How can I clean the house (or do anything) with all this cute oozing out of my computer screen??

I should be working hard on cooking and cleaning since we are hosting our 5th Annual New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. But instead I am just sitting around, looking at the pictures of our baby. I even poured myself more coffee to sit down and have a good long look. The two new pictures we got yesterday are SUPER cute.

Anyway... here are this week's stats on our little Lark (and now I think I know how to correctly report them...)

10lbs, 13oz
23 1/2 inches (although I quite prefer 1 foot 11 inches, ha!)
Head circumference: 15 inches

We aren't sure of her actual birth date, but she is around 6 months now! I'm also not sure if they take all measurements every week... so this is all I have to go on. I'm hoping her head circumference is a little bigger, and I'm betting it is, since she looks very healthy and proportionate in all her pictures.

Our friend Jen just left yesterday to return to Ethiopia. One of her boys is sick and needs a feeding tube. She decided she needed to be there, so she made a hard decision to start her maternity leave early and go be with her babies. We're hoping this speeds up her process and she can come home with the boys quickly! Godspeed.

2012 is going to be a doozy! Happy New Year, friends and family!

This week's stats:

Every Friday we've been getting a little information about our Jelly Bean and two pictures. Well, batch #3 came today (can you believe it has already been 3 weeks since her referral?? Crazy!)

Age: 5.3 months (is that how you say it? or should I be thinking weeks? Obviously new to this...)
Length: 1'11"
Weight: 9.7lbs
Head Circumference: 14.9"

She is less than the 3rd percentile in everything, but still on the charts- which is good/expected for these little guys. Also, she was most likely pre-term.

We have decided to keep her Ethiopian name as her first name (which I can't post on here yet), but she will go by her middle name unless she decides to go back to her given name at some point in time. We thought that by keeping her birth name as her first name, as opposed to the middle name, it wouldn't diminish her heritage or story in any way. Just our point of view.

J. Lark Rougé 


So, we'll call her Lark. Hope you like it, 'cuz now it's stuck. :)

(No news on our #2... was really hoping to hear before Christmas.)

Happy Holidays!

Jelly Bean Update

Sorry to keep you in such suspense (that is- if anyone is actually regularly following this blog!). We have gotten a little more information about our girl, who for now we will refer to as our Jelly Bean. She is beautiful, chubby, and perfect.

Earlier this week we received all the official paperwork for the referral. This is great news, although I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the amount of info given. A lot of blanks. Her name is spelled 2 different ways in multiple places. Her most recent medical info we have was from when she was 1 month old- now she is 5 months. We also have to come up with a few thousand more dollars in the next 7 days to "accept" her referral. It was an oversight on my part... I thought we were all finished with fees until the trips to Ethiopia. I know it will happen- but this has added to our stress levels over the last few days.

We are hoping to get regular updates on her health with pictures, so we will see how often they come. We did receive pictures of her when she was first taken to the orphanage, and they are quite sad. She is so little. And thin. Those chubby cheeks we see now were in fact concave. But it shows she is strong and has come a long way.

It is getting harder now. We want to know EVERYTHING, but know we most likely will never know her entire story. We want to cuddle and hold her. My cousin's adorable baby boy is around the same age as our Jelly Bean, and I can't even begin to imagine him without a mom for this long. It breaks my heart. But every day we are getting closer!

 And still waiting for our baby boy- which we should hear about any day now....

We have a girl!

I'm a little too excited to write a blog post, but I wanted to keep you informed:

We got a referral for a beautiful baby girl!!! She is approximately 5 months old and perfect. I wish I could post her cutie face, but we can't post pictures until everything is legal and we pass court (but if you see me I'm sure I will gushingly show you her picture on my phone). We only know some of her story, and I'm not sure that I will share it all on this blog, but she has already had quite a life in her 5 months.

We are still waiting for a referral for a little boy, and we've been told this is in the works as we speak. Either way, we have the best Christmas present ever of seeing our baby's face. I thought surely we had months to go before getting to this point!

More to come................

squeeeeee!

4 months waiting

I shouldn't really say 4 months. That would be cheating ourselves! We've actually been waiting ONE FULL YEAR now- since we first received application materials from our adoption agency.

It has been quite a year. And remember back when I was so bold as to predict a date for when we would have our baby (let alone babies!)? Ha! I laugh at that and now I know better than to do any date predicting.

