Paynter's Passings

Post Placement Visit

2009-12-21T08:26:00.004-06:00

So after having a "birth mother emergency" our second post placement visit was delayed until Friday afternoon. The visit went fine. It is funny how this time around is so different than last time. I used to get so nervous before the post placement visit but not anymore. I guess I am more confident as a mommy this time. Our social worker is also very laid back and it is really like talking to an old friend. The kids of course were both kind of whiny because it was right smack in the middle of Mia's nap time and Aiden well he just wanted our attention. I finally just told the social worker that it was Mia's nap time and she saw her and she is all in one piece so I can I just lay her down now. She laughed and said of course. So, after I put Mia to sleep and found Tom and Jerry for Aiden everything was fine. We have to wait 30 days between visits for our last post placement visit and then we will be able to finalize. We will be able to take care of everything here in Mississippi and Mia should be officially ours by February.

No News Yet

2009-12-14T14:32:00.004-06:00

Well no movement on the house yet. We had a Realtor Open House last week and we once again got great feed back. I think after the holidays things might start picking up. People keep telling us that the market is improving here and that we are in a good area and price point so that is encouraging.

In other news, Mia seems to be feeling much better. Her constant cold and cough are gone as well as all the drainage. She has started sleeping through the night finally. We have our next post placement visit scheduled on Thursday. We will have our last visit in January and then we will finalize the adoption. Our social worker has assured us that is all can be done while we are still here in Mississippi.

Someone was just asking me what was the thing I liked least about living in Mississippi. Aside from it being so far away from our family and friends, I don't like the fact that there really are no seasons. It goes from Spring to Summer. Then last weekend we were surprised to wake up to snow. We bundled the kids up and went out to enjoy it knowing it wouldn't last long. Aiden made some snow angels and two tiny snowmen. Then we had a snowball fight. Mia wasn't as impressed with it. She hated her mittens and didn't like the fact that it was hard to walk on. It was nice to have a little winter though even if it didn't last - today is 70 degrees outside!

House Is on the Market

2009-11-27T13:47:00.005-06:00

Well it is official sign and all. We are hoping to have this house sold by this Spring. The real estate agent feels that the market hasn't been hit here too bad and people are still buying and selling especially in our price range. We are really hoping to have this place sold and be in our new place in Virginia before Aiden starts school in September. We shall see.

As for the latest Mia health saga, we had our three week check up with our ENT last week. Unfortunately, Mia is not doing any better since the tubes. The doctor gave us more drops as well as an oral antibiotic hoping that this will get the rest of the fluid and infection out. He did say that if she is no better by her six month check up in April we might want to consider removing her Adenoid. Despite it all, Mia continues to amaze us. She is really such a joy to have around. She is just so much fun. Aiden is really starting to enjoy having her around now that they can actually play tag and stuff. Also, Mia has started to finally say a couple more words. She says "all done, hello, bye-bye, Aiden and dog." She also sings the melody to Patty-cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Elmo's World - replacing the words for "da." So despite her ever present runny nose, cough and ear infection she remains happy and active.

Got Tubes????

2009-11-09T17:25:00.003-06:00

Well after battling ear infections since she arrived home with us, it was recommended that Mia get tubes inserted in both ears. It was quite a whirlwind week last week. We took Mia to the doctor on Monday with a cold and we were referred to a pediatric ENT. We met with Dr. Carron of UMC on Tuesday and he definitely recommended tubes for Mia. The procedure was scheduled for Thursday at 6 am. Tubes were put in and Mia did great. She is now on the mend and back to her crazy little self.

Eric also accepted a position with CNA Insurance. The position will be bringing us back to the Richmond, VA area. We are so happy to be able to go back to Richmond and be with our family again. We worked very hard this weekend getting the outside of our house in ship-shape for selling and this week I will be working on the inside of the house. Eric begins his new position on December 1st, however, we will be staying here until our house sells. We are hoping to be able to move to Virginia sometime this Spring.

Sickness

2009-10-30T09:05:00.005-05:00

Well Aiden got some type of virus and has been sick for the last 3 weeks off and on. Just when we think he is better, we get calls from school that he is sick and needs to be picked up. Poor kid. He was tested for the flu and the test came back negative but I wonder how accurate it was. Anyway, taking care of a sick 4 year old and a 1 year old that gets into EVERYTHING I have had no time to update our blog. Also, I don't have all that much to report because all I have been dealing with is bodily fluids that no one wants to hear about anyway.

Mia has been home for 3 months now and is doing great. She went from wobbly walking to running circles around me in the matter of days it seems. She also gets into everything like I said. She loves to get into our cabinets and pull everything out. Just when you have one mess cleaned up, she has done something else. So needless to say she certainly has us on our toes. She still hasn't really said any real words yet except for baby blabber. And she has not gotten any more teeth yet - she only has 4. As far as the sleeping goes it has gotten much better. Most nights she sleeps from 9 until 7 and takes one short nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon. I find that if I let her sleep any longer in the afternoons that is when we run into issues of her getting up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep. She also loves going to the nursery at the gym which is great. She has so much fun in there sometimes it takes me awhile to get her to leave. Mia has become a huge fan of daddy as well. But she really does not go to anyone else unless they have an interesting piece of jewelery on. She will smile at people but she does not want them to hold her. Her favorite game right now is tag. The entire time she is making monster noises. Aiden is having a lot of fun with her now that they can actually play with each other. He also is very protective of her which is funny to see. He is a great big brother.

In the moments of wellness we took the kids the State Fair. They had a blast. What a difference from two years ago when we couldn't get Aiden to ride anything. This time he even rode on the little roller coaster and the whole family rode the big Ferris Wheel. The kids played the ducky game in which everyone gets a prize. But I think everyone had the best time in the petting zoo where they even had a huge but very friendly camel. Mia loved feeding the goats especially which were more at her level. Aiden also got to go to the pumpkin patch with his class. It was his first time riding the big yellow school bus which I think he was actually more excited about then the actual trip.

Official 1 Year Appointment

2009-10-12T17:01:00.002-05:00

We were able to get our official 1 year check up on Friday. Mia is doing well. She weighed 20.6 lbs and is 29 inches long - in the 30th percentile on the growth charts. She got 2 immunizations and handled them like a champ. No more heart murmur heard but she does STILL have an ear infection. We are on oral and drop antibiotics and if it is not cleared up we are off to the ENT. Sleeping is still an issue. She is down to getting up once a night for a bottle. The doctor encouraged me to try to bring her a bottle of water instead of milk. She said that she may be getting up because she knows she will get some sweet milk - I guess she has me trained - lol! I tried that for the first time last night. She didn't seem two upset about the water and drank a little of it and than pushed it away and I rocked her back to sleep in about 50 minutes. I will try it again tonight and see what happens. She is still not saying much of anything. She is constantly babbling but doesn't really say any words. She does like to point her little finger at things and wants to know the what they are and watches our lips very closely as we tell her what the object is.

Unfortunately, our state has been hit hard with the flu and our doctor's office is out of vaccinations at this time. Aiden has a fever of 102.9 right now. The doctor told us that we should bring him in if his fever continues tomorrow and they will test him for the flu - great! Oh well what can you do.

We went to the Ole Miss/Alabama game this weekend. Alabama won big time but we had a good time. It was nice to have it a little cooler outside this time if only it weren't so muddy. Mia ate the entire time - I guess she has the tailgating thing down - lol!

Watch Out World

2009-10-06T10:00:00.003-05:00

We have a walker on our hands! Miss Mia started full out walking on Saturday. She kind of looks like Frankenstein holding her little hands out in front and tottering around. She is pretty quick on her feet and does some pretty smooth turns and everything. Yup she is keeping us pretty busy getting into everything - tee hee.

