Team Huss

Eden Recap: months 13-16 of life; months 6-9 home

2012-02-08T16:09:00.000-06:00

Time for another catch-up post all about Eden!

Physical/Medical
You’re a long and lean 19 ½ pounds and 31 ½ inches tall. You have definitely sprouted some long legs that any woman would LOVE to have! You have a total of 7 teeth now (you added 1 to the bottom) and you are cutting 2 more on the top. Your top 2 front teeth are growing in at different speeds, so we say that you’re the only kid who is cute enough to pull off the snaggletooth look. Heehee!

Temperament

You are such a happy little girl! You love people, but you also love playing independently. You are very smart—you love books and you have a very long attention span when you’re working on something like a puzzle or a game.

Development

During this stage, you really became interested in pushing buttons, flipping switches, opening and closing doors, and putting things inside other things (like trash cans!). You’ve become quite the helper! It’s fun to watch you learn on/off and open/close…but we have to watch out for things disappearing into the trash!

Like a lot of kiddos, you’ve also become very interested in electronics! Touch-screen phones / tablets are definitely your favorite, but you also love remote controls. Turns out you know exactly what you’re doing with those things, too! Crazy!

You started walking in full effect at Thanksgiving (during your 14^th month). Like most babies, you resembled a wobbly newborn foal when you first started, but once you found your balance, you were off and moving!

You love going up the stairs, but haven’t quite mastered going down, so we still keep the baby gates up. You can easily navigate smaller steps (out the door, off the deck, etc.) and it’s fun to see your independence and drive! You’re a total trooper, so when you fall down you just get right back up and keep going. The only exception to that (i.e., when you cry) is if you truly hurt yourself—which isn’t very often.

Stepping up…

Stepping down…

Taking off…

Communication

You are quite the chatterbox these days! We are just dying to know what you’re talking about, but we enjoy having conversations with you nonetheless. Some of your most common words/phrases are “mama,” “daddy” (pronounced “dah-dee” with emphasis on the “dee”), “uh-oh” (pronounced breathy like “huh-hoh”), and “go go go” (usually said at the TV during a football game or to the dogs when they are in your way). Your other chatter is in a language we can’t interpret yet (heehee!). It’s so stinkin’ cute to hear you talk, though!

You sign a few things to us regarding food. You ask “please” (by rubbing your tummy—close enough!) when you want a snack, you tell us you’re “all done” (both hands waving in the air) when you’re finished with a meal, and we’re still working on “thank you” (it looks a lot like blowing a kiss, so you get kind of confused by it).

You wave to people a lot (hi and bye). You know the motion for “touchdown!” You give people “fives” if they ask. You still love to make sounds with your mouth…clicking with your tongue, motorboat with your lips, etc. And you still love to clap your hands!

Food

You are quite the snacker! Just like your mama, you need a morning snack and an afternoon snack. Favorite snacks include goldfish, fig newtons, pretzels, animal crackers, cheese, and mini-marshmallows. Although you’re not picky, some of your favorite foods include cheese ravioli or tortellini, edamame (soybeans), waffle fries (from Chick-fil-A), and any kind of fruit (blackberries and mandarin oranges are your current favorite fruits).

You drink everything from a straw now. You drink whole milk in the morning, water throughout the day (mommy’s water bottle is a favorite for that!), then diluted orange juice (or what we call H2Orange) at dinner. Daddy makes smoothies frequently (just fruit and juice) and you LOVE those!

Sharing your snacks with the dogs…caught in the act!

Sleep

You sleep about 12 hours at night, with a 2-3 hour nap right after lunch every day. You go down very easily—one of us will just hold you with your head on our shoulder and hum/sing for about 30 seconds, then we lay you on your tummy in your crib and quickly close the door to your room. You take about 5-10 minutes (sometimes a bit longer) to get settled, but then you fall asleep. It’s fun for us to watch you “get settled” via the video monitor. You’ll gather all of your blankets (and sometimes your little pillow) and bury your head in them with your little booty up in the air, you’ll toss and turn until your “nest” is just right, then you fall asleep. You usually fall asleep on your side on top of all of your blankets, so we’ll cover you up before we go to bed.

Current “Loves”

You are quite an adrenaline junkie! You LOVE spinning, jumping, swinging, climbing, and anything going fast. It’s fun to watch and listen to you squeal with delight! It makes your mama kind of nervous, but daddy loves it!

Climbing on the table at Debra’s house…

You LOVE upbeat music on tv or movies (Sid the Science Kid, Veggie Tales Princess and the Pop Star, I’ve Got a Dream from Tangled, etc.). You stand in the middle of the living room and dance, twirl, clap, and sing to the music. Very cute!

You absolutely LOVE being outside! Thankfully we live in a climate where you can spend plenty of time in the great outdoors. It is definitely part of your daily routine to play in the yard—you explore, play with the dogs, walk around with your arms up and chatting about who-knows-what. It is seriously too cute!

You LOVE your stuffed animals and your baby doll. It’s so sweet for us to watch you give them hugs and kisses without our prodding. Hopefully you’ve picked that up from being in such a loving family.

Tucking Pooh in...

Giving Pooh a hug...

You LOVE for your Daddy to “get” you. You will go into another room and call for him. When he comes to “get” you, you will squeal and dive into a pillow (or one of the dog beds on the floor) and wait for him to tickle you.

You LOVE all things Elmo. Because of generous family members, you now have an Elmo chair, Elmo slippers, and an Elmo remote control. If we pass by the Elmo toys at Target, you just have to stop and play with them (luckily you don’t throw a fit when we don’t purchase them!).

You still LOVE to play inside the dog kennels. You take a toy or a snack into one of the kennels and pull the door closed. Too funny!

With your baby doll…

With a snack (banana)…

You’ve only been sick a couple of times, but you LOVE taking medicine from a medicine dropper. It certainly makes it easy for us to administer the medication, but it’s kind of quirky that you love the dropper so much!

You LOVE books! You will bring us a book, turn around to sit in our lap, and wait for the story to begin! You have certain go-to books: The Little Red Hen (you love the repetition and rhyming in it), The Jolly Barnyard (you love seeing all of the animals and waiting for us to make the animal noises), The Baby Animal Sounds book (you love to push the button that corresponds with the animal on the page).

You LOVE the movie Tangled. You get very involved in the movie and will dance and sing along with the songs, clap when good things happen, etc. It’s a bit of an obsession, really. J

You still LOVE your pacifier. We now only make it available to you during nap time, night time, or car seat time, and you don’t seem to mind that it’s not always there. Maybe that means it won’t be too hard to wean you from it completely one day…

You absolutely LOVE your grandparents! You get to see Grandma every Thursday evening while mommy and daddy go to small group. And you get to see Grandpa most every week as well. Nina lives further away, but you love talking to her on the phone and seeing her when she comes to visit.

Some Firsts

You had some “firsts” during this time of your life…

First Halloween:

First Thanksgiving:

First Christmas as a Huss:

First family wedding (your Uncle Josh married Aunt Katy):

First Texans home game (and playing on the field after the game):

We love you, sweet girl (our “little bird” or “little lovie”)! You bring so much JOY to our lives!

Baby Bump Update

2012-01-15T14:35:00.000-06:00

Here is the 25-week baby bump shot...

Yep, I definitely "popped!"

Feeling Good, but Big

I continue to count my blessings with how well I've felt throughout my pregnancy. Lately I've been feeling more of the uncomfortable things that come along with my belly being big. Things like not being able to bend down easily (I have to go sideways now) to pick something up or tie my shoes; things like the stretching that my skin is doing in order to expand with Callie (luckily no stretchmarks...yet); things like the fact that my belly button is disappearing and it seems like I can actually feel it going away (stretching). But seriously, I'll take these things any day because I know of the miracle that God is doing in my womb right now. And I know that many women want this feeling, but can't have it. So I definitely count it all as a blessing!

Health Stuff

- I survived my glucose test! Don't have the results yet, but I'm happy to have that test behind me (although, it wasn't as bad as I had worked it up in my mind to be--thankfully)!

- Cal continues to be active and move around a lot. Ben can finally feel the movements now, so he's happy about that! We have another ultrasound this week--pumped to see how she's progressing!

- I also start my prenatal yoga class this week and I'm super pumped about that! I loved yoga for the few years that I took, and am happy to get back into it--especially now that I need to be in tip-top shape for labor! I'm interested to see the poses that we'll be doing now that bellies are more of an obstacle. ;)

A Connection

Throughout my pregnancy, I've felt a more emotional connection to Eden's birthmother (and all birthmothers). I can't even fathom the painful decisions that a birthmother has to encounter, but now that I'm experiencing a pregnancy of my own, I feel more connected to what they feel as their child is growing in their womb. As we started the education portion of our own adoption journey, I began to truly respect birthmothers. That respect is now at an entire new level.

Happy Referral-versary to Us!

2011-12-22T13:49:00.000-06:00

One year ago today, our lives were forever changed by this little face...

On December 22, 2010, we got the call that every adoptive parent longs for, dreams about, and prays for--our referral call! And ours came just in time for Christmas!

We were completely elated--and shocked--that we got the call when we did. If you've followed our story, you know that it was because we were open to a child with an infectious disease (specifically HIV) that we got matched with precious Edeneku. And you also know the miracle that God worked in her little body to completely free her from ANY disease!

NOTE: you can click on the "Our Journey to Eden" tab to the right if you want to get the whole story.

These were the pictures that sustained us until we got to see her for the first time in person on March 15th.

Sweet baby girl, we love you SO much and can't imagine our lives without you!!

Click here if you want to see the original referral post.

Updated Baby Bump

2011-12-20T15:57:00.000-06:00

We did an impromptu maternity photo shoot at my family's farm in Louisiana over Thanksgiving break (my youngest sister is a photographer). Here is one of our favorite shots...

OK, so that's obviously just a joke. What can I say? We're a bit "different." heehee!

Here is the real 20 week baby bump shot...

"Bean" has a Name!
At our 20-week ultrasound, we found out that we're having another GIRL! She's measuring a bit petite (which I certainly don't mind!!) and is healthy. Her name is Callie Jeanne Huss. The first name is a variation of Ben's sports hero, Cal Ripken Jr. The middle name is Ben's grandmother's name. We'll likely call her all kinds of nicknames...Cal, Callie Jeanne, CJ, Callie, Callie Bean...the options are endless! We are super-excited to have another little girl around the house sometime in late April!

A Gymnast, Perhaps?
I'm now 22 weeks along and Miss Callie seems to be a little gymnast! She keeps me up at night sometimes with her acrobatics. And we're pretty sure that she's not a fan of loud movie theater sounds (maybe the bass?). We went on a date the other night and she didn't calm down until the movie was over. I hope the poor thing wasn't scared that entire time! I did my best to muffle the sounds (piling coats on top of my belly, etc.), but I'm not sure that helped at all. It's such a weird feeling, but I'm counting it as one of the many blessings of this pregnancy--there is LIFE inside my womb--how cool is that?!

