Michael's a big brother!!!!

I received the call at work yesterday at about 3:15 yesterday afternoon. I could not have been caught more off guard. I had made the assumption that when the call came it would be on my cell phone. So, I picked up my office phone when it rang "This is Paula". The voice on the other end said "Hi, this is xxx from CHSFS, is this a good time?". xxx is not our SW, so, at this point, it didn't actually sink in that it was "the call". I received the information from her, and have been stunned & excited since.......

I am so happy to finally be able to announce that after 12 1/2 months of (not so patiently) waiting, we have been matched with the adorable little boy who will soon be our son. His name will be Sidamo Peter. He is 7 months old, and looks like quite a content little guy. I can not post a photo for you until he is legally ours, so you will just have to take my word that he is, indeed, adorable.

So, what happens now? Again, we wait. We wait for a court date to be set in Ethiopia. The court date is usually about 8 weeks from now. At court, if all goes well, we will officially become parents again. Then, we wait. We wait for the Ethiopian birth certificate & passport, and for the final USCIS medical clearance. This is usually about 4 weeks after court (as many as 8 weeks). Then, we will be assigned a travel date (another 2 - 4 weeks). Then, we bring our peanut HOME!



Hopefully, I will have many good news posts until that time.........

9 Months and Counting

On January 11, we passed the 9 month mark of waiting for our new little one. Many of you already know that I expected to have our child home by now. That said, this serves as a reminder that adoption is just not predictable. The current estimate from the adoption agency is that families may expect to matched (referred) their child in the 11th - 12th month of waiting.

With all that said, our child most likely has been born, and is near entering, or has already entered, agency care. Our child's first family (birth family) may or may not have yet made the decision to make their child available for adoption. If they have made the decision, they are likely mourning the loss of raising, and loving, their child.

As I wait, it becomes more difficult to concentrate on daily tasks. In perspective, I know that waiting is easy compared to the decisions of the first family. I pray for them, as I do for Michael's first family. I pray that they be granted peace in their decision, and be comforted in the knowledge that their child, our child, will be cared for and loved.

Michael's 1st Vikings Game

Well, we broke down and bought tickets to the playoff game, to help ensure the rest of you could watch it on TV. Our day started with a slow drive up to the cities, as freezing rain fell the previous night. We parked our car, and took the Light Rail to the Dome. Micheal loves to go on the train. Actually, at his age, he is fascinated by most forms of mass transit. After working at so many events at the Dome (as an usher, during HS), it still feels a little odd to be on the other side. Attending the event. As we go in, and find our seats, I can't help but think back to that time. Running the stairs for smoke checks, rowdy Packer fans, drunk patrons having a "tickle fight" in the stairwell. All distant memories now.

We had about 45 minutes to game time when we found our seats. I was worried that would be too long for Micheal to wait. There was just enough going on to keep him entertained. Michael did great for the entire game, though. Here is a picture of him & Pete waiting for the game to start.

When we asked Michael what his favorite part of the game was, he said "the cheerleaders". Yup. All boy.

This was toward the end of the game, so we weren't scoring.........

True to Minnesota form, most Vikings fans left at or prior to the 2:00 minute warning. Micheal didn't even want to leave when the game was over.

Despite losing the game, we all had a great time. Maybe we'll do it again next time the Vikings have a home playoff game. Then again, maybe we won't wait 8 years.

Overdue Blog Update

Wow. It has been a long time since I updated this blog. It has been a crazy fall that has included taking Michael to swimming and gymnastics, and many weekend (and weekday) trips to the cities. Most of what I'm writing here is also likely to be in the Christmas letter. So, those that receive it may feel a bit of deja vu.

I'll start off with the question I know most of you probably have: Any news with the adoption? No news, really. We continue to wait for our referral. The adoption agency recently increased the estimated wait time for referrals to 12 months. For us, that would be April. Basically, there has just been a huge increase in the number of agencies operating in Ethiopia. Originally, I had thought/hoped that we would be travelling to meet our 2nd little one by now. We will continue to wait patiently (or as patiently as we can).

For those of you who haven't heard, my mom broke her arm in early October. Since she has been in medical care, the Alzheimer's has caused us concern about going back to live alone. Her condition has been evaluated, and based on the recommendations from that, she will be moving to memory care assisted living about 10 minutes from us. I should have her new address in time for the Christmas letter for those who need it. Sorry, I just haven't had the time to call each one of you individually that I should have called. Can't seem to make the days last longer than 24 hours. Any family or friends that want more info, please feel free to call and I will give you an update.

