Pics of Hanna from The Crouch Family!!!

Meine Lieben, wir haben wieder mal Photos heute gekriegt von der Julie die gerade zuerueckgekert ist aus Aethiopien. Sie hat mir auch einen kleinen Bericht geschrieben ueber die Hanna. Julie's 7-jaehrige Sohn hat sich anscheinend sehr gut mit ihr verstanden. Lest halt die email drunter in weinrot. Wir sprechen dann bald!!!!!

We received updated pictures from another traveling adoptive Mom/Family who has just returned back from Ethiopia, after picking up their two beautiful children: a 10-months old babygirl and her 7 year old brother. Thank you so much Julie (please click on Julie's link to see her blog and her lovely family) you have made our day, Julie ... no ... week ... well, this unbearable time of waiting!!!!

Julie also told me a little bit about Hanna, and here's what she said:

"I did spend some time with your sweet Hanna. She is very sweet and small. Much smaller than I thought she would be from her picture. Levi saw the picture you sent of her with your picture letter and said excitedely "Mom, mom thats Hanna!". He was very excited. She is a very shy little girl but friendly at the same time. We blew bubbles together and she seemed to really like that. I am sure you will just fall in love with her. She seemed to be very close with our Levi. She kept coming up to him and hugging him and he would pick her up and carry her around. Very sweet."

"Yes, she liked the coloring books. All the other children were oohing and ahing with her over them."

This Morning In School

Today we got to school a bit earlier than usual, and because I meant to take some pictures YESTERDAY (when they had Pyjama Day) but of course I forgot to take my camera yesterday ... I decided to snap some pictures today. Below is Jalen in his K-5 classroom, with his class mates and of course his teacher, Ms. Abner. Jalen goes to a private school, Lighthouse Christian Academy, as he wouldn't have made the cut-off date to attend K-5 public school, because he would've turned 5, four weeks after the cut-off date. So, now he is in K-5 (well, since this summer), and it's going well so far ..... we still have some "tally" issues though (the kids get tallies for misbehaving, and it's a way of letting parents know how your child was misbehaving, so you can nip it in the bud) but we're working on those .... it is a work-in-progress. Some days are good, with no tallies, some days are not so good ......

We are planning to enroll Hanna in this school as well once it's time for me to go back to work. I like the school, I like the fact that they teach children already now how to write in cursive, and the fact that they teach the little ones about the Bible and God and all those stories from the First Testament, and the fact that they teach Jalen many Bible verses, because since we don't get to go to church or Sunday school that much, at least Jalen's getting his religious education this way. Also, the very first Bible verse Jalen knew is my favorite one and it's up on this blog "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above."

I have already talked to the school's principal and we will enroll Hanna into K-4 (Hanna's 4 years old) for about a month (in May), then summer school starts, and after summer school she'll be doing K-4 for a whole year. While I didn't think it was necessary for Jalen to re-do K-4, I think it'll be good for Hanna. It'll give her this K-4 year time to adjust, learn English, without the added pressure of K-5. Plus as with Jalen, I wouldn't be able to put Hanna in a public school just yet either, because her birthday is about 10 days after the cut-off date too. Yes, both my children's birthday is in September: Hanna's on the 11th (according to her paperwork) and Jalen's on the 29th. We have quite a few September people in our family: Geno, my mom, and Jalen's older brother.

Meine Lieben, heute habe ich ein paar Photos vom Toti in seiner Schule, in seinem Klassenzimmer mit seinen Freunden und seiner Lehrerin, gemacht. Viel Spass beim gucken. Da in diese Schule wird die Hanna auch gehen. Bis bald, wir reden dann am Telefon oder im Skype ... ich hab Euch lieb und denk an Euch!!!
PS: Ich hab das Paket noch nicht gekriegt, aber bestimmt bald ... vielen vielen lieben Dank!!!

Jalen and his teacher, Ms. Abner.

Ms. Abner with Tarin (her daughter), Jalen and Raquel.

Raquel, Jalen, Alisha, and Elijah

Elijah, Patrick and Jalen

Thank You To All Of You!!!

