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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73658818335536317042019-01-04T02:08:16.632-05:00our journey to ethiopiaAnnehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-42161768293325354992008-07-14T09:13:00.012-05:002008-07-14T10:31:36.668-05:00Happy Birthday America!

We spent the second 4th of July in a row at the beach with our dear friends, the Brophys. It was wonderful! We traveled with them to Ethiopia in March 2007 to get our kiddos from the Gladney transitional home. Lilly is almost exactly a month older than Ashenafi and we are excited that they can be forever friends and have this incredible connection. Last year the Brophys were hosting Eyerus through Bright Future's Camp and now she is their daughter! Her English has come SO FAR in the 7 short months that she has lived in the US. She is such a doll. We love her. Reese and Lilly ADORE her. She is a special little lady, for sure.

These kids are excited to be US Citizens this year! Eyerus says that she is grateful to be a US "Diziden." Too cute.

My girls are 100% Daddy's girls:

Lilly relaxing on the beach:

The proud daddies:

Lilly and Ash watchin' a little video together: "VV" (TV) in Ash language and "DDD" (DVD) in Lilly language

Eyerus did Lilly's hair (as seen above) in some cute little braids. Eyerus is MAGIC with children. Sarah Marie says that she is like the Pied Piper of Kids and it is so true. She managed to get Lilly to hold still while braiding her hair and she can also make any kid stop crying almost instantly!

Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-58275046227828771192008-07-01T10:26:00.017-05:002008-07-08T09:51:39.723-05:00Hair Styles and Potty Training...I have only about 3 or 4 hair-dos for Lilly --pony tail, pig tails, some small loose braids, front up & back down/out, or barrette/head band. Nothing elaborate...I am learning. Pig tails are my fav:
I like a side part in the front and then middle part in the back. Like so:

Again, nothing fancy yet, I know. I have a lot left to learn.

The biggest challenge with Lilly and doing her hair has nothing to do with my skills or her hair---it's her absolute hatred of the process! She screams when I come around the corner with a brush or comb in hand. If I say, "Lilly, mama is going to do your hair now." She says very emphatically "MO!" That's NO in Lilly-speak. I am gentle, I swear. I work on one chunk at a time and I carefully de-tangle. I give her snacks, put her in front of a show, Reese sings to her, we have tried it all. No matter what - she screams and squirms and the process is completely exhausting to me. I am hoping that this will get better over time. Maybe Eyerus can do something cute with her hair this weekend when we go see the Brophys for the 4th of July. :)

I absolutely love Lilly's beautiful spiral curls and how it looks when just natural and down.

I think that her hair grows by the minute! It is SO long and thick. A picture does not seem to adequately show how thick and long Lilly's hair truly is because it quickly coils up and looks shorter. I like leaving it out/down; but de-tangling it at the end of a day of it being out is really tough and I do believe hurts her quite a bit then. So, I keep it up in pig tails most days. Here are a few pics with her hair down.

"Peak a boo"
 You just want to eat her up, right?

Potty training:

We have begun some potty training (mostly her initiative) and over the past 4 months Lilly has used the potty for #1 and #2 many times now! It is exciting (the prospect of not having to change stinky diapers, that is). She still has quite a ways to go. She was excited at first, and now has entered the phase of complete terror when something actually happens once she sits on the potty. Reese went through the same phases. This round of potty training, we are glad to have a helper who is coaching Lilly step by step:

Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-91327269732329502282008-06-02T16:01:00.027-05:002008-06-06T20:02:45.525-05:00BLONDE MOMENT...Okay, so when I do or say something that isn't the brightest thing in the world; I claim that I am having a "blonde moment."

I honestly don't think that I am a typically a ditsy blonde (though you may want to confirm that claim with my hubby).

I mean, I have a variety of characteristics that are not your typical ditsy blonde things: like I am an engineer and I pride myself in my sense of direction when driving, etc...

But, now and again I suffer from the condition that afflicts many of us who subject ourselves to expensive highlights in a desperate attempt to return our hair color to the way it looked when we were young and people called us "tow heads." :)

Well, I had a MAJOR blonde moment last Tuesday night and it relates to our adoption:

My husband and I were invited to a 'Gladney Reception' in our area. After speaking with one of the organizers of the event, we decided to attend and were very excited. We were told that it was going to be a somewhat small group (about 60 couples or less; people who are very involved with Gladney & the Gladney Fund, etc...) gathering for cocktails and to meet the incoming and outgoing CEOs for Gladney and many members of the Gladney Board of Directors. That sounded great! This is small because there are A LOT of Gladney families in the area that have adopted over the past decades. We haven't previously attended any local Gladney events, because any free time that we have we try to attend activities with our Ethiopian adoption group, and most of the families there have used other adoption agencies. (Though this is rapidly changing and many families here are having their Ethiopian adoptions facilitated by Gladney also! YEAH!!) The local Gladney events to date have been huge and primarily attended by those who have used Gladney for domestic adoption or international adoption from countries other than Ethiopia. So, because time is precious we thought that the previous ones may not have been as beneficial to our needs for relationships with other Ethiopia/African adoption families. This was our first non-Ethio Gladney only event and we were very excited to learn more about Gladney as a whole!

The event was held at a beautiful house in a wonderful old neighborhood in Virginia (which there are MANY beautiful old neighborhoods out here, one of the reasons that we love the East Coast!). The outgoing CEO (Mike McMahon) and the incoming CEO (Frank Garrot) of Gladney were there and gave us a little talk on the vision for Gladney and future plans. Several of us asked questions, gave comments, etc... All in all it was a very nice evening, and people shared stories and pictures of their kids. Many of the families there had Gladney kids whom they adopted 10, 20, or more years ago and are still actively involved with the Agency! That was very encouraging. The night made me even more proud of Gladney as we were able to expand our horizons beyond just their Ethiopia program and learn about all of the amazing things that they are doing in the US and around the world!

Okay, here comes the blonde moment....

Before we left, we wanted to thank the owners of the home; the hosts. The husband had spoken a little bit during the "Presentation" and the CEO referred to him and his wife and all of the wonderful things they do for Gladney, huge annual golf tournament they organize, etc... I assumed that they were people of importance by these comments, their amazing house, and their obvious connections that allowed them to organize this annual golf tournament at a prestigious country club in the area. But, in DC a lot of people are very well connected and since I do not work in politics, I often don't know who a lot of important political people are in the area.

So, we introduced ourselves to the husband/host of the event, thanked him for hosting, commented on his wonderful house, and showed him pictures of our little girls. The husband was as nice as could be and walked us around to look at pictures of his kids; a daughter now 22 and a son now 17. They are from Texas and adopted them through Gladney at birth.

As we are looking at all of these pictures on bookshelves, etc.. I notice a framed picture of George Bush, Sr and was curious if he worked for the Bush family, or had just met him one time and took that picture. Typically, if people have pictures up of politicians, it is them and the political figure; an autographed picture...something along those lines. This one seemed different and more personal.

The details start to get blurry from here, but the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Did you take this picture one time when you met him? "

Host: Blank stare response. "Umm, no I did not take that picture."

Me: "Are you in politics or just big supporters of the Bush family...?"

Host: Blank stare again. Long uncomfortable silence.

Me: "Do you know George Bush Senior?"

pause

pause

Host: "Yes, he's my dad."

Me: (acting a lot like Elaine from Seinfeld at this point, I believe that I may have said "get out!" ). I am certain that I said, "You're joking, right?" At this point, I think that the room began to spin and my eyes finally settled in on his name tag: Marvin Bush. And, I remembered just having met his 17 year old son, Walker Bush. Hmmmmm... this is all suddenly coming together.

Room spins...and I am certain that I turned bright red at this point.

Me: "Oh WOW, You're not joking, you're the President's brother, aren't you?"

Host: "Yes." (Big laugh....)

Me: red face, sweating, feeling dumb as ever.

I HAD NO IDEA! Maybe it would have really benefited me to be more Gladney-savy. Or, maybe it should have occured to me when he told me his son's name. Walker Bush!!!! That should have been kind of obvious, huh? Honestly, I actually DID know that there were several Bush brothers and one sister, but I had no idea the youngest's name was Marvin and that he and his wife had adopted 2 children through Gladney and that they live in the area. WHAT ON EARTH IS WRONG WITH ME!?!?!? He then told me that actually George W. and Laura Bush had begun the adoption process with Gladney. But, they then got pregnant with the twins. Many of you Gladney families may already know this factoid, though. (BTW-I confirmed this all on Wikipedia. Source of only 100% true information; right?!?!?!?!)