Michael is just growing and growing. He recently graduated from the "eel" level of swimming. Hopefully we will get him going in Ray in January. Educationally, Michael is working on recognizing more letters, and writing the letters of his name in order. He enjoys his music class, too. We are currently figuring out the whole kindergarten thing. I never new there were so many decisions to make. And most kindergarten is only 2.5 hours a day, how much more complicated could they make it for childcare?

With President-elect Obama getting ready to take office, I am hopeful for the future. I am not referring to the economy or usual stuff. As we move forward as a nation with our first African-American President I have found myself pondering the progress we could make in valuing diversity in our country. I hope that when young children today grow up to be the first (on Mars or to cure cancer or whatever), that they will be simply the "first person".

Playing in the leaves..........

Q. What is 5 years?

A. The amount of time it takes to build your own deck when raising a child (we started before Michael). Seriously, the deck isn finally F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D! Here is Michael helping to "paint" the deck.

Michael is really interested in helping lately (if only with the things he chooses). He and I made banana bread yesterday. Actually, I think he really did most of it. I measured everything and put it in the pan. It was very yummy, and Michael was very proud!

We went to Jacob's 5th birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Just as the party started (meant to be outside), it started pouring! Needless to say, the party went inside. Here is Jacob openning the wet/dry hand vac that Michael chose for him. He really loved it!

We also got to spend some quality time with our new niece, Sophia. She seems to be adjusting quite well to her new life half way around the world. There is a picture of Pete's sister Barb with her lovely little lady below.

Also that weekend, Michael's good friend Ian came over and spent the evening while his parents had a much deserved night out. The boys enjoyed dressing in Michael's super hero costumes and having and epic battle. We are still not sure why two good guys were battling......

Waiting

Wow, it has been a long time since my last entry. We have kept very busy this summer (as usual). It does help distract from the fact that the adoption agency is now reporting that it could take families up to 12 months from completing the dossier to receiving a referral. I am still hopeful that it won't take that long.

In August, we attended my 20 year class reunion. The reunion committee did an excellent job of planning. The weekend started Friday with a meet & greet at the school (North Community High School in North Minneapolis for those who don't know. No, it shouldn't be blown up.) Saturday morning/afternoon we kept busy attending a BBQ held at Lake Harriett. It was fun to see every one's families.

Saturday evening was the banquet. It included the wonderful singing of Thomasina Petrus, who coaxed Efrem to join in, coronation of new class royalty, a DJ (and dancing), and a remembrance of those we have lost.

On Sunday, many Polars attended church services at Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, where classmate Efrem Smith is the pastor. This is Efrem with his wife, Donecia (I think she is a Henry grad, but we won't hold that against her). I believe it is safe to assume that a fun time was had by all. It was definitely fun to see everyone again!

Over the holiday weekend, we took a long overdue trip to the Minnesota Zoo. Michael has always loved the zoo, and this day was no different. We started the day early, and met up with Michael's friend Ian (and Jeff and Jeannine, Ian's parents). The new exhibit was great. I think the highlight for the boys may have been the added water play area (*note to self--bring swimwear, towel next time).

And now, it is getting late. I have to go get Michael ready to (hopefully) sleep like a bear......

Well, it has been nearly 2 months since my last post, so this is a bit overdue. I am happy to report that we received our initial USCIS clearance this week. It won't make our wait any shorter, but it is a requirement that is now out of the way.

At the beginning of July, most of the family headed to Richmond to visit Pete's younger brother Tim and his family. As with any time you get about 17 people together for multiple days there were ups and downs. One thing that nobody would disagree with is how nice it was to see Tim, Cindy, Connor, Ella, & Laney. Some of the fun things we did to keep busy were going to the park, mini-golf, go-karting, 4th of July festivities (minus firework and concert - ugh, the weather), and a mini-birthday party for all the cousins! Everyone appreciated Tim & Cindy's hospitality. Michael cried in the morning because he didn't want to come home, and again when we arrived in Minneapolis because he didn't want to say goodbye to Jacob. He loves all of his cousins so much!

As you can see, we had a stop in Washington, D.C. History fascinates me, and being submerged in it, as in Washington makes me feel very contemplative. We saw one of the Air & Space Museums, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and part of the Museum Natural History.

Tim, Cindy, Ella, Laney, & Connor.

Michael practicing his Jedi moves.