Blog Union ’08 Video!

Tue, 5 May 2009 18:35:30 -0700

It’s here! Just in time to whet your appetite for BU’09, we proudly unveil the official Blog Union ’08 video!

What an unbelievable time! What magnificent children!

Getting in the swing of things!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:06:23 -0700

I have time on my hands. For the first time in months, I have time on my hands. This is because I’m on a five hour flight from DC to LA. Sans kids. Yes, I’m on my first business trip since returning home with Tigist, and I’ll admit, it was nice to have a couple of days where I was only responsible for me. Don’t be too jealous. I still had to get up early by East Coast standards, and when you subtract three hours for the time difference, you’ll arrive at the appropriate conclusion that I’m still dead tired. But I now have time to finally blog, and so I will power through...

Where do I begin? The last eight weeks have been extraordinary -- exciting, exhausting, joyful, scary, fun, overwhelming, rewarding and more often than not, totally surreal. It still seems impossible that we have an almost 11 year old in our lives. How did that happen?

Tigist is doing great. Beyond great. We are thanking our lucky stars that we’ve had no real behavior issues beyond what seems to be standard 10 year old willful behavior. I think I’ve sufficiently established in prior posts that I’m a pro when it comes to willful behavior, so the more I see Tigist exerting her independence, the more comfortable I feel. In the beginning, we thought that Tigist suffered from extreme shyness. As the weeks go on, though, we’re starting to get a feel for her personality, and in fact, we don’t think she’s so shy after all. We think that she’s actually type-A and a bit of a perfectionist. If she doesn’t feel proficient in something or doesn’t have a clear understanding of the expectations, rules or parameters of a given situation, she will simply avoid it altogether. This includes language. Her comprehension started kicking in almost immediately, but now she’s starting to get a feel for the language, how to hold her mouth to produce the right phonic sounds and the right words to communicate her needs or affection (I’m hungry, I love you, bye mom). She’s gone from whispering words with her head hanging down and turned away to bounding up the stairs to say good morning or “hi Zoe” or just to plop on the couch as though she lived here all her life.

I feel kind of sorry for Drew in all of this, because we’re both observing that Tigist is revealing a little more each day that she’s an awful lot like me. And we already know that Zoe is like me. Yes, poor Drew is the odd man out. Not really though. Drew and Tigist seem to have a special connection, and he is crazy about her! And I have to give three cheers for him for being a simply great dad. For the youngest of two children, he’s impressively intuitive when it comes to integrating a 10 year old into our lives. He’s fun, affectionate, consistent (especially for a creative guy!), gentle, and clear on expectations and boundaries. Tigist feels very safe with him and is overcome with glee every time her big, muscly dad scoops her up and throws her over his shoulder. She loves it!

Part of the transition for us is going from one kid to two. I’ve heard from other moms that one to two is the toughest transition of all. I don’t know if this is true, but it seems to be for us. Simply trying to juggle the needs of two kids while we’re both working full time is a bit challenging. Add to that jumping straight to a 4th grader, and we’re totally in over our heads =). We suddenly have school, tutors, after school sports, play dates, lunches, snacks... you get the gist. We’re starting to get the hang of it, though, and it’s actually kind of fun getting to be a part of this new community of 10 year olds.

Tigist is doing GREAT in school. We happen to live in a community with a wonderful public school system, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the class Tigist ended up in. Her teacher is so enthusiastic about having her in the class and is working with us on integrating her and catching her up. We’re pretty much doing full immersion for Tigist, except that she’s taken out of the classroom each morning for individual ESL lessons, and next week she’ll be doing an after school program to help her catch up on reading. She’s doing pretty well with math, and we think once she has a handle on the language, she will be able to catch up quickly. She’s incredibly focused, studious and disciplined -- especially for a 10 year old. We purchased Rosetta Stone for her, and she can literally work on her lessons on the computer for hours. When given the choice of TV, a craft or Rosetta Stone, nine times out of ten, she’ll choose the Rosetta Stone. And she is NOT happy when she gets an answer wrong. (This is one of the many signs that have tipped off her perfectionist ways.)

Tigist has also managed to make a lot of great friends at school. Her class was so excited about having a new student from Ethiopia, and several of them have taken her under their wing to help her learn the ropes of elementary school. When I visited Tigist’s teacher a couple of weeks ago to have a touch base, I commented that I was so happy that Tigist has a group of friends in the class. Mrs. Smith corrected me and said that it’s not a group of friends... Tigist has an entourage! Her words. I kid you not. Apparently, some kids from the other 4th grade class are jealous that they can’t get into this cool clique, and it’s a bit of a problem. I say two more weeks and Tigist can run for student body president =). In all seriousness, as the kid who suffered from being the odd-man-out growing up, I can’t tell you how much this delights me.

Okay, language. Everyone asks how her language is progressing. First of all, Tigist didn’t speak a word of English when we first met. Not a word. (How did we communicate you ask? Lots of pantomiming, pointing and repetition.) She did know about 2/3 of the alphabet from a visual standpoint, but she didn’t know the sounds the letters made. Fast forward eight weeks, and she now knows the alphabet and most of the sounds for the consonants and vowels. She can also come up with several words that start with each letter in the alphabet, and she’s a whiz with the flash cards during her tutoring sessions. She can also read remedial books to me (remember those starter books?), which she loves to do.

She is also developing an eye for fashion. Every night before school, we have fun picking out what she will wear, and in the morning, she’s great at getting herself ready and even doing her own hair. I try to style her curls for her a couple mornings a week, but mostly she does pony tails and accessorizes them with fun rubber bands, clips and head bands we bought her. She also loves layering her bracelets and necklaces. It never ceases to tickle me seeing her enjoying this luxury when I think of where she was just two months ago with nothing to call her own. I actually am struck by this pretty much every night when I put her to bed with her fluffy down pillows and comforter, kissing her and all her dolls good night. In fact, whenever I’m feeling low, Drew reminds me that we are the lucky people who got to give this precious girl dolls... and how every little girl should get to go to sleep at night with a doll. He’s right. We are so very lucky.

I’ve been able to give Tigist other things too... like my special knack for avoiding germs. Tigist’s godmother went to spend time with her the last two nights while I was out of town, and she went out to dinner with Tigist and Drew. Apparently, when they went to the bathroom, Tigist meticulously washed her hands and then proceeded to use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the bathroom door. Her godmother said to Drew, “Tigist is SO Carey’s daughter.” That’s my girl! Eight weeks ago, she flushed a toilet for the first time, and yesterday, she’s opening the bathroom door with a paper towel. She is also a pro now with conditioning her hair, lotioning her body, cleaning her ears, brushing her teeth, and using a daily skincare regimen. Yes, she is a full-on American tween, and she is loving the fluffiness of it all.

The other question we get about Tigist is how the adjustment is going with Zoe. This has to be the best part. The bond has just been so natural, and seeing the girls together is wonderful. At first it was awkward for me, believe it or not, because I’ve always been Zoe’s main squeeze. But as our attachment to Tigist grows, so does the joy in seeing our two girls together. It did take a few weeks for the sleep schedule to kick in. Tigist, thankfully, is very good sleeper. But she’s also a deep sleeper -- and a noisy sleeper. Zoe on the other hand is a light sleeper. So whenever she’d awaken in the night, she’d hear Tigist’s heavy breathing and shout out “Tigist!”... this on several occasions turned into a two hour marathon in the middle of the night of Zoe talking, crying, stirring in her crib -- and mom and dad not getting any sleep. Zoe is now used to having a roommate and (knock on wood) is back to sleeping through the night.

As illogical as it seems to adopt out of birth order, having a much older sibling for Zoe has some real perks, we are learning. For example, this past weekend, we had amazing weather. We went out for an early dinner on the pier, and after the girls were finished eating, Tigist took Zoe to play out front of the restaurant (we were sitting in the outdoor patio) while Drew and I watched from our table, enjoying a chilled glass of wine. Bliss.

Gosh, there are so many things to tell about the adjustment, having two kids, having an older daughter who doesn’t speak English... I am going to TRY to update more frequently, even if it’s just a cute story. But now, I need an uninterrupted airplane nap. Here are some pictures to catch you up on the past several weeks...

This t-shirt was a gift that showed up on our front door from a local shop owner with a note for Tigist that said, “Hermosa Beach is a more beautiful place now that you’re here.” Yes, this is precisely the type of warm reception Tigist and our family have received from our community. We are ridiculously blessed!

The girls love each other! And the beach!

My new life. (Notice the empty glass of wine in the first picture.)

Daddy’s girl. (This picture was taken the day Drew was a chaperone for Tigist’s school field trip. I mean, is he a cool dad, or what???)

Receiving bike riding lessons from Pam and her daughter Savannah.

Paying homage to the Boss.

Doing a little cooking with Zoe:

Nail time!

No description needed.

Cracking up on the phone with her friends Rahel and Meron in Atlanta. Tigist has the best sense of humor. She’ll regularly laugh to the point of tears.

Decorating Easter eggs:

With Drew’s parents, Grandma and Grandpa, (in her new Hannah Montana t-shirt her grandma gave her... BTW, did you know Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are the same person??? I didn’t!):

Playing the Wii with her cousin, Josh:

Easter Sunday with my mom, (aka Maka)

And with my dad (Papa). We didn’t tell her that my dad was the pastor, and she was totally delighted and subsequently glued to him when she saw him at the front of the church. =)

Isn’t this picture lovely? Tigist holding her new baby cousin, Caleb:

It’s exhausting being a kid!

Getting her first cavity filled. She was a champ!

Living the good life:

And for fun, a few updated ZoZo pics:

Baby’s got a new pair of shoes!

Heart & Soul... Zozo playing the piano with her future husband, Kingston.

It’s even more fun sitting on your stool when it’s upside down!

Catching up on life with Aliya and Ty:

Making some calls:

Hunting for eggs:

Cousins & BFF’s

Sleeping Beauty

That’s all for now!

Guess Who’s Officially a US Citizen?!

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:17:52 -0700

I know, I know, you’re dying for a Tigist update. She’s doing great! And we have so many fun stories to tell in an update coming soon to a blog near you...

... but today is Zoe’s day!

BU ’09: Chicago or Bust!

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:23:15 -0700

The Blog Union torch has been passed to this rock star organizer, and she’s setting up an amazing weekend this summer in Chicago! We are so excited by the great turnout of adoptive families and can’t wait to reunite with so many wonderful people we met last year... and to make new friends too!

So how do YOU get in on the action, you ask? All you have to do is go this meetup group and send in your stats. To ensure we end up with a fun and safe group in Chicago, here are the only requirements: You’ve got to be a blogger so we can see who you are:), or grandfathered in from BU’08 or simply be an invited guest of an attending blogger, and officially be on the ethiopian adoption wait list for a referral from an accredited agency. Once accepted into the meetup group, you’ll get all the details and can officially RSVP. Easy!

Want to know the good times in store for you? Check out this slide show from BU’08, held here in sunny Hermosa Beach.

This is such a great tradition that’s forming for us and our kids. Hope to see you all there!

First Day of School

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:54:41 -0700

Boy, how time flies. One day, you’re bringing your new daughter home, and the next thing you know, she’s in the 4th grade...

Tigist started school on Monday, and by all indications, she loved it! It’s hard to tell for sure, since she can’t speak English, but she was very chipper when I picked her up. We were nervous about her first day of school since she seemed a bit shell-shocked when we visited the school and her class last week. I mean, what 10 year old isn’t freaked out by starting a new school mid-year? Add to that a new country, new culture, new language, new everything, and you have the makings of one pretty terrifying experience. But Tigist, well, the girl’s a trooper. We visited her new class the Friday afternoon before she started school, and her entire class said “Selam!” to her, and the teacher showed her where she’s going to sit and introduced her to her seat mates. Over the weekend we practiced some important language skills (i.e. “my name is Tigist,” “What is your name?”, “I don’t speak English), and we packed her school bag and set out her first day of school outfit. By Monday, she was ready to go and didn’t look back when the bell rang.

First day of school outfit:

Today completed day two. This morning, I walked her to her class and was the only parent there. When she started angling her back toward me, I said (using gestures), “do you want me to stay or do you want me to go?” She said in a loud whisper, “go!” It’s amazing how peer pressure transcends culture. Apparently, it’s not cool anywhere to have your parents escorting you to class when you’re 10. I even though I don’t wear mom jeans! Tomorrow, I’m going to attempt dropping her off in the front of the school (since I can see her walking to class from the car) and see how that goes. =)

It’s funny all of a sudden jumping to the tween years. Surreal might be a better word. It will undoubtedly get much easier once we’re able to communicate, but now that we’re in the US and Tigist is full immersed in American culture, she’s starting to pick up some language and we’re effectively communicating on the basics: hungry, thirsty, potty, shower. We can pick out school outfits, work together on a hairdo and even decide what to pack for a snack. Sure, it all involves a lot of gestures, pointing and show-and-tell, but Tigist laughs and takes it all in stride. She’s really a very good natured kid, and honestly, we’ve had no behavioral issues with her so far. The biggest challenge with the transition is the language barrier and of course the fact that perfect strangers have come together to form a family. The only thing I can liken it to is an arranged marriage. It’s just a very different experience than bringing home an infant. But with each new day, Tigist grows more relaxed with us, and we get more insight into her personality. She has a sense of humor and a certain care-free quality that’s starting to emerge too. It’s really unbelievable to watch the small steps she makes each new day.

There have been a lot of firsts for Tigist this week, which can be a joy to watch through her eyes (like landing at LAX or splashing in the Pacific Ocean) and terrifying (dropping her off at school or taking her to the dentist). I’m pretty emotionally exhausted, but also very thankful. We have wonderful friends who have been encouraging us and praying for us and Tigist’s transition, and we see those answers to prayer every day. Last week, I was dreading taking her to the pediatrician for a physical exam and vaccinations. I was trying to explain shots to her and was looking up Amharic words, but I was failing miserably at communication and was certain that I was about to scar the poor girl for life. Would you believe that as we’re walking into the pediatrician’s office, I notice that the family we’re walking in behind is speaking Amharic? I introduced myself to the other mother, and fast forward, she came in for part of Tigist’s exam to walk her through some of it and then narrated the rest for her, so she would know what was going to happen. What a gift! Of course, all of the narration in the world couldn’t prevent the tears from flowing when Tigist received four shots and then again later at the lab when we had to draw blood. I cried right along side her, holding her face in my chest to look away from the needles and telling her that I was sorry we had to do this. It’s little moments like those, or when I pick her up from school, or when I do her hair, or when we read bedtime stories... it’s those moments that create intimacy and start bonding us together.

One of my worries has been over how I was going to do bedtime routines for two kids of very different ages who also happen to share a bedroom? Well, there’s still much we have to learn about Tigist’s history, but we’re finding that she’s very happy following a lot of Zoe’s ritual. She’s also a great sleeper, going a full 11 hours a night! So, when Zoe goes downstairs to take her bath, Tigist hops in the shower afterward, and both girls put on their jammies and snuggle up with me at the edge of Tigist’s bed to read our bedtime stories. We then say prayers together, and kiss each other goodnight. Tigist crawls under her fluffy covers (which warms my heart every time when I think of the contrast to her bed at Kebebetsehay) and turns off the lights, and then Zoe and I rock together in the dark for about 5-10 minutes. Then everyone is down for the count until 7 a.m. Glorious!

Zoe LOVES Tigist and is very happy to have her in her life. We’ve had no transition problems in that regard. Heck, Zoe probably sees it as another set of hands to wait on her every need. (That girl! I wish you could have SEEN the dramatic temper tantrum she threw last weekend while watching herself in front of her bedroom mirror, pausing on occasion to fully take it in. It was a magnificent site!) However, since we’ve been back, Zoe has been very clingy with me. I went back to work yesterday during Tigist’s school hours, and our nanny told me that Zoe has been asking for the last two days “mommy coming back?” Okay, heart breaker. So now I’m going through that mom guilt of trying to make sure that there’s enough of me going around to meet everyone’s needs and hoping and praying that I didn’t do any permanent damage by leaving Zoe for over a week. Which brings me to the other major adjustment: going from one kid to two. Holy smokes! I am one tired lady.

I still owe you an Ethiopia trip update, and there are still so many more things to share... but for now, here are some pics from Tigist’s first week in America:

Push-ups with Dad (she’s crazy about him!):

Two stylin’ LA girls:

I love this picture for some reason. Viva la Bed Head!:

Watching TV together:

Sisters:

We’re home!

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 12:48:21 -0800

Sorry for the silent treatment! We got home on Saturday night and have been catching up on sleep, adjusting to having two kids and of course working with Tigist on her transition to America. What a huge change for her! It’s been a big two weeks for all of us, and we promise, we’ll sit down over the weekend and give a proper blog update...

... until then, we have to let you know that Tigist is a dream and is doing great. She is a precious, precious girl. She’s very shy (until you put her on the phone with her Ethiopian buddies who now live in Georgia) and incredibly sweet. So far, she’s doing very well with the adjustment and seems to be taking everything in stride. We can’t wait to tell you all about her and our journey back to Ethiopia.