Stretching and Growing
I'm starting to feel the pains of my muscles stretching, and I'm sure the lovely stretch marks on my skin won't be too far away. ;) My doctor says I'm right on track with weight gain, etc. so that's good. Sometimes I feel like my weight gain has got to be crazy, but then she weighs me and it's not much at all. Whew! I'm blessed to have a hubby who constantly tells me how beautiful my growing body is (and he actually means it!). Again, I'm counting my blessings.

And how is Eden?
I'm way overdue for an Eden blog post, so that's next on tap. She's doing GREAT! We are incredibly blessed with our baby girl--who is growing up right before our eyes! Stay tuned...

The Baby Bump

2011-11-02T13:23:00.000-05:00

This is for all of my out-of-town girlfriends and sisters...

The 15 week baby bump (supposedly Bean is the size of an apple this week)

Funny Story
On Sunday afternoon, as I was trying to take a snooze (nap while Eden's napping, right?!), Bean decided to get the hiccups and keep me awake. At first I thought I was just feeling my own pulse (you know how you can sometimes feel it in weird places). Then I realized it couldn't be my pulse unless something was really wrong with me--teehee! I knew it was too early for me to feel any sort of kicking, etc. from Bean, so I checked the all-knowing internet to see what it could be. Sure enough, it mentioned that I could likely feel jerking movements if Bean got the hiccups. Mystery solved, but it still kept me awake. Just felt too weird for me to sleep...but it was really cool to feel the baby!

My Health
I continue to feel very blessed that I have had an uneventful pregnancy thus far. Due to my crazy aversion (read: fear) of needles, I'm glad I haven't had to be poked any more than what a "normal" pregnant woman has to be. I am dreading the glucose test (can't remember when that will take place, but I'm dreading it nonetheless). I'm not really dreading it because I'm worried about the results. It's the idea of downing a nasty "beverage" in a short amount of time that has me completely grossed out. You see, I don't drink many beverages other than water, so even the idea of having to drink a soda would gross me out. I just keep reminding myself of the millions of other pregnant women who survive it...so I'm sure I will, too. ;)

An Amazing Realization
Maternity pants are freekin' awesome! I've just started wearing them (thanks to friends who are letting me borrow their maternity wardrobe--I'm so blessed!) and they have changed my life. All I can think of is how awesome this Thanksgiving meal will be now that I'll be wearing "stretchy pants" like this! (But unlike Joey on "Friends," I'm wearing them for legitimate reasons.) Oh, and it's been a great self-esteem boost to be wearing pants two sizes smaller than my normal pants. Thank you to the makers of maternity gear for sizing them like that!

Expansion

2011-10-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

It's time to share with the blog world...Team Huss is expanding again! This time biologically--Lauren is pregnant!

Eden will be a big sister sometime around April 21st (same timeframe that we came home with her this year)! We are very excited that God is continuing to bless our family with children!

First photo of "Baby Bean" at 8/9 weeks...

Now at 14 weeks, Bean is currently the size of a lemon (says the internet), and the baby bump is definitely showing. Lauren has been blessed to have an uneventful pregnancy thus far. Please pray for continued health of both her and Bean.

Some questions you might have...with some answers...

Was this planned?
Yes. Once we were home and settled with Eden, we began praying that God would give us clarity on how long to try to get pregnant or when to start our next adoption process. We are blessed that God gave us such a clear answer so quickly! No medication of any sort was required for Lauren to get pregnant.

But I thought y'all adopted because you couldn't get pregnant?
Actually, that is NOT the reason we adopted. While we had certainly been trying to get pregnant back in 2009, our choice to adopt was that we clearly felt God calling us to adopt. The fact that we weren't pregnant certainly helped us in saying "yes" to that calling, but we still knew that having biological children was not out of the picture for us.

Will you adopt again?
Yes. We both feel strongly that we will adopt in the future. The when and where are uncertain at this time, but we're certain that we'll adopt again.

Thanks so much for all of your love and support! We'll keep everyone posted on our progress!

Hero?

2011-09-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

I really, really, really like this post. One of the comments we get a lot is that we "did such a good thing" by adopting Eden. Or we're "such good people" for adopting Eden. Are we heroes? Nope. We just did what God told us to do. It's as simple as that. And He gets ALL of the glory for it.

Eden Recap: months 10-12 of life; months 3-5 home

2011-09-12T18:50:00.000-05:00

Ummm, so we’ve been a bit busy around here (like all parents) and we’ve neglected Eden’s scrapbook installments. Oh well—at least we haven’t neglected her! So here’s a catch-up post…

Physical/Medical
You’re still a petite little girl, teetering around 17 pounds and 29 inches tall. You’re as healthy as can be and you’re long and lean! And EVERYONE comments on how beautiful you are.

Your skin is soft, your fingers are long, and you have a total of 6 teeth now (you added 2 on the bottom and 2 on the top).

Temperament
You are still a very content, happy, smart, and playful baby. That’s the other thing that EVERYONE comments on. We know we are blessed!

You definitely test your boundaries on things and don’t like to be told “no” (who does?), but you’re responding to our discipline attempts fairly well. Our biggest challenge is keeping you out of the dog food bowl!

Development

You started crawling in full effect during your 10^th month. You are fast!

During your 12^th month, you have become very interested in walking. You pull up on everything and are trying to stand on your own. You’re very good at plopping down on your rear end instead of falling on your back/head, so that makes it easier!

During a recent trip to Minnesota, you learned how to climb stairs and we’re working with you on how to come back down properly (on your tummy; NOT head first). In the meantime, we keep the baby gate up!

Communication

You talk (babble) a lot! It’s sweet to listen to you talk and we wonder what you are saying. You’ve recently started saying “Mama” a LOT (you used to only say it every now and then). When Mama walks in a room, you reach your arm out (it actually looks like you’re doing a Hitler gesture—oops!) and you say “Mama!” Makes Mama VERY happy! Poor Daddy…

You still love to make sounds with your mouth…clicking with your tongue, motorboat with your lips, etc. And you love to clap your hands!

Food

You love your solid food! You are not a picky eater at all. Solid foods are much easier (and cheaper), so we’re happy you’ve got enough teeth to chew! Bananas and carrots are certainly favorites, but you’ll eat anything we put in front of you.

You are drinking through a straw now. It only took one day of “training” before you got the hang of it! For now we’re only giving you water in your straw cups, but soon you’ll graduate to milk (instead of formula) and we’ll try juice eventually.

You crack us up with your faces! This is the face you make when you try something sour. Believe it or not, you still go back for a second taste!

Sleep

Praise the Lord for sleep! You’re consistently sleeping through the night now (and have been for a few months). If you do wake up at night, it’s because you don’t feel well (which isn’t often). We’ve recently transitioned you to one afternoon nap instead of a morning and afternoon nap. We did this because you were taking a while to go down for your naps, then you’d only sleep for an hour or so. With the one nap a day, you definitely sleep longer (2 – 2 ½ hours).

You still love being in either of our slings. Daddy’s sling is particularly magical for those times you need to sleep when we’re out and about!

Some Quirks

You crack us up with some of your little “quirks”…

You are very expressive with your eyebrows! Here’s one of your favorite “looks”:

You recently started making a face when we take out a camera, so this is your “cheese” face:

You’ve forgotten that you know how to roll over from your back to your tummy. It’s hilarious. You get stuck like a beetle on it’s back!

You love to eat paper! I guess we’ll have to change your nickname from “little bird” to “little goat!”

You are super cute when you stick your pointer finger into your paci:

Some Firsts

You had some “firsts” during this time of your life…

First time at the beach (you loved eating the sand!):

First 4-wheeler ride:

First jet ski ride:

First NFL football game (Vikings vs Texans):

First time meeting your great-grandmothers (in Minnesota):

Our Cloth Diapering Routine

2011-08-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

After this post, a couple of you asked about our cloth diapering routine, so here goes...

The Basics: We use FuzziBunz brand. They are pocket diapers, meaning there is the diaper part and then an insert that is the absorbent part. Both get washed. We have 16 of the perfect-size diapers in small. (With FuzziBunz, you have the choice of one size diapers or sized diapers. Click here for the comparison.) We actually purchased off of the FuzziBunz clearance center (factory irregulars and slight defects) and we can't really tell what the defects are--it can be something as small as a stitch that's not perfect. We chose to do the perfect-size diapers once we saw how petite Eden is. The smalls will fit her for a long time--potentially all the way until potty training. The one-size diapers work well for kiddos who aren't as petite.

I cannot figure out why this photo is flipped sideways--forgive me!

Wipes: We use both cloth wipes and disposable wipes. Cloth wipes at home; disposable wipes while we're out and about. We found that, when using cloth diapers, it's actually much easier to use cloth wipes as well so you can just throw all of the dirties (diaper and wipe) into the same pail. If you use disposable wipes, you have to put your cloth diaper in the pail and then the wipes in the trash can. So really, it's just more efficient to use cloth wipes. I'm not crafty and I'm more into efficiency, so I just purchased a 12-pack of GroVia cloth wipes because they were the cheapest I could find that still had good reviews of being soft and a good size. You could also make your own out of pieces of flannel. I bought a $1 spray bottle from Target, labeled it "wipe spray," and keep it with the diapers. The solution is simply water, a bit of baby soap, and a bit of grapeseed oil.

Storage: We have 2 FuzziBunz Hanging Diaper Pail bags (so we always have a bag to put the dipes in, even with a load is being done). We put them in a trash can with lid (specifically, it's a simplehuman 30-liter round stainless steel step-on can) that we keep in the laundry room (others keep a pail by the changing table, but we tend to change most diapers downstairs near our laundry room, so this works best for us). We use the trash can to contain the odors--just the bag alone will not do that. We also have 4 FuzziBunz Zipper Diaper Tote bags, and we keep one at a time in the diaper bag. It's nice to have multiple of these since we typically go somewhere at least once a day (and only wash every third day).

Changing Wets: Before opening the diaper, we spray a cloth wipe with the solution to have it ready. After we change her diaper, we immediately go step on the trash can pedal, shake the insert out of the diaper (which is easy because the insert is holding all of the pee, thus it's heavier than the diaper and gravity takes over), and drop all 3 pieces (diaper, insert, and wipe) into the bag. Done and done.

Changing Poos: Again, before opening the diaper, we spray a cloth wipe with the solution to have it ready. If I'm sure it's a poo, I spray 2 wipes because I'm not good enough to do all of the clean up with 1 wipe. After we change her diaper, we immediately go to the toilet and use the cloth wipe to get most of the poo into the toilet. Because Eden is on solid foods, most of her poos are in little "patties" and are easy to scrape into the toilet (no touchy-touchy for us--we use the cloth wipe to do the scraping). When she is sick or eats something funky and the poo is runny, it's harder to get any into the toilet, so it just goes straight to the bag and we pray it all comes out in the soaking process. After the poo is in the toilet, the routine is the same as with wet diapers (shake out the insert, drop all of the pieces into the bag). Done and done. NOTE: Many people use sprayers that are attached to their toilets to help get the poo off. We've never tried this, but if you're reading this and it works well for you (meaning the poo doesn't get sprayed on your walls or anything), please let me know.