Two Teeth and Go Rebels

2009-09-21T14:07:00.003-05:00

Well finally after weeks of waiting, drooling, rashes and chewing - Houston we have two top teeth! Making that a total of 4 pearly whites all together. Since the two teeth have finally made an appearance, Mia has been sampling lots of new foods. She pretty much will eat anything we give her - she loves to eat. This new found eating has brought about some really cute chubby thighs. In other Mia happenings she has been standing a lot on her own this past weekend. She loves to stand up and give herself a round of applause which we of course all join in on! She also very clearly says daddy and Aiden. I am still waiting to hear mama - for now it seems she calls me "kiki"?????

We took Mia to her first Ole Miss game on Saturday. Thankfully the weather held up and the Rebels won! Aiden had a blast at the game. He told me this year that he wasn't afraid??? I didn't even know he had been afraid. I thought all this time he just had a short attention span and that is why he always asked to leave a few minutes after kick-off. Anyway, it seems he was afraid of the score board???? Don't ask.

We have our first post placement visit tomorrow. I am not nervous at all this go around. I did clean up of course as I would have in expectation of any company. This go around I finally realize that the social workers want adoptive families to succeed and are totally on our side and are not judging the possible cobs webs in the corner. After this visit, we will need two more before we get to legally finalize our adoption in the United States - yippee!!!!!

Mia Is Growing Up

2009-09-12T09:04:00.006-05:00

Sorry for my absence - we were visiting family in Virginia for a little over a week and I am still trying to dig myself out of the laundry and house work. The kids both did great on the plane and Mia did just fine sleeping at my parents house in her pack in play - thankfully she is a very adjustable baby. She got to meet all Eric's immediate family and we even got to go out twice without the kids. Once my mom babysat and once Caitlin, Eric's oldest niece, watched the kids. It was nice to be out and have adult conversations without being constantly interrupted. We also got to reconnect with some great friends and hang out with them and their kids. My mom threw a nice shin-dig for Mia. She seemed to enjoy herself, playing with her cousins and eating the cake! We got a ton of loot for both kids while we were there. Thankfully Matt and Jennifer thought ahead and got Mia an actual suitcase so we could bring it all home with us.

We took Mia to her 1 year appointment yesterday. She is weighing in at a whopping 20.12 lbs. The funny thing is that is still less than Aiden weighed when we brought him home at 5 months! We were not able to get our official check up because our Doctor was unexpectedly out. We did get a couple of shots and her ears rechecked and everything looks great. We will go back in 4 weeks and see our Doctor and do the official visit. We were told to put her on whole milk and we also turned her car seat around - sniff, sniff.

Mia's adjustment continues to go wonderfully. She is really on the move now and has taken about 4 steps unassisted. She also will go to a standing position from sitting all by herself and balance herself for a while. She still only has 2 teeth which is strange to me since all other children her age have like 4 or 5! She also still does not sleep through the night. Still gets up once or twice. Once she gets a bottle and goes right back to sleep the second time she just needs a couple of rocks and some pats and goes back to sleep. We are hoping she handles the milk okay if not we will try soy milk. Her stomach issues have improved a lot and she has been eating a lot more table food. Mia's personality has also shown itself a lot more. She has a certain sassiness about her that now is cute but might end up being challenging as she gets older. She has also found her voice and can get quite loud. She loves to growl especially at her big brother and the dogs. Aiden continues to be a good big brother. He sometimes gets a little too affectionate with her and ends up hurting her so we need to remind him to be more gentle. I think though that she can hold her own against him - lol! We also took Mia to get her ears pierced - looks adorable with her little curls coming in. Sigh, my baby is growing up too fast.

Home 1 Month Already

2009-08-24T11:39:00.002-05:00

So Miss Mia has been home for over a month now. Things with her adjustment have gone so well. I must admit we were thinking she would have a harder time getting used to her new home since she is a little older than Aiden was when we brought him home but the transition has been wonderful. She is really such a good baby. Aiden used to have crying period every day when he came home. We used to refer to them as his "melt downs." Looking back at them now, it was probably a form of grieving. However, Mia has had nothing of the sort. She has so much personality. She is truly just thriving here. She is babbling a ton, has picked up some baby sign language and has started to stand a couple of seconds on her own. Her health has been much better than expected as well. All of her blood work and stool samples came back normal. All of her fungus is gone and while she does have a couple of scars from them on her back and belly - there are none that are truly that obvious. Her hair is coming in curly and think and has a red tint to it. She is quickly moving out of 6-9 months and entering into 12 month clothes. Still has tiny feet though - size 2! She loves music and loves to dance. Her favorite toy is anything that belongs to Aiden - oops! She loves the dogs and bosses them around by wagging her little finger at them - so cute.

The sleeping through the night thing was getting a little better, only getting up once for a bottle and then going right back to sleep. However, now teething has begun again and she is up a lot. We did Motrin last night. She has a runny nose and spots on her little face which all point to teething for sure. I think I can see the little white nubs coming in - 2 to be exact, her top teeth. We are still having too many poopy diapers as well. We have changed her to soy formula and that seems to be helping some.

We are heading to Virginia on Saturday to visit family. Unfortunately, Eric's grandma passed away Friday so we are going to her memorial service. Aiden just adored Grandma Lamb. We haven't had the heart to tell him that she passed away yet. I am hoping little Mia is feeling a little better for the flight. I might go to the doctor this week just to make sure her ear infection has cleared up.

Aiden is doing well in school. He is in Mrs. Melissa's class this year. There are only 5 children in the class this year. Four boys and one girl - poor little girl! They are expecting to add more as time goes by. He seems to be enjoying it. He is going five days a week this year from 8-12. Aiden is the kind of kid who needs things going. Sitting around the house is not for him. It brings the Dennis the Menace out in him - ugh.

I have been trying to get back to running. Mia does pretty well in the nursery. She cries a little but usually ends up playing with the other babies and doing just fine. If she is having a day when she just doesn't want to be away from Mama then we just cut our workouts short. I was up to 6 miles before we left for Ethiopia and now I struggle to make it to 3. I think it may be the lack of sleep and not eating properly. I did take out some time for myself this weekend. Eric watched the kids and I went for a cut/color and pedicure. It kinda turned out to be a disaster but it was still nice to have some peace and time for myself. I have to admit, I felt so weird being without Mia. I missed her terribly. I am used to being away from Aiden now with school and stuff but Mia has been attached to my hip for the past month - literally. I still wouldn't trade it for the world.

It has actually been a little cooler here. It got down to 57 last night. Eric set the tent outside in the backyard and him and Aiden went "camping." They played music, told spooky stories and ate marshmallows. No camp fire though. I don't know if I am ready for all that.

Aiden's First Day of School

2009-08-23T09:48:00.002-05:00

Summertime Fun

2009-08-14T08:25:00.003-05:00

A Shower For Mia

2009-08-12T16:17:00.012-05:00

Today Eric's job had a shower to help us welcome home Mia. We got a lot of great things. An adorable diaper bag, lots of diapers, stuffed animals, great books, cute clothes, a baby sling, a cart cover just to mention a few things. Thank you to everyone at the Hospital Association for getting this wonderful party together for us. Aiden also appreciated the "big brother" gifts as well.

We also put the finishing touches on Mia's room last night. Her letters are now up and just look perfect.

Camera is Now Working

2009-08-10T13:29:00.004-05:00

We got the camera to work on the new/old lap top. Here are a couple of cute pictures to share.

Technical Difficulties

2009-08-06T12:40:00.004-05:00

Where have we been? Well....Aiden was running through the kitchen, tripped on our laptop power cord and it busted the computer! We do have a back-up computer but it doesn't have our digital camera software loaded on it yet and it does not take a memory card. So although we have cute pictures to share, we are unable to share them just yet. We will get is all straightened out. Our hard drive is being downloaded on to some cds as we speak and I will get the camera thing sorted out soon.

