Birthdays

    Birthdays are a big deal in our house. We love to celebrate and like decorating for a theme. This year, the theme was Sharks. We decided to celebrate both boys birthdays at the same time. JT's birthday is in May and Jonah's is in July. So, the party was to be in June. 
    So far for JT's birthday we have put out pools for the kids to swim in, if it was warm enough. This year since the party was in June we decided to rent the coolest water slide ever! We had a little pool as well for those who didn't want to brave the big water slide. 
    The slide was dropped off at 7am and picked up at 8pm. There may have been a 15 minute period were no one was on the slide. All the kids loved it. They had a wonderful time. We had friends, family neighbors and at the end of the evening even our "big kid" neighbors went on. It was a wonderful day.
We are very bad at taking pictures at events. We are having too good of a time. There are no pictures of the table set up and none of the delicious cake pops that were served as party favors. So this is what we got.....

Bubbe Stell going down!

Happy Birthday Boys! We love you. As much as you drive us nuts and test our every move, we are honored to be your parents! 

We Have A Graduate

We are very behind on blogging and will one day catch up. But today was a very special day for JT. He graduated pre-school. He is so excited and can not wait to go to Kindergarten. 
JT switched pre-schools this February. He walked in his new school liked he had been there for years. He loved his Jewish school. He loved his teacher Morah (Hebrew for teacher) Sheryl. The talked about God and celebrated Shabbat each Friday. The kids line up with their Kippahs or Yamakas (whatever you like to call  them) on and headed to the sanctuary for Shabbat. They sang songs and learned some Hebrew. He has been teaching us some really good stuff!
Grandpa Al joined JT in his celebration. We started out in the classroom and JT showed us some of his work. Then as a group, the kids said a blessing for each other. We all then went to celebrate Shabbat.
During Shabbat, the Rabbi said a special blessing to all the graduates. The kids loved it. 
We went out for lunch as a family and headed back in the evening to the school (temple) for a picnic dinner and a Family Shabbat service. JT got to see his teacher and friends one last time. It was a great day.

All the kids hugging after they blessed each other! Don't mind JT's  wedgie!

Heading to Shabbat. 

Grandpa Al

Getting blessed by the Rabbi

The Graduates

Morah Sheryl

Officially A Waiting Family

After bringing Jonah home, it wasn't long that we wanted to adopt again. Our agency was no longer accepting applications for infants from Ethiopia because the waiting list was too long at that point. We were all set to adopt a little boy from Burundi (look it up on a map!) This was a pilot program with the agency we used for Jonah and we were accepted into the program based on the fact that we had adopted from Africa before. After long thought and many reasons why, we decided that we were not going to enter the Burundi program. 
We found a new agency that was still accepting applications for infants from Ethiopia. This would be perfect for Jonah and our next little boy to be. When all the kids are older we can make a trip to one country! Jonah and our next guy will always have their birth country in common. 
Of course it will be another year or so but being a "Waiting Family" is big in the adoption world. We haven't said too much but JT is very excited to have another brother. In the meantime we are busy with our two boys and enjoying the great weather. 
Sent to us today......


Dear Kevin Heilbronner & Erin Brauer,

I just wanted to send you this quick email to let you know that your dossier has been sent back to our office from Washington D.C. You are now on the waiting list for a referral!  We will be keeping your dossier in queue here in  the St. Louis office until it is time to be expressed to Ethiopia. Congratulations on having this piece behind you!! You're now a waiting family!!

After you have accepted a referral, the dossier will be translated and authenticated, and presented to the Ministry of Women's Children's and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA), which is the first entity in Ethiopia to approve you to adopt the child.

Waiting for a referral can really be a difficult wait for most families. We suggest keeping busy and doing those things that you may not have a chance to do once your child comes home. You also will want to read as much as you can related to raising adopted children, bonding and attachment, transracial adoption, Ethiopia, etc. etc., and you may even want to  start learning some phrases in Amharic.

