Adventures of our new family of six!

Makeda's Christening

2009-06-11T22:35:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday we celebrated Makeda's Baptism Day. It was a beautiful day. There were seven babies being baptized at St.Luke's. Father Mike did something special that I had never seen done before. He had all of the parents, godparents and of course the babies to be baptized go outside in front of the church. He asked us what name we have chosen for our children. We also talked about what we wished for our children who were being baptized. Then he had the parents and godparents trace the cross on the babies' foreheads. It was a beautiful sunny warm day too. Meanwhile inside the church family and friends were singing a hymn. Then we all walked in while they were singing. He said it was a welcoming ceremony for the babies. It was beautiful. Makeda was the first baby back inside the church. After the baptism we had many family and friends over for our own celebration. Some of our family had not met Makeda yet. She looked so beautiful in her traditional Ethiopian dress. It was a beautiful day on so many levels.

Back to work.

2009-06-01T22:17:00.004-04:00

Today was my first day back at work since Feb. 5th. We left for Ethiopia on February 6th. It was hard for me to leave Makeda Meskerem for the whole day. The good news is that my work approved my request to return 3 days per week. I can keep the insurance as well. Makeda will be able to stay at home with family for those 3 days so it makes it a little easier for me to leave her because I know she is in good hands. They are moving me to a new unit. We'll see how that goes. It was nice to see some friends that I have missed. It's true I do have mixed feelings about going back. Ok gotta get ready for bed now the alarm is going off at 6:15 and that will surely come too soon.

It's about time!

2009-05-22T23:34:00.002-04:00

I know, I know it was getting rediculous that I never got rid of the ticker at the top even though we have been home with Baby M since February. I was going to try to fix the ticker so that it would stop when we traveled but I couldn't figure out how to do that. I had wanted to have the blog turned into a memory book of sorts for the baby (there is a website that can do that for you) but the ticker thingy doesn't work that way. Anyway here we are, ok is anyone out there reading this?? I think I have lost everyone. Well... We are so thrilled to be home with our new baby girl. She is just amazing. Learns something new every day it seems to the delight of her big brothers, sister and doting parents. Let's see...She has been crawling for a few weeks now. She can pull herself up to standing. The newest thing is the high five! You can say to her give me a high five and she will raise her little hand up and if you give her a little tap on the hand she will giggle! Too cute. And most importantly...she says "Ma Ma". Now I know what you are thinking, that she doesn't know what she is saying, just babbling but no she is calling me Mama and she knows exactly what she is saying. If you were here to witness it you would believe it too! Ok well I promise to try and update this blog if anyone out there is actually reading it. That's all for know.

Ethiopia Travel Preparations!

2009-01-30T23:04:00.002-05:00

You may be wondering what we have been up to since we received the exciting news of our travel date. Well here is a list of just some of the things we have been/still are working on to get ready to meet our little Meskerem.
1. Fill out paperwork for the U.S. Embassy appointment and get it notorized.
2. Make appointment for Meskerem to see the pediatrician within 24 hours or next business day upon entering the U.S.
3. Make appoint for international adoption specialist to see Meskerem in March.
4. Collect donations for the orphanage- formula being the biggest need.
5. Put together a photo album for Meskerem's birth family including all the pictures we have of her, they don't have any and some pictures of our family, home, schools etc.
6. Get Meskerem added to our medical insurance
7. Paint the baby's room.
8. Buy bottles, formula and nipples. I spent a long time in this aisle at Target trying to figure out what to get.
9. Sterilize the nipples for the trip.
10. Secure some 100% DEET and mosquito netting for trip to Sidama region- malaria zone.
11. Locate some extra suitcases for the trip from some kind souls who have offered to loan them to us. Thanks, Jen, Sheri,Mary & Beth.
12. Get prescriptions filled for various meds to take with us.
13. Get schedule organized for Gabriella & Nicholas at home.
14, Find gifts for the 2 nannies who have been taking care of Meskerem since she was one month old.
15. Of course there is the packing itself for us and the baby. No suitcase can weigh over 50 lbs or you pay dearly.
That is all I can think of now. I have several lists going so I will have to consult those lists.
We leave in a week!! Can't wait to meet our baby girl!!
Will try to keep you posted.
Laura

Meskerem is officially our girl!!!