So how are we doing? We are all doing great! Mia went to the doctor for her first official check up. She already gained 1 lb and now is at 19 lbs! She is 27 inches long. Her skin is almost all cleared up. Her ear still had a lot of fluid so we are doing ear drops to break it up a bit and to see if there is really a hole in her ear drum. She got shots and blood taken, which we are still waiting to hear the results on. Her TB skin test was negative. We are still have "poo issues." We are switching her from the colic formula to the regular stuff to see if that helps a bit. She has begun to wave hi and bye and gives the best wet baby kisses ever. She blows kisses and plays peak-a-boo. She also loves to play "how big is Mia? She is still not sleeping through the night - sigh! She still wakes up for one bottle for sure but some nights she is up more than others. She has been able to find her pacifier a couple of times and put herself back to sleep which is progress. I guess I am just never going to get good sleeping babies - ugh!

Aiden is still loving her. They have fun playing together. She likes to watch him and laughs a big tummy laugh at him when he does something crazy. He does have to be reminded to be gentle at times but I don't think he realizes his own strength. He also went to his check up as well. He is in the 95% for height and 98% for weight. He was very proud of the fact that he peed in the cup. He was a tough man for his finger prick and is a fast bleeder, it took 3 band-aids to stop the bleeding! He had to get 2 shots in his arms - ouch! He cried of course but the lollipop and sticker helped ease the pain. He then got a happy meal to celebrate his doctor's visit being over - lol! He goes back to school on August 17th and is very excited. It will be weird to not have him around. He will be in the 4 year old program next year which means going 5 days a week from 8 - 12.

My strep throat is coming back - ugh! I have a message for the doctor hopefully he can give me some stronger drugs. Eric is on a business trip but I am surviving doing it alone - glad he is coming home tonight. Four hands are definitely better than just two especially getting the kids ready for bed. I even successfully took them both to the pool this week by myself. Mia still prefers me to anyone else and wants to be carried a lot which makes getting anything done around the house kind of hard. I know this phase will pass and she will be walking around soon. She is surfing on the furniture and crawls all over and gets into everything!

I hope to get some pictures on here soon - stay tuned for major cuteness!

Kids are Great - Mom and Dad Both Sick

2009-07-22T21:23:00.003-05:00

So it looks like Eric and I returned from Ethiopia with more than just our beautiful girl. Thankfully it is not too serious. I have strep throat which I haven't had since I was 8 years old and I forgot how painful it is. Eric has a nasty spider bite which is infected with strep (I like to share) and he also has a sinus infection. We both went to the doctor today and are on antibiotics so hopefully it will clear up quickly.

The kids seem to be fine. We took Mia to the doctor as soon as we came home and she is on three different medications for a parasite, a fungal infection and a nasty ear infection which actually left a hole in her ear drum! She still is a remarkable girl. Her adjustment is going perfectly. She is really enjoying exploring her world now. She is crawling up a storm and can go really fast. She already calls me mama - which is so cute. She recognizes her name. She loves the dogs. She is definitely a mama's girl which I don't mind at all. She will go to people for a second but then wants to come back to me. She is very sweet and loving but is also very active and gets into everything!

Aiden is adjusting well to being a big brother. He keeps saying how she is much smaller than he expected and also says she is a lot cuter than her picture. We let him push her stroller when we took our dogs for a walk. He was being the proud big brother and showing Mia off to all of his little friends. We have had some slight issues with him sleeping. He keeps getting up in the middle of the night and wandering around the house. We find him on our floor, in Mia's room on the floor or on the dog's bed! Because he is not sleeping well he is exhausted at night and falls asleep before we even get a chance to give him a bath. I think that he is just excited and eventually he will get a good nights sleep again.

Our trip to Ethiopia was one we will never forget. It was truly an amazing experience. Getting to see where our daughter came from and having the chance to meet her mother was extraordinary. We realize now how much we take for granted in our every day life. This adoption experience was more than I could have ever dreamed of and we have a beautiful daughter to boot - jackpot!

We Are Home

2009-07-20T22:51:00.001-05:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Leaving On A Jet Plane

2009-07-07T15:34:00.004-05:00

We are sitting in the airport waiting to board our first flight. So far our first flight to Houston is already delayed and we probably will not make our connection to London - oh what fun!

We also are having technical difficulties with downloading pictures. We took Eric's laptop with us and it doesn't have a place for us to load in the memory card! We do have our cord for the camera but it seems to go through the steps to load it onto the computer but then we can't find where it is???? We are hoping to figure things out but we might not be able to share pictures with you until we get home - bummer!

2009-07-07T15:34:00.001-05:00

Family Day Celebrations

2009-07-05T21:54:00.007-05:00

So since we will be in Ethiopia for Aiden's family day (the day we took custody of him and officially became his parents) we decided to celebrate this past weekend. We got him a couple of surprises, took him to Chuck E Cheese and then ended the night at Cold Stone Creamery. We had a blast! Happy 4th Family Day Aiden - we love you!

Our final preparations are being made for our big trip. We are pretty much packed. We ended up having 4 bags and two carry-ons each. I must say this was a hard trip to pack for. Holt told us to kind of think of it like we are packing for a camping trip. That actually helped and once I thought like that I was able to decide better what to bring.

On our conference call with Holt on Thursday we found out a little more about our trip. We will be able to meet Mia Zinash on Friday morning. Saturday will be spent with her as well. We learned that we can even help and watch the nannies give her a bath and put her to bed to learn her routine if we would like. Sunday we will be making the trip to Durame. It will be an overnight trip. We will return to Addis on Monday and spend more time with Mia Zinash. On Tuesday after our visa appointment we will be able to bring Mia Zinash back to our hotel where she will stay with us the rest of the time until we leave Ethiopia on Thursday night.

My parents arrived today with a billion of the cutest little outfits! This little girl has a ton of clothes. I may have to change her 3 times a day so she can get to wear all her cute little outfits.

As you can see we signed up for Twitter and we are going to try to Tweet from Ethiopia. We will do our best to blog and tweet so you all can follow us on this exciting journey to our daughter.

Swim Meet

2009-06-30T08:59:00.003-05:00

Aiden swam in his first and only meet of the season. They had the little ones swim across the shallow end of the pool with a coach in front of them at all times. Aiden was not in this group, he was actually part of the relay team who had to swim across the entire length of the pool in the deep end! Our little fish made it across the entire pool, bopping up for air just a couple of times. At the end, he was awarded a blue ribbon which he and buddy Hollin are holding proudly. To celebrate we took him to Chick Fil A for dinner.

Unfortunately, I am starting to get a cold of all things. I took some NyQuil last night and had the best night's sleep I have had in a long time. I think we will might skip the gym and pool today and maybe later go do a little shopping for our trip.

Checking Things off The List

2009-06-29T07:44:00.003-05:00

We made good progress this weekend with our "to do" list. We did some touch-ups to the paint in the house. We set-up a bed in Mia's room, which used to be our guest room, so my parents will have a place to stay while they are here. We got some temporary curtains hung up in the nursery. I have ordered cute pink and white polka dot black out curtains but they won't be here until mid July. Eric was able to fix both of our lap-tops so we can leave one here for my parents and take one with us to Ethiopia. We looked at the Ethiopian Guidebook and made sure we had all of our paperwork in order to take with us on our trip.

We also made time for some fun with friends at a craw fish boil. The highlight to Aiden's day was riding on their 4 wheeler. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so we got no pictures - darn.

Tonight is Aiden's big swim meet. I promise to take pictures of that so you can all see our little fish in action - Go Sea Lions!

A Little About our Trip

2009-06-26T08:47:00.004-05:00

When we finally make it to Addis on Thursday their will be a Holt representative waiting for us to drive us to the Union Hotel. We will check in and rest a bit that day. Friday, once everyone from our travel group arrives, we will be brought over to where the babies are and after an orientation and schedule of events we will be able to meet Mia Zinash for the first time. Friday and Saturday will be spent just hanging out with Mia and getting to know her a bit. Sunday the center in closed. Tuesday is our visa appointment and after we pass we will be able to bring Mia back with us to the hotel and she is finally ours!