Mr. Bush was unbelievably gracious and proceeded to show us more pics of his kids. A very proud dad. I kept saying, "I am SO sorry, I cannot believe that I didn't know. We are probably the only people here who don't know who you are, aren't we?" He graciously concurred and said that it was actually "refreshing" to not be known and told me to stop saying that I was sorry. That was probably his way of avoiding saying something very condescending. YIKES.

So there it is. My blonde moment of the year! So embarrassing. Let's hope that there aren't many more moments of that magnitude! :)

On a happier note: I am REALLY impressed by Gladney (AGAIN) and proud to be involved with them. It encouraged us to see all of these very supportive families and see what a great Agency and organization it really is; even beyond the Ethiopia program which we already knew was amazing.

Hopefully they will invite us to such events again sometime! :)

Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-24309490891357931122008-05-12T12:51:00.048-05:002008-05-19T07:06:21.273-05:00Cool Mother's Day Find & Tid Bits on Being a Mom to Our Little Girls
Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of you wonderful moms out there!!!

Here's a cool little 'Mother's Day find' that I stumbled upon this weekend rather unexpectedly. I think all of you adoptive (or prospective-adoptive) moms will love as much as I do:We were in a consignment store near our house and I told Reese that she could grab a book and she just randomly picked up this one called "Little Miss Spider" by David Kirk. The story line is very short and has a cute poem/rhyming scheme to it. It is about a little spider that crawls out of her egg with all of the other baby spiders and she immediately starts looking for her mom; who is not around. She starts asking other bugs and a little beetle (Betty Beetle) helps her look and tells her that if SHE were her mom, she'd be looking for her baby too. Finally, the baby spider almost gets eaten and still no luck finding her mom; when Betty Beetle swoops in to save the day. Betty then asks the baby spider to move into her home, basically implying that she'll be her mommy. The last page says:

 "FOR FINDING YOUR MOTHER,

THERE'S ONE CERTAIN TEST.

YOU MUST SEARCH FOR THE CREATURE

WHO LOVES YOU THE BEST."

What an incredible little story! How random that Reese chose it without knowing the plot!!! Maybe others already know about this book, but I had never heard of it and was very excited to stumble upon it in such a way and on Mother's Day weekend.

Okay, now a few tid bits on our lovely little girls:

I know that boys and girls are wonderful for different reasons, but I honestly have no idea what it is like to be the mom of a boy as we are fully immersed in 'little-girl-world!!' Everywhere I look there are princess books and dress up clothes. There is also A LOT of drama and emotions (I thought for sure we'd have until their pre-teens to have to deal with the emotions but NOPE--lots of girlie drama in this house). And, we love every minute of it all.

A few things that are DAILY occurrences in our house are:

DRESS-UP TIME:

This is basically all day every day. Reese usually goes through a good 5 or so outfits a day. I decided to share a few examples here (see pics below). They really run the gamut from actual dress up clothes (princess or ballerina theme) to just interesting arrangements of clothes that are hers. She is heavily recruiting Lilly into this past-time, and typically likes to throw a fancy boa around Lilly's neck, or give her a purse to carry, or place a crown on her head. Lilly thinks it is hysterical. :) Reese has become VERY particular about what she wears. Right now, she is going through a "dresses or skirts only" phase and it can be very cute and also very testing at times. She only wants to wear dresses all day long. Even at night, she insists upon night-gowns and not pajamas. Preferably "the kind that twirl, Mama!" This can result in some serious melt-downs when such items are not clean.

daddy's little princesses

this next outfit seems to have an 80's influence to it

I don't think that any of us can begin to understand what she is pretending to be in this 'get-up':

Lilly cracks up at everything that Reese puts on!

this is a true representation of her ever-so-nutty personality

 Lilly quickly came in the room with a boa on her neck, grabbed her sequenced purse and took off again! Busy girl, clearly off to some formal engagement.

If you have a girl, and aren't into the Fancy Nancy book Series yet--this is a MUST! They are so cute and have quickly become Reese's favorite books. There's 'Fancy Nancy'-the original book, 'Fancy Nancy & the Posh Puppy,' 'Fancy Nancy-Bonjour Butterfly' and more. They are great. The only draw back is that now every time we leave the house Reese wants to be fancy too and wear some outrageous earrings, necklace, hair bows, anything "fancy' that she can find! It is a lot of work to be so fancy.

PLAYING MOMMY:

Many of you may not know that I am actually a grandmother to many, many of Reese's "children!" Reese has a million stuffed animals, dolls and teddy bears and she has named them all, keeps track of their favorite clothes, favorite toys, favorite place to sleep, potty trains them, takes care of them when they are sick, etc... At any given moment, you walk into a room, and there is inevitably a "baby" there taking a nap, at which point Reese will reprimand you for "waking up her babies." They are also dressed in clothes (usually from Lilly's dresser), wearing a diaper (or panties if Reese has potty trained them; which she is always working on), tucked into a blanket, and accompanied by favorite toys. Here are some examples of just a few of my 'grand children' that I found around the house in one day alone! My sister says that it is "a lot of self-imposed responsibility for a 3 year old!" This is true. Even Reese sometimes says, "Mama, I have SO MANY babies! I am very busy" We indulge her by buying gifts for her build-a-bear (Beary) and we sometimes celebrate the babies' birthdays....it is a bit out of control! Ahhhhh, the imagination of a little girl. :)

This is "Abby and Aidey" with their favorite toys. Reese says that they are "comfy and cozy" in this box.

Here are Chester and Bunny. Bunny recently moved onto to "panties" from diapers, her mom was proud. The trick here is that as Reese changes her babies' dirty diapers, she literally throws away the "dirty ones." This is very frustrating as we don't really like the idea of throwing away unused diapers; so we have to be stealth in intercepting them on their way to the garbage! :)

no introduction needed for these napping kiddos

Reese dug out the old bjorn to carry "Kelley" around for a while, she said that it was easier because her "arms were tired."

Here we see lion wearing Reese's old onesie...it is nice for her to be able to pass down her old clothes to her children :)

That's all for now....
Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-33218943271122014942008-04-10T21:32:00.035-05:002008-04-13T15:14:57.272-05:00HAPPY ADOPTION DAY!On March 22, 2008 we celebrated little Elizabeth Alem (Lilly's) adoption day. 1 YEAR!!! I cannot believe how time has flown. Why is time passing faster and faster? I felt like time started to fly when I got out of college, started working, then later got married. Adding a child made time go a bit faster (though the first year of Reese's life went kind of slow; probably because it was SUCH an adjustment) and now--honestly a month goes as fast as a minute! I want to hang onto every precious second and yet it is going so quickly. What a year, Lilly is nothing short of a miracle in our lives.
  Some additional recent pictures:

She's a ham!  Here she is riding her little bike:She has come a LONG way since we first met her in Addis Ababa over a year ago. The first six months were tough in many ways. Wonderful, but tough. I think that now looking back I am allowing myself to realize that last year was a bit exhausting. Adjusting to 2 kids was in some ways easier than the adjustment from 0-1 kid, but the craziness kind of crept up on us! I keep trying to do all that I did before and realize that I just cannot. That said, we are so amazed by the wonderful, charming little girl Lilly is becoming right before our eyes. Reflecting on the first year: Overall, our adoption experience was SO amazing. The hardest thing in the beginning was her apparent fear of abandonment and her somewhat constant screaming. YIKES! We could not hand her to anyone or even sit her down in a room b/c she would scream and cry. She wanted to be held constantly...and she was a big baby; hard to hold all day. :) She hated being babysat by anyone, and would cry and cry at the thought of us walking away-even just across the room. Don't get me wrong, we were excited that she clearly attached herself to us so well. We prayed for that. But, we did not expect the opposite to happen where she'd really seem to be afraid that she'd be left. :( She'd scream to get things (probably why she was the chubbiest baby in the orphanage/Gladney home). I am not talking normal baby crying and whinning; we knew all about that routine. This was pretty extreme. Like her face would turn red; and she would YELL.

But, that was then and this is now. It makes me SO grateful for how she is today--which is honestly one of the most loving and happy little girls that I know. People comment all of the time on how sweet, warm and happy she is. She kisses everyone; including every dog she sees, every picture of ANY animal or baby, and other kids as well. She walks up to strangers now and puts her arms up to be hugged. AMAZING!! What a transformation. That said, if she wants something--you'll know because she hasn't lost the ability to make her needs known :)! We kind of went through months of screaming "detox" and would wait until she smiled or said a "happy word" before giving her what she wanted. That was tough but made a HUGE impact, as she is all around more calm.