Wash Routine: We have to wash her diapers every third day or so. We prefer to start the wash in the morning. So, once Eden wakes up and we change her from her nighttime diaper, we take the diaper bag with all of the dirties out of the trash can and dump the entire thing into the washer. A benefit of the FuzziBunz bag we use is that it unzips on the bottom so all of the diapers, inserts, and wipes just fall right out without you having to touch anything. Then you put the bag right in the wash with everything else. Any of our smaller diaper bag tote bags would have also been in there and they get washed in the same load as well.

We do a cold soak on the highest load size (the more water, the better). We have an old-school top load washer, so in order to do a soak, we just move the dial to "rinse" and leave the top open so it doesn't drain out. We set a timer for 1 hour for the soak. When the soak is finished, we close the lid which activates the spin cycle to drain all of the water out. Once that is finished, we can start the actual wash.

For the wash, we move the temperature dial to "hot," move the load size back to "medium," and put in a Tablespoon of Rockin' Green detergent. We do the "heavy duty" setting for the wash. After the wash cycle is complete, we move the temperature dial back to "cold" and do two more rinses. We've found that, due to our soft water, it's best to do those extra two rinses to ensure all of the detergent gets out. If the detergent builds up on your diapers, they will smell like amonia as soon as your child pees (been there, done that--yuck!).

NOTE: It's important to note that we have a water softener system in our house, so our water is obviously soft. This matters. It means we use less detergent than someone with hard water. It also means that the detergent that works for us might not work for you if you have harder water (although, Rockin' Green makes versions for hard, normal, and soft water).

Drying: Since most days in Houston are sunny days, we choose to dry our diapers in the sun. After all, that saves us even more money since we're not running the dryer. Plus, the sun is a natural bleaching agent that will get out any residual "skid marks" left behind. ;)

Stuffing: Once our diapers and inserts are dry, we bring them back in and stuff them (put an insert into each diaper) so they are ready for the next change. We store the majority of our diapers in a basket downstairs and have a few upstairs in Eden's nursery.

Something to Consider: If your child will be going to full-time childcare (i.e., if you have to go back to work full-time after a certain amount of time at home), cloth diapering might not be a cost saver for you. The reason is that most childcare centers (and many at-home caregivers) will not accommodate cloth diapering. So, you'll end up having to buy disposable diapers for the majority of the hours in the child's day. Like any other decisions you'll have to make for your family, just consider everything to determine what is right for you.

Final Notes: With all of the details we included in this post, cloth diapering might sound more involved than it actually is. It's actually quite easy. The most convincing "testimony" is Ben's. He was a huge skeptic initially, but is now a believer (with the cost savings, who wouldn't be!). I've seriously heard him tell other people how big of a fan he is of cloth diapering! And, for those who don't know, Ben is a hands-on dad who shares just as much of the parenting duties as I do...so he changes a lot of diapers and he helps with the washing as well! Another big skeptic initially was my mother-in-law. When she heard we were using cloth diapers, she asked if she could use disposable when she was babysitting. Once we showed her the "modern" cloth diapers, she gave a big "oh!" and is totally on board now!

Here's a view from behind (teehee) of what the diapers look like on Eden. Very cute and stylish! And you don't even have to use the little bloomers that they make for girls since you'll have coordinating colors for her outfits!

Hope that's helpful! Feel free to ask me any specifics.

2011-08-12T13:21:00.000-05:00

Eden Recap: month 9 of life; month 2 home

2011-07-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

Whew! All of those parents are right when they say that time really flies and kids grow up way too fast! June brought several milestones in our house: I went back to work (part-time for now) on June 15^th, Eden turned 9 months old on June 17^th, we celebrated 2 months of being home as a family of 3 on June 23^rd, and Ben turned 30 on June 30^th!!

That means it’s time to document Eden’s next scrapbook installment...

Physical/Medical
You’ve gained a few ounces (heehee!), so you’re approximately 15 pounds 9 ounces and you are healthy as can be!

You got your first teeth! 2 little ones on the bottom. And man, they are sharp!

You had a double ear infection this month (second time since we’ve been home). The good news is that they don’t really seem to bother you. You don’t get a fever or get fussy or anything. The bad news is that means we don’t really know that you have an ear infection unless we happen to be at the doctor for something else. Kind of makes us feel like bad parents when they tell us you have an ear infection and we didn’t even know anything was wrong. Oops!

We think we’ve got your dry skin and scratching under control. We just keep your fingernails cut short and keep your skin hydrated with lots of lotion. Thankfully you can show off your cute clothes without a bib now! (We used to keep one on you 24/7 to prevent you from scratching your chest).

Temperament
You are still a very content, happy, smart, and playful baby. We are totally lucky!

You are also a bit impatient. For instance, if you catch a glimpse of us making you a bottle, you immediately start fussing loudly for the bottle. Thus, we have to hide the bottle from you until we’ve got you in our arms ready to feed you. It’s a fun game—keeps things interesting!

You’re also very impatient with diaper changes. We think you don’t like to be naked and exposed (yay for modesty!). As soon as the diaper comes off, you start kicking like crazy and fussing until we get the clean diaper on you. This is not such a fun game, but it definitely keeps us on our toes!

In response to your impatient nature, we sing the “be patient” song to you (which will probably irritate you as you get older). Here are the lyrics…“Be patient, be patient, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, it’s then you start to worry. Remember, remember, that God is patient, too. And think of all the times that others had to wait for you.” Yeah, we’re pretty sure you’re going to hate that song when you’re older…

Development
You are easily sitting up on your own—no more bobbing over anymore. Your Uncle Adam says you have great posture! J You are even pulling up on things to stand!

You are starting to crawl. The only thing keeping you from a full crawl is that pesky right leg that you can’t quite get out from under you when you’re in “crawl position.” We’re going to start baby-proofing the house because we know you’ll be crawling soon!

You use your little fingers all of the time. You love to feel different textures and you grab all sorts of things! It’s so cute to watch your little “pinchers” (pointer finger and thumb) exploring the world around you.

Communication
You talk a lot! You say baba, dada, mama, hi, etc. And you love making sounds with your mouth…clicking with your tongue, motorboat with your lips, etc.

We’ve decided that your first intentional word (and only one so far) was Mama. That makes your mama very happy! Your daddy is a bit jealous.

You don’t do your “trill” much anymore. Hopefully that’s because you’re not as frustrated as you were when you first came home. Haha!

Food
You still drink 4 bottles (approximately 6 ounces each) a day, but you’ve graduated to eating more chunky foods instead of just purees. You still are a great eater and are not picky at all! Avacados and bananas are among your favorites, but you even liked the curried red lentils you tried recently!

At every meal we give you your own spoon to hold and it’s fun to watch you learn how it works. You typically will follow one of our bites that we give you by putting your spoon in your mouth. Recently we watched as you used your spoon to scoop up a piece of avocado and get it to your mouth. You are so smart!

You crack us up when you try something cold. With ice cream, you make a terrible face when the coldness hits your mouth, but you love the taste, so you always go back for more.

Sleep
You are still consistently taking a 1 - 2 hour nap in the morning and the afternoon, which is awesome! Your nighttime sleep is a bit inconsistent, but it’s getting better. You typically wake up at least once a night and are up for an hour or so before you go back down. The good part is that, when you’re awake, you’re happy (the only exception to that is if your tummy or your mouth hurts). The bad part is that you’re awake at 3:00 in the morning! But we make the best of it and get a lot of snuggles in while you’re up.

We’ve found that our slings are magical! If you are truly tired, but are just fighting sleep, all we have to do is put you in one of our slings (we both have one) and you instantly calm down and eventually give in to dreamland. Awww, you must love the closeness to us! And the fact that your arms are restrained when you’re in the sling probably has something to do with it as well!

Loves
The things you absolutely LOVE haven’t changed much since last month. You still LOVE…

Jumping! In your jumper, in our laps, wherever you can make your legs go.

Water! Splashing, dunking your face under, being sprayed, anything involving water.

Dogs! As they lick your face, when they walk in the room, when their tail whacks you in the face, anything involving dogs.

Soothie! You’re really attached to it (your pacifier). It’s awesome now, but it makes us nervous for a year or so down the road.

Books! Your love of books really developed recently. You love to sit and have someone read you a book. You actually pay attention for a long time. You are so smart!

Daddy! You love to play with Daddy. And you love rubbing his head (we think you like the feeling of his buzzed haircut on your hand). You’re not fond of being surprised, though (Daddy learned that the hard way when he made you cry because he plopped down beside you and said “boo!”).

Mommy! You love your Mommy. If she’s in eyesight, you reach up and say “mama, mama!”

The Rest of the Story

2011-06-27T17:01:00.000-05:00

There is a piece of our adoption story that we have withheld from many people until now. The reason for withholding it was simply to protect our child from hurt and discrimination and to allow her the ability to decide who she wanted to tell when she was older. It was against our "open book" nature to withold information, but we knew it was the right decision at the time.

However, due to recent happenings, we feel ~~comfortable~~ excited about sharing it with you now. It’s a huge part of our journey to Eden and we hope that it answers some questions…but more importantly, we hope it challenges your thinking.

Sorry to be so mysterious. Here goes…

The calling that we felt on September 16, 2009 (sidenote: the 8 hour time difference meant that it was September 17, 2009 in Ethiopia—one year to the day that Eden was born—you can’t tell me God doesn’t care about the details!) was very clear to us. Adopt an infant. Adopt internationally. Adopt right now. We based all of our decisions (what agency, what country, what age child, etc.) on those 3 things. If there was a decision we had to make that was not clear based on those 3 parameters, we prayed and researched and went with the one where we felt God’s peace.

When we first submitted our adoption application, we had to select whether or not we were open to a child with special needs. (Note that “special needs” is a broad term that covers medical needs, physical deformities, chronic diseases, etc.) Ben and I talked a lot about it and decided to say “no” and thus submitted our application for a healthy baby.

A big change: Fast forward almost one year. I (Lauren) hadn’t exactly been feeling at peace with that “healthy” selection. Through a series of things including another blog and a small group study, I felt challenged to consider adopting a child with HIV (you might need to give that a moment to sink in, but please don’t be scared!).

The discussion: Ben and I spoke about it over dinner on September 3, 2010. Ben mentioned that he could definitely see us raising a child with some sort of special medical need—he just didn’t know what kind of special need, and he didn’t anticipate it being our first child. But he said that if God was speaking something to me, he was certainly willing to listen! In order to stay true to the 3 things we felt called to, we decided that if it would delay our process at all, we wouldn’t do it this time around (because of the “adopt right now” calling). We left dinner that night feeling excited and nervous of the possibilities.