The trip to Durame/birth family meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. We hope to have some clarification on this in our conference call next Thursday. Durame is an overnight trip which means we will get back to Addis sometime on Thursday and we are flying home Thursday night. Also, Mia Zinash will not be coming with us. So, that would mean that we would have her Tuesday night, bring her back to the center on Wednesday, she would spend the night at the center on Wednesday night and then we will get her back on Thursday and then we will leave. I hope this doesn't mess her up too much. I REALLY want to go to Durame but Eric is nervous that the bus will break down or something and we will miss our return flight.

Holt has planned different sight seeing activities for us to do as a group while we are in Ethiopia. They will take us shopping, to museums and out for a traditional Ethiopian meals and we will get to hear Ethiopian music with dancing. For these outings Mia Zinash will stay at the care center as the Ethiopia Government does not want us as adoptive families to take our children out in public. Ethiopians do not really understand adoption and although we have heard nothing but wonderful things about the Ethiopian people and their hospitality, we must respect the fact that this would be a taboo thing for them to see and might be rather upsetting.

We did get a little bit of information from another mom who returned from Ethiopia a week ago. It seems that Zinash and her little one had cribs right next to each other. She told me that Zinash is a pretty easy going baby (yes). She said she only had one melt-down while they were visiting and it was only because she wanted to be held (awwwwww). She also told me that Zinash is petite for sure and will definitely start out in 9 month sizes - opps! So, off to the stores for more shopping.

Now we have to tackle some projects around the house, a whole bunch of paperwork for our agency and packing. Someone from our agency has created a packing list to be used as a guideline to follow for our trip. It is 4 pages long - I am wondering how many bags that would make - ugh!

Flights Confirmed

2009-06-24T16:41:00.002-05:00

We have confirmed our flights. The schedule is brutal. We leave Jackson, Mississippi on July 7th in the afternoon. From there we fly to Houston, Texas for our first lay over. We then travel on to London, England where we will have a 12 hour lay over! We are going to check our bags and go out and do a little sight seeing while we are in England. Eric has been twice before but this is my first time. Our travel agent told us that their airport provides transportation passes for people that went to do a little sightseeing while they are waiting to board their next flight. Ironically, Eric was originally going to be in London around the same time for work. We will leave London in evening on July 8th and will reach our final destination Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 9th at 7:20 am. For the return flights we will be leaving Addis on Thursday, July 16th 10:25 pm. We will then fly to Amsterdam on Friday, July 17th in the morning. We will arrive in Houston, Texas on July 17th in early afternoon and will FINALLY make it back to Jackson, Mississippi at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17th. We used Holt's recommended travel agency which is the same person who helped us book our tickets for our trip to Korea to bring Aiden home 4 years ago. They were able to get us pretty good rates on our tickets and have also been able to get us confirmed seats together on all of our flights, going and coming back.

Now that the flights are squared away we are working on the billion of other things we need to do before we leave. I have begun making lists (at 3 am nonetheless) to try to keep organized and not forget anything. I am beginning to feel overwhelmed but I am just going to take one thing at a time and cross things out as I go.

Aiden is still enjoying swim team. He will swim in his final meet on June 29th. He is doing so well and really loves it. It has been 100 degrees here for the last couple of days and we have had no rain. The pool is no longer refreshing it is just wet. So, we have been spending our mornings at the pool/gym and the afternoons running errands or watching movies. It is just too hot to do anything else.

Travel Dates

2009-06-22T17:38:00.006-05:00

Well we found out from Holt today that we made it into travel group #20. We will be leaving for Ethiopia on July 8th so we could arrive in the evening of July 9th. Mia Zinash's visa appointment is on July 14th. It is ironic that we got this visa date as this is a very special date for our family.

July 14, 1995 Eric asked me to marry him

July 14, 2005 We officially took custody of Aiden

July 14, 2009 Mia Zinash is officially given her US Visa to come home

We are all very excited. I told Aiden we finally found out today that we were able to bring Mia home and he stood up in the chair, pumped his little fists in the air and said "yes." Let's hope he continues to have the same enthusiasm when his little sister is chewing on all his toys - lol!

We are still trying to finalize tickets and things so when we know for sure we will let you know. Thanks for all your prayers and support and continue sending them our way.

A Girl Needs Accessories

2009-06-18T08:41:00.013-05:00

I found the CUTEST head bands on line for Mia Zinash from http://www.youruniquebowtique.com/index.html. The little pale pink flower headband will go perfectly with the dress grandma sent her yesterday. Shopping for a girl is so much fun!

What Can Brown Do For You?

2009-06-17T21:06:00.008-05:00

At times I wonder how much Aiden really "gets" about what is about to happen to our family. We have been talking about this new baby, a sister, for a year now and I am sure it is an abstract idea to him at this point. Lately as we get her room ready and start buying clothes and toys for her, Aiden has started getting more interested in the whole idea. The other day he said out of the blue "has it been a very long time mama?" I thought he was referring to the time that had elapsed from his last snack so I of course asked "for what baby?" He replied, "For Mia to come home?" How sweet he is actually thinking of her unprompted and out of the blue. Today UPS delivered a package to the door. Aiden brought it in to me and said, "What is it Mama? What is it?" I said, "I don't know baby we need to open it up and see." To which he replied, "Maybe Mia is in there!" If it were only that easy. Well, it wasn't Mia but it was an awesome care package from Grandma and Papa filled with cute outfits for Mia and a very cool outfit for Aiden to which he replied, "awesome!" I think Mia has a pretty awesome big brother to come home to.

Didn't make it into June's Travel Group

2009-06-10T17:02:00.002-05:00

A couple of families found out today that they will be in the next travel group leaving on 6/25 for Ethiopia. We were not part of that group unfortunately. I guess we are still waiting then. Rumor has it that there will be another travel group leaving on 7/9 so I guess we will be included in that group. Only a couple more weeks away. I was just hoping that we would get to bring Zinash home this month - oh well.

Nursery So Far

2009-06-09T15:16:00.002-05:00

Eric finished putting together the nursery furniture. We were both very pleased with how sturdy it is and how nice it looks. We ordered it over the internet sight unseen so we were a little nervous about what to expect. But it turned out great and is the kind of furniture that will definitely last until probably the teenage years maybe beyond. The drawers are roomy and on nice pulls that open and close nicely.

I have a couple of things that I am still waiting on. We ordered some curtains from The Company Store. They are pink and white polka dot - so cute. We are also waiting on the curtain rod that we ordered from Target that are little pink and green butterflies. Aiden's car bed will take a twin size mattress (he is still using his crib mattress) so we are going to swap that out with a twin mattress so the baby can use the crib mattress. I also am still waiting on the letters to use above her crib and the changing pad. I have a couple of ideas for some other art projects as well.

We still have not been given our travel dates as of yet. Rumor has it that we should hear something by the end of the week and we should be going towards the end of the month. I haven't starting packing or any of that yet. I work better under pressure. I think we are pretty on track as of now. I am hoping we will be given a good two weeks notice of our trip so my parents can have time to get down here and we can have time to pack and things like that.

Preparations Coming Along

2009-06-02T07:31:00.005-05:00

So far, so good. First coat of paint is up in the nursery. It looks great - one more coat to do this afternoon and we should be done. We were notified yesterday from JcPenny that the furniture has arrived, so we are going to be picking that up tonight. I have ordered the lamp to go with her bedding and some cute little butterflies to go on the walls. I also found a company that will paint your wooden letters to match your bedding. We went with the letters that hang from the ribbons and the company is going to paint them to match the polka dots in the bedding. We got the car seat, as shown above, all cleaned up with new pads and did the same for the high chair - they look like new! We also have been receiving some gifts and things from our friends. Our friends Melissa and Jeff got her first Ole Miss outfit to wear to the games - it is so cute!

We have not received our travel dates as of yet. We did find out yesterday that our agency has started arranging for families to make the trip out to Durame to visit the orphanage that our little one spent most of her time. We also may meet the birth family if all parties agree. We are going to make both the trip and invite the birth family to come out for a meeting. We hope they can make it - what a wonderful and unique experience to meet them and be able to tell our daughter about them. And also they will get to see the family that has been chosen to raise their child. Also, the trip to Durame will give us a chance to meet the nannies that cared and adored Zinash for the last couple of months and thank them for all they do. We will also get a chance to see the "real" Ethiopia, the countryside.

