Our Last Week in ET (at least for awhile)

We all arrived safely home on August 4th, 2012! I'm slowly updating with pics as we get used to our new life as parents of 2 very busy little ones. More pics to come. 

Hangin' at the guest house. We did a lot of this. A lot. 

We happened to be without hot water for a large part of our time at the Guest House. Lucas is making a bucket bath for the babies.

So glad Aunt Audrey came with us!! We got a little stir crazy at the guest house- so decided to venture out for a meal at Lucy Cafe. Yum!

Uncle Menge helps us eat pizza at Lucy Cafe.

This time, Ethiopia was much colder and more rainy. We should have packed warmer clothes!

Cutting the bread for our send-off coffee ceremony at the Foster Home. We will miss you, Sister Beletech!

Lark and Otis say goodbye to their nannies. There were many tears this day. 

Getting ready for our flight- portioning formula into bottle inserts made it so much easier for us on the plane ride home (although there were many other things we weren't prepared for... hello diaper blowouts every hour!)

Saying goodbye to Menge's family. We will always remember Aziti, Tsyone, and Rahel.

Passed out in Frankfurt. Almost home...

Clearance (x 1/2)

"Yippee!"

Lark passed Embassy!! We got an email two nights ago. Now we are just waiting for Otis to clear to travel. Ack! Am I ready? I guess so!! So exciting, and never thought this day would come!

Sorry We've Been MIA

We are still here!! We haven't posted since we've been back from Ethiopia in May. Some of you have even dropped us a line (a few complete strangers) to ask how we are doing. Sorry! Maybe it's because we've been a little heartbroken since we left Lark and Otis on May 16th, or maybe it is because we've been so busy this summer getting ready for the day we can bring them home. We're hanging in there, and expecting an email any day saying our cases have been cleared. In the mean time I'll just post a bunch of pictures, since that seems to be easier than forming words at the moment. 

Baby Room is ready and waiting for babies to fill it!

Fitsum is here! We'll be hanging out with him and the Jens and babies all summer.

Latest pic of Otis Alan Agegnehu. I think he is walking, or almost! 

Jalene Lark Elili has 2 teeth!

First visit! "Who are you people?"

First family photo. LOVE

Mom practice. Miss them so much.

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! 

What a crazy coupla weeks!

Sorry for any suspense as I know I left my last post as sort of a mystery...

*Complainer Alert!* I have barely been keeping my head above water these last few weeks with a hectic work schedule (working 10 and 12 hour days), no car, and the mix up that happened last week with our sweet boy. I have been stressed, feeling defeated at work with little support, feeling guilty for making people drive me around, and just want to focus on the cute pictures I get maybe once a week. *Complaining over, I think*

So- I'm not so sure that I should be writing this in a blog, but I want those that are also in the adoption process to know what bumps may come along the way. Two Thursdays ago, when we were anxiously awaiting any news on our little Agegnehu, we got an update email late in the evening from our adoption agency... with pictures of a frail, thin baby who was 6 months old and only 8 pounds. We sat there staring in disbelief and we searched the picture for any feature that slightly resembled the healthy baby boy we had gotten a picture of only 2 1/2 weeks earlier. We were certain there had been a mistake. We immediately called our agency and left a message. I made Lucas do it because he would sound meaner. How could our baby have 1) changed ages 2) lost 3 1/2 lbs in 2 weeks 3) not look anything like the first picture?

We were shocked when we heard back from the agency that this was in fact our Ageghehu, that he had become very sick, and that we just didn't recognize him because of the weight loss. Lucas and I still weren't convinced. But we felt everything was out of our control. We tried to talk ourselves into believing that the pictures were of the same boy: "Maybe the eyebrows are the same... his ears are kinda the same shape..." Either way, we were somewhat mourning the loss of our healthy baby- the one we had first gotten the picture of and studied daily. Our little boy in pink was now very sick. I began researching formulas to send with friends to Ethiopia. This boy had to get some weight on him fast. We had already heard this week of a little girl who died of pneumonia in the same orphanage... this could be us. Somewhat thankful that I have a nutrition background, I started to believe that this boy was meant to be my son.

Fast forward 4 days. I get a call at work, on a busy busy day. "You were right. We made a mistake. We found your Agegnehu. There was a mix up between the two orphanages. This never happens. Your boy is safe and healthy."

Emotional roller coaster. Bittersweet. Jerking our hearts around! Now who will love the tiny Agegnehu? It's still too much to think about at times. But I am SO happy we have our boy in pink back!!! I am already madly in love with him.

There is more to the story that I won't share here. I will always think about tiny Agegnehu, I hope he finds a family soon.

This week's stats:

Jalele Lark (~6.5 months)
11lbs 12oz, 24inches

Otis Alan Agegnehu (~5 months)
11lbs 13oz, 26inches

Both are growing... but I would be a happy with about 5 more pounds each! Can't wait to get you babies! C'mon court date!!!

And I really can't wait to celebrate these two on Friday. You should come... we'll have pictures! Thanks again, Sarah and friends!

Injera and Berbere

The last few weeks have been somewhat frustrating waiting for updates and pictures of our little babes. Today we went on an emotional roller coaster that I'm not sure I want to share with anyone yet. We're still waiting for more info... hoping things get cleared up tomorrow or very soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week.