But if you've been following this blog, you've seen a lot of the last year already. Here is what we've been doing in our 4th month of waiting since being placed on the wait list for our little boy and girl.

• Had a delicious traditional Indonesian meal made by Trixie's mom, visiting from near Jakarta, Indonesia. (Don't tell anyone, but we're pretty sure she smuggled in the delightful spices like saffron and lemongrass on her flight!)
• Went to Lucas' work holiday party at Wynkoop. 
• Friendsgiving (Thanksgiving #1) Lucas and I made Hasselback sweet potatoes with goat cheese and sage butter. This was the first time we had ever done a dinner with friends for the holidays. We had a great time and I'm hoping it's tradition!

Meat-carver Matty and his stout-brined turkey.

Friends.

• Thanksgiving #2 Dinner with friends and family at my parents house in Castle Rock. We made a green bean casserole despite the fact that I usually loathe it because everything in it comes from a can and it tastes so processed (*glimpse of food snobbery here. I try not to show it- but it probably comes out  more often than I care to admit). So we made one from scratch- and boy, was it good! We also made baked brie with a raspberry almond sauce. Mmm.
• Thanksgiving #3 This was in Wellington at Lucas' mom and stepdad's house. This year, Carrie raised her own turkeys from chicks and I'm sorry to say we ate one of those boys. But not too sorry, because he was delicious. AND, did I mention he was 40 pounds? He barely fit in the oven. I made my favorite alternative to stuffing- another recipe from my favorite Alton Brown- a sweet corn bread pudding. It didn't turn out quite as good this year- maybe because I skimped on the herbs and had to refrigerate the batter before putting it in the oven since we were waiting 6.5 hours for Mr Turkey to cook. Oh well.

Jon and one of the turkeys. 

This turkey makes the oven look mini- but I assure you it is a regular sized one!

• Thanksgiving #4 was a great one as well with all of Rick and Claudia's family. Everything was delicious here too, which surprised me, since it would be my 4th turkey of the week. The puzzle this year was a scene of 36 of the top 1000 Places to See Before You Die. I doubt I will ever get to all of them, but at least I'll get to go to Ethiopia- which I'm not sure is even on the list. But it's on MY list.
• Celebrated my beautiful sister Sarah's 28th birthday with a Sunday brunch party, sister margs, and a trip to the much anticipated and newly opened H&M. At her brunch birthday, we got to catch up with a few old friends and meet Moses and his mom Kate. Moses was adopted from Ethiopia about 6 months ago and is about the cutest little guy ever. It is reassuring to know we have some friends that we will soon have many things in common with. 

Sari is going to make a wonderful aunt. Happy Birthday!

• Got a check-in from the adoption agency, saying everything is moving along nicely in Ethiopia.
• Got really excited as our friends Jennifer and Tom left for Ethiopia today to go meet their 2 baby boys! They are using the same adoption agency as us and will likely be at the same orphanage where our kids will come from. I can't help but wonder if our babies are there now, or have been born yet; but hoping that wherever they are they are experiencing love from someone close to them. Really looking forward to catching up with them when they get back. 

Now- time to exercise after all that food! And yes, I do mean I will be getting to know Gilad quite well in the next few weeks. Haha! (Hey- it's a free workout! No money for a gym membership around this household)

We have MUCH to be thankful about! Love you all,

Yes, we know it's controversial.

Yesterday, this NPR story aired and it was obviously very close to my heart.

So, to those of you who have wondered- yes, we know international adoption is controversial. And that fraud exists. And that having an interracial family will be hard. And we aren't trying to be a trendy Brangelina family. We just want to be *a* family.

And no matter how you slice it, there are millions of kids (an estimated 5 million orphans and homeless children in Ethiopia, in fact) who don't have a family that can take care of them. Right now. And can't wait for their country's infrastructure to get better.

3 months waiting

We've made it another month on the waiting list, and we’re almost 1 year into starting the entire adoption process. I got a note from our adoption agency today, and they said they've put a little tickler system into the adoption agency in Ethiopia to check up on our application every so often. It’s good news to know we won’t get forgotten! This is what we've been up to while we've been waiting:

• Was on this Fox 31 News story with a dweeb. Watch the clip.
• Cousin Sean visited from South Carolina. We had a great time catching up and hope he gets a job here in CO!
• Got to see the changing leaves first in the mountains, then in Denver a week later, and then in DC a few weeks later. That’s triple more fall than usual!
• Had our first snow fall of the season.

