Today Trysten was telling me that he was older than a kid because he was taller than him. I said, “Remember, God made people all different shapes, colors, sizes, sexes; so it doesn’t really matter how tall, that doesn’t mean he’s younger than you.” Trysten says, “Yeah, like we’re peach, Tariku is brown and Dailah is yellow. We’re going to be a pretty family!” (I know, Dailah’s yellow?) Pretty cute. I love the way kids think of that kind of stuff.

It’s official. We got the keys handed over to us. The contractors are done and now we have just the painter to paint the trim and the carpenters. Pretty flippin exciting. And guess who already moved in our bathrooms? I DID, I DID!!! 🙂 I forget, have I mentioned how much I like having a shower/tub that drains yet? Stop me if I’ve told you all that before.

No word on the adoption front today. Since I’ve given up on the 13th, I’ve got my sights set on the 20th more than any other date thus far. My friends are going and, I’ve decided, we are too. I want to see that picture come to life. In all honesty, I’ve become somewhat calm about the whole thing. Perhaps I’ve officially handed it over to God? I hope He does a better job at it than I have (I have no doubts). Doesn’t mean you get to slack off on your prayers/Celine Dion hits. Keep ’em coming s’il vous plait (that’s “Please” in French. I shall culture-ize you yet!)

A woman on the forum posted these pictures of the area Tariku is from. Take a look, I think you can see how he turned out so beautiful..he was absolutely SURROUNDED by beauty! http://ethiopianadoptiontravelogue.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/shinshicho-and-hadero-photos/
Click on the “shin” tab when you see the picture.

A few of my close forum friends “Mrs. Blaker” and “Watching Them Grow” are going to travel March 20th. It would be so very cool to travel with them. Oh, how I long to sing, “I’m leaving on a Jet Plane”.

Until then, I’ll just stare at more pictures and imagine our Tariku growing up there!

This face is kind of ridiculous. And those eyelashes? Those are the Klipschness in her. I hate that my daughter’s eyelashes are longer than mine. But owell, kinda cute I suppose. See how much she loves baths? And just when you think she can’t get any cuter she throws you one of those looks with the furrowed brow.

So firstly, we have water. Not just water, but water that drains. We also have 2 more toilets in working order. 2 showers/tubs with drains. I could cry, no seriously, I could cry. Tonight we will be giving our kids a bath in our own home for the first time in months and I am as happy as I could be about that. (Note to any DHS worker who might be reading this: they have in fact gotten baths/showers but they’ve all been at my in-laws)

Secondly, and more importantly, your prayers worked! BUT (isn’t there always a “but” in adoption?) now we’re hearing that the little mistake with our birth certificate (yeah the one that was “done” a month ago) is still not fixed. So now we’re waiting on that. So HUGE praises that this first task was accomplished! As a past track athlete, I can’t help but see this sucker as some sort of 400m hurdle event. Every time we get past one hurdle and there looks to be nothing in our way of the finish line, another 100m comes along and there’s another! Not only is there another, but since we’re tired of the last hurdle, the next hurdle seems even bigger and even more difficult to get over. (Interestingly enough, I never competed in hurdles, and that was because I saw no point in putting hurdles in a race that was already hard).

So strap on your praying hats and get to praying that the Birth Certificate will come back. Complete, with no errors and a picture of that beautiful face we’ve come to love so much.

Trysten LOVES his new guitar we got him for his birthday (aren’t you so proud, Leslie?) His favorite song as of right now is Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash. Do you think they’ll take my kids away when they hear my son playing his guitar and singing, “Well I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die?”

Another Monday, another 5 days on the edge of our seats as to whether we’ll get that essential call. Have you guys been praying? If it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming you. 🙂 As punishment I might just have Trysten bring over his guitar and sing Folsom Prison until you just go crazy.

Dear Tesi,
If you don’t want to cry, here is a running list to remind you what not to do:
-Don’t watch Extreme Home Makeover
-Don’t watch The Big Give
-Don’t open emails from new friends who want to donate money towards your adoption
-Don’t talk to Africans
-Don’t go to worship when Andy leads
-Don’t read about orphans, the AIDS epidemic, really, just stay away from Africa-related topics altogether.
-Edited to add: Don’t watch brothers on The Biggest Loser (thanks, Cassie for the reminder)

This will be ongoing so don’t get too comfortable in only those.

Sincerely,
Yourself

It’s 63 degrees outside. The windows are open. I hear the snow melting from our roof. The house is almost done, Dailah is sleeping and Trysten is preparing to go outside. This is, I think, what people are referring to when they say, “Life is beautiful.”

You thought I was talking about something else in the subject line didn’t you?

So..today was kind of a crazy day. It started with my getting pulled over for speeding. Interesting story, not appropriate for blogging.

But I was also looking at the calendar and realized the 13th is just 12 days away and the 20th is, obviously, 19 days away. NOT LONG at all. Not that I’ve been promised that we’ll travel then, but I should certainly be somewhat prepared.

First thing I did was email a travel agent we had talked to earlier in the post-referral process. It looks like tickets are around $1990 A PERSON!!!!!! That’s about $500 more than last time I had looked. We are hoping to take a route that would enable us to use frequent flyer miles. We actually don’t have any frequent flyer miles, but this way we could rack some up big time. Until then, we are going to start saving money like it’s our business as we didn’t have quite that much set aside for tickets alone. Even Tariku’s ticket is $1195 ONE WAY!! He’s worth it right? Dad, how much longer until we get our tax money back? teehee.

Second thing I did was start loading up a suitcase with some of the stuff that can be put in a suitcase for awhile. Sunscreen will obviously not be used this Iowan winter. Neither will the special shampoo and conditioner I bought for Tariku. Okay, okay, I did, in fact pack all of Tariku’s clothes that I have as well. I couldn’t help it, Trysten and Dailah were helping me and they were both excited.

I’m wanting to go shopping tomorrow to get other things we need. One of those things is a map of the world with a line from Iowa to Ethiopia. If we are able to meet any of Tariku’s birth family while we’re there, we will give them a map and a picture for them to keep.

I’ve been thinking about Tariku’s birth family a lot lately. Jody and I have been talking about moms. Moms who adopt special needs kids, moms who foster kids with lots of issues or just lots of kids in general. Just moms. I can’t help but think of Tariku’s mom all the time. I don’t know the differences between us but we have such a deep, special sameness and that is a deep love for our son. It’s strange, to think of him as “our” son, but that’s who he is. He will always be hers as he is mine. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I hope God gives me the wisdom to raise Tariku in a way that will make his mom proud of both of us. I hope I raise him in a way that will honor his birth family as well as his birth country.

I honestly feel like I’ve prepared myself the best I can to do those things. All that’s left is the first step in raising him and that is getting him here. And for that, I must continue to pack, continue to do laundry. But most of all, continue to storm the gates of heaven with the prayers of my heart for little Tariku.