Here are a few pictures to tide you over until we can give a proper update:

Here we come, baby girl!

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:11:35 -0800

We're off to pick up Tigist. What a journey. We are so excited for round two, and pretty much running on adrenaline at this point. But we are all packed up and ready to roll first thing in the a.m. Tigist will meet us at the airport in Addis. Wow.

We'll be uploading some pictures when we get a chance during the week, so just click on the link below any time for photo updates. We’re leaving my laptop home so we can skype with Zoe (this is our first time away from her which has been an emotional journey for me in and of itself), so we won’t be blogging on this trip. We will, however, share with you our experience when we return.

There's so much we want to say, but we've decided to let this week’s upcoming pictures speak for themselves. We know they will speak louder than any words we could write anyway.

Tigist, we love you so much, even though we are still about 36 hours away from meeting you. We feel like the luckiest people in the world to get to be your mom and dad! Here we come, baby girl! Here we come.

Bringing Home Tigist photo gallery

Jeremiah 29:11

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 07:41:46 -0800

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Confession.

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 07:23:38 -0800

So you know those obnoxious moms who think their sparkling progeny walk on water? You know the kind. They can’t stop talking about their children -- as if there’s nothing else going on in their lives. They talk about how SMART their children are, how FUNNY they are, how so-and-so just did/said the cutest, most delightful, genius thing the other day. It’s as if their little so-and-so was the first cute/smart/funny/delightful child to ever live.

You know who I’m talking about, right? Because, oh-my-gawd, I am One of Them! For YEARS I dreaded going out with my mommy friends because all they would talk about was their children. And really, did I care? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the updates -- but to a POINT people. Come on... do I really need to know their kid’s growth percentages? (**Breaking news*** Zoe’s officially 90th in height) And do I really need to know their developmental milestones? (Zoe spells her name, makes all her animal sounds, identifies colors, counts and sings her ABC’s.) Do I really care how charming and sweet her child is? (Zoe loves working a crowd, goes up to strangers in the airport and says, “hug” with her arms in the air and blows kisses to passers by.)

Just for the record, in case you haven’t already noticed, I am obsessed with Zoe. It’s obnoxious. I am going to lose friends. I feel certain I’ve already lost any blog readers. I’m starting to learn how parents go about ruining their first-borns because everything these children do is received with the greatest applause and affirmation. I’ve always sworn I wouldn’t do this to my children, because that’s not the real world. The rest of the world does not in fact think your child is an angel sent from heaven.

So now that I’ve confessed my obsession -- in all seriousness, I am in love with this child. You always hear about how there’s nothing like the love of a parent for his/her child, but I can’t believe how much it’s true. And it’s not because of her keen wit or sparkling personality -- it’s because I just love her -- and through those eyes, I revel in her glorious charm, beaming beauty, physical prowess and genius mind. Yes, I view Zoe through some serious rose-colored glasses. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t really think she walks on water, and she’s certainly not above reproach. Have I mentioned before her mischievous spirit? Have we talked about the fact that my voice apparently hits precisely that pitch that she can’t hear while she’s playing or doing something she knows she’s not supposed to be doing (like, say, splashing the dog’s water dish, coloring on the media cabinet or going into the food pantry). Are you aware that when she receives a firm “no” from mommy or daddy, she laughs a hearty laugh and says “funny!” It takes everything in us to not laugh right along with her. We don’t, after all, want to ruin her.

And so, we are hyper-vigilant with this spirited child about keeping her structured, well nourished and rested, redirecting inappropriate behaviors and being consistent with what’s off-limits. Because Zoe is like the energizer bunny, this can be exhausting. But because we’re devout in our love for her, we somehow find the energy to keep going and going and going right along side her. This is easier said than done. For example, last week, Zoe was sick, and we pulled a few all-nighters -- sadly the first one occurred after Drew and I went out to dinner and shared a bottle of wine. Do you know how hard it is to get up five times in the night after wine? VERY. Last night was actually our first full night of sleep after a week. I am a new woman. And a thankful woman. Thankful that Zoe is usually a good sleeper under normal circumstances. And appreciative of those mothers who don’t have good sleepers. How DO YOU DO IT??? Perhaps it’s because your child walks on water too, and so you muster up the energy...

At the end of the days, after bath time, when ZoZo’s in her jammies, having her bottle and we’re reading her books, I try to grasp how these intimate moments will continue once T comes home. What will she be doing while I’m putting Zoe down? Will she be doing homework? Will she be watching TV? Will she be out for a secret ice cream run with Dad? And what will T’s nighttime routine be? Will we read too? Maybe we’ll talk about her day. Maybe I’ll be braiding her hair. But will I have the energy? Will I have the energy for two nighttime routines, and two spirited personalities?

I think the answer is yes. Because although at this moment in time I can’t figure out how we’re going to give 100% to two children of very different ages with very different needs, I do know that we’re already head-over-heals in love with T, and soon we’ll be finding the miracles in her little idiosyncracies, delighting in her milestones, laughing at her jokes and just generally being as smitten with her as I am with Zoe. You see, this is my right as a mother. I waited a long time for it, and I’m going to revel in it.

Our court date is this Friday, February 6. We’re trying to emotionally prepare ourselves for the possibility that things won’t go as hoped for, that we may experience delays. But we are hoping nonetheless that Friday will be our day -- and T’s day -- and that we’ll be able to introduce you to our newest daughter, our newest child prodigy.

Because this family website is meant to be kept as a log for our children to enjoy one day, we’d love to hear from you when we introduce T!. I know that our blog comments feature hasn’t been working well (a lot of people have emailed me saying they can’t post comments), so please reset your link to the following:

http://web.me.com/careygrange/DrewCareyShow/Blog/Blog.html

Hopefully that works! We do love hearing from our blog family. And perhaps you can let me know if you’re an obnoxious mom too. Is your child also meant for great things? Is she a stunning beauty? Is he deeply and importantly talented? Come on. I know you’re out there!

And now for some gratuitous pics:

Zoe & other angels incarnate:

Zoe perched on a tiny corner of our deck, which she thinks is a special, Zoe-sized seat. She’s wearing mommy’s necklace. The girl loves jewelry!

Drinking out of a cup. Genius!

Joyful adventurer:

3 Weeks ‘til Court!

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:08:08 -0800

At last, we’re in our three week window to our court date. Actually, we’re a mere 19 days away. As we watch many families on their third and fourth court dates, we find ourselves ‘trying’ to manage our expectations. Nonetheless, we remain hopeful that the first time will be a charm!

While we wait, we’re beginning preparations for a trip that is hopefully right around the corner. We will be bringing one of Drew’s camera guys with us to help capture some footage for a few different humanitarian aid projects, including one that’s particularly near and dear to our hearts...

... Many of you were so generous to donate toward a container of wheelchairs to be delivered to Ethiopia. You will be happy to know that the Wheelchair Foundation has delivered an entire cargo unit of 228 brand new wheelchairs to Ethiopia (complete with extra large tires for the African terrain), and they will be distributing them while we’re in-country. We’ll be attending the distribution and will shoot footage of the event. Needless to say, we’re totally looking forward to this experience. Whenever I watch footage of someone whose spent a lifetime crawling on his or her knees climb up into a wheelchair, I’m just taken by how this single gift gives so much dignity to a person, not to mention freedom. Here’s a link to a video of wheelchairs being distributed in Zimbabwe in 2000 to give you an idea of what we expect to experience during the distribution in Ethiopia. A wheelchair in Ethiopia (comparable in quality to the ones we’re delivering) can cost almost $1,000 and is not something available to the majority of people who need one. We hope to use the footage that we shoot to edit a piece to raise awareness for more wheelchairs for Ethiopia, and hopefully we can make a container of wheelchairs an annual event.

On the T front, she now has enough clothes in her closet to get her started until we bring her home and can take her shopping. I opted for stretchy things because I can’t for the life of me figure out what size and style of jeans to purchase for her. She also has hair accessories, picture frames ready for her to fill with pictures of her friends and her own email account all signed up and ready to go. The pediatrician is lined up and very excited about her arrival, and her schooling is lined up too. All we need now is one special little T!

I’m also thinking about attempting an early potty-training with Zoe so that we can take the changing table off the girls’ dresser. Remembering back to my tween days, I think T is going to need the extra surface space for all of her tchotchkes. Zoe is already using the potty on occasion, and I know in some countries they potty train at a much earlier age. Is 18 months too early to potty train? I guess I should look into that too before we travel, although I might be being overly ambitious now... I suppose I could just change Zoe on the floor for a while...

Speaking of Zoe, that girl just keeps us in stitches. She is so smart and full of spunk. Yesterday morning, after changing her diaper and setting her down, she turned on her new, pink electric drum machine from Santa and located a groovy rock & roll tune. (We haven’t figured out how to work the machine, but she’s got it wired.) She put her hands on T’s bed to stabilize herself and shook her little tooshie side to side to the beat of the music, unaware that anyone was watching. Where’s the video camera when you need it? She is talking up a storm now, picking up multi-syllable words, and we’re actually starting to carry on mini conversations. This morning, she was particularly funny when she wanted to play with Drew’s computer while he was working on it. Totally exasperated, she directed Drew: “Daddy, SHARE!” This was actually music to our ears, since until now, one of her favorite words has been “MINE.” It’s nice to see that she’s starting to understand the principle of sharing.

Not to brag too much, but, what the heck... Zoe now sings the alphabet and gets the majority of the letters right. She counts to five in English and Spanish, and can actually go up to 13 in English. It goes like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13. Then she says, “Yay!” and claps for herself. She loves reading books and pointing out everything she sees on the page, and her new little game is pat-a-cake, which goes like this: pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, roooooll it, and me! We’re working on filling in the gaps =)

Zoe is also loving the birds (pajaros), she’s in LOVE with the moon and stars (singing “God did, God did!” when I sing to her “who made the moon?”), and she’s nuts over the ocean. This is working out well for us since we’re having one of those glorious freak So Cal summers in the middle of January. Seriously, we’re on our second weekend in a row of 80 degree weather, and it is spectacular! The windows are all open, we’re wearing summer clothes and flip flops, and the street outside our house is buzzing with people walking to the beach. I love that sound. We just had lunch at an outdoor restaurant, played on the swings and put our feet in the ocean. We’re wearing sunscreen. It’s January, people. January.

It actually makes us that much more excited to bring T home, imagining her racing out the door to play at the beach or take her bike for a ride. We so enjoy watching life through Zoe’s eyes, and now we’ll have another magical perspective through T’s eyes.

Soon!

Happy New Year!

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:50:35 -0800

I’m a little late on the new year greetings. I can’t even say it’s because we’ve been crazy busy. Quite the opposite. Drew and I took the week between Christmas and New Year off, and we did NOTHING. It was divine! I can’t recall the last time in life we did nothing. Our honeymoon, really. It occurred to us that the rest of the world pretty much shuts down that week, and for some foolish reason we always work right through it. But now that we have Zoe and are about to bring T home, we figure no time like the present to start planning time off for Christmas and spring break and for sure a little time in summer. Sounds reasonable, right?

We loved the holiday season this year. It started with Thanksgiving at my older brother’s house in Mission Viejo. It was pure mayhem with four children below the age of four running around, and teams of adults following them around.

Zoe at the kids’ table:

We also had a great Christmas celebration with the extended Grange family (that’s my side of the family) annual holiday get-together. All of my aunts and uncles and cousins -- and now their children -- came together, and we tried to figure out what our children should call the older generation of cousins. We decided to go with aunt and uncle, and they’ll all be cousins. Hey, we can make up new relative rules if we want to.

Drew in the bouncy ball house with some of the cousins:

Attempting a group photo:

With two extended family fetes under our belts for the season, and after a lifetime of spending Christmas with my siblings, we determined that this should be the first year we spend Christmas at home. We are, after all, a family now. And we did just that. We started our holidays with a celebration of Hannukah. I even made a brisket and potato latkes from scratch.

We went to Christmas eve service, and then we came home and put on our Christmas jammies and read our stories. We had Christmas at home in the morning as a family, and then, believe it or not, we hit the gym. (Zoe LOVES kids’ club.)

Zoe’s Christmas outfit:

In our Christmas jammies:

On Christmas night, my parents came over. Zoe had a great time with her grandma and grandpa (aka makaw & papa), and after she went down for the night, Drew and I enjoyed a lovely meal of prime rib complemented by a delicious red wine. It was a great time, and we plan to continue this tradition for years to come!

Zoe and Grandpa reading “The Foot Book” for the 15th time:

Surprisingly, we’ve had no real problems with putting out holiday decorations. We only had two ornament casualties courtesy of Zoe. We had far more than that during the great Christmas tree crash of 2004, caused by none other than Mr. Rocky himself.

During the holidays, we also enjoyed some impromptu play dates with friends. One of our newest friends is Piassa, an Ethiopian woman I met at the gym, who happens to live just a few blocks from us. It was funny to hear her rendition of the story of how we met. Apparently, she noticed me totally checking her out as we were both coming out of the showers at our gym (hey, there were towels). She really thought I was “checking her out,” if you know what I mean. It made more sense to her when I approached her later in the lockers to ask if she was Ethiopian and then to tell her about our family. Hilarious. Actually, hearing her tell the story made me realize how much humor transcends culture and was just one more reminder of how over time, T will do just fine with the transition into American life.

Zoe, Mimi and their new Ethiopian friend, Piassa:

The girls with Heather:

And speaking of T, we are less than four weeks from our court date! We cleared out half of Zoe’s closet to make room for T, and we are starting to fill T’s half with new clothes. She’s quite fashionable already. I can’t wait for her to see all of her beautiful new things, and we are very eager to bring her home. It’s impossible to believe that in less than two months, we could be back in Ethiopia. Where has the time gone???

Oh, it’s gone to this scrumptious little creature:

We are just crazy about our Zoe. She simply gets to be more fun each new day. She is talking up a storm, identifying almost every object she sees (glasses, shoes, airplane, eyeballs) and working the social circuit at every opportunity. She is charming, and she knows it. If I ask her if her teeth hurt, she says, “nynol?” (i.e. tylenol?), she loves to ask for a hug (arms overhead: “hug?”). The other day, I was playing with her hair that was particularly wild at that moment, and I said, “what am I going to do with this hair?” She shrugged her shoulders and replied, “hair milk?” I of course said that was a great idea, and we got out her hair milk and shaped some delicious little curls. Then Zoe said, “mirror?” And we looked at her in the mirror while she admired herself. It’s a pity she suffers from such poor self-esteem =)

Our Zoe is also getting excited about T coming home. At least, that’s what we’re projecting on her. We have pictures of T throughout the house, and Zoe can quickly identify her by name. She likes to give the picture kisses, and we talk to her about how mommy & daddy will be going to Ethiopia to pick T up in a couple of months. We’re hoping that some how this will help Zoe when we’re away. We decided that it’s too big a trip for Zoe, and so my mom will be staying with her. Plus, we feel that T will need our undivided attention for that first week. I’m already dreading being away from Zoe, but that child is resilient and I know will do just fine.

We’ve received two new letters from T, and she’s eager for us to come and get her. She loves the photo album we sent her and said that she looks at the pictures all the time. She said that she loves so much already Zoe “because she is my sister.” She also says that she needs us and for us to please come and get her quickly. We are so very hopeful that our first court date passes. This time must feel like an eternity for T. When we go for walks around Hermosa Beach, we think about what life with be like for T when she gets here. We remember having those same thoughts about Zoe, who has since become the most popular child in our community. (I kid you not, perfect strangers approach us and ask if she’s Zoe.) We know that our friends and community will receive T with the same level of enthusiasm, and we can’t believe our good fortune to be building our family here.

I’ve also lined up T’s schooling. We’re planning on starting her in the 5th grade, and she will go to public school. We live in a phenomenal school district, and she will have personalized attention in the classroom and will also be a part of an English Language Learners program. In her correspondence, she’s been asking about school and is eager to get going right away. I will also be able to have some job flexibility my first three months of T being home, so I can drop her off and pick her up from school and also volunteer in the classroom (my sister’s idea!) to help with her transition. It cracks me up that I’m overnight going to be the mother of a 5th grader. In fact, Drew and I just realized that T was born the year that he and I started dating. I can assure you, if anyone said that we were going to have a future together that looked anything like this, we wouldn’t have believed it. We wouldn’t have dared dreamed something so magnificent with two such extraordinary daughters.

And so, to all of our friends and family, we wish you all a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2009 filled with dreams coming true!

Court Date!!!

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:13:08 -0800

We got “the call” today! I was at work quickly preparing to ship a Christmas package for T to the Winters who are sweet enough to deliver it her when they travel to pick up their little man, Eli. In that very moment my phone rings with the Gladney area code. I answered the phone, “Mary?” She giggled, and sure enough said she had good news.