We have been starting to think more about our trip and where we will leave from. I had really hoped that we would be able to come to Richmond first with Aiden and leave him there and travel onto DC and leave from Dulles, but it looks like this might not be able to work. Our agency really wants all the families to try to arrive around the same time as it is easier for the folks in Ethiopia. We are also very concerned about losing luggage, being delayed and not making it to the flight home out of Richmond and also most importantly what would be best for Zinash. It might be better for us to get her home as soon as possible so she can start getting used to her new life, family and home.

She is Ours!!!!

2009-05-29T16:08:00.004-05:00

Our agency e-mailed us today and informed us that we passed court - our little girl is officially ours. Her name will be Mia Zinash Paynter. I still don't feel comfortable posting her picture just yet but don't worry I will put a ton of pictures of her on here once we bring her home. So, now we are waiting for our visa appointment (travel dates). Holt informed us that they get two of these a month. I know our agency has a rather large travel group heading out June 10th so I guess they we will be getting another visa appointment at the end of the month. So we will be traveling to pick up Mia at the end of June beginning of July. So now the baby preparations are on! Her bathroom is done and looks so cute. And this weekend we will be painting her room. We hope to get her furniture in at the beginning of next week. I have bought her some clothes. Some of you have asked us about sizes and I am not really sure. Last we heard she was 14 lbs. but that was two months ago. I have bought her 9 months clothes to bring her home in and 12 months clothes for her to have once she gets here. So we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and just focus on the preparations now (the fun stuff). Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts.

Clean Up Weekend

2009-05-26T13:00:00.004-05:00

Well as fore casted it rained the entire Memorial Day Weekend. But we did get a lot done on our clean-up efforts as we get ready for our little lady bug to join us. We cleared all the baby stuff out of the attic. I washed everything down and it is all in pretty good condition - like new. We ordered a new slip cover for the high chair and a new cover, cushion and harness set for the car seat. I also found some adorable bathroom stuff for our little lady bug's sink which is right off her room. We cleared out the guest room and now have a box spring under our bed and a mattress in our front closet - don't ask. We painted Aiden's sink and bathroom a bright and cheery green color - it came out cute - stay tuned for some pictures. I am still waiting for our nursery bedding which should arrive today. Once we get that I will pick out a color for the baby's room and sink. Her bedding is bright pink and green so I am hoping to do the sink the same color as Aiden's and then do the room in a soft green. One of the most awesome things is that we came across my wedding dress in the attic. I dared to try it on and guess what??? 13 years later and it still fits!!!! Aiden saw me and said I looked like a princess and he wanted to take a picture of me - how sweet.

We did get some news from the last travel group that just arrived home from Ethiopia with their children. A family that traveled out to Durame, which is where Holt's in take center is located, tracked down our little one. It was reported by the nannies at the in take center that our little girl eats and sleeps well. Her name means "glory" and is one of the nannies' favorite children - how sweet is that? I also found out from the three families that traveled that a group of 13 children were moved from Durame to Addis which is the babies final stop before being united with their forever families. Although it cannot be 100% confirmed it is highly likely that our little girl was in the group that was moved. This update is just what we needed to get us going through the long weekend. We really hope to hear something about a court date this week. Holt said that they think families will hear when their court dates are at the beginning of June - well that is next week!

Updates & Aiden's Last Day

2009-05-20T09:33:00.002-05:00

Today was Aiden's last day of pre-school. They had a party and he brought his teachers gifts. He also got to wear the special t-shirt Grandma just bought him.

Before we left for our little getaway we got an e-mail from Holt saying that they were missing some of our paperwork. Of course the paperwork they were missing was one we had to get notarized. So, we got that taken care of yesterday and we are straight as of now. Holt also sent the court approved relinquishment paperwork on our little girl. Everything was translated for us. It was very interesting to read and we found out a little more information about our little ones situation.

We also got an alert message from Holt explaining some sad issues going on in Addis. It appears that a couple of adoption agency have been accused of some shady business with their operations. Because of this the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) has suspended the agencies relinquishment cases that were scheduled to be heard in court. Holt is not involved in any of the investigations so I do not think this will impact us at all. Holt has continued to have families cases heard and pass throughout this entire ordeal. In fact, two Holt families who received their referrals around the same time we did (one the same day, one the week after) got randomly selected to go through court. Therefore, they did not even know their case was going to be heard. They just got a call from Holt saying that their children were legally theirs and they now expect to travel in about 2 weeks to get them. I guess with some cases being put on hold it has freed up court time and so other cases got pushed through. I am not sure if this is just a random thing or if they will continue doing this while their load is so light. I am just hoping our case will be heard before court closure in August.

I finally decided on baby bedding and ordered it yesterday. We will spend our first official weekend of the summer painting. Not too fun but it is supposed to be raining here all weekend anyway. Once the nursery is painted I will let you all take a peak.

Savannah & Hilton Head Pictures

2009-05-20T09:22:00.001-05:00

Shots on Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-06T08:31:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately it was not the tequila kind. After searching the entire state of Mississippi for a Yellow Fever vaccine (apparently there is a shortage) we finally located a travel doctor. We ended up getting 4 shots each - 2 in each arm. The worst part of it wasn't the pain but the money they cost (insurance covers none of it). The nurse said we may get fever and aches from the shots and we should plan to take it easy for the next couple of days. We are both feeling just fine except for the fact that is feels like someone punched us in the arms. Aiden got a kick out of mom and dad getting shots and him not having to get any.

It has been a month now since we got our referral. Tomorrow our little one turns 8 months. I am starting to feel very impatient and just want our court date already. Our agency said it may be a few more weeks before we hear anything. Courts will be closed from August 5Th until September so we hope we can get our case heard before they close. Court cases are heard 2 1/2 - 3 months after a referral is received. Court dates are assigned anywhere from 4 - 10 weeks after you receive your referral.

There is a group leaving for Ethiopia next week to go get their children. The Czarnecki family, here is their blog http://czarneckis.blogspot.com/ is leaving this Friday to do some site seeing. They will be making the trip to Durame where our sweetie is currently located. They have graciously offered to give our little girl some lovin' from us. We are so grateful for their offer and hope they have a wonderful and safe trip.

Holt did send us an e-mail last week saying that they received our family album and it has been approved and they will send it to Ethiopia for us. We did go to Babies R Us last weekend. We looked at some of their cribs and dressers but they honestly looked very cheaply made. We did eye a stroller we liked and picked up a cute little onsie for our girl that says "little sister." We are holding off on getting anything big like furniture just yet. The plan is to wait for our court date and then begin the real preparations. Like getting her room ready and buying the baby items we need.

Meanwhile Eric and I leave for Savannah, Georgia next week for a little getaway. His parents are coming to stay with Aiden while we are gone. We will be staying in Savannah for one night and then we will be going to South Carolina to attend Eric's board meeting. Aiden's school year is coming to an end already. His last day is on May 20th. So we have lots of activities approaching and we will just try to keep busy and maybe that will make the time go faster.

Retail Therapy

2009-04-27T09:41:00.003-05:00

No news on our court date yet. We are hoping to hear something maybe at the beginning of next month. I have been trying to hold off buying anything but couldn't resist these good deals. I bought a 12 month size and figured if they didn't fit little Z then we would leave them in Addis for other children to enjoy.

Family Welcome Album

2009-04-27T09:33:00.001-05:00

We created a Family Welcome Album for our little girl. Holt will send it to Ethiopia for us. It was fun to make and maybe it will help in our girl's adjustment.

KidsFest 2009

2009-04-20T08:41:00.006-05:00

We got an update already!

