6 REMPELS!

I don't think we have been this excited for spring ever before. WHAT A LONG WINTER!!
Not sure why but wow did it feel long. We just got a tent trailer and can't WAIT to do some camping.

First of all, how do you really spell Gottcha or got ya???? Anyway, we just had our first one. Good friends of ours have the same day as us so we had fun together. We went bowling locally and then for supper and cake at our house. What a blast. It is sooo amazing to see how far Emmy has come since we got her. What a blessing she has been to our family. We love you Emmy.

The following post may have many spelling errors. For some reason the spell check did not work and I was in a hurry typing this. Sorry.

What a wonderful Christmas!
Wow! I can't believe our first Christmas with Emmy has come and gone. What wonderful memories we were able to create. Our children were all so excited on Christmas morning. We have a tradition to do a chocolate fruit fondue on Christmas eve and it was as if Emmy had always done this with us. She knew exactly what to do. (Well, the kids had also talked to her about it for weeks ahead of time.) This year was a bit challenging as far as gifts for the older girls because they are growing up and are kinda just going past the Barbies and pollies. They of course did ask for those things again.... but they only have about fifty barbies and 100 pollies. So they ended up getting little pet shop stuff and Hanna Montanna cds/puzzles. Jonah collects Geo Trax trains and got the airplane that goes with that. He had "accidently" ripped the wrapping paper long before Christmas and said he didn't know what was in that box. He was extremily excited about that one though. Ha Ha. I remember trying that one as a kid. Memories!! Emmy got so many fun things. She LOVES anything that makes noise. So she got a tape player with a micraphone, singing books, dressup, pollies, and lots more. The family gatherings were soo much fun. Everyone commented on how well Emmy fit in. It really felt like she had always been there.

We just completed our last post placement report with our Social Worker. She was such a wonderful lady. She never, ever made us feel uncomfortable or nervous. We are actually really sad not to meet with her anymore. We do have to continue to do yearly reports, however; we are able to do those on our own. It will be really neat to look back once she is 18, and see all the reports. I don't really want to think about her being 18 yet though.

Speaking of the kids growing up. I have had soo many mixed emotions with the children lately. On one hand, I'm feeling like time is just flying and they are growing up much to fast. On the other hand, we are going through attitude struggles right now and I just kinda feel like I would rather skip this time. (not really)
I just feel like our children are so spoiled and don't seem to appreciate what they have. Alot of whinning, complaining, and think that life is ALWAYS supposed to be fun and exciting. Bill and I have struggled with routine a little lately. There is SOO many things we would like to teach the children and just feel like there is not enough time in a day. We have said so many times that we want to start doing daily family divotions and we do well for a while and then on a late night we kinda fall off the routine again. Another thing we want to start doing with the older ones is allowence and then teaching them to tith and also save some money. Again, we do it for a while and then seem to get to busy. Life just seems soooo full. How do mothers do it who work full time??? I sometimes feel like I'm a crazy lady trying to do way to many things. Birthday parties, home reading, gymnastics, clubs, girls allowd, helping my grandparents, having guests over,cleaning, shopping, laundry, and on and on. I'm not trying to complain. These are all good things. It just feels like a bit too much sometimes. Anyway, I've been trying to teach Denniel that for every negative thing she says, she has to come up with five good things in her life. Maybe I should start hey? I do love my family and am greatful that the Lord has given them to me to love and take care of. Bill works extremily hard and I love him for that.

Well, I hope to do a little more posting then I have been. We have Emmy's first Gottcha day coming up and we are planning a little party. Keep posted for pictures.

CONGRATULATIONS J AND A!!!!! A referral!! NOT Ours, our very good friends! They just got a referral this morning for TWINS!!!!!!!!!! Outside of our referral, I have never been soooo excited. I'm sure the whole town heard me scream!! They got a referral for a boy and a girl!! I just can't believe it! We stayed at J and A place for night (the night we were leaving for Ethiopia. Our flight left early in the morning so J and A took us to the airport and saw us off!! What an amazing experience that was. We can't wait to take you to the airport and see you off guys! We love you!!!!

So the first 8 months with Emmy at home have been soo amazing! We have made so many memories and also had some challenges.
The pictures above, are Emmy's first day home. She was fasinated with the TV. My neices came over to meet her. They just fell in love with her!
Our first week at home was very, very exciting but also hard. Bill and I missed Ethiopia so very much that one day, I fell apart and was determined to move there. (Anyone else go through this?) I can't describe exactly what it was we missed. Just the wonderful people, the smells, the slow pace of life. I loved being able to feel like we made a small difference in someones day. I can't describe my longing the first 3-5months to go back.

