12 and 1/2 days (and counting).......

We leave for Ethiopia in less than 13 days. I started packing today. One suitcase down, about 8 more to go. I packed Asher's suitcase, which I had already started, but I took the time today to weed some stuff out and get things more organized. It was kind of fun. I have to get Leah and I packed for Ethiopia (which is seriously a task in and of itself.....we have to take meds for things we can only imagine we will encounter, donations, cash, important documents, etc., etc.) but I also have to completely pack Ryan and the kids for Florida. The good thing is that I can mostly pack everything now because our Florida clothes are not the clothes we currently wear. I imagine that in the next few days I will have everything mostly packed. I just operate like that. With lots to do, I stress way less if I can do as much as I can as soon as possible.

It appears that Ryan and the other four kiddos are going to be leaving for Florida about the same time Leah and I leave for Ethiopia. I think that will be pretty good for the kids. It will keep them busy and excited about the fun they are having. I worry about Ryan and getting all the way down to Florida with no other adult help. I know Logan will be a huge asset to Ryan, but I still worry a bit. I am also a little sorry that I will be missing almost a whole week of family vacation, but I know it is so worth it to be going to get our son! It will be cool also to have a full week with Ryan in Florida to be together as a family of eight.

Julie

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. We are so very blessed to have that little baby come to earth to save us. Who are we that Father God thought that much of each of us?

This Christmas I feel incredibly grateful to God for all the beautiful things in my life. My amazing husband, my kids, my extended family, my friends, these are the things that mean so much. But, more than anything, I am so grateful that Christ lives inside me. I have a hope that passes all earthly concerns. God gave his Son to die for me and I get to have best friend and partner that will take me through eternity. How incredible is that?

May your Christmas be filled with all the fun things Christmas should be filled with. But more than that, may your hearts be filled with the love of Christ and a personal relationship with him!

Julie

Officially leaving in 18 days!

Tickets and lodging are booked!!! Yeah!

We had a tough time getting a flight. I praise God for helping us snag something for a reasonable price. Really, two recommended travel agents just flat out couldn't find anything to work for us. It is a very busy time to fly (apparently) and the return flight home was just booked. The travel agency we ended up using deals with adoptions a lot and was able to get us two confirmed seats on the way home! I was impressed.

We got a medical report on Asher today saying he has a lesion on his leg and we should bring some meds with us for it. I am all over that. They think it might be impetigo or a fungus. We are pretty much taking every medicine under the sun with us, "just in case." My poor little guy though. He needs his mommy........

Julie

It looks like we will be leaving January 9th!

Well, it indeed appears that we will be traveling to get Asher in less than 3 weeks! We have a guest house booked for 5 nights and I am waiting to hear back from the travel agent we are using about flights. I am a little concerned about booking a flight because I hear things are pretty packed during that time. The travel agency was suppose to get back to me by the end of the day.

So, we will leave on Sat., the 9th and Ryan will leave for Florida with Logan and the 3 littles probably Wednesday or so. Leah and I will leave Addis (with Asher of course) on Friday or Saturday and fly into Orlando. Then, we will hang in Florida for vacation until that following Saturday. We should get back to Ohio on the 24th. Holy friolies. Do you know how organized I am going to have to be? Anyone have some suitcases we can borrow?

Julie

Sneaky kid #2

I have always considered Anna pretty trust worthy. I have caught her in a lie a time or two, but I wouldn't really consider it a problem, just a typical 3 year old testing her boundaries. Well, things are changing a bit. Yesterday we were at my sister's house and I hadn't seen Anna for a while so I went to check on her. She was hiding under a blanket in my nephew's room with a mouth full of chocolate. She had snuck into his candy stash. She had already eaten a bag of fruit snacks and she had just started on the candy bar. She fessed up right away. I mean what else to you do when you get caught red handed? I know this is just part of the game, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with this with another kid....... Nuts.

A small Asher update:

It appears that we will be able to snag the January 12th Embassy date, but it isn't 100% yet. Hopefully we will know for sure by Christmas!

Julie

The Birth Certificate is here!!!

Woohoo, we have Asher's new birth certificate. We should have our embassy date soon!

The picture on Asher's B.C. is a hoot. He is all bug-eyed and looks like a deer caught in the headlights. That poor boy. We have so many crazy pictures to torment him with when he gets older!

Julie

No Birth Certificate Yet.