So the date is February 6! Eight weeks and two days from now. But who’s counting? Fingers crossed there aren’t any delays and it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

I broke my own rule and took advantage of some crazy sale shopping to get T’s wardrobe going: baby doll dresses, leggings, cute little jackets and hoodie tops. It’s all too much fun! We also got some wonderful pictures and video of T that Chris & Heather took for us when they were picking up Mimi. (Mimi, by the way, is as extraordinary as you might imagine! She is such a hoot and it was a true joy watching her and Zoe play together. We can’t wait for all of our future play dates!) It has been so special to witness their journey since its beginning (even being in the same place as Heather when they received their referral call!), and now they’re such an integral part of our journey. We think it’s going to be so great for T to have them in her life. Thanks again guys! We can’t wait to share all of her beautiful pictures and footage with everyone once we clear court.

They also brought back a letter T wrote to us. I’ll close this post with her precious words:

Dear my family how are you? I am fine thanks to God, how is Zoe doing. Please give me greetings to her and write your name for me, send your picture as well. When are you coming to take me my friends’ rahel and meron have gone to Atlanta, Georgia, I hope you will let me call and meet them then I come there. Why did you stop write to me I miss your letter too much. Here I am doing great at school I am at grade how do I continue my school there am I going to be at the same class or what. How old is Zoe, when was her birthday celebration I am eager to be with you and to play with Zoe. When I came there I will teach you Amharic and you will teach me English. I love you all!
Your daughter T
Bye bye!

16 Months and Ready to Drive

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:04:59 -0800

Zoe turned 16 months old last week, and I can’t believe the little girl she is already becoming. She wants to do everything by herself (photo disclaimer: Zoe was on my lap; we were parked with no keys in ignition, waiting for a restaurant to open:), but even more interesting, she already thinks everything is hers. Her new favorite word: MINE.

And we’re starting to have conversations. The other morning, we were having our bottle, and when she was finished, she said “all done!” Then she said “up!”, which really meant she wanted down. I let her down, and she started looking for Rocky, saying with a question mark inflection “Waka?” (i.e. Rocky). I said he’s downstairs still sleeping. She says with a big smile, “night night.” I said that’s right. Then she started asking for Mimi. We’ve been talking about her coming home. I explained to her that Mimi is in Ethiopia, but that her mommy and daddy are going to pick her up next week, and they’re going to see T. And isn’t that exciting? She said, “Yeah!!!”

She is learning so many words now, and she loves using them. And once she gets a new one down, she uses it incessantly. Her newest word is “moon.” She points to the sky, day or night, and says “moon!” We went to see Madagascar today, and when the DreamWorks logo came up at the beginning, she was very excited and declared, “moon!”

She also loves to dance. Boy, does she love to dance. On the weekends, we love to play Abba or something equally fabulous and dance around together. Last weekend, we crashed a fundraiser for a local family we learned about who’s adopting from Ethiopia. It was held during the afternoon at a local nightclub, and they had a band playing. Once the music got going, Zoe started head banging, shaking her tooshie and waving her arms in the air. She was totally mesmerized by the band, and every once in a while she’d look at the people around her to make sure they were equally into it. It was ridiculously cute. Our little rocker. Daddy’s girl.

On the T adoption front, our paperwork is in country and being pulled together to submit to the courts. We’re still not sure when we’ll be traveling to Ethiopia again, but it definitely looks like it won’t be before next year. We are so thankful that our friends Heather and Chris will be able to meet T and bring her a care package for us. It just means the world to us that they will get to meet her, tell her about us and capture so many beautiful details about her to share with us. Thanks guys! We can’t WAIT to see you as a family with Mimi!

I made my first-ever scrap book as a grownup, and I must admit, I’m quite proud of my handiwork and creativity. I didn’t know I had it in me! But I channeled my inner 10 year old and created something pink and sparkly for T that she could pour over and share with her friends. We wanted to help her start imaging her new life in her new home with her new family. Here are some pictures of the pages (I wish I could show you all of them, but they include pics of her and her name).

The cover:

Some of the pages:

We’re starting to get other info on T, like what size clothes we should be purchasing for her. We’re holding off on that, however, until we know the season when we’ll be bringing her home. However, we know that she loves the colors pink and green, which is perfect because her room is now ready to receive her.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We are getting eager to receive news of a court date and bring T home. We’re looking into the school system, trying to learn some Amharic phrases, reaching out to some of T’s friends who are already in the US and generally doing anything else to prepare for her transition.

We’ve also had a serendipitous weekend of connecting with other Ethiopians who’ve expressed an interest in our family, helping with translations and the transition when T gets home and wanting to help Zoe learn Amharic. One woman I met at the gym, and I knew she was Ethiopian because she looked exactly as I imagine T will as an adult. Turns out, she lives just a handful of blocks from us! It’s not every day in LA that you meet people who are eager to be a part of your life and sincerely say that they want to help in any way they can. Yes, the Ethiopian culture remains one of the most special we’ve ever encountered, and we feel so privileged to have it as a part of our lives.

One Glorious Year

Sun, 9 Nov 2008 13:05:03 -0800

Today is Zoe’s “gotcha day!”

It seems impossible that it was just one year ago that we were in Ethiopia, meeting our daughter for the very first time. I’ll never forget the details of the journey, landing in Ethiopia, knowing we were mere miles from each other and anxiously counting down the moments until she’d be placed in our arms. Then she looked at us, smiled and practically shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, “you’ll do.”

Then we went out for Chinese food.

Yes, that first day was surreal. We were a family. Just like that.

Today is a day of thanks for the precious gift Zoe is in our lives. Today is a day of reflection over how miraculous it is that this tiny little person born on the other side of the world somehow got place in our family. Today is a stroll down memory lane...

Day one:

Coming home:

Home one month:

Home two months:

Home three months:

Home four months:

Home five months:

Home six months:

Home seven months:

Home eight months:

Home nine months:

Home ten months:

Home eleven months:

Today:

Zoe is napping right now. I rocked her to sleep. I kissed her hands. I stroked her forehead. I thanked God for the last 365 days.

A Dream Come True.

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 19:56:05 -0800

“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.”

-- Martin Luther King

Blog Union 2009!!!

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:54:05 -0700

You asked for it... you got it! The first official Blog Union happened right here in sunny Hermosa Beach this past summer... and now the Blog Union tradition will continue. That’s right! Drum roll please...

Blog Union 2009 will be in none other than Chicago! Our very own Mrs. B has taken the baton and is running with BU’09. We’ve assembled a great committee of adoptive families who all participated in the BU’08 and are helping shape its future as an annual gathering of our virtual Ethiopia adoptive community.

Mrs. B has done an amazing job organizing what’s bound to be an extraordinary event! Wait until you see the itinerary packed full of fun! She set up a group forum too to manage RSVPs and share information. For more details and to sign up, go here:

http://www.meetup.com/blogunion/

And in case you need a little reminder of what a special event BU’08 was, watch this:

We hope to see all of our BU’08 attendees in Chicago in ’09 (many of you with your new children!), and we also look forward to meeting so many of our new Ethiopia adoptive friends!

Thank you Mrs. B. for running with this! You are a super star!

Order in the Court!

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:25:29 -0700

At long last, we finally were able to complete the re-adoption step needed to finalize Zoe’s citizenship. For whatever reason, we were required to have four home study post-placement visits in the state of California before being able to submit our paperwork to the courts. It feels good to be legal, so now we’re just one piece of paper away from Zoe being a US citizen and for us being able to apply for her US passport. Just in time to start all over again with T!

So you may be wondering what’s so funny that we’re irreverently laughing in court during Zoe’s adoption proceeding. Well, as we were being sworn in, “do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...” before we could answer, Zoe shouts a resounding, “NO!” The court room erupted in laughter, and the judge looks at us and says, “well, THAT’s a first!” From there on out, Zoe pretty much talked over the judge, we barely heard a word of what was said, and everyone was laughing. At the end of the proceeding we chatted with the various members of the court room, including the judge, about spunky children. Apparently, they noticed.

Here we are with the judge after Zoe confiscated the gavel from her podium.
And I’m not sure what just transpired here, but I’m guessing Zoe said something else irreverent:
Yep, that’s our girl. Holding her own with a judge.

Confirmation

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 06:52:18 -0700

We had Zoe’s 15 month appointment at the pediatrician, and it has in fact been confirmed that our little Zoe is one bright cookie! If you don’t believe me, see for yourself:

The pediatrician said that Zoe’s highly verbal for her age and even admired her confidence and spunk. She also said that although she has until 2 to actually be weaned from the bottle and the pacifier, that we should start now, given Zoe’s strong personality. So it’s also been confirmed by a paid professional that I’m not just dreaming; I do in fact have an independent, strong-willed child. And I’m not going to lie. I LOVE it.

We are continually reminded of what a blessing Zoe is in our lives, and our love for her grows stronger each new day, which simply doesn’t feel possible. Juxtaposed against the amazing joy we have for her is the heartache some of our blog friends are experiencing with delays in the court system after already waiting months through the rainy season closure. And so this week, we received another confirmation: international is not for the faint of heart.

Having adopted internationally once before, we know first-hand what support and comfort comes from our friends in this adoptive community. There is very strong connection that comes from the unique understanding of someone else who “gets it.”

And so, as we enter into our second adoption, we’ve RE-confirmed something we already knew: this adoptive blogging community is the BEST. In spite of the fact that I have the world’s stupidest blog host that won’t accept half of the blog comments posted (please change my link to web.me.com/careygrange/DrewCareyShow/Blog/Blog.html though, which should help), we have received the best emails from friends who we’ve met through our journey to Zoe. And we’re excited to have you share in our journey to T.

A few days ago, I received an email from Renee who adopted Henok through the Bright Futures program last year. We happened to meet Henok while we were picking Zoe up and took at least a dozen photos of him while we were there. Well, while Renee and her husband were in Ethiopia picking up Henok, it turns out they met T. For those of you who’ve traveled to Ethiopia and visited the orphanages, remember that one older child who just captured your heart, held your hand and followed you around the entire time you were at his or her orphanage? Remember how you couldn’t stop thinking about this child and wonder where they are today and hope and pray that they will find a family? Well, it turns out that T was just this person during Renee’s visit! I’ve received some of the most wonderful emails from Renee about T, along with over a dozen pics, which has simply made this journey all the sweeter. Turns out, unbeknownst to us, Renee has been advocating for T since she met her in January, and she expressed such joy and relief in knowing that T has a new home, and with someone she “knows.” =)

We’ve also learned that some of T’s roommates from her orphanage had been adopted last summer, and are living in the US. One of them in California! So she will have friends to call on the phone as soon as she gets home, and we will have a whole new community to reach out to as we venture into these unchartered waters of integrating an older child into our family.

We received a couple more pieces of information on T’s introduction to us, along with pictures from the moment. (We can’t wait to share all of our pictures with you!) She also wants us to know, "Tell them I can't wait to be a family and get to live together."

The feeling is so totally mutual.

Mommy’s other big girl

Contact!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:59:43 -0700

We just learned that Ryan, our in-country rep, told T about us. We don’t have many details yet other than it went well. The interpreter asked her if she’s nervous, and she said no. He then asked if there’s something she’d like to say to her new family, and she said, “I love you.” Melt.

We love you, too, T!!!

While T was inevitably thinking about her new family, her new family was very much thinking about her and how she’d be doing fun family stuff with us in no time. Like enjoying the Fall season...

15 Months, and Waiting...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:01:30 -0700

Zoe is 15 months old today. And she is every bit the toddler. She is one busy lady, getting her hands into everything, copying everything we do and practicing acts of defiance -- like hovering over Rocky’s water bowl with one hand inches from the water, looking over to see if Drew and I are about to catch her. Yes, I do believe she’s starting to understand the difference between right and wrong. And she enjoys pushing the boundaries.

I’m not sure exactly when the transition took place, but Zoe suddenly went from baby to girl -- and at 15 months, that’s simply too soon! Perhaps it’s her confidence and independent spirit. Perhaps it’s her strong will. Or perhaps it’s her broad vocabulary. Truth be told, I’m terrible at keeping up with the child development books, so I have no concept of how Zoe’s progress measures with her age, but I think this girl is a bona fide genius. In addition to talking regularly in her own Zoese language, she’s learned quite a few words that she enjoys using regularly. Allow me to share a few:

Daddy (usually shouted with sheer joy)
Mommy (often heard in exasperation -- like, stop wiping my face!)
Duck
Rocky (pronounced Doogku)
Shoes (pronounced Shoosh)
No
Hi
Me
Agua (If you ask if she wants water, she says agua)
Please (pronounced Peas)
Thank you (pronounced duck-oo)
Book
Hot (which is accompanied by her hands waving in the air)
Snack (nack)
Milk (Muck)
Push
Swing (sing)
Bottle (Bah Bul)
Bye bye
Zoe (Ya Yo)
Blankie (Bee bee)

Speaking of bee bee, she drags hers around with her everywhere. Like Linus.

As we savor all these wonderful milestones in Zoe’s life, we’re trying to mentally prepare for what it means to have a 10 year old daughter added to the mix. We know it’s going to be a huge adjustment, but just like when we added Zoe to our family, we’ll roll with the punches and soon find ourselves falling into a new, happy rhythm. We simply can’t wait to meet her and bring her home.

We received an email earlier this week that Ryan was going to try to tell T about us. We haven’t heard back yet -- and sometimes communication lines can be spotty in Ethiopia -- but it’s possible that she knows now about her forever family. We can’t wait to know for sure. It’s funny to be in this “waiting” game again so quickly, anxiously awaiting a phone call or email from Gladney.

We’re ecstatic that the courts are open and our adoptive friends are getting court dates for a few weeks from now! And for those of you with court dates on the 17th, we’re keeping close tabs on your journey and so hopeful that you’ll be on a plane soon to your precious children!

Thank you to everyone who is sharing in the joy of our announcement of T. It seems that our Comments feature on this blog (thanks for your emails!) has been a real pain, and I think it’s because Apple’s .mac feature was upgraded to .me. If you have a link to us, please update it to reflect the new .me feature. That should take care of the comments problem. Thanks!

http://web.me.com/careygrange/DrewCareyShow/Blog/Blog.html

And now for some just-for-fun pics of our toddler:

independent spirit:

Linus:

“I know every song in this book!”

Just hangin’

Checking things out... (oh, those cheeks are edible!)

I’m Gonna Have a Big Sister!

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 20:09:45 -0700

It’s official. We are growing our little Drew Carey Show... with a beautiful ten year old girl, who we will call “T” for now, who we hope will be joining our family within the next few months.

Because of new regulation in Ethiopia, we can’t offer too many details about her (including her name) until court proceedings are finalized. But here is some of the information we received on her:

“T is a sweet young lady. She has many friends and is always helping the caregivers around the orphanage. She loves school. Her favorite class is math. T hopes to be a doctor when she grows up. In her free time T likes to hang out and play games with her friends. She desires to have a forever family.”

Forever family. We will be her forever family. Never would I have predicted this to be the course our lives would take, but we couldn’t be happier about this direction. We love her so much already and have been having so much fun preparing to receive her into our lives.

Next steps, you ask? Our paperwork is already en route to DC and then off to Ethiopia (yes, we’ve been busy and a bit under the radar), and then we will be joining the ranks of all our adoptive friends who are waiting for a court date. The courts are just now reopening after the annual rainy season closure, so there is some expectation of a backlog. So for now, we just wait... and hope and pray that things will move swiftly and we will soon be picking T up to bring her home.

It seems impossible that it was just a year ago that we were waiting on pins and needles for a court date for Zoe. It was also just a year ago that we started discussing the possibility of an older child adoption. Once we were in Ethiopia, we knew that was our next step.

T doesn’t know about us yet. She will find out about us once our paperwork leaves from DC for Ethiopia. So hopefully this week! Tonight we emailed Gladney a picture of us and a letter that will be translated for T, telling her about her new forever family. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall for that one!

Would you want these people to be your family?

We can’t wait to officially introduce you to T once we clear court, but suffice to say, she is a vibrant, gorgeous girl who just radiates an inner beauty, even in her pictures. We haven’t met her in person yet -- and won’t until we are her legal parents! -- but we are moving forward in faith that we are meant to be together as a family. And we’re eagerly awaiting the travel of other Gladney families with the hopes that they will be able to meet her and send reports home -- just like we savored with Zoe.

We’ve come off a busy summer, made even busier with Zoe and pursuing a second adoption, but we’re jumping back on the blog bandwagon to document this second extraordinary journey to Ethiopia as we grow our family through adoption.

What a ride!

One Year Ago Today...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:03:31 -0700

... we received The Call that forever changed our lives!

It’s been the best year of our lives!

We love you, Zoe!

I’m In!

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:12:51 -0700

This month, I’m turning 36. I usually like to lay low and fly under the radar on my birthday, but this year, I’m announcing it to everyone and getting in on the September birthday action -- because this year’s birthday has a twist: I’m joining my buddies Emily and Ted, and I'm using my birthday this year to support charity: water's September campaign to help bring clean and safe drinking water to the people of Ethiopia.

I recently learned that more than 1.1 billion people in the world today don't have the most basic thing: clean water to drink. Over 4,500 kids die each and every day from water-related disease.

This year, I've decided to actually ASK (gasp!) for birthday gifts in the form of donations to this tangible, relevant mission. 100% of the money raised will go directly to building freshwater wells, which will be proved with GPS coordinates and photos on Google Earth.