• Went to my work’s annual Conference of Leaders. This year it was in Baltimore, MD. I spoke at one session, and ate some crab cakes on the company dime.
• Ate at our friends’ new restaurant: Wild Catch
• We were surprised by Lucas's sister Jacque, visiting from Pasadena, CA. She didn't tell anyone she was coming to Colorado for her friend's baby shower. We were all excited to see her and got to spend some quality time together at the zoo on a beautiful Denver day.

• Surprised by an anonymous person who left money for our adoption on our doorstep.
• Celebrated Halloween a little differently with a party where all our foods were the color black. It was fun to be creative with food like black sushi, black lentils, black quinoa, mussles, escargot, black bean hummus and frito pie, seaweed salad, dark chocolate torte, and of course preserved duck eggs.

Black bean frito pie and olive tapenade

Lucas's black sushi made with forbidden rice

• Spoke about eating healthy on a budget at the Botanic Gardens for Food Day.
• Saw Portishead- one of my all time favorite bands who I never thought I would get to see live. Check off the list!
• Presented my poster in DC at the American Public Health Association Conference. 

• My mom came with me so we could do some sightseeing together. Had a wonderful time!

I'm sure Lucas has a few things to add to this list, since he played a few shows, had some Halloween fun times while I was out of town, and probably a few other things I'm missing. 

Still counting the days until we get a call!

Anonymous Gift

Lucas and I now have enough money to pay for our first trip to Ethiopia!

Someone, a very sneaky and anonymous someone, blessed us with money for our first trip (whenever that may be). Both Lucas and I were floored and humbled by this when we found a note on our door that had a generous amount of money inside. Our letter was signed "from God" and we're so thankful that we are loved both by Him and our anonymous donor.

I don't cry often, rarely shed a tear. Ask Lucas- he thinks I have a cold heart (but then I say- hey, at least I don't bawl when flipping through the TV channels and stopping on a clip of a horrible Ben Affleck movie). So thanks to someone for helping clean out my dried, dusty tear ducts this week- which I'm sure can only be good for my health and heart. A friend once told me that she never cried about much until she became a mom. I must be practicing.

Thank you, thank you.

Love Ethio food!

Lucas and I have had the chance to eat a few more meals at Ethiopian restaurants in the last couple of months. We had Ethiopian at Nyala in Fort Collins with Lucas' fam. We had a great time showing Rick and Claudia how to eat with their hands and were happy to have Lucas' brother Barry join us! I found some of the pictures (from my phone- sorry about the quality):

A traditional version of an Ethiopian place setting

While Nyala was good, we discovered our FAVORITE Ethiopian restaurant in Denver this week: Queen of Sheba (at Colfax and Quebec). This is by far the best quality of food we have had yet. Our Wednesday night rotating dinner group decided to take a break from cooking this week and head out for a new food adventure. It was Doug, Hayley, Rob and Stephanie's first time with Ethiopian food. Of course Lucas and I were so happy to teach everyone about our new love of this food. A sweet older Ethiopian woman runs the place, and was very happy to explain the dishes and let us try samples of the Tej (sweet honey wine) before we ordered it. The Tej was more effervescent and Sake-like than at other places, which I liked. Also the Sambussas were amazing and all the meat and vegetable dishes were spiced extremely well. We will be taking people here from now on to introduce them to the food. There is also an Ethiopian market (Merkato) next door where we can buy Injera- the spongy sour bread used as a utensil to eat- when we finally cook some of the dishes from our cooking class.

Lucas and I had a chance to get away to the mountains last weekend where the weather was perfect and the aspens were changing colors. Very relaxing after a hectic work week. 

Grandma Dolan writing her memoirs on her special Chinese red desk in her cabin sun room.

enchanted forest

Family cabin in Bailey, CO

Mom and Sari

Josh and sister Sarah

Happy Fall!

2 months waiting

Here we are at 2 months since we have submitted our dossier. Nothing new to report, except we're waiting, waiting, waiting. But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy (in no particular order):

• Planted and landscaped one of our front flower beds with my dad.
• Said goodbye to my Grandpa Tedford. Rest in peace.
• Rode the oldest carousel this side of the Mississippi. 

• Kicked butt at trivia. Lucas and I play with various friends at different bars and restaurants.We have won 3 weeks in a row at Moe's BBQ. It's pretty fun and we win food and drinks! www.geekswhodrink.com
• Celebrated Claudia's birthday with fancy cocktails, a rooftop dinner, and some music.

