No Court Date Yet

Hello everybody! I haven't posted in about a week and I know you are all dying to know if anything has happened yet. So are we...

No news yet about court dates. I did have a great weekend though, because of a couple of emails that I received through the AFAA yahoo group. I had sent out a post on the site last week asking if any families would be traveling to Ethiopia soon and also announced that we had a referral for Kidus and Natinael. Several families have replied saying that they have traveled recently or their children knew Natinael and Kidus. It was wonderful to hear the stories from other children that were at the AFAA house with Natinael. I will share this story with you.......

Lisa, are your two little boys at the AFAA house? I try to update Tru and Penn as to what's happening with the other kids who were still at the AFAA house when they left. Their eyes completely lit up when I said your boys were coming to America. I asked my kids what your boys were like, and Tru said, "They are so sweet and so cute!! Kidus loves toys and loved the tricycle." Penn said Natnael was always trying to ride a broken down bike at the AFAA house and thought that you better have a bike ready for him :) Tru also wanted you to know not to feel bad if Kidus is very quiet the first day and cries when you leave Ethiopia, and that they both love milk. She said Kidus will probably eat anything but Natnael might have a harder time with new foods, and Kirdus is shyer than Natnael. She thinks they need to sleep in the same room when they come to your house (our kids are still very afraid to sleep alone). I loved hearing Tru tell me all of this, it made me realize how far she has come so quickly.So how is that for some random thoughts on your kids :) Tru wants to know where you guys live. When they come, it might help the boys to have our kids call so they can hear a friendly voice. Let us know if that would help.
Our kids (9 and 11, unrelated boy and girl) have been home three and a half months. They are really doing beautifully. It's not easy at first. The grief they feel over leaving their country, their friends, their religion, their food, friends, remaining family members, it's just all-cosuming for many weeks. Our daughter had a rough time at first, and I had days when I went to sleep wondering if I had adopted a child I would never love. Those feelings are all gone. She is fantastic, they both are. They are crazy about all of us, every member of our extended family. They are extremely smart, great athletes, wonderful to our two little boys, 2 and 4, have made friends easily, are a great help around the house. Our son (age 9)is a truly gifted artist, is painting with watercolors, can freehand draw anything. I can't believe we got such great kids. Four kids is really hard - that's been our biggest struggle. We both have demanding jobs, and trying to balance the needs of our small boys with two new kids with issues, keep our marriage intact, and carve out time for ourselves as individuals is not easy. But I really feel that it couldn't be going any better. Watching all four of our kids bond, mature, become a healthy, happy family, has been amazing.

And this from another mother.....

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for sending me the link to your blog - I cried watching your video and I don't even know you! It doesn't take much to make me cry these days. You have a beautiful family and a magnificent home. The boys will have so much fun playing in that yard - if you can even call it a yard - I guess
more like a field. It broke my heart to read your blog - a mixup with pictures. I am amazed at how you can so fall in love with a picture. Our son, Mintesinot, is 5 now - we adopted him 2.5 yrs ago through AFAA - we got about 5 pictures of him 2 months after our referral and the pictures clearly were of 3 different children. We really didn't know for sure which was him, but decided to go with the one holding a card with his name on it. Then Melissa Green sent us pictures of Mintsinot with his father Eskender (I saw a picture of her book in your blog - our sons story is in Chapter 1) that's when we were sure of who he was.
I posted a picture of one of our sons, Fikre-Yohannes, and his 2 friends - Tariku and Natinael. Fikre is on the left, Natinael in the middle. Tariku went home in September to New York. His mom, Kate Muldowney, said it was a very tearful good-bye for the boys. I have pictures of the three boys back almost 2 years ago at AFAA. The second picture - Fikre is on the top with his chin on Tariku's head and Natinael is to Tariku's left in the orange. I am sure that Fikre is in the CD taken last year that you spoke of, but I have not seen it. These are pictures I have copied from other AFAA families off our group site.
I hope I don't muddy the water more with confusing pictures. The McNichols family lives in California they have 5 Ethiopian children and 3 bio children, they have been a tremendous help to us. They brought Shawn and Fikerta home in July - I am sure they can point out kids names in pictures if you want further clarification. And Jana that posted recently on the AFAA site- her children just came home and probably could do the same.
I would love to keep in touch so when the kids come home they can talk on the phone. We have met with 7 other families in California - all AFAA families - all of the kids were at the AFAA house with at least one other child - 32 Ethiopian children in all at our celebration - the Ethiopian New Year. That may be a little far for your family, but I'll keep you posted on our get togethers.
I hope you find peace with the picture mix up and that we get court dates real soon.

