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: