Happenings

I took Little Buddy to the vet this morning. He was fine but he was also his usual grumpy self about being hauled in to the vet. The vet got down on her knees at LB's level. He walked up to her, put his front paws on her legs and hissed in her face. She said she had never had a cat do that before...they usually are quite scared. She calls him "a character." That he is.

After talking about it for months, we decided we're going to dump our basic cable and use that money to support a child in Ethiopia through World Vision. I first learned about WV last December at a Travis Cottrell concert I attended with my mom and sister. I interviewed a local guy this week for a story and he's raising money for WV. To put my story together, I visited the WV website. I saw that they do work in Ethiopia. A beautiful little boy came up on my screen. He was looking for someone to sponsor him. How could I say no? WV has a great reputation for humanitarian work all over the world. Please take a moment to visit the WV website: www.worldvision.org You might find yourself captivated by a child needing a sponsor, just as I was!

Zeke is doing great. He's napping now. He continues to talk a lot, saying many new words. It's so exciting!

Dossier is IN Ethiopia!

The dossier arrived in Addis Ababa yesterday!!! Yay!!!! Keep in mind our DTE is 8/20/09, not yesterday. Your DTE is the date your agency sends the dossier, not the date it arrives in Ethiopia. Just to review what the DTE means...It stands for Dossier To Ethiopia and it's from that date that you count down to your referral. The current wait time for a referral of a baby girl is 10-11 months. So, it looks like we could get matched to a baby girl next June or July!! What a wonderful thing to look forward to through the winter and spring. After we get matched to a baby, we wait to get a court date...seems like that's usually a month or two after your referral. We do not actually go to Ethiopia to appear in court. Our agency has a representative who will do that for us. Most families pass court the first time but many do not. So, we pray even now that God would clear the way for us to pass court the first time. Once we pass court, we travel a couple of weeks later to bring Quilla home!!! Now, you should realize that the courts in Ethiopia close every year in August and September. It's entirely possible we could get "caught in the court closure," meaning we would have to wait longer than normal for our court date. We hope this doesn't happen but are aware it's a possibility given the expected timing of our referral. We trust God to work out the timing but it's our constant prayer that we can bring our baby home sooner rather than later. The good news is, it's very unlikely that the process would drag on like the process in Vietnam (we were matched with Zeke Jan 31st and didn't get him until mid September).

In other news...Brad got home yesterday. We were so happy that he got on an earlier flight and arrived at 5PM! Zeke was so happy to see daddy!

Reading

So I'm trying to get through Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. It's supposed to be one of the best novels ever written. I've had so many people recommend it to me. I'm about 1/4th of the way through the book and I just don't see it. Maybe it gets better. Right now, it feels like a high school summer reading assignment. And this is from someone who loves literature, who has read Jude the Obscure, 1984, Wuthering Heights, and The Sun Also Rises multiple times. I will definitely finish it...just hope it gets better. I'm about halfway through another book called The Faith Club. It's the true story of what happened when three women, a Christian, Jew and Muslim sat down for regular discussions about their beliefs. It's a great book and I'm really enjoying it. It's a great way to cleanse the palate after trudging through Anna Karenina. And when I finish these two books, I've got A Summer Affair waiting in the wings. Now, if that doesn't cleanse the palate after some Russian literature, I don't know what will!

Brad comes home tonight. We'll be so happy to have him back. We have missed him greatly.

Notre Dossier!

SCROLL DOWN FOR ZEKE PICS FROM OUR VACATION!! THEY'RE IN THE PREVIOUS POST!

Imagine my delight when I checked the FedEx tracking number for our dossier and found it spent the night in Paris! I bet it paid less than I did for my 3 nights in Paris last summer. Since the dossier didn't have much time to do sightseeing while in the City of Lights, I'm sharing some of my photos from Paris, 2007. Can't you feel my joie de vivre?

Outside the Louvre


Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart)...a beautiful church overlooking the city. I prayed here in 2007 and 2008 that God would make me a mother.