We love her personality SO much. She compliments our little crew perfectly. On Lilly's adoption day we had a little cake and family party for her and I asked Reese what her favorite thing is about having a baby sister and she said "playing with Lilly; laughing with Lilly; loving Lilly." WHAT? That is SO stinkin' sweet. I did NOT tell her to say that. She LOVES her sister. Don't get me wrong, they fight too-they are true siblings afterall. It is basically the same fight every day: Reese grabs something from Lilly; Lilly screams; Reese yells back in response; Both cry. Repeat again and again. But, when they aren't fighting--they like to hold hands and make each other laugh. Lilly tries to do whatever Reese is doing. They LOVE taking baths together and splashing and they love rolling around on the floor and tickling each other. They also love playing dress up together.

Here is a little video for my dear friend Mwende's little girl who just turned 4 last week. This is a tiny preview of Lilly's singing skills, but she is being overshadowed by Reese in this video. I will write another post on Lill'y AMAZING musical talents. For real, I think that her bio parents must have been singers. This girl has about 12-24 songs that she can hum the entire way through. She started this skill around her first birthday, at which point I thought that it was a coincidence. But, she'd repeat these same songs throughout the day; and not miss a beat or a nuance of the song. It is very impressive. Okay--back to Mwende's video, this is for Aiden. Hope she enjoys. Cannot wait to see you this summer, Mwende. Love and miss you tons.
<embed name="FLVPlayer" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=" width="408" height="382" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" wmode="window" allowfullscreen="true" salign="LT" flashvars="&p=5866db40d320e8f23d1ac4&skin_id=701&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com"></embed>
 Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com
Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-76702683281409743712008-01-18T10:50:00.000-05:002008-01-18T11:03:47.078-05:00A few of my favorite (Ethiopian) things....My #1 favorite Ethiopian thing is of course our little Ethiopian princess, Lilly (shown here doing some gymnastics with her big sister and her bunny):

But, I have a few other favorite Ethiopian things that I thought I'd share:

(1) Favorite Ethiopian Children's Song:

 All of you Ethiopia-lovers out there will definitely enjoy this great Ethiopian kid's song on the Putumayo CD "African Playground." It has kid's songs from all over Africa, but amazingly, the Ethiopian song (Hoya Hoya) is honestly the best one on the CD. (Okay, maybe I am biased, but I really think that it is the best one on the CD). Over the past few months, it has become one of Reese's favorite songs. She always asks for me to play it for her! I ran it by Eyerus this summer and she knew all of the words, so it must be legit---a true Ethiopian kid's song! You can hear it by playing it on this little music player:

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(2) Favorite Ethiopian Runner:
Yes, there are many Ethiopian marathoners, but undoubtedly the currently most well-known is Haile Gebrselassie. He is arguably the best long distance runner ever and he set a new world record in September at the Berlin Marathon. That's amazing. Then, his time is INCREDIBLE: It was 2hrs, 4mins and 26 seconds. That' s 26.2 consecutive miles at under 5 minutes (4:44 to be exact) per mile! That's a ridiculous, full out sprint for the entire time! A lot very decent runners couldn't run 1 mile that fast, let alone 26 of them. That's seriously crazy. But, what is most amazing to me is his personality and attitude about it. Reportedly, after setting the new world record he immediately called Paul Tergat, the Kenyan who previously held the record, to apologize for setting the new world record. Haile says that they are friends and that he felt bad for taking the title from him. I think that this just kind of illustrates the personality that we have seen in so many Ethiopians -- very humble, kind and sweet.

(3) Favorite Ethiopian Driver-Tafesse!! Who else? (We actually like one of the other Gladney Drivers, Anbes, very much too.) But, why we are so amazed by Tafesse is that not only was he SO sweet to us while we were in Addis, but he recently sent us Christmas gifts via Nick and Sarah Marie when they returned to Addis Ababa to pick up Eyerus. He sent a T-Shirt for each of our daughters, a beautiful scarf for me, and a cool key chain for Mike! How amazing! (Special thanks, of course, to SM and Nick for taking these back from Ethiopian for us).

 Basically, I love a lot of Ethiopian things...

Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-31189654595442976532008-01-14T16:55:00.001-05:002008-01-14T17:32:25.579-05:00World's Worst BloggerOkay, it's official. I am the worst blogger. I cannot believe that it has been since August when I last posted. I started posts many times and never finished. I have a million excuses (no time being the biggest issue-with 2 kids, full time job, family, friends, etc…I can never find any free time at all)…but, everyone is busy, right? It's not a good excuse, I know. I am going to commit to posting blogs more frequently in 2008; no excuses. Quite honestly, I got a bit overwhelmed with the blog world for a while and felt like I could not possibly keep up with all of the amazing posts, reading other's sites, etc… and it started to stress me out. Pathetic, I know. Then, it isn't my main means of keeping in touch with family and friends from out of town and so I ended up having to choose between posting blog updates or sending pictures and updates to others out of town who don't/won't read blogs regularly. But, this will become a place where I post pix and direct family and friends, even if it means learning something new for them.  Some good old peer pressure from my Oklahoma bud, Amy, got me back on track! :) Thanks, Amy...I needed it. Here are a few pictures from Christmas of our lilttle ladies:

 And one from around the house with Lilly. In this one, she is excited that she is about to be fed. This girl LOVES TO EAT!   So, some important milestones that occurred this Fall/Winter:

September: Got Lilly's ears pierced! I was stressed about it, but it turned out to be a non-event. She is so tough. We LOVE her having earrings. When she got it done, even Reese said, "Oh, Lilly...you look so CUTE!"

October 1st: Lilly began walking! This was 1 week shy of her 14 month b day. *This is a month a head of when Reese starting walking. From this day forward, Lilly began to RUN around, she never went back to crawling again.

November 30th: Re-adoption/Adoption Finalization Court Date!!! Yeah! We had the nicest judge in the world. He kept going on and on about how he loves overseeing adoptions. He said that in doing Family court rotations it can be so overwhelming to always see families being torn apart, having to intervene in custody battles, etc… Adoption is the one thing that brings some light to his job. He was GREAT! He let Reese sit in the judge's chair and push some buttons that make "white-noise" in the jury's box. That made her day. FYI- We did this part without a lawyer. It really wasn't so bad. More paperwork, of course, but not too bad at all.

December 31st: Received Lilly's new U.S. birth certificate! Very exciting. There was one small mistake on the birth cert, and that is that it has me as being 21 at the time of her birth! I was actually 31…but, I think that I just might go ahead and leave that mistake on there!

December 31st: Spent the day on New Years Eve in the Social Security Administration office applying for Lilly's social security card. I HIGHLY recommend going to gov't offices on days like this because they are SLOW and the lines are SHORT. Since most people don't have this day off from work and only take off to do fun stuff with family, no one wants to sit in the SS administration office. So, we took advantage of that and were in and out in about 45 minutes!

January 7th: Received Lilly's social security card in the mail! YES! This was causing me anxiety because we would really like to be able to claim her on this years' taxes (2007) since we spent most of the adoption money in late 2006 and early 2007. However, to do that we either need a social security number or adoption ID number (and of course have to have the adoption finalized in the US). One helpful hint for those in a similar situation (your child came back on an IR-4 visa), you do not need to wait for the Certificate of Citizenship to get a SS number. The SS administration just registers that the adoption was finalized and puts the child in as a permanent resident. Then, once we receive the Certificate of Citizenship we can go back and update her citizenship status. Whew! That was a relief.