Overall, things have gone fairly smooth with Emmy a part of our family. The one thing we noticed almost instantly, was how quickly we could spoil her. She "Americanized extremily fast!" We were so amazed in Addis at how long she could sit and play with a few bottle caps. That certanly is not the case now. She is always on the move!

The flight home went so much better than we had antisipated. Emmy fell asleep almost as soon as our flight left Addis. She slept all the way to Frankfurt. What a blessing. The only problem we ran into was... because she was 2 years old, she was required to buckle in her own seat. She was terrified. She had pretty much been attatched to my hip since the second day. She screamed so loud the whole plane could hear her.

When we arrived in Toronto, I felt mixed emotions. I could hardly believe that a short time ago we were half way around the world. I had missed Denniel, Breahnna, and Jonah so VERY much that I could hardly WAIT to see them. I also felt a sadness to have left Ethiopia. If Bill and I had had our children with, it would have been tempting just to stay there. (Not really) But we did love it there.

There was a huge snow storm in Toronto so needless to say, we had a delay. We didn't know how long the delay would be. We were so nervous that we would miss seeing all our friends at the airport. So we were an hour late in leaving, but the flight was fine. I knew I should sleep but just could'nt. All I wanted was to see my kids back home.

When we landed and walked past the doors to see our children, all I heard was my Breahnna screaming MOMMY!!!! Oh how precious!! I had tears welling up but fought them back not to scare Emmy. I had never left our children for more than one night so this was huge!!

Well, just as I had thought.... It would take me sooo long to finish my trip that I would forget the details. I do want to say that we had an amazing experience and would not trade it for anything in the world. What an incredable journey to our precious daughter. Emmy, We love you so much more than I can ever tell you.

I do want to share about the moment we went to the airport to come home. We were filled with emotions. I will never, ever forget the feelings all jumbled inside of me. Were we doing the right thing for this beautiful little girl? We prayed that we were. We were taking her away from everything she knew... was this really best?? As we walked into the airport, I took one last deep breath of the smell that to me will always be "The smell of Ethiopia." When we arrived.... it was the first thing I remember and when we got onto the plane to go home... it was the last thing I will remember.

The people in Ethiopia will always be in my heart. There is not a day that goes by where I don't look at my precious little girl and think of how incredibly awesome God is!!!! The hearts of most of these people are soo big. So many of them had nothing but would help us in any way they could. Thank you to all the wonderful people we met and loved in Addis. You won't be forgotten.

I know it's terrible how long it has taken me to finish about our trip. Four children and renovations is all I can handle these days. We are finishing our basement and I can't wait. All that extra space.



So going on about our trip..... I think it was day 6 that we were able to arrange a visit with our sponsor child. His name is Kirubel and he is the same age as my girls who are six. I still well up with tears when I remember that long awaited meeting with him. He is SOO precious. He lives with his mother, older brother, and baby sister right in Addis Ababa. He had stayed home from school the day we came so he could meet us. He greeted us with a handshake and a big smile. He understood who we were. We sat in there home the size of our bathroom and talked with him about school and sunday school and things he liked to do. I will never forget this experience. Oh, how I wish it was easier for us to visit him. Compassion Canada found Kerubel and I am so glad we are able to bring a little light into his life. I soo wish we could do more. We only spent about 20 minutes with him but it is on my list of most amazing experiences. We had brought him some gifts of school supplies and a soccer ball and needless to say, he absolutely loved his soccer ball. The smile on his face when he saw the ball was priceless. It was hard for me to leave him knowing that I would probably never see him again but just love him soo much.

I'm soo sorry about my extreme lack of posts. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to remember the days after a while. I just thought I would share bits and peices about the rest of the trip.

Day three was a huge day for us. Alot happened! We went to Entoto.(The top of the mountain that overlooks Addis Ababa. What an amazing sight. I've done very little traveling so all these new sights were so exciting to me. On the way down from the mountain, I noticed that Emmy had what looked like a fainting spell. We now believe that it was a possible silent seizure. (We have her EEG soon to check it out) Anyway, with me being already emotionally drained, I took it really hard. I was worried and really wanted to take her to a doctor. We did later see a doctor who also thought it could be seizures(mild ones)

Anyway, we went to the most awsome restaurant for lunch that day. I had fries and wow were they good.

After lunch we spent a little time shopping on Church Hill Road. I loved shopping. I found so many great things for our children. Dressess and jewelry. A drum for Jonah.