I'm asking for my age in dollars. Please make a donation on my page:

This is a seriously cool organization, so go check out their site.

Who knew it could be so great turning another year older?

There’s No Place Like Home

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:06:32 -0700

Where did summer go? It feels impossible to me that it’s Labor Day weekend, and we’re about to settle into the fall season. Of course, the summer weather will continue here, but the beach will slow down, the kids will return to school, the traffic will pick up, and we’ll settle back into the routine of life.

This feels like a good thing. Although summer is always my favorite time of year, this one has been particularly busy, culminating in the most whirlwind, jam-packed August of our lives. It feels impossible that BU’08 was just four short weeks ago. It seems like a lifetime. So here I am, Saturday morning, pausing to reflect on all the twists and turns our lives just took.

For starters, the BU’08 was more magnificent than imagined. I don’t know that I could adequately describe in works just how extraordinary it was having all of these families and our children together, totally care-free and blissed out, basking in the sunshine and the unique bonds that have been formed over the past months. The best was just watching all the kids together. Every once in a while, I would step back to take it all in, and I’d find myself being overcome by the profoundness of it all. My parents came to beach day, and as my mom walked toward the ocean to greet us, I could see her face holding back the tears. Her words said it all: “it’s just too much.”

The Sunday evening after the BU, there was a concert on the beach. It’s a great event where the whole community comes out and picnics on the sand and listens to music while the sun sets. The Bottomly’s and Runnions were still in town, and we even got to see Meredith and Ryan for a few minutes. We nicknamed the concert the BU “closing ceremonies.” It was great to be able to reflect on the weekend together and also get to know each other a little bit more. Here are some photo highlights...

The moms hangin’ with their babes:

The guys enjoying the sunset:

After a busy weekend, mommy & Zoe unwind together:

After that, it was off to the races. We got up at the crack of dawn on Monday morning to pack Drew for a week in NYC for a big shoot. I was back to work for three jam-packed days, and then Zoe and I were on a plane to NY early Thursday morning to join Drew for the weekend. We visited his relatives who got to meet Zoe for the first time. It was great fun!

Zoe with her great grandma Swersey:

Mommy and Zoe hangin’ in Central Park:
Taking a table snooze after Sunday Brunch:

Of course a champagne brunch always makes you tired:

We got to meet our NY blog buddies during this trip and see their daughter Eyerus again, who we met in Ethiopia. Here are our two girls together again:

That Monday, we flew back to LA and were back to the office Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a shoot out of the office Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Phshew. But ‘lo and behold, we were with Heather (who we often hire as a stylist) when she got “the Call” from Gladney, introducing her and her husband Chris to their new daughter. We had joked on a few occasions how cool it would be if we were on set when she got her call. And that’s precisely what happened! You can read all about it here. It was an unbelievable rush witnessing someone else’s Call first-hand. I will never forget that moment and can’t wait to meet Heather and Chris’s new daughter.

Heather during “the Call”:

We were then back to work on Monday and Tuesday, and that Wednesday we were once again flying to the East Coast. This time it was to Naples, Maine for another work project. We were there through Sunday morning and returned back to LA late Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, we were able to bring Zoe with us, and unlike the NY trip where she was a lap child, we splurged and bought her her own seat. It was a far more pleasant trip. And I have to brag: she’s quite the traveler!

Here’s Zoe enjoying the Maine scenery while Mommy & Daddy worked:

We took Monday off to decompress and then just powered through this past week to get caught up on a lot of work. We’re both pretty exhausted. But now it’s Labor Day weekend, and we have a new appreciation for its significance. We will be doing NOTHING this weekend. Just hanging out as a family, getting in a lot of rest and play, and being thankful that we have a home we love so much. As the old adage goes, there truly is no place like home.

Although our work lives tend to be full, we fortunately don’t have to travel much and our lives are or not usually this chaotic. Living the occasional August provides a nice reminder of how important it to slow down and enjoy life. And now that we are a family, we have a new appreciation for just how precious downtime is, to take in the details and truly look at life through the eyes of our little Zoe.

She adds so much dimension to our lives. Like, just this past week, she started walking. You know the kind: remove hands from the table, stand there in frozen disbelief as she holds her own balance, take a few Frankenstein steps forward, listen to loud cheering from parents and then collapse on floor with a big goofy grin on face, followed by her own self-applause. Sometimes she does a drunken sailor variety of walk, and mostly she does the take mom or dad by the hand kind of walk... but nonetheless she is walking, and I never thought that this milestone would bring so much joy or entertainment.

She is also talking up a storm. Carrying full-on conversation in some alien language that occasionally incorporates the words “daddy,” “duck” or “woof.” And perhaps I am biased, but I do believe she’s the most animated 13 month old I’ve ever seen. Her face truly goes wild with expression as she points to butterflies hanging in her room and goes “ooh!” or as her eyebrows lift high when she hears a good beat that she then head-bangs to... or that furrowed brow she gives in return after you say “no” for the 20th time after she puts her hands in the dog’s water bowl. In fact, usually after saying no to her on something, I have to exercise great self-control to keep from laughing at the death-stare I get from her. She remains a strong-willed child, and I am still somehow entertained by it.

Something else I admire about Zoe is how friendly, independent and adaptable she is. She will quickly settle into new relationships, initiate peek-a-boo with perfect strangers and venture out to explore new territory. Although strong-willed myself, I was never this kind of confident, fun-loving child, so it truly gives me the greatest joy seeing this part of her personality. It’s early to say for sure, but I think our little Zoe is an extrovert. She surely is energized by the party.

These are the types of things we’re thinking about this Labor Day weekend. How special all the details that make up Zoe are. How blessed we are to have her in our lives. How just this time a year ago, we were talking about how certainly we’d be getting our referral soon and that next Labor Day she’d be home with us.

It’s good to be home.

P.S. This just in. Go here and see if anyone looks familiar =)

More BU’08 Pics!

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 20:02:49 -0700

Our slideshow was updated to include pics from the beach day! Here it is again...

BU’08 -- Kick Off Fiesta!

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 07:55:00 -0700

We’re off to a great start with BU’08! Here are some highlights from our Friday night fiesta.

Zoe’s 1st Birthday

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:06:45 -0700

Zoe turned one on July 11, and we celebrated with a luau-style beach bash on Saturday, the 12th with about 70 of her closest friends and family. It was pretty overwhelming to see the love in this little girl’s life. What a special day! It was particularly fun to have so many of her Ethiopian buddies there for the big event. Thank you to everyone who shared in the celebration of her magnificent life!

Maximum Capacity for BU ’08!

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:50:42 -0700

Yes ladies and gentlemen, this fine affair has attracted a bigger response than ever dreamed of! We have 115 (adults and kids) official attendees. Wow! And it’s going to be an amazing time for all us who’ve become such close virtual friends to meet each other in person at last.

I would love to keep the doors open right up until the eleventh hour, but alas, it is time to order tee shirts and finalize head count and venues that are large enough to accommodate such a large group. If I heard from you today, don’t worry as I’ve included you in the final count and event info is coming over to you shortly.

If you weren’t able to make it to BU ’08, hopefully this tradition will continue and we’ll see you at BU ’09...

For the rest of you, see you in a couple of weeks!

Happy 1st Birthday, Zoe Makeda!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:56:11 -0700

Our precious girl. We love you more than we could ever put into words. How abundantly blessed we are to have you as our daughter -- and that we get to celebrate every birthday with you.

My heart is full.

BU’08!

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 21:28:29 -0700

Where will you be this August? Hopefully, it’s partying with us at the first ever Ethiopian Blog Union held right here in beautiful Hermosa Beach, CA! And we even have our own logo, courtesy of Tommy (as in Judah’s daddy!)

So far, we have 37 families confirmed to be in attendance, coming as far away as Massachusetts and Connecticut! Yes, it should be pretty hilarious seeing how we cram over 100 people (over 40 of them babies and children) in our small house for the Kick Off Fiesta!

Update since original post: We are officially at maximum capacity for BU ’08, coming in at a whopping 115 people! We look forward to seeing the rest of you at what we hope becomes an annual tradition.

One Year Blog Anniversary!

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:56:14 -0700

One year ago today, we announced to our friends and family that we were adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia... and we launched our blog!

What a difference a year makes. It’s gone by so fast, and yet it also feels like a lifetime. One year ago today, we walked in a bit of a daze through the bustling festivities of the 4th of July holiday at the beach, daydreaming about our future family, feeling certain Zoe had already been born (but she wasn’t yet!), thinking about 4th of July THIS year and how we’d be a real, bona fide family. And we are.

Some highlights from the past year:

Sending off the last of our paperwork, officially placing us on the Wait List!

Drew receiving the referral call from Mary, writing down a number where we could call her back... I remember having the hugest headache and thinking I should guzzle some water, which you can see me doing on our referral video...

The first picture we ever saw of precious Zoe:

The beginning of our 30 hour trip to pick up our new daughter:

The official “hand off!” I just love Drew’s facial expression in this picture:

Who are these crazy people? (She still makes this face):

Homecoming:

Fast forward to now. Teeth, joy and a mission. That’s our girl!

I’m so glad we chose to blog about our journey. Not only has it served to document our most life-changing experience; it’s helped us form an amazing community of friends and adoptive families who share in this special bond.

We love it and plan to continue to blog as we grow our family through the miracle of adoption... stay tuned...=)

Drink More Coffee!

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:42:35 -0700

Our previous blog post drew a comment from the founders of Gobena.org, an awesome charitable organization that sells organic, fair trade coffee from Ethiopia, Guatemala and Colombia. 100% of the proceeds to go help Orphans around the world.

Go check out their site and read the story about how their company was founded. It gave me chills, and then when I watched their adoption video, I bawled my eyeballs out.

You guys are awesome, and Drew and I are for sure buying some coffee and spreading the word! Thanks for letting us know about your Coffee for a Cause! Guess I’ll just have to kick up my coffee drinking habit. I mean, everyone needs a vice, right?

Making it Count

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:15:42 -0700

Life is busy! We’ve been in one of those windows where there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day, which frankly can be a wee bit stressful. I don’t know about you, but it’s during times like these that thoughts about that new mattress we need or my disorganized garage or my growing “to-do” list can become all consuming. And I quickly get caught up in the busyness of life.

I didn’t realize I had fallen into one of these windows until I took a day off last week to do some catching up. During two of my errand stops, I found myself in conversation with a couple of 70+ grandpa types -- neither of whom seemed to have a sense of time, and both of whom just chatted away with me about their wives, kids, histories. During the first such conversation, I was thinking inside about how much work I had to get done and how I didn’t have time to chat. But it was like I had a little good angel on one of my shoulders tapping me and telling me to slow down and just enjoy this guy’s company. So I did. And oddly, the stress started to lift, and I quickly fell into a groove during my errand-running day, enjoying the process. After grandpa #1, I was hopping on the freeway, and there was a homeless guy on the entrance with his sign “hungry, please help.” I remembered I had a balance bar in my bag, which I rolled down my window and gave him. The old, homeless guy jumps up and runs to my window, takes the bar, and says, “God bless you!” I said, “thank you, God bless you too!” And he said, “He already has.” As I accelerated onto the freeway, I had that rush of energy and excitement that comes from doing something thrilling. But all I did was hand someone a little food. It dawned on me that with all the stress and hustle of life, I need to slow down and make sure that I’m not just going through the motions -- but that all my actions count.

Drew and I think about that a lot too in relation to giving. Most people want to give to a great cause, but one of the biggest roadblocks is the concern (very justifiable) that donations genuinely be put to good use. “Making sure it counts,” if you will.

To that end, we want to share some info on a few organizations that really “make it count” for the people living in Ethiopia.

Watch this commercial and then CALL the 800# on the screen and donate a wheelchair to someone in Ethiopia. (This specific 800# is specially tracked to redirect chairs for an Ethiopia campaign we’re working on, so call the 800# versus donating on-line)

Drew’s company produced this commercial last year, and thanks to many generous contributions via our blog, as well as generous donations from the Wheelchair Foundation itself, an entire cargo unit filled with 280 brand new, large tire wheelchairs has been purchased and should arrive in Ethiopia by October of this year! Wahoo!

Lets not stop there. Thousands of people in Ethiopia, including children and the elderly, crawl around on their hands and knees, dodging traffic and breathing diesel fuel, all for lack of a wheelchair. (If you’ve traveled to Ethiopia, you’ve witnessed this first-hand.) We work closely with the Wheelchair Foundation and can assure you that your donation will truly change lives in Ethiopia. Donate one wheelchair and you will literally change a person’s life. (If anyone reading wants information on sponsoring an entire cargo unit of wheelchairs to Ethiopia, and thus possibly traveling to experience the delivery of the chairs, contact Drew directly. Sponsoring an entire cargo unit can make for a great local fundraising event as well.)

Help Gladney help our kids!

Anyone who’s traveled to Ethiopia has seen first hand the unbelievable love and support Gladney provides to so many children. This piece was put together with just some of the pictures and video we took on our trip to pick up Zoe. All of the kids in this video reside in orphanages heavily supported by Gladney, and as they get older, the likelihood of them ever being adopted diminishes drastically. Gladney helps improve the quality of these children’s lives and gives them a chance at a future. Please watch the video, and at the end you will have an opportunity to make a donation to Gladney. All funds go directly to the kids and orphanages in Ethiopia.

Finally, forget about Starbucks and check out Fair Trade Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Coffee. If you like coffee, order from this web site. Ethiopian coffee is considered to be the best in the world. This website enables you to order it in a way that directly benefits the farmers on the ground in Ethiopia who actually harvest the coffee you’ll be drinking. It’s also very affordable and you can even set up auto delivery, so it’s a simply way to help people in Ethiopia while enjoying some great coffee. We’re big coffee drinkers and just signed up for the auto-delivery program...

* * *

Later on my errand-running day, I ran into grandpa #2, who was clearly an alcoholic and terribly lonely. He was telling me about how he hates his job and how he lost his wife a year ago. I listened; we chatted, and we laughed together. He told me I’m a good girl. When I left over an hour later from what should have been a fifteen minute detour, I realized that this is what life is about -- making each moment count. It was the best day I’ve had in a while.

I’m going to buy a bunch of balance bars for my car today.

Happy Mother’s Day

Sun, 11 May 2008 08:05:26 -0700

Last year this time, I got to celebrate Mother’s Day as an expectant mom, not quite done with paperwork. Fast forward a year later, and I’m the mom of a ten month old! That’s right, Miss Zoe Makeda is celebrating her ten month birthday today, and it seems impossible that she’s actually been with us for a full six months. Where has the time gone?

Here she was just six short months ago:

And here she was today, taking me out for my Mother’s Day brunch =)

This is indeed a Mother’s Day to celebrate, and today I’m going to celebrate all of Zoe’s ten month milestones.

Teeth! The girl has two bottom teeth and one top tooth and three more ready to pop out at any second! Unbelievable.
Hair. Can you say curly mops? Of course, she already uses the finest quality hair care too. That’s my girl!
Vocabulary. It now includes Daddy, Bye and E-I-O (a la Old MacDonald), as well as a lot of indiscernible babble. The girl likes to “talk!”
Decibels! Not only does she like to experiment with vocals, she does so LOUDLY. Apparently, this runs in our family.
Expression. This little lady is animated. Also runs in our family.
Independence. They say you can see their personalities from the get-go. Well, let’s just say our little Zoe is a one-woman show. I see a strong willed child in our immediate future!
Congeniality. She will charm the pants off of anyone. Zoe can work a crowd better than anyone I’ve ever met.
Mobility. She went from so nicely playing in one place to rolling, creeping and just today (what a Mother’s Day gift!) crawling every last corner of the house -- revealing to me in leaps and bounds all the child safety hazards we are immediately addressing. (P.S. Remove those caps that cover the bolts on the base of your toilet. Choking hazard! Who knew?)
Reading comprehension. Okay, this is a stretch. But she does love her nighttime reading routine and can sit through two or three bedtime stories.

I could go on and on bragging about our angel of a daughter. She is truly the light of our lives! Here are some more cute pictures taken today...

With our next door neighbor, Papa Joe:

Just looking the part:

Being silly with Daddy:

Um, you’ve got a little something on your face...

This age is SO MUCH FUN! And this mommy business just keeps getting better and better...

To all my mommy friends, Happy Mother’s Day!

This One’s For You

Thu, 8 May 2008 13:16:48 -0700

It’s come to my attention that I have been a little lax about posting to our blog as of late. This came from an unlikely observer this week, during Zoe’s second business trip. Drew and I both ended up attending the same industry convention in San Diego these past few days. Since we’re not ready to be away from the Divine Miss Z just yet, we brought a friend with us to watch her.

So there I am at this convention hotel in San Diego, standing at the bar to order a round of drinks for a meeting. This guy standing next to me, who’s clearly attending the same convention, asks who I work for. I answer, and it turns out his wife is someone who services my business, who I happen to know (somewhat off the record and hush hush) is also adopting, but from China. So I say that I know about “their little secret” and that we just adopted from Ethiopia. And he says, “hey, I read your blog; I know who you are! I should have recognized you from your pictures.” He then promptly reprimanded me for my lack of regular updates!