Well, nuts. I really thought we would at least have Asher's birth certificate by now. That is step one to bringing him home. They were taking about 2 weeks and we are at 3 weeks 1 day. I am stalking my e-mail just waiting to see a message from our case manager. I am sure the Dec. 30th date is gone, but now I am getting concerned that we won't even be able to snag the Jan. 12th date.

I e-mailed our case manager yesterday and she said that because the traffic is so bad in Addis (the capital, where Asher/the foster home is) they were clumping kids together for various parts of the process. I have a feeling that we might lose that extra almost two weeks we gained by passing court early. But then again, I am not sure it matters. Our agency has 10 slots at the Embassy ever other week. Those slots are only for kids adopted through CWA. Even if they are "clumping" the kids, I would think they would still maintain some sort of order. So, even if Asher goes with 5 other kids to be "processed" I would think they would still give him an Embassy slot first if he passed court first. Who knows though. It is all such a guessing game.

I did get some really cool feedback from my friend Leslie this past week. She just arrived home with her sweet Solomon a couple weeks ago. Solomon and Asher were at the same foster home. You are not allowed to take pictures of other kids there, but this is what she said:

"I did see Asher. I asked to see him but he was asleep. He was beautiful. He is getting great care in the foster care center. He is in a room with maybe 6 or so other babies, maybe not that many."

How cool is that? She saw him and he is being well taken care of. It made me cry, but happy for my

boy.

Julie

I miss him.....

You know, I think for people that have never adopted it might be hard to understand how you can miss someone you've never actually met..... I know, I have been there. And to be honest I am not sure really how to even explain how this feels. It's not like how it was when I was pregnant. Sure the nervous anticipation and excitement are definitely there and feel just the same, but a sad ache is there also. When I was pregnant, things just seemed like they were suppose to be. I was impatient and always wanted my bio kids here sooner than later, but this just feels wrong. He is there, he needs a family, we are here and love him and desperately want to be with him. I know loving him like we do is a beautiful thing, but when the one you love is so far apart, well you get the picture. Especially this time of year when there's nothing more I want to do than be around the people I love.

This is a great song that I have listened to way too many times this season.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy8RW6aHXWQ&feature=related

(sorry, you are going to have to cut and paste the link)

Julie

Life in pictures...

Here's what we've been doing around here lately....

Today we took our annual "by the tree pictures" for our Christmas cards. It actually went pretty well. This is not the picture we used (a little too much mouthage, but I still thought it was cute.

We are starting them young in the partition business. Madeline does a good job at them!

How cute is my nephew Coleson (yes, that is a rhetorical question, I know he is adorable)? His little brother is due in March, so Asher is going to have two buddies!

Last Saturday Leah and Logan had a piano recital at the library. Who is that tall gangly thing playing piano? Certainly it is not my baby girl.......

Here's Logan doing his thing (they both did so great).

Madeline is really catching on to her Leapster she got for her birthday. Poor Anna, she just sits and watches and wishes she had one (good thing she's getting her own for Christmas).

This is our beautiful mammoth tree the kids picked out. I love it, but it was too big to go into the living room like usual, so we totally cleared the dining room out for it!

New Asher Pictures!

Here are our first pictures of Asher COLE (still officially Mussie Cole)!

What a LOVE! Man, I cannot wait to squeeze him and just touch him. Did you notice the "tag" around his ankle? It appears to have his name on it. I am sure it has an extremely practical purpose and I get that, but it kind of rubs me the wrong way.... He's still amazing though, tag and all. It warms my heart so much to see his big smile. He seems so happy and I think he is going to fit into this Cole clan perfectly!

Julie

Ramblings.

So, I think I have relieved a little stress over the last couple days. I have scaled back a few things to make them more manageable. Also, probably 50% of stress for me is being unplanned/unprepared. So, I have been getting more organized and trying to get a game plan. I have about 50 "to do" lists flying around the house.

I have also been plugging away at my sewing. Ahhh...sewing. I really do love to sew (under certain circumstances). I also love to make things for my kids. To me it is a special thing to have something hand made by someone who loves you. I hope every Christmas each of my kids can get a little something special made by me. This year has been a little heavier than most. I obviously can't talk about Christmas on here and presents for the two kids I have that can read, but here's what I am doing for the 3 little ones.

**I made crayon rolls for them (and a cousin) that turned out pretty cute. (I am hoping to post pics of my completed projects soon). They look like this: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/ Mine are a little different, but you get the idea.

