Souvenirs...

Here are a few souvenir pictures...







And some other souvenirs we brought back...

Peeps had a brief dr. appt. yesterday to check out her skin issues. It looks like maybe she has a fungus, and maybe infantigo, so we are on creams and antiobiotics. Luckily, it isn't anything that can't be treated. And now I have her fungus. On my neck and jaw of all places. I'm real cute. I think maybe I'll ask Dennis to give me a hickey on my neck, too, just for fun. And then go to the mall or something with my hair up and just watch people's reactions. That would be funny. I love thinking up stuff to do like that...maybe someday I'll actually be brave enough to pull a stunt like that. I remember one time, when I was working at Enterprise Rent a Car, we had a guy who was waiting to get picked up by us and for some reason, we couldn't get there soon enough. The guy was real hacked, son our employee who had to pick him up stuck a piece of tape on his cheek and pretended that he didn't know it was there. How can you yell at a poor sap with tape stuck to his face, like an idiot? The guy never said anything but did stare at him. He was probably wondering why we were all so oblivious to it and didn't say anything. But I digress....she has a full well check on the 9th, so after then, we should know more.

Anyway, Piper is sleeping like a champ once she finally gives up screaming. She is not liking the bedtime thing, but I am a follower of Dr Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child", so I stick to it. It worked miracles with both of my boys.

Today, I have to buy my daughter some shoes that fit. She owns 5 pairs of shoes, none of which fit. Size 4 is too big. My boys wore that before they were 1! Hopefully there are still some summer sandals out there.

Introducing.....

We went to church yesterday and Piper made her debut. She gave everyone The Look and didn't make a sound. And then, bless her heart, she fell asleep for service. Thank goodness. I was worried about that! Before it started, we took her to the nursery and she played happily for a few minutes, so that was good. Maybe next week we'll let her stay back there for the hour and kind of give it a run and see how she'll do. When school starts, I am a teacher's aide at the kids' Parent's Day Out, so she will be in class 2 days a week from 9-2 and I hope she takes that well. She is very independent and I think once she realizes that I am coming back she'll be fine.

I think that since Dennis is off this week, we'll do some fun family stuff like going to the kids museum, swimming and stuff like that. My sister is coming this week also, to meet Peeps. It will be a fun week. In a couple of weeks, Dennis's work is putting everyone up for the weekend at a nice hotel with lots of fun stuff to do and while I am excited, the prospects of sharing one room in a hotel with all 3 young 'uns doesn't bode well with me. Maybe it is too soon to think about that!

Here are some more pictures of the trip and at home.

When Love Takes You In - Steven Curtis Chapman

I have to steal Stephen Curtis Chapman's love letter.

To my baby girl.

Home is where we are staying for a long time...

We are home...yeehaw!

Somehow we managed to get ourselves so off in sleep during travel, that we ended up sleeping with the right time zone, so we went to bed at 8pm-ish last night and got up at 7 this morning. Sweet.

She woke 3x last night and only the one a 5am was a cry-for-thirty-minutes-get-me-out-of-bed kind of thing. And then fell asleep until 7.
The boys love her to death and were so cute when they met us at the airport. I can tell Brodan has been a little whiny, but they both are handling it really well and playing with her. She is freaked by the dogs, but seems to be warming up to the one who is the sweetest...it's like she knows!

The flight home was horrendous. Piper did not like the seat belt and made sure that everyone knew. The first half of our long flight really stunk, but she did do better the second half. We were so exhausted. My friend Jeanene is the most awesome trooper. I would have been lost without her. She carried everything. The girl wore a backpack on her front, her back, and carried one! She was also my "heavy". She made all the calls I didn't want to make(since I hate the phone) and wasn't afraid to speak up when I should have. She was awesome with Piper, most of all. Thanks Nene!

It was funny as I was reading my blog this morning and I spoke to my sister, that I noticed the effects of fatigue, travel, and everything else in my blogging. There was that one day that was bad and Piper pushing the boundaries really had me worried. Some people have mentioned that thought that you feel horrible for where you think, "what have I done?", and most seem to get it after they came home. I had that one week into it! But since coming back and getting a night's normal sleep, I feel SOOOO much better. She is playing with the boys, loves her Daddy, and is learning the limits. She had her first time out this morning (ooh, she hated that), but I think it, like with all kids, will just take a little time. The only thing that she has a problem with, is hitting or swatting at you when she doesn't get her way. While it is cute on a child the size of a 9 month old, it won't be later, and I won't put up with it. I am sure communication plays a huge part in it since she can't express herself or even really understand me. Most kids this age, can understand you, but not speak well and we don't even have that. So I know she is frustrated, but we'll get it all figured out. Wow. What a much better place I am in now. Literally and figuratively.

