tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81950315154179356102024-02-07T03:52:03.642-05:00Adding AndrewsOur Ethiopian Adoption JourneyKrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-2178961891996821502010-01-26T21:13:00.004-05:002010-01-26T21:17:45.481-05:00Toothless GrinsMinna is teething. Come on little toofers... break through already! Little mouth...BIG OUCH.Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-13031951554895830092010-01-18T15:48:00.004-05:002010-01-18T16:32:59.697-05:00Nine Month Check-upMinna was in for her nine month check-up last week and she is doing great! She's up to 17.1 pounds! Way to eat Min! She's in the 25th percentile for height, 15% for weight and 75% for head circumference. And the best news is that she's finally gardia-free! Yeah for a happy, healthy baby! Oh and she's got skills too... She can clap her hands, blow kisses, cluck her tongue, pitch a royal fit, self-Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-9142057319717387502009-11-21T00:00:00.012-05:002009-11-21T13:42:36.369-05:00Finally Uploading PhotosPhew, who new it would be so hard to find time to upload photos. Three months later... this is what we all look like... hope you enjoy their sweet faces as much as I do!!!Mina the sweet is a strong sitter with no more wobbles. She's started solid foods and so far green beans are her favorite. The sides of her hair are growing in but her daddy still thinks her mohawk is pretty hard core awesome...Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-52206782026485785872009-11-12T20:48:00.003-05:002009-11-12T21:48:21.612-05:00Three Months of Blog Free Family Life...In case you were wondering, I didn't take an oath to avoid the blog for three months. It's just that I seriously don't sit anymore. And if I do sit, I'm liable to fall asleep and even if I can stay awake it is difficult to think clearly with all of the activity around me. The couple of time I did sit down I couldn't come up with words for all the emotions I was feeling at the time and stared at Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-21086916585941318772009-08-17T14:07:00.004-04:002009-08-17T21:36:19.245-04:00HomeWe are home. The kids are great...so precious and wonderful. Hailemicael has really taken to his Daddy. All three big kids plus some neighbors are out playing soccer (futbol) in the front yard. Ben is the goalie. Minalush is happily napping in her room. She seems to be handling the time change (7 hours) just fine with a tendency for one long nap in the afternoon and another long nap or two Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-75727564117406737392009-08-11T15:01:00.001-04:002009-08-11T15:01:32.045-04:00More PhotosSo... the connection here is a bit slow for all these photos. I'll give it another try and hope they post... I can't get the nicest ones to download tonight... I'll try again later. One more bottle for Minalush and then it's off to bed with me. Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-52950139788931147422009-08-11T14:43:00.001-04:002009-08-11T14:43:37.218-04:00Adding Andrews PhotosBen and two of our wonderful children are sleeping and our tour guide doesn't have us running around anywhere so I thought I'd post some pictures. Immediately before meeting the kiddos I thought that I would surely faint or throw up or something equally embarrassing but I pulled it together an just cried a muffled cry. I was trembling uncontrollably and overwhelmed with emotion. We Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-85970211007792653502009-08-10T16:30:00.001-04:002009-08-10T16:30:23.116-04:00The Kids Are PerfectI'll start by saying that there is so much to write, I wil in no way do justice to how things went today. Here are a few thoughts: We arrived at the transition home this afternoon after filling out paperwork and having lunch with the other families. Everyone was nervous. So much waiting on this moment. We knew we would be going first since families meet their children in alphabetical Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-92129227878431437242009-08-08T16:36:00.001-04:002009-08-08T16:36:23.545-04:00We are happily in our Guest House and ready for so serious sleep!Hello everyone. We made it safe and sound to our hotel and our driver and guide are wonderful. One of our bags is still in Amsterdam which we should get by tomorrow at midnight. Our donation bins have been taken by someone to get a permit from the government or something and we hope to see them again at somepoint this trip. Please pray that all these bumps would smooth out in the long run. AtKrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-37751458721539965862009-08-07T11:22:00.003-04:002009-08-07T11:25:14.079-04:00...1 and we're off!We are packed and ready to go...next time I blog I will be on the other side of the world! Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragement along the way. Love to you all!Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-89304169417028142532009-08-06T12:07:00.001-04:002009-08-06T12:07:21.630-04:00This is a testThis is a test. I am testing emailing the blog because in ET often people have difficulty getting onto blogger...so here goes. THIS IS A TEST..... Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-47244432241192857152009-08-06T07:08:00.005-04:002009-08-06T07:29:26.204-04:00We are Leaving in 2...Well, actually it's tomorrow, but we don't leave until later in the day so I'm counting tomorrow as a full day. That way I feel like we have more time to pack. :)We will be meeting our precious children on Monday morning... a concept that is still very difficult to grasp. It's so exciting I can hardly believe it's really happening!Please pray for safe travel, our health (not feeling too well thisKrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-73275754147688710172009-08-05T06:43:00.005-04:002009-08-05T06:57:40.606-04:00We are leaving in 3...We are leaving in 3 days and today is all about my kids here at home. They have been VERY patient over the past year and a half of paperwork, often getting told "no, sorry not right now" to many things because we were not spending any money on anything... and they are just so ready to do something FUN! So, last night I took them out to Steak 'N' Shake and told them they could order any shake theyKrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-37879324939292843002009-08-04T21:51:00.003-04:002009-08-04T22:21:00.073-04:00We Are Leaving in 4....Four more days. We will be on a plane for 20 hours. Then we will get off that plane and have to wait two days until we see the kids. Those two days are going to seem like the longest days yet. It's a good thing I know without a doubt that God's timing is perfect and mine is not. What's that.. you want proof of this? OK here's an example... today for instance when the Executive Director of A ChildKrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-1485269966919406682009-08-03T06:38:00.003-04:002009-08-03T07:00:01.259-04:00The Final Countdown...We are Leaving in 5...It's 1:20 in the afternoon in Addis Ababa as I write this.... 6:30 AM here at my desk. Five days from now I will be waking to start my day when it is 1:00 AM here at my desk. But then again all these time zones are meaningless considering our daughter eats every three and a half hours. :) I think we will just sleep whenever we can without regard to what time it is in Addis or even here, at my Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-80295844119949322482009-07-31T20:48:00.006-04:002009-07-31T21:14:01.259-04:00July Update PhotosAre they beautiful or what? Min has an awesome mohawk in these photos because the nurse had to shave her head for her IV meds when she had pneumonia. She has since had her entire head shaved for her passport photos, so we will be bringing home a sweet little baldy. We also heard she weighed mere 10 pounds at 4 months and she eats four ounces 7 times a day. The update also said that she is doing Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-53788690075084283632009-07-31T18:55:00.003-04:002009-07-31T20:13:57.365-04:00The Real DealThis is the REAL DEAL!!! Our tentative travel dates are now concrete!!!!!!!!!!!!We are going to Africa to meet our kiddos (and to bring them home!) one week from today! I've been holding my breath for two weeks and now I can let loose and celebrate (and pack and finish overhauling my house)! Plus we have new pictures and updates on Haile and Min. Plus we have like 10 cases of children's medicine Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-43895519749648702622009-07-27T09:38:00.005-04:002009-07-27T09:55:16.738-04:00The Name GameHailemicael and Minalush... how would YOU pronounce these names? We have been working on pronunciations for the last two months and finally think we've got it. A friend of a friend who has lived in Addis for several years emailed me with her take on the pronunciations. She seemed pretty confident about it too. So these are the names of our kiddos...Minalush... say min-ah-looshHailemicael... say Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-35031341790426517512009-07-15T11:10:00.006-04:002009-07-15T15:57:59.018-04:00Baby Min is healthy and strong!After an agonizing weekend we received word from Minalush's physician that her lungs are clear and she is doing well now. Phew, I can breathe again. God is good! I often wonder what would have happened to our beautiful girl if she had not been at our agency's transition home during this sickness. She may not have had any access to medical care or the necessary medications. I recently read that Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-71141635157710450802009-07-08T22:12:00.011-04:002009-07-08T23:02:45.284-04:00Introducing...It's my great honor to introduce the rest of our family...Our son Hailemicael AndrewsHailemicael with a fellow adoptive parent looking at our photos for the first time. I wonder what he thinks about us??Hailemicael showing his WMU spirit!Our daughter Minalush Andrews at 4 months old (this beautiful photo was just taken a few days ago)Minalush's referral photo taken at around 3 monthsSo sleepy!So Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-62729622929908051652009-07-08T18:31:00.002-04:002009-07-08T18:33:08.255-04:00We are Family!We got a call from our agency that we passed court today. The judge looked over the papers and ruled that they are our children...officially! I will post pics and more info soon. Whooohooo! God is Good.Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-10364540310583428172009-07-07T17:24:00.005-04:002009-07-07T18:01:08.133-04:00Sad News and JoyWell my fellow blogstalkers... we got some sad news yesterday. I couldn't really bring myself to post about it until now. We did not pass court, but we did not fail either. The judge wants to take a closer look at the paperwork before she makes a decision. She is not requesting further documentation or testimony, just more time to go over the paperwork. So, in theory we do not as of yet need Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-47949454761444378592009-07-05T18:56:00.002-04:002009-07-05T19:03:51.357-04:00It's Our Day!It's currently 2AM in Addis and while I'm pretty sure they aren't hearing our case quite yet, they will hear it today! Please pray for our kiddos and all that "paperwork". We are trusting God tonight so PLEASE go to Him on our behalf and ask Him to bring our kiddos home. Today is also the day they will receive our packages and see our faces for the first time in the photo books we sent them. IKrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-22062703484123799512009-06-29T17:43:00.004-04:002009-06-30T08:06:30.403-04:00Care PackagesAlthough we still have one week until our court date our agency allows us to send care packages to the kids via other adoptive families who are traveling before us. We have also signed a release to allow this wonderful family to take pictures of the kids recieving the gifts. We spent quite a bit of time putting these together and we pray that our kids will be encouraged and excited to get them.Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8195031515417935610.post-36453715250634802572009-06-22T00:20:00.004-04:002009-06-22T00:39:53.132-04:00Court DateI had been going crazy waiting for the phone to ring and then Ben received an e-mail last week with news of court date. It is exactly 2 weeks from today! On July 6th, our case will be heard in Ethiopian court and we are praying that we will pass the first time through, of course, because I want to go get those kids and bring them home and take care of them! After court it's an approximate 2-4 Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05690928325445897470noreply@blogger.com2