Le Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower)


l'Arc de Triomphe

Finally...some photos!

Zeke had his first trip to the beach (Cape May, New Jersey) and his first corn on the cob. Obviously, he enjoyed the corn. We had a wonderful vacation. We hit some snags coming back but we arrived home late Friday night. Brad will be back Wednesday...which leads me to my next thought...

We've said it before but it's worth repeating. God bless single moms. How do they do it? With Brad out of town, I'm baby-wrangling by myself. Zeke has been quite good but just finding time to get things done is hard. Thankfully, we've both been tired and have gone to bed early...this is good because we're both getting up early so I can get to work by 7AM. We'll be so happy to have "Da-da" back!

We're DTE TODAY!

Got an email this morning that our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia TODAY! This is our official DTE! We start the countdown to referral TODAY! How exciting! Thank you for all your prayers and support during the paperchase. We're now officially waiting for our referral!

We've had a wonderful vacation. Zeke and I (Miss) head back tomorrow. Please pray that we have safe, smooth, uneventful and on time flights. Brad will be heading to DC by train for some work-related training Sunday. Once we're home, we'll post some fun photos--Zeke's first trip to the beach, his first corn on the cob, and more!

In PA

We had an excellent journey to PA on Friday. Zeke was very good on the flights, which were on time and uneventful. (Thank you so much, Lord!) Zeke woke up at midnight the night before we left with a fever. After some ibuprofen and Brad laying down with him in the spare bedroom, he went back to sleep. He acted fine on the flights but upon arrival in PA, he started coughing a lot. We took him to urgent care where they concluded he has a virus so they didn't prescribe any meds. He seems to be doing better though his appetite is still lagging. He's playing like normal and has not had a fever since Thursday night. His nose is runny though and I know that makes the little guy uncomfortable. So, please pray that he'll get over this very soon.

So far, vaca has been restful and fun. We've been in the pool, to King of Prussia mall (bless Brad for Zeke-wrangling while I shopped)(Oilily had 70% off most stuff...I resisted last night but may go back to pick up a couple of items, including a DARLING outfit for Quilla). Tonight is date night...we'll likely see The Time Traveler's Wife. I've read the book 2 or 3 times. I didn't like it the first time but fell in love with it on subsequent readings. The movie has not gotten good reviews but then, Twilight didn't get good reviews either and I LOVED that movie so there. Speaking of Twilight...go to YouTube and check out the New Moon trailer if you haven't seen it yet. Looks great! Can't wait to see it!!!

We're headed to church this morning. It's always enjoyable to visit Brad's parents' church. A few years ago, we heard an excellent sermon there from the youth pastor that changed my perspective on asking God to give us a child. I realized I was testing God: If you love me, then you'll give me a child. I'm so thankful that my eyes were opened to this unhealthy attitude and I was able to change my heart--to anticipate the goodness of God and to rest in God's love, knowing that God's plans for me and Brad were/are perfect.

Some great news on the Quilla adoption front: Our dossier received preliminary approval! WOOT!!!!!! It still needs to get reviewed one more time then we'll find out when it's headed overseas.

What's Happening Now

So, now that our agency has our dossier, the staff there will review it and make sure everything is copacetic before sending it on to Ethiopia. The agency will also see that the dossier gets authenticated before it goes overseas. Once it's on its way, we will get our DTE (Dossier To Ethiopia) date. It's from that date that we actually begin counting down 11 months (the current wait for the referral of a baby girl). Will let you know when we get our DTE!

We leave tomorrow for Philly to visit Brad's parents for a week! WOOT! We're looking forward to this vacation. Please pray that we have smooth, uneventful, on time flights and that Zeke is calm and pleasant on the planes. He hasn't flown since we came back with him from Vietnam. At that time, he couldn't walk or climb. Now, he's a busy, busy boy so I just hope he will be content to sit still on the flights.

Dossier on Its Way!

After copying and organizing everything at the copy shop, the dossier and other docs are on their way to our agency! WOOT!