As the convention goes on, he happens to meet the one and only Zoe, which was clearly special, since she’s real life proof that this long, laborious and emotionally complex journey of adoption does in fact have a joyful ending. (Plus, it turns out she’s already famous in his household.) Later in the day, my new friend also met Drew. I’m paraphrasing here, but Drew told him “you know, people always talk about what it’s like the day your child is born, and specifically, being in the delivery room and watching your child come into the world. That may be an experience we’ll never know, but I can tell you the exact spot where I was standing when we got ‘The Call.’ There are very few people who will ever know in their lifetime what it’s like to get ‘The Call’ that will introduce you to your child. It’s the most amazing experience a person could ever have.”

Isn’t it true? For those of us who’ve received “The Call,” there’s no more remarkable, life-altering, exhilarating experience. And for those who are waiting for “The Call,” you’re likely following along on blogs, living vicariously through others and imagining where you will be and what you’ll be doing the moment you have that life-changing experience. I remember daydreaming about that moment every morning in the shower. I stalked blogs, reading every last detail of others’ journeys and crying as I watched their families being formed. At least once I day I would move myself to tears over the vision of it actually happening to us. Yes, “The Call” is as wonderful as you imagine -- trumped only by actually having your child placed in your arms.

So, to my new friend waiting for your referral -- I hope your trip home from the convention was a safe one and just know that this this blog update was written especially for you! May your referral call come soon. You will in fact become a family, and it will be even more spectacular than you’ve dreamed. In the meantime, may you enjoy the journey every step of the way!

And now for some Zoe pics:

Look who we met at the beach! Another Ethiopian princess and her parents.

After a long day at the beach -- did we get everything???

Just hanging out in our jammies

Zoe picking tomatoes with her great grandma, “Mamma.”

Zoe and her Unkie Adam -- a silly pair

Enjoying the sunshine

Hard at work

Living the Good Life

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:20:11 -0700

This is one of those spectacular, summer weekends we are prone to get here in Southern California, leaving us feeling like all is right in the world. Yesterday, we went for a family walk on the strand, and when Zoe fell asleep, Drew and I decided to take the window of opportunity to stop for some appetizers and a margarita. We were watching Zoe have a nice little nap in her stroller, and it dawned on us -- we officially can’t imagine life without her. She’s now been with us for five glorious months. The “adjustment” phase somewhere along the way passed us by, and now we’re just living life together as though we’ve always been a family of three (I mean four -- sorry Rocky!).

Zoe just turned nine months old on Friday! It seems impossible. She just started rolling over a few weeks ago, but now there’s no stopping her. She just log rolls all over the house. Thank goodness we finally got the gates installed! (We have lots of stairs!) She also now goes from a sitting position into a launch that lands her on her tummy. But the crawl seems a ways away still. We don’t mind one bit having her stay in this baby stage for as long as possible. She also just cut her first two bottom teeth, and the pediatrician said it looks like the top ones are working their way out too. Oh, how we’re going to miss that magnificent, gummy smile that lights up a room! (Somehow I think she’ll now have a magnificent, toothy smile that lights up a room...)

We had our nine month appointment with the pediatrician on Friday, and it seems that someone tipped Zoe off that she’s in a tall family. She’s managed to grow to almost 29 inches, which puts her at the 85-90th percentile. She’s also weighing in at the 70th percentile, and her head’s gone up to 70th percentile. Her iron is also up to healthy levels now, and the pediatrician is very happy with her progress and the clear indications of the quality of nutrition she’s getting. (Honestly, the girl could live off her juicy thighs for a week!) Yes, we are proud parents!:)

She is also sleeping better. If she’s not teething or sick, she’s pretty much sleeping 11-12 hours, God bless her! Of course, every time I say that, we get a sleepless night. I’d say at this point, she sleeps through the night about 60 percent of the time. The other 40% is usually pretty bearable. I’m becoming more adept, though, at functioning on limited sleep. And the slightest stir can have me sitting upright in bed. It never ceases to amaze me how a tiny little person can totally have a grown adult wrapped around her little finger.

The Divine Miss Z continues to entertain us with her lively facial expressions and sparkling personality. You can’t meet her eyes without receiving the warmest, most joyful smile. Oh, and I got my first hug last week! It was a week ago today. We were out to lunch and I picked her up out of the high chair, and she wrapped her chubby little arms around my neck and squeezed tightly. Drew said, “she’s hugging you!” So it wasn’t my imagination. As Drew is my witness, I got myself a bona fide hug from my little angel. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was a life highlight. No wonder people keep having children. These moments are truly magical.

One of the funny things about being parents is how quickly our social calendar has filled up. Well, really, it’s Miss Z’s calendar. It seems we have something going on each weekend. Recently, she was spotted bonding with the Rooney’s. She got to meet them before they left to pick up Abe, and let’s just say, she loved Ted!

Then we got to meet Abe at his welcome home party in LA before they went up to Oregon. What a cutie! He’s even more splendid in person than he is in pictures -- as if that’s even possible. It is always so special to meet these magnificent children after following their parents’ journey. (We’re also celebrating that Samantha, Fernando and Marina are officially baby Celeste Fenit’s family! We can’t wait to meet her too!)

We also celebrated Easter with my family in Huntington Beach. We went to my dad’s church (he’s the pastor) and had brunch and an Easter egg hunt at my parents’ afterward.

Grandpa with three of his grand babies:

Here’s Zoe with three of her four cousins...

We also had our first family vacation. The impetus to this was mine and Drew’s desperate need for some R&R. We learned an important lesson, though -- there’s really no such thing as R&R when there’s an infant with you. The packing for her alone was an event in and of itself. But we did have some fun family time and made some great memories... AND Zoe went swimming for the first time!

Here’s Zoe in her travel tub:

Breakfast in bed:

And here she is hanging at the pool with us:

The day we got home from our little family getaway, we jetted off to another celebratory event -- Zoe’s BFF Aliya Selam’s first birthday! Aliya’s mom, Anne, and I became friends through this adoption process, and she brought Aliya home three months before we came home with Zoe. Zoe arrived at the Gladney foster home the week Anne was there. Aliya is also just three months older than Zoe. We look forward to these girls getting to grow up together!

This weekend, cousin Haley (our goddaughter) and Auntie Theresa (my little sister and Zoe’s godmother) came to visit. Theresa and I were sorting through our collection of baby clothes, so Drew took the girls off our hands with a trip to the toy store. Haley calls Drew “pop-pops” for “god pops.” She’s a genius and a year older than Zoe. We’re nuts over her! (By the way, Haley doesn’t use a pacifier -- she thought it was a good idea yesterday when she saw “Zo Zo” using one...)

Although we somehow passed through the adjustment phase of transitioning to parenthood, I still struggle with prioritization (since I notoriously take on more than I should), and finding enough time in the day to get everything done. Does anyone else find it impossible to find time to work out anymore? Health & fitness have always been very important to me, but with all of these life changes, I started getting out of my groove. Not to sound like an infomercial... but... Drew’s company just produced an infomercial for the Ten Minute Trainer by Tony Horton, and the product is AWESOME! It’s officially launching this coming weekend, but I’ve been using the videos and exercise bands for the past several weeks -- and I love it! No more excuses to ever skip a workout. I can do at least one ten minute workout in a day. And usually after the first ten minutes, I’m inspired to do one or two more workouts (sometimes more!). Anyway, not to pitch products on our website -- BUT if you’re a busy mom pressed for time, I’m telling you, you’ll totally love these videos and THEY WORK! I’ve been so excited about them, I keep telling everyone. So now you know too...

That’s about all for now. Looking forward to seeing so many of you at the BLOG UNION in August, and we’ll be posting a very exciting wheelchair fundraiser update in the next week, so check back soon!

TTFN!

The Divine Miss Z has been tagged

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:04:13 -0700

Zoe’s blog buddy, Pacey, tagged her to share 10 random things about herself. Zoe is a free-spirited, multi-dimensional and philosophical individual who prides herself on living life to the fullest, one day at a time. In her own words:

I model my life after Gandhi’s philosophy: Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
I’m a little more rock’n’roll than I am country.
I’m a real clothes horse. And I’m totally comfortable taking fashion risks.
I LOVE my bedtime routine: bath, stories, prayers and rock to sleep while mom hums me lullabies. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Rocky’s okay. I like him alright, but he keeps taking my toys and licking my entire face with his giant tongue.
I love to fly around the kitchen. My daddy takes me flying almost every day.
My favorite song is “Girls just want to have fun” by Cyndi Lauper. Me and my mom dance to it in front of the mirror and I scream with laughter! (Oh, and I have my very own play list. It’s eclectic. What can I say? I’m a renaissance girl.)
I’m a big conversationalist. I mean, what better way to get to know someone than to have a nice chat?
When my mom comes home from work, I squeal with delight. I know that it makes her day. Then she tilts her head to the side, and I copy her -- and we both have a good laugh.
I’m a real beach girl. I love going to the beach on warm days, walking on the strand with my parents and playing on the swings. And I can’t wait to share my beach with all of you at the Blog Union this summer!!!

I’m a little more on the ball than my mom (who forgot to pay forward her last tag), and I would like to tag Abe Rooney when he gets home. I know he’s going to have a lot to share with us. I also tag my Gladney buddy Zion and my Maui friends Tsebay & Kozette.

And from Carey: Since I forgot to pay forward my last tag of randomness, I would now like to tag Tara, who I think could entertain us immensely.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Keeping it Real

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:40:35 -0700

It has been nearly a month since I’ve posted. I’m a bad blogger. In fact, my blog viewing has been down too.

These past few weeks have been a little crazy for the Drew Carey Show. For starters, I got the flu. You know the kind: fever, aches, chills, sleeping through the day. Then Miss Zoe Makeda came down with the same bug.

So there we both were. Sick, miserable. And do you know what happens when a baby is sick? She wakes up every one to two hours. All night long. Do you know what happens when mommy is still sick? She is very sad waking up every one to two hours. (Daddy shared baby duty, but ultimately, sick baby wanted mommy.) It was a hard week. The following week was hard too, as I was still not back up to snuff, and Zoe was not far behind. I was back to work, trying to get caught up on everything (since I called in sick for the entire previous week) -- yet still pulling the all night shift with my baby girl. It was miserable.

Very quickly I went from visions of a house full of children to thinking that one child seemed like a better plan of action. After riding the high of new mommihood, I have been humbled by how challenging it can be when every component of life isn’t balanced. And really, how often is life in balance? Now I’m trying to take a new approach, roll with the punches and be okay with life being a little chaotic (and me being a little overtired)... I’m trying to keep it real.

Fast forward to today. I am healthy again. In fact, I’m feeling healthier than I did before we left for Ethiopia. And Zoe’s all better too. I’m back to work and almost feeling caught up on my workload. And it’s daylight savings and a happy time to live at the beach. Zoe is sleeping better, and our quality time together just keeps getting better. So guess what? I’m feeling on top of my game again. Hey, I can do this mommy thing! Bring on the big family!...

In spite of the adjustment phase, I truly do love being a mom, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more fulfilled. My mother has taken to calling Zoe the Divine Miss Z, and I think it suits her perfectly. She is splendid, indeed. We’ve already been together for over four months, and she just celebrated her 8 month birthday. She’s getting so big and full of personality, and with each new day, we just grow to love her more -- as if that’s possible. And I really like her too, ya know? I mean, it’s a given that we love her, but she’s just such a likable person.

I have a million new pictures of her, but I just experienced an iPhoto problem and can’t access any of my pictures right now. BUT, I did download some new pics from Zoe’s first business trip!

That’s right. I needed to head up to Portland for work, and I wasn’t ready to leave her yet. So I flew my mom up with me to watch Zoe during my meetings...

Here she is at LAX with my mom:

When we got to our hotel in Portland, Zoe received a warm welcome from my vendor:

And here she is at her first business dinner (she was a scintillating conversationalist):

She also got caught up on some important reading (and she’s frankly disgusted by the whole Eliot Spitzer scandal):

This trip wasn’t all work. We did manage to squeeze in a little play. While I was in my meetings on Friday, Zoe and my mom spent the day with my sister-in-law Tracey, and my nephew, Red (they live in Beaverton). That evening, me and my brother were able to join up with the rest of the gang, and we all had dinner together.

Here’s Red enjoying some water in a fancy glass while the grown-ups enjoyed some Oregon Pinots:

And Zoe was NUTS over her Uncle Tim (one of my three brothers). Here’s Tim with Red & Zoe at the dinner table:

I think the feeling was mutual:

(And if you’re wondering why I have an up-the-nose shot of my brother, it’s because he, like myself, is freakishly tall. We’re the tallies in the family...)

Instead of flying home on Saturday morning, we stayed until the evening so we could drive to McMinnville and see my best friend’s new baby girl, Sarah. She is LOVELY. Here’s a funny picture of me holding her -- funny because this is the best of about 20 pictures Sarah’s two and a half year old brother took on my camera =)

He took this picture of Zoe too =)

Our flight home was delayed, so we stopped for a bite to eat and some moments of reflection:

I’ll post more pictures of Zoe as soon as I figure out what I did to my photo library. In the meantime, we remain so excited by the great turnout we’re getting for the Blog Union! We can’t wait to meet all of you and your kids!

TAGGED -- An Incomplete History...

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:29:54 -0800

My older brother, Jason, and I have joked many a time about the “curse.” You know the one: where your mom in exasperation over your youthful behavior declares, “I hope you have children just like you one day.” It appears her wishes from well over 20 years ago are finally being granted. Zoe is just like me. (Poor Drew.) I mean, in addition to being a little over the top animated, this girl is a wee bit bossy and, shall we say, assertive?. What she doesn’t realize is that I wrote the book on that subject. Yep, I’ve got Zoe’s number. And I’ve gotta say, this girl cracks me up.

I’m not sure, but I think Zoe might be clapping at me for something in this picture... =)

This morning we got a new comment on You Tube about our referral video, which of course had me watching it again. I never get tired of reliving that moment. I remember Drew and I crying and shaking with excitement over the fact that our referral call came, even BEFORE we were able to clear the room and call Mary back for details about our precious Zoe. It’s been five months since that call and three months since we’ve had her, and I think it’s safe to say, we can’t imagine life without her.

Fortunately, our photo library helps us remember life (as thought it existed!) before Zoe...

My blog buddy, Lori, tagged me to participate in an incomplete photo history of sorts. Some of our best pictures pre-date digital photos (or were lost in the great computer crash of 2005), so I’m limited by what’s stored on our computer.

In honor of the randomness of this particular blog tag, I’m going to be random in my photo selections. The theme to my randomness will be “fun memories pre-dating Zoe... since 2004,” which happens to be as far back as my digital library will take me.

The picture above is of me and Drew tailgating (just the two of us!) at a Dave Matthews concert. I don’t see tailgating in our new future.

Drew and I have gotten to go on some pretty cool trips too. One of my all time favorites was when we rented a 5-acre island in the middle of the South Pacific in Fiji, called Namotu, with a group of friends. It was extraordinary.

In 2004, my baby brother, John, and I trained for and ran the LA Marathon. Shortly after these pictures were taken, I found myself in the emergency room. No, not from dehydration but from OVER hydration, which can prove to be fatal. Emergency room aside, this was one of my greatest life memories. (Drew has since made me promise my marathon days are over. It was a scary day for him.)

Here we are 26 miles into it, with .2 to go! (And yes, I’m doing the “thumbs up” run... and yes, my arms ARE that long)

After crossing the finish line...

One of the great joys -- and great panics -- of my life was when my sister, who is five years younger than me, was pregnant with our goddaughter, Haley. Truth be told, when she called to tell me, I had to pull over on the side of the road and hyperventilate. After all, I am the big sister and was supposed to have children first. Drew kept promising me that when it happened for us, it would be more extraordinary and memorable than I could ever imagine. Little did we realize how prophetic his words would be... And it turns out, I’ve very much enjoyed being able to tap into Theresa’s experience as we face many “firsts” with Zoe.

Here’s a picture of me and my sister at the baby shower I threw for her...

And here’s me and Drew glamming out at an Emmy’s party -- self portrait:

And at the Love Ride. Don’t we look fun and cool? Well, the honest truth is I had a huge headache by the end of the day. (An admitted control freak, I don’t do well on the back of a motorcycle for the better part of a day. I do, however, like my pink helmut.)

And finally, just a short three months before Zoe was born, Drew and I were standing in front of the Louvre. I remember panicking before this trip to get as much paperwork done as possible so a week out of the country wouldn’t hold up the adoption process...

And the rest of our current history -- well, you’re already up to speed on that, courtesy of this blog.

Which brings us to today’s randomness... The Blog Union! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s getting a great turnout. And if you want to check out some of the oh-so-cool bloggers who will be in attendance, visit my newly added Blog Union web page.

Oh, and if you need a Zoe photo fix, check out the latest album just added on our albums page.

And a great big CONGRATULATIONS to the Crazy Thorne Gang who just got their referral for a beautiful little toddler boy!

Team Spirit

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:33:02 -0800

Last week started off on a high note for us when the Giants won the Super Bowl! Okay, I’ll admit it now. I’m not really a sports fan. But I do have team spirit, so it was easy for me to don the entire family in Giants apparel in solidarity for Drew’s team.