2009-04-17T10:37:00.002-05:00

We were so excited to have already gotten an update on our sweet girl. The director of our agency was visiting Ethiopia last week and brought back an update for everyone with referrals - how wonderful is that? Now we have pictures of our little beauty in a consecutive row - 5 months, 6 months and 7 months. She is getting to be quite chunky which is wonderful since she was only 9 lbs when she was brought into the center at 5 months! Her hair is growing in now and it looks like it will be really pretty, soft and curly. Her eyelashes are super long. She wasn't smiling in any of the three pictures we received. She looked a little confused - like what are you doing? The pictures also were not straight on. They were of her profile which was kind of disappointing but she is still beautiful nonetheless. It looks like her health is well - she is being treated for a skin infection which is that spot on her chin that we noticed in her first picture. As far as her milestones, it looks like she is right on target for her age. She is rolling over and trying to crawl. She is also babbling and likes to play with her toys. The report did say that although she would smile when she played with her toys, she is a bit "reserved." Poor baby is going to have to get over that since nothing about her big brother is reserved. I e-mailed our agency to see if we can get her most recent height and weight but they were unable to help me as they did not have this information either. They said we will continue to receive updates on our little one. If the information is not in the next couple of updates they will contact Ethiopia for us. Especially as we get closer to court/travel. So I will hold off buying her any clothes right now until we get a little closer.

We are putting together a family album for her that our agency will forward to Ethiopia for us. We also are trying to get our shots done but have to wait a couple weeks since the local travel clinic has no more yellow fever vaccinations and they don't expect anymore in until the end of the month. No biggie as long as we get them 6 weeks before we leave we will be fine. No more news on when we will get her yet. We will have a better idea when we get our court date. It looks like most families wait anywhere from 9 weeks to 17 weeks to go to court and then they would travel about 2 - 4 weeks later. I am still guessing our court date will be sometime in July and we will travel in August if we pass the first time. One out of five families do not pass the first time and have to wait another 4 to 6 weeks for another court date. I am praying this doesn't happen but I am also preparing myself for the possibility. At least we know our sweet little girl seems to be thriving and content in her current living situation.

Zoo Pictures

2009-04-11T04:49:00.003-05:00

Okay these pictures are from 2 summers ago taken at the Zoo while visiting our friends the Petersen's. Kim was cleaning off her camera and found them and sent them yesterday. Look at how little Aiden was? It is times like these that you realize how fast they grow up - sniff, sniff. Where did my baby go?????

Spring Time

2009-04-10T09:19:00.002-05:00

Every year little brown wrens lay their nest in our bird house on our back deck. Over the last couple of weeks we have seen the mommy and daddy bird working tirelessly to feed their babies. Yesterday, the little birds left their next to try out flying for the first time. They were so cute - trying to get a hang of it. It was really like watching a baby take those first steps. After working all afternoon all four little babies made it over our tall fence out into the world. Above is a picture of them before they decided to leave their nest taken yesterday morning.

We also celebrated the Memorial of Jesus Death last night. We had the later memorial which wasn't until 8:40 p.m. The pictures of us were from last night. Aiden was so proud of the fact that he helped pass the wine without spilling it.

Also, I have included a picture of the beautiful flowers my parents sent us. Thanks mom and dad - they are still beautiful almost a week later.

In adoption news, we got all of our paperwork yesterday from Holt. We have to sign and notarize our agreements and send them back with our check which we are trying to get done today. The next step will be waiting for Holt to send us our court date. This usually occurs 2 - 3 months after the referral is assigned. One out of five families have to redo this at least once because of missing information. If we do pass the first time we will get travel dates which usually will occur about ten days after you pass court. If we do not pass we will have to wait 4 - 6 more weeks for a new court date. We hope things go smoothly the first time and get to bring our little girl home sometime late Summer.

The Call

2009-04-07T09:53:00.002-05:00

Okay so I have composed myself from yesterday,somewhat, and wanted to give the details of how we got "the call." So yesterday was our 13Th Wedding Anniversary. We actually celebrated our Anniversary on Saturday night with a 6 course dinner at a French restaurant it was awesome! Getting back to "the call," Aiden has been battling his allergies and was not his usual energetic self yesterday. He actually even took a nap which he NEVER does these days. So, I was able to watch Oprah without any interruptions. The topic yesterday was about Motherhood - ironic? Oprah was just about over and it was almost 5 o'clock when the phone rang. I assumed it would be Eric's daily call telling me he is leaving work and asking if we need anything from the store. I looked at the caller ID briefly assuming it would be Eric and saw it. Finally what I had been hoping to see now for the last 3 weeks - it said Holt. I thought to myself - "no, this is not happening today! It can't be. It is too perfect." I answered the phone and it was Jennifer from Holt and we said our how do you dos. She then said what I had been hoping she would say, "I have good news for you." At this point I started hyperventilating in the quietest way possible of course so she didn't think I was totally nuts. I heard my phone beep on the other line It was Eric calling to tell me he was coming home (I didn't switch over - sorry honey). Jennifer told me our baby's age and African name and told me she would e-mail us all the information. I said, "good, because I don't think I could write right now." As soon as I hung up the phone rang back and it was Eric (I forgot he was calling on the other line again, sorry honey). At this point I was really hyperventilating,shaking and crying. I told him - "you are not going to believe what just happened." He was starting to get concerned and said "honey are you okay?" I finally got out "yes, I am wonderful. We just got our referral!" After a couple of minutes of me trying to remember to breath and us both saying we can't believe it, we hung up. I kept checking to see if our e-mail was coming through (I was waiting for Eric to open it up of course). I hit the refresh button about a million times. Eric came home with champagne and bubbling cider for Aiden to celebrate. At this point we still hadn't received the e-mail. I knew Holt was going to be closing for the day in about 15 minutes so I called Jennifer back and left her a message telling her we hadn't received our baby's picture yet. I asked her if she could send the information to Eric's work e-mail thinking the file was too big to come through our home e-mail's server. I hoped that Jennifer hadn't already left for the day because I did not think I would be able to wait all night and half the morning to see our girl's picture. Jennifer called me back a few minutes later and sent the e-mail to Eric's work address and it came through. The three of us waited as we pulled her picture up. Aiden was so cute saying "who is it going to be? who is it going to be?" And then we pulled up the first three pictures. These pictures were of her when she was first brought to the center. Her head was shaved and she was lying on her back and she had a little boo boo on her chin. But she had the prettiest big black eyes I had ever seen. She also has the daintiest most proportionate features. Aiden was like "yeah okay can I play Play-do now?" Eric and I read over her information and everything looked good. She looked pretty big. The only concern we had was the boo boo on her chin, which her report did not mention at all. I then started making the calls and while on the phone with my mom Eric scrolled over and noticed two more pictures we hadn't seen. He opened them up and there she was. So beautiful and perfect. Sitting up in a little chair and smiling. She was propped between a pillow and teddy bear and was wearing a little pink dress. She looked so happy and chubby and by the way her chin is perfect - no boo boo or even a scar. Aiden came back over and we said, "what do you think about your little sister. Isn't she cute?" Aiden giggled and nodded yes. He then followed up with "Dad can you come play with me in my room now?" So while Eric and I are so excited about our new addition, Aiden needs some more time. We have told our agency we will accept our referral. Stay tuned for an explanation of what happens next.

Best Anniversary Present Ever!!!!

2009-04-06T19:47:00.001-05:00

We just received a referral for the prettiest baby girl! She will be 7 months old tomorrow. I am not allowed to share pictures with you all on here you will have to stay tuned to see us in our family shot with her. More details will follow.....

Happy Anniversary

2009-04-03T18:38:00.002-05:00

Love you always.....

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Spring is Here

2009-03-23T12:45:00.002-05:00

Well our first weekend home in the past two weeks and the weather was beautiful. We were able to get much needed yard work done. I doubt we will win yard of the month but it looks good.