• Hung out with my good friend Trina who I haven't seen in ages.
• Had dinner in Longmont with Lucas's family and brother Gabe who was visiting from Portland, OR.
• Attended 3 weddings: Eleanor + Kevin, Jason + Becky, Megan +Jeff

• Lucas is now playing in all his bands again. He's had 4 shows and 11 practices.
• Went to a rock n' roll BBQ at Larimer Lounge to see our friends in Snake Rattle Rattle Snake play. They're getting pretty big these days.
• Played putt putt golf. I sunk this shot, by the way.

• Played Blue Rhino in the park.
• Helped our friend Kat move into her new place.
• Saw my Uncle Mike, visiting from Brevard, NC
• Walked the Poudre River trail with Claudia while Lucas went on a Triumph motorcycle ride with his dad.
• Went to La Loma (sorry we went without you, Lane) with Lucas' mom, Nick and Jon.
• Hung out with my good friend Sarah who I haven't seen in ages.
• Received the most adorable quilt (#1) made by my mom. Awaiting quilt #2!

• Went to the hugest antique mall at the Brass Armadillo. Luckily they had maps so we knew how to get out. You'll be seeing Christmas gifts coming your way with some re-purposed items from here.
• My poster on Ending Childhood Hunger in Colorado got accepted and I'll be presenting it at the American Public Health Association Conference at the end of October.
• Ate Ethiopian food with Lucas's parents and brother Barry. Sadly, the pictures were erased. 
• Watched a candle-lit Sweet Tooth Meat Tooth (our friends Doug and Hayley's musical side-project) performance under the stars in the "germ garden" next door to Kitty's South.
• Had the tree in front of our house removed. By order of the city.
• Had our lawn, or maybe I should more appropriately say weeds, cut down by my dad with a mega mower. By order of the city.
• Fixed my vacuum cleaner with my bare hands and a screw driver.
• Lucas got in a minor car accident and now has regularly scheduled chiropractor appointments.
• Survived an earthquake....?
• Hung out with my Uncle Dan and lovely cousin Jackie, visiting from Martinez, CA

• Had a few happy hours with good friends.
• Hung out with my cousin Jared and his adorable family, visiting from Kansas City, KS
• Talked about how to eat healthy on a budget live on Channel 4 News.
• Continued our beloved Wednesday rotating dinner night with friends Doug, Hayley, Robbie and Stephanie.
• Helped my sister design flowers for a wedding or two. 

Happy Ethiopian New Year!

Melkam Addis Amet!

Today is the Ethiopian New Year, called Enkutatash (en-koo-TAH-tash). I thought I would give a little history/culture lesson today since we don't have any new info while we're waiting for our babies.

Most of Ethiopia still follows the Orthodox Julian calendar. Unlike the Western or Gregorian calendar, the Julian year has 12 months of 30 days each and an additional 13th month with 5 or 6 days (depending on Leap Year).

Meskerem is the first month of the Ethiopian year. The first day of Meskerem, New Year’s Day, falls on our September 11 this year. Ethiopian New Year is a time to express hopes and dreams for the future.

Enkutatash marks the end of the rainy season in Ethiopia, when fields bloom and the spring begins. The literal meaning of Enkutatash is the “gift of jewels”. This is in reference to the gifts the Queen of Sheba received after her expensive journey to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem. The first day of Meskerem also marks the commemoration of Saint John the Baptist.

In Ethiopia, people celebrate New Year by placing flaming torches of dry leaves and wood in front of their houses on New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Day, the people attend church, dressed in traditional Ethiopian attire. Historically, people would send flowers to mark the occasion, but greeting cards have become more popular. Villagers celebrate with singing and dancing.

Lucas and I plan to celebrate this holiday once our children are here. Creating new traditions with family is something we've always been excited about. So, if you get yellow flowers on September 11th from us, know that we're including you in the celebration. At the end of the rainy season and on New Year's day, yellow daisies bloom across the wild fields surrounding Addis Ababa called Yadey Abeba, identical to our Tickseed Sunflower.

We'll also go out for ET food, as most restaurants will stay open late for feasts and dancing.

On the 10th anniversary of the terrible events that happened at the Twin Towers, although we'll never forget, we're now ready to embrace and celebrate a new culture that will be a part of us very soon.

no worry

HABAKKUK 2:3

If it seems slow, be patient!
For it will surely take place.
It will not be late by a single day.