This would also be a good time to look into the immunizations that you will need for your trip. Some immunizations are good for  3, 5 and even 10 years so it's not too early to start. Visit www.cdc.gov/travel . Information is also noted in the CHI Ethiopia Travel Guide located on the CHIFamily.net website.

Please know that we are here to support you during your wait and answer any questions that you might have.

Congratulations again, you are one step closer to bringing your little one home!!!


Blessings,


Angie Thorn
Ethiopia Adoption Consultant

My Tzeli Monster

I wrote this last March. In the last year we learned Tzeli had Diabetes and was just diagnosed with Cushing's Disease. Because of this disease we would never be able to control the Diabetes. We knew it was time to say good bye. Tomorrow, Tzeli will take her journey and see Mia and Venus (my old dog dog from childhood) We will miss Tzeli a lot. Even with 2 dogs over 100 pounds in the house, Tzeli was always the head lady of the house and always showed them who was boss. We hope she travels safely and enjoys a healthy life in Doggie Heaven.

Last March......

It was Thanksgiving break back in 1999 when I went to go look at dogs for fun. I came home with Tzeli. We all know you can never "just look." Our first night together, she snuggled under my armpit and slept all night long. She came back to ECU with me and lived with Teresa and Laura, my roommates. When I had swim practice at 6am. I would bring her in Teresa's room so she had someone to snuggle with. She met her sister Mia that year even though Mia lived in another household for a few years after that before returning to us . (long story!) She had a lot of "Aunts." She spent my Senior year with me and then got to live with her Aunt Sloaner. Sloaner loved Tzeli and gave her, her very own PP (Princess Pillow). (Just a pillow that Tezli would perch herself on) She enjoyed eating Sloan's underwear, along with many of mine and ate through a tapestry as well. She got a virus that year and had to spend the night at the vet. That was the first time I cried over a pet thinking she would die. She bounced back and saw me graduate in December 2000. We then made the trip back to Virginia.

Tzeli went through everything with me. She saw me through 2 boyfriends (the only 2 I really had), saw me start my career as a teacher and had the honor of staying with her friend Kayleigh during the day so she wouldn't be lonely. She was there when Mia got to come home forever and then she got to meet her Daddy, (Kevin). She then took in her brother Zeus who was 10 times her size, yet still always showed him who was boss. Tzeli had a "reading" at our wedding and then moved to a new house.

Over the years Tzeli has welcomed her two brothers JT and Jonah. She has had to say good bye to her beloved sister Mia. She sat by the rug by the door for 2 weeks after we had to put her to sleep. Jonah who was afraid of dogs when he first came home, spent the day today kissing her over and over again.

For some reason, Tzeli has lost an extreme amount of weight in the last 3 weeks. She is peeing all over the place and licking it up. We know she probably has cancer and Cushings disease but we have already done lots of blood work and don't find it necessary to bring her back to vet. She is dying and there isn't anything we can do about.

We have tried to prepare JT for Tzeli's journey to Doggie Heaven and he understands that Mia is there waiting for Tzeli at the pearly white gates. We haven't made the decision of when that will be and I am just hoping she will pass in her sleep while at home. We both know that probably won't happen but we will try to hold out until we can come to finally say, "It's time."

We have been through this before. I talk about Mia everyday and I wouldn't go with Kevin to put her to sleep. Only because she was a hyper beast and I couldn't bare to take my hyper, crazy dog, who happened to be very sick and put her to sleep.

Tzeli is very ill. She has no energy, yet still eating and she got to live almost 12 great years. She slept in our bed, usually in between our legs every night. She had a great life and the best thing about her was that although she was only 15-20 pounds, she thought she was 150 pounds and acted like she would kill anyone who tried to hurt me. She was a pain on walks and annoying every time someone came over or rang the doorbell, but we love her. She was my first baby. Even though everyone knows Mia was my favorite, I do love my Tzeli Monster and we have a lot of memories and history together.

We love you Tzeli. In the meantime, we hope your last days are comfortable and happy for you.

Helping Mia celebrate her birthday.

Tzeli waiting for JT to come home from the hospital.