Second Ever Ethiopian Get-Together

Saturday night was the Second-Ever Springfield Ethiopian Get-Together. Another wonderful night spent with other adoptive families and their amazing kids. Roger and I look soooo forward to these nights. It's an opportunity for us to spend time with people who really "get us." But we also can't wait for the day to attend this party with our very own baby since, after all, that's the main purpose of these get-togethers: for the kids to spend time with other kids whose family make-up is just like theirs.

Diesel's mom Katy was kind enough to take lots and lots of pictures of all the fun being had Friday night, and below is a picture she took of me and Isaac. In it he is holding on to my "Expecting from Africa" necklace. Isaac is the first Ethiopian baby I held back in October when he was five months old but was the size and weight of a newborn. Since then he has grown so much and is doing so great!

(A picture speaks a thousand words....or emotions)

Dog sitting

We've always thought our dog Jack had "little-dog-syndrome". This weekend we are dog sitting our neighbors black lab, Bailey. She's an amazing dog. Today Jack and Bailey decided to do tug of war. Jack probably thinks he's looking in the mirror, playing tug-of-war with himself....

Yes, this is what we are doing for entertainment during the "waiting" stage. My first experiment with the new camcorder, uploading video and posting to the blog.

Zoe Liremet

Our friends Matt and Meredith left for Ethiopia Wednesday morning (as in two days ago). They arrived in Addis yesterday. They met their daughter, Zoe Liremet, for the first time this morning. She. is. gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking. I think Matt and Meredith may just be the luckiest people on earth today. If you would like to see her picture, go here.

In Memory

In 1985 Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie penned the charity single "We Are the World." The song was performed by USA for Africa, a supergroup that included Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, and, of course, Richie and Jackson. Profits went to the USA for Africa Foundation, and targeted famine-stricken Ethiopia.

To see a video of Michael recording "We Are the World" solo, go here. He sings the full song at minute 7:15 if you don't want to watch the full ten minutes.

More for me than you

Let Go & Let God
As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because He was my Friend.
But instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,
"How can You be so slow?"
"My child," He said, "What could I do?
You never did let go."

I had this poem in my dorm room in college. Today I ran across it, after some serious looking, in a box in my office. As Abby and I continue to patiently wait for our referral, it's good to know that we really don't have any control over it. And we are still in the easy part.

Two more thoughts. More for me than you....
"There is God's way and your way. And your way doesn't matter."
"Man plans and God laughs."

Six

Today is six months. Wow. That kind of blows my mind it's already been that long. I remember looking at our little timer at the top of our blog when it said "1 week and 3 days" and thinking this wait was going to take FOREVER. Well, it still kind of seems never-ending, but it's crazy to be at six months already. We have made so much progress. I can tell we're getting close because I'm starting to get nervous. Not nervous in a bad way, but nervous in a realistic way. It just seems a little more "real" now. We have actually reached the point where it could "be any day now." Not that it will be, but technically it could.

Friday Funny

This song might get stuck in your head. You're welcome.

Awesomeness

After being in Texas for three days, I just got home from my 7-hour, 415 mile drive. Tonight is one of Abby's teletraining seminars for work, so when I got home, she was on the phone already. She told me my dinner was in the microwave. Ladies and gentlemen, let me show you what a microwave dinner looks like when you're still in the newlywed stage of being married for four years:

Yes, that is homemade fried/baked chicken, wild rice, and sweet corn. Awesomeness.

My plate five minutes later. Yes, I was starving, and, yes, I'm bored.

On another note, we are still taking dates for our Referral Pool. My date is Sunday, June 21. What do you say? Leave a date in the comment section.

And, finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to "BABY-TY." Holy cow, our oldest nephew is 9 years old. RUKIDDINGME? A kid born in 2000 is now 9 years old. RUKIDDINGME? Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday to Ty's mom (and my sister) Tammy. I'll keep her age classified. Happy Birthday, Tammy (June 16th) and Ty (June 17th). We hope to celebrate with you both very soon!