Not much of an update...

But our dossier is on its way to Africa!

Dossier Submitted!

Well, it's official. We have submitted our dossier, and a whole lot of money (!!!). This is what we've been working on for the past 3 months. We took a little longer than anticipated, with Luke's 3 knee surgeries and all, but we're finally done!

Our dossier consists of paperwork that tells everything about us (from family photos, a study of our home and relationship, medical records, blah blah blah) each notarized, then given the state seal, all in triplicate. Lucas and I both had a HUGE sense of relief when we completed the final organizing and stapling of papers:

So now what? Our precious precious stack of papers will make it to Washington DC sometime early next week, and then forwarded on to Ethiopia. Sometime during this period, we'll officially be put on the wait list for a little boy and a little girl! (related or unrelated, both under 24 months)

And now, the real waiting begins.

Ahem... NOT twins.

So, this week I've been a little heart-broken.

We got news that adopting boy/girl twins had an indefinite wait. (Partially my fault for assuming, but I also thought that waiting a "little longer" meant a few months and not a few years.) It turns out that Radu, the man who oversees matches in the orphanages our agency uses, said he has only ever seen 1 set of girl/boy twins, translating to years of waiting... IF we were the first in line to request this. Twins, boy/boy or girl/girl, would be about 18+ months for a referral (which doesn't include travel or the wait time for processing the visa and all legal matters).

So- no twins for us, unless we decide that is the only way we'll go. And it isn't.

Right now, we are deciding between adopting 2 unrelated children (approx 6-8 month wait for a referral... although one can never be sure) or going back to our original plan to adopt 1 child.

I know we'll make the right decision. Thanks for your thoughts.

Luckily, my husband knows how to cheer me up by delivering these beautiful flowers to my work by sis Sari at Ladybird Poppy:

Cute, huh?

Traveling to Ethiopia info session

On Friday, Lucas and I attended a session provided by our adoption agency about traveling to Ethiopia. Of course, we are still many months away (we are guesstimating about 6) from actually travelling, but our agency invited all families who were waiting for matches. We learned a lot from a few couples who have just completed their first trip (remember, there are 2 trips we all must take before we can bring kids home). They had a lot of great information about visiting the orphanages, seeing the kids and their living conditions, where to stay, what to eat, and a little bit of what to expect. We saw pictures and learned a little more about how things are done in Ethiopian orphanages. It made it much more real for both of us. Please feel free to ask us about it, as I'm not sure I'll get to write it all here.

We met new people (couples and single moms), had wine, and ate great catered Ethiopian food from Abyssinia restaurant. We also got to spend some time with a few friends we had met at the first adoption training, and another couple we had met at the Ethiopian cooking class we took back in March. It is so comforting to know we aren't in this alone and we're developing a local support system of friends who are also adopting from Africa.

3rd Time's a Charm

Lucas is having #3 knee surgery today. His last incision became infected, so they are cleaning out the wound to make sure it doesn't spread to bone or blood. The surgeon is optimistic that this will be very minor and it won't disrupt his physical therapy or recovery time. Let's hope this is OFFICIALLY the LAST surgery for him. We've got bigger things to move on to, right!?

Twins!

Almost there... just a few more pieces of paperwork to gather together and we will officially be put on the waitlist... for TWINS!

After a lot of thinking, and through the thick of the adoption paperwork, Lucas and I seriously began considering adopting 2 children. We discussed with our adoption agency and found that we were only approved for ages 0-2 years through our home study. So, without a lot of extra paperwork to expand the age range so we could find siblings in Ethiopia, we decided to request twins. We thought this could slow the process down for finding a match- but it turns out that there is an abnormally high rate of twins in Ethiopia, and that we could even be matched sooner than waiting for a single child. I won't hold my breath on that, but knowing the wait time wouldn't be significantly different was good news.

Yes, we may be crazy.

Pictures from our Alaska trip - May 2011

cousin Adrienne and her groom Casey!

Lucas' cousin Corey and his wife Defne

Luke's Uncle Craig with his daughter the bride

rugged.

boat faces

Cousin Jerred

starfish in the crab pot

Dungeness crab

Lucas is a sure shot. Shooting driftwood on an island after we reeled in the crab.

Aunt Hilary, with her boys Henry and Bernard

fish sticks guys

Creek Street in Ketchikan AK

BALD EAGLES!!!

on the float plane

The room where we stayed in town. The Preachers House.

The happy couple.