We're Home!

Well, we made it home finally! We started our journey home at 6:00pm Ethiopian time on friday and arrived at our house around 6:00pm CST on Saturday or 2:00am Ethiopian time sunday morning. That is 32 hours of traveling. Tsehay never cried once. We were amazed and kept waiting for her to start. Every other kid was why not her.
Upon arriving in the US and making it through customs and in true seattlite fashion we stopped at Starbucks. It tasted so good. We also ordered an ice water with extra ice which was equally as good.
When we arrived in Milwaukee my dad and our son were there to meet us. I grabbed a hold of Ayden and couldn't let go. It felt great. When we got in the car Tsehay and Ayden held each other's hand. That was it. The moment you will remember for life. A long journey finished with two tiny hands holding each other and a simple smile.

Last Day! (Edited)

So this was the update I sent out on Friday and it too did not make it across the Atlantic in its entirety. Again, I will try and recreate this email.

So it is friday and we are so excited to be leaving tonight! We can't wait to get home and see our son and introduce him to his sister. Yesterday afternoon was hectic to say the least. It began with a trip to the doctor's after lunch. The doctor looked at her ear and said it was red and she wanted us to get a stool sample for the diarrhea. We decided to feed Tsehay and wait around for some poop. An hour later she finally went but it was to liquidy to get a sample so we left. We went back to the house and devised a way to get a sample. It involved a trash bag. Meanwhile we were upset about not getting a medicine for her ears (something about wanted to know the results of the stool sample first) so I walked back to the doctors. I told her we wanted the medicine for her ears and she gave us some amoxicillian. When I got back Tsehay was asleep halfway in a plastic bag (Jarusha closely monitoring her). Soon after I got there Tsehay let one loose in the bag. I grabbed the bag of liquid poop and proceeded to make my way through the streets of Addis to the doctors. I had 20 minutes to get there before she left for the day so I was speed walking. I got there with 5 minutes to spare and so the doctor and I went to a testing facility and found that Tsehay has Giardia. I got some medicine and made it back to the house in time to eat a cold supper. At least we had the medicine and would have 4 doses before we got on the plane.
The night went fine Tsehay slept though it. Friday morning came and we were all anxious to get packing and get on our way home. Jarusha did most of the packing while I watched Tsehay. There was a hair braiding demo and a cooking class in the morning and then a coffee ceremony after lunch.
We leave for the office at 6:00pm tonight to pick up our paperwork and lifebook and then it is off to the airport.

This would have been the last email I sent from Ethiopia.

Update from Ethiopia (Edited)

So I sent this update from Ethiopia and it had about a page of text to go with it. Apparently the pictures were the only ones to make it across the Atlantic. I will try my best to remember what I wrote:

After we left the Hilton, we took Tsehay back to the care center which was hard to do since we had spent an entire day with her. What did make it easier though was the fact that on the drive there she had another large bowel movement. We told her to hang on and that we were almost to the nannies!. That was the fourth one of the day and we were out of diapers and clothes. We dropped her off with a full diaper. I bet they thought we were the best parents ever!

The dinner at the crown hotel was really cool. We were all exhausted from having the kids all day that a night out on the town was a blessed relief. The food was traditional, Injera and all the usuals, and there was also tripe (cow stomach). I am glad I asked first, Jarusha wishes she had :) The dancing was amazing and very entertaining. All in all a very nice dinner with great people.

The next morning (wednesday) we all went shopping with out the kiddos. We bought traditional ethiopian outfits, art for the walls, and coffee! We drove through the famous Merkato market but did not get out. Apparently, its too dangerous for Americans or tourists. The market was really neat with a lot of cool stuff to buy. The poverty however, was sad. There were a lot of disable, poverished people there. Several could not walk and would where shoes on their hands and walk on them. One old man used cut up rubber tires to protect his arms and hands and crawled along the street. I think I even saw another beggar give him money. While there are indeed parts of Addis Ababa that are flourishing there still is a lot of poverty.

