Bringing Home Eli!

One Year Ago Today!

2010-06-11T06:47:00.001-07:00

One year ago today, we received that much anticipated call from our adoption agency! We knew that it would be any day, so we were trying very hard not to jump every time the phone rang! I couldn't help it though, my heart would race every single time I would hear the ring. Baylee and I were shopping at H*bb*ts when the call finally came! The voice on the other end said, "We have good news. We have a baby boy for you. He's 3.5 months old and wait until you see him. He's a cute little guy." We ran to the car to listen in private! She then told me his size and other info as I scribbled it all down on an envelope in the car! We were shaking and praising God! Baylee and I agreed, the feeling was like riding a roller coaster! We immediately called Brian to share the glorious news and then rushed home to see his pictures from the email waiting for us! Brian checked out his pictures from his work as we talked on the phone. We were so completely happy! The hard thing was that we couldn't get a hold of my mom and dad or Brian's mom! Ahhh!! Of all times, finally we connected with them! We then shared the news with everyone else! Baylee and I then rushed to the mall to start shopping! Oh what fun! We had waited 8 years for this moment! Here are the first pictures we received:

Now that tiny 3.5 month old boy who wasn't even on the growth charts when we brought him home is now a healthy 15 month old who is in the 50% weight and 90% height! He is such an absolute JOY! We are so totally in love! It is such an amazing thing to see how God works. I feel so humbled and thankful that God chose Brian and I for these two miracles in our lives.....my sweet Baylee Bear and my joyous Eli!

Spring!

2010-05-02T19:27:00.001-07:00

Enjoying the beautiful day!

Eli is in to choosing a random object to carry around all day. It is usually something different everyday. The last 2 days though he has carried a comb. He has slept with it and taken a bath with it. It's quite comical! He gets very upset if you even hint at taking it away from him!

My baby marched in the Tri-State parade yesterday! She did awesome! Eli loved watching and listening to all the bands!

Bad blogger!

2010-04-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

In the garden with daddy

At the Jenks Aquarium

OUr little Sooner!

It is hard to find time to blog! Things are going well around our house. Eli is growing by leaps! At his year checkup, he weighed 22.3 lbs and was 32.5 inches tall! Wow! He is in the 95% for height and almost 40% in weight. He has 8 teeth. His favorite things are his books, outside, and balls. Oh, he loves his bath too, and his mama! He thinks his daddy is pretty cool too, and his sister can still make him laugh like no other. Maybe, that's because she's the goofiest of us all! :) He is saying so many words. It's unbelievable! He is also starting to show that he definitely has an opinion! I swear he's cussed me out in baby language as well as in hand gestures!! He will tell us Doh! for No! pretty often now! :O He is so much fun though and we wonder what we did before him!

Baylee Bear is doing great too! She is such an absolute sweetheart. She makes us proud everyday by just being the kind, loving, generous, thoughtful girl she is. God made her pretty darn special. She is keeping busy with golf lately. She has played in 2 golf tournaments in the last 2 weeks. She's having a ball with it! We hope she keeps that passion for it, because she's good at it and I think it's good for her too. It is also something special that her and her daddy share. They enjoy going to the driving range together! He's went to both of her tournaments too. They are during the school day, so I'm glad that his work is flexible.

I don't want my children to be happy.

2010-03-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is a great post: http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dont-want-my-children-to-be-happy.html

Help Mom!

2010-02-24T15:54:00.001-08:00

Fun Pics!

2010-02-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

Big days!