We did get Jalele Lark pics. She is getting so chubby! And her hair is simply gorgeous. This week's stats:
11lbs 7oz, same length and hc

On another note, Lucas and I have been doing some Ethiopian cooking. We are finally using our skills from the Ethiopian cooking class we took back in March 2011 (R.I.P. Generous Servings Cooking School, sniff). We also received some ingredients from a very sweet friend of the family for Christmas: teff flour for injera, berbere spice, tamarind, and fenugreek seeds. She also gave us a cookbook by Marcus Samuelsson, a celebrity chef who happens to be adopted from Ethiopia.

We used his recipe to make our version of Injera, and it actually turned out good!! Not quite as sour as what I have tasted before, but perfect consistency and look! We were pretty proud of ourselves (and special thanks to Hayley for perfecting the batter). This is not a traditional injera, as apparently, the real thing is made with a sourdough culture type starter. I hear that is virtually impossible to find in the USA.

Here is the close-as-it-gets recipe:

2 cups teff flour or fine ground whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 cups club soda
2 Tablespoons clarified butter (although I just used cooking spray)

Whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the yogurt into the club soda, then stir into the flour mixture to make a smooth thin batter (like a crepe batter). Strain through a sieve or strainer to remove any lumps.
Grease a large skillet with clarified butter and heat over medium-high heat. Pour 1/2 cup batter into the pan in a spiral, starting at the center, and cook for 20 seconds. Cover the pan and cook for another 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate and cover with a cloth to keep warm while you cook the remaining injera. Makes about 12 large flatbreads.
*my notes: I didn't want to use all of my hard-to-find teff flour at once, so I used 1c teff, 1c whole wheat, and 1c all purpose flours. The batter should be very thin. I found I had to add almost double the club soda to get the right texture (which could be from my use of greek yogurt instead of regular- I thought it would make it a little more sour?). I also had a huge pan. If you don't have an extra large non-stick pan, I would use a little less than 1/2 cup for each injera so it can get thin enough. It took a bit of practice. But we had plenty of flatbread to serve with our meal.

Final product served in what I will call "Modern Ethiopian" style (ha!):

Miser Wat (Berbere spiced red lentils), Injera, Ginger Honey Sweet Potatoes, and an Arugula Salad. Oh, and wine, lots of wine. Success! We had fun sharing with our Wednesday night dinner crew Doug, Hayley, Rob and Steph.

Crossing my fingers for a snow day tomorrow, and good news.

XOXO

Party and a Few Updates

This week were surprised by Sarah and friends with a party/fundraiser for our adoption! Lucas and I are pretty floored at what caring wonderful friends and family we have. Please come celebrate if you can!

Friday, Feb 17th, 8-11pm
Lost Lake Lounge
3206 E Colfax Ave

Our friends have organized an art auction, bands, and suggested donation at the door. We will also be collecting gently used and new baby blankets to donate to the orphanage. We're so grateful and excited for a fun time!

In other news, still no new pictures. Of either baby! People, you're killing me here.

Lucas and I decided on names, which was hard. But we are utterly in love with them and their now somewhat pronounceable names :). There is something to be said for naming your own child, and I never realized what a special process it is. We wanted to keep Agegnehu's (sounds like "again yahoo") which means "I have found you!" as his first name, but we just decided it would be too difficult to pronounce/spell especially when he starts school. We added in Alan because we thought it was very special to both Lucas and my families, as it is both my dad and Lucas's dad's middle name.

Otis Alan Agegnehu 

+

Jalele Lark

Rougé

Waiting, waiting, waiting for pictures and a court date. Really hoping these babes will be home by July.

Oh yeah, my car died this week. Dead. So amidst the adoption and crazy work transition (maybe more on that later?) Lucas and I will be carpooling everywhere in his 1985 Landcruiser which we are hoping will pass emissions this week. We may need some extra patience right now...

And now we have our boy!!

We were supposed to receive our referral of a boy and a girl at the same time. But- we are adopting, so things are bound to not go as planned. On December 5th, 2011 we found out about our 5-month-old little girl in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On January 11th, 2012 we finally received word of our 3-month-old kissy-lipped baby boy!!

We know much more about him from his referral paperwork than we do with Lark. While I won't tell his story here, we do know where he was born and how he made his way to the orphanage. His lips are so big and kissable, and for his debut picture, we was adorned in a very pink sweatsuit! I can't help but giggle when I look at this picture, his expressions seems to be so serious- like he is telling us how tough he is even though we are seeing him in all pink. I'm not big on pastel pinks and blues for defining genders, but I have to admit it is pretty funny!

For some reason, naming this boy is much harder. His given name will be pretty hard to pronounce and spell in our culture- so we are working on a name that works for everyone but honors his Ethiopian heritage.... hmm.

This week's stats for baby boy:
11lbs (he weighs more than Lark, who is 3 months older!)
22 inches
head circumference: 15 inches

This week's stats for little Lark:
(we got an adorable smiley pic of her this week)
10lbs, 7 oz (may have lost weight? or maybe measurements are off? Will try not to get concerned yet.)
24 inches
hc: 15 1/2 inches

We couldn't be more excited about our family of 4!! Please pray for a court date soon!