Later in the day was more emotional again. We met with Emmy's bio father. He was wonderful and clearly loved Emmy. I am so glad I can share that with her one day. What a huge blessing for us to be able to visit with him.


DAY FOUR!!!!
Day four was spent going to the pottery. This was sooo exciting for me. I just loved seeing the talents of these woman. I spent $100.00 american. LOTS!! It's all over my house now and I love it. We also went to the Laga school. WOW! The wonderful man who runs the school does a great job. The children seemed so happy to be at school. The children just soo longed for touch. They were so excited to shake our hands and especially getting their pictures taken. They then wanted to see the pictures on our digital. They were such wonderful children. Emmy had a toy cd player and the children tried their hardest to press the buttons for her. One girl especially caught my attention. She looked so very shy and kinda stayed to the side more. When I held her hand, she grasped it as hard as she could and cried when we left. I felt soo bad for her. I had stuck a little pony in my pocket and gave it to her hoping to make her feel better. She put it in her pocket and smiled. When I retell stories like this, I still cry.... Is this normal? Am I losing it????

Our second day was filled with an eager antisipation to go pick up our daughter. It was the BIG GOTTCHA day!! We once again woke up at 4am and waited for the sun to rise and the beautiful smells to fill the air.

We went down to have our breakfest and relaxed until Mesfin came to pick us up.

To our surprise, Emmy came right up to me and hugged me and seemed ready for a new day. We had brought her a balloon again and she loved it. Oh how it melted my heart to have her willingly give me a hug and sit with us. Many thoughts filled my head and I would have to admit I was a little nervous.

The only thing that got Emmy nervous for a few minutes was the car ride. Clearly this was not something she had done alot.

We spent our first day with Emmy doing different things like going to a few shops and getting some food at the market. We decided to go back to the guest house earlier since it had been an emotionally draining day.

We were beyond excited to start our first day in Addis. We went down to have our first breakfast at the guest house. I have to admit, I was a little unsure. We loved it. (I think we had the omelet) Mesfin came to the guest house to pick us up and take us to the foster home. All these months we had dreamed of this day meeting our daughter and here it was. Wow! I thought I would be so nervous but I was just Extremely excited. When we arrived at the foster home and Haregewain welcomed us in and joked around with us asking us jokingly what it was we wanted there? We really did like her a lot.



The moment came when Emmy walked into the room and all I can say is that she was FAR more beautiful than I had ever imagined. WHAT A DOLL!! That memory of my first glimpse of her is etched in my mind. I won't go into detail about our first visit but it did go much better than I had anticipated. We spent about an hour with her and then went on with our day. Many people have asked if we found it really hard to leave her that first day and I can say honestly that because we could see that she needed time to process this all, it was fine.



We went for lunch to a really nice place. I do have to admit that the food was a little different for me. It took some getting used to. Mostly the meat. We spent some time in the afternoon just going to little shops at church hill road. That was quite overwhelming. SO MANY PEOPLE! There is just people everywhere! I loved it!! I love being in big cities with lots of people so this was for me. The people are so kind. I know everyone has been telling us that so it was cool to see for our self.



We went to bed fairly early the first night since we were mixed up with the time change and Bill and I had been awake for a long time. We fell asleep instantly.

Here is a slide show of our complete adoption journey- Enjoy!!

We are home!! YEHHH! What a wonderful experience that was. It was worth all the months and months of waiting!

Our flight out to Ethiopia was long especially since we have three children(now four) and are not used to sitting for such a long period of time. We took gravol and slept quite a bit. To be honest, I had a bit of a fear of flying and it seemed to get worse instead of better as we got closer to Ethiopia and further away from our children at home. Our children stayed with friends of ours in my home town. I had such a hard time leaving the children and flying so far away.... but it was for the best possible reason. They had a wonderful time but a few tears missing us.

When we arrived in Addis late in the evening on the 28th of Janurary, I could not beleive I was so close to my baby. It was so hard to wait until the next day to see Emmy.

I will never forget the air and the beautiful smells when we stepped out of the airport in Addis. We are home one week and oh, I will miss that beautiful breeze. It was just so overwhelming to finally be there. We met Mesfin and Ketima who were so helpful in taking our luggage and helping us out. What awsome guys. They took us to our guesthouse and we were taken back by how beautiful it was. We had a nice room with an attatched bathroom and a small kitchen. The only problem we had with the room was that the bed bugs loved me way to much. I lost count at 25 bites. But wow! The service and staff were fantastic.