2010-01-24T12:16:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is going to be 13 on Wednesday. It is so hard for me to believe! She has been such a joy to raise! She makes life so sweet! Saturday, I took her and two of her closest friends to McD's for lunch and then let them roam the mall alone for a couple of hours. This was a big step for this mom. I am a little overprotective, I know. They had a great time......visited the photo booth and took silly pictures, got friendship bracelets, tried on clothes, etc. I'm sure there will be many more trips to the mall in the coming years, and many more "firsts" for Baylee and I, as I Let Go and Let God. Someone told me once that we as parents have to give our children roots and wings. The roots part has been easy, it's the wings I'm having a hard time with. While having lunch, I gave Baylee a purity ring. I had a talk with her and her friends about what that meant. I told her friends that Baylee is blessed to have them in her life and that I wanted the three of them to look out for each other in the coming years. I took a shot of their hands with Baylee Bear's hand on top bearing the ring. It was a sweet and memorable moment.

Eli turned 11 months old yesterday. Wow! This past month has been a month full of milestones and happenings in our little guy's world! He learned to crawl, cut 3 more teeth for a total of 6, and learned to say several words including duck, bah(ball), dah(dog), hi, cat, and many other words that he's trying out. He plays patty cake, waves hello and bye, bye, and dances like you've never seen!! The boy has got rythym!! He LOVES music, being read to, and shooting baskets in his mini b-ball goal. He also LOVES bathtime and outside!

Jammin out at his music table!

He was slow to crawl, but now he's everywhere!!

Happy all the time! This bumbo seat has been awesome, but now we have to have it on the floor because he can easily get out!!!

Christmas 09

2009-12-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas with Grandma Margie!

2009-12-23T05:41:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we enjoyed Christmas in Laverne with my Grandma Margie! Baylee enjoyed time with her cousins and Eli just tried to figure out who all these people were! We are enjoying our Christmas break. Today, we are taking Eli to see Santa! I wonder what he will think of him? I'm also taking Baylee to the dr. because we can't seem to get rid of her pink eye! Eww! We took Eli in yesterday for a weight and height check. He weighs 19lbs. 9oz. and is 29 1/2 inches long! He is almost in the 25% in weight and is in the 75% height......long and lean! He always looks chubby in his pictures because of his cheeks I think! Ha! Ha!

Elf Eli!

2009-12-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

Miracles

2009-11-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

While playing with Eli near the Christmas tree, the song Silent Night came on. I listened to the words and thought about the baby Jesus that cold night so long ago, so new, and I immediately thought of our baby. I wondered about what he was left in and was it cold and was it day or night. I thought about his birth mother as I often do. Then all of a sudden it occurred to me that Eli must have been conceived in May, at about the same time that God layed Ethiopia on my heart. I immediately started crying as I thought about how miraculous it's all been and how wonderful God is! Thank you God for the blessings of my children and my husband.

My baby boy is 9 months old!

2009-11-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

Halloween Pictures!

2009-11-01T05:52:00.001-08:00

Annual Hayride for trick or treating! Thanks Larry and Jackie for loaning us your trailer!

Bathtime! Eli so loves his bath!

Fall Pics!

2009-10-28T11:18:00.001-07:00

Only Eli in so many of my pics lately, but those that know me well know how many millions of pics I have of my sweet Baylee Bear! I have to work hard taking lots of pics of Eli so he will have at least half of what I have of Baylee! :) ........not to mention we started out 6 months behind!

Eli is 8 months old today!

2009-10-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

What a corker he is! He keeps us smiling and laughing! Wow! What joy he has brought our family!

Pictures at the Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Our little smiley boy would not hardly crack a smile at the Pumpkin Patch! I think he was way too interested in his surroundings. He was taking it all in! I've taken Baylee here since she was 9 months old. This was her 13th year! We will do it with Eli too!

New Pics!

2009-10-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

Our little Sooner! Things are going great! We fall more madly in love with this little fellow all the time! I go back to work in 2.5 weeks. I absolutely love teaching, but it will be so hard leaving my little Eli. I found a sweet grandma to watch him though and I will only miss about 5 to 6 waking hours. :) Believe me, I've calculated it!

Daily life back to normal?

