Belly Boy!

Emily called our family and gave me some stuff to write about on her blog. She has no internet access in Ethiopia!


They arrived on time and are adjusting to the time change well. Emily says Belly Boy is super cute! He is also a tease, giving little smiles and rolling his eyes at his nannies. By the third visit, Belly Boy was running to Em's Mom with his hands up asking to be picked up! They went to the market today and had to bargain a lot, which Emily said was strange. They are so thankful for the prayers.


They will be home in about a week so Emily will be able to resume writing then.
~LindseyMarie

So this is What Its Like..

This is what it's like to wait for a plane! FINALLY, I understand what Dad goes through when he's on a business trip! Tickets, security, waiting, etc.

Right now we are waiting in the waiting room for our plane. Our plane is at 3:30, so we have quite a ways to go yet. Mom is on the phone with my siblings and grandma and Dad is looking over our paperwork.

We came really early and fortunately too, because we had some ticket stuff to work out for Belly Boy.  We made friends with the people at the airport and they are sorry they won't be working on the day we come back with our new baby boy!

We stayed up really late last night, (to 1:30) and got up at 6 today so hopefully we'll be able to sleep on the plane and avoid much jet lag.

We packed all our stuff up this morning. We filled 6 suitcases, have 3 carry ons, and 3 personal belongings!!! We look like we're staying for more than a week. Oh well. Better be safe than sorry.

Mom had butterflies in her stomach this morning, but says they're gone now. The most nervousness I've felt was when I said bye to my friend, Rachel, who saw us off at the airport. My hands, knees, and everything were shaking. Right now I feel great, though. And as for Dad, he's used to flying.

I remember when I was little, I sat in this room and watched my Dad board his plane. But now they have so much security, that they don't allow anyone to come back here. Rats!!! We are sitting in front of a big wall full of windows and right now I'm watching a plane take off. We have the best seats!

I will try to write again soon. Until then, bye.

We are Leaving in THREE DAYS!

Everything is starting to look more and more like we are leaving. Right now our huge counter is PACKED with diapers, toys, wipes, toys, batteries, waterbottles, and toys. Under the counter are suitcases! 7 or 8 suitcases! We are so thrilled to be leaving so soon. Today was our last Sunday at church before we leave. It's SO COOL!

Bob, Sports Dude, and Miss Bossy are at Papa and Nana's right now. Miss Bossy was so cute on the phone today. She asked Mom when we were leaving. Then she had to talk to me just to say bye and then she wouldn't hang up until I did.

Dad is planning on putting up the crib tonight and I think I might try to help him and/or clean the house. It's messy and you don't want to get stressed from the messes while you're packing! I don't know what Mom is planning on doing tonight. Probably more packing for Belly Boy.

Please pray for us. That we will get all our packing done, that the trip will go well, and that Belly Boy would bond to us quickly!

Today Mom and I were reading the blog of another family who is in Ethiopia right now. It was so cool to read the lady's view on the trip and know that we were going to experience that soon, too. Her posts were so easy to picture and they got me so excited to go.

I also spent the afternoon with my friend, Rache, who has been to Uganda on a mission's trip and had the most amazing time and plans on going back someday. Talking to her about her trip, looking at her pictures, and listening to her excitedly talk about our leaving so soon, has got me excited. I can't wait to go see another country, but most of all meet my brother who I already know is SO, SO CUTE!

More..

I'm gonna try to write this as I eat pizza...

Dad and Mom have the last of their shots and are taking their typhoid pills every other day. Mom did have a reaction to her tetanus shot. It consisted of achiness and nausea and plain tiredness. She also got a big swollen lump on her knee which has caused her pain today as she did Miss Bossy's hair.

Because I am taking an antibiotic for my acne, I couldn't take the regular typhoid pills and instead got a shot today. (Psst, if you're not scared of needles, and you just want to get the typhoid stuff over and done with and not have icky side effects, get the shot. It's not bad at all!)

Mom is doing Miss Bossy's hair right now and then she's gonna pack up the kids so they can leave tomorrow for our grandparents!