2009-01-12T22:24:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to report that our case successfully made it through the Ethiopian Courts today and Meskerem is legally our daughter! The adoption is final in Ethiopia. What does this mean? It means we can travel to bring her home! We received our travel date today of Friday February 6th and will be in country for one week. There is SO much to do it is unbelievable. Booking flights, paperwork, getting the 2 kids who are staying home settled and organized and just getting all of our stuff together. We are really hoping that Anthony will be able to travel with us, he REALLY wants to come. I don't know if anyone even checks this blog anymore since I rarely update it. So if you are reading this let me know!
As usual we will try to keep you posted!
A very happy and at the moment overwhelmed.
Laura

We have a baby girl!!!!

2008-10-23T22:37:00.002-04:00

We got "the call" yesterday! I am thrilled to announce that we have a baby girl. She was born on August 2, 2008 so she is about 12 weeks old. I was at work and talking to my friend in the office next door saying that I didn't feel like it would ever happen and she said oh it WILL happen and then I went back to my office and I had a voicemail from our social worker to call her. She said you have a baby girl and I was really in shock at this point. I couldn't call Tom because he was on a plane coming home from a business trip to Oregon so I had to sit on the news until he landed. I texted him and told him to call when he landed. He did and I told him the news. Then I went home and called Anthony and put him on speaker phone and told the 3 kids together but Anthony couldn't understand what I was saying because I was screaming and it was on speaker phone. It's just totally amazing!!! Now we have 2 boys and 2 girls. I am still in disbelief. Not sure when we will be able to travel and get her home anywhere from 2 to 5 or 6 months we just don't know at this point. I don't know what else to say. We are off to D.C. for family weekend tomorrow and to do some celebrating in "Little Ethiopia". I have 3 pictures of our new little one and she is just precious.
Thanks to everyone for their love and support!
Laura

Our family update.

2008-09-17T20:46:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone is doing well! Things have been very hectic here with school starting for the kids and my transfer at work.Nicholas is starting clarinet, too cute! I did make it to yoga class tonight for the first time in a while and I'm thankful for that. Just wanted to let everyone know that we took one baby step closer (pun intended!) to our referral today. Someone who was on the infant waiting list for either gender, one of our two lists, got their referral so there is one less person in front of us on that list. They waited about 16 months to be matched. As you may remember we are first on the list for siblings one being under 5 and the other being an infant. We have been first on that list for 4 months. Anyway... if you are reading this and haven't voted in our poll please do so, there is only one week left to vote!

Waiting for Our Little One or Ones?

2008-08-24T21:14:00.002-04:00

The name is of blog is a little confusing isn't it? because we do not even know if we are waiting for our little one or our little ones. Someday hopefully in the next couple of months (or even sooner) we will get "the call" that we have been matched but in the meantime we wait and we don't know who we are waiting for. Painting the rooms will have to wait. We are not sure who will be sharing a room. Will Nicholas be sharing with a little brother? I think he is really hoping for that. Picking out little outfits will also have to wait. We will get another weekly update from the agency tomorrow (Tom's and my 19th anniversary!) and maybe there will be some new referrals but honestly I'm not expecting anything because the referrals have slowed down to almost nothing the past couple of months. Am I sounding too sad about it? I'm really ok with the wait at the moment trusting that we will get matched with the perfect little one or ones for us when the moment is right. Believe me some days are better than others. I'm not always so well adjusted about the wait. Anyway Nicholas and I thought another poll would be fun. Who do you think we will get matched with? Please vote in our poll.

Who knew? Special Edition Ethiopian Coca-Cola!

