Of note:

Jaleles nose is tiny and Agegnehus eyes and lashes are so big! And he has rosy cheeks and her hair its so soft and so long..

First Meeting

Oh my goodness, we just met the babes for the first time. It was unbelievable of course.. They both were very deer in the headlights for the first few minutes but no crying.
Both kids were smiling a fair amount, chubby and strong. They loved playing with the photo albums we brought, and.... OTIS IS CRAWLING!!

not only that but he pulls himself up on my legs to a standing position.
Did not expect that at all.

Oh man this is the best week ever.

Ouch!

This week Lucas and I got vaccinated to high heaven.

Typhoid
Hep A
Hep B
Meningitis
Yellow Fever
Tetanus/Diphtheria/Pertussis
Flu

=7 shots each, one of us passing out, and $920

=OUCH!

(I'll let you guess who passed out)

13 days until we leave!!

Court Date! and a few other great things

On Wednesday night, at about 8pm, I had just gotten off work after making an appearance at the CANstruction exhibit kickoff at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (please go see it if you can, all proceeds benefit local food banks and the No Kid Hungry campaign). I met Lucas and our friend John- Josh's godfather- at one of the divey-est bars on Broadway to watch the last few minutes of the Nuggets game: Barry's. While Barry's has cheap drinks, an attentive bar tender (who may or may not be on a slew of uppers), and skeeball... it is hardly the place I'd like to be seen in, let alone share a special moment like Lucas and I did when we got the email saying we HAD A COURT DATE! At least it will be memorable...??

Details to the best of my knowledge:

• We need to be in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 5th
• We will get to spend 4 hours a day with our babies, 2hrs in the morning and 2hrs in the afternoon
• We will go to court on May 7th 
• We plan to stay there and get to know Jalele Lark and Otis Alan Agegnehu until about the 15th of May
• When we're not at the orphanage holding our sweet babies, we'll be exploring Addis, meeting Lucy, eating good food, and meeting friends of Jen and Tom who just came back from Ethiopia with their boys Shuki and Bedasa last month.

Other great things that have happened lately:

• I have been promoted to Director of Cooking Matters Colorado! This is funny timing, but I am honored and very excited to lead a wonderful cause and an amazing team of employees. 
• Tom and Jen Sarah came home with their angel boys and Lucas and I were able to meet them at the airport and attend a welcome home party for them. Jen had been living in ET waiting to come home with them for about 2 months!
• Through the Sarahs we met Jen Kraft, who was also living in ET for more than 3 months waiting to bring her beautiful girl Tali Bamlak home. We are certain that Lark and Tali will be best friends! You can read some of her ET story on her blog and see pics of both families: www.jenkraft.blogspot.com
• Rick and Claudia (Dadrick and Claudimom, or Rocko and YaYa) announced that they are hosting a party for us on April 28th ~details to come. What a great way to send us off!
• Our adoption agency person has been on vacation for the last 2 weeks, so we were certain we wouldn't get any updates or info... come to find out we HAVE been getting pictures and our court date! An amazing surprise. This week, Lark and Otis are almost the exact same weight and length: 14lbs and 27inches. 

Ahhh! It's really happening!! Lucas' birthday is on Tuesday, and mine is in a few weeks. We have A LOT to celebrate this April. And, after we pass court, we can show you their faces! 

XOXO

This week's stats:

This week Lucas and I got some very cute pictures of our little ones. Both are smiling (first time we've seen Otis smile!) and Lark is downright laughing in one of them. So sweet. Can't wait to hear those laughs myself and get my hands on them. It is so uplifting to see them happy and healthy!

This week's stats:
Lark: 9 months, 13lbs 4oz, 24 inches
Otis: 5.5 months, 12lbs 13oz, 26 inches

Although these are American charts, I've been tracking them to so I can get a good sense of their growth (I suppose this comes from my dietitian schooling). You can see that while they are small for U.S. babies, under the 3rd percentile, they are growing nicely!

Ethiopia by the numbers

Many people have asked us why we chose Ethiopia as our choice for adoption. While there are many reasons for us beyond these numbers, I thought I would share a few sobering facts.

• Life expectancy in Ethiopia 39 years for males and 42 years for females. The leading cause of death is communicable diseases such as malaria, typhoid, meningitis, cholera, AIDS, tuberculosis, yellow fever.
• One in ten children die before their first birthday
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• Woman have an average of 7 children and the maternal mortality rate is 1 in 14
• Ethiopia's neonatal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world - 49/1000 births with tetanus infection being the second major cause of infant/neonatal death.
• Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Over half the population lives on less than a $1 a day. The average income in Ethiopia is US$100 a year. Almost 82% of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
• Malnutrition levels are among the highest in the world.
• Ethiopia is home to 4-6 million orphans, or 12% of all children.
• That is the same number of children under age 18 who reside in Massachusetts, New York State, and Washington DC combined. If every parent in those places died tonight - that would be similar to Ethiopia's orphan crisis.
• More than half a million of these were orphaned as a result of AIDS.
• Only 42.7% age 15 and over can read and write.
• Only 18 percent of children reach grade five. That means 82% of children don't.
• 44% of the population is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• Ethiopia's doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
• Coffee prices (Ethiopia's only major export) declined 40-60%from 1998-2002
• Severe drought struck the country from 2000-2002
    - first year no crops
    - second year no seeds
    - third year no animals
• Ethiopia is experiencing yet another drought now. 

Wow!

On Friday, Lucas and I were awed by the generosity of our friends and family. Our party was awesome, fun, amazing, and rockin'! I couldn't believe the turn out- we had at least 100 pals attend. Lucas and I are so lucky to have such talented, artistic friends. I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures- I was so overwhelmed... almost like being at our wedding with so many people to talk to! Here are some of the highlights:

• Our favorite local dive bar Lost Lake hosted us; fireplace, dark lighting, with whiskey and "The Champagne of Beers" flowing.
• We had a fantastic silent art auction with donations by Amanda Gordon Dunn, Doug Spencer, Sandi Calistro, Andy Bell, Bryony Lovelette, James Clarke, Britt Madden, and Becky Steele.
• Tunes by The Royal and Hooper.
• DJs to rock us between sets: Thanks Hayley, Tyler and Rhea!
• Friends came from near and far! Thanks to Trina, Karli, Flea, Joe and Jill for making the drive from the Fort Collins/Greeley/Loveland area. 
• My whole immediate family was there! (even Justin who is usually MIA...) and my aunt and uncle.
• Coworkers also came to show support.
• Lucas and I brought baby pics to show off. Boy-o-boy are those babies cute!
• There was a $5 suggested donation at the door, and a donation jar (more like a towering vase- thanks sis Sari!)
• We also had a baby blanket drive that we will take to the orphanage when we go on our first trip. We scored at least 10 blankets!
• We are still adding up the donations... but as of now we have made over $3000 which will help us pay for our travel and some of the babies' orphanage rent!

We feel SO loved. Thank you to the many who helped think this up, planned it, worked it, rocked it, payed to get in, donated, danced, and loved us so much!