Random photo of the ever adorable Zeke chilling at home last night in his PJs.

IT ARRIVED! DOSSIER GOES IN THE MAIL TOMORROW!

Zeke and I were headed home today...it was pouring rain. I thought, "Wouldn't this be a great day for our I-171H to arrive--It will get soaked in our mailbox." As I approached the house, the rain let up and I saw the mail carrier's truck just a few houses down from ours. I realized that our mail had only just then been delivered. I went to check and I saw a stack of long white envelopes. I saw the return address: Department of Homeland Security. Then, I thought, "What if this is saying they need us to come back and re-do our fingerprints?" I drew a deep breath and opened it. There was our I-171H!! Basically, that means the US government has approved us to bring home an "orphan" from overseas. This was the last piece of the dossier puzzle we needed. I just went through the entire dossier, organizing, getting everything in the right order. This actually worked out so well with the timing. I'm working earlier than usual shifts this week so I get done well before my usual 3PM. That means I can get the documents state certified, copies made and get it in the hands of FedEx and STILL pick up Zeke by his usual time!! Thank you, Lord for guiding us through this part of the process. We pray that all the documents will be in order and ready for our agency to send them to Ethiopia. We pray for patience and that you would prepare our hearts as we enter the "official" wait to be matched to our baby girl. We pray for our baby and her birth family. We pray for our agency staff and the U.S. and Ethiopian officials who will all work together to make this adoption happen. Amen.

On the Zeke front...he's talking more than ever! His new favorite movie is "Finding Nemo" (pronounced by Zeke as MEE-MOH). He enjoys growling like an animal. (His Granpa Ron or "Papaw" has admitted to teaching him this.) He was very loving tonight, giving Mommy many kisses and hugs. Zeke and I went to Olive Garden for the first time. He loved the bread sticks and was very good through the meal. He ate some salad--tomatoes, olives, and even a bite of red onion! I weighed him last night and he was over 24 pounds! I can't wait for his 2 year check-up in October because I expect him to be well moving up the charts with weight and height.

Here's a link to my NPR story

In case you missed it, click here.

We're heading to Marian Days today. Then Brad and I will have a date night tonight. I think we're going to see Away We Go with John K from The Office and Maya Rudolph, SNL alum. I've been wanting to see this movie for some time now. Will let you know if we like it or not.

Missy on NPR Today

Looks like my story will air during the first hour of All Things Considered. If you're on the east coast, it will air between 4PM and 5PM. Central time zone people can hear it 3PM to 4PM (or if you listen to my station, it will be on between 5PM to 6PM because we don't start the program until 4PM). I'm just finishing up editing my story now and I think I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Photos from Marian Days, Day 1

Click here to see some photos I took yesterday during Marian Days. I was there to work so I didn't get to do as much milling around I had hoped to do. We're going on Saturday (all 3 of us) and will basically just be there to mill.

On the Ethiopia adoption front...We got a re-do of a dossier document yesterday. Praise the Lord! It had been more than 2 weeks since I noticed Brad's police letter was a photocopy, not an original. Getting the sheriff's department to re-do it took longer than I expected. Anyway, we have it now and so we're officially just waiting on the I-171H. Once that arrives, we will ship the dossier off to America World! So exciting!!! I'll be glad to send it on its way!

Marian Days

Every year, more than 60,000 Vietnamese Catholics travel to Carthage, Missouri for Marian Days. I will be heading there tomorrow to do a story for NPR. My story is on a Vietnamese-American who needs to find a bone marrow donor. Your best chances for a match are with people who are in your ethnic group. So, she's coming from Dallas to Carthage to get more ethnic Vietnamese people to sign up for the bone marrow registry. My story will air Friday afternoon on All Things Considered. Brad and I are thinking about taking Zeke to Marian Days this weekend, especially for one of the times when they play traditional Vietnamese folk music.

The Babes are Turning 2!