Thank you to everyone who commented and all your prayers and well wishes. It was a real pain in the tookas to blog there, esp. posting pictures, but I remember what a lifeline it was while I was waiting. You can almost feel connected to your child while someone is there. Especially once the paperwork is over and you have nothing more to work on and you are just waiting and waiting.

I will be posting pictures over the next couple of days of the trip, too. Now I need to catch up on everyone else's blogs and see where everyone is...I feel like I have been gone forever!

Looks like we are on vacation, huh?

Thursday

Today we are leaving. although not until 10:15 at night. But we are coming home, yay!!!

We are here for sure until 1pm, although we are trying for a late checkout, which we are on hold for since the hotel has been packed. There have been a lot of Ethiopian bigwigs here. All those people from the restaurant the other night are here, as well as a few aid conferences like the Islam HIV conference.

So today we will take it easy and maybe get Piper out and running so that she will sleep well tonight on the plane. We hope.

But we are coming home, jet lagged and happy!

It may be a couple of days but I will post when we get back and let you know how she adusts and what she thinks about all the great looking guys in her house! This has been an incredible experience!

Wednesday

Wednesday was a big day. We began at the Gladney Toddler House which is kind of like a transition home for the babies that are referred. Really it should be called the Baby House because it only houses babies, almost all under 1 year. It was very nice in comparison to the orphanages. If your child comes from there, your child is in great care. There were 18 babies, almost all were referred. There were a couple who have been referred but not accepted and they are still there. It is an awesome place and very clean. Belay said they are working on opening another one for the older kids to transition to, as well, but single story so they don't worry about the toddlers. Ethiopia makes some really good looking babies, I tell ya.

We also participated in the coffee ceremony which is a traditional ceremony where they roast and brew the coffee beans and popcorn is served with the coffee. During this time, Piper's mom came. I held it together until she began to cry. One of the other couple's birthmom came too, but wasn't very emotional. Piper's mom was. She was SOOO young and tiny. If she is 5 foot tall, I would be surprised. Piper really didn't act much different with her. I have a feeling that someone older, maybe a relative really was who took care of her, rather than her mom. Especially since she was so young. We brought her a photo album with all the pictures I had of Piper at the time and pictures of the family. We also got her a locket that I put two pictures of her in and wrote her a letter. I am so glad that we did that. I had questions, but you can tell that she is not used to being able to answer for herself or maybe even think for herself. She even had a hard time getting out of work to get to come see us. What kind of &##@!* gives a young girl a hard time about meeting her little girl and parents? She is a housemaid somewhere. What kind of life does she have? Anyways, it was brutal. I told her, through tears, of course, that I am proud to share the position of mom with her. She is not a birthmom, she is mom. She made the most "Mom" decision anyone could make when she put herself aside and placed her for adoption so that Piper may have a life with more opportunity and an education. And that is an incredible legacy for her to leave with Piper. Many times over people have oohed and aahhed over the fact that she will have an education while we have been here, so I know how important it is. They also hope, as did her mom, that she will come back someday and help Ethiopia. I couldn't be more proud of her if she did.

After that, we went to the Top View Restaurant with a great view and not so great food. All the kids decided to poop at the restaurant, so that ain't easy when they don't have changing tables.

Helpful hint: Bring a folding changing pad or something like the ones you have seen in those nice diaper bags because you change diapers on bathroom floors(yeah, disgusting, but you have no other option)! Pack ziplocs and something to put smelly diapers in so your hotel room doesn't stink. And plenty of travel size hand sanitizer!

After that, we went to our embassy appointment, where it became official that Piper is coming home with me!

And then it was home to the hotel, thankfully. We went to bed early at 8 something...a pretty draining day.

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Tuesday

Sorry..the days kind of run together, so I can't remember the last time I blogged.

I will start with yesterday(Tuesday). We went church at an International Nondenominational church. It was in English and they also do French and Italian services, too, I think. We actually had a Korean pastor there. That's kind of funny...Korean pastor doing an English service in Ethiopia. It was nice, but Peeps in not one for sitting anymore. She wants to go!

That evening we went to the traditional Ethiopian restaurant, Fasikas. Our reservation somehow wasn't held, so they set us up outside and it was awesome. Then after it cleared a little, we went inside and watched the dancing, which of course, involves audience participation. I really lucked out and wasn't chosen. But my friend Jeanene was!

The most remarkable thing about it all, was that the restaurant was filled with a VIP
party. If you are familiar with the current events in Ethiopia, several years ago, an election was held in which a certain party was elected(I am not sure what their name is). There was some opposition and they were sentenced to death! And then this past year, the sentence was commuted to life, and this week they were set free, thanks to some Elders in Ethiopia who came together to negotiate their release. It was a huge celebration and a historic night that we were able to see. It is my understanding that most Ethiopians support this group and hopefully there will be positive changes coming.