His Birthday

He's 3. I can't believe it. His birthday was fun and low key and he really reveled in being the birthday boy all day. LB woke up and the first thing I heard coming from his room at 6:30am was, "It's my birfday! Mommy, it's my birfday!" It was too cute. I went in his room and he asked me, "it's my birfday now? Now?" I am not really sure what he was expecting but I had to reassure him that it was, in fact, his birthday now. The night before I wrapped his presents and placed them at this spot on the table. I remember that my mom used to do that for us and so I wanted to carry on that tradition.

D blew up a couple of balloons and LB's been playing with those just as much as his new toys. Typical. I don't think LB knew what to expect but he was pretty happy to see presents on the table. We let him open gifts and before he opened each one he would ask, "maybe it's an airplane?" So obsessed! We did get him some foam gliders and he likes that he can throw them but they didn't go over as well as I thought. Oh well. He got a slide whistle, which was probably his favorite, some puzzles, drums and Evil Dr. Porkchop (from Toy Story). Overall, he was happy with his loot.

LB loves donuts so the day before I bought a few and had the idea to put candles in his donut so that D and I could sing to him first thing in the morning. He had the best look on his face while we were singing. I wanted to freeze time so we could make that moment last even longer. I captured a sweet picture just as we finished singing.

After the morning festivities, D had to head to work so LB and I just went about our normal morning. I had decided that for the most part I wanted to keep expectations low and not go too crazy with plans. I did plan a little brunch meet up at our favorite cafe down the street with LB's buddy and his mom, my buddy. LB's friend said, "Happy Birthday" as soon as we walked in and again the smile on LB's face was priceless. The boys did great at brunch and swapped planes and cars while we ate.

A boy's brunch isn't complete without planes, cars, Buzz and a mini Evil Dr. Pork chop, right? After brunch, we went to story time like we usually do on Thursdays and then our afternoon and evening were just very normal. It made for a nice day with a little splash of special here and there. 

LB has transitioned well to telling people that he is "free years old" and he holds up three fingers. He's already excited about turning 4 because I've told him that is when he can get out of the cart and walk next to me at the grocery store. He clearly thinks it is a universal rule. Patting myself on the back for that one. Unless, of course, he isn't quite ready to walk freely through the store when he is 4 and I have no choice. I've got a year before I need to start worrying about that though. This weekend we are having a small family party for him and then his birthday festivities will be complete.

I'll say it again. He's 3. I can't believe it.

All Boys

I am very lucky in that I have remained close with several of my good friends from Earlham. There are four of us, Allie, Molly, Mahli and me, that have made a special effort to continue to see each other even though we all live in different states. At Mahli's wedding the idea was hatched to have an annual ladies weekend. We had three in a row and the last one was in March of 2009. Then in April of 2009, Damon and I started the adoption process. A few months after that Allie got pregnant and so the 2010 Ladies Weekend was put on hold. Earlier this year both Molly and Mahli got pregnant! Ezra was born in January and then Allie had Miles in April. On November 1st Molly gave birth to Henry and then on Saturday Mahli had Oliver AND Teagan. Mahli upped the ante and had twin boys! The four of us now all have BOYS and they were all born in 2010. It was quite a year for our little group. I am so grateful for each of their friendships. We have stood by each other through some ups and downs and now we are all moms to boys. I think a ladies weekend will be needed now more than ever!

Senior Year at Earlham

At Allie's wedding in November 2007

First Ladies Weekend at Sundara Spa

Second Ladies Weekend at Nemacolin Resort

Third Ladies Weekend in Georgetown

I love you, ladies! Cheers to our boys!!

August 15th - Family Day

The second time around we arrived in Addis in the evening on Saturday the 14th. Travis, one of the Gladney in-country employees, and Henock met us at the airport. We were so happy to see Henock's smiling face again! This was our first time to meet Travis as he was back in the states with his family when we were there for the first trip. Travis let us know that he would bring our guy over to the guest house the next morning for placement. We were less than 24 hours away from officially starting our life as a family of three! If you can believe it we did manage to get some sleep that night and even slept in a bit! I am not sure if that is because we had met LB before and/or our bodies knew that we wouldn't get the chance to sleep through the night again for a while or what. But I was happy we slept. It is hard to explain how crazy it was to be sitting in the living room at the guest house, chatting with the other families and knowing that at any moment Travis would be driving through the gate and parenthood would begin.

Here is that moment.

My heart just ached for him because you could tell he was so unsure. He whimpered a lot and he just had such a scared look in his eyes. He was in a new place with new people and I just wanted to be able to tell him it would be okay. Travis assured us that his reaction was normal and that it was good he was crying it out initially. I would say all throughout the first day he would go in and out of being okay and being scared. It was tough not knowing what each cry meant. Was he hungry, sleepy, gassy or just plain scared. The first night was especially hard because you could tell when he woke up that he had no clue where he was and that he was afraid. His eyes just darted all over the place looking for something familiar and there was nothing. All we could do was hold him until he got too tired to cry anymore. It was gut wrenching. I think D and I were both relieved when morning came and each night after that got easier. These days when I peek over his crib after a nap he will flash me his heart melting smile and stretch his arms up towards me. Progress is a wonderful thing!

We will always celebrate August 15th as our Family Day, the day our son was placed in our arms forever!

They Passed!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, this is Abby updating the blog for the Busters because they cannot access Blogger in Ethiopia.

As you can tell from the title,
THEY PASSED COURT!!!!!!!!

THEY ARE OFFICIALLY PARENTS!!!!!!!

And their son is, after they first met him face-to-face, "tiny and happy and PERFECT!"

They also wanted to pass a few things along to waiting families:

"The hardest part is waiting in the room before getting called in. Most of the families were adoptive families but there were some birth families there as well and that was very hard. The anticipation of waiting to get called in was the hardest and seeing families going in and out. When it was finally our turn we only spent about 2 minutes in front of the judge. She was very nice and asked us about 5 questions and a lot of them it was clear she was looking for just a yes or no. She asked if we had other children, if we knew other families that adopted from Ethiopia, if we had met him, and if we understood this was final. It was maybe not even a full 2 minutes."

They hope to get their Embassy Date confirmed later today, and then they will know when they can bring home the little Buster.

To say that I am happy to be an aunt is an understatement, but mostly I'm just so grateful that two of the greatest people I know are parents, because they will be wonderful parents. And that little guy is now officially their son and part of our family.

They also say, "Please let everyone know that we thank them for all the support!! We are parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

CONGRATULATIONS, Busters!!!!!

We Passed!!!!!!!

We passed!!!!! Did you hear me exhale??? What a relief!!

We leave for Ethiopia next Friday, July 23rd!! Amazing!! And we'll meet our boy for the first time on Monday the 26th. The countdown has begun. I CANNOT wait!!

Our federal court date in Ethiopia is July 28th and that will be the final step in making everything that we already feel in our hearts officially legal on paper. That is when I can show you his precious face!!! We are so close.

I have to say thank you again to all of you. All of your prayers, positive thoughts and encouraging words have meant so much to us. We love you!!!