Thank you to all of you for your support, your well-wishes, your emails, comments, texts ... wow, it was a very overwhelming day spent mostly at my job ... and as you can imagine, not beeing extremely productive considering how my brain was scattered in all kinds of directions .... and concentration? ... forgetaboutit!!!!. It's been a crazy busy wonderful day for me .... I didn't get to call you guys back yet or respond to your emails and texts, but I will ... very soon!

Well, what's next??? We wait ... some more ... that's all you do it seems in an adoption process .... hurry up and wait ... it's worse than the military.
Our tentative visa date at the American Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is on 18 March 2010. This means that the Saturday or Sunday before the 18th we'll have to travel. Nothing is set in stone though until about one or at best two weeks before this date .... so it'll be a lot of rush rush at the last minute .... but for all of you out there who have already been through this, you know, it's just how it is when you get closer to your traveling date ... u do all this waiting and then everything happens at the last minute within one or two weeks! "Why such a long wait?" - some of you might ask - well, paperwork has to be done like birth certificate, passport, etc. and once that is done, because Hanna is older than 2 years, she has to take a TB test (American CDC requirement to enter the US). The results for the TB test to come back takes about 3-4 weeks .... this test cannot be done earlier but only after certain paperwork is completed. If the test comes back negative ... we're in business ... if it comes back positive we're in deep dudu ... because than it would take months before Hanna could come to the US. So please pray hard for us and for Hanna that her TB test comes back negative.

What have I accomplished today? Well, the two biggest things I did was to go ahead and put the flights on hold with Golden Rule Travel - we'll be driving from Montgomery AL to Atlanta GA, and then hop on a plane to Frankfurt, Germany, and then from there to Addis Ababa. As far as lodging, I have emailed Zeyedeh at the Melkam Guest House for room reservations but I haven't heard back from him yet. So that's all apart from the regular Tuesday routine of work, karate, dinner, etc.... I'm exhausted now ... I need to take my happy bee-hind to bed :)!!!!

Thanks again very much for all your outpouring support! I truly appreciate that!

Introducing .... Nyla Hanna Johnson - Our Precious Daughter!!!!

This little girl in the montage below has captured our hearts ever since we first saw her on 2 November 2009. Her name is Nyla Hanna Johnson. Nyla is the name we chose for her. Hanna (the two "a"s are pronounced like the "a"s in "mama") is her given Ethiopian name.

We became her legal parents today, on 26 Jan 2010. She is amazing! I can't believe she is now legally our daughter and Jalen's sister. She's been our daughter in our hearts since the moment we saw her, but today it became official. Jalen is sooo excited to be a big brother. I told him yesterday that we will pray extra hard so that the judge will decide that "yes, we can be Hanna's parents and he can be her big brother". To this Jalen said: "But you are already her parents and I'm already her brother!" .... Cute .... the mind of a 5 year old ... huh!

Hanna and Jalen are our two perfect little gifts from above!!! We are sooo blessed!!!

Enjoy the montage I put together of pictures and videos that other families have brought back to us from Ethiopia. To all of them [you know who you are :) ... credits at the end of the montage] this is for you: We thank you so much for the priceless gift you have given us to cherish forever, not just for us ... but also for our daughter, Nyla Hanna!!! Thank you very much for the pictures and videos!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pretending .....

Ok, so I've been pretending like our 2nd court date on Tuesday 26 Jan hasn't been constantly on my mind and that I'm cool and not nervous at all ... Yeah, right ... It's a lie! It's constantly on my mind and I'm worried sh*tless. Please pray for us that we pass this time around!

A 5-yr old's Mind

Yesterday, as I so often do when I need my "H-fix", I was watching her montage again. Since we didn't pass court last time the montage has been finished for quite a while now. So while I'm watching it, Jalen comes in and says:

J: Oh my sissy is soooo beautiful - I love her so much!
Me: oh yeah?
J: Yes. And I can't wait for H to be in my house for the first time. I'm sure I'm gonna have hearts in my eyes [like in Tom & Jerry cartoons]. She's so beautiful ... I'm in love Mama ... I'm gonna marry H when I grow up .... Mama can I marry H when I grow up?
Me: Baby u can't marry H, she's your sissy and you're her brother - but u can love H forever ... She's always going to be your sissy and you'll always be her brother.
J: Oh [as in lihgtbulb going off 'oh']

I had to capture this conversation as I didn't want to forget it ... It was just too cute, and genuine and oh so innocent.

