Here We Go!!!

The car to take us to the airport arrives in 5 minutes.

In two weeks, little tummies will be fed at this table.

Little art projects (or big messes!) will happen at this table.

And little boys, our long awaited beautiful, beautiful sons will be sleeping in these beds (or not!).

Words cannot describe the joy and gratitude that I am feeling right now!

Thank you for all your love and support!

XOXO,

Heidi, Mark, Derebe & Degaye

Lasts

The packing is done.

The house is mostly clean.

Mark is at work, so today is my last day at home alone with the dogs.

All I can hear are the sounds of my laptop fan and the birds outside. It is a beautiful spring day, full of sunshine and soft breezes, and my roses have started to bloom. I can see bright pink blossoms from where I sit.

I am drinking it all in, the solitude, the silence, while I can.

I am going to spend this evening putting together a little table and chair set, imagining the many art projects, snacks, pretend train rides that will happen there.

Soon I will no longer have to imagine.

Tonight is our last night at home without our sons.

Blog Shower Day Two

Is Rebecca the greatest or what?! I am loving this blog shower idea!

There was some really wonderful advice given yesterday so if you haven't traveled yet, make sure you read through the comments from yesterday. If you have already traveled, or have an opinion, don't be shy. We'll take all the advice we can get! You can also see pictures of our progress.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, just click the link below and read from the oldest post up. Thanks for sharing in our excitiment!! Two days to departure!!

http://celebratingheidi.blogspot.com/

You Are Cordially Invited to Heidi's Blog Shower

Come One, Come All! It's time to celebrate. So fill up your glasses, pour yourself your favorite cocktail, eat some chocolate, and get ready to shower Heidi with love, words of wisdom, and your lovely presence!!! It's going to be a three day shower in order to give Heidi some time to process and enjoy it all. The idea is to help her through the whirlwind of packing and getting ready. And to save Monday as her day to chill out and have a nice glass of wine and a pre-travel day of pampering ... if possible. Please,check out her shower blog for all the fun! Can't wait to celebrate with you all!!!



Heidi's Blog Shower
It's a three day extravaganza!!!

Where: http://celebratingheidi.blogspot.com/

When: May 15th-May 17th. Keep in mind each day there will be a shower gift for one lucky participant so be sure to stop by every day!

May 15th: The Bags Are Getting Packed & She's Getting Ready to Go with your help!

May 16th: Reflections on meeting with Birth Family members/what you wish you could ask or know.

May 17th: Showering Heidi with Poetry, Lighting a Wish Candle, and random bloggy silliness!

It's Really Happening!

Our tickets and rooms are booked! Now all I have to do is get home from this business trip and start packing.

Yes, once again I got the good news while traveling. I have done a lot of happy crying in public places this year! This time I was in the quiet car on the Amtrak train. Thank goodness for being able to share the news with everyone over the internet or I think I would have burst! You all are awesome, by the way. Your support continues to move and floor me!

I am a planner by nature and we have been planning this trip for two years so I think we are in good shape. We have just about everything we need, maybe one more run to a store or two, but mostly just need to figure out how to stuff it all into suitcases! To those who have given us tips and advice, THANK YOU!!!!

We will be flying to Dubai, spending the night there, then spending one day/night in Addis before driving down to Awassa and the surrounding area where the boys are from. We will be back in Addis on Sunday and that's when we take placement of our sons!!!!!!! We will spend a week getting to know each other before flying back home!!!!!!!

It is hard to believe that this is really, finally happening!!!! We're coming boys and we already love you with all our hearts!!!!!!!

Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIVE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SIX DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the worrying and waiting and wondering about when is over!

We leave in SIX DAYS!!!!

SIX DAYS, PEOPLE!!! Can you believe it???

Finally, on this last important step of the process, we fall into the BEST CASE SCENARIO!

Hallelujah!!!

Holy cow!!!

SIX DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Suspense Continues

Most families find out their travel dates the day they pass court...

But it just wouldn't be right for us to get through this last and final phase without a few delays, would it?

Our agency needed a little extra time to find out if they can get our court decree in time for us to travel in the next group.

Fine, no problem.

We thought we would find out on Monday...

Then Tuesday (today)...

Now Wednesday!!!

So, tomorrow.

Okay, no problem.

Tomorrow we hope to hear that we will be traveling in the next group, which would mean we leave in ONE WEEK!