Slam dunk: God knows what He’s doing, people. His timing is perfect. And if He sees His children needing confirmation of a calling, He’ll give it to them. When we got home from dinner that night, our agency’s update email had come to our inboxes and the headline was “Introducing AGCI’s Positively Chosen Program.” There you go. Our agency had decided to have sub-program where you can adopt children who are HIV positive. The SAME day that Ben and I had our discussion. And after talking to our case manager and finding out that it certainly wouldn’t delay us—if anything, it would speed us up, that just sealed the deal.

More education and paperwork: In the following months, we completed a long list of training and eligibility requirements for the Positively Chosen program and got all of our paperwork updated to reflect our change in parameters. We had an overwhelming peace about our decision and were certain that this is what God had called us to do. We went into this knowing there would be additional challenges we would face, but firmly believing that God would provide in every way for our family.

Tough road: We only mentioned our change in parameters to immediate family members and a few very close friends. As you can imagine, HIV is a very sensitive topic that many people are scared of. In fact, you might be looking at Eden in a different light just from hearing our story thus far… Well, we encountered a couple of very tough responses regarding our change in parameters and simply prayed (and cried) to God that He would be glorified and that He would protect our child from any discrimination once he/she was home with us. It was a very tough road.

Best Christmas ever: As you know, on December 22, 2010, we got a phone call from our agency with a little girl they had in mind for us. We were told that her birth mother had HIV, Hepatitis C, and TB—the “triple crown” of infectious diseases, our pediatrician said. After that phone call, and officially accepting our referral, we were on cloud nine! Edeneku was SO precious and we couldn’t wait to share the news with our families for Christmas!

Prayer works, people! To say that we had a lot of people praying for Eden would be a drastic understatement. We were seriously SO blessed to have so many people praying for her! And let’s just say, it worked! Long story short, Eden is healthy! When we were matched with her, we knew she didn’t have TB. Before we even traveled to Ethiopia to meet her, we were told that her bloodwork came back negative for HIV. And now that we’re home, our pediatrician can’t even find anything that would lead him to believe she has Hepatitis C. He said he couldn’t explain it. We said that anything could happen through prayer—that’s explanation enough for us!

Bottom line: We love Eden no matter what her health status. We had people praying for her health in general (they had no idea of any of this) and for God to protect her. And, of course, we prayed that our child would be protected from harm of any kind and we trusted that God would take care of our family. God chose for Eden to NOT have these infectious diseases and for that we are grateful. However, please understand that health status does not define her—or anyone.

Be open! We ask you to approach this with an open mind and open heart, just as we have. If reading this made some emotions come up that you want to talk about, please reach out to us. We have a TON of great resources on HIV and how it is and isn’t transmitted (if you think you know, you’re probably in for a surprise). This 3.5 minute YouTube video and the Project Hopeful site it mentions are our favorite—check them out! And obviously, this blog is a very short version of the entire story, so let us know if you have questions, comments, concerns, etc.

Our takeaways:

Give God complete control,

be obedient to what He says,

allow Him to show off, and

give Him the glory!

Oh, and pray with persistence and confidence!

Here's an example of the blessing that came from our obedience in this situation...

What's been missing

2011-06-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

I finally figured it out. There was something missing in my life. Don't read into this too much and get concerned. I'm completely in love with my husband and my daughter and I love life as a mommy. It's just that...well...something was missing. I guess I was having somewhat of an identity crisis or something. But "crisis" makes it sound dramatic, which it wasn't. So anyway, it was just a void, I guess.

But I finally figured out what was causing that void.

A lack of reading.

I love to read. And, while I've been reading a LOT of books lately, not a single one of them has been for fun. I've been reading books about adoption, books about parenting, books about how to still be a good wife while being a good mom, books about how to be a better servant and a better steward, books about how to live life like Jesus wants me to.

And all of these have been good books and appropriate books and challenging books. But what was missing was the fun. You know, leisure books. Turns out I hadn't read a single "for fun" book in a LONG time (for sure since we started the adoption process in October 2009).

So, I went out and bought one. Sisterhood Everlasting. It's the sequel (is that the proper term for a book?) to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It's obviously in the "just for fun" category, as there is not much to be learned from it.

And I'm LOVING it!

I decided that I would carve out some "me time" every night just before I fall asleep. Eden is asleep, Ben is usually playing some type of game or watching a show in the man room (that's his "me time"), the dogs are winding down for the night...so I decided that, instead of doing the dishes or washing clothes during that time, I would just read.

And that is EXACTLY what I needed! Feels good to be reading for fun again!

Drop me a comment with some book suggestions if you've got any. Just remember--I don't want to be challenged or learn anything from these books! ;)

"Oh, I could never do that!"

2011-06-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

Those words kind of annoy me. I feel like it's a way the person is trying to sound nice while they actually think I'm crazy. Like when a Southern woman says "bless her heart." Or it could also be that they are trying to justify why they aren't doing the thing they are referring to. Like a defense mechanism. Or it could actually be a compliment--inferring that I am some kind of super woman because I do that thing.

Either way, it annoys me. (just being honest)

Here is a real-life example for you...we use cloth diapers on Eden. Yep, cloth diapers. You can imagine that I've received at least a few of the "oh, I could never do that!" comments on this topic. And I get it. It sounds very hippy / granola / old-school / gross / hard / time-consuming / June Cleaver / whatever. You know what I say to that? Don't knock it til you've tried it! Seriously. The modern cloth diapers are NOT what you might be picturing. I hadn't even considered it until a couple of mommy friends of mine mentioned a class they went to and the brand they chose. So I checked it out and, guess what? I decided to try it (after convincing Ben I wasn't crazy)!

Our main reason for using cloth diapers is for the cost savings. You buy your diapers and inserts ONE TIME and that's it! It's already been a HUGE area of cost savings for us! Especially because most of our diapers were gifted to us! The added benefits are that it's much better for the environment (none of our diapers will end up in landfills), it's better for Eden's bum (only soft fabric touches her skin), and they are super-stylish (the cute colors are adorable).

Another point I want to make is this: don't assume that because I'm using cloth diapers, I'm against disposable diapers. I think some people give me a defensive type of response because they think that I think they are a bad mommy for using disposable diapers. That couldn't be further (or is it farther?) from the truth. In fact, we do use disposables on Eden every now and then. And when she's in nursery or daycare, we will likely have to use disposables because many programs do not do cloth diapers.

The bottom line is that every parent should make decisions based on what is right for their own family. I see a lot of moms get into a bad place with this type of thing--comparing to other moms. It can be about breastfeeding, sleeping habits, schooling, working away from home or staying at home, you name it. You know what I'm talking about. You've heard the tense, awkward conversations between moms before ("oh, you're homeschooling?" "wow, your baby still doesn't sleep through the night" "you know that breastfeeding is best, right?"). Here's my stance: it's ok for moms to be passionate about these topics and share information if it is solicited; however, we MUST be encouraging to other moms and respect that their choices are just that--their choices.

Moms unite. Build each other up. Don't judge. And definitely don't do the annoying passive style of judgment with not-so-subtle comments as I've mentioned above. And on the other hand, don't be a super-defensive mom who thinks every other mom is judging her.

And P.S. If you're not a mom, it's probably best to NOT chime in on these topics. You don't want to be "that girl" who thinks she knows how she's going to do it when she's a mom. Believe me...I speak from experience...sigh.

Click here if you want to see the brand of diapers we're using. And if you want more information on what cloth diapering looks like for us (what our "routine" is), please ask!

One final note about the "oh, I could never do that!" comment: many people have said that to us regarding our adoption. Please, please, please understand that you CAN do that! We LOVE talking about our adoption journey so that others will you can see just that! So please ask us!

Our Fundraisers

2011-06-14T14:31:00.000-05:00

We will be wrapping up our adoption fundraisers soon, so we wanted to give you the info in case you want to put a final order in.

T-shirts: we're closing out our "store" at the end of June, so if you want one of these awesome t-shirts (they aren't all adoption-realated), you need to place your oder by June 30th. Check it out here!

Coffee: we're leaving this "store" open until our post-adoption social worker visits and adoption-related paperwork is complete, so you still have plenty of time to order. Check it out here! Even when we close ours, I encourage you to still buy your coffee from them, as there are plenty of other adoptive families doing their fundraising on this site. And, let's be honest, the coffee is AMAZING!

Thanks so much for all of your support!

Can you even imagine?

2011-06-08T13:54:00.000-05:00

Be thankful that you don't live with this type of fear each day...but also do not forget that this DOES still happen around the world. Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours.

The LRA (rebels out of Uganda) are terrorizing children in Sudan, then taking them as soldiers and sex slaves. (Read more on this blog and this BBC article.) Please pray with me for Sudan. Pray with faith and pray with persistence.

What you REALLY want...

2011-06-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry that I didn't put any pics in the last post. I put so many on facebook that I forgot about putting them on the blog. I'm going to redeem myself here....

Water Lover

Dog Lover

Upside-Down Lover

First Easter

Laughing with Auntie Rah-Rah

Laughing with Grandma

In the fire truck with Daddy

First (of many) trip to the zoo

In the sling with Mommy

Mother's Day and first trip to church

Eden Recap: month 8 of life; month 1 home

2011-06-02T19:44:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a whirlwind since arriving home on April 23^rd and settling in as a family of 3. As with all new parents, there is very little sleep going on in our house as well as the occasional moment of feeling completely overwhelmed; however, at the center of it all is our beautiful baby girl who we love more than anything. If you’re a parent, you get it. Our love for Eden is so deep that nothing else seems to matter.

We wanted to document some of Eden’s milestones and other things we want to remember about this time in her life. A snippet for her scrapbook, I guess.

Nickname
We call you “little bird” or “bird.” It just seemed to fit you from day one. Your little mouth looks like a little bird and your little chirps sound like a little bird. We LOVE our little bird!

Physical
You are 15 pounds (10th percentile) and 28 inches tall (90th percentile). Long and lean—just like your Ethiopian roots! And you are healthy as can be!

You have soft, tight curls and a widow’s peak hairline. You have very long fingers and fairly large feet for your age.

You don’t have any teeth yet, but you’ve been teething since we met you—everything goes in your mouth!

Temperament
You are a very content baby. You totally go with the flow and it’s awesome! You will play on the floor by yourself and just talk to all of your toys!

You have an extremely long attention span and are very smart. You will work on something for a while and then we’ll notice you doing it on your own! For example, we worked on you using your fingers to pick up puffs (instead of palming them) and you focused hard on it, practiced several times, and now you’ve got it down!

Development
You went from only rolling over to now sitting up on your own.

You haven’t quite figured out how to crawl, but you can scoot backwards and spin around on your tummy just fine!

Communication
You went from only saying “ba ba ba” to now being VERY vocal! You squeal a lot and you say something that sounds like “hi” and “ay” a lot. You also say “da da da” (which your Daddy loves!).

