How to make an American-Canadian-Ethiopian Family

ME! I got the last of my Hep B shots today. It was the last in a series of shots that I have been doing every week for the past 4 weeks. I also have my prescriptions for Malarone (sp??) and Cipro. I am very fortunate that my insurance covered everything for the total cost of $25.00. There is nothing but procedure stopping me now!!

Speaking of procedure... the Ethiopian courts opened 1 week early!! WOOHOO! Keep your fingers crossed, knock on wood, light a candle, say a prayer or whatever it is you do that we get a court date fast! It turns out that it does not happen in chronological order of referral date. It is a little fluid than that. However, I have been assured by Radu that we have the best attorney in ET. Based on how happy we have been with Radu and how true he has been to his word, I feel confident that his assessment is fair and that AA will make every attempt to get us through court as soon as possible.

And that my friends, is the word!

Jacob is 4 months old today! We got new pictures of him last week. He is so cute and such a big boy! He is very bright eyed and very clearly holding his own head up- all very good signs. But we are just dying to get him home to us! Luckily, the courts open this week. We are hoping to be hearing about our court date by the end of next week. If you are so inclined to the behavior, say a little prayer for us that we get a date soon and that things move quickly for us. We are so excited to get our little guy home. This waiting thing is the PITS!!

We are so lucky to have met the Zimmers. We met by chance through CHI several months ago. It is the only thing that makes me grateful to CHI, to be honest. Since then, Jenna and I have had many phone calls, many glasses of wine, and more laughs than I count. I am so appreciative that we are going through this journey together.

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to get the men together as well! JF and I ran the Cow Harbor race with a group of friends from Boston and New York. Isn't it lucky that Jenna and Dan live in the town where the race is held??? It was for us! We were treated to such fantastic hospitality and kindness! We carbo loaded at 10pm with AMAZING lasagna and recovered from the race with awesome steaks. I can also highly recommend their shower, since after the race I should under it for about 40 minutes. It might be worth the trip just for the shower!! The men really got along very well, (which was expected but nicely validating) the dogs got along really well, and of course, the ladies loved every minute of it.

They were amazingly generous with gifts for Jacob, who will be STYLING after the wardrobe boost he got from them. I am not sure why I find babies in sweater vests are so appealing, but I am happy to report that Jenna feels the same way too! They got us a little jacket for Jacob that JF wants to wear- no joke!!

But I felt so lucky that we were able to celebrate their big news- the completion of their dossier! They are going to be such amazing parents and we can't wait to meet their little one. The countdown has begun!!

I want to give a huge shutout to Van who really organized the Cow Harbor weekend. I thought she was crazy initially (6.2 miles is so far!!) but it was a GREAT idea and will def be a yearly tradition. Go Team!!

I also have to thank Norm and Christa for getting their little one up to meet us for breakfast on Sunday. It was wonderful to see you guys. Thank you for the outfits and the book. I def needed to brush up on the nursery rhymes:o) We love you guys!

So that was our weekend- busy, busy, busy! The courts should open in 8 days, but who's counting???

So here is the thing, we have no news to post. We know that Jacob has gained a pound, but we have no picture:o( The courts still don't open for another 17 days, so we have nothing to report on that. So this weekend, we took this time to catch up and watch season 2 of Arrested Development. I love that show. It is HYSTERICAL! And is sums up our situation beautifully as well!

We do have an update on the nursery. It is DONE!! (Well, we just need the "trunk" for our tree- you will get that reference in a mo). But really, we are done. JF's mom is helping us with the trunk- so we have done everything we said we are going to do. YAY!! So without further ado... here Jacob's room.


I have been threatening this for a while, but here it is FINALLY.

I have some pictures of the process as well. You can see what a good helper Caly was through the whole thing.
I love this picture of her in the toy chest.
















Lastly, we need to give a shout out to a couple of people.
One, a huge thank you to Tara's mom Cheryl, who was so generous we cannot begin to thank her enough. She has provided Jacob with more toys and books than one would think is humanly possible. We are so grateful to her; we cannot say thank you enough.



Secondly, we would like to give a shout out to my brother Tod and his new wife (yay!), Lea, who were married last weekend. We were so happy to be there and to celebrate with them. They also provided us with such great photo ops as witnessed below. (Their wedding provided my sister any myself with the opportunity to do a little shopping, including Halloween costumes for Ethan, as depicted below.)


Have you ever seen a cuter pirate than this guy???


Hope as is well with you, my friends!