Happy 4th!

Well, according to our original travel dates, we were supposed to leave for Ethiopia yesterday on the 4th but now I know why we had to wait until Thursday. We had an amazing day with lots of family time and getting to love on Jackson who will soon no longer be the center of attention.....It was really nice and very needed since I don't want to leave my baby for 8 days. We started out the morning at the neighborhood parade and I was a bad mommy and forgot the camera. You can imagine old cars, decorated golf carts, and kids on bicycles and in wagons with their flags and streamers. We sat with Jackson catching what we thought were smarties only to figure out after he ate a handful of them that they were bubble gum smarties......great. Then we headed home to pick up the camera and then off to my sisters where my family got together for a cook out and watching the boys in the baby pool.







Then we came home and took some naps, yep all of us. Then we went out to a local pizza place at the outdoor mall where Jackson indulged himself in macaroni and cheese. We walked over to cold stone for some ice cream and Jackson got to pick out his very own. He chose the blue cotton candy flavored one of course.

This is the face I get when I ask him to smile.....



eating ice cream with mommy.

last family picture with 3.

The outdoor mall was having a fun 4th celebration so we let Jackson hit the bounce house before we found a nice park to watch the fireworks from. He was pretty scared of the loud noises and curled up in Paul's lap but still liked it I think......He has been asking all day today to go and watch again tonight.

The park was down the street from the fireworks but a perfect place to watch from and not that crowded.





This is me sticking my arm out with the camera to take our picture......you should see the first 5 attempts.

So although I was disappointed to have our travel moved back a few days, I am so glad we got to spend this day with our boy! Now Thursday can not come quick enough. I can't wait to have my kids home together. Hope you had a great 4th!

The Nursery!

Ok the nursery is pretty much finished. The walls are a very pale pink, they look a little darker in the photos. Paul is the master photographer, not me and I didn't want to interrupt him cleaning the kitchen for me:) We are waiting on one bookshelf but you can get the general idea......

The chandelier has pretty clear and pink crystals hanging from it.






Paul and I made this for her room:)




Olivia's crib





her closet

her clothes:)

don't mind the pile in the corner, those are just donations that didn't fit and will be mailed to another traveling family! I also haven't figured out what I really want on the shelf.

and in this corner you can imagine this........

except I am not paying $399 at Pottery Barn for it. A friend of ours is making it for Olivia!

Everything is ready for you baby girl! We can't wait to bring you home to your beautiful new room!

Making Preparations........

Sorry for the lack of posting! We have been running around like crazy getting everything ready for Miss Olivia. Tonight I ran by the Ethiopian Market near our house to pick up the essentials to make some shiro and lentils to freeze for when she gets home. I have been trying really hard to get everything from the bottles she uses at HH to familiar toddler foods like shiro and lentils so that transitioning her home won't be as hard. So here's a picture of my first attempt at shiro. Paul and I have been eating a lot of Ethiopian food this past year (it helps that we are not far from an Ethiopian community) and we both think that Erin's recipe is pretty close to the real thing! Tomorrow I will try my hand at the lentils because I ran out of onions. Who knew that you would need 5 onions for 1 pot of shiro!


Oh and tomorrow night I will be revealing the nursery!!! So stay tuned! 6 days until we leave! I can't believe it!

FINALLY!

We are finally all confirmed and clear to travel and our USCIS problems are FIXED!!! Yes you read that correctly! We leave Thursday July 9th and return Friday July 17th!! We are so excited! I can't believe it.

Update on my 90 day Challenge: I am a little behind because of all that has been happening this week. I am still reading everyday, just not as much as I should. But I suspect that a 15 hour plane ride should do the trick:)

Travel Dates Changed

We were just informed that we wont be traveling until the following week. I am upset but at least we have a CONFIRMED embassy appointment. Now I am just waiting to make sure our USCIS problem is indeed fixed since the embassy doesn't seem to think it is. If you are reading this shortly after it is posted please say a quick prayer that someone will pick up the phone at the National Visa Center because I am tired of being on hold.......

I will post more later.

WE PASSED!!!!!!!

I just heard from Christy that Olivia "S" is OURS!!!!! (I am not sure if I am allowed to post her picture or name yet though....I'll add that to my TO DO LIST)

WE WILL BE IN ETHIOPIA JULY 5TH!!!!!!!!!!


Please keep praying because I don't know if our USCIS issue has been resolved yet but I will be contacting our congressman if it isn't! I should know more soon!