On the adoption front, things have been moving quickly. When we started the month we were told we were #12. The month of March has been really busy for referrals, so upon checking our number today, we were given the #5 spot! I cannot believe how fast things are moving. I hope they continue. The referral that was given out on
Friday was given to a family who was only waiting 6 months. We have been waiting for 5 months. As for the families waiting before us, one is for sure requesting a boy (our current #1 waiter on the yahoo group) and one is requesting a girl (officially given the #3 spot) - all are looking for infants like us. So there really is no way to tell for sure if we will get our referral in the next batch. I am holding out hope to get our referral in April since it is the month we got Aiden's referral, its our Anniversary month and also it would put us traveling in the late summer/early fall and before court closures. I still am feeling a lot calmer this time. I guess because I know this part of the process is out of our control so all we can do is sit back and wait and hope things continue to progress the way they have been. I will update you as soon as I hear of any more referrals. It is starting to get exciting though. Just think somewhere on the other side of the world our little girl may already have been born.......

Trip to New Orleans

2009-03-19T09:26:00.002-05:00

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Went headed to New Orleans for a long weekend with our friends, the Walters. David was coming to town for a conference and since it is just a short drive for us we figured we would meet them for some fun. The Walters got out there on Saturday morning. It was pouring! I mean buckets of rain! We decided to brave the weather and walk down to the restaurant Mother's that is famous for their ham and sandwiches which have something called "debris" on it. You may have seen the place featured on Food Network's show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, that is where we all saw it. Anyway we waited out in the rain under some umbrellas and all got soaked but it was worth it. The "debris" as they call it, is the stuff that is in the bottom of the pan after the ham is done baking. I can describe the sandwich in one word "wonderful."

After changing out of our soaked clothes, we headed to Bourbon Street (relax people it was only 12 noon). We got some hurricanes to go from Pat O'Brien's and got the kids some virgin slushies from one of those Daiquiri places. We looked in the shops, bought beads, tried on silly hats, tried Pralines and took a carriage ride all in the pouring rain. We even were able to see some of a parade where the boys collected so many beads (I think like 50 each). Don't worry no flashing anything except their cuteness! We finished the evening with another wonderful meal where I had the best French Onion Soup I had ever tasted. One funny story to share; at the restaurant sitting next to us was a family with a little girl who was adopted from China. She must have been 5 or 6 and really cute. She had no beads so Aiden decided to give her some of his. I guess he was smitten with her because he was all nervous and stuttering and went up to her and looked back at us and whispered very loudly "what should I say?" It was so cute.

The next day the weather man, whose last name was of all thing Smiley, said that it would not be a wash out just take your umbrellas when you head out in case of a lite passing shower. We headed out and the sun was actually out so we went down to the River Walk and decided to get something to eat. After sitting through the longest lunch I have ever had (very slow service). It started to pour again. This was not a lite passing shower people it was pouring buckets! We took the kids on the street car and headed towards the garden district to see all the pretty houses. It poured the whole time.

David headed to his conference and we walked back to the French Market in the rain. One thing about New Orleans is the best way to see it and experience it is on foot but in the pouring rain this was just miserable. The boys were troopers though and we made it to the market just to find that everything was closed. We ducked into the first restaurant we saw to get out of the rain. I guess we should have researched this part a little better. Here we are in the city with some of the best tasting food ever and we end up picking one of the worst restaurants ever. The service was so slow and the boys were starting to get restless. Just when we were about to leave the waiter came over, was super nice and gave some sort of wonderful tasting punch and we thought okay maybe this won't be as bad as we thought. We finally ordered our food and while gone on a bathroom trip with Aiden, the waiter came back and told Eric that they had run out of what I had ordered. Eric told him that I would be right back and could he check back with us in a few minutes. Finally after everyone was half finished with their food, the waiter returned to take my order - seriously? I went with the special which was fried chicken figuring this would be fast since it was the special. It came quickly thank goodness, but it was more the size of a pigeon than I chicken I mean tiny! After leaving the restaurant starving we headed to Cafe DuMonde which was wonderful as always. The boys especially liked the powdered sugar. As you can see from the pictures they went a little crazy with it. After that we walked back to the hotel by the way of Royal Street which was much better for the boys as Bourbon Street was beginning to get crazy. After a major Aiden melt down we decided to turn in - hungry.

The next day we headed to Daisy Duke's for breakfast. A little dive place the hotel recommended. We then said goodbye to our friends and headed to the River Walk to take the Street Car down to the French Market. Guess what? Even though the weather man, Smiley, said it would be a beautiful day - it was raining again! Not drizzling but raining sideways - ugh! I looked at Eric after getting soaked again from our morning walk to the street car and said, "I want to go home."

When we got back from New Orleans some friends of ours left us a message asking if we wanted to take a trip with them for a long weekend in April to you guessed it - New Orleans! Eric and I just looked at each other and were like "we'll pass!" I still love the city but it is just no fun in the rain! I am sure we will go back but I need some time to dry out.

Trip to Atlanta

2009-03-10T08:58:00.009-05:00

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We traveled to Atlanta this past weekend to see our niece get baptized. We were so glad to be a part of Caitlin's important day.

After the baptism we took a trip to Stone Mountain Park. It was opening day and packed. They had an exhibit called Snow Atlanta where they had snow making machines and the kids could slide down the hills and make snow balls and play in the snow. It was weird to see the snow since it was 80 degrees outside! Although this looked like a lot of fun we didn't have gloves with us so we opted out of this activity and decided to do the train instead. This was right up Aiden's alley since he has a obsession with Thomas and everything train. He loved it! We then did something they call Sky Hike where they suspended wooden planks and rope that you used to hike around in the sky basically - it was neat - I had never seen anything like that. They had something set up for the littler kids where they could participate but not go up so high. We were astonished at all the things Aiden could do. He even did the "Tarzan Rope" thing where you hold on and swing across on a cable. What a difference a year makes! The last thing we did was a Barn that had tons of activities inside different ropes and slides you can go down. Also, you collect balls and bring them to the top and shoot them out at people which Aiden loved.

We had a great time in Atlanta and were so happy to see the family and spend time with everyone. We also were honored to be a part of Caitlin's special day.

The Wait List

2009-03-05T16:56:00.002-06:00

I finally broke down and e-mailed our agency to get a definite number of where we stand on the wait list. We were told that our family is number 12 in line. As we move closer to the single digits it gets more exciting! It has been reported that our agency is expecting a package in the mail next week from Ethiopia which probably will have some referrals in it. When they receive the package our agency will have to review the files and match families with the children. Usually there are multiple referrals made in the same day but I doubt that our referral will be included in this package as most if not all of the families above us are also waiting for infants. Our agency has informed us that their has been a slow down on assignments currently because there are so many children being brought into the center that they have had to increase their staff and they are focusing on training them. If our referral is not included in this package it would mean another 4 to 6 weeks wait until the next batch of referrals come in. In the meantime we will just hope the people at the top of the wait list will get some good news next week. Some of them have been waiting for 8 months!

Cupcakes

2009-03-04T08:39:00.003-06:00

Today was Aiden's turn to bring in cupcakes for his school. He really loves Thomas the Train and wanted Thomas cupcakes. I found some cute Thomas Cake rings on line. We used different color frosting and put the rings on top of the cupcakes. They came out kinda cute - definitely look homemade. We also added sprinkles and writing icing to some as well. When I dropped them off this morning the kids were so excited.

In adoption news there has been no movement on the list. There were no referrals made for the month of February which was kind of disappointing. When we originally started this process we thought we would get our referral around March. The longest waiters are now going into their 8 month of waiting, so it looks like wait times are certainly increasing. There has been a lot of movement with court passings and travel. Nine families picked up their children last month alone! We are still handling the wait better this time. Probably because we know that we cannot control this part of the process and also Aiden keeps us very busy. We did go to a local baby store last weekend to look at bedding and furniture. I did not fall in love with any furniture but did find a bedding set I like. It is bright and cheery with polka dots and butterflies. I was originally thinking about getting white nursery furniture but most of what they had was dark cherry, espresso and black. I was leaning more towards the espresso but am undecided. I talked to the woman in the store and she told me to allow 6 - 8 weeks for delivery of the furniture. I still would like to wait until we receive our referral before doing anything with the nursery just yet. We did get some news from our agency about what kind of things the in take center needs donation wise. I will post some of the things they need soon. If you would like to contribute, please contact us and we would be happy to arrange to get the items from you. We would bring them with us when we travel to pick up the baby.