Nesting ......

Meine Lieben, endlich haben wir unsere Veranda fertig. Es ist sooo herrlich .... ich liebe meine neue Veranda. Drunter seht ihr dann Photos darueber.

We've been putting off the project of adding a screened-in patio with tile flooring for quite a while now. To make the time go by faster, and after we didn't pass court on 5 Jan. and while waiting for our next court date, we figured why not do this project now??? So we contracted some guys to build us the screened-in patio and lay down the tiles ... since H's coming home soon (not that she needs one ... lol ... but that was just our reasoning to go ahead and do this project) and it's tax season again, so hopefully we'll get some taxes back to offset the cost of our patio. So below are some pictures of BEFORE and AFTER. The patio is now complete ..... and I love it!!!!
H's room been ready for quite a while now with girly furniture, toys, clothes, hairbows, etc..... just needs a few more touches like putting up her Dora bedding and getting some of her dolls out the packaging and on to the bed. Once her room is all done, I'll take some pictures, but for now, here's our finished patio before and after.

Random Pics and Happenings in Jan 2010

Diese Photos haben wir letzte Woche gemacht bevor wir ins Kino gegangen sind um "Alvin & The Chipmunks" (so'n Film mit sprechenden Eichhoernchen, gibt's vielleicht auch bei Euch in Deutschland, was dem Toti gefaellt ... mir nicht sehr ... veveritele astea in film au asa voci dinastea pitigaiate!!!). Wir lassen jetzt Toti's Haerchen wachsen und ich muss ihm halt immer die Frisur jeden Tag machen dass er so herrliche Loeckchen kriegt. Ich hab halt so extra gute Mittel fuer Kinderhaare. Er sieht ja so golding aus mit Loeckchen .... gelle ... und noch ist es hier nicht so warm .... aber bald ... letztens waren es jetzt immer so um die 15 bis 18 Grad Celsius?
Heute gehn wir wieder ins Kino und werde ein anderen Film gucken, den Toti sehen will, der "Tooth Fairy" heisst und mit dem The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) ist. Toti mag den Rock, denn er ist so stolz, dass "The Rock" auch ein "Johnson" ist. Vor laengerem haben sich die Kinder im Kindergarten immer ciufuliert = gehaenselt wegen ihren Nachnamen, und da hab ich dann dem Jalen gesagt er soll sich nie aergern oder schlecht fuehlen wenn ihn jemand "Jalen Johnson" nennt, denn das ist sein Name ein herrlicher Name und er is so wie der Rock, ein "Johnson" .... oder der "Magic Johnson" auch ein "Johnson" - na und seit her ist er so stolz und es scheint ihm nichts mehr auszumachne wenn die Kinder wieder haenseln .... er haenselt ja auch andere Kinder in seiner Klasse und nennt sie bei ihrem Vor- und Nachnamen ... und ich hab ihm gesagt, wenn die anderen Kinderchen das nicht moegen oder wenn sie nicht stolz auf ihren Namen sind, dann soll er sie nicht mehr haenseln .... na ja, was soll's .... so sind halt Kinder.

Following pictures below were taken last week right before we went to see "Alvin and the Chipmonks"...... Jalen loves this movie ..... Mama ..... not so much :) .... Today, we'll go watch "Tooth Fairy" so I'm looking forward to the movie since my boy, The Rock :) is in it .... he's just too fine for his own da*m good :) .....

Diese Photos haben wir gemacht als LaToya den Toti babysitten musste, und noch zwei andere Jungs mitgebracht hat, damit sie zusammen spielen.

Following picture were made when Ms. LaToya babysitted Jalen and brought along her nephew and her Godson for Jalen to play with. I think they had a good time

The boys playing Nintendo .... I guess this game requires these kinda of funny faces ... :) ....