They did tell us to put our flights on hold so I'm hoping that's a good sign...

One week, people!

But first, tomorrow...

Mother's Day 2010, Baby Birdies and Travel Dates

I truly enjoyed my very first Mother’s Day. Mark went uncharacteristically over the top in his attention to detail, for which I am so grateful. For starters, my first Mother’s Day gift arrived via UPS about 30 minutes after finding out that we passed court. I opened the box, read the enclosed note and turned into a puddle…

“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! We love you very much! Please plant these beautiful flowers in your garden and think of us when you look at them! Love, Derebe and Degaye”

Apparently he wanted it to be delivered on Wednesday when our original court date was scheduled, or so we thought, but they couldn’t deliver it until Thursday. Then it turned out that our court date was on Thursday afterall, and my door bell rang 2 minutes after I'd finished calling family and friends to tell them our great news. Talk about perfect timing! The gift is a collection of spring bulbs that I will plant in a corner of our garden to remind us of the wonderful day we officially became parents.

Yesterday I did the traditional lingering in bed thing, even though I am too excited about meeting our sons to sleep in, and Mark served me a lovely breakfast complete with chive flowers from the herb garden. He also surprised me with a hanging basket of MORE flowers. Is he great or what?!

Later we discovered that the robin, who made a nest in our climbing rose last month, also became a mother last week. There are two precious little baby birds in the nest now—twins!—beaks open to the sky, waiting to snack on one of our many garden worms. I tried to sneak out there this morning to take a picture of them but as I approached the nest I spotted Mama Bird with a big fat worm in her mouth and decided to leave them be. I'm sure she has enough to worry about without me snooping around!

The rest of the day was spent picking up things for our trip, sorting through cloths and making piles of things to pack. Instead of counting the days spent waiting for something to happen, I am now counting little socks, pajamas and t-shirts! Hooray!

I know that this holiday is not a day of celebration for everyone. The knowledge of another mother half way around the world was ever present yesterday, and with that comes sorrow, but for us the timing of this holiday is wrapped up in a joyous occasion—passing court and officially becoming parents after so very long—and that will always be an occasion to honor and celebrate both the mother I have just become, and the one whose loving sacrifice made it all possible.

We are supposed to find out our travel dates today. Belay needed a few days to find out if he can get the court decree in time for us to travel in the next group. If he can then we leave a week from tomorrow!!! I really hope this is the case, not only for the obvious desire to meet the boys as soon as possible, but because there are two families traveling in that group that I would be beyond thrilled to meet in person. Stay tuned...

***Update: we heard from our case worker but unfortunately she did not hear from the in country staff today. Hopefully we will know more tomorrow. Why should this part of the process be any different from the rest of our process, right?! Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow...***

What a Difference a Year Makes

Last year

This year!

SOMEBODY PINCH ME

We passed! We passed we passed we passed we passed !!!!!!!!!!
I can hardly believe it but they are OURS and we are THEIRS!!!!!!

HALLELUJAH!

It is with overwhelming joy that I introduce you to our boys.

OUR SONS!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Let's try this again...ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Hope is a waking dream."

Aristotle

Three Court Dates Would Have Been Too Easy

That's right, no court date for us tomorrow after all. Apparently it is a holiday in Ethiopia and the courts are closed.

I know, good grief!

The good news...the very good news...is that we are on for Thursday and we got confirmation that the new ID has been obtained.

Aaaaaaaah!

ONE

Two years ago this month, a tragic and defining event occurred in the boys’ young lives that ultimately led to their relinquishment.

One month after that event, in June of 2008, Mark and I began our journey toward them, a decision that will define and bless us the rest of our lives.

For so long, delays and unfortunate timing seemed to be the name of the game when it came to starting our family. The delays started long before we began our adoption, and our adoption process itself has not exactly been a smooth or expeditious one. Many times I have wondered why this one thing, the thing I want more than any other thing, has been so difficult to achieve.

One look at the boys was all it took for me to understand why.

I may not be their mother yet, but I feel deeply that I am meant to be. These two boys, born in my heart long ago, are meant to be my sons. Maybe it will be tomorrow, maybe not. If not, at least we have come far enough to think that it will be soon.

That makes me feel like the luckiest person on earth.

Totally worth waiting for.

TWO

"The world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it."

Helen Keller

THREE

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

FOUR

"Children are the reward of life."

African Proverb