2009-10-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

I've recently read a few fellow adoptive mom's blogs which have left me thinking. We've been home from Ethiopia over a month now and life has pretty much settled into a new normal. It's actually pretty wonderful! I find myself wondering how exactly we can do that after experiencing so much and feeling so changed on the inside. Is there more God wants us to do? I'm sure the answer to that is a profound "YES"! As Christians, we should constantly be growing and seeking God's will for our lives. I don't know what God has in store for us in the future, but you can bet, He will let us know if we pray unceasingly and be quiet and listen! I have had to so learn the art of being quiet and listening these last several years! I still have major work to do with that task! My devotion recently, hit the nail on the head with our 8 year struggle to expand our family: We don't always understand God's methods. His ways don't always make sense to us, but we have to realize that God sees the big picture. Consider this possibility: you may be ready for what God has for you, but somebody else who is going to be involved is not ready yet. God has to do a work in another person or another situation before your prayer can be answered according to God's will for your life. All the pieces have to come together for it to be God's perfect time. To live your best life now, you must learn to trust God's timing. Let God do it His way. The answer will come, and it will be right on time. Wow! Isn't that so true. I look at Eli and know why I had to wait. He was the one God planned for our family and he wasn't here yet. I wish I could say that we started this process of adoption as selflessly as a lot of our other adoptive parent friends, but the truth is, we didn't. Brian and I just wanted another child that we couldn't have ourselves. We didn't set out to save an orphan, but now that we have seen true orphans with our own eyes, we will forever be changed and always feel the need to support the plight of the orphans, whether it's through another adoption or with financial support. This will be our prayer, for God to tell us what He wants of us. He led us to Ethiopia for Eli, but also to open our eyes to a whole other world that broke our hearts, but gave us hope and purpose. I wish everyone could see what we saw.

Eli is watching Baby Einstein. He loves it! I've discovered he loves Elmo too. Wow! Little early I think, but I had it on and he was fascinated with the talking puppets. I took him to Walmart yesterday and showed him Elmo in the toy section and he fell to pieces! He got so excited!! It was funny. I guess I know what I'm getting him for Christmas!

Eli is so good natured, I can just lay him anywhere and he's fine with it! He just babbled, made funny faces and played with his feet while I worked on laundry!

Always happy!

He loves his swing. He just completely relaxes when he's in it. Notice the relaxed tongue! Usually he falls asleep.

My babies!

Guess who is 7 months old?!

2009-09-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

Eli is always making this funny face! We are seeing his personality unfold more and more everyday! He is still happy most all the time and has the biggest smile ever! He loves his sister so much! She is pretty crazy about him too! I will post more pictures soon!

1 month ago today!

2009-09-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a whole month since we first held Eli! We are so totally in love with this little guy! He is happy most all the time and very cuddly. He smiles a lot! I find myself reflecting a lot about our trip and everything we experienced in Ethiopia. When we were there, I enjoyed it so much, but I was ready to get my baby home. The grueling flight back was looming over my head and I wanted to get it over with. Once home and recovered however, I found myself longing to be back. I loved Ethiopia, the place, the people. I especially loved the 7 other families we traveled with. They are an amazing group of people and I am definitely blessed having spent time with them. Robel and T, our guides were extremely special people too. They left us inspired. Now I understand why people say they miss it and why adoption is sometimes addicting! We are so thankful to God for choosing us for this miracle called adoption.

A must read - prepare yourself for tears!

2009-09-08T07:01:00.001-07:00

This post was written by another adoptive mom:

Kids and Moms (and Dads)
I have been thinking a lot about kids lately... kids who don't have moms (and dads)... kids waiting for moms, and what life is like for kids who do not have parents. I have been thinking about the transformation that occurs when a child realizes he has a mom, a dad, a family...security, love and somewhere to belong.
With some of our kids, that "realization" that they have a Mom and a family, that they have someone to belong to, someone to watch over them, someone to care for them and someone to love them, has been gradual. With some of our kids, there has been this "a ha!" moment, where you could just see that they "got it".
There was baby Maggie... almost four months old... laying on the bed in our hotel in Vietnam on our first full day together (I had been visiting her for days at the hospital before this point). Before her hospitalization she had lived in a government orphanage where the babies had their names written on their legs in black magic marker so they could be told apart, and got very very little personal attention. She didn't cry when she was hungry or when she wanted something. She was quiet and tiny, but I could tell she loved being held and loved the attention I was giving her.
I walked away from the bed where she was laying to get a bottle for her, and she made this teeny tiny pitiful (feeble attempt at a) cry, and I rushed over and picked her up and offered her the bottle. She got this look of amazement on her face with a little smile that seemed to say, "Holy cow! You mean that crying thing WORKS with you??" and after that she did not want anyone but me and always wanted me close. She got it. I was there for her. I was her mom.
With Mercy, she was nine years old. She had had a mom before, who did not value or respect her role as a mom. Mercy knew neglect and abuse and loss. Despite that, she came to us with an open heart and a surprising amount of trust. At one point during our first week, Des needed her hair washed (and Mercy had been the one to care for Des up until that point, even though she was only three years older). Mercy told Des to go into the bathroom so she could wash her hair, and I gently told Mercy that I could wash Des's hair, and reminded her that that was the kind of thing a Mom should do. The social worker had warned us that "letting go" of being the caregiver of Des might be hard for Mercy and we might have some power struggles over it... but Mercy looked at me and looked at Des and looked back at me and said, "You wash all the other little kids... You would wash Des's hair too?" and I said, "Yes". And she said, "And then what would I do?" and I said, "Well, you could go play." And she looked at Des again and then back at me, and then she got this huge smile on her face, and you could almost SEE her letting go of the responsibility of caring for her little sister. She ran over and gave me a hug, and then took off to play. She got it. I was there for her and for her sister. I was their mom.
With Solomon, that moment came when we left AHOPE for the second time together. We had spent two days together, and then we had gone back to AHOPE to visit. As we walked through the gate and the kids called out his name and came running to say hi to him, he sat in my arms with huge, silent tears running down his cheeks. He would not make eye contact with anyone (including me, the kids and the nannies) and just stared ahead with this heartbreaking acceptance of the fact that he thought he was being left. Again. It hurt me so much that he had come to accept this from life... that nice people came and went, but he did not truly belong to any of them. I couldn't imagine how his little heart felt and how he had endured all that he had already. I comforted him and held him close and told him over and over again in his ear that I would never, never, never leave him.
He started to relax a little the longer we were there and I stayed with him, but he was not his usual self. And then it happened. I put him in the sling, we waved good-bye, went back out through the gate and headed back up the road towards the hotel for some lunch. He got this HUGE grin on his face, and was bouncing up and down in the sling laughing, and then grabbing my face and kissing it over and over as we walked. He was so happy and joyful. He got it. He was not going to be left again. I was HIS. He was mine. I was his Mom.
Since then I have watched him blossom with love. I have watched him learn how to expect and look forward to being held often, comforted when he cries, rocked to sleep, having his needs met, getting individual attention and being smothered in hugs and kisses often. As I crawled into bed last night, a few hours after I had put him down to sleep, his little body turned towards me, and without waking up, he put his arm on me, snuggled in close and let out a content sigh.
All kids deserve that knowledge, that peace and that comfort. All kids deserve to know that they are loved and that they belong to someone.
I believe with all my heart that our Heavenly Father did not send us down here to go at life alone, to worry about ourselves and to focus our lives on material and trivial things. I believe with all my heart that we are meant to live in families... mothers, fathers and children together, focusing our lives on loving, enjoying and serving each other.
We have several reasons to believe that Solomon most likely spent very little (if any) time with his first mother. And yet even after multiple changes in caregivers and "homes", multiple losses and lots of suffering without a mom to comfort him, he KNEW what a Mom was for from our very first days together. His heart and soul reached out to mine and grabbed on firmly. He knew that he wanted a mom. He knew that hugs, kisses and rock-a-byes were something he wanted, deserved and needed. The other kids we met in Ethiopia knew it too. They knew that they belonged with parents. They knew that something big was missing from their lives.
My heart rejoices for my kids and others that have had their lives changed so drastically...who were once alone, and now live with love, security and family. Watching Solomon over the past few weeks has reminded me of what an incredible miracle adoption is.
And at the same time, my heart aches for the so very many kids who are living life alone right now. . Even the very best orphanage is no comparison to a home and family. It is wrong that these kids must wait and yearn for a family. They deserve, as all children do, the peace and security that comes with the knowledge of knowing that they belong to someone, that they are being cared for and that they are loved.
This is why I support adoption...because I have seen the sadness in the eyes of the children who wait for moms, I have seen the amazing transformation in children once they have been "claimed" and loved, and because I believe, with all my heart, that that love and belonging is what our lives on this Earth are supposed to be about.