It’s with that same team spirit that we celebrate the amazing turnout thus far for our inaugural Blog Union! So far, I’ve collected 26 emails of families planning to attend, and we’ve set up our very own Blog Union Google Group. So please leave a comment with your email address if you want to get in on the team-spirited action! Just a little teaser...

We had our first Blog Union Miracle! One of the families who really wanted to come didn’t know how they were going to swing it on the heals of their adoption. Well, they just received a gift of miles, and we’re going to find them a host family while they’re here. Wahoo!

Then we had our second Blog Union Miracle! Another super cool family was dealing with almost the same scenario -- and then realized that between airline miles and hotel points, they were going to be able to pull it off!

We’re getting an unbelievable turnout, including some of our blog “pioneers,” like the Bottomly’s and Faulkners, some of our recently returning families like Renee & Geert and their kids, families who are presently traveling, like Jocelyn (woohoo! thinking about you!), and families waiting to travel, like the Rooney’s and Alexanders. And of course, this is by no means all-inclusive. Just look at the comments from my prior post.

This is just totally exceeding expectation, and we couldn’t be more excited! So don’t miss out on the fun. Just shoot me a comment with your email address, and I’ll add you to the list. (And if I somehow missed you, let me know!) Soon, I’ll be adding a page to my site with all the fun details as they unfold.

In the meantime, a blog post just isn’t the same without a little Zoe update. Well, yesterday marked THREE MONTHS of her being home with us...

Then...

Now...

Look how teeny she was! Would you believe, her seven month birthday is tomorrow? I can’t believe how big she’s getting. We just had a pediatrician appointment, and she weighed in at exactly 17 lbs, and she’s 27 inches long. That’s 70th percentile for height, and 50th for weight.

She’s still eating up a storm and now has three meals a day, in addition to her bottle.

She sits up, reaches for objects, talks up a STORM and is the most demanding 7 month old I’ve ever met. This is where the nature versus nurture experiment gets entertaining... because this girl is just like her mother! (Or so Drew keeps saying...)

A couple of you have asked about the adjustment back to work. Yep, it’s an adjustment alright, but it’s going really well, I think. We’re so blessed to have great childcare. Zoe’s nanny just loves her, and Zoe loves her right back. That’s a shift in and of itself, welcoming someone into your family. But each week gets a little easier for me, and it’s just life for Zoe. We also have a wonderful pediatrician who has assured me that Zoe still knows who mom is, and I’m very fortunate to work for a company that values family, which has really helped with the work/home life balance.

Here are some pictures that were taken of Zoe while mommy & daddy were at work. Enjoy!

Okay, this one cracks me up... What is she wearing? And is that my housekeeper holding her up??? It’s like there’s a party going on at my house while I’m at work!!!

Watching TV??? (not really.)

Yep, it’s a good life being Zoe Makeda...

P.S. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m multi-faceted. I can blog from the good ol’ US of A while accompanying Jocelyn and Amy Breedlove to Addis. See for yourself =) And thanks girls for including me in the fun! What I wouldn’t have given to actually be there with you. Instead, I will simply have to savor every last juicy detail from your blog entries...

Blog Union! - Save the Date

Sun, 3 Feb 2008 08:35:02 -0800

How does the weekend of August 1-3 sound?

We’ve been talking about it, so let’s do it! That’s right, it’s time to schedule our first (annual?) get together for all of us bloggers who’ve bonded through this adoption journey and need to meet once and for all. What a special opportunity for us and our children to share in this most unique and wonderful way to form or grow a family.

Drew and I are throwing our hats in the ring to host the 2008 event right here in beautiful Hermosa Beach (see pic above), known for it’s vast beaches, surf and beach volleyball. Our sister cities are Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, so if you decide to stay a little longer, there’s ample to keep you occupied for a great family beach vacation.

Here’s a tentative itinerary:

For the early arrivers:
Thursday evening – California wine & cheese reception

Official Blog Union dates:
Friday afternoon – kick-off BBQ at our house
Saturday – beach day! Sand castle contest, beach volleyball, body surfing and just hanging out together.
Saturday night – shall we be so bold as to line up some sitters and have grown-ups night out?
Sunday morning – brunch & goodbyes

I’m seeing dorky, matching t-shirts and a group photo too, aren’t you???

Travel & Accomodations
We’re about a 15 minute drive from LAX. And you don’t even have to get on a freeway!
There’s an assortment of great hotels in the area too. If your budget can swing it, we highly recommend the Beach House. You’ll be able to walk from there to our house in a matter of minutes. Other nearby hotels within just a few minutes of drive time:
The Portofino (Redondo Beach)
Crowne Plaza (Redondo Beach)
Hampton Inn (Hermosa Beach)
Hotel Hermosa (Hermosa Beach)
Sea Sprite (Hermosa Beach)
Go HERE for a list of all local hotels

We’re hosting a couple of families at our house. If any of our other local bloggers want to do the same, that would be great. The expense savings would help more families be able to attend.

We’re really excited to get this show on the road. If you’re in for sure or tentative, please indicate so in the comments section and include your email address, and I’ll get an email list going. Questions? Just leave me your email, and I’ll contact you. Never commented before, but you’ve been a blog stalker and are dying to get in on the action??? Well, you’re welcome too!

Not sure if you want to hang out with me for an entire weekend? Well, I’ve been tagged, so now you can get to know me more. (And Drew’s list would be way cooler than mine.)

Hope to see you all in August!

Crazy 8’s

8 things I’m passionate about:
1. God
2. Drew
3. Zoe
4. My family
5. Ethiopia
6. Justice
7. Making a difference in the lives of the people around me
8. Organization (I know, I know, it probably shouldn’t make the list – but I am passionate about it)

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Win the Lottery
2. The splits
3. Learn how to tap dance
4. Start a charitable organization (I have a concept I’ve been gelling on for a while)
5. Take a pass at being a full time mom
6. Learn how to play a musical instrument
7. Raise five kids
8. Learn how to be at peace with dying

8 songs I never tire of listening to
1. If I should fall behind (Bruce Springsteen)
2. Just about any song by Keith Green, the 70’s gospel singer
3. Jane Says (Jane’s Addiction)
4. There will come a day (Faith Hill)
5. Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)
6. Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
7. Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver – and no, I’ve never lived in the country)
8. All I Want is You (U2)

8 things that attract me to my friends
1. Authenticity
2. A healthy dose of self-deprecating humor (I find it refreshingly honest, disarming and accessible when people can poke fun at their own idiosyncrisies)
3. Silliness
4. Vocabularies that include words like parallelism and snarkiness
5. A keen wit and sparkling personality
6. Humility
7. Kindness
8. Passion – for anything, be it a belief, justice, a goal. I dig passionate people.

8 things I learned in 2008:
1. I LOVE being a mom. I mean, more than I fantasized about or could have imagined. It just satisfies my soul.
2. The world will not come to a screeching halt – nor will I lose friends – if my house is messy. (Now I’ve learned this lesson, but I’m still not at peace with it.)
3. It’s my responsibility to proactively care for our environment.
4. (Confession from a control freak -- learned during our adoption experience): being out of control is scary and stressful, but it’s also exhilarating!
5. God’s grace, as it turns out, IS sufficient for me.
6. Circumstances and people don’t stress me out. I do that all by myself.
7. Less IS in fact more (from someone who crams way too much into a 24 hour period). My happiest, most fulfilling moments have been just sitting on the floor with Zoe, watching her sit up, roll over, eat blocks. That’s what really matters.
8. Having been on the receiving end of some stupid comments, I concluded that I’ve probably been the offender of unintentional insensitivity more times that I’ve ever realized. So to all my buddies out there who’ve been the recipient of MY stupidity, thanks for being my friend anyway =)

8 things I say often:
Thread the needle
Love you. Mean it.
At the end of the day…
Rocky, No.
AWESOME.
Let me gel on it
I was born ready.
I’m not gonna lie…

8 TV shows I recently watched:
Hmm, we haven’t been watching much TV lately, but I’ve caught episodes of the following:
1. Ugly Betty
2. that Climbing Everest show
4. Grey’s Anatomy
5. 60 Minutes
6. Entourage reruns
7. Friends reruns
8. Project Runway

And for an added bonus round…
8 new parenting tips I’ve discovered for myself…
1. The bumbo is a great place to put the baby when you have to go to the bathroom. (Yep, ours lives in the bathroom.)
2. There’s an array of fitness exercises you can do with the baby in your arms: lunges, squats, chest press, bicep curls
When setting up a play area for baby, set one up for the dog too. This avoids over using “No, Rocky” and also helps eliminate indiscriminate peeing.
4. When you need to pay bills, pull the high chair up to the dining room table next to you, so baby can “work” beside you. Who knew that bill paying could be fun for the whole family?
5. Don’t ever leave the house with the baby without a spare bottle. Ever.
6. The sling is the greatest invention since sliced bread. Fussy baby who doesn’t want to play, eat or sleep? Busy mommy who can’t just sit in the rocker holding her? Sling to the rescue! Productivity abounds, baby feels comforted and nurtured, mommy & baby bond… everyone wins!
7. Those play mat/activity gym things are a must have. I tried to limit the amount of gear introduced to our house, but this is a must-have if you ever want to take a shower, do the dishes or engage in any other activity that requires two free hands. I cart it around the house with me and use it all the time. And Zoe loves it! Baby is stimulated, and mommy can apply her makeup. Another win-win!

And finally…

8. When someone says, “Wow! You have a six month old? You look great!” You don’t need to explain that you adopted and didn’t actually recently give birth. You just smile, say thank you, and let them watch your fabulous self walk out the door.

And now I tag:

Pam, Renee, Samantha and whoever else wants to join in! And I fully expect to see you girls at the Blog Union! =)

By Popular Demand...

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:03:17 -0800

... a Zoe update!

Yes, I’ve been a bad blogger as of late. Life has gotten the better of me, and I’ve somehow neglected keeping our blog current. I suppose this is a sign that we’re settling into the routine of life, and I’m not going to lie -- we’re loving every second of it.

Truth be told, I was a little nervous that after all the efforts and longing to be a family that somehow the “reality” of parenting and all its responsibilities, replete with middle of the night wake-up calls, would somehow be a let-down or we’d have that “what have we done to our lives???” feeling. But perhaps it WAS all the effort and longing that makes even those middle of the night wake-up calls such a joy and blessed reminder that we get the privilege of being Zoe’s middle-of-the-night people. Not to romanticize this parenting business -- because holy cow, it’s a lot of work! It’s simply joyful work... at least, so far!

So what have we been up to? Well, let’s see...

For starters, I JUST finally mailed off our adoption announcement (sneak peek above! -- although a little cropped on the right...)

We celebrated two months of being a family on January 9th! and two days later, on January 11th, we celebrated Zoe’s six month b-day. Zoe has also received her official legal resident documents in the mail, and she is the proud bearer of a social security number.

Zoe’s doing great with her development. We were at the pediatrician yesterday, and she’s moved up to the 65th percentile in weight. Go Zoe! And I’d like to point out that with every visit the pediatrician comments that Zoe is some special baby with just a great personality. Yep, that’s our girl! She is seriously hilarious. She just this week learned to do that wet, razzing thing with her lips -- and it’s pretty much been non-stop since. She sitting up more and more by herself, and she loves pulling herself to standing. Oddly enough, though, with all the upward movement, she still hasn’t mastered the roll. She rocks side to side and arches her back and occasionally finds herself rolling over, but we don’t think she’s figured out yet how she does it, because we’re not seeing this particular activity replicated.

Zoe is also on solids now -- three times a day, as of yesterday. We don’t always let her get this messy, but every once and a while, we just have fun with it... I mean, how can we not? Just look at her.

Zoe’s Grandpa Bob bought her this Lakers onesie, so here she is a few weeks ago, practicing her sitting up AND showing her team pride.

Zoe will also be supporting her Giants for the Super Bowl this year. Stay tuned for pics...

Not suffering from poor self-esteem, one of Zoe’s favorite pastimes is entertaining herself in the mirror.

And here’s Zoe rockin’ the binky during a recent evening stroll (when the fog rolled in and we had to wrap her up in a blanket).

Our little lady is growing up! (Her new nanny loves dressing her up.)

As if it were possible, there is ONE member of our family with the post-adoption blues...

It’s actually a bit sad, and we’re not sure what to do about it. Rocky’s intrigued by Zoe and not remotely aggressive toward her. But he definitely has been a little depressed -- even skipping some meals. (And those of you who know Rocky know this is crazy talk! I even saw the vet about it.) He’s had numerous “accidents,” sometimes twice in a day. And no, it’s not incontinence when he pees on Zoe’s blanket.

In other news, I returned to work on Monday and just completed my first full week back. Wow, what an adjustment! Zoe did great and didn’t seem to miss a beat. Mommy on the other hand really missed her. I think it was good that we introduced the nanny into our lifestyles while I was still home, which made the return to work logistically so much easier. And we are so thankful to have found a nanny who loves Zoe so very much. She’s really wonderful with her, and Zoe’s crazy about her. But I miss being a part of her day. I think we have a good schedule down, though. I get up at the crack of dawn before she wakes up, to have a little bit of time to myself. Then I give her her first bottle and morning snuggle before the nanny arrives. When the nanny gets here, I pull myself together for the day and jet off to work. I make it home early enough to feed her dinner, give her a bath, read her bedtime stories & say prayers and then put her to bed. I can barely keep my head up, but I love this evening routine. I usually fall asleep while rocking her in the chair. Lately, I’ve been waking her up to give her a “twilight” feeding before I go to sleep, since she’s been conking out before her last bottle, and that seems to hold her through the night. I do get up with her once or twice a night, but I don’t have to feed her -- usually just soothe her.

So that’s the news around here. We have our first post-placement visit with the social worker on Saturday morning. Oh, and stay tuned... Blog Union dates coming soon!

Plan A

Fri, 4 Jan 2008 20:59:33 -0800

Are we the only ones who repeatedly hear the comment that now that we’ve adopted, watch out, we’re going to get pregnant? Suddenly, everyone knows someone who adopted and then whammo, got pregnant. Now I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but just to be clear, adoption isn’t some really terrific form of fertility treatment. It doesn’t relieve stress (quite the contrary!), nor does it increase the odds of conception. Don’t get me wrong. We’re pretty much never put out by comments not intended to be offensive, critical, judgmental, etc. We have wonderful friends who are deeply interested in our lives and wildly enthusiastic about Miss Zoe. But for some reason, as entertained as I’ve become by its popularity, this particular theory hasn’t been sitting well with me – and I’ve figured out why. It somehow (albeit unintentionally) implies that adoption is Plan B. So for Zoe’s sake and on behalf of all our adoptive friends out there, I want to go on the record stating that adoption isn’t settling; it’s very much Plan A -- regardless of what path got you here. Here’s what’s great about a Plan A. It means it’s your first choice. It means you didn’t have to go with the alternative. A is the highest grade you can receive in school. Hooray for A.

Will we ever have birth children? We don’t know. Isn’t that really in God’s hands? (And frankly, I’m not getting any younger!) We do know this. We can’t think of a more miraculous, exhilarating or fulfilling way to build a family than adoption -- and we’re not done with the adoption journey. We so look forward to knowing who else will become a part of our crazy little Drew Carey Show through adoption and hope to encourage others to walk down this path too. Adoption can be intimidating and overwhelming. When we first started looking into it almost two years ago, we found the process to be daunting and almost unattainable. But we finally dove in, and here we are, a family -- and this little road less traveled has indeed made all the difference. It has truly been the most extraordinary experience of our lives and only gets better and better as we enjoy parenting and celebrating every small milestone of Zoe’s life. We also think it’s pretty great that she has the most extraordinary smoky brown eyes, button nose and deliciously juicy berry lips that never could have been created between Drew and I. She is the most exquisite creature we’ve ever laid eyes on, and we can’t get enough of her. And then there’s that personality of hers – we can already tell that she’s so full of joy and verve. She really has this infectious way of cheering people up. No smile gets unreturned, even by a stranger. It’s a joy starting each new day with her. Our hearts actually ache with love for her. No, life doesn’t get better than this.

As we enter this New Year, we reflect on the amazing twists and turns our lives took in 2007. It wasn’t until February 18 that we officially requested an application to adopt. Less than a year later, we have a baby girl and an evolving vision for our future family. 2007 was a difficult year in so many ways, but it was undoubtedly the most extraordinary of our lives to date.

But enough of my sentiment. I know what you really want is some of the most recent highlights from our little Plan A:

After Christmas, my cousins (12 & 14) came with my aunt (married to my dad’s baby brother) to visit Zoe. I remember carting them around family gatherings when they were babies, and now they’re beautiful young women carrying my little baby around. Wild!

We had an EPS (explosive poop situation) that had me calling for Drew’s assistance. Moments later, he appeared in his high-tech Diaper Duty gear, ready to lend his manly helping hand. I about died laughing so of course had to photograph a reenactment. (Zoe has some pretty silly daddy times in store for her when she gets older.)

