OMG .... more pics of H from the Geddings!

Wow .... I was just about to get off the computer when I realized that I had some messages in my inbox .... yes, plural, messages .... I received more pics of our little H_ _ _ _ .... Thank You so much Geddings Family. This definately caught me by surprise because I was keeping an eye on the mailbox outside our house, since I thought Lori G. will send me pictures in the mail .... so this was a very very pleasant surprise. She also sent me pics of H with her little boy who resided at the same orphanage as H .... they look so precious together .... I think they were friends!!!! I also received pictures with their Nanny, and even some with Lori and H as she did not want to be taking a picture by herself. Poor baby, she has all these people come and take pics of her (maybe it's scary for her, or annoying .... but how else can I see her if not for the pics and video?) .... she doesn't know they're for her Mama who cannot wait for her to get here!!!

This is what Lori told me about our H:

Hey,
Sorry for the delay! We got home late Sunday night and yesterday the kids were up at 3 and 4 am. H is super sweet. She wanted me in the pictures but I got some alone and some with our son and their Nanny.
Lori

What a way to end a day!!!!!!!! Thank You So Very Much Geddings Family!!!!!!!!

Received Pics and Video .... but can't share!

We have yet to pass court (on 5 Jan 2010 - please pray for us) so I cannot share the pictures and videos I received from Missy. Thank you so much Missy for the pics and the video - you have no idea what this means for us, and how it helps us in this waiting process which seem to drag on forever. What a precious gift you have given us. I have been watching the video over and over and over, probably more than a 100 times by now. I have it in my phone, in my laptop and at work .... and every time I have a free quiet moment, I pull the video out and look at it while I think about my little princess and how much longer before she can be here with us.

Missy also told me a little bit about our daughter:

Alida,
H_ _ _ _ is so adorable!!! Somewhat shy, but I got video of her talking ... cute!!! I took a pic of her with my 4 year old. He wears 4T and 5T clothes. She is bigger than him. I left gifts with T. ... they didn't want me handing out the older kids stuff!
Missy

This and the pictures and video have made our day .... what a Christmas gift! The Ethiopian Christmas (Genna) isn't until 7 Jan, so T. probably didn't want to distribute the gifts we sent her yet until when it's Christmas there .... I guess ... otherwise I don't know why he wouldn't let her have our gifts .... it was ok before when another family was there giving her our gifts. Well, this remains a mystery for now. I'm just happy we got to see her even if just in photo and video. When watching the video, Geno said: "Oh my, she's goofy like Jalen!" ... it's true, she seems like such a little goofball ... and she has the sweetest little voice .... and it seemed like she really enjoyed the attention she was getting ... oh I just can't wait to get my hands on her and squeeze her and hug her and kiss her and never let go!!! I can't believe I'll have a daughter very soon .....

... like Father like Son!!!!

Ok, so just about an hour ago I come in the bedroom after finishing up some chores in the kitchen and around the house ..... and this is what I found .... both my boys are tucked away in the bed: one's playing with his phone, the other with his Nintendo ..... I couldn't help but snap a picture ...... like Father like Son!

* Since it's not a school night, we let Jalen stay up a little longer than usual and hang out with us in the bedroom until it's time for him to go to bed .... I just didn't expect to find both of them tucked away this early and doing exactly the same thing and looking so alike!!!

Merry 2009 Christmas!!!

We celebrated Christmas just the 3 of us Johnsons, as all our family is all over this planet - on 3 continents and in 4 countries. Below you will see pictures of Christmas Eve, and Jalen at the dinner table acting goofy. We did a mixture of European and American Christmas so after the Christmas Eve dinner, Santa came by to drop off one gift. All the rest of the gifts he dropped off during the night and Jalen found them under the tree on Christmas Day.

Also, on Christmas day after opening gifts and eating breakfast, we went to visit our neighbor, Mr. Ray, in the hospital as he had a quadruple heart by-pass surgery a few days ago. He's doing ok but is still week. We are praying for his speedy recovery. After coming back from the hospital we ate lunch and just chilled. Jalen is officially addicted to playing on his Nintendo, which he got from Santa. He wrote Santa a letter a few weeks ago asking for a Nintendo and for Transformers. He sealed it, wrote his name and Santa's address on it and we mailed it .... he dropped it into the mailbox at the Post Office.

All in all, it was a wonderful, quiet Holiday for us ... the last one as a family of three. Next year I pray we will be four!!! I hope our daughter is doing well and that she is ok. Missy, another Mom who has just travelled to Ethiopia to bring her daughter home, is coming back today or tomorrow so I might be getting some pics or video ..... what a wonderful Christmas gift that will be. So to all of you out there who have your children close to you give them an extra big hug, hold them and kiss them and thank the stars, or God, that they are with you. It's a terrible feeling to know there's your child out there somewhere and you know nothing about her, whether she's cold, whether she's sick, whether she's crying, whether someone's holding her, whether someone's feeding her .... I'm so grateful for everything I have, my husband, my son, our families .... everything .... but I won't be able to completely have peace in my heart until our daughter is home. Please keep us in your prayers and may God bless you all and your families.

