.

Boston Globe Article

There was an interesting article in Sunday's Boston Globe regarding black hair and the politics surrounding it.
As a soon-to-be mother of an Ethiopian daughter, I found this article especially interesting and eye opening.

BBQ madness

Last weekend Jenny & Brian came up north and took us out to dinner to celebrate Nora-we had some good drinks, great BBQ & alot of fun :)

We finally got to really meet her boyfriend, Brian...and we love him!

Jenny & I have been friends since the 7th grade. She's always so much more tan than I am...and so much more photogenic:)

Aren't we cute with our matching glasses?

HAPPY 4th O' JULY!!!!

I can't believe we are 3 weeks into our wait for travel!!!!

Hopefully, it will only be another 5 weeks...but could be 9 weeks....

Our agency doesn't want to give out any travel dates during the Millennium celebrations (first 2 weeks in Sept.) so we are hoping to squeeze in by late August, at the latest.

I feel like I have so much to do but don't know where to start!

cherry blossoms

Nora has bedding!!!

Now, I'm not much for themes and I really didn't want to have a theme for Nora's room...I wanted it to be funky & eclectic, which I think it is on it's way to becoming.

I like orange...alot...but it was hard to find any bedding that had orange in it that wasn't "theme-y"

So, I was wandering around Target today (what else is new) and I saw this bedding set on the clearance shelf and I thought to myself "Hmmm...this might look cool with orange, kinda funky and a little bit retro."

So, I bought it :)

It doesn't totally match but I really like it anyway.....

It looks better with the orange walls when you see it in person:)

more anxiety dreams

I had a huge pile of sweet potatoes that I was frantically trying to peel & puree into baby food and freeze them into little cubes....my flight to Ethiopia was taking off in minutes and I was sure I wasn't going to finish in time and Nora would starve and all of the potatoes would be bad by the time we returned.

IEKC Picnic

This weekend was the IEKC 1st annual summer picnic and it was a blast!

It was really great to see all of the kids together and it was nice to meet all of the parents too!

We tried to get a photo of all the kids in one spot.......

It was a little difficult to get everyone to sit still, smile and say cheese!

Next year will be even better because Nora will be here!!!!

And hopefully I'll remember to apply some sunblock!