2008-07-29T22:09:00.002-04:00

Ok so my daughter (& my son as well) work at the local grocery store, and one day my daughter comes home and tells me that the coke cans are special Ethiopian coke cans with Amharic writing on them for the Olympics. I find this very exciting so I run out and buy a 12 pack of the Special Edition Olympics Coca Cola but I'm not sure if every can in the 12 pack will be Ethiopian or if there are 12 different countries in the 12-pack. I got it at Target and guess what? They are all Ethiopian coke cans. I think this is very cool and show them to everyone who comes over. Now I must get more coke. I think I even need to save a 12 pack or two in the basement for later use. Does anyone know how long coke will last? I know this post is really rediculous but the wait for a referral seems endless so maybe I am going a little bit over the edge. But you have to admit it is pretty cool. Please refer to pictures at the right.

I'm still here...are you?

2008-07-21T22:16:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I last posted. Not sure if anyone is still reading this blog. Well, we are still waiting so I didn't feel like I had much to add. We received the weekly update from the agency today and there was one infant referral this past week. The families at the top of the infant list have been waiting since May 2007 and we have been waiting since July 6, 2007 so we are getting closer. We have no idea how many families are between May and July 6th. Although we are still at the top of one of the sibling waiting lists there have been very few sibling referrals. We had to update our homestudy with the agency. Homestudies in Mass are only good for a year. Then we had to redo our fingerprints for the Department of Homeland Security- they are only good for 15 months and finally we had to reapply for permission to bring our newly adopted child and or children into the U.S. again through the Department of Homeland Security. This approval is only good for 18 months and must be valid at the time you travel and ours was due to expire in August so we had to reapply. Well we just received that approval in the mail so all of our paperwork is up to date and now we just need to wait. I will try to post more often and maybe I will add some more pictures too. Hope everyone is having a fantastic summer. We have been enjoying the pool and spent a couple of nights in Maine. It was so much fun. Until next time...

One step closer to referral.

2008-05-14T20:53:00.002-04:00

Today the family right in front of us on the sibling list being open to the older child being under 5 years received their referral. That will move us up to first in line the next time a sibling pair with one child being 5 or under and the younger being up to 15 months old. Does this make sense to you? So there are other families ahead of us waiting for a sibling referral but they are asking that both children be under the age of 4. There was another referral today for a little boy. So far it seems like an exciting week for referrals and hopefully there will be more. So we are again one step closer...I am looking forward to seeing our "wait date" listed as first in our category.

Ethiopia Coffee & Film Shindig

2008-05-01T22:41:00.002-04:00

The kids invited some friends over to learn about Ethiopia and our pending adoption. Anthony called it our Ethiopia Coffee and Film Shindig because we watched a movie too. We talked about Ethiopian culture and also the challenges facing the country today. We served Ethiopian fair trade coffee, popcorn, and cookies designed to look like the Ethiopian flag- see pictures on the right, what do you think about my efforts? I even had a coloring sheet for them and you'd be surprised how excited high school kids get about coloring, no one really gives them a chance to color anymore I guess. A good time was had by all and I think everyone walked away with a greater understanding of what an amazing country Ethiopia is. I think our enthusiasm is contagious.
In terms of the adoption, there was a sibling referral this week so I guess that puts us one step closer to our referral. Until next time, thanks for checking in.
Laura

We are back from Washington D.C. and N.Y.C.

2008-04-22T00:24:00.002-04:00

We had so much fun on our mini vacation! We took in some sights in D.C. and visited American University for "freshman day". Also went to a fabulous little Ethiopian restaurant called Dukem- pictures to the right. Washington D.C. has the largest Ethiopian Community in the U.S. and as a result there are numerous Ethiopian restaurants there. They are all concentrated around 18th St., U Street and 9th street, unofficially referred to as "Little Ethiopia". This restaurant was reccommended to us by the concierge who told us he was half Ethiopian himself. Anyway, the food was amazing and we all loved it. They also have live Ethiopian music there but unfortunately not when we were there. After 2 nights in D.C. we went on to N.Y.C and stayed in Times Square which was so much fun and went to see Hairspray which was a treat. Also went to the Statue of Liberty, St. Paul's Cathedral (shortly after the Pope was there), Nintendo world for Nick, and did some shopping. We were only able to stay one night. Anyway...our sincere thanks to our good friend who took care of the dogs for us so we would be able to have our mini vacation.