Jalen very serious ... playing his Nintendo .... I disturbed him and he 'died' in the game .... hence the sour face :) .... oh well, he'll get over it ... when Mama needs a kiss, there's just no way around that :) ...

Jalen opening the gift Ms. LaToya told Santa to bring for Jalen. He loved it. There was a little note on it "From Santa to Jalen" .... he thought that was soooo cool, he wanted us to save it and put it up on his wall in the his room .... we did, on his big map filled with all kids of trinkets and memories. Thank you, Ms. LaToya!!!!

Opening one gift on Christmas Eve ..... the European tradition is to open gifts on Christmas Eve. We do a mix between that and the American tradition, so we open one gift on Christmas Eve, and then the rest on Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!!!

A Long Awaited Phone Call Came!

Yesterday, the long awaited phone call for our court date came. Our court date is scheduled to be on 5 Jan 2010. If all goes well, we might be traveling to pick up NHJ in February of next year!!! Still many unknowns and many variables in play ... but I pray that everything will be just fine!!!

... and off the Salyers go!!!!

Today Missy's family, another adoptive mom that I've met through the adoption process and became friends with, (The Salyers) left to pick up their little girl in Ethiopia at the same orphanage that our little girl is in. I have known Missy for a while now. They are also a military family, and the 5 of them: Missy, her husband and their 3 sons, will return back with little Ms. Ru around the 25th of December. I have no doubt that this will be a trip to remember not only for them but also for their 3 sons. Missy also offered to take pictures or video of our little princess, and even take a little X-Mas gift to her from us. I can't wait for them to be back so I can see all 6 of them in one pic together, to hear the stories and their experiences, and of course to see updated pictures or video of our little angel. What a wonderful X-Mas gift for the Salyers this must be! Now they will forever remember and associate X-Mas with the time that their little girl came home. I am very happy for The Salyers ... and sometimes ... just sometimes even a little 'jealappy' :) of them .... because I wish it was us traveling to pick up our little girl. I know it'll happen, I'm keeping my faith, but some days are easier than others. Surely, the next X-Mas will be celebrated by 4 Johnsons instead of 3.


It's been six weeks now since we saw our daughter's face for the first time ... and no, still no court date :( ...

Putting Up the X-Mas Tree & Going on a Date

In the 5 years since Jalen was born we haven't gone on a date to celebrate our anniversary. At first Jalen was too young for me to leave him with anyone (.... just couldn't) and then as he got older we didn't really have any one of his two grandmothers around to babysit. Well, this year since he's becoming a bigger boy, we figured we try Jalen's babysitter, Ms. LaToya. She's babysitted before for us when Jalen's school was closed, but never in the evening ..... so this was a first. He was crying at first, talking up a storm of why we shouldn't go, or why he shouldn't stay .... but in the end, once Toya got here he didn't cry .... Last thing he asked as we were leaving was: Mama, what time are you coming home? So we told him. Well, I must say, everything went smoothly and when we got home, Jalen was sound asleep, on the couch, feet on Toya, as she was watching tv ..... so peaceful .... I was at peace ... :). We're so blessed to have Ms. Toya ... and blessed to have such a big boy already.
Oh, what did we do? Well, we have to start babysteps right, with the going out .... so we went to see a movie: The Blind Side! We loved it!!!

Jalen snapped this one right before leaving.

This was the end product of our putting up the X-Mas tree minus the tree skirt which Jalen used as a cape for a while.

Big Helper!

It's Our Anniversary!!!

14 years ago, Geno and I got married in Stuttgart, Germany on 9 December 1995, after meeting and dating since February of same year. We had nothing, no possessions (well, I had my myriad of clothes, shoes and cd's), no cars, no apartment (I lived with him in his little military barracks room until we got base housing) .... so we had nothing .... but our love for each other and really really really good wonderful s_ _ [love life] ........... now here we are 14 years later with so much, .... quite a few earthly possessions .... but most importantly with our wonderful son Jalen and our daughter on the way. I couldn't be more blessed. Together we accomplished a lot!!!! So here are some pics of THEN and some pics of NOW:

NOW .... 14 years later ..... 9 December 2009 .....

Jalen took both these pictures today and I think he did ok ..... considering .... :) .....

Kreativ Blogger Award

Quite a long while back I received a Kreativ Blogger Award from a very good friend of mine and adoptive mom, Amanda, (sorry, no link as Amanda's blog is private). I am just now getting around to working on this post. There are a few rules though ... please see below:

These are the blog award 'rules':

1. Thank the person who awarded you the award and link that person's blog on your blog.

2. Identify 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 7 bloggers with the 'Kreativ Blogger Award" - post links to their blogs, and leave a comment on each of their blogs to let them know of the honor. [I don't really know what a 'Kreativ blogger' is, so you can just give it to whoever you like.]


So with that said, I'd like to thank Amanda for nominating me for this award. I don't think I'm a kreativ blogger at all, as all I do most of the time is post pictures with some text for all our family in all parts of the world to see, and know how we, or mostly Jalen, is doing.