You love making sounds with your mouth (blub, bzzt, smack, etc.) and mimicking our sounds. You crack up laughing when we make silly sounds.

You have the funniest “trill” that you do when you are frustrated. It sounds like you are rolling your tongue and squealing at a high pitch. When people hear it, they always comment on it. It’s hilarious (not that you’re frustrated—just the sound)!

Your hands are always moving. You love feeling different textures—tags are your favorite! You wave your hands like you’re saying “hi” or “bye” (but you haven’t yet associated the waving with that). You will grab one hand with the other and move them up and down. You talk to your hands a lot…wonder what they are saying to you?

Medical
You had one visit to an international adoption pediatrician (Dr. Heidi Schwarzwald at Texas Children’s) when we got home, and one visit with your regular pediatrician (Dr. Richard Byrd at Kelsey-Seybold Fort Bend). You did great at both visits! Poor Mommy didn’t do so well when Daddy had to hold you down for them to draw LOTS of blood from your tiny little veins. But you did so good! You cried (who wouldn’t?) during the process, but you quickly calmed down after it was over. Same with the one vaccination you had to get. You weren’t a fan of them sticking you, but you calmed down very fast.

You had your first ear infection (in your right ear), but didn’t seem to mind it at all! We only knew about it from your routine pediatrician visit.

Skin
When we picked you up at Hannah’s Hope, we noticed some extremely dry patches of skin on you. Unfortunately, you have a bad habit of scratching one spot a lot—on your chest under your chin. So, we keep lots of anti-itch cream on it and we always have a bib on you to create an extra layer of protection from your little fingernails. We also cut your fingernails very often and we lather you with thick creamy lotion several times a day.

You also have a habit of scratching your forehead (by your hairline) when you are sleepy and even in your sleep. We’ve pretty much fixed that by keeping your nails very short and keeping your skin hydrated with lots of lotion.

Your little bottom has some very dry patches as well, so you get lots of creamy lotion there, too! You also have some skin discolorations on your bottom that we learned are called “Mongolian spots” and will disappear by the time you are in kindergarten. Thankfully they aren’t painful for you at all (we thought they were bruises when we first saw them!).

Food
You drink 4 bottles (approximately 6 ounces each) a day and you eat purees 3 times a day. You are such a good eater—you are not picky at all! You’ve had everything from spinach and lentils to apricots and prunes and you love all of it!

You love eating “puffs” (little Cheerio-type treats that dissolve in your mouth) and “mum-mums” (rice teething biscuits).

Sleep
You are consistently taking a 1 - 2 hour nap in the morning and the afternoon, which is awesome! You easily fall asleep in our arms when we give you the signal of draping a blanket over your eyes, then we put you in your crib and you take your nap. You wake up in SUCH a good mood—it’s so fun to go get you from your nap!

Like all of the infants at Hannah’s Hope, you were on a schedule of being woken up every 2 hours at night for feeding. Breaking that routine that you had for 5 months of your life has been our toughest challenge so far. Your bedtime now is around 8:00pm-8:30pm. You typically wake up a few times during the night, but only one of those times requires us to pick you up and do bedtime routine all over again because you are wide awake (typically around 3:00am). After that, you tend to sleep until 7:30am-8:00am.

You sleep with a humidifier in your room and when you have a runny nose, we put Vick’s in it. It has helped your nose tremendously!

Loves
You love having people around. You especially love being around your grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins! And when Grandpa makes all of his funny noises, you go nuts!

You love your 4-legged sisters. Heidi lets you play with her (pull her fur, her ears, her tail, etc.). Layla is more protective of you like your “Nana” from Peter Pan. She comes and checks on you if you’re fussing or if you’re squealing really loud, but she keeps her distance so you can’t hurt her. ;)

You love going places—to the store, to the zoo, anywhere. You’re not too keen on sitting in the car seat for very long, but you love getting to the destination!

You love being outside and feeling the breeze on your face.

You love TV (uh-oh—we’ll have to moderate you!). You mostly watch PBS shows like Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street, but you also like to watch the Ellen show with Mommy—especially during the dancing time!

You absolutely love water! Getting sprayed in the face is a particular favorite of yours! You love baths, swimming pools, water hoses,…anything with water!

You are hilarious to watch in your “Johnny jump-up!” You squeal and smile and kick your legs like crazy. You’ve also figured out how to twist it around and then you’ll pick up your feet, tilt your head back, and enjoy it spinning while it unwinds.

You love your “soothie” (pacifier)! We have several of them around the house and we keep one clipped to your bib during the day. You just pick it up and pop it in when you feel like you want it.

You love mirrors (everyone would if they were as cute as you!). You sit and talk to yourself and have the funniest conversations!

You love to be upside down. Daddy is mostly the one who will flip you around while he’s playing with you. But sometimes you’ll just arch your back and flip upside down while sitting in someone’s lap.

And you love your Mommy and Daddy! You are really recognizing us as your parents and that makes us SO happy! You will fuss if Mommy walks past you without picking you up—a great sign of attachment.

Two Mothers

2011-05-07T20:20:00.000-05:00

In honor of Birthmother's Day, I wanted to share this little poem with you. I wrote it on February 4, 2011 for Eden (with inspiration from a different poem that I read). Happy Birthmother's Day!

There were once two women on different sides of the earth;
God’s plan brought them together through your birth.

One carried and delivered you—what God intended her to do;
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.

One made a painful choice to give you a better life;
The other is so grateful to her for that sacrifice.

Obedience and love—how both decisions were made;
You were CHOSEN, my child—and this love will never fade!

Your life is woven together by two different kinds of love;
This type of double-blessing was planned by God above.

You have the special love of a mother—multiplied by two!
One is in your heart forever; the other is “Mommy” to you.

Home Away from Home

2011-05-05T07:05:00.000-05:00

Hannah's Hope - the transition home where our daughter spent her early days of life. This place is amazing. Let us give you a tour…

The road

The gate

Area inside the front gate - looked like they were growing herbs

Courtyard / Play area

Pathway in the back

Infant play room

One of the infant bedrooms (I think there were 4 total--2 girl and 2 boy)

Older kiddo play room

One of the older kiddo bedrooms (I think there were 4 total--2 girl and 2 boy)

Staircase to older kiddo bedrooms

Scripture painted on the wall

Kitchen

One of the bathrooms

Shoe storage

Making shiro (I think) for dinner

Not exactly sure what this is, but they were making something else

Cleaning EVERYTHING (they do this every day!)

Isn't it AMAZING?! Unfortunately, it is not the environment of most orphans in Ethiopia. We are incredibly grateful that Eden spent her time here, but also very aware of the great need that continues to exist for the millions of orphans around the globe.

We are SO grateful for all of the staff at Hannah's Hope! Their love and commitment to these kiddos is amazing! To find out more about Hannah's Hope, click here.

Lost in Translation

2011-05-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

A friend came by last night to bring us dinner. She had her 2 girls with her (a 2.5 year-old and a 9 month-old). When they arrived, she shared this "funny" with us from the car ride...

Mom: We're going to see baby Eden!

2.5 year-old: What is her name?

Mom: Eden

2.5 year-old: Like eatin' fruit snacks?

Ah, I LOVE it! That's what a good ol' East Texas accent (from both of her parents) will do. Thanks for the laughs!

Confession Time

2011-04-30T11:28:00.000-05:00

I'm not really a "kid person." This reality scared me as we began the adoption process. The thought of becoming a Mommy was exciting, but completely overwhelming at the same time. Luckily, the reason I'm blogging about this is that God truly changed me and I'm absolutely loving being a Mommy (especially since I'm off work for 8 weeks)!

First, let me explain why I don't consider myself a "kid person" even though I've always been around kiddos (I've been babysitting since I was 14 years old; I have 6 nieces and nephews and consider myself very involved in their lives; most of my friends have kids; etc.).

Facts about me:
I'm a very independent person and I really enjoy my alone time.
I love the quiet. Too much loud noise for a long period of time makes me anxious.
I tend to be very selfish with my time.

As a side note: Luckily, I married a man who is the opposite of me in this area. He is the one who wanted kids so badly. He defines success in life by being a Daddy. He is very giving of his time. Thankfully, throughout our marriage, these amazing qualities in my husband have helped me grow into a more giving person. I've begun to realize that helping others is much more gratifying than being alone to read (although, I still do that sometimes to maintain my sanity).

These are some of the worries that went through my head as I thought of becoming a Mommy...

What if I get annoyed by her like I sometimes do with other kids?
What if I want to "send her home" like I look forward to doing when I'm babysitting?
What if I don't want to play with her?
What if this is the end to my alone time? Can I survive like that?

Before we left for Ethiopia, I wrote down many of my worries and also wrote down Phillipians 4:6-7. This was written from Paul while he was in prison:

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.

I prayed about all of my worries. And guess what? I experienced God's peace. And He blessed me with a daughter who is SO cute and is SUCH a good baby that it was super-easy to bond with her. It has been completely natural, which isn't something I thought could happen with me. It was never "natural" for me with other people's kids, so I honestly thought it would take time for me to enjoy being around my child. Thankfully, I was wrong!

Bottom line: God favors adoption, He absolutely loves children, and He took all of my worries and turned them into blessings! I know there will be challenges to being a Mommy, but I also know that I can lean on Him for guidance.

Introducing...

2011-04-27T07:30:00.000-05:00

Edeneku Lee Huss

Born September 17, 2010 in Ethiopia

Forever in our arms on April 17, 2011

A little bit about her name...
Her birth mother gave her the name Yideneku, which means "to be in awe" in Amharic. We have changed the spelling to match English phonetics, and will call her "Eden" as a nickname. Lee is a family name on Lauren's side of the family. It is the middle name of Lauren, Lauren's mom, and Lauren's maternal grandmother.

We'll post more pics and more info about our journey home later. As you can imagine, we're still in new parent "survival mode" and are enjoying making precious memories with our baby girl. Thanks for all of your support and love for Team Huss!

She's Coming HOME!

2011-04-12T13:32:00.000-05:00

We got our US Embassy appointment date!! It's scheduled for April 20th in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We are SO incredibly thankful for God's timing throughout this entire adoption. We're going to be HOME as a family of 3 on Easter weekend!

Look what YOU did...AGAIN!

2011-04-11T05:44:00.000-05:00

Because of the generosity of so many of you, we were able to purchase the following items to take to Hannah's Hope (our agency's transition home--where our daughter is). We focused our shopping on the items that are most needed at this time.

18 Pairs of kids shoes in varying sizes (half boys and half girls)
16 packages of cotton balls (200/pack)
14 sets of scrubs (10 medium, 2 large, and 2 small)
14 pairs of off brand crocs in varying sizes from 6-9 (7 black and 7 white)

Additional Need: We are also hoping to bring over some IV needles with catheters (sizes 20ga, 22ga, and 24g). When we were at Hannah's Hope for our first trip, the Director told us that when malnourished children come to Hannah's Hope and need fluids, they have to use 20ga needles that have no catheters. What this means to us non-medical folks: they have to use needles that are way too big for these tiny babies, and they have to leave the needle in the vein (or try to) in order to administer the fluids. This is a problem because babies tend to move a lot and the needles are too big. If you would like to help with this need, please ask your local hospital or pediatrician. Many of them donate items like this for mission trips.