Zoe visited with our friends’ Chrissy & Miles’ girls, Davy and Presley, who had learned all about Zoe and adoption and were very excited to meet her. (Hello, gorgeous girls!)

And of course, they were hard at work creating a cushy bed for our little princess:

And for whatever reason, this picture just cracks me up (like, what should we do now?) You can see that Zoe was a good sport. That’s just the kind of girl she is. (P.S. You have to observe the bike and the red story book thing that are sitting out -- both taken out to show Zoe):

We took our holiday picture -- too late to mail to anyone, so it will just sit merrily in a frame that makes an annual appearance:

And we took our first professional family pictures, so I can FINALLY send out Zoe’s birth/adoption announcements. (Pardon the proof stamp.)

We also visited our friends at Fassica for the first time since being back. The owner of the Ethiopian restaurant, who we befriended months ago when beginning this journey, went nuts over Zoe. While we were there, a man came up to me and thank us for adopting Zoe. That was a common occurrence while we were in Ethiopia, but it wasn’t something we expected to experience at home. Of course, we are the lucky ones, blessed with this extraordinary daughter, but it is amazing to know what a wonderful culture she comes from -- one where its people really care about each other.

Here’s Zoe with Sabel:

We’ve learned that Zoe loves the sling. I use it when she gets fussy and needs to be held close -- and can sometimes even sneak in a little blog action. Here we are first thing in the morning (i.e. no hair & makeup):

And for this blog post’s grand finale........ DISNEYLAND! Yes, Zoe spent New Year’s Eve at Disneyland with her Auntie Theresa (my sister), her Uncle Dave and her cousin (our niece and goddaughter) Haley. We had a great time! The park was packed, so we only went on a handful of rides -- and Zoe slept through the Pirates of the Caribbean. (In fact, she slept for TWO hours in the sling!) Here are some highlights:

The girls

She loved the carousel

Uh oh, someone’s getting tired:

Wrapping up a fun day:

We celebrated New York New Years, popped a bottle of champagne, reflected on the amazing year we just completed and went to bed by 10. Yep, we rock it.

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

It was December 22, just ten years ago...

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:23:14 -0800

... when the pilot was written for our Drew Carey Show.

What a difference ten years makes (as evidenced by picture above)...

Yes, just ten beautiful years ago, Drew and I met for the first time at a holiday party. With all the busyness of the season and being newly home with Zoe (getting pictures with Santa and all), we nearly missed this milestone date, and this is the anniversary we usually celebrate as the big one. I mean, had we never met, there would be no wedding anniversary to celebrate -- and well, there would certainly be no Zoe in our lives. Fortunately, we had the bright idea about a week ago to line up a sitter for tonight so we could go out alone for the first time since we’ve been home. Little did we intend to be celebrating our ten year anniversary.

Now this important date dawned on us last night as we sat down with a nice bottle of bubbly to reflect on how blessed our lives are with little Zoe and to celebrate the exhilarating week that just passed in blogville for our extended Gladney family. Wow, what a rush! The Rooneys, Breedloves and Fairy Good Baby all got their referrals on the same day! The Quinn girls and Renee & Geert both cleared court! And Eyerus and baby Ian were both united with their families! It is still such fun sharing in the overwhelming joy of other adoptive families. Congratulations to you all!

We’ve had some other fun milestones in our family. Our little Zoe is growing up!

She gained over a pound and a half in the last four weeks and is now at the 50th percentile in weight. Go Zoe!
She’s just started rolling over, but mostly still rocks side to side.
She’s talking up a storm, squealing in delight and working on some consonant/vowel combos. Yes, she’s a genius.
Oh, and did we mention she’s bilingual? In preparation for my return to work in a few weeks, we’ve been trying out some different childcare options and were fortunate to land on a terrific nanny who will come to our house. We’ve been doing trial runs while I’m still at home, and I have to tell you, it’s like baby school here. Zoe’s new nanny talks to her in Spanish all day long (which we’ve asked her to do, as it’s her first language and we want Zoe to learn it too!), reads to her, sings to her, does tummy time, the works. Earlier this week, I walked in on this little classroom:

And... drum roll, please... she had her first cereal last night!

And just for fun, another Zoe photo shoot. (Drew and I are her very own personal paparazzi. Isn’t she divine?)

We are settling in to “normal” life -- and it’s starting to feel like we are in fact a real family and not just roll playing.

Anyway, what a wonderful time of year to reflect on what blessed lives, beautiful family and wonderful friends we have. From our very own little Drew Carey Show, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

California Girls!

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 08:29:53 -0800

Zoe had her first play date last week, and it was with none other than her Gladney buddy, miss Aliya Selam. I became friends with Aliya’s mom, Anne, during the adoption process. We had the same social worker, and turns out, we were both using Gladney. Aliya is eight months old and an absolute charmer! She is so funny, busy, and expressive. She worked hard crawling backwards, and she was very interested in the little baby. They are three months apart, and they also overlapped at the Gladney home by a week. Zoe had just arrived as a tiny little baby when Anne was picking up her precious Aliya. What a special story these girls will have! We’re thrilled that they will have each other. We love you Anne & Aliya! Here are some pics from their date:

And there was even more excitement going on last week. Through blogville, we were introduced to baby Ash’s and Eyerus’ auntie and uncle, Joelle and Lloyd, who live just a few miles from us. Actually, turns out Joelle and I even work in the same building. Small world. They came over to hang out, have lunch at the pier and meet little Zoe. It was so great meeting you guys. We look forward to spending more time together in ’08! (And Lloyd, I see a lot of babies in your future -- you are a natural!)

Eyerus’s parents and little bro are leaving today to pick her up in Addis. We are so excited for all of you!

Eyerus’ and Ash’s Aunt Joelle with Zoe

Lloyd (aka “the Baby Whisperer”) with Zoe

We know what all of you bloggers out there are thinking... how do you get in on all this California fun? Funny you should ask. A few of us have been emailing and blogging about the idea of a reunion -- or as Heidi Daileader pointed out, a “union,” since most of us have never really met. So we’re floating the concept of an actual blog “union” to be held in Hermosa Beach in August of ’08. We were thinking a long weekend, with a beach day, perhaps a night out for the parents and maybe even a trip to Disney? This is a really fun community, with easy access to LAX and a range of hotels to suit most budgets. (Although, we highly recommend the Beach House if you can swing it.) We will work out the details once we gauge the level of interest (or anticipated attendance), so we can plan accordingly. So what do you think? You need to schedule a summer vacation anyway, right? Post a comment if you’re game. It’s our pleasure to host the location.

P.S. Congrats to Jocelyn on the referral of the exquisite miss Pacey! And congrats to the Runnions on being official with Zion! We’re waiting with the rest of you to celebrate your successful court dates.

Being Amy Breedlove

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 19:29:58 -0800

Since today has been an emotional roller-coaster for so many of our blog-buddies, we figured it would be a good time for this post...

One of the greatest perks about adopting from Ethiopia (other than getting Zoe!) has been all of the wonderful people we’ve met in the blog-world. Having been through the anxiety of two failed court dates ourselves before a third successful date (for which we cried very real tears of relief and joy), we know first hand how much a kind comment (or what we’ve come to coin “blomment”) from someone can be on a day like today. And haven’t you noticed that you can always count on Amy Breedlove?

On any given day, it’s a safe bet that no matter what the circumstance or event, Amy is quick to fire off a genuine blomment of celebration, encouragement, consolation or even just a friendly ‘hello’ on so many blogs. She even has her mom working the boards all the way from Europe! (Transcontinental blogging!)

It’s funny how easy it is to feel like you actually know people just from blogging. But it makes sense. Who else knows what it feels like to wait and wait for a phone to ring for a referral call? How many other people at work do you bump into each day who know what it’s really like to have a court date fall through? Who else could possibly relate to the ups, downs and all the in-betweens we all experience through the adoption process?

We’ve truly come to call so many of you out there our friends! Tonight we celebrate with the Clevingers and Ethiopia Mama over their successful court dates! We also share in the tremendous disappointment Maria, the Runnions and Renee & Geert are experiencing tonight -- and the anxiety they will be feeling as they wait for their new court dates which seem like an eternity away. We also are feeling Jocelyn’s anxiety over her wait for her referral of Pacey and as she mourns the loss of her referral of Payton. Yes, we’ve been riding the emotional roller coaster with you guys -- and all our other blog friends out there who are waiting for travel, court dates and referrals.

Amy Breedlove, we think you’re pretty special, and your comments are always a highlight of our blog experience. We bestow upon you the official title of Ethiopia Blog Cheerleader. (Sorry to say, it’s a non-paying position, but hey, we’re a grassroots movement =) ) The blog world can’t wait to celebrate the referral of your little Nathan!

Travel Tips

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 19:46:26 -0800

We’ve been home for just over two weeks and are finally getting into the swing of things. It seems we’re just now figuring out a schedule for Zoe, after recovering from significant jet lag, running into the holidays and having out of town visitors for Zoe. For us, it feels great to be back at sea level and have access to creature comforts, but there’s no doubt we’re suffering from a bit of culture shock as we return to “normal.”

Zoe is a joyful baby. She’s very animated and has a really engaging personality. Although teeny tiny, she’s very strong and alert and interested in the world around her. We think she’s a genius! She’s also a good sleeper and a good communicator (i.e. cries!) when she needs her needs met, but we’ve found her relatively easy to soothe. Although this parenting business is a major life adjustment (meaning, it’s no longer about us!) we think we’re pretty lucky. Our Zoe is one special girl!

Here are some pics from the last two weeks:

She likes to nibble on her daddy’s nose

And play around with him

She’s made a lot of new friends

And has been hard at work

Of course, that was after some manly assembly by her daddy, with a little help from the Rock

She went to the pediatrician

Met her aunts, uncles and cousins from my side of the family

Her entourage

Had her first Thanksgiving

Met her grandma and grandpa & cousins from Drew’s side of the family

But enough about us! We’re thinking about all the families out there with court dates on Thursday and hopeful that everything goes through! Since there’s another wave of travel about to happen, I thought it would be a good idea to share our experience, so you can glean any insights to apply to your own travel. Experiences are of course subjective, so if any other traveling families out there had different experiences or have other tips to add, comment away!

Hotel vs guest house
We started at a guest house that was new to Gladney and has since been taken off the list, due to its proximity to a night club that goes from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. When we booked our travel, the Hilton and the Sheraton were sold out due to a major convention in Addis, and we were very much looking forward to the guest house experience. We stayed at the “boom box” for three nights until we were completely exasperated by the noise and lack of sleep. We were able to score one night at the Sheraton and somehow managed to extend it night by night until our departure. Obviously, it would have been much easier to have known we were going to be in one place the entire time, so we wouldn’t recommend our approach. Since we’ve now stayed at both, based on our experience, if finances and availability work in your favor, I recommend doing the hotel route. I know a lot of families have done the guest house option and have really enjoyed it (so if you’re reading this, please chime in with your take!). For me, I personally enjoyed the creature comforts of a hotel and found them to be a welcome respite from the pretty exhausting days. (Turns out, I’m more of an adventurer by day.) It was great to return to an air conditioned room and call room service for a meal or bottled water. The Sheraton is pretty opulent and has a beautiful pool and good service. I think that Susan Parr is trying to work out an adoption rate with them, so you might want to look into that. We also visited the Hilton, which has a great adoption rate. It also has beautiful grounds, a nice pool and a gym (which the Sheraton doesn’t). Both hotels take credit cards, which means you don’t need to travel with as much cash.

Electronics
Both us and Pickle’s family burned out appliances using converters at our guest houses. When we got to the Sheraton, we used their super charged converter for our computers, but we were glad we burned out small appliances that didn’t matter to us rather than our hard drives. So our advice is to only use a hotel converter when in Ethiopia to charge your computer. And bring extra batteries for your cameras, just in case!

Bjorn vs stroller
Strollers are pretty useless outside of the airport or hotel, so you will definitely want a Baby Bjorn or similar contraption for your daytime excursions. If you think you’ll want to spend time around the hotel, a small travel stroller will come in handy, since if you’re anything like us, your back will go into shock with carrying around a new baby. Had I to do it over again, I would bring a small travel stroller.

Scabies, ring worm & lice, oh my!
Yep, we got the scabes. Well, at least Zoe and I did. Drew showed no symptoms, and I didn’t notice Zoe’s symptoms until we were on the plane home. I showed symptoms a couple of days later. From what I’ve read on other blogs, scabies are not uncommon, so I recommend you just plan for them. We did not get ring worm, but it’s also not uncommon. We also treated ourselves for lice when we got home, but we did not have any symptoms. We just figured that so long as we were rubbing down our bodies, washing all our bedding in hot water and vacuuming mattresses and furniture, we might as well rule out all other potential bugs... Had I to do it over again, I would have just treated all of us for scabies and lice the night before we departed, just for good measure. You will also want to get a medication for traveler’s diarrhea, a fever reducer and Immodium AD. Trust me on this.

Humanitarian aid (airlines)
It seems to be a common problem to have more luggage than is permitted to check. When we checked in with American Airlines from LAX, we got charged up the wazoo for extra bags and weight. We anticipated this, so we weren’t upset, but the counter agent suggested that next time we contact the sales office in advance to see if they’ll wave the additional weight and bags, explaining that we’re bringing humanitarian aid. So you might want to check that out.

How much adventure is a good thing?
When you get there, if you’re with Gladney, they’ll provide you with a thorough itinerary with a lot of options for activities. You can really pack your schedule full. Hindsight being 20/20, I would take the first few days to just hang around the hotel, get caught up on sleep and spend time as a new family. Drew on the other hand couldn’t get enough of all the site seeing opportunities (and frankly could have stayed for weeks longer). The one thing you should not miss is the opportunity to go to the orphanages. The other thing I will do differently if we get another infant (or travel with an infant) is hire a caregiver for the daytime (or at least a few days). I felt bad carting an infant around the city with us in the back seat of a car. Of course, she was a trooper, but it’s already such a big transition for them, it would be nice to provide some semblance of structure. But that’s just me. And having said that, we made wonderful memories and had incredible experiences by having her with us every moment, so there you have it. Food for thought.

Miscellaneous
Stay hydrated. It’s a high altitude, and you will be so busy, you’ll forget to drink water. Oh, and more than once, I wish I had one of those mini fans with water that you blow on your face. I swear, I wanted it every time I got in a car. I have no idea where you’d purchase those. But depending on what time of year you travel, car rides are HOT, SLOW and your breath in A LOT of diesel.

Clothing
If you’re traveling during the dry (non-rainy) season, it can be HOT during the day when you’re in the direct sunlight – particularly if you’re stalled in the car in traffic. Go with lightweight apparel and layers. And wear sensible shoes. For the most part, you’re going to want to have your feat covered and wear comfortable shoes. I wore my running shoes to the orphanages, which was perfect. You can also be pretty casual just about everywhere you go.

Ethiopians and their children
What they say is true, they do love their kids! It will melt your heart. But at the end of a long, exhausting day, when you’re returning to your hotel and the security guard admonishes you for not having your bundle of joy better covered in blankets, it might get a bit frustrating. We opted for the, “yes, you’re right, thank you so much approach.” I mean, after all, we’re in their country; they love their children, and we wanted to show respect. Unlike in the US, they tend to really layer on the clothes for their babies. So you might want to throw a blanket in the ol’ diaper bag to bundle your little one to and fro in public places. Your call.

Above all else, enjoy and soak in every moment. This incredible experience goes by faster than you could imagine... so takes TONS of pictures.

Days 4 & 5

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:27:12 -0800

We’ve been home for over a week, but fortunately, we did a pretty good job of keeping track of our journey while we were there (just didn’t get it all posted), so here goes... A synopsis of days 4 & 5...

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Man, are we beat. This is really an exhausting journey in so many ways. But no complaints here. We remain happy and very blessed by our amazing little Zoe, who is a serious trooper. I mean, very few babies in the world are introduced to new parents, then carted around in the back of a car with no car seat (yep, no car seats here!) going from activity to activity -- be it an orphanage we’re visiting, lunch with in-country reps, taking in her local culture, so we can embed it in our brains... She is good. We just load up the diaper bag with changes of clothes (she just had her second blow-out yesterday, and I had to change her in the back seat of the car), changes of diaper, formula and bottle liners, and off we go. Yes, the experience is contrary to my more structured style, but Zoe is adapting beautifully and seems to do fine with changes of environment so long as her basic needs are met. She’s also growing attached to Drew and I and can be calmed when handed back to our arms. That feels pretty wonderful.