This post brought tears to my eyes because it is so true! I too, have seen it now with my own eyes. I've watched our little Eli blossom right in front of our eyes. He was almost lifeless when he was handed to us, barely holding his head up. He would look up at us and smile, but he was so still and small and quiet. He kept his little hands in fists and he would not stretch his legs out. I know the nannies loved these babies and did the best they could with what they had. There were just a lot of babies. Eli is such a good baby, that maybe he didn't get a lot of attention because of that. You tend to attend to the needier babies. Within 2 days of getting Eli, he was squeeling with joy and babbling like nobody's business! He is a crazy man on the floor now kicking and thrusting his arms out and growling.......all in pure joy! He knows who his mamma, daddy, and sister are. It's purely evident in his thrilled responses to us after waking up from a nap or after daddy comes home from work, or sister from school! He thoroughly loves his bath and I've cried watching him take it, for those babies that will never know that experience and never know this love, family, and a place called home that he has found. I saw so many children that have such a need as this. When you caught their eyes, they would smile so big. Oh, it made your heart ache so! If you feel even an inkling toward adoption, I encourage you to pray a lot about it and consider it! It will change you forever, but in an extremely positive way! We are so very blessed to be chosen by God for our little Eli!

Happy Eli!

2009-09-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Baylee loves making you laugh!Eli was crackin himself up!

Eli Update!

2009-09-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

Eli went to the Dr. yesterday and weighed in at 15.7 pounds!! He has gained 3 pounds in the 2 weeks we've had him! Wow! He is 27 inches long too! He is almost at the 25th percentile weight and 75 percentile height. Wonder if he will be tall? His motor development is still behind of course, but he is making great gains! When we got him, he could barely hold his head up and he wasn't reaching for anything, but now he has great head control and is constantly reaching for things. We give him lots of tummy time and do lots of rolling him around and trying to stand him up to gain some leg strengh. We also got him a Johnny Jump Up type thing to help with his strength and motor development. Look out! In another couple months, he will be hard to keep up with!

My babies early in the morning before school

Hey, you cutie pie!

Sweet Eli!

Cute little splashing foot!

Eli loves to look at himself in the mirror!

He absolutely loves, loves his bath! Look at that growing tummy!

I imagine him saying to himself: Hey, you handsome devil!!

Grandma Sherry!

Too bad he's not wearing his OU shirt!

Sweet sis Baylee! Eli lights up when Baylee is around! He thinks she is pretty neato and she feels the same about him!

Happy Eli!

2009-08-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Mornings are lots of fun! We love our Bumbo chair!

I learned to roll over today! I'm getting stronger everyday!!

Gracie and Eli are becoming friends!

Big sis Baylee feeding Eli!

Morning stroller rides are lots of fun!

We are home!!

2009-08-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

This is the America World sign indicating we were there as we were driving to the Transition Home to meet Eli! At the very bottom of this post is our "Meetcha" moment on video!!
This is where Eli lived for the last 3 1/2 months of his 6 month life. He was abandoned at the gates of an orphanage at about 1 1/2 months old and lived there for 3 weeks before coming to the Transition home.