Thank you SO much for your generosity!

In the U.S. Embassy’s Hands

2011-04-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

We got word from our case manager yesterday that our paperwork was submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! That means that they will review our case and do one of two things:

1) Accept it as-is and give us an appointment as early as next Thursday, OR

2) Request additional information.

We are obviously praying for that immediate approval! Please join us in that prayer!

Our understanding is that we should hear by the end of this week whether or not they decide to request additional information. We’ll keep you posted…

Please Pray for This Family!

2011-03-29T04:06:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that this kind of thing really happens. Such injustice. But prayer DOES matter, so PLEASE pray! And have FAITH that Kirill WILL come home to his forever family! Thanks, friends!

The Coveted MOWA Letter

2011-03-27T11:56:00.000-05:00

As many of you have heard by now, we received word on March 23^rd that our MOWA letter had been received! This means that we are officially court-approved…which means that we are officially Eden’s parents! Many of you prayed specifically for our MOWA letter to arrive quickly, and we thank you SO much for lifting us up in prayer!

What now? Now we just wait for the U.S. Embassy to receive our paperwork and assign an appointment date to us. This could take anywhere up to 8 weeks, but we are obviously praying for a short turnaround time! In talking to some other families from our agency, many of them only had to wait 4 weeks, so that gives us hope that we could have an appointment in mid- to late-April.

Once we receive our appointment date, we get to book our flight back to Ethiopia! The day after we arrive in Addis, we get to go pick Eden up from Hannah’s Hope and bring her back to our hotel with us! Besides attending our Embassy appointment on one of the days, we’ll just hang out in the hotel or go play at Hannah’s Hope until our return flight home.

We can’t wait until our family of 3 is together forever!

Last Day Highs & Lows

2011-03-25T11:18:00.000-05:00

Our last day with Eden definitely held some very high highs and some very low lows. Like we've said before, the adoption process is a roller coaster of emotions! But we know that it will ALL be worth it in the end!

God’s timing is so neat. And His attention to detail is cool, too.

By our third day with Eden, we were discussing how we hoped we would have the opportunity to change her diaper and possibly even give her a bath. Because of the timing of when we were allowed to be at Hannah’s Hope, it just hadn’t worked out thus far. Well, on our last day with her, we were able to do both!

The morning of day 4, we had only been at Hannah’s Hope for a few minutes and we realized that she needed her diaper changed. We asked her special mother if we could change her, and she showed Lauren to the changing table. Eden had saved an extra-special stinky diaper for her Mommy!

Eden was so content as her diaper was being changed! No fussing or wiggling around—just playing with a toy while Lauren got her cleaned up. It truly was a blessing to get to change our baby girl’s diaper while we were on our first trip.

After her diaper change, we tried her out in one of the “exersaucer” things—she loved it!

And we had some more play time—she absolutely loves her Daddy!

The afternoon of day 4 (our last visit with her before leaving Ethiopia), we arrived at Hannah’s Hope as Eden’s special mother was giving her a bath. As soon as she saw us, she moved out of the way for Lauren to step in (her special mothers are awesome!). Lauren got a crash course in bathing a slippery 6-month-old!

Again, Miss Eden was so content and happy. She just LOVES the water and that is great news for our family who also LOVES the water! At one point, she propped her leg up on the side of the tub and just laid back—so cute! She even liked it when Lauren poured the water over her head to rinse off her hair!

After bathtime, she had more fun lying on the changing table while we applied all of the baby products for her hair and skin. She quickly found her foot and started sucking on her toes—pure cuteness! She was so bright and alert the entire time and was “making eyes” at her Daddy (and the camera).

We had some fun play time after she was all clean and dressed. She got the hiccups, which was kind of funny and sad at the same time. Ben tried some “tummy time” to see if that would help…

Later that afternoon, we were trying to gather more information from Eden’s special mothers. We wanted to understand what type of formula she is on, what her schedule currently looks like (nap times, etc.), and any other Eden-specific things we needed to know. Our little translation book wasn’t cutting it, so we called Waas in to help us.

With Waas’ help, we got the information we wanted and also made sure that her special mothers know how much we appreciate them. Then Waas dropped a bomb on us. He said it was time to go. What? We thought we had another hour with her. No, it’s not time to go. We told him that we weren’t ready and we made sure he understood that this was our last time with our baby girl on this trip. He said that he understood, but that it was still time to go.

Looking back on it now, we see that it was best that we not have the opportunity to prolong the goodbye. It would have only made it worse. Plus, we were able to say goodbye to our precious daughter while she was still awake. The emotions came on faster than either of us expected. It was a very tearful and gut-wrenching goodbye—one that we don’t wish upon anyone.

Eden’s special mothers were very sweet and kept assuring us (using body language) that they would take great care of her and that they love her, too. We can’t imagine better people to be taking care of our baby girl if it can’t be us.

We love our baby girl SO much (you parents out there can understand) and we pray that she is home VERY SOON! Please pray with us.

Experiencing Ethiopia

2011-03-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

We hope we never forget our experiences from Ethiopia. From the culture to the food to the coffee…everything is so rich and everyone is so friendly!

Our morning coffee at our hotel (oh, how we miss it already!)…

We loved seeing words spelled in Amharic! (and the old school Coke bottles)

We were blessed to be sharing our “first trip” experience with another AGCI family. We met the G family on our second morning (their first morning) in the hotel dining room. They were traveling with their two beautiful daughters who we got to know quickly and had a blast with! They were there to meet their two newest additions to the family—a boy and a girl (siblings). How fun! We truly enjoyed sharing our experiences with them. This journey can be quite an emotional roller coaster, and it was nice to have them there to encourage us, hug us, laugh with us through it all!

We got to share some fun “outings” with them as well!

Shopping

On the afternoon of day 2, we went to an Italian restaurant/art gallery and then shopping. We were blessed to have the AGCI Ethiopian staff be our personal tour guides and chauffeurs! We picked up some Ethiopian coffee and spices, as well as a Bible in Amharic for Eden when she gets older. We also bought three beautiful dresses for her to wear (various sizes), along with some souvenir items.

The view from inside the van…

Cultural Dinner
The evening after our court appointment and birth other meeting, we went to an Ethiopian Cultural Restaurant. It was a very fun time and was just what we needed after such an emotional day!

Washing our hands before dinner (since everything is eaten by hand)…

Enjoying the music and entertainment…

Eating traditional Ethiopian food (we really do think it is VERY yummy!)...

Tasting the local brew...

Learning from Waas how to do the “shoulder shake” dance…

Finishing the night off with very strong Ethiopian coffee…

Kaldi’s

We are so glad that we didn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Kaldi’s for lunch with the AGCI group on our last day in Ethiopia. Starbucks ain’t got nothin’ on Kaldi’s!

A yummy pastry!

Lauren's chai latte...

We are so happy to be incorporating such amazing culture into our lives! There is so much history in Ethiopia and we'll say it again--the people are SO friendly! We can't wait to share our experiences with Eden as she grows up. And we hope to be able to bring her back to Ethiopia several times throughout her life to experience it first-hand!

More Time with Eden

2011-03-23T04:05:00.000-05:00

Day 2: When we arrived at Hannah’s Hope on the second day, we had a lot less anxiety than the day before. It was fun to walk in and already “know the ropes!” We had a lot more play time with Eden and even got to hear her little raspy voice. She really likes to touch our faces, play patty-cake, and look at the camera!

When it came time for the babies to take a nap, Eden wasn’t really wanting to fall asleep. That was fine by us because we’d rather have play time with her at this point! However, we understand that they have the babies on a schedule for a reason and that we needed to respect that. So, I walked around with her for a bit to see if she would fall asleep. She wasn’t showing any signs of being tired, but she wasn’t fussy either. She was just fine to walk around!

After a bit of time, her special mother came and got her from me to put her to sleep. It felt a little weird, but we know she was just trying to help (and trying to keep all of the kiddos on the same schedule!). We watched how she wrapped her up in a blanket—even covering her face—to get her to sleep. This is something that we had been told—that Ethiopians dress their babies very warmly. Well, they certainly do! And they wrap them up in fleece blankets when it’s 85 degrees! The babies seem to like it, but it sure does make us Texans sweat!

Day 3: After our meeting with Eden’s birth mother, we went back to the hotel to eat lunch, rest, and process the events of the morning. When we got to go back to Hannah’s Hope to see Eden again, it was just pure happiness and joy to get to spend more time with our baby girl. It felt so natural! And it makes sense for that to be the visit where the weight was completely lifted—it was the visit after court and birth mother meeting. We didn’t have to guard our hearts anymore—she was OURS!

Eden is recognizing Ben’s face/voice now. It is SO sweet to watch her gaze at her Daddy!

This was our first afternoon visit to Hannah’s Hope, so we got to see Eden in her room for the first time (our previous two visits were during the morning play time downstairs)! We spent our time upstairs playing with her, and it was nice to only have a couple more babies around instead of the several babies who are there during the downstairs play time. It felt much more private.

It was the perfect opportunity to try Eden in the “sleepy wrap” (baby sling). As I was putting it on (wrapping it around my body), Ben noticed that Eden’s special mothers were smiling and talking. He wasn’t sure at first if they were making fun of me or not, but we realized later that they were proud of me! They even called in a few of the other special mothers to come look at me! Haha!

It was a team effort to get Eden in the wrap (hey, it was the first time and we had an audience!)

She was a trooper! She was SO content to be in the wrap! That was SUCH a relief since babywearing is a great way to help with attachment and bonding! I wore her for about 30 minutes and only took her out of it so we could play with her some more. We’re praying that she continues to like being in the wrap—and that she will even want to fall asleep in it.

Those little (big) feet are just too cute!

We love our baby girl and can't wait to have her home with us!!

A BIG Day in our Journey

2011-03-22T08:13:00.000-05:00

The morning of March 17^th started off interestingly enough…no cold water in our hotel room! Lauren was in the shower when all of the sudden the water started scalding her. We called Patty’s room and she confirmed that her cold water was also out. We’ve heard of hot water being out, but the fact that the cold water went out was interesting. So, after some creative hair rinsing to get the shampoo out of Lauren’s hair, we finished getting ready for court.

Danny picked us up right on time at 9:00am and we headed off. The drive was very sad and eye-opening, as we passed through parts of Addis with many crippled people and children begging for money. We didn’t talk much in the car, but we were praying individually for the people (“Lord, give me your eyes”). In the center of Addis, in front of what looks like a big open-air stadium, Danny stopped to pick up our case processor, Haile. We’re glad he told us who this guy was or we would have thought he was just picking up a random person off the street! Haha!