Picture #1 Fikre, Natinael and Tariku

Photo #2 Natinael is in the back in orange to the right of Tariku and Fikre. I believe the little boy in front with the grey sweatshirt is the "first" Natinael that we got pictures of on Oct 8th.

Thanks Karen and Jana, any information is so precious!! It is so great to have these parents that have "been there, done that".
I hope to form great friendships and bonds with these families, for we all share a common love for these special kids!!

We will continue to update you all and please have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! We have so much to be thankful for!!
Love you all...

The video and care package for the boys!!

I think we are finally done with the video for the boys. We will get it sent off this week, first to Indiana and then on to....Ethiopia. We wanted to add so much more. There is so much to tell and see, but we did not want it to be too overwhelming for them. We did not want to leave out anyone, so I hope that we did not hurt anybody's feelings!! We tried to introduce to the boys, the things and people that they will see the most in their lives. We cannot wait until they receive it and watch it over and over until they can come and see it in person.


We love all of our family and thank you for your support!!

Bailey's 15th Birthday

Today was Bailey's 15th birthday!! Where does the time go? We went to dinner with the boyfriends at the Vee Bar Guest Ranch. It is a great old B & B in Cemtennial. Just 15 minutes from our house. The food was wonderful and we had a great time!! Enjoy the pictures!!

Bailey with Roses from Tyler Bailey and Tyler
Kelby and Sierra
Clint and I
The girls

A Case of Mistaken Identity

I wasn't sure how I was going to start this posting. It has been an interesting 5 days. Let me start on Saturday when Clint went to get the mail. There was an unexpected envelope from AFAA (Americans for African Adoptions), our agency. I anxiously opened it as Clint stood by and watched. There was a letter from Cheryl stating she had included recent pictures of Kidus and Natinael along with their medical test reports. As we viewed the pictures we were shocked to firnd that the picture of Natinael was not the same little boy we had been cherishing for the last month. Shocked and confused we stood there and wondered what to do next. It is Saturday afternoon and we couldn't call the agency until Monday. Many tears were shed and a few choice words as well. How could they make this mistake? Now another face of a little boy had entered our minds and hearts and this might be our son. Monday came very slowly and I called the agency first thing and Cheryl was not available. I explained the situation and asked that she call me right away. All I got was an email stating she would forward the pictures to Tigist in Ethiopia and ask for clarification. In other words, she had no idea!! I waited all day Monday and Tuesday with three little faces swimming in my mind. Finally by Wednesday morning at 9:30, I couldn't stand it any longer. I called the agency and asked for Cheryl, and basically had a conversation that made my blood boil. I will spare you all the details. I finally got the answer.

We have a new face that we will continue to love and become more familiar with as the months go by. This is still the little boy that loves the color purple, loves pasta and soccer. He is still close to Kidus and knows that he finally has a family to call his own. There was never any confusion in Ethiopia. This little boy is the one that was told he had a family and would come to the US with Kidus.


Meet our NEW son, Natinael and of course, Kidus!!

It was still a little difficult to take down the picture of the little boy in the grey sweatshirt that we had received on October 8th. We had considered adopting him as well, but I was told today that he has been adopted along with his sister. That picture will always be a part of our story. I thought about changing the video at the beginning of the blog, but I think I will just make another. It is still a part of this journey that we have made. Sometime in the future when Natinael reads this blog we will explain that all things happen for a reason. HE was meant to be our son!!

The addendum has been received in Ehtiopia and we are waiting for a court date. No idea how long it will be. We have the photo albums all ready to send and the DVD is almost done. We are just waiting on a few last minute photos.

Love you all!!!