We attended a gathering with the local Ethiopian adoption group last Saturday! It was huge. There are so many new families in the process, waiting, or with their children from Ethiopia. It is great to see the group grow. The event was at the local Ethiopian Cultural Center. It was busting at the seams and so we need to probably have these at bigger places next time. But, the local group had some girls do dancing, artwork, etc… I am looking forward to using this center more to connect with Ethiopian culture and grow closer to the Ethiopian community that is so huge in our area.
 Wow-now that I have started posting again, I already have so much to say. I will definitely post again in a day or so with more pictures.Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-57435802566174455622007-08-05T18:44:00.000-05:002007-08-13T10:33:37.313-05:00Birthdays, Beach Trips, Busy Summer Days... Well, this summer is flying by. The girls just both celebrated birthdays in the past 2 weeks---Reese turned 3 and Lilly turned 1 and life just gets more fun every day! We got back last week from our second beach trip just for a little while before taking off again for another trip to...where else? The beach. This past trip was with family. My (Anne's) brothers and sisters rent a house every year together at the beach, the 8 of us (yea, i have 7 siblings--4 sisters and 3 brothers) and our spouses (if applicable) and kids! it gets a little rowdy! we have SO much fun together. Some people think that it seems kind of weird that we like to get away for a whole week together in the same house every year, considering the fact that we all live in the same area---anywhere from 10 minutes to at most 45 minutes apart and we see each other very often. Sounds crazy to some, but it is great fun for us! We have done it each year since we lost our mom to colon cancer in 2000. We are a very close family...(we also lost our dad 8 yrs earlier to leukemia). Anyways- the beach was GREAT--the pics above are Reese and one of her cousins on the beach one overcast morning and below are some other shots with the fam and in the pool at the house we rented.   Reese and Lilly were both given a few incredible birthday parties. Both sides of the family threw them parties. Can I just say that we have the BEST family ever? They love up on our kids SOOOO much! Reese had a princess party (2 actually), as she is really into dressing up now--especially like a princess. I will have to post pictures later of what dress up around our house looks like--some of the outfits she designs are WILD! She had cinderella on her cake and plates, etc... and forever she has called her "cinda gorilla." We just think it's so funny that we have yet to correct her. so, everyone in my family now says, "cinda gorilla." We're pathetic, I know.    Interesting note on the health/adoption front: we noticed about a month ago that it appeared as though Lilly's thumbs do not straighten. (They are always bent at almost a 90 degree angle). So, i took her into the doctor and our pediatrician (whom we love) was not in that day and the one available to see us is fairly new. Anyways- this new pediatrician referred me to get an x-ray and said "i have never seen this before!" (Just what you always want to hear from a doctor, right? that this is the first time they have ever seen a condition. Way to put the parents at ease, doc.) So, off we went to get x-rays. getting a little girl/baby to hold her hands flat for like 5 x rays of each hand is NOT fun. (especially when your hand cannot be in the way holding hers down). We had to tape them to the x ray table over and over again to get each angle---she was traumatized. Then, we were at the beach when the results came back and when i read them they basically said"x rays indicate that there is a bend at the blah blah blah joint in the thumb." Thanks but no thanks! Duh, we knew that there was a "bend in the thumb"--that's why we took her in! basically, the x ray was USELESS. Our pediatrician then saw her and said "no big deal, we see this every so often, you just need to see an orthopedist. You really didn't even need to have an x ray for this, as it is not really a bone issue." Once again- the x rays were USELESS. so, we went to a pediatric orthopedist and he said that he has "trigger thumb." It is not common, but not super uncommon. typically it isn't seen in BOTH thumbs like with her, but he thinks that it is likely a congenital birth defect. Since I didn't actually see her at birth, I cannot verify if it was present or not. here's the sad part...looks like she has to have surgery. :) Poor Lilly--- she will have to be completely anesthetized. local anesthetic won't work. I have never even been anesthetized and now our little girl who has already lived through too many traumatic events for a 1 year old will have to be put under for surgery on both hands! :( We'll need lots of prayers for that event. Not scheduled yet, I am still researching before agreeing to it. Anyone heard of this or had to treat it? Well, onto better info: tomorrow, my dear dear friend from Chicago is arriving with her husband and two kids who are the EXACT same ages as our two little girls-3 and almost 1. They are staying a week and I am SO excited. Mwende (my friend) and I lived together for 3 years during graduate school in Chicago. We spent like every moment together because we had the same classes, same friends, same apartment and often spent like 18-20 hours a day studying and doing research in the engineering building at northwestern....so we were sleep deprived for several years and insanely stressed out, but we managed to have some of the most fun together ever (probably because we were a bit delusional). I am convinced no one else on this planet could have lived with me through those years but her. I cannot wait to spend time with her and have our girls play together.Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-91742518892428569832007-07-19T20:58:00.000-05:002007-07-19T21:09:40.816-05:00Mesgana Dancers<object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ycj71WfgjQc"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ycj71WfgjQc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object> Here is a video from the website for the Mesgana Dancers, which is a group of adorable Ethiopian girls who do a dance tour every year in the U.S. The dancers are affiliated with the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund (COEEF) which is aimed at improving the lives and futures of girls in Ethiopia through education. It is an great video and undoubtedly a great cause! Many people in our local Ethiopian adoption group are planning to go see them and so are we. We feel spoiled because it appears as though they only have a half a dozen stops in the US and two are in our area! Probably because there is a huge Ethiopian population here. Can't wait to see them. For those of you who have already been to Ethiopia and perhaps dined at Fasika, the dancing will remind you a bit of the evening there!!!! :) Good memories...Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-83594886690696386352007-07-09T11:53:00.001-05:002007-07-10T15:40:17.520-05:004th of July at the Beach!!

 We took the girls to the Jersey Shore for a little time at the beach, thanks to the Brophy's incredible hospitality. We all had a great time! The weather didn't cooperate the first few days-raining. But, we managed to find many things to do: shopping, relaxing, eating a lot of yummy seafood and everything else, pedicures, etc... The last few days were nice and sunny and all of the kids seemed to really enojy the beach. Reese loved playing in the sand and building sand castles. The ocean water was FREEZING and quite rough some days, but you'd never know watching the way the kids loved the ocean. Especially Eyerus (pronounced Ye-rus with a long U). This is the charming young girl that the Brophy's are hosting through Gladney's Bright Futures Camp. She was incredibly adventurous in the ocean! She is such a little sweet heart. Reese called her "Roos," "Roost" and a few times even called her "Rooster." Reese has this funny thing with giving people nick names. She also calls a neighbor's son, 'Trouble,' when his name is actually Trevor. She also calls my friend Matt's son, Ian, 'Ant' or 'Int.' She is crazy for sure. We really enjoyed our time with Eyerus; being with her reminded us of how sweet the Ethiopian children were when we were there. Oh, and Lilly's little' boyfriend,' Ashenafi, is doing great and as cute as ever! (As you can see in the photos). I got to hold him and feed him his bottle one day after his nap while everyone else was still at the beach, and I enjoyed every minute of it. What a little heart-breaker!

 Here's a cute pic of daddy and Reese on the beach:
 I am so proud of brave little Reese---she rode her first Roller Coaster at the board walk! That's right, at age 2! It was pretty fast and definitely had some scary drops and turns...it wasn't one of those baby ones, I assure you. She took it like a champ! :)
Eyerus and Reese getting onto the helicopter ride. Eyerus really took great care of Reese all week...taking on the role of big sis.

The Delp and Brophy family at the beach (on the boardwalk one rainy evening):

 This last pic is of crazy Reese when I went to get her after her nap one afternoon. She was wearing clothes when I put her down, and when I returned, she was asleep and wearing Lilly's bathing suit (yep, that's right, Lilly is 2 full years younger than her--it was tight) and then she had her own bikini bottom over top of it! The messed-up pig tails just makes the image complete:

Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-63052112279783150712007-07-01T15:06:00.000-05:002007-07-01T16:50:25.552-05:00Crawling, Teething, Laughing...So, our little Elizabeth is finally crawling (see video), and over the past few weeks she has become quite an expert at it. Though she's moving at a leisurely pace in the video, she can cruise. We also think that she has great form! :) Reese also crawled for the first time at 10 months old. She had her own "special" technique, though. It resembled the 'butterfly' when swimming: both arms, both legs, both arms, both legs. It was funny, but it got her from point A to point B. Elizabeth's (we are calling her Lilly as a nickname) is a more traditional crawl.
<embed src="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=30ec70963f1b189c1ce295" quality="high" scale="noscale" wmode="window" allowfullscreen="true" name="FLVPlayer" salign="LT" flashvars="&p=30ec70963f1b189c1ce295&skin_id=701&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="382" width="408"></embed>
 Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

 Elizabeth also had 4 teeth cut through all at the same time! (top 2 & bottom 2). Poor thing...she seemed a bit uncomfortable with it, but it has produced an even cuter little smile. She is laughing A LOT, clapping and says "hi" and waves all of the time! She has also added "mama" to her vocabulary of three words --- dada, mama, hi!!! Reese daily says to her, "Say Reese-IE, Reesie. Can you say that Liz-a-Beff, Reese-IE!?!?!?" Reese is such a good big sister. She holds Elizabeth's hand in the car and calls her "my baby." She says, "I need to check on my baby..." and comforts her, saying "It's okay Liz-a-Beff!" Very sweet. They really seem to love each other. Here are a few pics during the nighttime routine, after baths and before bed. As you can see, Elizabeth can even stand when leaning against something or holding onto tables. She is very strong, at least we think so.    We are gearing up for a few much-needed summer vacations. The first one is next week and is an Ethiopia-reunion of sorts: a couple, the Brophy's, who traveled with us to Ethiopia and picked up their son, has so kindly invited us to join them at their beach house for the 4th of July holiday!!We are so excited to get the former Gladney buddies together again. The Brophy's are also hosting a young girl through Gladney's Bright Future's Camp, so we'll get quality time with her also. Oh, and on Tuesday, before leaving town we have our first post-adoption follow up appointment with our social worker. Last week it was three months since we arrived back home.Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-76764525439726629002007-06-22T20:19:00.000-05:002007-07-01T16:54:23.253-05:00Happy 5th Anniversary to Us! 5 Years! What an adventure it has been!! Since we've been together, Mike and I have been busy, we've:

Added 2 incredible little girls to our family

Run 2 marathons together (Mike has run more w/o me)

Purchased and completely renovated 2 homes

Begun new careers

Traveled on many vacations to beaches, mountains, overseas, etc...