ACONE Conference

2008-04-09T08:15:00.003-04:00

Last weekend Tom and I attended the annual ACONE (Adoption Community of New England) Conference. We attended lectures on a variety of topics including: Adjustment during the first few weeks home, grief and loss issues in adopted children, language acquisition in internationally adopted children, how children learn about race, medical issues in internationally adopted children, and advice for traveling to pick up your children. All lectures were very informative, lots of great info and resources for future reference. We saw some friends there too as well as people from Wide Horizons and coincidentally the conference was in Westborough so that was convenient, we were able to come home for lunch.
As far as an update on the wait, there were a number of referrals last week but no referrals of sibling pairs. I guess that's why I haven't posted b/c there was really nothing new to report in terms of the wait. Every Monday we receive an update on referrals for the week and I hope that I will have some news to report but there haven't been any sibling referrals in a while. I will keep everyone posted...

Exciting news, not related to the adoption.

2008-03-16T22:49:00.002-04:00

Our exciting news, entirely unrelated to the adoption, is that Anthony, our oldest, has been accepted to American University, University of Miami, Hofstra U. & Ithaca College! We are still waiting to hear from Syracuse and UMass. We are so excited and thrilled for him and wanted to share the news.

Ethiopia DVD

2008-02-29T23:04:00.002-05:00

Tonight we watched a DVD entitled Ethiopia- Africa's Lost Kingdom. It is something I found on ebay. It seemed like part documentary part travel video and we really enjoyed it! It was a sort of tour around the country and discussed the diversity of people living there, the languages spoken, ancient treasures, influence of religion on the culture, the story of the Queen of Sheba, and the beauty of the country among other topics. There was some really amazing footage. I also got 2 childrens' books about Ethiopia one about the country in general and one about the various festivals and holidays celebrated there. So our collection of Ethiopian related childrens' books is growing. We already had a fair amount of multi cultural childrens' stories that we used to read to A, G & N. So I think we are off to a good start on our home library. The only other bit of news is that the Adoption Community of New England (ACONE) is having their annual conference which brings together a large group of adoption professionals to speak on various topics and this year it is in Westborough! Tom and I just signed up to go and selected the lectures that we were most interested in. The conference is in the beginning of Aprill and I'll have more on that to come.

Our wait date appeared on the weekly update!

2008-02-18T09:03:00.003-05:00

Ok so every week we receive a weekly update from the agency that states "the next family on the waiting list has a wait date of x/x/xx". It is broken down by category, the next family on the whole list, the next family waiting for an infant of either gender, the next family waiting for an infant boy or girl,etc. Recently they have broken down the sibling group families into 2 categories, families waiting for a sibling pair with both children being under the age of four and families who are open to one child being over the age of four (which we are). SO, we are not the very next family on the waiting list who is requesting siblings but one child may be over the age of four but we are next in line after that family and since they list the next 2 families our wait date of July 6, 2007 appeared on the weekly update list. That being said we could still have a long wait, because of the uncertaintly of when siblings who need a family will come into care at Horizon House but it was a small step in the right direction. If you have any questions leave me a comment and I will try to answer them. Oh and we added a new poll at the right so please vote and let us know how you found our blog. Until next time...

Ethiopia Adoption Program Video

2008-02-09T09:44:00.001-05:00

Check out the Wide Horizons Ethiopia Program video I stumbled across on the internet. It is in the Ethiopia adoption related links on the right.

No News...

2008-02-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

We will have been waiting officially for a referral for 7 months starting tomorrow and really there is no news to report. We receive weekly email updates from the agency with referrals and there have been no new referrals for 3 weeks which is hard for those of us waiting. January of 2007 saw a lot of referral activity in contrast to January of 2008 which saw a small number. Everyone knows what referrals are right? Referrals are when families get matched with children and receive their picture and medical information which can then be evaluated by doctors who specialize in international adoption. There is a doctor in Boston who has been reviewing a lot of referrals from Ethiopia so we may get in touch with her. She is out of New England Medical Center. There is also an international adoption clinic in Minnesota that will review medical information and I have heard very good things about that particular clinic. We did host a gathering for Central Mass Ethiopian families this past Sat. We were a small group, all waiting for referrals and representing 3 different adoption agencies. We are hoping to make connections with other families in the area for support and to help our children have friends they can relate to. We discussed a variety of issues and had some Ethiopian food as well. It was really fun.
We'll keep everyone posted when there is any news...