We are totally freaking out around here!!!! Baby girl we are coming for you!!!

UPDATED:

Mrs. Aarseth,

Your request has already been processed and mailed out. You should be receiving your notice in the mail shortly.

All documents have been mailed to the National Visa Center .

The National Visa Center will send all documents to the designated countries.

Thank you,

Dallas District Adoptions US C.I.S.

90 day Challenge

I decided that in the midst of all of these trials we are going through with our adoption, I wanted my mind set not on earthly things but on my Father who I need to run to. So I am joining Rebecca (who has a great homeschooling blog that I just found) on her 90-day challenge of reading through the bible! I told Paul and he said I was crazy! He said, "You do know how many books are in the bible don't you?" But that's ok because I am pumped.

Do you want to join me? I need some accountability. I don't think I will post about it every day but I will at least tell you how it is going on a weekly basis I think. If you want to join in just click the button. I think she will start on Monday but jump on in anytime!

We didn't pass......

Christy finally called to tell us that we did not pass court last Thursday. Olivia's birth mother has two last names (which is common in the southern region of Ethiopia) but the paperwork that the court had only stated one last name. Now she has to travel home (I think it is like a 7 hour bus ride) and get her paperwork sorted out and then travel back to the capital in order for the judge to finalize our adoption. Please pray for us while we wait yet again. I just want to bring my baby girl home.

Waiting for Good Things

Jackson's morning devotional brought me to tears this morning:


Kaitlyn is so excited! She and her family are going to a camp where they will have lots of fun. She waited and waited. And now the special day is here. Have you you ever had to wait for something special? It's hard to wait for something that we know is going to be very good. The Bible says that God has many good things for us on earth. But he will also have good things for us in heaven someday. Everything that God has for us is worth waiting for.


My Bible Verse:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5

My Prayer:

Lord, it's sometimes hard to wait, But what you give is very great.







Thank you Lord for your faithfulness to me.

Still no news

We took a random trip to Chicago over the weekend and we just got back in town......but I still haven't heard anything. Some families on the listserv with June 4th court dates posted that they passed today so I have called and emailed Christy (Julie our caseworker is in Ethiopia right now so we have Christy now) but she was at lunch I think................I am frustrated and just want to hear the news either way. I am tired of waiting.

No News

I know you are all wondering about our court date and well, so am I! I have been told that some families find out that day and others have to wait a week......So I will update when I hear something!

As far as CIS goes, our meeting this morning went better than last week and I was able to email the actual person that deals with our case......of course the reply I got was, "Thank you Mrs. Aarseth for your inquiry. When your request is processed you will be notified." Well that was helpful! So I guess all we can do now is wait and pray........

Tonight is the night!!

Tonight while we sleep a court in Ethiopia will decide on whether or not Miss "S" will become an Aarseth!!! We are a little nervous, ok I am A LOT nervous, but standing firm on God's promises and blessings to us. Please pray with us tonight for "S"'s birthmother and for our agency and for the judge! We may not know the outcome for several days but I will post as soon as I hear something!


Oh and our CIS problem isn't fixed yet so your prayers for that would be greatly appreciated as well!! I am going in the morning to see if I can get some more information.

Potty Training Part 2

I quit.

Potty Training

So I have decided to start potty training Jackson today to get my mind off of our court date and our current paperwork predicament...... Potty training isn't quite as fun as I thought it would be. (who actually thinks potty training is fun anyways?) Well it is currently 10:11 and Jackson has had 1.5 sippy cups of Sprite and 1 of Gatorade and .5 of water and still NOTHING......It is like a ticking time bomb. Every 15 minutes I make him sit on the potty for 5 minutes. But nothing........so now we are watching some Elmo to help pass the time. We also started our first morning of Tot School and it went really well! Since school is over and I won't be going back to preschool teaching next year I decided to put my energy into some homeschooling or I mean tot schooling.....oh timer is going off! Time to Potty!

If you have any great potty training advice, please leave a comment! I am a total newbie at this!

Today.....

Today I had a meeting at the immigration office......it didn't go as well as I had hoped. I still have some tricks up my sleeve and hope that this will indeed work out sometime next week but I was pretty upset to say the least this morning.

However some wise words from Mckmama have really helped to change my view on things today. It is very strange how much comfort and support I find in the blog world:)

I will try to keep you updated on any progress.....