**The last couple days I have worked almost exclusively on a play mat for Gee. It is one of the cutest things ever. Concept wise it was easy, but it ended up being very time consuming. It is a mat that when unrolled has a whole town with roads, etc. He can drive his cars all over the place since that seems to be his favorite pass time lately. When he is done it rolls up and snaps shut. (Let me say her that I LOVE my snap press. I bought it for Asher's diapers and I am using it for everything!) I also bought him some little wooden cars that I am going to make a pouch for. This ended up being the priciest gift for him. The fabric alone was $45 (I had extra though that I am making an outfit for him with). The little wooden cars were expensive also. I think he will love it! Here's what I patterned Gee's playmat after: http://jcaroline.typepad.com/jcaroline/2008/07/merryville-play.html

**The three little guys are getting a playhouse from Santa this year and I think that will be the next "to do" on Santa's list. It is made out of cloth so it folds up small and then it fits over any standard card table. I am going to make ours fit over a wood table that Grandpa Hidinger made for us. It is a little bigger than standard card table size and I am hoping it will fit both. Here's an example on Etsy (I love this place) of what I am going to make, although it probably won't be quite as elaborate. http://www.etsy.com/shop/missprettypretty?section_id=5577944

**Besides the little kids, I have quite a few other gifts I really want to make if I have time.

Lately, I have also been tackling the stuff we need to do to get ready to go to Ethiopia. I can't make travel arrangements until we ok Asher's new birth certificate, but I can do a few other things until then. Right now I am trying to be sure we all get the immunizations we need. I think it is going to be Leah and I traveling and we will both need Hep B (Leah may have already had this) and Typhoid. All 7 of us are getting the Hep. A vac. It is taking a little time to organize this and to find out exactly who needs what. I am also pulling together all the prescriptions/medicines that we need to take. I thank God for Chrissy. She is pretty much taking care of all the over the counter medical needs we have, as well as working with the doctors for the prescription stuff. It is a pretty extensive list and I am really wanting to take as much as I can to be as prepared as I can.

Oh, another thing I am doing to relieve stress is trying to get all my Christmas done now. I am about 85% there. Which is really good, but I want to be completely done within the next week (except for the sewing I am doing). Normally I am still picking up stuff up until a few days before Christmas, not this year. I am just trying to get myself to the point where I am enjoying this time. I love Christmas and even though the waiting stinks, I love preparing for Asher to come home. I want to be able to enjoy this spot in my life and not be stressing!

Julie

Stress is creeping in.......

Oiy.

I am starting to get stressed. Me, stressed, is not so good. I have a LOT to do. This time of year is busy under normal circumstances, but this year is way worse. Truly, I enjoy being busy and having things to do, so to some extent all is well, but on the other hand, WHEN am I going to get everything done. Here are some of the things rolling around in my brain right now....

-"have tons of Christmas gifts left to make"

-"have tons of diapers left to make"

-"I need to get into our Dr.'s office to shoot everyone up with a Hep. A vaccine"

-"have a decent amount of Christmas left to buy"

-"I need to pick up Asher some jammies and basics"

-"I really should start packing"

-"I want to pull some freezer meal recipes together for Mindy and I's freezer meal day"

-"did the kids lock the coop door before they went to bed?"

That is all the craziness I will subject you to, but trust me, I am feeling the stress.

Our case manager called yesterday. Bless her heart, she didn't know that we knew and she thought she was calling us with this big surprise. Anyways though, right now we are waiting on Asher's new birth certificate. That is running about 2 weeks (which is quicker than it has been in the recent past). Once that is done all our stuff will be submitted to that Embassy and we will be issued an Embassy date. We will probably either be scheduled for December 30th or January 12th. I think there is a chance we could snag the earlier date, but it is unlikely because we have quite a few families in front of us. Our agency is only allowed 10 Embassy slots every other week. So, even if all our paperwork is there, we may have to wait because there are no earlier slots available. Obviously, the sooner the better, but even more so because we leave for Florida January 14th. If we get the January date, Ethiopia will run into that vacation. That is not the end of the world, I will just fly back into Orlando, but that is a whole lot of craziness for a baby that is sure to already think his life has been turned upside-down.

Well, I think I will head to bed. I am quite tired and I have lots of stuff to do tomorrow!

Julie