Built many friendships and memories together... and on & on

 I feel so blessed to be able to live life with my best friend. We share so many dreams and goals together. It's hard to believe how fast this year has flown by! Really Really flown by---to think that it was a year ago to the day that we decided to proceed with adopting from Ethiopia (but, we didn't start the paperwork until October) and now we have our little Ethiopian princess here with us! What a year.Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-33198384670188281862007-05-25T12:26:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:46:23.023-05:00settling in at home!time is flying. two months home already! elizabeth is 9 and a 1/2 months old. we are all settling in to being a family of 4. in fact, we love it! reese often counts the number of girls and boys in the room, and it is always 3 to 1; sorry mike. we love our little girls. they are doing great. they love each other SO much. we are so proud of the way that both of them are handling this new transition in life. i can hardly believe how well elizabeth has adjusted. she quickly recognized her new name (turns when called); she definitely knows who mommy and daddy and big sister are. she laughs hysterically when reese kisses her and smiles all day long at her daddy. it is safe to say that this little lady has also stolen our hearts.

family and friends have been super welcoming to elizabeth with a welcome baby party and many visits and gifts and meals, and lots and lots of love! we even got to attend a local ethiopian adoption potluck and show her off shortly after we returned. very fun. :)

great news-two couples that we know are now planning to also adopt from ethiopia: a couple whom we know through church and a couple who live nearby! yea! we are so excited about this because (1) since we wanted to take all of the little kids home with us from the orphanage, but obviously couldn't; at least we can see more of them find wonderful new homes, (2) we LOVE the idea of elizabeth having more friends who are also adopted from ethiopia---ESPECIALLY if they live in our neighborhood and (3) this has been such an amazing experience for us, that we can't help but hope that others will have the same great journey.

 we got to meet the bottomly family in person and their CUTE CUTE CUTE little boy, silas, when they came through DC on the way back from ethiopia. they had a horrible experience traveling home, but we enjoyed meeting them if only for a moment and reuniting silas and elizabeth. their beds were right across from one another in the gladney home and i got to hold silas a bit back in march when we were there. they are a super sweet family and we are so grateful to have built a new friendship with people half way across the country through this common experience that we share! the internet is so great for adoptive families! :) i am also so impressed by amy's vulnerability and the way that she shares so much about her adoptive experience with the world. impressive and helpful to other families, like us!

in the past two months, we received elizabeth's green card in the mail (sweet...she can get a job now! just kidding, obviously). we will start the re-adoption process here soon. going to try to do it without a lawyer. we have taken her to the doctor several times, and had blood work re-run and submitted stool samples (YUCKO) and she appears to be healthy as a horse! it's a amazing, really: no parasites, blood work looks great...everything is great! we feel fortunate for sure. she is on a great sleeping schedule...we had to teach her to get through the nights, because we feel confident that in the gladney home all the babies woke each other up and since elizabeth isn't into pacifiers, she probably got a few extra (probably not needed) bottles. so, that habit has been officially broken now. she is sleeping 12 long hours at night and two 2 hour naps during the day. YES! we have also been to 2 doctors regarding her sorta flat head. poor thing. we aren't sure if we'll be doing one of those helmet/bands yet because she is just on the edge of the normal/abnormal range and of course, insurance is making this decision harder by refusing to pay anything. lovely. they apparently only cover medical conditions that we'll never have, b/c they tend to deny a lot! frustrating.

more updates later...

Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-53829029120714565992007-04-01T11:24:00.000-05:002008-01-15T11:37:52.038-05:00slideshow of our time in ethiopia
<embed src="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=2913c73d065e583f416e7d" quality="high" scale="noscale" width="408" height="382" wmode="window" allowFullScreen="true" name="FLVPlayer" salign="LT" flashvars="&p=2913c73d065e583f416e7d&skin_id=701&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-33851570436586182112007-03-29T21:39:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:42:34.090-05:00day 8 in ethiopia-our last full day; the time went so fastWOW. It's hard to believe that this trip went so fast. We did some more shopping, had a few more macchiatos, spent time with some of the Christians from the church, and went to the pool for a bit. One brother from the church came all of the way across town to bring us gifts for our little girls-dresses. Berhanu also came to the hotel, as did the young woman who leads the women's ministry. They gave us gifts last night at midweek last night (Wednesday), too. What an unbelieveble show of love. There was no holding back the tears anymore. We are sincerely SO SAD to leave here. We had no idea that we'd fall in love with this country. There is a sweetness to this place. We cannot wait to come back one day with the girls when they are older. We'd love to get out into the country-side and see some of the historic churches and more of the culture. If only we didn't miss Reese so much, we would definitely stay longer here. We can't emphasize how much we love the adoption agency that we used-the Gladney Center. They took care of us from beginning to end. Again, big thanks to Ryan, Abby and Belay as well as the US Gladney team- especially Mary T. and Tonia. THANK YOU GLADNEY for our little angel! What an incredible journey.... Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-33470047200506569062007-03-28T21:38:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:38:39.661-05:00day 7 in ethiopia-appointments at the us embassy in addisToday we did some more shopping, went back to the Gladney home to particpate in a coffee ceremony (We LOVE how into coffee everyone is here---this place was made for the Delps!) and say goodbye to these incredible women who loved our children for so many months. We also visited a traditional Ethiopian Orthodox cathedral (where Emperor Hallie Salassie is buried) and had our appointments at the American embassy. I think that the ladies who worked at the embassy thought it was so cute that the two husbands were carrying the babies on their front in baby bjorns. They joked that Alem has one health concern that they wanted to discuss before granting her an immigrant visa- and that is that she's a little chubby and needs to have a "lifestyle modification!" So funny! Both Alem and Ashenafi's visas were approved!!! YEAHHHH! The proud daddies, Mike and Nick, did what Nick called the "first ever recorded post-visa approval daddy-baby chest bump," captured in the photo below. (Thanks for coining that phrase, Nick).  Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-85123843321798551972007-03-27T21:37:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:37:52.404-05:00day 6 in ethiopia-traditional ethiopian food and danceToday we stayed around the pool at the Shearton during the day, and spent quality time with Alem. We gave her a chance to get some good naps in and we snuck in a nap each as well.
We had dinner at a restaraunt called Fasika, with traditional Ethiopian food and traditional dance. It was amazing! The place serves traditional Ethiopian food and has a band and several dancers who perform songs/dances characteristic of different regions of the country. An outstanding experience. We have been fascinated by the richness of Ethiopian culture and history. Berhanu, the head minister from church, joined us again for dinner. It's great getting to know him.
 Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-84448905677311285042007-03-26T21:36:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:37:01.585-05:00day 5 in ethiopia- happy birthday to me!
Who would've ever guessed that I be spending my 32nd birthday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia while enjoying the company of my new baby girl? Not me. But, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday (well, actually if Reese had been there, that would've made it the best). It was a very special day, indeed. Sarah Marie and I spent the better part of the day shopping with one of the drivers, Anbes, and his fiance, Mytin. It was so much fun! We got some great jewlery (nice silver here in Addis), many kilos of coffee (yummy -- the coffee is outstanding), and some art work as well. We had lunch on the rooftop of an apartment building with an incredible view of the city.

For dinner, we went to an incredible Italian Restaraunt called Castelli's. Some people say that it is one of the best Italian Restaraunts in the world! The restaurant was recommended to us by a friend of the family who has traveled to Addis Ababa many times during his 25+ years with the IMF. Since he was born and raised in Rome, we figured he knows good Italian food, and so we took his advice and went. The meal was fabulous! And the owner (in pic with Mike) remembers Piero - small world!