After about a 35 minute drive, Danny pulled over to the side of the street and came around to let us out. We followed Haile into a building (that didn’t look like any type of courthouse, for sure!), up 4 flights of stairs, and into a small room crammed with a lot of people who looked like us (people dressed nicely with concerned looks on their faces). We weren’t given any instruction, so we just stood there like the rest of the people.

We noticed that every 5 minutes or so, a lady would open a door and call out a name (or maybe it was a number??) and an Ethiopian case processor would direct their corresponding adoptive parents into the room. The room remained fairly quiet, and if it got too loud, someone would “shush” the crown (there were signs on the walls that said “silence”). As the people would come out of the room, we would try to read the expressions on their faces. Some were straight-faced, some were crying and smiling. They would all walk straight out of the room and back downstairs, so we didn’t really ask any questions.

The room started clearing out quickly as they would call in large groups at a time. We realized that these large groups were from other countries (France, Spain, Germany) and needed an additional translator (the judge and most educated Ethiopians speak English and Amharic). They were all done together because of the translator. Anyway, as the room started clearing out, we noticed that there were a handful of Ethiopian women in the room. Birth mothers. We had wondered if the birth mothers were in a different court or at least a different room, but suddenly realized that they were right there with us. We identified Eden’s birth mother fairly quickly, as she looks just like her! It was then an awkward game of “don’t stare” (she was staring at us, too) as we waited for our name to be called.

At about 10:40, our case processor motioned to Eden’s birth mother to come in the room. Our hearts were now pounding. She was about to make the final decision to relinquish her rights (or not). We prayed together and within about 2 minutes, she walked out and we were motioned in.

The “courtroom” was just a small office. There was a lady (who was beautiful) sitting behind the desk and we were motioned to sit in the chairs that lined the wall perpendicular to her. Haile and another guy were sitting in chairs along the back wall, and there was one other Ethiopian lady who came to us and asked us for our passports. The judge (the beautiful lady) looked at our passports and then asked us a series of yes/no questions. “Have you seen her (she said her full name) in person?” yes. “Have you educated yourself on international and bi-racial adoption?” yes. “Do you understand that you should incorporate Ethiopian culture into your child’s life?” yes. “Do you understand that this is final and binding?” yes.

Then she said something along the lines of “pending your approval letter from MOWA, everything is finished.” Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but still good. If our MOWA letter had been there, we would have heard the words “she’s all yours!” That would have been music to our ears! However, our letter was not there, so we’re not yet finalized. On the bright side, our birth mother did relinquish her rights! That is a HUGE deal! So we are still very thankful and we know that God is good…ALL the time (not just when He does what we want him to do when we want Him to do it)!

We stood up and walked out of the room a bit dazed and confused. Haile followed us out and herded our group (birth mother, her case worker, us, Patty, and him) down the stairs and out to the van. When we got outside, an older Ethiopian man kept shaking our hands and hugging us (and kissing Ben) telling us “thank you.” We had no idea who he was, but we reciprocated and smiled. Once we were in the van, we asked Haile who he was. He was the director of the orphanage where Eden was originally taken (before she was moved to Hannah’s Hope). Very sweet.

Once we realized that Eden’s birth mother and her case worker would be riding in the van with us back to Hannah’s Hope, we felt a bit awkward. We introduced ourselves and shook her hand and then just sat in silence the rest of the trip. They don’t make an etiquette book for those kind of situations! Also in the van, Haile asked us if we understood what the judge had said and he confirmed our understanding. He gave us a lot of hope by noting that the MOWA letter could even come in that afternoon or by the following Monday. That definitely made us feel better!

After the long, awkwardly silent van ride, we arrived at Hannah’s Hope. We immediately went to the office and asked the AGCI staff when our birth mother meeting would start. One of our favorite AGCI Ethiopian staff members, T (not sure how to spell her name properly, so we'll just call her "T" for now), said that she would be our translator, and she gathered some chairs around a table. It was a fairly large group of people around that table for our meeting. Eden’s birth mother, her case worker, 3 AGCI staff members (all bi-lingual), Patty, and us. We started by asking Eden’s birth mother if she would mind if we video-taped and photographed the meeting. She said she didn’t mind.

With the camera rolling, we first gave her the letter we had written for her. As T translated it to her, we watched her reactions/expressions closely. She didn’t make any eye contact with us, but she did smile regularly. After the letter, we gave her the photo album we made for her (containing pictures of Eden, us, our house, etc.). T flipped through it with her and explained who/what everyone was. She definitely seemed to like the photos! After that, we started with our questions for her. It was a great relief to us that she was very open with her answers. She just kept talking and talking! It was awesome! We have so much information to pass along to Eden as she gets older!

After our meeting, T said that she would go get Eden and bring her to us so that we could take photos and so her birth mother could say her final goodbyes. Deep breath. They brought Eden in and put her in her birth mother’s lap. Her birth mother was smiling and noted that she looked so healthy and big (a very good thing!). We went outside and took several pictures that we will cherish forever. Then we were told that we would go back to our hotel for lunch and come back later in the afternoon to see Eden. Her birth mother would get to say her goodbyes without us there. It was definitely difficult to leave Eden in her birth mother’s arms as we walked away, but we knew that it was an important part of this entire journey.

A Day We’ll Never Forget!

2011-03-21T08:52:00.000-05:00

We were both so anxious about our “big day” that neither of us slept much at all. We were running on pure adrenaline that morning! We all got ready and went down for breakfast. While we were eating, another American couple walked in with their little girl in a baby carrier. We immediately knew that they were another AGCI family and that they were there for their Embassy appointment (which is why they had the baby with them). My (Lauren) stomach started churning as my anxiety built to a new level. It was even more real now than ever before.

After breakfast, we waited in the lobby for our driver to take us to Hannah’s Hope. Our emotions were definitely going crazy! Finally (15 minutes late felt like an eternity!) a man approached us and asked if we were going to Hannah’s Hope. Yep, we sure are! We loaded up and started on our way. We prayed together during the drive. Luckily Hannah’s Hope isn’t far from the hotel—we arrived at the gates within 5-10 minutes. We were greeted and shown to the office where we met Almaz, the Director of Hannah’s Hope. She was as kind as we had been told!

She said that since we weren’t there for a tour (heehee!), she would take us directly to meet Eden. She actually said Eden’s full name and it was so great to hear it in her native tongue—and to hear that we had been pronouncing it properly (which meant that our nickname of “Eden” makes sense). Almaz noted that it is typically very pretty weather in March, but that since it rained the night before (and was currently drizzling), all of the children were inside, rather than in the courtyard. We all removed our shoes and put on the shoes provided (various sizes of shoes that look just like Crocs), then we headed inside!

Following Almaz to meet Eden!

When we entered behind Almaz, our eyes immediately scanned the room to find Eden. Almaz spoke to the special mothers in Amharic and asked them which one Eden was. We didn’t need them to tell us—we had found her on our own. ;) We had agreed beforehand that I would get to hold her first (Ben is very sweet!), so I knelt down to her bouncy seat and started talking to her, telling her that I was her Mommy. I quickly scooped her out of the seat and into my arms. I had tears streaming down my face, but wasn’t “crying”—I guess that’s the definition of “happy tears” that I always hear about!

Eden was drawn to my curly hair and grabbed on to it right away. That made me feel good since my curls are one of the few physical characteristics that I share with my daughter! There was a lot of commotion around us since we were standing in the middle of the room where all of the infants were, so we walked over to an area of the room where we could settle in. After about 5 minutes, I passed our daughter to her Daddy.

It was a special moment for me to watch Ben with Eden. As most of you know, he is great with kids and truly loves them! So, for him to hold his OWN child had to have felt surreal for him! I watched (and took pictures) as she snuggled in to his chest and kept reaching for his face. So sweet! Surprisingly, he didn’t cry. I heard him tell Eden that he had cried enough tears and that now he was just happy to hold her in his arms!

We settled in to a corner of the room and made ourselves comfortable with our daughter. We brought a few toys/lovies with us for her to play with. Ben took out the little pink cloth bunny that we bought on our “babymoon” vacation to San Diego (before we thought we’d get matched with a girl, I might add). Eden quickly grabbed it and started sucking on one of the bunny ears. She must be teething because she wanted anything we had to go into her mouth!

She also played with Sophie the Giraffe (google it if you don’t know about this toy—it’s great! Thanks to the Prescott’s for giving it to us!). She loved the feeling of it on her gums, but I don’t think she was used to the sound of the squeak that came out of it when we squeezed it. It was funny to see her reaction (just startled her—she didn’t cry). She also chewed on the pink and orange giraffe lovie that we brought for her. But, by far, her favorite toy of the day was the little pink bunny. Ben definitely loved that, since he’s the one who picked it out!

The “gear” we brought for Eden on this trip...

She started to get a tab bit fussy (I use that term loosely—she didn’t really make any noises at all—just got a bit squirmy) around 10:30am, and we could tell from the sound of the other kiddos that it must be bottle and nap time. We asked the special mothers for a bottle and they brought it to us. I was holding her for the bottle feeding and it was truly a special moment! She had GREAT eye contact with me and quickly slipped off into a “milk coma.” I passed her to Ben, and he finished the bottle with her as she dozed off completely. For those who know Ben, he absolutely LOVES rocking babies to sleep, so I know that this was a very special moment for him to share with his daughter! I heard him tell Eden that the two of them were going to do this a lot!

Eden had her left hand wrapped around my finger and her right hand wrapped around Ben’s finger—so precious!

After holding her for about 15 minutes of her nap, we weren’t sure whether or not the special mothers wanted us to put her down to rest (looking back, I’m not sure why we cared—we’re her parents—but we were trying to be respectful of the fact that these ladies still take care of her daily, and we didn’t want to disrupt them). Partly because of a language barrier and partly because maybe she wanted to show us how she puts her down, Eden’s special mother came over and took her from us to a little bassinet right next to us. We paid close attention to the words (in Amharic) that she said to Eden so that we can do our best to duplicate sounds when she’s home. It was sweet to watch, and Ben told me later that he had a complete déjà vu moment watching that—like we had watched her put Eden to bed before. Interesting.

Rather than sleeping, Eden actually started “playing” with her special mother. Again, it was very sweet to see and we paid close attention to what words and motions were made. In an appropriate moment, I scooped Eden up and we started playing with her. This part of our visit was especially precious, as Ben and I sat on the floor bonding with our daughter. We sang songs, played patty-cake, made faces and sounds with our mouths, etc. She was very engaged and started mimicking some of our mouth movements! We felt like she had truly started to see us as more than just another caretaker.

Patty (my Mom) was so sweet to videotape the ENTIRE thing for us! She did an awesome job! And yes, she got to hold Eden…but only for a minute before we took her back. Heehee! (She totally understands why.)

Shortly after our play time, we were told that it was time to leave. We were very bummed, but it wasn’t too hard to say goodbye since we knew that we were coming back the next day. We arrived back at our hotel, downloaded all of the pictures and videos (thankfully, we have a TON of documentation of our special day!), had lunch, and then crashed. The adrenaline had definitely worn off. We woke up around 6:00pm, looked at the pictures again, had dinner, and then started journaling all of this.