Happy family of FOUR! I can't even describe that moment! This event was fully orchestrated by God and I am SO thankful for this gift!

Happy mamma!

Proud daddy!

My two babies!!

A street in Africa as seen through the window of our bus.

This is T, one of our guides. He is such a dear!

This is typical in Ethiopia.......goats, cows, chickens right in the middle of a busy street. The cows and goats are herded right in the middle of traffic. It was something to see.

The beautiful little girl is a street kid. This is who Baylee bought gum from.

Happy baby boy! His chubby cheeks remind me of Baylee at that age. He looks big here, but he really is quite small for his age. He seems very healthy though, but I can't wait for our doctor appointment next week to have him fully checked over.

This sling saved our lives! 12 pounds doesn't seem much, but when you are lugging him around all day all over the city, he got very heavy!! The sling saved my life!

The view from our Guest House terrace. This is Davi with Baylee. She is a precious little girl who Baylee quickly bonded with. Her family adopted a 6 month old and a 4 year old....little girls.

This is a little one that was adopted by another family we were with. She was such a cutie and took to Baylee. She immediately started braiding her hair.

This is at one of our group lunches right before we met our children.

Baylee, Davi, and Madison. Madison's family adopted a 7 month old baby girl. These 3 had lots of fun.

T was wonderful to entertain Baylee and Davi!

Sweet Robel with Eli the day we were leaving. He has such an amazing heart for the children of Africa! T and Robel were such an inspiration and model for Christ. We are planning on keeping in touch and trying to help support Robel's ministry with the street kids. T was actually one of Robel's youth at church when he was young. Baylee got quite attached to these 2 men and wants them to move to America, but I told her that they are God's angels in Ethiopia and need to stay there to continue God's important work.

This little guy captured Brian's heart.

We had a traditional coffee ceremony at one of the orphanges we visited.

The rest of the pics are of our stay in Rome. I took 250 pictures on our 9 day trip actually, so these are just a drop in the bucket! This is the Colloseum.

Vatican.........view from our hotel terrace

I can't remember what this was. I will have to look it up! Ha! We saw so much!

The MOMENT we met Eli!!!!

Leaving tomorrow!

2009-08-20T08:23:00.001-07:00

Today we visited two orphanages. Eli was abandoned outside the gates of an orphanage. This orphanage was 3 hours away so we didn't get to go to it. He was only there 3 weeks before he was moved to the transition home. The orphanages were a tough thing to see. The children were amazing. You just want to scoop them up and take them home. I got some video of the children singing I will share with you later. Eli is doing great! He has been so good as we tote him everywhere all day. He actually slept through the night last night. It was wonderful. We will pray for that again tonight!! Baylee has been a terrific big sister! We call her sister mom!! We are all ready to go home. We have bonded with the 7 other families, 2 of which will travel with us tomorrow night. That is comforting to us all....to be traveling together! After tonight, we will be up for 2 solid days, starting with 3 hours at the Addis Ababa Airport before takeoff, over 20 hours of flight time, 2- 3 hour layovers, and probably 2 more hours at the OKC airport! We would appreciate your prayers! Love to you all!

We have Eli!!!!

2009-08-18T08:25:00.001-07:00

Well, we have the most beautiful baby boy in the world! He has been so happy and funny. We heard his first laugh today! He loves, loves, loves his daddy who is the one who can make him laugh. We have him at the guest house now and we are learning about who he is. He has such big expressive eyes that stare right into your soul. We shopped today up and down the streets. What an experience that was. Fun, but so hard too. There are so many heartbreaking things to see. Robel, our guide, is a wonderful Christian man who was on the streets at 10 years old. Now he watches out for a group of about 23 street kids. He has Wednesday night service with them. Many have come to Christ. These boys are homeless and sleep on the streets, but Robel teaches them how to work for their money. They sell gum. Baylee was especially touched by a young girl not much younger than her so she bought some gum from her. We have a picture of this beautiful girl with Baylee. Brian had a touched heart with a particular little boy who he bought gum from. We have a picture of him as well. We drove away in tears aching for these unadoptable children, both parentless and homeless. There are 8 families here including us and we are hoping to all get together and buy these kids shoes, school supplies, and other things they need. Robel helps them as much as he can. It costs 40 American dollars a year to send a child to school.. So worth it to one day give them an opportunity to better their lives. These children are just a drop in the bucket to everything/one we have seen. This has been the most scary,exhausting, heartbreaking, yet meaningful, life changing, faith stretching, wonderful experiences of our lives. I will try to upload a picture, but I'm not real optimistic that it will work! When I get home and have had days to recuperate, I will have lots of pics and video to share! Love you all!

