WE TRAVEL!

Just heard from Sue early early early this morning. We are OK to travel for the 14th. Which means...we fly out next Friday or Saturday to bring our Henri home! Another family is in Ethiopia right now and posted this photo of our little Henrik. So sweet.....

More from the beach....

Me and my Jeffy...

Our little piece of paradise for the week....

Kristin, Mike and Mom (freezing) on the beach...

Goodnight moon...still waiting for a date to pick up Henri...maybe tomorrow we will know?

A very long, long day...

I heart NSB, FL

This is the first year of our family get-away to New Smyrna Beach, FL. Mom, Dad, Jeff and I arrived on Saturday night, and Kristin, Mike, Emma and Nick arrived late, late, late last night. Kallie to arrive on Wednesday. Here are a few of our photos so far....sandcastles, boogie boards, Nick showing his best "moves." More to come....

Merry Christmas!

Hope your holidays are merry and bright.

Houston...we have a VISA!

The best Christmas present of all...we just received our notice from our local immigration office. We have been approved for two children, under the age of five, and are now OK to apply for our I-600 for our little Henri. Yay! We are hoping this means that we will be able to travel to Ethiopia on the earlier date (January 14)...but will wait to confirm with Sue. She is traveling with two children from Ethiopia--bringing them back to their families. Can't wait to talk to her when she finally settles back in.

On a totally separate note...having just turned 36...I couldn't resist sharing. Our neighbor's little boy, Tucker, is sweet as can be. A few weeks ago, I played hide and seek with him in their front yard. Then, Jeff showed Tucker how our doorbell sounds like chimes if you hold it down. Today, I just walked in from work, the phone was ringing and I heard the doorbell chimes begin. There was little Tucker waiting to tell me about the dentist (yikes) and how he wanted to play games. When Carrie, his mom, mentioned I might be busy, and might not be able to play, he asked, "is her dad there?" Poor Jeff...this is what happens when you turn 40. :)

I posted a few new photos of our nursery. Not quite as fire-hydrant yellow. Enjoy!

Two more photos...

These photos are from Lindsey, who sent me the other pictures of Henri from when he was a baby. Not nearly as cute as my favorite smiling photo...but such a treat to have the photos from Henri's past. More to come later....

New photos of Henri as a baby!

I just emailed with another family from the area. They traveled to Ethiopia this fall to bring back their child...and she just sent these two photos of our little Henri. What a small world! We are going to meet up, she thinks she has video as well...which will be so great to see. Of course, Henri is much older...and much bigger these days. I absolutely love this photo of him smiling. Is he not the sweetest little thing?

P.S. We just heard from Sue...he's up to 16.5 lbs! Great news.

Sweet Santa...

A few of our favorite holiday photos: Henri to come home in January, Santa suit not included.

Our Dancer....

Here he is...our own little Michael Jackson. The last photo they sent, is of Henri pitching a fit because they made him get off the couch. Yikes. Not only standing on the couch but dancing on the couch. This might not be as easy as we had hoped....

New photos...

A few new pics from Ethiopia...the good news...we have confirmed that Henri is able to sit up on his own. The bad news...apparently he loves to stand and dance. This does not bode well for parents who have no children in the house. Must baby-proof and learn to live on no sleep, lots of child entertainment...yikes.

More pictures coming....

Henri waves...

Just had a quick email from Sue. She had a chance to see Henri at the Transition home and said that he was doing great--had great eye contact and is very sociable. She also said he loves to wave his hands and she thinks he might be pentacostal! Ha! I might be outnumbered now on worship service. Jeff likes contemporary, I like traditional. Looks like Henri might lean toward contemporary. What's a Lutheran to do?

I am so relieved to know that Henri is responding and interactive with others. Sue tried to Skype...but I missed the call. Hopefully I'll have a chance to talk to her over the night...or early in the morning. Now that we have passed court...it's so hard to wait. We just want to bring that little Hanky Panky home! Here's our first "posted" photo of our baby boy. Now that we have passed court...we can share his sweet smile.

WE PASSED COURT!

Not to sound like a nervous nelly...but of course I woke up every few hours to check email, and see if Sue was on Skype. Jeff is working nights this week, so I don't sleep great anyway. I woke up at 4:00 a.m ish and didn't have any messages. I just checked my email now...and it is official...we passed court! We had a great message that we are going to be parents. I texted, emailed, and paged Jeff at the hospital. I think we are both a little bit in shock because very very soon we are going to have the little one we have waited so long to have, actually home. In the next few days, we will know when our official embassy appointment is...but we are expecting January 14. That means...in just about a month...we will be traveling to meet our little one! Very exciting, exciting news!