It's starting to hit me...most of the babies adopted from Zeke's orphanage are turning 2 this summer...oh yes...and Zeke turns 2 in October! That's so hard to believe. It's like when we were waiting (and waiting and waiting) to go get him, I never thought about him growing up. It's like we were waiting to get this baby and he'd always be my sweet baby. He's still sweet but he's definitely not a baby anymore...He's a rambunctious toddler. I look back at the photos from when we were in Vietnam and when we first got home with him. He looks so little and bald (he actually did have plenty of peach fuzz)! Brad and I were talking about how we'd look back 18 years from now and say, "Weren't we just on a plane to Hanoi yesterday?"

Who Needs Sleep?

We are just settling in to a long stretch of good Zeke sleep. I mean Zeke has been sleeping through the night for the better part of a month or so. He did wake up before 6 this morning and refused to let Brad put him back into the crib. Sweet Brad the Dad sat in the rocker and let Zeke sleep on his chest...was still there when I left for work.

I've been blog snooping and found a family that's been home with their baby (first child) for a week. They are totally sleep deprived. That first week home for us was MISERABLE on the sleep front. You're all three jet lagged and exhausted. On top of all that, the baby is still adjusting to these two new adults who love him so much and the smells/sounds/colors/etc. of a new home. I remember that week as one of the hardest weeks of my life. Zeke had an ear infection too and that made it extra miserable for him. Poor little guy. The good news? It gets better. But it's sure hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when baby is waking up 5 times a night. The best thing we did was put Zeke on a strict nap schedule. Once we began waking him up from his naps rather than letting him sleep as much as he wanted during the day, he slept much better at night.

New PBS Kids Program Has Positive Adoption Message

Dinosaur Train
Created by Craig Bartlett (Hey Arnold!), Dinosaur Train embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains while encouraging basic scientific thinking and skills as the audience learns about natural science, natural history and paleontology. Dinosaur Train is seen through the eyes of Buddy, a preschool-aged Tyrannosaurus Rex. Buddy and his adoptive family of Pteranodons go for adventures on the Dinosaur Train to meet and learn about all kinds of dinosaurs in different eras.

One of the perks of working for a PBS station is getting to preview shows. I got an advance copy of a Dinosaur Train episode. Zeke watched it 3 times straight through. He LOVES it!

We made it back from KC just fine. Based on what we've heard (thanks, Greg and Laura!), we HOPE we get our I-171H next week. It would be super cool if it arrived before we go out of town on the 14th. Fingers crossed!

Away We Go

We're off to file our federal paperwork and get fingerprinted. We're making a little trip out of it. I've (Missy) been sick with allergies or a cold but I feel better this morning. Thankfully, Zeke hasn't gotten this. Praise the Lord! Here's to safe travels and fun times.

By the way, we're trying a new strategery to occupy Zeke at Cheesecake Factory. We're taking the portable DVD player so he can watch Cars. Brad calls this the "constitutional option" because we don't like to see him zone out in front of the TV but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do!

More July 4th Photos, Courtesy of Auntie Weed

Copies

I was going through our dossier documents two weeks ago and I started looking more closely at the police letter for Brad. It became apparent that it was a photocopy and not an original. When we went to pick them up, they had made copies for the sheriff's office to keep but somehow they got mixed up and gave US the copy of Brad's letter. The guy who issues the letters was out of town last week and I've been waiting to see when he's going to have the new one ready for us to pick up now that he's back in the office. I'd like to get it this week. Pray that I'll hear from him soon.

I also learned that for some reason, our adoption agency needs us to get our home study agency to sign another copy of a paper they signed back in May. I don't mind doing this but sometimes it's hard to get in touch with the home study agency. Since we are going there this Thursday to pick up our home study papers, I am hopeful that we'll be able to get them to sign the document while we're there. We will need it to submit with our dossier.

Finally, I'm going to make photocopies of our dossier documents (the ones we have already) sometime this week. I want to be READY as soon as our I-171H arrives to put the dossier and the necessary copies on the FedEx truck that same day. I'm ready to be done with the paperchase so we can officially begin THE WAIT.