Asmara

2008-01-09T18:20:00.000-05:00

Tom and I tried another Ethiopian Restaurant on Monday. We went to Asmara in Cambridge. The food was excellent! Although the atmosphere was not as interesting or inviting as Addis Red Sea, the service was much better. The staff was very helpful at making suggestions and everything was delicious and it turns out we were there on Ethiopian Christmas (so I guess I have an excuse for still having our tree up) and that seemed fitting. Then we got some Herrell's ice cream for dessert. Sweet cream is my favorite, Tom got the malted vanilla. As for the adoption, I've been sort of feeling that we are never going to get our referral but you have so many ups and downs in international adoption and I try to take the philosophical approach that it will happen when it is meant to happen. There is a family ahead of us waiting for a sibling group with the same ages we are looking for and they have been waiting for about 9 months so far. When they get their referral that may give us some indication of how long we will be waiting.

6 months & counting

2008-01-06T19:21:00.000-05:00

We have officially been waiting for our Ethiopian Adoption for 6 months. For the month of December there were a good amount of infant referrals at our agency. The wait for an infant has actually gone down to 15 months for the moment. We are still on the single infant list as well in order to cover all bases. There was a lot of referral activity in December so that is exciting. There were however no sibling group referrals. We are expecting a weekly and maybe a monthly update tomorrow sometime, can't wait to see what's going on. The waiting is hard. I have to admit I picked up a couple of adorable Gap (Red) items. One of the outfits has an outline of Africa on it. We remain busy here though, anxious to hear from the 6 colleges that A has applied to and we still haven't taken down our Christmas tree...

Our first try cooking Ethiopian food.

2007-12-29T09:04:00.000-05:00

Since we are all (for the most part) on vacation this week we thought it would be a good time to try making some Ethiopian dishes for dinner. Last night Tom and I made Doro Wat (chicken stew), Ye'abesha Gomen- a dish with green peppers and collard greens, Ethiopian Ginger Vegetables with potatoes and green beans, and Injera (the bread that you use to pick everything up with). The kids tried everything and seemed to like it (except A didn't eat the chicken since he's a vegetarian). Our injera came out more like pancakes than traditional injera so we'll work on that for next time. We also didn't have the Berbere spice that they use in Ethiopia so we're going to order some online, couldn't find it even in Whole Foods. Though they do have Teff flour in whole foods which is what they use to make injera in Ethiopia so we will use that next time. Overall we were happy with the dinner.

It's official!

2007-12-17T22:04:00.000-05:00

We're now waiting to be matched with 2 little siblings. Either twins under 18 mos. or more likely one child under 5 years old and the other an infant. We are told the wait is about one year from official wait date of July 6, 2007. In other adoption news we are getting to know others in the area who are waiting to be matched with their children and who have already brought their little ones home. The Central Mass Ethiopian families group is expanding and we will have the next parent meeting at our house. We will discuss parenting/adoption issues and hopefully watch an adoption or Ethiopian related movie and try to make some Ethiopian food. It's a great group of families and we are excited to get to know everyone. Until next time...
Laura

More on siblings...

2007-12-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

Last Friday we met with our social worker to discuss changing our request to a sibling pair. The meeting went well. We have fulfilled all the other requirements and are waiting our final approval for the switch but don't anticipate a problem with our request. What is our request? Right now we are thinking a sibling pair with one child being under 5 years old and one child being 0-12 months. We are also requesting to be put on the list for twins up to 18 months old. There is still a long wait for these requests. I believe the wait is about one year and as you can see from our ticker at the top of this blog we have been officially waiting just over 5 months so we probably have about 7 months left to be matched and then we would travel to Ethiopia 1-3 months after that. There are no concrete estimates for wait time though as it is impossible to predict what the ages of the children that will come into care at any given time. The current wait time for infants is about 16 months. We'll keep you posted!