 For my birthday-- a few unexpected signs of kindess: one of the other couples, the Thorns, had flowers and a bottle of Ethiopian wine sent to our hotel room! Gouder is a brand of Ethiopian wine name, and it is definitely "gooder" than many other wines! :-) Abby and Ryan gave me a beautiful Ethiopian scarf. So nice of them to buy me a gift; when we feel forever indebted to THEM for facilitating this adoption. Then, we returned from dinner, Mytin (one of the driver's fiance) sent a beautiful cake and wine to our room (in pic above)! WOW. How sweet. I feel so loved. Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-17517099571735760832007-03-25T21:35:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:36:14.998-05:00day 4 in ethiopia- church was incredible!Today we had the oppoturtunity to attend a worship service with our sister church here in Ethiopia. We had been corresponding by email with some of the members for several weeks before our trip. It was great to finally meet them in person! They have a small congregation here in the city. The service was wonderful - incredible singing and a thought-provoking lesson preached by a fellow visiting fom Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Christians welcomed us with big hugs and genuine warmth. They made us feel like family. We could see that despite huge differences in culture, language, and surroundings, we are unified by a certainty in the goodness and justice of God. We brought books for the church to add to their library, and they were so grateful...a simple thing such as a book collection meant the world to them.
We brought our new friends the Brophys with us to service and they seemed to really enjoy themselves and the members of the Addis church loved them and their cute baby boy! What an incredible journey we are getting to share together!

Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-91743392155659480812007-03-24T21:35:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:35:21.763-05:00day 3 in ethiopia- i think she likes us!!! Last night Alem woke up and I went to change her diaper. I took her out of the crib and placed her on the ground and she saw Mike across the room, made eye contact with him, and gave him the biggest smile ever! Almost as if to say..."Hey, I know you. You were here yesterday, and I like you!" This was a real turning point for us. After that first smile, Alem laughed, smiled, coohed and seemed happier each day. She even began crying for us when someone else holds her. It melts our hearts that she can learn to trust and love so quickly.
Not suprising that daddy got the first smile. Reese is definitely Daddy's girl, and I (Anne) am bracing myself for this one to be the same. Who can blame these ladies? They won the lottery when it comes to Father assignments. He is, witout a doubt in my mind, the best dad in the world (and husband).
Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-25652625762095854192007-03-23T21:33:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:34:23.030-05:00day 2 in ethiopia- a day visiting orhphanagesToday was definitely better with Alem, but not any easier on the emotional front. We spent the entire day visiting orphanages. It was intense. We began the day at the orphanage where Alem stayed from about 6-11 weeks old. She was taken there after her mother left her at a stranger's house. It was incredible to see where she spent those few weeks. This orphanage was not nearly as nice as the Gladney Foster Home where Alem has been since October. The caregivers here are kind and seem to do the best they can to care for the children, but there are many babies for each caregiver and the conditions are not as nice as the Gladney home. The babies are all in one big room---many cribs. Some babies are only a few days or weeks old here. The rest of the facility has other buildings where all of the older kids live. They mostly seem young here, early elementary school age. They are incredibly sweet and quite well-mannered - running up to us, shaking our hands, and posing for pictures then frantically wanting to see themselves in the pics. Oh, so sweet. They are all in tattered, but matching school uniforms with big smiles on their faces. I want to take them all home. We are so impressed with the level of education of these children; really everyone in Addis. People seem to value education dearly here, and it is obvious in the way that people speak and carry themselves, even these kids without homes.
The second orphanage was privately run and much smaller home/compound. Every house here is behind a wall of some sort---ranging fom corrogated tin to mud walls to fancier cement walls with security fencing along the top (only a few homes had this nice of a wall). This particular private orphanage was tucked into a neighborhood on the most narrow street. There weren't many kids here...but again, they were sweet, kind, full of smiles and wanting nothing more than to be picked up anf held and talked to. There was one beautiful little girl here who was about 3 years old and looked noticeably sad and withdrawn. Apparently, her mother had just taken her here not too long ago. It broke my heart. She did not want her picture taken, she would not make eye contact, she didn't want anything to do with anyone. Having a 2 and a 1/2 year old back home, I can imagine how traumatic such a separation at this age would be. Very sad. The last orphanage was older children-about 195 of them! One little girl attached herself to Mike the whole time and he wanted desperately to take her home also. These kids knew English well and very respectful and kind. They seemed to work hard in school and were even computer savvy. Gladney is working on different programs to teach various skills to the children. Particularly, to the girls who will perhaps "age out"...meaning that they will reach 18 without being adopted and therefore be forced out of the orphanage. You can imagine the lack of job opportunities for these young ladies--in a country with a very high unemployment rate and the jobs that are available aren't really availale to a lot of women. Even college educated women have trouble finding jobs there! So, many girls/young ladies turn to prostitution, and eventually may contract diseases-like AIDS, endure poverty, and maybe have babies themselves that they cannot care for and so they also bring them to orphanages. Alas, a second generation being raised in orphanages! A tragic cycle. I cannot imagine the fear, struggle, pain, worry, and stress that these parents go through that leads them to make a decision to actually give up their child. Sometimes I think that I have stress in my life, but I have never had to even think of giving up my daughter because I couldn't provide basic needs for her! We are very fortunate indeed. We will tell Alem that her biological mother made a brave decision to take her to a home and ask for help- hoping to find a better life for her somewhere else. We are on the verge of tears at every moment here. I must mention how impressed Mike and I have been by the kind demeanor of the people in Addis. We have yet to meet an unfriendly Ethiopian! It seems that in this culture, every baby is treated like family, as nearly everyone we interact immediately moves to hold Alem, kiss her and play with her.
Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-44855626349012650362007-03-22T21:31:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:43:52.549-05:00day 1 in ethiopia---we're here!!!The flight went surprisingly fast, and I (Anne) barely slept--too excited (bad decision on my part) . When we landed it was 8:30 thursday morning, so it would have been best to get as much rest as possible on the plane! Oops. After leaving behind a cold march morning in Washington, DC, we landed down in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where is it warm (not too hot) and sunny with a nice breeze. The landscape looked beautiful- many mountains and hills with farms in the country side. It looks very different than Maryland from up here! We sped through the visa line, and were greeted by Abby and Ryan who work for Gladney (our adoption agency) and currently live in Ethiopia (couple on the far right in the picture). They moved here in the Fall to be the liasons between the Gladney families and the caregivers/adoptive children, etc... and they do an amazing job! They adopted a little Ethiopian boy, Enoch, a little over a year ago after helping him undergo extensive surgery. A fantastic Ethiopian gentlman named Belay coordinates with the state-run orphanages, carves through the beauracracy, and handles most of the legal stuff. He seems to know everyone in Ethiopia and just works miracles. The three of them handled the Ethiopia-side of our adoption. Many many thanks to Belay, Ryan and Abby. The three adoptive couples managed to stuff all of our many bags into the cars (each of us had two bags full of diapers and formula for the orphanage plus bags of baby clothes, and oh yes a few items for us parents to wear also). We then met our drivers. Each couple has their own personal driver, which we quickly learned is essential in Addis- the city is confusing and public transportation would be very challenging with a baby; not to mention that we wouldn't even know where to say we are trying to get to! Our drivers were our lifelines during the trip! We joke that they were our drivers/tour guides/personal shoppers/negotiators/translators/historians, etc.... Our driver's name was Tafesse. He was the best! Besides everything else, he gave me a phone that would make it possible for me to be in contact with family back home and people in Ethiopia. Thanks Tafesse, you made our time in Ethiopia go so smoothly. We quickly checked into the hotel and off we were to the foster home. Gladney runs a home here in Addis Ababa where the babies live. There are anywhere up to 12 babies and approximately 6 caregivers working at any time. That's a great ratio! They clearly loved and took care of our little lady... they certainly made sure that she ate well! :-) The caregivers cried when we picked up the children- and one young woman even made homemade gifts for them. How incredible!  emotional rollercoaster- more of day 1 in ethiopia

Today felt like about a year long. I am sure that the jet lag had something to do with it. But, I think that we are on emotional overload. Just being in Ethiopia is a bit emotionally overwhleming for me. It was difficult to see the poverty and hardship many of the people live with, and we're in the most developed city in the country. I can only begin to imagine what it could be like in the countryside. There are large neighborhoods/shanties throughout the city; even surrounding our hotel.

Then, we're tired, very tired. We went to the Gladney Foster home within a few hours of arriving in Addis to get Alem (we are using her Ethiopian name while here: (1) so that she's not confused by one more thing and (2) because when we introduce her to others while here, Alem is very common to them). The flood of emotions we experienced upon meeting her for the first time were difficult to process. We are overjoyed to finally have her, but she reacted to us as if to say, "who in the world are you?". She has clearly been well-fed during her time in the Gladney foster home, but she is bigger than we thought! Almost nothing that we brought fits her! Then, the formula we brought (which ironically was supposed to be premium and gentler on babies' stomachs) made her sick, so poor Alem threw up pretty much everything for the first day. Thankfully, the Brophy's (the couple from NY) brought extra formula and were in the same hotel as us and so we were able to get some from them that didn't make her throw up.

