We are home!

Sorry that I haven't posted. I am really sick (although I wasn't sick at all in Ethiopia) and we came home to a air conditioner that leaked into the living room so Paul has been replacing the ceiling on top of being totally jet lagged. Olivia is doing really well except that she is terrified of the dog so she is screaming every time she comes near her. Jackson loves being a big brother but is going through the normal GiGi detox complete with lots of testing and temper tantrums:) We are good though but it may take me a while to find our new normal.


Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the airport! We were so excited to see you all!

Flight Information

They have arrived in Houston! It appears that their American Airlines flight #2020 is on time to leave at 7:30pm and arrive at DFW at 8:45pm on time - Gate A 15. If you are planning to be at the airport you might want to check again after 7:30pm to make sure it is still on time. They sounded great - exhausted, but great! See you there.
GiGi (aka Dee Dee's Mom)

Update

Hello everyone, this is GiGi - DeeDee's mom. I am in charge of Jackson while they are in Ethiopia, or should I say, Jackson is in charge of me! Wanted to let everyone know that they called this morning, it was almost 5 pm their time. Olivia is doing great and is a very happy baby. The special moms at the orphanage said she was the Princess of Hannah's Hope. DeeDee said Olivia had slept 11 hours the first night in their hotel and only got up once for a bottle! She likes to be held a lot so everything sounded like it was going very well. DeeDee and Paul both sounded great on the phone. They hope to be able to call again tomorrow and I will try to keep everyone updated when I hear from them. Please keep them in your prayers for a safe journey home.
GiGi (aka DeeDee's Mom)

We are in Dubai!

Hi everyone! We are in our hotel room in Dubai. For those of you who
are adopting families, we flew Emirates from Houston to Dubai and they
make you have a forced layover but they give you hotel vouchers and
meal vouchers during your stay and it was cheaper than flying
Ethiopian. Emirates is a super fancy airline and we absolutely loved
it. They have individual TVs for each seat with hundreds of movies,
music, and video games (that really helped the time go by!). I am
happy that we are able to have this hotel room to refresh before our
next flight! We are going to go downstairs and have some pizza in a
few minutes and then get a few hours of sleep before we have our
flight in the morning to Addis.

Return Flight

For those of you who are local we would love to see you at the airport
for our return. We get back on Friday, July 17th at DFW. American
flight #2020 from Houston (you don't have to wait for us to come
through customs since we will do that in Houston) at 8:45pm. I will
try and post in Houston to make sure we are on time.

We leave in about 12 hours! I can not believe the time has come. We
appreciate all of your prayers and support through this incredible
journey. Just a few more days until Olivia is in our arms!

Picture?

This is a test!

This is a test to see if I can blog from my email in Ethiopia.......hopefully I can figure out how to put on a picture as well.  We leave TOMORROW!!!!! I am so sad to leave Jackson though, please pray that I have peace about leaving my little man for 8 days!

Happy 4th!

Well, according to our original travel dates, we were supposed to leave for Ethiopia yesterday on the 4th but now I know why we had to wait until Thursday. We had an amazing day with lots of family time and getting to love on Jackson who will soon no longer be the center of attention.....It was really nice and very needed since I don't want to leave my baby for 8 days. We started out the morning at the neighborhood parade and I was a bad mommy and forgot the camera. You can imagine old cars, decorated golf carts, and kids on bicycles and in wagons with their flags and streamers. We sat with Jackson catching what we thought were smarties only to figure out after he ate a handful of them that they were bubble gum smarties......great. Then we headed home to pick up the camera and then off to my sisters where my family got together for a cook out and watching the boys in the baby pool.







Then we came home and took some naps, yep all of us. Then we went out to a local pizza place at the outdoor mall where Jackson indulged himself in macaroni and cheese. We walked over to cold stone for some ice cream and Jackson got to pick out his very own. He chose the blue cotton candy flavored one of course.

This is the face I get when I ask him to smile.....



eating ice cream with mommy.

last family picture with 3.

The outdoor mall was having a fun 4th celebration so we let Jackson hit the bounce house before we found a nice park to watch the fireworks from. He was pretty scared of the loud noises and curled up in Paul's lap but still liked it I think......He has been asking all day today to go and watch again tonight.

The park was down the street from the fireworks but a perfect place to watch from and not that crowded.





This is me sticking my arm out with the camera to take our picture......you should see the first 5 attempts.

