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!

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....

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,

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. 

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.