Mommy, the “car seat”

Day 4. We spent the morning in our hotel room, updating the blog, shooting off emails to our families and getting Miss Zoe situated. Then we met our in-country reps for lunch at an amazing Italian restaurant and then off to the older boys’ orphanage, where we spent the majority of the afternoon. Drew shot footage for the orphanage to help Ryan with fundraising efforts for the boys. This is a government run orphanage, and the boys ranging from 10 to 25 in age have no real prospects of being adopted. Their accommodations are staggering. They’ve created their own little family and sense of community there. The way it works is the boys are each given about $500 by the government when they are in their early 20’s to go establish themselves. The problem is, unemployment is so high and there’s a glaring absence of industry. These guys have no relatives, no references, no one looking out for their best interest. A high percentage of them actually come back to live at the orphanage as adults, and the younger guys even opt to share their food with them. This is the nicest group of guys; it really breaks your heart to see people living this way. While we were there, one of the guys commandeered Zoe. One would never hand off her child in the US to a perfect stranger, but it seems to be the status quo in Ethiopia. With a nod of approval from our in-country reps, we handed off Zoe, and the guys were blissed out. The guys also loved the camera, and we got a million pictures of them. What a special group. We will never forget them and hope that the footage Drew edits will help raise money for better living accommodations and sports equipment for these great guys.

Some of the guys

Drew getting footage

Zoe’s bud

Some of their accommodations

The “campus”

Broken windows to their homes

Each face tells its own story. They are forever etched in our minds and hearts...

We were supposed to visit two more orphanages that afternoon, but we spent so much time with the older boys that it was too late, so we just came back to the Sheraton (Drew scored us another night -- wahoo! -- it’s supposed to be sold out, but it’s amazing what one can accomplish with little Zoe in his arms!) and ordered room service and fell asleep pretty early. We were up only once with Zoe and got her to go right back to sleep. Victory!

Day 5. This day was particularly exhausting. We got an earlier start -- no small feat with an infant -- and visited three orphanages. The first is a state run orphanage where Kozit lives, and we were able to love on her and bring her gifts from her mama. What a darling little girl with the sweetest, most affectionate personality. I just carried her around with me. It couldn’t be helped! She’s wonderful. Soon her mom will be picking her up and she’ll be reunited with her little sister, living the aloha life in Maui. We can’t wait to visit you girls! While we were at her orphanage, we shot some more footage -- this time to help with some fundraising efforts for a playground. As you saw from Drew’s prior post, the equipment is grim. Yet these children have such incredible joy and are so creative with their entertainment. We really fell in love with the kids here.

The “playground”

As an added plus, right next to Kozit’s orphanage was a local kindergarten, and the kids all sat on the steps and sang for us. It was wonderful! And who should happen to be in the kindergarten class other than Maryn Tsegerida. I noticed her right away and thought “that girl looks EXACTLY like Tsegerida,” who we didn’t expect to meet until Kechene that afternoon. But lo’ and behold, it was in fact the one and only infamous charmer, who led the way in singing. She is pretty special, and we can’t wait to see her and her little brother with their new parents!

From there we had lunch at another Italian restaurant -- famed to be the best in the world. The owner told me that Angelina ate there too, and then showed me the pictures on the wall. That was kind of funny to me. After lunch we stopped at a great local coffee joint and bought some beans to bring home. Then we went to the orphanage were Zoe spent the first few days of her life before moving to the Gladney foster home, and that was pretty emotional. From that point forward, everything felt that much more personal to us, seeing the prospects for these kids. We actually counted 19 babies in one room with one caregiver. It’s a gut-wrenching site, and yet this is an orphanage that cares deeply about its children. They’re simply doing the best they can with their resources. It made us so thankful for Gladney and the Gladney foster home, where the babies get such personalized attention and love. (In fact, at Zoe’s first pediatrician appointment after we got home, the doctor said it was evident she received a lot of good care and stimulation, based on her development. We were incredibly thankful for the love and attention she received while under Gladney’s care!)

Where Zoe spent the first days of her life... Three babies to a crib

Her wonderful orphanage director who got her to Gladney

Some of the older kids whose likelihood of being adopted diminishes with each year of age

We wanted to bring them all home with us.

After that, we went to Kechene, where Maryn Tsegerida and Keller Tariku live, as does Eyerus. We had the special privilege of delivering gifts from their parents and getting to love on them. We have to say that getting to meet these children has been such an extraordinary part of our experience. We love them all so much and feel so special that we got to be a tiny little part of their story. Those kids will be with their parents by Christmas!

Maryn & Keller opening their gifts from their parents

Eyerus showing off her family to Belay & her friends

We took the last footage possible with the remaining time on Drew’s battery (which died and for whatever reason couldn’t be recharged, much to his chagrin), again to help with playground equipment for the Kechene orphanage. This seemed to be the most joyful of the three orphanages for some reason (at least from my vantage point). Perhaps it’s because so many of the children are older and have clearly created a wonderful sense of community. Kechene is near and dear to Belay’s heart too, and all the children there love him and Ryan so very much. Many of these kids have forever families in the US through the Bright Futures camp program, just waiting to come and get them. It was an incredible experience.

Ryan just hangin’ with the kids

After a long, exhausting day, one of Zoe’s caregivers from the Gladney foster home came to the hotel and watched her while we went to Fasika for a traditional Ethiopian dinner and cultural dance show. It was pretty cool. We had dinner with the deputy mayor of Addis Ababa.

Dinner is served

The entertainment

Drew even got in on the action

Just hangin’ with the Deputy Mayor...

Drew and Zoe once again got us another night at the otherwise ‘overbooked’ Sheraton! It’s been a day by day victory, but getting a good night of sleep (with the exception of middle of the night feedings!) has been a life saver!

Now it’s day 6, and we’re getting weary -- at least, I am. Drew could go on for weeks!...

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That’s where I left off. I’ll try to chronicle days 6 & 7 later this week! I also still owe a travelers tips for the other Gladney families...

By the way, we’ve received quite a few comments and emails from people asking how to donate for the new playground equipment. Here’s how:

Checks payable to: The Gladney Center for Adoption c/o Scott Brown.
Mail to: 6300 John Ryan DR.
Fort Worth, TX 76132-4122
In the memo line of check write: “Ethiopian Humanitarian Aid”

Many thanks and smiles from all the kids!

We’re home!

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:38:50 -0800

After over 30 hours of mind-numbing travel, we made it home! I got pretty sick the day before we left, and we wondered if we’d be able to make our plane or if we’d have to postpone our return. Thankfully, my body rallied at the last moment, and we were able to make the long journey -- with a lot of the burden being carried by Drew, aka “dad of the year”! We truly had the most extraordinary experience of our lives, but what they say is true: There’s no place like home!

While in Ethiopia, our schedule was so full and we were so exhausted, it was difficult to keep up with blogging. I will go back and blog about the rest of our days over there during the coming weeks, and I’ll share some travel tips based on our personal experience for the other Gladney families about to travel. I can’t wait for others to have this truly life-altering experience!

One of the highlights of our trip was flying “air adoption” out of Addis. Our plane was filled with new adoptive families, all smiling knowingly at each other, sharing in the joy of this most unique experience. We actually sat next to a Wide Horizons family on the flight home, bringing home their second Ethiopian son. We had these wonderful bassinets for the babies to sleep in. Here’s our own little adoption row on Ethiopian Airlines:

This is baby Devon, 8 months old. He did great!

Zoe was a dream on the trip home. She slept most of the way, and thanks to some good traveling tips from my expert mom friends, we managed to avoid the dreaded ear pressure.

We arrived in Washington/Dulles on schedule, quickly cleared immigrations and customs and were able to relax and refresh for a few hours in the Admiral’s Club. It was great to be back in the ‘good ol’ US of A’. Zoe quickly found a surrogate grandma who took her off our hands for a good hour, while we pulled ourselves together.

Then we were off for our final 5 hours of travel until we were home. This was the longest part of the trip -- and no bassinet this time, so it was Zoe sleeping in our arms. I started worrying about her because the trip was just getting to be so very long, and it was clear she didn’t know if she was coming or going -- and neither did we! But once again, she did great, and everyone sitting around us just raved about her. She’s a very popular girl!

At last! We touched ground in Los Angeles and excitedly made the trek to baggage claim, where my parents and my sister and her husband (Zoe’s god parents) and her cousin Haley greeted us with celebratory signs. Everyone was very emotional. It was a wonderful moment!

Gramma, Grandpa and Aunt Theresa, filled with tears of joy:

Cousins and future BFF’s:

Gramma Helen commandeered her:

Frankly, the worst part of our journey home was putting Zoe in her car seat. She DID NOT care for that, as evidence by her blood curdling screams. At last, we were home.

Zoe even received a warm welcome from our next door neighbors, Teri & Joe. We all live on top of each other at the beach. Here’s the view outside our kitchen window. (Needless to say, we all know each other well!)

Here she is in her new room with Gramma:

Becoming acquainted with her Uncle Dave:

And being loved on by Auntie Theresa:

Even Rocky’s enjoying the new toys around the house:

My mom’s staying with us for a few nights to help us get situated. Thank heaven for her! Drew and I slept through the last two nights while my mom was on the night shift -- a difficult shift, considering Zoe thinks night is day and day is night. The first night she was up three times. Last night twice. We only have mom for one more night, and then we’re back to responsible parenting ourselves. (ha ha, as I type this, I hear Drew through the baby monitor kissing all over Zoe.)

Later this week, Zoe will meet her aunts, uncles and cousins from my side of the family, and this weekend, her Grandpa Bob and Grandma Bonnie are driving in from Scottsdale to meet their first grandchild and spoil her rotten. We can’t wait to introduce them to their precious girl.

For now, we’re back to enjoying the beach life. Zoe had her first ride in the stroller and breakfast out. We think she’ll make a great beach girl!

Coming Home!

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:30:13 -0800

Today is our last day. Carey is not feeling well today and is resting up for the long trip home, so I figured I’d take a shot at our final Blog entry of the trip.

To say this week has been life changing would be an enormous understatement. Aside from being officially introduced to WCB (World’s Cutest Baby:) and becoming parents, we have seen and experienced things that will last a lifetime.

Carey and I have both traveled around the world extensively, but Ethiopia and its people have truly taken a special place in our hearts that cannot easily be expressed by words. A very special thanks to all the folks at our adoption agency, Gladney. They’ve been outstanding on every level since we began this journey, and while in Ethiopia, they’ve taken us on a week-long series of events that ensured we’re leaving with an overwhelming connection and attachment to our child’s birth place. We already can’t stop thinking about our next trip back (although we may feel just a bit differently after our upcoming 30 hour marathon trip home).

I’ll try to recap just a few of our most memorable experiences from this week not yet covered in recent blog posts. (Yes, obviously meeting Zoe for the first time will always remain the greatest moment of our lives, let alone this week:)

As far as the week itself, nothing compares with visiting the orphanages. You try to prepare yourself for what you think you will encounter, but frankly, it’s a waste of time. How does one prepare to drive up a dirt road and be immediately engulfed in a flowing sea of loving children the moment you step out of the car? You don’t prepare. You can’t. You actually want to cry, but you don’t because these kids are so full of smiles and joy just to see you, that you just fall into the moment and enjoy simply being with them.

This is one of my more memorable pictures of the trip.

The boy in the middle hugging me kept asking us if we were from the U.S. or Spain. When I finally asked one of the caregivers why he was asking this, she said it was because he’d heard that the adoption process moves faster in Spain, so we was hoping to meet a family from Spain and get adopted that much faster.

Here are just a few more of the incredible children we got to spend time with. They are all so special you just want to charter a plane and take them all home. Anyone have the number for NetJets?:)

The little cutie pie wearing the flower lei is Kozit. She’ll soon be heading to the U.S. to join her new mom and her baby sister! One of the absolute best parts of this trip has been being able to deliver care packages from families in the U.S. still waiting to travel to pick up their kids. We made 5 such ‘special deliveries’ while we were here and each one was a heartwarming and moving experience we will remember forever.

Here are some other kids opening up their care packages, complete with pictures of their new loving families in the U.S who are anxiously waiting to come get them!

One of our other favorite past times this week has been taking pictures of the babies who’ve already been referred to some of our fellow Gladney families and bloggers...Carey made sure all of the little ones got tons of hugs and kisses and we know everyone back home loved getting the pics:) Jennifer and Tim actually got their referral a few days after we’d already left for Ethiopia, yet they still managed to track us down and we were thrilled to send back some pics of their new baby girl. (Never get between a mom in the US and pictures of her baby in Ethiopia! They will use the Space Shuttle if they need to in order to get PICS!:)

Part of the reason we came prepared to take so much video and shoot so many pictures this week (about 2500 pictures in all) is that we are trying to help Gladney raise money for new playground equipment for a few of the orphanages we visited. Here is a picture of the swing set at the orphanage we visited for the younger children. See the problem? No swings left.

The merry go round does not look all the ‘merry’ either.

Check out the home-made tether ball set. I think the kids tied together some socks and rags and made some kind of ball to bat around.

The man heading up the effort to “help them play” is Scott Brown of Gladney. This guy is amazing and we had the unexpected good fortune of having Scott out here with us most of this week. Scott and his fundraising efforts are currently about 42K short of where they need to be to get the new playground equipment.

My production company in LA is going to edit together a short fundraising clip when I get back...Hopefully it will help generate some of the additional 42k still needed.

Here are some pictures from a playground at one of the other orphanages.

Some of the kids play with tires or other home made toys to keep themselves entertained.

This is Ryan. Ryan is Scott’s son. Ryan and his wife Abby are the main Gladney ‘people on the ground’ for traveling U.S. families. They are truly selfless people who do so much for the Gladney families and they very much love each of these kids as their own.

Here is a picture of Abby making a very special delivery...ZOE!:) It turns out this was the first time Abby actually got to do the delivery. She did an amazing job. Zoe tells us Abby was calm and very comforting during the entire car ride over to us:)

And here is a picture of Zoe and her Uncle Belay.

Before we left for Ethiopia, people told us Belay was a “miracle worker.” Having been here and seeing first hand what this guy pulls off, I think ‘miracle worker’ is an understatement. Belay says he has a dream of seeing all of “his kids” return to Ethiopia to visit him on his 25th wedding anniversary (about 22.5 years from now). Mark the calendar Belay...We will be there with Zoe!

Another special place we visited this week was the Alert Leprosy Hospital. Founded by an Ethiopian Princess (who suffered from leprosy herself), the patients of the facility actually help fund it by creating various crafts and articles of clothing... all made by hand on site each day. We definitely did some damage at the souvenier shop here. In fact, our driver told us we set the record. But good news! We’ve already heard from both the Thorne and Martin-Brophy families that they intend to at least double or triple our record on their next trip out...Hey...all for a great cause:)

I could easily continue this blog entry for days...There is simply so much to cover and so many pictures we want to share...But it’s time to pack and get to the airport...so more to come when we get back home!

On a final note, as many of you know from following our Blog, helping to provide FREE wheelchairs for people around the world, especially in Ethiopia, is something we’re also very passionate about. In fact, along with my business partner Sam and the rest of the great people I work with, my company recently produced a PSA for this wonderful purpose. You can view the commercial on the home page of our blog as well as in various recent blog posts we’ve done on this topic. This week we’ve seen firsthand that Ethiopia certainly has no shortage of disabled men, women and children who either crawl on their hands and knees or limp from place to place because they simply can not afford a wheelchair. PLEASE take 60 seconds when you finish reading this blog entry (really...I promise...60 seconds it all it takes!) and watch the PSA we produced. If you are then compelled to do so, call the 800# you see on the commercial and donate a wheelchair. The cost is quite minimal and by ordering SPECIFICALLY VIA OUR #800 YOU SEE ON THE COMMERCIAL, your donated wheelchair will go to a person in need in Ethiopia. (If you order on-line via the website the donation cannot be set aside specifically for Ethiopia..so use the #800!) So far via our blog and this #800 we’ve raised about 50 wheelchairs. It’s a great start but we need to reach 280 total to ship an entire cargo unit to Ethiopia. Considering our Blog has had 21,000 visits in the few months it’s been up, getting 230 more wheelchairs donated should be quick and simple...Donate 1 or donate more if you are fortunate enough to be able to do so. My company hopes to return to Ethiopia early next year to video tape and document the delivery of the 280 wheelchairs to the recipients... Hopefully we’ll be filming the installation of some new playground equipment around the same time...

That’s it for now...Thank you all so much for riding along with us on this incredible journey...It’s been an amazing experience and being able to share it with so many people (including so many we’ve never even met before) has made it even that much special. And who knows, maybe it even helped raise some awareness and inspired someone to consider adopting some wonderful kids who need a loving home and a forever family:) We can’t wait for our next trip back to expand our family. As we mentioned in our very first blog post, their are roughly 6 million orphans in Ethiopia. Less than 750 were adopted to the U.S. last year. So, please, spread the word!

Love,

Drew, Carey and Zoe...(and Rocky!)

P.s. As only a few of you know, about 10 days before our trip to Ethiopia, we received a very frightening call from Mary at Gladney. Zoe was in the hospital in Ethiopia on IV, being treated for dehydration from excessive diahrrea and vomiting. At the time, information was very limited. We were obviously scared beyond belief and had several sleepless, anxiety ridden nights before learning that she was OK. Walking around the parking lot of my office a few minutes after getting the initial call that she was in the hospital, I was feeling beyond out of control and scared for our little girl half way around the world. I was pacing the parking with my face staring towards the ground for at least 20 minutes..then I looked up at the sky and asked “the big guy” for a very big favor. Immediately upon looking back down from the sky, my eyes landed directly on a license plate I’d never seen in our parking lot in the 3 years I’ve been working there. I took a picture of it.