So although I was disappointed to have our travel moved back a few days, I am so glad we got to spend this day with our boy! Now Thursday can not come quick enough. I can't wait to have my kids home together. Hope you had a great 4th!

The Nursery!

Ok the nursery is pretty much finished. The walls are a very pale pink, they look a little darker in the photos. Paul is the master photographer, not me and I didn't want to interrupt him cleaning the kitchen for me:) We are waiting on one bookshelf but you can get the general idea......

The chandelier has pretty clear and pink crystals hanging from it.






Paul and I made this for her room:)




Olivia's crib





her closet

her clothes:)

don't mind the pile in the corner, those are just donations that didn't fit and will be mailed to another traveling family! I also haven't figured out what I really want on the shelf.

and in this corner you can imagine this........

except I am not paying $399 at Pottery Barn for it. A friend of ours is making it for Olivia!

Everything is ready for you baby girl! We can't wait to bring you home to your beautiful new room!

Making Preparations........

Sorry for the lack of posting! We have been running around like crazy getting everything ready for Miss Olivia. Tonight I ran by the Ethiopian Market near our house to pick up the essentials to make some shiro and lentils to freeze for when she gets home. I have been trying really hard to get everything from the bottles she uses at HH to familiar toddler foods like shiro and lentils so that transitioning her home won't be as hard. So here's a picture of my first attempt at shiro. Paul and I have been eating a lot of Ethiopian food this past year (it helps that we are not far from an Ethiopian community) and we both think that Erin's recipe is pretty close to the real thing! Tomorrow I will try my hand at the lentils because I ran out of onions. Who knew that you would need 5 onions for 1 pot of shiro!


Oh and tomorrow night I will be revealing the nursery!!! So stay tuned! 6 days until we leave! I can't believe it!

FINALLY!

We are finally all confirmed and clear to travel and our USCIS problems are FIXED!!! Yes you read that correctly! We leave Thursday July 9th and return Friday July 17th!! We are so excited! I can't believe it.

Update on my 90 day Challenge: I am a little behind because of all that has been happening this week. I am still reading everyday, just not as much as I should. But I suspect that a 15 hour plane ride should do the trick:)

Travel Dates Changed

We were just informed that we wont be traveling until the following week. I am upset but at least we have a CONFIRMED embassy appointment. Now I am just waiting to make sure our USCIS problem is indeed fixed since the embassy doesn't seem to think it is. If you are reading this shortly after it is posted please say a quick prayer that someone will pick up the phone at the National Visa Center because I am tired of being on hold.......

I will post more later.

WE PASSED!!!!!!!

I just heard from Christy that Olivia "S" is OURS!!!!! (I am not sure if I am allowed to post her picture or name yet though....I'll add that to my TO DO LIST)

WE WILL BE IN ETHIOPIA JULY 5TH!!!!!!!!!!


Please keep praying because I don't know if our USCIS issue has been resolved yet but I will be contacting our congressman if it isn't! I should know more soon!

We are totally freaking out around here!!!! Baby girl we are coming for you!!!

UPDATED:

Mrs. Aarseth,

Your request has already been processed and mailed out. You should be receiving your notice in the mail shortly.

All documents have been mailed to the National Visa Center .

The National Visa Center will send all documents to the designated countries.

Thank you,

Dallas District Adoptions US C.I.S.

90 day Challenge

I decided that in the midst of all of these trials we are going through with our adoption, I wanted my mind set not on earthly things but on my Father who I need to run to. So I am joining Rebecca (who has a great homeschooling blog that I just found) on her 90-day challenge of reading through the bible! I told Paul and he said I was crazy! He said, "You do know how many books are in the bible don't you?" But that's ok because I am pumped.

Do you want to join me? I need some accountability. I don't think I will post about it every day but I will at least tell you how it is going on a weekly basis I think. If you want to join in just click the button. I think she will start on Monday but jump on in anytime!

We didn't pass......

Christy finally called to tell us that we did not pass court last Thursday. Olivia's birth mother has two last names (which is common in the southern region of Ethiopia) but the paperwork that the court had only stated one last name. Now she has to travel home (I think it is like a 7 hour bus ride) and get her paperwork sorted out and then travel back to the capital in order for the judge to finalize our adoption. Please pray for us while we wait yet again. I just want to bring my baby girl home.