Hello from Ethiopia!

2009-08-16T05:26:00.001-07:00

We made it to Addis Ababa today! It was a very long night! It is beautiful here, but destitute and heartbreaking too. It is sure a heart opening experience. Our guest house is clean and very nice. We are here with 8 other families, 3 of which traveled to Rome as well. Rome was fascinating! It was just amazing to see the sights and learn about the history. I want to learn more! We had quite a scary taxi cab ride to the Rome Airport last night! Wow! All I can say is no street lines, no traffic lights, and no speed limit! We didn't say 1 word the whole 30 min. ride there! That is saying something for me!!! Tomorrow we get to meet Eli! We can't wait! It's hard to believe the time is finally here!!!!

I'm now blogging by email

2009-08-08T17:42:00.001-07:00

This is a test!!!

Our little Eli has grown!!

2009-08-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Our baby boy has grown! He has grown 2 1/2 pounds and almost 2 inches in the last month and a half! He is now 5 months old and weighs 12 lbs and is 24 inches long. Poor little guy has had chicken pox already though and a bad case at that! I'm going to try vitamin E on his spots when he gets home. Speaking of getting him home, it's official.......we are leaving August 13!!!! We are heading to Rome first for a couple of days to see the sights and get used to the time change. Rome is an hour difference from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us! Whew....between jet lag, the time difference, and this emotional journey we are embarking on, I'm sure we will be physically and mentally exhausted when we get home!! We will need your prayers. :) We will get to Rome on Friday at 7:45 a.m. their time, be there 2 full days, leave at 1:15 a.m. and get to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 8:10 Sunday morning. We luckily have all day to unwind! Monday morning, August 17th, is Meetcha Day where we will meet Eli for the first time. We will be traveling with 7 other families. They call the babies alphabetically, so thank you Brian for being a "C" name!!! We will be called first!!! We will spend a few hours with Eli and then have to leave him. :( That will be hard, but the next day is GOTCHA DAY where we get to keep him FOREVER!!!! Wednesday will be our Embassy Appointment, Thursday, we visit the orphanage, Friday is shopping and then we leave that night at 10:15. We will get back to OKC at around 6:00 in the evening on Saturday! Wowee!! What a journey for this little Oklahoma family of 3!! I'm sure we will be changed forever through it all. I pray that God will make us better people and help us to see things more clearly on a grander scale. Keep checking in, because we will try to post while on our trip to keep you updated!

Bringing Home Eli!

One Year Ago Today!

Spring!

Bad blogger!

I don't want my children to be happy.

Help Mom!

Fun Pics!

Big days!

Christmas 09

Christmas with Grandma Margie!

Elf Eli!

Miracles

My baby boy is 9 months old!

Halloween Pictures!

Fall Pics!

Eli is 8 months old today!

Pictures at the Pumpkin Patch!

New Pics!

Daily life back to normal?

Guess who is 7 months old?!

1 month ago today!

A must read - prepare yourself for tears!

Happy Eli!

Eli Update!

More Gotcha Day video and orphanage children singing

Happy Eli!

We are home!!

Leaving tomorrow!

We have Eli!!!!

Hello from Ethiopia!

I'm now blogging by email

Our little Eli has grown!!