An Ethiopian Film in the area.

2007-11-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, We recently found out that the award winning film "Black Gold" will be shown at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church located at 40 Church Street Northboro, MA at 7pm on Friday December 7th. "Black Gold" is a film about one
man's struggle to improve the life of the Ethiopian coffee farmers by educating the public and encouraging the purchase of Fair Trade products. Entrance is free. Fair trade Coffee and Chocolate will be available for purchase during intermission. In case anyone is interested...you know where we'll be on the 7th!
Otherwise nothing new, still working on changing our request to a sibling pair. We'll let you know when it's official and what kind of timeframe we are looking at for a referral when we have more info.
Take care for now,
Laura

Siblings?

2007-10-30T13:34:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know it has been a long time since the last post. We do have some news on the adoption front. We are considering requesting a sibling group of two. I know it sounds crazy but here's what we're thinking. One child older than an infant would help bridge the age gap between our youngest who is 10 years old and an infant. Also, our 10 year old would love to have a little one closer to his age that he can be a big brother to. Also the two siblings from Ethiopia would have each other in terms of not being the only black child in the family and coming from another culture/country of birth. Also an older child who has memories of Ethiopia and his/her family would be able to tell us some things about their background that we can record forever which is a wonderful gift to both children. In addition there seems to be a great need for families who are open to adopting sibling groups. So that is what we are thinking. Our social worker has given us a list of things we need to do in order to change our request from an infant to a sibling group. We have to take an online class- done. Read a packed of articles on adopting older children- done. Contact families who have adopted older kids- working on this. Put together a list of service providers - working on this. And lastly arrange for another meeting with her. TBD. We would also remain on the infant waiting list as well to see which referral would come first. We assume a sibling group would but if our request for ages or gender is too specific it would take longer. So that's what is going on in our adoption world.
We also officially withrew from the China program at our China Only agency.
Our hearts and minds are in Ethiopia now. Until next time, we'll keep you posted.

Addis Red Sea

2007-09-23T22:09:00.000-04:00

Last night all five of us went out to an Ethiopian restaurant in Boston called Addis Red Sea. This was our first time at an Ethiopian restaurant. I was very excited to give it a try. We planned the night a couple of weeks ago and put it on the calendar to make sure everyone was available. Our two teens often have their own plans so getting it on the calendar was key. I had checked out their website beforehand so I knew a little bit of what to expect. The atmosphere was amazing, very cozy and colorful with lots of Ethiopian art and items througout. We were sitting at a low woven straw type table. The food is placed on the injera bread and you use the bread to eat the various dishes rather than utensils. I'm not an expert by any stretch on Ethiopian food but I understand it to be somewhat authentic. They give you towels to wash your hands at the beginning of the meal and wet ones to wash up afterward. We ordered appetizers that were similar to indian samosas, as well as the chicken stew, a beef dish and a vegetarian dish. The food was delicious, I would say it was similar to Indian food in some respects. I have found some recipes for Ethiopian chicken stew as well as the injera bread on an adoption website so I am going to give it a try at home. I have since found out about 2 other Ethiopian restaurants in the area one in Somerville and the other in Cambridge and we will give them a try soon.

The wait

2007-08-26T20:26:00.000-04:00

It actually seems as though we have been waiting much longer than the timeline at the top of this page. We started our initial homestudy in December 2006. We received our approval from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) back on February 23, 2007. However, our official program application date at Wide Horizons is July 6, 2007. Currently the wait time for a referral of an infant of 0-12 months is approximately 13 months, with travel to Ethiopia 1-3 months after that. While we wait we are trying to learn as much as possible about Ethiopia, transracial adoption and raising adopted children in general.
We are excited about our Ethiopian adoption journey to find the newest little member of our family and we invite you to follow along.

Our first Post

2007-08-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our blog! We decided to start this website to document our journey to adopt our little one from Ethiopia.