More Pictures of H

Meine Lieben, ich habe Euch neue Photos von unserer H geschickt, die ich heute von Sheresa bekommen habe. Sie hat ihren kleinen Sohn im gleichen Waisenhaus abgeholt wo die H ist. Guckt in Papi's email, dass ihr sie seht. Sie hat anscheinend auch video gemacht aber das schickt sie mir auch bald. Sie hat mir auch ein langen Bericht geschrieben ... er ist da drunter in weinrot ... ich glaube das meiste wirst du verstehen Mama wenn nicht uebersetze ich es Dir wenn wir bald wieder im Skype reden.

Today - thank you so very much Sheresa - I received some more pictures of our H from another travelling mom who picked up her precious little boy (check our her website by clicking her name) from the same orphanage/transition home where H is. She also sent me a long report. I wish I could share the pics with you but I can't .... not until we pass court. But Sheresa did also send me a long report. See below.

Alida,
I am so sorry to hear that you did not pass court! :( That is so disappointing. "Just" three weeks, tho, right? Well, hopefully this will cheer you up. I am attaching pictures! I took these before she opened her package. Basically,this is the play by play: she pulled out the sweatshirt and immediately started unbuttoning her sweater and changed into the sweatshirt. I think she then noticed that there were pants in the bag and was going to start pulling her pants off there in the courtyard of the HOH, but the nanny told her to wait. hehe. Anyway, she looked happy for the package. :)

In response to your questions: She seemed happy. Probably a bit shy. She seemed healthy. I actually didn't see any children who looked sick. I think they are very well cared for there at the HOH.
Let's see... I didn't check her size, but whatever size you sent her seemed to fit ok.. maybe just a bit on the big side.

I do have a story. We were at the HOH on Christmas Eve for the Christmas party and at lunch (it was a fancy Ethiopian feast). So there were several tables set up for all the kids over 2 or 3 or so. They were So well behaved. Another of the moms who traveled with us worked in education, and she made the comment that any teacher in America would kill for kids like that! They sat quietly waiting for their food, and no one even touched their plate until after they prayed. It was so precious, all of them with their hands folded and saying "amen" together. :) So then they ate our feast, complete with cake, and we traveling families had brought Christmas gifts for each of the children. They each got a coloring book and crayons, a thing of play-doh, a beanie bear, and a candy. And they all said "thank you" each time something was handed to them. They are just to polite and well-behaved. :)

We also had brought chocolates of the Russell Stover variety that each child tried, and there was this one little boy right next to H who had licked the chocolate off the outside of his candy and apparently didn't like the inside, so he had this whole handful of slobbery melty chocolate, and he was trying to hand it to me. I grabbed a napkin, and was trying to get him to put it in the napkin, but he was just staring at me like he didn't know what I was doing, so H told him to put it in the napkin, and then helped him wipe his chocolatey little hand a bit. (At least I figured that's what she was saying, because after she said something to him, he at least figured out what was going on.) So I would say she's a helpful little sweetheart. :)

Prayers for your next court date! And if you have travel questions or anything I can help with in the meantime, just ask! :)

Sheresa.

Thank you so much Sheresa!!!!

No ..... We Didn't Pass Court Today!!!

We had a court date today, but didn't pass. A paperwork necessary for the courts was not done due to MOWA, the office that does this particular letter, being in a meeting and not being able to complete this on time for court. This paper apparently gets done the day before court, and as MOWA was in a meeting, the paper was not completed. Our next court date is 26 Jan 2010.

Our fingerprints expire 19 March 2010, so it looks like we'll have to re-d0 our fingerprints.

We are keeping our faith .... I'm sure it wasn't meant to happen for us the first time .... so hopefully the next time around.

Thank you all for your support, your post, emails, texts, facebook notes, blog comments ...... for all your well wishing thoughts and prayers ..... it just wasn't meant to happen today.

Court Tomorrow - 5 Jan 2010

As we're going to try to get some sleep tonight, a judge will decide whether H will be legally our daughter. She's been our daughter in our hearts since the moment we saw her, on 2 Nov 2009, but tomorrow, God willing, it'll be official. Please pray for us! Thank you all for your support!