7 things about me:

1. When people first talk to me they always ask me: "Are you Puerto Rican?" Then I tell them "no" ... next question is always "Where are you from originally?" And I tell them: "Guess!" and the NEVER ever guess correctly :) ..... I've been doing this for about 16 years now and it still never fails. Always the same 'where r u from' game.

2. The way I grew up, it was a necessity, a mandatory thing almost to speak more languages so I'm fluent (besides English, which is my 4th language) in my native tongues (Romanian and Hungarian), German and French. I'm ok, meaning not so fluent but can read, write and hold a very basic conversation in Spanish and Italian, very basic Arabic and work-in progress Amharic. I don't get any of the languages confused in my head (contrary to what people usually ask me) but counting money or any math I can only do in Romanian .... any other language I'd do it in I get bogged down, so I never even try ... I just stick to counting and math in Romanian.

3. I used to be a party animal, club-going, always out and about kinda gal, but now since I've became a mommy 5 years ago, I'm just a home body .... don't really go out, I tried it once I think in the beginning and I felt guilty for not being with my child at night in case he needs me, and guitly for being too tired the next day b/c I didn't get enough sleep and not well and rested enough to be there for my son. So I don't go out ... but I miss it sometimes .... mostly the dancing ... I used to dance all night and do all the dances that were out there from the Electric Slide to the Cha Cha slide, and everything else in-between ....

4. Pink and Purple are my favorite colors .... I know I'm such a 'girl'.

5. My favorite thing to do, which has never changed throughout my life, is getting some take-out like Chinese food or pizza, coming home and watching a movie or two and just chillin' with hubby. If I had the time I could be in bed all day just watching movies, or shows on DVD like (Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, The L Word, Big Love, The Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, Nip Tuck, and the list goes on and on).

6. I don't want much in life except for my family to be ok and live a confortable life within our means, which leads me to the last fact about me ....

7. I absolutely hate, despise, detest owing anybody any money .... therefore ... I don't (except I don't own my house yet) .... we (Geno and I) have always been this way ... if we couldn't get it with the money we had .... we didn't need it or didn't want it. I'm glad I never bought into the American 'Dream' [lie] of credit cards, loans, and all that other stuff, where you end up paying someone else more than what you owe to begin with ... so as my father would always say: "We only stretch ourselves as far as our blanket goes, any further and we'd have cold feet!" [It's a translation, it sounds better in Romanian].


I don't know exactly on what criteria to award my 7 Kreativ Blogger Awards, so I'll just tell you my favorite 7 blog I love to read in no particular order:


1. Amanda's Blog [she keeps a very detailed private blog, and mostly I always know how this family is doing and what they're up to ... just by checking her blog] ... through her blog, comments, emails and phone calls we became friends and I can only hope that one day the two of us along with our families can meet.



2. Elisa's Blog [I love reading her blog ... this is a military family, we both have 5-yr old boys who have first/middle name in common ... I spoke to Elisa on numerous occasions on the phone, and she seems like a down-to-earth girl .... I just like her; plus she's the very first person I know who laid eyes, hugged, took a gift to, and spent time with my little girl and broght me back pictures and video to prove it .... this alone in the adoption world is ... priceless].


3. Missy's Blog [I love reading her blog .... this is another military family getting ready to pick up their daughter over X-Mas in the same orphanage our daughter is in. Over the months waiting for our referral, we became friends primarily through reading each other's blogs, leaving comments, writing emails and talking on the phone. Missy will be the second person who will spend some time with our little girl and who is taking her some X-Mas gifts from us. She's leaving soon ... in only 5 days ... and I can't wait for her to get back safely].


4. Meg's Blog [I love reading Meg's blog, especially finding out how her little boy Sam is doing and how he's growing and developing and the funny things he does, says .... oh, he just seems like such a joy, and I know Meg loves him to death ... Her boy reminds me very much of Jalen when he was that age ... I also love Meg's writing style: funny, sarcastic, very serious when the situation calls for ... but mostly just funny ... hillarious ... always putting a smile on my face].


5. Toni's Blog [Toni's another adoptive Mom, waiting for a referral. Now she is really creative in her blog always finding treasures, Ethiopian or otherwise to relate to her future little girl, she's very positive and uplifting on her blog ... plus I like listening to reggae which she has playing on her blog].


6. Kate's Blog [Kate is another adoptive Mom, who has a beautiful little girl and is in the process of adopting 2 more siblings for her lovely Meron (in Amharic Meron means "God's Gift" ... I love this name). I am excited to continue to follow her journey.


7. Courtney's Blog [I love reading Courtney's blog, even though I hardly ever leave comments, but I love her genuine, innocent, honest writing style .... her honesty and openness have caused some controversy in the past, but she stays true to herself and her blog voice ... and that's why I love reading her blog .... plus I always like to see how little Sol is doing].


Disclaimer: Ok, I think this was the longest post I've ever posted, and now my wrist hurts from so much typing :) .....

Today it's one month since ........

Today marks exactly one month since we saw our daughter's face for the first time, since Jalen saw his sister's face for the first time. One month seems to have gone by relatively quick .... I keep hoping that soon .... hopefully before Christmas ...... we'll hear about when our court date will be.