After shopping we went back to the house and had lunch. Then around 4:00pm we went to the care center to pick up the children and have a goodbye ceremony. We arrived at the center and were led down to a larger room. There were around 20 school-age children sitting in chairs and they were all pretty cute. There was one wall that had a large Ethiopian flag painted on it and tons of little hand prints. The wall read "Children adopted from Ethiopia in 2007". Once the ceremony started they brought all the children down in traditional Ethiopian attire. Tsehay was in a dress with a pink and white head band. There were prayers, putting hand prints on the wall, cake eating, and nannies presenting parents with their children. The nanny that handed Tsehay to us never cried but did keep a watchful eye on us. I hope she feels that Tsehay will be loved and well cared for. It is obvious that the nannies develop quite a bond with the children and give them lots of love.

After the ceremony, we all went back to the house with the children to spend the first night with them. Tsehay cried for about two hours upon getting to the guest house. This was very tough because we did not know when she would stop, how she would fair the rest of the weeks, we were pretty depressed and sad for her. Then finally she stopped and we had a good evening hanging out with our friends and their little boy. When it was time for bed she laid right down, went to sleep, and slept through the night. We both woke up and counted our blessings.

Thursday morning consisted of more diarrhea and some tugging at her ear. We decided to take her to the doctor after lunch.

This was about where I left off on this update.

Pictures of Tsehay in her Traditional Ethiopian outfit:

Another Update from Ethiopia

Hello Everyone,
Well lets see it is Tuesday afternoon and today we picked Tsehay up in the morning and have had her all day. We went to the embassy and everything went fine. Now we are at the Hilton confirming flights.
Tsehay has been quite a challenge. We feel that she is has had a connection with a nanny or two and is going through some grieving. She also has gas, maybe allergic to bananas, has scalp problems, cries quite a bit, has diarrhea, and is completely adorable. Tomorrow we have shopping in the morning and then we have a goodbye ceremony. Tonight is a dinner at the crown hotel with traditional food and dancing. Jarusha sends hers love as she kisses Tsehay.
Tell Ayden we love him and will see him soon.

Hello from Ethiopia!

Hello Everyone,
I wrote this long email on my laptop but can't use it to connect to the Internet so I have to send this shorter version:
We made is safely after a long flight! We could not sleep on the plane so we were really tired when we first met Tsehay. Our first meeting lasted 15 minutes and she was a little weary of us but did not cry when Jarusha picked her up. She is even more beautiful than her pictures and seems to be kind of quiet. We left and went back to the guest house to eat lunch and then we took a nap and slept through our second visit with her :( . Sunday morning we drove down to Hossana to meet the birth family. The trip was very cool and the country side was awesome. When we arrived we were told that the family will be late and were asked if we wanted to wait. We did. Everyone left and we and another couple waited around for 3 hours. Finally, the families arrived and we went in to a room to meet her. We were told that she was not the birth mother and that the mother could not be found. The women was instead a woman who took the mother in when she was pregnant and cared for her and Tsehay for 4 months. A lot of the questions we were going to ask were pointless, however, we did find out a little information about the beginning of Tsehay's life. We left and drove home. We stopped to pick up two families that had left 3 hours before because they had a car accident. The fault of a Donkey I hear. They are all okay but stiff and sore.
Today (monday) we were suppose to go to a museum with the other families but instead decided to stay and see Tsehay since we have only spent 15 minutes with her since we have been here.
Tsehay was a little grumpy and has a rash under her arm. She cried when the doctors were looking at her arm and when they applied Hydrocortisone. We then picked her up and took her outside where she fell asleep in Jarusha's arms. She has not let me hold her too much but that is okay. As long as she bonds with one of us that will be fine with me. She looked sweet and peaceful in her mothers arms. We will eat lunch today and then come back and meet with the doctor this afternoon. Tomorrow is the embassy.
We love you all and can't wait to get home. Ethiopia is nice but our home is better! Will write more later.

We're in DC!

