Weird Fun At Our House

Chris and I have been busy today trying to get things done. I put together E.R.'s new bed in her room and used the vacuum to clean under her old bed.

So all FOUR of my kids have been in her room for over an HOUR now playing with the vacuum. Now this is something that J.T. loves to do. But E.R. has always been terrified of it. As soon as you start the thing, she goes running into the next room, grabbing her precious stuffed elephant on the way. Who would have thought that a vacuum (that I use at LEAST once a day every day) could hold the attention of a 7 1/2 and 9 year old? But all 4 kids have been in there, without fighting, taking turns sucking things up, laughing, and cheering. There were no injuries, and only one minor fight.

Weird.

Apparently we can box up all their toys, and just leave the vacuum out.

And Finally, Introducing Our New Girls!

On July 21, 2010, Chris and I became the parents of our new Ethiopian daughters F. and E. We don't know yet what they would like to do about their names, specifically their middle names, so for the next few months, I'll call them F. and E.

This is F., our beautiful new teenager. She is kind, thoughtful, very intelligent, artistic, and has a very deep faith. Chris and I are so excited to have the chance to spend her important teenage years with her, and to be the ones to help her sort through her past, and decide about her future. If we had waited much longer, she would have aged out of the adoption world. But God's timing is perfect, and she is the new leader of our kid clan! We have heard from so many people who know her, and everyone has told us how incredibly special she is. I didn't know it was possible to love someone so deeply that you've never met. I'm jealous of Chris for his chance to spend time with her a year ago, and can't wait for my chance in September. Isn't she beautiful?



























































And here is E. This girl is one of those people that you meet and you never forget. She has a gentle, quiet strength. But her sense of humor and joy is contagious. She looks at the world with trust and hope. We are honored to be her parents, and excited to see what she does with the amazing spirit and life she has been given. I can't express how excited I am to hug this girl again after almost 2 1/2 years. She has grown up since I said good-bye to her then, and I don't want to lose any more time with her! We have been told by her friends that she loves little kids and gum. We should be able to accommodate both!






























































We are excited to get to know each of our girls, and also so happy that they will remain together.

















Here is a picture of the girls as they opened their welcome bags from us (gifts, letter, and Oregon T-shirts). The girls had already been told we were adopting them, but this is sort of the official day when they heard it directly from us! It was a very big day for them. And a very special picture for us to receive as we saw them opening the bags we had packed with so much care and love. I hope they could feel it all.

Preparing for the Girls

We have a confirmed embassy date of September 22! I cannot wait. But we have so much to do before then. This adoption was so smooth and quick that it caught us a bit unprepared...

Chris finished his first semester of his doctorate program last Friday. He really enjoyed it, but I think in the middle of all that we have going on, he is glad for the break from school.

He is working hard to build the new bedroom downstairs. We bought beds and dressers. He and his dad ripped out the old carpet in our downstairs, and we bought the new laminate that will go down there. It will be beautiful compared to how it looked before. We will have another bedroom, and still have room for a family room too. It will be perfect.

We're van shopping. And cleaning out and fixing up our minivan to sell. And gathering clothes, and trying to think of all the other things that need to be done in preparation for the girls.

Chris and I are going back and forth about how many of us will go. As of today we are thinking it will be Chris and me, and Gabe and Matt. But we still have a few weeks to decide. It's Matt's turn to go, but Gabe wants to go back so badly, that we are taking that into consideration. The other thing that is different about this time around is that Gabe is losing his place as the oldest of our clan. That is also weighing in on our decision.

We've decided to use the adoption medicine clinic at OHSU this time around. We have a great pediatrician that worked out very well for E.R.'s transition. But because of our older girls' ages, now we are thinking of using the adoption medicine clinic for their transition, and then having them use my doctor after that. It's a little weird to start going to a pediatrician when you're in high school. Plus, most likely we may need to consider changing the girls ages from what their new birth certificates say, and we hope the OHSU clinic can help us with that.

As usual, we have lots going on, and just over 6 weeks until we leave!

We still have a family camp to go to for Free Methodists (our denomination), and we're determined to make it up to visit our old town in Washington before the trip to Ethiopia. We have friends up there that we really need to see, and we know that things will be so much busier as we are transitioning the girls into school down here.

I have had the awesome chance in the last few days to spend time with 3 recently adopted Ethiopian teenagers. The kids and their families are amazing, and it is so incredible to think that in 7 weeks our girls will be part of our family!

I'll try to keep up on this blog better as we are getting closer!!