Swing Set

2009-02-24T07:45:00.008-06:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After much research we finally decided on a swing set from Lowe's. I was really shell shocked at how expensive some of those play sets or "systems" as they call them are! The set from Lowe's was a fraction of the price of some of the bigger sets, so I was a little apprehensive. When we opened the box the instructions said it would take 16 hours and 2 skilled workers to complete just the tower part of the set - I got scared when I read that! There was so much wood and so many pieces. I guess that is why many people end up calling Lowe's anyway to get them to install it.

Eric just took one step at a time and between last Sunday and this weekend he got it done. He also had some help from our friend Jason which was wonderful - thanks Jason! I must say I am very proud of Eric. He never lost his temper and was just very methodical about every step.

In the end the set may not have all the bells and whistles of the bigger sets but I think Aiden and his friends will get a lot of use of it. We ended up not spending a fortune so we will not feel bad leaving it one day. We also liked the fact that you can add things to it as your children grow. For now we only got the tower, slide and swing set. As Aiden grows, we will add the tunnel and Rock Wall and of course we will be getting the baby swing for our new addition. We plan to put mulch under and around it and we will put railroad ties around the perimeter of the play area. We are going to add a sand box and maybe a picnic table. It comes with a built in sand box but it is so small and has no top to it.

A Song For All You Guys

2009-02-21T19:11:00.003-06:00

Aiden is 4 years old!

2009-02-18T09:05:00.005-06:00

Well, Aiden turned 4 years old today! He was so excited. We asked him what would happen now that he was four he said that he was going to get his driver's license. I am sure that time will come before we know it!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Play Date

2009-02-12T17:13:00.006-06:00

We had a play date with our friends Will and Ian. We took the kids to Pump It Up and they had a blast. Why didn't they have these places when we were kids? The boys jumped and went down the slides and had a great time! Everyone got along and no one got hurt - that is what I call a successful play date!

After lunch, Will and Ian went home and Aiden and I headed to the park. Aiden has certainly gotten over his fear of the swings. A couple of weeks ago he wouldn't even sit on them and now he was letting me push him really high. Then he was pushing me which must have been quite a sight to see. We fed the ducks and watched the turtles sunning themselves - there were even a couple of babies - so cute!

Insert Mommy Brag Here: Aiden won a contest at school yesterday. They had a test to see who could identify their letters the best and Aiden came in first place. He really does blow me away with that stuff. Now to work on his listening skills - ugh!

Some Weekend Fun

2009-02-09T13:08:00.003-06:00

Well it was 77 degrees yesterday here in Mississippi! So, we took advantage of the wonderful weather and took the dogs for a relaxing walk on the Natchez Trace http://www.nps.gov/natt/index.htm Well in true Eric and Lauren fashion our relaxing hike turned into something let's say a little bit different. We found the walking trail, which turns out to be more often used for horse back riding, and parked the car. You could chose between two different directions of the path. We chose our direction and headed on our way. We hoped the direction we had chosen would be scenic and we thought we might even get a glimpse of the nearby Reservoir. Yeah - that did not happen. Instead we were knee deep in sticky bushes, mud and horse poop. But it least it was quiet and Aiden and the dogs were having fun and then the shooting started. Turns out the quiet trail we picked is also directly behind a shooting range training school. Our hike in the woods felt more like we were back in time fighting in one of the wars that had taken place there centuries ago. We continued on our journey for a couple of miles until we realized that the trail was not getting any more scenic and the gun shots were not going to let up and we turned around. The good news is that we made it back in one piece and we realized again - "Toto we are not in Virginia anymore" (insert a big sigh here).

We did get an update from our adoption agency on Friday. Turns out that there were 8 families that received their referrals last month, which is more than we thought. Maybe we are a little higher on the waiting list????

Holt's Blog - Senior VP in Ethiopia

2009-02-04T08:44:00.006-06:00

Currently our agency, Holt International, sent their vice president to Ethiopia to visit both the care center in Addis Ababa as well as the intake center in Durame. Here is what he reported:

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—What an amazing day today! Just back from our first day in Addis where a group of Holt board members and donors are visiting our newest adoption and child welfare program. A day filled with many highs and a few lows.

Highs began in the morning with our visit to the Holt child care center in Addis Ababa. Some of the children greeted us, walking down the front stairs and handing each of us a fresh cut rose. They were all dressed up in their best outfits and all appeared remarkably healthy.

So many great things are happening here at Holt’s programs in Ethiopia. The Holt care center is just over a year in operation and now is the temporary home to some thirty or so children. Most of the children have been matched with adoptive families who will soon travel here to receive their new family members.

The low was listening to Dr. Fikru, Holt’s country director, explain and describe the dire situation of so many other children at our transition center in the south. This is the center where abandoned and orphaned children are brought for care… sounds like there are tremendous needs and very little resource to meet those needs currently.

We’ve spent the last few days in Southern Ethiopia at Holt’s intake care center located in Durame, where we were once again, greeted with smiles and a flower. 50 infants and toddlers now occupy the Durame Center, where the loving staff individually cares for each child who enters its doors.

We were there when a local official brought in another abandoned infant, which seems to be a daily occurrence. Although the children are well cared for by the staff, there are tremendous needs for the center that you can see all around. The children are bathed daily outside with cool water, where there is no working bathroom facility.

In a center where the electricity struggles to stay on, the staff continues to give quality care to children and work by candlelight to feed them.

Would you like to help? http://www.holtintl.org/gifts/

Happy Anniversary Monica and David - A Day Late

2009-02-03T08:57:00.004-06:00

I just wanted to give our best buds - Monica and David - a shout out wishing them a very Happy Anniversary. We have had such good times with you guys and are looking forward to many more! Love you guys!

In adoption news I just wanted to clarify something. Some of you have asked if we already got our assignment. I think it is because of the way the ticker reads. No, we have not gotten an assignment yet. The ticker is just counting from the day we started the process or the day we submitted our initial application with Holt. We did that way back in June! Our agency made 3 referrals in January. Every time a referral is made, we move up the list. The last time we checked in with Holt to ask what number we are on the list was back in November. At that time we were number 21. I am guessing based on my own calculations, that we are somewhere around 15 or 16 right now. What does this all mean? Well it means more waiting. There are currently 6 families either in Ethiopia or on their way to Ethiopia to meet their children. It is encouraging to see this movement and we wish these families the best! There are also many families waiting to go to court (which makes their referred children legally theirs). We hope they have a successful day at court and pass the first time. We are hoping for a big batch of referrals after all of the current families pass through the legal system. Stay tuned for more news....

Super Bowl Sunday

2009-02-01T11:22:00.003-06:00

Well it is my husband's favorite day of the year. However, he told me that this day brings mixed emotions for him. While he is moved by the fact that there is an entire day dedicated to his favorite thing in the world, he is also sadden by the fact that this is the last day of the season. Well, Happy Super Bowl Eric! What will you do for the next couple of months without the sweet sounds of football? I know one fuzzy face who is certainly looking forward to some peaceful Sunday afternoons!

2009-01-31T14:54:00.004-06:00

I made this video montage of Aiden's adoption journey. We traveled to Korea back in 2005 - it is about time I did this.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Welcome to our Blog

2009-01-29T08:56:00.005-06:00

We decided to start this blog so friends and family can follow our journey as we add to our family through an Ethiopian Adoption. I hope to keep it as exciting as possible although most of the adoption process is boring paperwork!

Why Ethiopia? We had a wonderful experience adopting from S. Korea. We loved our trip and we also love the culture and the people. However, rumors are that International adoptions from S. Korea are going to be suspended in 2010 as more Koreans are adopting domestically. Also, the wait lists are increasing. We had been researching our options and came across a video from our adoption agency, Holt, about an exciting new program they were offering. After watching this video and weighing our options we realized this was the best option for our family.

Check out this video