Ethiopia is so soon! Only 6 days away! We can't believe it! But are SO, SO thrilled!

Waiting for Their Baby...

Since Emily and her fam are busy packing, I told her I'd write again! this post will be about the V's adopting Sport's Dude and Miss Bossy, with a bit about Belly Boy!


As Emily has mentioned before, Sport's Dude was born as a preemie. When Mr. and Mrs. V. brought him back home to our town, he had to get hospitalized again. So Emily and Bob got to come stay with my family! I was very young, like 5, and all I remember is Emily and I played dollhouse while Bob was still sleeping. After Sport's Dude came home, no one could go visit them for awhile, but we do have some pictures of my sister and him. They're about 5 months apart.


When Miss Bossy was born, my family had moved temporarily to another state. We moved back when she was about 5 months old. 


And now there's Belly Boy. This adoption has been very long and has seemed even longer to the V's, but in a few days they will have Belly Boy in their arms! He is such a little cutie and they are sooooo excited. They're packing and in the flurry of being told that in 2 weeks they'll have a son and brother!

Update

Tomorrow Dad and Mom get the last of their shots. Mom is getting the tetanus shot tomorrow, so I hope she doesn't have a strong reaction like the rest of us had. We started our typhoid pills last night and Mom and I have had bad side effects today. I had a painful stomach ache and ended up getting nauseous. Mom had a bad stomach ache too.

Bob, Sports Dude, and Miss Bossy are going to my grandparents house Friday and then we are going to finish packing to leave next Wednesday.

We leave next Wednesday at 3 something and then have a nine hour trip to Amsterdam and then another nine hour trip to Ethiopia.

Dad and Mom's bedroom is finished and we just need to set up the crib and changing table with all Belly Boy's clothes and everything.

More updates later.

Wow! We have a travel date. AND it's sooner than we were thinking! Much sooner!

Okay, so I started out talking about end of February, early March. Then that turned into end of March, or sometime in April. THEN we got a travel date for April. BUT yesterday we got a phone call and e-mail that changed that all. In fact, we are leaving VERY soon.

It began with Mom not answering the phone. She didn't recognize the number and was busy doing schoolwork with Sports Dude. So she let it go to the answering machine. Then the answering machine cut out when the lady leaving the message said who she was. As Mom finished schoolwork with Sports Dude, she was trying to place the voice when suddenly it dawned on her who it was. Our social worker.

Once Mom knew who it was, she tried calling her back, but got the answering machine. Then she tried to call Dad, but couldn't get a hold of him. FINALLY, Dad called Mom and Mom told him she could talk to him, but if someone tried calling through, than she'd have to go because she thought the social worker had just called.

Then Dad told Mom that he had just gotten off the phone with the social worker, (who had called him), and they had an earlier travel date for us, if we could do it. He also said that the social worker had sent an e-mail earlier, but we hadn't gotten it. So Mom searched for it, found it, opened it up, but didn't look as she waited for Dad to tell her the date. Meanwhile Bob was leaning over her shoulder reading the e-mail and his face lighting up and getting excited as he read. He started motioning to me and trying to sign the date. Suddenly Mom was talking really excited and I rushed over to the computer and read the date in the e-mail and was so surprised and excited too.

After hanging up with Dad, Mom called her parents to see whether they were able to watch Bob, Sports Dude, and Miss Bossy while we were gone. Mom's mom quickly said yes! We had an hour to decide whether we could do it, so Mom called Dad to let him know the news so he could call the social worker back right away. He couldn't get ahold of her, but eventually we knew we had made it and we were going to Ethiopia, a month earlier than we had planned before!

Since then Mom and Dad have been really busy getting things ready for Belly Boy and our traveling. Dad bought the tickets to the plane. Mom has cancelled things and made plans for our math class, etc. And right now they're finishing up the rest of their bedroom.

We are all so excited. We are leaving March 3rd for Ethiopia. We will reach Ethiopia, March 4th and will come home March 11th. This is ELEVEN days away! Not 30, 18, or even 12 days away!  11!!!!