Well, we made it to DC today and checked into the hotel after getting a little lost. We went to dinner and swam in the pool and now we are heading into the city to see some sites. The flights were uneventful which is always good. We'll post some pics from downtown when we get them. Stay tuned...

One week to go!

One week to date and we will be starting our long journey to Africa. Two nights in a row I have been up at 3:30am unable to go back to sleep. At least I have been getting stuff done though. This morning I sanded some wood filler that I used to patch a big hole I drilled in the crib by trying to mount the mobile permanently. Then I painted it to match the rest of the crib. I put another coat of polyurethane (Sp?) on the secretary desk that I painted. A copper base with brown crackle top coat. I think it looks good and will add pics when I get some. Yesterday, I watched a movie while I organized a gigantic stack of papers and bills. Maybe tomorrow I will rewire a switch that I screwed up wiring the first time. Since it will be dark I will have to do it by flashlight. Or I could mow the lawn, again by flashlight, although the neighbors and my wife may not appreciate it.



I have joked that I would get drugs from the doctor to give to J but now I'm thinking I will need them more than her.

We have her Birth Certificate and Court Order

We received her Ethiopian birth certificate and official court order documents over the weekend. We were shocked at her picture on the birth certificate because it did not look like her referral pictures at all. Plus she had a nice shiny bruise over her left eye. Her hair is also growing in and we found out that it is customary to shave girl's hair so that it will grow in all even and beautiful. Notice that her middle name is my first name. Funny I know. It is how they do it in Ethiopia. We will change her name when we re-adopt back in the US.

Here is her BC:

Tsehay fell and bumped her eye

Got an email from our agency that said Tsehay fell down and bumped her eye. Sounds like she will be fine though. I wonder if that means she is walking?

An Update!

We received an update from our agency today that included height and weight measurements. Tsehay is now close to 20 lbs and is in the 50th percentile for US girls. A lot of children from Ethiopia never register on the US scale when they first get here. She seems as healthy as can be and we are confident she is getting the best treatment possible at CHSFS's center in Addis.

Fire and Sun

In case you were wondering about the title and address of our Blog, Fire and Sun, it is the meaning of now both of our childrens names. Ayden means fiery or fire and Tsehay means "The Sun" in Amharic. I guess it is sort of fitting then that we kept her name as Tsehay. Now we will have double the warmth in our lives.

Tsehay Elizabeth is officially ours

The last day of Ethiopian court and our case made it through! Tsehay is officially ours! We will be traveling to pick her up September 14th and returning September 21st. We have decided to keep her name as it was given to her. Her official name will be Tsehay Elizabeth. Her middle name is named after both my grandma and Jarusha's grandma, two very special ladies.

Introducing Tsehay!

Well after four months and 12 days of waiting we received a referral for a gorgeous 9 month old girl named Tsehay (Sah - High) She is beautiful and healthy. She weighs 16 lbs and is 69cm tall. She was born on October 1st, 2006 which means we will have two October birthdays! She is from a small farming town in the southern region of Ethiopia called Shinshicho. She entered the care center in Addis Ababa on May 31st.

She is sitting up by herself and has met most of the developmental milestones for her age. Her personality is described as "Playful".

We are now waiting for an Ethiopian judge to declare she is ours. This will hopefully happen before the courts close sometime in the beginning of august. Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Here she is:

"Protected by God"

One possible name we are considering is Samarra. The name Samara is of Hebrew and Arabic origin and its meaning is "Guardian", or "Protected by God". Jarusha originally heard the name before the scary movie "The Ring" came out and is what we would have named Ayden had he been a girl (Ayden is Gaelic and means "Fire" or "Fiery"). Her middle name is still undecided and may be her birth name.
We are also considering Mia or Miya(Miah, Maya).

Welcome

Well, this is our first official post and we have no idea what we are doing. We have seen others blogs and thought this would be a good way for our friends and family to view updates on our adoption process and life in general. Welcome, and hopefully we can get my computer-illiterate wife to write a few posts!