our dozen beautiful feet

Okay.  The past two months have been pretty tough.  Right after Recess (homeschool conference in February), we had a group of friends arrive to help us with some medical camps.  Paul's sister was part of the group, and we had such a great time with them!  We had three different camps running for three days: a dental clinic, a First Responder training/CPR, and the third was a Fetal Development class for ladies.  It was a long week, out to villages, all over town, but a lot was accomplished, and we had such a good time hanging out with other Americans. Before they came though, Paul and I both were feeling tired.  We knew we were pretty run down, and just not ourselves. I kept telling Paul, "I just feel like we're not really living!"  I knew my thyroid/autoimmune stuff was still an issue.  The anti-thyroid drugs I'm on were managing my physical symptoms well, but emotionally and spiritually, we were both struggling. After our friends left, anoth...

PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR AN UPDATE: Originally posted April 2011: If you’ve been following our family, you know that we were trying to figure out how to adopt from India for several years.  It was so difficult to get the right information, or even figure out who to ask about certain things. I can’t count how many hours I spent making phone calls, sending emails, reading website and after website of legalese.   When we realized that India was not going to happen, I was so mentally exhausted from running all the circles. I told Paul, “I just want to pick an agency and fall into their hands and let them tell me what to do!”  So that’s what we decided to do.  We have quite a few friends that live overseas and have completed adoptions while abroad.  So we decided we’d write them and ask them where they adopted from, how they did it, what agency they used, etc.  Whatever the consensus was, if there was one, is what we would do.  There was a res...

 It still takes my breath away when I hear her say it.  Most of the time, I completely forget that she didn't come from my body like the other children in my house, it just seems so natural.  She is our daughter... but sometimes my heart is just wrenched for her first mother, the woman who gave her life, and I wonder about her first father too.  Sometimes, I wonder where she got a certain feature, like her beautiful eyes, or her incredible strong will.  She is incredibly sweet when she wants to be, and totally bull headed when she wants to be.  She loves to be played with and held.  She instantly wants to make up when she's been corrected.  She has to know that our relationship is still okay.  Even sometimes if I just simply tell her, "no", she runs to me and lays her head on my leg like, but you still love me, right?  Of course, sweet girl!  She's growing so fast, and it's been way too long since I posted any pictures of her! ...

I first "met" Missy Roepnack  in August of 2011.  She and her husband, also Paul, were in the process of adopting through the same agency as us.  We both got our referrals on the same day, and through the family Yahoo group, I found her blog, and saw some sweet pictures of them seeing their referrals for the first time.  I kind of liked her immediately. Over the next six months, we found a friend in each other.  Things were not going well for either of us in the latter halves of our adoptions, and we bonded over woes with the agency.  I can't really explain it other than to say that God just blessed us with a deep friendship by constant email and Skype communication.  There's really no other explanation. I was excited to get the chance to meet Missy. I'd never done anything like this before: made a friend on the internet, and gone to meet them in real life.  What is she was crazy? Well, she is.  And I love her! : ) Our family made the lo...

Today marked one month of togetherness with Meryn.  She has brought so much joy and light into our life.  She truly is a gift. I've been so blessed by people's attitudes towards us.  We've been out.... a lot.... this month.  The Indian people in our lives have understood this for a long time and have a strong love for her.  But strangers, I was a little bit worried about how they would react.  So far, I've not had any negative comments at all... in fact, one restaurant keeper asked me about her, and asked to hold her, snuggled her, blessed her, told me how lucky she is.  I responded with how lucky we are, and he laughed and said "true!"  A stranger at the pool asked to hold her and played sweetly with her and treated her like a china doll.  Everyone is in love with her!  It's hard not to be.  ; ) We had a great day today, always on my mind that it's hard to believe it's been a whole month... So ...

Our first few days with Meryn have been wonderful!  She seems to be doing really well and has fallen into a natural and easy routine with us.  A bath every day, four to five bottles a day, rice cereal at every meal… she is very happy and playful.  She rarely fusses unless she’s overly tired, or hungry.  We’ve been running around all over town, shopping, visiting people, and she hasn’t once seemed overwhelmed or like she minded. She is full of personality!  She makes a lot of noise, and says “dadada” a lot.  She’s easy to get a laugh out of.  Kiryn has become the expert at getting her to giggle.  Meryn just wants to be with Kiryn all.the.time.  It is so sweet to watch them together.  Meryn loves to chew on and tear up paper.  Any kind.  Toilet. Tissue. Receipt. Writing. Napkin.  You name it, if it can be ripped into tiny pieces and stuffed in her mouth, sh...

The biggest blessing of being here in Ethiopia is having a friend to share all my experiences with.  Not only to share them with, but to lead me in them!  My friend Koleta has lived in Ethiopia for many years and speaks fluent Amharic, has tons of cultural insights, and, she can get a mini-bus unstuck from the mud. : )  Even with being busy with her four kids, she has taken so much time away from their normal routine to show me around the beautiful country they have called home for years. It has been a tremendous pleasure and privilege for me.  She has taken me to the best restaurants, her favorite shopping places, to meet friends in town, and most special of all, she spent half a day on Sunday driving us out to the “out country” to see some of Ethiopia outside of Addis.  It is like a different country, and was a precious experience for me!  Ethiopia is truly a beautiful place!