Pictures from CHI, The Maeda & The Hubbard Family ****edited

Today I received this picture below of Nyla Hanna from our agency along with her most current height and weight measurements.

Height 103 cm (40.55inces)
Weight 17 kg (37.5lbs)

Then shortly after receiving the email from my agency, we received these two pictures and the video below from a traveling family (Thank You So Much Maeda Family) who also picked up their child at the House of Hope where Nyla Hanna is residing. I was sooo happy. This truly made my day!!! She looks wonderful, her cheeks have puffed up a little and she smiles .... oh, how this warms my heart ..... and it seems her molluscum has cleared up a bit, but has travelled elsewhere probably on the body. In either case, I already have two different creams (Crystacide and Zymaderm) to combat the molluscum, the first for anywhere on the body except close to eyes and mouth, and the second for anywhere on the body even on the face. So we'll have to see .... both creams had to be ordered from overseas and I'm so glad that they have already come so we can take them with us. Other than that .... isn't my daughter beautiful!!!!

Following is the update I received from the Maeda Family:

Here are two photos of your ADORABLE little girl! I only got two photos because it was hair-washing day when we were there! Right after we took these photos, the nannies had her run and get her comb and after taking her pony tail out she sat down with one of the nannies and got her hair washed! She knew exactly what to do and leaned way over so they could rinse out the soap in a little tub they had set up. She sat very patiently while they combed her hair out. I wish we could have videotaped it, but there were other children there getting their hair washed at the same time and we couldn't videotape them.

Hope you enjoy.

~Kim

Of course I enjoy and am happy about everything I receive of my little girl. I can't wait to be the one to do her hair. She just seems like such a mellow easy-going little girl - just like her Dada (he too is very mellow, laid-back, and very easy going ) .... well, we'll see if I am right soon enough (hopefully in 2 weeks) .... but for now, that's the impression I have of my little girl.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Then later tonight I received these two pictures below from The Hubbard Family who also picked up their son at the House of Hope where Hanna is. Thank you so much Hubbard Family!!!

This has been a wonderful day .... filled with updates, pictures and video. Thank you all so much!!!

First Karate Tournament - 20 Feb 2010

On Saturday Jalen had his first Karate Tournament and won his first trophy. He did well and was very proud. We were proud of him too of course . He is sooo goofy and funny!!! Below after the pictures there's a video of his performance. It's only 3 minutes long. Enjoy!

Am Samstag hatte Jalen seinen ersten Karate Tournier und hat eine Trophe gewonnen. Er war sehr stolz darauf und wir natuerlich auch. Nach den Photos koennt ihr das Video von seinem Tournier sehen. Es ist nur 3 minuten lang .... viel Spass!!!

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

Travel Update ...

Yesterday we found out that our visa appointment has been moved up from 18 March to 10 March. This would be wonderful wonderful news if I could just really dwelve myself into the feeling and rejoice in it, but unfortunately I'm still nervous about this CIS paperwork getting to us and to the NVC in Ethiopia in time for our travels. I'm very happy and very nervous .... all in one. We need a lot of prayer please!

Upon receiving these news, I went ahead yesterday and changed our travel plans ... we now will be flying Ethiopian Airlines from DC (our itinerary is Atlanta-DC-Addis) and will be staying at Melkam Guest House. Again, nothing that I can confirm until I get the green light from our agency and the paperwork from CIS.

On another note, I was "studying" Nyla's pictures as I so often do - just stare at them and looking at every little detail (is that obsessive compulsive or what ... lol) and just be amazed, overjoyed, sad, excited, happy, scared, nervous ..... all feelings in one ..... isn't that crazy - and just looking at the pictures I realized that in these only two pictures where Nyla's with other kids in the pictures she is always the one hugging .... I love it .... I can't wait to meet my little girl and hold her in my arms forever and just be her momma!

Nyla Hanna and Biscuit at the House of Hope in Ethiopia ... and another little boy peaking from the background (not sure who he is, but it's cute nevertheless)

Caedmon and Nyla Hanna at the House of Hope in Ethiopia (in the background, their Nanny holding them)

Snow in Alabama!!! ... and Adoption Blues!!!

I had to capture 'today' - 12 Feb '10 - in picture and blog since it's very rare to almost never that it snows in Alabama. Granted it's not the snow we're used to in Germany, but for Jalen, who does not remember the snow fun he used to have in Germany because he was too young, this AL snow looks pretty amazing to him. In fact, he was so amazed and curious about it that in one of the pictures below you'll see him 'tasting' a snowflake.

Es schneit in Alabama! Da seht ihr Dada und Toti gehn kurz einkaufen. Hier wenn es ein bisschen schon schneit steht die ganze Stadt auf'm Kopf, vieles hat zu und Menschen muessen nicht in die Arbeit gehn, und Kinder nicht in die Schule. Drum waren wir heute, ein Freitag, zu Hause und haben uns ausgeruht und ein bisschen abgespannt. Jalen had sogar, wie schon laenger nicht mehr, ein 2-stuendigen Mittagsschlaf gemacht.