A description of our little Ethiopian princess: downright beautiful, darling, and precious with a petite frame (except long fingers and toes), gorgeous dark brown eyes, cupid's bow mouth, and full lips. She has lost some of her baby chub look (since the 3-month-old picture) and we think she’s about 12 pounds or so. She is very easygoing, alert, and focused. We couldn’t be more proud to be her parents!

P.S. We have a TON more pictures that we will share with you after we have her home. We will not be posting any identifiable pictures of her just yet.

That was truly a day we will never forget! Thank you for all of your prayers for our family—we truly appreciate it and can’t thank you enough!

Eden, we love you SO much and can’t wait to have you home with us! You have a LOT of people who love you and are anxious to meet you!

The Trip of a Lifetime

2011-03-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

After approximately 18 hours in the air and 34 hours of total travel time, we arrived safely in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 9:15pm local time (8 hours ahead of Central time) on March 14, 2011.

We had a lot of anxiety about how our trip, and specifically our entry into Ethiopia, would go. Our anxiety mainly stemmed from the fact that we are not world travelers, we have never traveled to a third-world country, we were bringing a lot of donation items with us, we were traveling because of our adoption (and you’re never really sure how a country feels about an American family adopting one of their orphans), etc., etc.

Well, as He has proven to us time and time again, God was protecting us—and our luggage! We seriously felt your prayers! That might sound weird, but it’s true—we really knew that a lot of people were praying for us and we felt a lot of peace because of that. So, THANK YOU!

And now for the details (for those who want them)…

4:30am on 3/13/2011 – Mike & Dela (Eden’s Grandpa and Grandma) picked us up to take us to IAH

2 ½ hour Continental flight from Houston to Chicago (looking fresh and clean and ready to go!)

6 ½ hour layover in Chicago – used the time to put a huge dent in the thank you notes (we LOVE having the “problem” of having lots of thank you notes to write!) and make phone calls

Ben’s first ride on a “double-decker” plane…

8 hour Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Fankfurt (still looking fairly fresh and clean…)

4 hour layover in Frankfurt – stretched out and rested/slept a lot (it was SO hot in that airport!)

Ben’s first time riding a bus to the airplane and loading using the portable stairway…

7 hour Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Addis (definitely NOT looking fresh and clean anymore!)

We arrived safely in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 9:15pm local time (8 hours ahead of Central time) on 3/14/2011. We went straight to the line to obtain our travel Visa and we were then shuffled through customs. The line went surprisingly fast and we were not asked ANY questions—they simply did their required paperwork, got what they needed from our passports, then gave everything to us and sent us on our way!

As we walked out of the customs area, we immediately saw our luggage—ALL 7 bags—sitting there waiting for us! Because of a good friend who booked our flights using airline mileage, we were considered “Elite” and therefore our bags had special tags on them and had already been taken off of the carousel and put in a neat little row for us!

We got help with our luggage from two very friendly porters (that may be too formal of a title—they were Ethiopian men who work for the airport and help people with their luggage—presumably only on the tips they receive). They did all of the heavy lifting as we then had to send all of our luggage through a security scanner. Out of all 7 bags and our carry-ons, only one of our bags got selected to be opened and checked. It was one of Patty’s bags and it contained the food processor that we were donating to CFI, so we were nervous that they wouldn’t like that. Turns out all they cared about was whether or not the bag contained any medicine (which it didn’t), so they sent us on our way!

As we walked out of the airport, we immediately saw a man in a suit holding a sign that said “Benjamin & Lauren Huss.” Wow—another moment of total relief! We greeted him and he invited us and our porters to follow him to the car. As we walked down the winding ramp, we noticed how nice the weather was. It was very pleasant to have some cool air blow on our faces after so many hours in airports and planes!

The nice men loaded up the van and I (Lauren) asked them to take a picture with us (Ben rolls his eyes at me, but then he appreciates that we have photos like that).

We tipped the porters (standard of $3-4 USD per bag), hopped in the van, and headed to our hotel! At that point, it was about 10:15pm (only an hour to do all of the Visa, customs, luggage, etc.). It was dark, so we didn’t get to see much of Addis from the van, but we did have a couple of times when our driver “played chicken” with an oncoming vehicle. Thank goodness we won both times!

After about a 15-minute ride, we arrived at our hotel and got our rooms. Our room was just outside the elevator on the 4^th floor and Patty’s room was just down the hall from ours, so it was very convenient. We were pleasantly surprised at the size of our rooms! The sitting area with leather chairs and a love seat was just below the windows, so we kept a window open and enjoyed the sounds of Addis.

We spent about an hour sorting through our luggage so we could combine all of the donation items (we had spread everything out among the bags for travel). After we had everything sorted and organized, we got settled in for the night. It was nice to stretch out in a real bed after so many hours on airplanes and in airports sitting up to sleep!

Peter from CFI coming to pick up the donation items…

From the entrance to our room…

Our bed (we think the crooked picture hanging on the wall adds a lot of character to the room!)

Our bathroom (interesting tidbit: everything is very “fancy” and we have our own hot water heater, yet instead of a shower curtain, there is a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor—so water just goes everywhere)

The view from our hotel window…

Look what YOU did!!

2011-03-12T09:56:00.000-06:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again...we have the most generous friends ever! You totally stepped up to the plate with donations for us to take over to Ethiopia! Check out the loot that we're giving to a very deserving organization, CFI...

15 soccer balls (3 different sizes)
3 soccer ball pumps
15 scrub sponges (5 packages of 3)
200 gallon-sized Ziploc bags (5 boxes of 40)
600 cotton balls (6 bags of 100)
500 baby wipes (5 packs of 100)
570 gummy children's multivitamins (3 bottles of 190)
9 tubes of Neosporin
240 travel-sized toothpaste tubes
60 toothbrush covers
1 puzzle
23 books
10 slinkys
144 balloons (2 bags of 72)
25 play dough (5 packs of 5)
24 pieces of sidewalk chalk (4 packs of 6)
3 jump ropes
10 super balls
15 sticker books w/ stickers
2 packs of letter stickers
10 coloring books
17 dry erase boards
84 pencils (5 packs of 12; 4 packs of 6)
120 crayons (5 boxes of 24)
212 markers (2 packs of 100; 1 pack of 12)
8 pencil sharpeners
10 scissors
28 glue sticks
400 colored craft sticks (2 packs of 200)
1000 popsicle sticks
300 pipe cleaners (4 packs of 75)
2 packs of pom pom balls
372 wiggle eyes
48 rubber band bracelets (2 packs of 24)
204 feet of elastic craft cords (4 packs of 51 feet)
800 colored craft beads (2 packs of 400)
225 alphabet beads (1 pack)
29 pairs of socks
4 onesies
7 shirts
4 pairs of pants

And this doesn't even count the entire suitcase full of items that my Mom is bringing from items that folks in Louisiana contributed! (a food processor, lots more pants, a ton of craft project items, etc.)

You've presented us with a challenge that we're more than happy to take on--fitting all of this into 2 suitcases! Thank you SO much to all of you who contributed money and items that made all of this possible! And a special thank you to Nancy Mason for doing all of the shopping!

Your Prayers Mean SO MUCH to Us!

2011-03-11T11:04:00.000-06:00

We are incredibly blessed to have so many people praying BOLDLY for us! It is especially meaningful to have other adoptive families praying with us. This is the email that our adoption community leaders sent out to the group...it's a nice summary of what's going on and how you can pray. Thank you for your prayers!

Ben and Lauren will be leaving for Ethiopia this Sunday. They will meet their daughter Eden, who is their first child, on Tuesday and have their first court appearance on Thursday. Recently the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children's, and Youth Affairs (MOWA) announced that they are going to drop their number of case review each work day from 50 to 5. They are essentially reducing intercountry adoptions by 90%. Since MOWA has to review and approve their case before it goes to the embassy for review, this change could delay the process significantly for Ben and Lauren and the rest of us who are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia.

Please pray that their trip will go smoothly; pray that Eden will be well cared for during her remaining time in Ethiopia and that there will be no delay in bringing her home; and pray that international adoption process in Ethiopia will operate quickly and ethically to "place the lonely in families."

Asking for Your Help

2011-03-08T20:14:00.000-06:00

We are so confused and so sad. We got a call from our case manager today—and it wasn’t a good kind of call. There have been some changes in Ethiopia.

Our interpretation and understanding at this point is that the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children's, and Youth Affairs (MOWA) is getting pressure from organizations like UNICEF (who aren’t in favor of international adoption). Because of this, they are going to drop their number of case review each work day from 50 to 5. They are essentially reducing intercountry adoptions by 90%. And it’s scheduled to take effect on Thursday.

Based on an explanation from the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), MOWA’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues:
1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and;
2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option.

YOU CAN HELP change their mind! Our agency (and all other ethical adoption agencies) cares first and foremost about the children. Since this decision clearly is not in the best interest of the children, our agency (along with the other agencies that work in Ethiopia and JCICS) will continue to fight this. Please pray that the children win and that MOWA continues to review cases at the current rate.

Please click here and sign this petition—it will take less than 1 minute! By signing, you are simply saying that you support the Ministry’s goal of ensuring ethical adoptions that serve the best interest of children, and you are respectfully urging them to consider the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. You are asking MOWA to reconsider its plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families.

So, what does MOWA review have to do with bringing Eden home? MOWA has to review and approve our case before it goes to the embassy for review. Therefore, if they are only reviewing 5 a day, it could delay the process significantly. Before this change, our estimated wait time between court and embassy was 4-8 weeks. Imagine the implications on our wait time with this massive reduction!

Are you still leaving for Ethiopia on Sunday? Yes. This will NOT affect our first trip or our court appointment date, so we’re still leaving on Sunday and we still get to meet Eden on Tuesday and we still go to court on Thursday.

When will you get to bring Eden home? We have no idea. This WILL affect the length of time between our first court appointment and our final embassy appointment, which means that it affects the length of time it will take for us to bring Eden home. Our agency has no idea how it will play out—they can’t give us an estimate because this is all new. (NOTE: if you have any further questions for me based on this, feel free to email me.)

We know that God is STILL on the throne and that He is in control. Please pray! Please pray for the Ethiopian orphans and their caretakers. Please pray for everyone who is advocating on behalf of these children—in favor of international adoption. Please pray for MOWA to continue reviewing 50 cases a day. Please pray for families like us who are caught in limbo after already being matched with our child. Please pray for ALL families who are in the adoption process from Ethiopia. Please pray for ALL of the 145+million orphans around the world. Please pray for ALL of the families who are considering international adoption—pray that this news doesn’t keep them from taking that step of obedience in their life.

Thank you in advance for your help by signing the petition and praying.

NOTE: If you want to read more about what UNICEF believes, click here to read one of my previous posts.