Alem cried quite a bit today. She seems visibly uncomfortable with us, which is to be expected I guess. Poor thing. How many transitions can a baby handle in 7 short months of life? When we are out in public and she cries, I feel so insecure, imagining that people are looking at me thinking, "See this white woman can't take care of that baby." Not that anyone said anything even close to that in Ethiopia. In fact, the Ethiopians we have met were as sweet and supportive as one could hope for toward adotive familes. Many people said "lucky baby." But, my insecurities weren't really based on reality anyways. Then, we called back home at the end of the first day and spoke to Reese and that kind of put us over the edge. We miss her so much and she misses us, and here we are in Africa with this child who isn't so keen on us. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier.

Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-30513191726376846852007-03-21T21:30:00.000-05:002007-06-28T21:32:42.949-05:00the trip begins-wednesday, march 21stwashington, dc to addis ababa, ethiopia Today we boarded Ethiopian Airlines flight 500, headed directly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (after a short stop in rome, Italy for fuel). Our good friend, Paolo managed to pull himself out of bed at the ripe hour of 4:30 to pick us up and take us to Dulles International Airport. Thank you, Paolo!!! We snuck out before Reese woke up, which is great, because I think that I would've had a breakdown saying goodbye to her for a week. It's SO HARD to leave her behind. We are grateful that my sister, Aimee, came over to stay the night and be there to remind Reese in the morning that we're going to get her baby sister. Thanks Beth, Don, Alex & Ted, Grandma & Grandpa for all taking turns to stay with Reese and love her while we are gone. Thanks also to MJ, Ben, Michelle, & JP for visiting her too. Reese is definitely not lacking for love from her family. Our adoption agency, (the Gladney Center) has us traveling at the same time as two other couples-one from Houston and one from New York. Both of the other couples are picking up their baby boys from the same care center as our little girl. Amazingly, we are all on the same flight leaving Washington, DC! We met one of the couples in the airport and spent time while waiting to board the plane. While in line, I (Anne) also met the author of a fantastic book that I recently finished called "There Is No Me Without You." The book discusses an Ethiopian woman and how she started an orphange (without necessarily setting out to do so). It is brilliantly written in the way that it follows this one woman's true life story and inserts tons of history on Ethiopia-especially more recent history on the AIDS crisis in Africa and the orphan crisis as well. It was just released in 2006, so it is very current. I could not put it down. It was such a great treat for me to meet her! Plus, then I could keep talking to her for the next ohhhh, 18 hours, on the flight.... and ask her a million questions. Which I did. (Sorry, Melissa.) She was incredibly warm, and knowledgable about Ethiopia and adoption. Her and her husband have such huge hearts. They have seven kids- four biological, one from Bulgaria, and two from Ethiopia, and they are in the process of adopting two more boys from Ethiopia now. INCREDIBLE! You MUST read this book! http://melissafaygreene.com/Annehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-59207738798763617022007-03-15T12:33:00.000-05:002007-04-22T20:32:15.419-05:00one week left before we step foot in africa!I think that we set some sort of world record on the number of things accomplished between referral and leaving to pick-up the baby! We managed finish major renovations in our basement (thanks to Dave for all of his hard work!!) The carpet was installed just two weeks before departure day. Then, we had to completely dismantle the office upstairs, and set a new office up in the "new area" of the basement and prime, paint, and assemble the furniture for the nursery. And, get remaining immunizations, buy supplies for the trip, pack our clothes and the baby's, and the donations for the orphange, etc... I cannot even remember everything anymore. Oh, and yes, I (Anne) did just switch jobs this last week also. Okay- no more major life changes, please! :-) Thanks so much to Holli and Henry for jump starting the baby Elizabeth's room. There's NO WAY we would have had it done in time without you guys. Then, a big thanks to the family for getting the baby's room decorated while we were in Ethiopia. You guys are amazing. And, now...to arrange little Reese's schedule for the next ten days while we are gone. :-P Leaving her behind is the hardest thing we've ever done. We love our little Reesie and she goes everywhere with us. Typically, she travels well, and is our buddy. But, taking her along at her young age would result in more risks than benefits at this point. We know that she will be in great hands while we are gone because our family has been nothing short of AMAZING and once again, they came through for us! Beth & Don, Aimee, Alex & Ted, and Grandma & Grandpa will all have their turn staying with Reese (or her with them). And, she will receive visits from MJB and the Ben Man, Michelle, Teri, and Uncle JP. Beth even took vacation time to stay here with Reese. Many Many Many thanks. It's the only thing that makes us feel okay about doing this--knowing that she is in great hands and will be having a blast with her crazy aunts, cousins, and grandparents. As the time for us to leave approaches, she can tell that we're leaving soon. We talk about the trip and how exciting it is that we're going to get her new baby sister a lot. We pray for the baby, and we read books about having a new sibling and even about adoption (thanks, Cara for that great book). So, Reese knows it's coming and has tried to convince us to take her (as if we wouldn't LOVE to do so). She said one night to Mike "I want to go with Mama and Dada to get my baby sister. I'll get my clothes, I'll get my Teddy, and I will go." Talk about heart-wrentching. So, then after Daddy reminded her of how much fun it'll be here with her family, and that we'd be back soon she said, "Okay, I'll stay here, but God will stay with me...he'll give me a BIIIGG HUUUUG."Annehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7365881833553631704.post-91799968006650119822007-02-22T12:29:00.000-05:002007-04-22T14:16:42.899-05:00court date scheduled in ethiopiaToday we received an email from Gladney saying that we have a court date set forMar 6th and that we should plan to be in Ethiopia on the 22nd of March! Wow. So soon! This is all becoming so real. Time to make travel plans, buy medicine, renew Mike's passport, ...and we still have to finish some already begun renovations to the basement to move the office downstairs and make room for the baby upstairs. And I (Anne) discovered that I will be switching positions at work, to a new office, all between now and our departure. It seemed like too much to do in such a short amount of time...We were pretty overwhelmed. After completing all of our immunizations and paying the remainder of the adoption-related fees (yikes), we purchased all of our supplies and many OTC medications in anticipation of travel sickness. :-p. Flight arrangements: Check Hotel: Check Suitcases, International cell phone card, baby sitting arrangements for Reese for an entire week...: Check, Check, Check!Annehttp://email@example.com


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|product name: DEJAVU FIBERWIG Lasting fine a Pencil Eyeliner (Deep Black) (0.15g) (Deep Black)
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since folks have been asking to see the garb I made for the clothing category I have decided to post it
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Hello! This is a little blog to keep me on task! I play in the SCA in Caerthe (Denver) in the kingdom of the Outlands... We just started our first Quest to help us dive deeper into our persona and really do some research! I have one year to finsh 10 out of the 15 catagories Wish me luck! I'm going to need it! Also check out my other blog http://sewingnuts.blogspot.com


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WASHINGTON, D.C. Congressman Chris Smith, a long-time human rights advocate in Congress and senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, has been named chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on the Peoples Republic of China, a congressionally-mandated, bipartisan panel made up of Members of the House and Senate and Presidential appointees serving in the Administration. Smith was appointed to the position by House Speaker John Boehner.
China has attempted to set itself up as the alternative model to democracy while savagely persecuting democratic activists, religious believers, Tibetans, Uyghurs, women who become pregnant without a birth permit, cyber activists who promote democracy and human rights on the internet, and many others, said Smith, chairman of the House subcommittee that handles international human rights. We have seen Chinas military and economic power grow enormously while its record on human rights has not improved at all, and has even regressed in some areas.
The abusive regime in China has ignored basic human rights, suppressed free speech and religious expression and illegally arrested and tortured its own citizens with impunity, Smith said. The China Commission has a major role in calling attention to these abuses and pressuring China to comply with basic internationally recognized standards such as those contained in the U.N. Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. For the direct benefit of those suffering in China, as well as our own national interests, it is critical that we work as hard as ever to promote fundamental freedoms and human rights in China.
Smith also chairs the U.S. Helsinki Commission and is an executive member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
Congressman Smith has been a long-time leader and advocate for human rights and democratic reforms in China, said Speaker Boehner. I have known Chris for many years, and my appointment of him as chairman of this commission recognizes the emphasis the House of Representatives will continue to place on promoting democracy, respect for human dignity, the sanctity of life, and religious freedom for all."
Smith has a long history of advocating for human rights all over the world, including China. He has held nearly 30 hearings on Chinese human rights issues. Currently, an amendment he wrote calling for the release of blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who along with other human rights leaders and lawyers has been persecuted relentlessly by the Chinese government, awaits full House passage. (The Smith amendment to H.R 2583).
In 2010 he successfully led an effort to nominate Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Prize. When the Chinese government refused to allow Liu to attend the ceremony, Smith and then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi represented the U.S. at the presentation ceremony. Smith also traveled to China in 2008 in an attempt to prod the government to release political prisoners in a prelude to the Olympic Games. Smith chaired a comprehensive November 2009 hearing called Thirty Years of the One-Child Policy which detailed human rights violations including forced sterilizations, forced abortions and gendercide bias against girls resulting in alarming gender imbalance seen in many areas of China today. Computers in Smiths office and that of another congressman active in human rights in China were hacked in 2006 and 2007, with strong indications that the hackers were based in China (AP article of incident). Smith is also the author of the proposed Global Online Freedom Act, a bill that would prohibit U.S. companies from assisting in censorship and surveillance in countries like China which repress internet freedom.
The commissions co-chairman, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), was recently appointed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Brown also served on the commission as a member of House. The commission was created by Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress (2010 report). The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President. The commission maintains a list of known Chinese political and religious prisoners.
Strong U.S. leadership is required to advance human rights in China, not only for the sake of those suffering from violent human rights abuses, but for our own sake as well, said Smith, who was critical of President Obamas warm welcome of Chinese President Hu Jintao earlier this year in Washington. The interests of the U.S. depend on a future China that protects its citizens rights and freedoms. We have seen a bold emergence of China into African affairs, particularly in Sudan. The U.S. should speak out when necessary.