Bill and I both woke at 3:00am the first night and could'nt fall back asleep. The time change really affected us. We read and talked until about 7:00 and eagerly waited for the sun to come up so that we could see Addis. WOW!!! I will never forget the beautiful view as the sun came up from our guest house window. I will try to continue posting more soon....

Well the time has come where we leave our home to drop off the kids. To say I have knots in my stomach does not describe how I feel. I have never left my children for more than 1 night. This is HUGE for me.

We leave to go to my home town and then we'll spend a night at friends of ours who will be taking us to the airport.

I feel beyond excited to meet my little girl. I get shivers just thinking about holding her in a few days. WOW! I never thought the day would come.

I would really love for everyone who visits my blog while we're gone, to leave a welcome note to Emmy and then I will print it and scrapbook it for her. I am doing a big scrapbook of our experience for her.... I look forward to coming home and seeing the comments. Take Care and God bless you.

WE ARE GOING!!!! YEHHHH!!!! 8 SLEEPS!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! Oh my goodness! Our phone call saying our flights were booked came yesterday and I didn't sleep a wink last night. I am farrr to excited!!

We were really concerned with the unrest in Nairobi, that things would get put on hold( and our visa comes from there.) The last several weeks has been sitting on pins and needles and just wanting this whole waiting journey to come to an end.

Last night was such a blast! We went to our Ethiopia get together which a friend of mine and I have started. A friend of mine in the group does amazing braids and was kind enough to do my hair in cornrow braids. It will allow me to forget about my hair for the trip.

We have SOO much to do before we go it's nuts. We are only going with one other couple. I am a one on one person so that is great. I don't know if I have mentioned it but Bill and I are both going. We had thought that only I would go but now we realized if I am the only person from Manitoba, it might be good to have Bill. It will really make the trip for me. We have never been anywhere together so I am thrilled! Our children are staying at friends in my home town so I know they will be well cared for.

We have always dreamed of seeing our sponsor boy who is in Addis, so we have just made arrangements with Compassion Canada to do that. They are FANTASTIC!! They have helped Bill and I soo much with the arrangements and sent us Excellent info on the country.

Now for Packing!!! Wow!! I really need to get going on that. I have been so unsure that we were actually going that I've been in low gear... now I need to move it. We are leaving our house on Friday to drop the kids and then leave on Sunday morning. My sister and mom will come on Wed. to help me with last minute things. I can't wait... I will post as soon as I get back.

Reality has hit that our trip is getting really close and we have just started packing! What fun! We will have 4- 50 pound suitcases and 2-20 pound Carry on's, plus our "purses"! How will we ever carry all of that? Anyway, I can not believe how much donation stuff we have collected over our 2 years. Lots of toys, towels, medication, school supplies, and lots more. I am just so thrilled to be fulfilling my dream and going out there to make a difference in a few peoples lives. I remember being young and watching World Vision and just wishing so much that I could help a few of the children.



We received a list of suggested Foster Home Donations and blankets was one of them. A really sweet friend of mine was kind enough to have me over to her house one day, and helped me with making a bunch of blankets. What a wonderful time we had dreaming about the trip and about the day our children would all be home together. Thank you so much Jenn!! I had a great time.



One thing that has really been on my mind lately is how Emmy will adjust to us. From the information we got about her, she is very shy. I guess I feel like if I expect the worst and then it's better, then I won't be shocked. We are really hoping to meet her father and wow, what an experience that would be. I remember going through my teens and wondering if I was adopted just because of how different I was from the rest of my family. I think every teen goes through that. I just think it would be nice to be able to tell Emebet that at least we had met her father. I would love feed back on this topic if anyone would want to leave a comment. Do you think this would be a good thing? What appropriate questions would you ask the father? Anyway, I will try to post again as soon as we hear more from Cafac. Happy New Year!!!

Yes, you read it right. We have a travel date. It will be either the week of Jan 21st or 28th. This will depend on the visa I think. We are soo excited!! I can't beleive this will finally happen. Only 40days(at most) till I hold her. Yeh!! What a great Christmas present. We are really hoping to get an update when Roberta comes back. I will try to post when this happens. Merry Christmas!

I can't believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are currently waiting on our medical. Once we have that, then we should be getting our travel date. This has been the most painful "pregnancy" I have had yet!! It seems never ending. I do feel like this will happen though. Within 2 months, we should have her in our arms and I can't wait. We have been to a few Cafac events lately and it's been hard. Just the constant asking where we are at gets difficult after a while. I think it's just the fact that we've been talking about it for so long that we just would like to show her instead of talking about her at this point. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.