Tasting a snowflake.

[Toti probiert wie Schnee schmeckt.]

In adoption news, nothing new to report other than still waiting to hear something in regard to whether we can travel mid March or not. We received the new I-171H in the mail reflecting our new fingerprint expiration date, but my happiness about this was only short-lived as I soon realized a problem which I meant to fix back in Nov/Dec '09, but was told not to and that it wouldn't be a problem.

Well, it is a problem now, and I knew it, and I should've known better, and I should've listened to my better judgement ..... and now I hate that I was right .... and have to fix something at the last minute ... one month before tentative travel. This is one stress I was trying to avoid, hence even being proactive about our fingerprints. They would've expired March 19, our visa appointment would be March 18. So I didn't want to risk it. I like taking care of stuff in advance so as to not stress about it at the last minute. However,

The problem now is: our new I-171H lists us as being approved for one girl 0-48 months. Well, this is a problem and if not fixed, we could be in Ethiopia sitting in front of the Visa Officer telling us that we came all this way for nothing because we cannot take Hanna home because she was older than 48 months at the time of referral. She was 50 months ... 4 yrs and 2 months. Our homestudy approved us for a little girl 0-4 years ..... we were thrilled when we received Hanna's referral, but after a few weeks once my excitement wore off a little and I returned to my rational common-sense self, I got to thinking and inquired from our agency if I needed to possibly change our paperwork since Hanna was older than 4 years at the time of our referral. Back then when I still had plenty of time to get this done and wait around on even the slowest people at homestudy office/ICPC/USCIS to get our paperwork done, I was told not to worry about it. Now I have to worry about it and get it done, and hope that everything comes back right in just a month. Yesterday our social worker updated our homestudy to show approval way beyond 50 months so that our Hanna's age at time of referral falls within our age range. I was truly grateful she took care of this so quickly even though I still don't have it in my hands, and it has to go through ICPC before it even gets sent to USCIS. This is completely wearing me out, and stressing me out because now I don't know if all of this will get done in time for us to leave mid March.

So, in conclusion, I don't know how all of this will ultimately play out .... but even though I don't wanna acknowledge it, there is a real chance that if I don't get the 'right' I-171H in time, we won't be able to leave mid March and pick up Hanna. So we wait some more. Hanna waits some more ..... watching all her friends leave the HOH one by one wondering whether she's been forgotten .... I'm hoping this is not the case and that she's happy and unaware of the time passing by and .... this might sound selfish and some of you may not like it .... I hope that all her friends don't get to leave that soon, so she still has some familiar faces to play with. I swear to God, I could cry every day if I'd let myself. I have seen people pass court and leaving to get their precious bundles or about to get their precious bundles, having received a referral after us ..... and us .... still here .... not even sure if we can even go mid March. I'm happy for those families because I know how they must feel, but at the same time I'm mad wondering ... why not us too? So I keep it together the best I can knowing that I need to function and keep on keeping on for my son's and husband's sake, for my job's sake, etc..... but noone - unless you're an adoptive parent - really knows the agonies, fears, anxieties you're going through ... and even if I attemted to tell anyone, whose not an AP, about how I feel (and believe me I tried) they wouldn't get it .... they just don't get it .... and only upset me with unnecessary, insensitive, and even down-right stupid comments or questions .... which I'm tired of answering!!! (I know generally people mean well and try to be understanding and think they know ... but to be honest, they have no idea. And that's just how it is - unless, you've been through an adoption process already.)

Can you tell I'm frustrated? I needed to vent .... thank God for Blogland!!!

Please keep us in your thoughts and pray for us that everything will work out fine and we can go pick up our Hanna mid March.

Updated Pictures from Sheila!

Today we received updated pictures of our Nyla Hanna from Sheila, another travelling adoptive Mom who came home today after picking up her son in Ethiopia. Thank you so much Sheila for these precious pictures. I can't wait to pick up my little girl! While we enjoy very much getting pictures .... hell, that's all we have of our little girl and I'm so thankful for pictures .... nothing seems to alleviate that anxiety and that longing to finally have Hanna here with us at home.

3 Months Since .....

Yesterday, I didn't get a chance to blog, but it was 3 months since we saw our daughter's face for the first time.

You can click here if you'd like to read about the referral story.

I'll always remember that day and exactly what I was doing and how it all unfolded. It's been a long 3 months to say the least, but I'm hoping we are almost at the end of the tunnel .... almost seeing the light ahead of us .....
We don't know yet if we can travel for the 18 March visa appointment, but I'm hoping that we can, and more than anything I'm hoping that we find out soon, so we can take care of those last minute things like plane tickets and lodging.
Below is the picture we saw 3 months ago, on 2 November 2009, this is our Hanna.