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Tag: breakups
Cutting Loose; How to Know When a Friendship Has Soured
If you're in any phase of adulthood – young adulthood, pre-adulthood, firmly-entrenched-in-as-evidenced-by-my-mortgage adulthood – you've had your fair share of friendships. You likely have learned the eye-opening lesson that with full-time jobs and grown-up responsibilities comes less free time, and less free time means less opportunity to spark and cultivate friendships. The older you get, … Continue reading Cutting Loose; How to Know When a Friendship Has Soured


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Gail Simone has one of the most personable and idiosyncratic voices in comics. It's why fans follow her in books like Batgirl, Birds of Prey and Secret Six, and it's how she broke into the comics industry from being a Comic Book Resources columnist. And 2013 is shaping up to be a big year for Simone with the launch of her creator-owned Leaving Megapolis with Jim Califoire, a new Red Sonja series at Dynamite and The Movement at DC Comics (which she spoke about at length Friday with Comic Book Resources), and continuing on her cathartic run on Batgirl.
I reached out to Simone following the Red Sonja announcement to talk to her about that new book, but also her career in general. Her off-again, on-again time on Batgirl has already been covered ad nauseum, and there's more to her story than that.
Chris Arrant: What are you working on today?
Gail Simone: The weird thing is, I work much faster and better when I am doing more projects. When I'm only doing one book, everything slows to a crawl, for some reason. So the days of working on only one project at a time are over, really.
I wrote some Red Sonja, some Batgirl, and a little bit of The Movement. I checked art for three different books, I worked on some stuff for Leaving Megapolis, the graphic novel I am doing with Jim Calafiore.
Oh, and I played the new Tomb Raider game a bit.
This interview came about after news broke that you were working with Dynamite on a new Red Sonja series launching this July. How'd you first come to learn about Red Sonja as a fan?
My memory on this is a little hazy. My town was remote, comics were scarce, so I got comics at garage sales and the like. I am almost sure the first Red Sonja I saw was a tattered old Frank Thorne issue. Frank drew women so sexy it ought to be illegal, but he did it without the porny poses, it was just a natural way of drawing, I don't think he could have helped it if he tried. All I know is that it was BEAUTIFUL.
I've talked about this a lot and it's vaguely pathetic, I know. But I was the only redhead in my school. Having comics characters like Sonja and Babs, that's, well, I can't really express how that helped.
Many writers, both inside and outside of comics, have brought their own take to Red Sonja. How do you see Red Sonja, and how do your stories grow out of that?
I love her, she's pretty electric as is. I would like to humanize her voice a tiny bit. I don't want her as a wisecracker, but I would like to see the humanity shine through. And there are some things in her story I'm personally pretty tired of, things like her dressing in the chain mail so men will look at her body and not her sword.
I understand that it's a explanation, but I don't think it's a necessary one at all. Let Sonja wear what she wants to wear. She's Red *&^%ing SONJA.
What do you feel are the key previous Red Sonja stories or depictions that most inform your take on the character?
I've been reading all the Dynamite stuff, I love the work of those writers: Mike Oeming, Mike Carey, Ron Marz, on and on. I haven't yet made it to a couple of the later volumes. But I'm just enjoying the badassery of these stories.
You're best known for your at the Big Two, while some of my favorites of yours have been little gems with Bongo and Oni. This Red Sonja gig is your first major non-Big Two work in years – does it feel any different?
Oh, sure, absolutely. One of the fun things about my career is that I have often found myself on the scrappiest team. I was at Marvel when they were just coming out of bankruptcy and had a lot to prove, and I was exclusive at DC when they were the number two publisher and THEY had a lot to prove.
I like that position. I like fighting to make things happen, I like to strive. I picked books that would challenge me, and we didn't always emerge with a knockout punch, but I would rather do that than coast on some book trying not to break it. I say, let's risk it.
Dynamite is fun for me...I looked at their character list earlier tonight and I thought, man, I'm glad a company that CARES about these characters has the Shadow, has the Green Hornet, has all these wonderful toys. Because at a bigger company, they can easily get lost or shuffled to one side.
Also this year you've got Leaving Megapolis with Jim Califiore, a comic project you raised money on (very) successfully on Kickstarter. It was originally going to come out last month but you two are expanding the book somewhat – so when can people expect this to come out?
The plan is late March, I think. The response was so huge that we upgraded the book. It went from 80 pages black and white to 120 pages, hardback cover, with a TON of extras. It is an overwhelming work but very, very beautiful and terrifying. The scale did go up considerably.
It's a labor of love. We got the colorist that Jim and I think is the best in the business, Jason Wright, and it is just inexplicably gorgeous.
For people that didn't take part in the Kickstarter drive, is there a way for them to read Leaving Megapolis?
We have worked out a digital agreement after a span of time, and a bunch of publishers want to publish it. I suspect it will be without the extra material, but that is still to be decided. We want the early adopters to have something precious and valuable for their support.
2013 looks like a year of change for you; you continue to work at DC, but you're spreading your wings so to speak doing outside work such as Red Sonja and Leaving Megapolis. How does it feel to be Gail Simone in 2013 as opposed to your previous years where you primarily worked for one company?
That tale isn't completely told yet, but I shall say no more about it.
I want to make it clear that I love working at DC. These characters are right in my heart, and I have friends and collaborators that have been life-altering for me. I'm not leaving DC. I'm doing Batgirl, The Movement, AND special projects there.
But when the weird news came that I was off Batgirl, I was just flooded with offers to do books I really cared about -- licensed stuff and creator-owned, for some publishers I really admired.
It makes each workday kind of wonderful, if I may be so corny for a moment. But it's true.
And the Dynamite people have been absolutely lovely to me. They made it very clear how important this was to them, and how valued I am there, and you can't beat the peers working there; Mark Waid, Matt Wagner, Garth Ennis, Jae Lee, Ron Marz, and so many more. The quality is there and that is always going to be the No.1 priority for me.


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Call for Papers: International Journal of Disclosure and Governance
Call for Papers: Special Issue on XBRL: Implications for Reporting and Governance
In mid-2009 the International Journal of Disclosure and Governance will publish a special issue on XBRL and its impact on financial reporting and national and corporate governance worldwide. There will be a combination of invited papers from high profile members of the XBRL community and submitted papers from leading accounting practitioners, user groups and academic researchers.
More information can be found on the journal's website.
Some of the ideas they suggest for papers includes:
- The SEC mandate for XBRL usage by US public companies
- The new XBRL taxonomy and its implementation
- The nature and future of XBRL-GL
- "Simplified" XBRL
- The ways in which XBRL will impact corporate governance
- XBRL and National Standard Business Reporting projects
- The benefits and costs of XBRL adoption
- The future of tagging in financial reporting and analysis
- The role of accountants in implementing and auditing XBRL
- Training and skill requirements for preparers, users, internal and
external auditors and boards of directors in XBRL adoption and usage


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Returns as of 1/22/2019
Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone has generated some promising early returns. In this installment of "Fool Video," I ask Motley Fool contributor Tim Beyers what the iPhone will mean for shares of Apple.


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