Why?

Why Adopt? And why from Ethiopia?
Many people have asked us these questions. It's simple:

-One in ten children die before their first birthday.
-One in six children die before their fifth birthday.
-44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
-Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school.
-88% will never attend secondary school.
-Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
-Ethiopia has approx. 4.3 million orphans and the country is twice the size of Texas.
-Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa..

Finally Some Snow-Our Little Man Is "Cooking"

Last year we never got any snow. We got some ice but JT never got to have a "real" snow day to go and play and put on a snow suit. I guess his snow suit from last year will be for our next little man. So, it finally snowed. It only took us 45 minutes to get JT ready to head outside! I was sweating to death. JT was consumed with playing with his chainsaw that Gavin gave him.

We put JT on the flying saucer and pulled him with a tow rope. He loved it. All the neighborhood kids were at the top of the hill sliding down. I really wish JT could have gone out there with all the big kids. I have the best memories of playing in the snow with Jenny and Francesca in Cinnamon Creek. We had a hill that we called "Kill Hill." Jenny's dog Duke would chase after us and try to take our hats off. We always had to stop short before hitting the trees at the bottom. Estelle told me not go on that hill several times because she thought it was too dangerous but I would lie about not going and go anyway. The good news is that I am still alive and well and hitting a few trees never did much harm. I hope JT and our other little man have such great memories when they get older.

As for the adoption....Everyone always asks us how the adoption is going. We don't mind at all but the fact is that there is never any news and we probably won't have any for a long time. It's annoying but we knew this was long process when we started. I do wish we went with another agency that seems to be getting referrals more quickly but we can't change now without losing a lot of money. So hopefully by this time next year we will at least have a scheduled court date and a picture of our little man.

It's weird to think he isn't born yet and his birth mother is probably only a few months pregnant with him. I do wonder if she already knows she will be giving him up for adoption or if that decision will come later. I have no idea what kind of medical treatment they get during a pregnancy but right now as we speak our little guy is "cooking" away in his birth mother's belly. I hope she is taking good care of herself.

The are so many reasons why people give up their babies for adoption. For people in Ethiopia it is mostly because of poverty. Sometimes the family has to decide what children or child to keep while they give one up because they know they can't afford to take care of them all. We will not know why until we get the paperwork and we may not ever find out. I guess it really doesn't matter. We are hoping that we do get to meet the birth parents or mother or at least family members. It is their decision. We want to be able tell out little guy about his family and have pictures to show him. We do plan to go back when he and JT are older and show him where he is from. We do want him to now that his birth mom had a very difficult decision to make and she loved him so much that she gave him to us. That is whole conversation within it's own! As for now..... we wait.

Enjoy the pictures. We are still working on the Genesis video.

Happy New Year

It's been awhile since we posted. We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. JT hung out with his cousins Taliya and his new cousin Alani. Towards the end of the night, JT was cranky so I turned on a Genesis concert we have taped on TV. As he watched, he was anticipating all of Phil Collins' moves. My cousin Mike was very freaked out by the whole thing. Stay tuned for a video of his dancing and hand movements. We will post that soon. He watches this concert everyday at lunch. He has the whole thing memorized and we think he may be a musical genius! Just so you know, this is the only TV he gets to watch.

We then celebrated Christmahanukwanza for the 5th time this year. We got together with Nicole and Mike, had brunch and exchanged gifts. JT loves the chainsaw Gavin got for him!

As we head into the New Year, JT is in many activities. He continues to go to the Little Gym on Wednesday nights. He will move up to the next age group and rejoin his friends Gavin and Parker for the 6:15pm class. He has soccer practice from 9-10am and swim lessons from 11:30-12:00pm on Saturday mornings. Yesterday was his first Saturday of this and he had a well deserved 3 1/2 hour nap when we came home.

I have a new job. I am now a Pampered Chef consultant. Funny, since I don't cook. I paid $150 and got $500 worth of supplies and figured if I can make some extra cash and hang out at parties, it will be worth it. I have my first party with school friends at the end of the month that I am hosting. If you want to host, let me know. You get lots of free stuff and it doesn't cost you a thing.

As for adoption stuff... we sit and wait and will continue to do so for a long. We hope by this time next year we will have a referral.

Stay tuned for the dancing video. Enjoy the pictures. Lately, JT is a little obsessed with his work goggles and enjoys sitting in boxes and sharing his snacks with Zues and Tzeli.

Happy Halloween

We got a little jump start to Halloween this year when JT and Gavin headed to their first Halloween party held at The Little Gym, where they both take a gym class. They had fun dressing up and looked at each other like they were nuts. Neither one of them really liked wearing the hoods to their costumes but were pretty good about putting them on when we told them too. They enjoyed some games and some cookies.

JT enoyed his 2nd Halloween. He did go last year as a turtle and seemed to enjoy himself. This year he loved Trick-Or-Treating, running around to the houses, he waited patiently for his candy and had fun going with our neighbor Justin. Justin goes out with JT early, then joins his friends for the real fun! Estelle and Al joined us as well and Al did a good job with the video camera.

JT liked his costume but wasn't too fond of the hood. He looked wonderful in his Peacock outfit and showed off his sexy legs in his orange tights. These pictures will be good blackmail for later on in life! Enjoy.

It has arrived and we are officially "waiting"!!!

So I guess when they something will take 9 weeks to arrive, they mean 9 weeks! Yesterday our fingerprints from immigration finally came. Kevin faxed them over to our agency in Mass. They can now send everything over to Ethiopia and all the paperwork gets translated to Amharic.

Our official application date to Ethiopia was October 7, 2008. The estimated wait time is 14-22 months. We got a nice letter welcoming us to the program.

So, why the long wait? There are 4-6 million children in Ethiopia in need of homes. Only a small percentage are legally freed and available for adoption. Many are older children and sibling groups. There are over 70 worldwide agencies. 25% of those are in the US. 120-160 families apply to Wide Horizons (our agency) for the Ethiopian program a week! With that all being said, we will be waiting for a long time!

We are glad our part is done with. We will have to re-do our fingerprints next summer but that is all. We are excited!

Good Buys, Apple Picking and Cox Farms

Saturday morning started early when I went with my neighbor Lisa to the yard sales in Kirkpatrick Farms. I bought a piano where JT can practice his Elton John interpretation. I bought a wagon for $5 and the best buy was the moon bounce that sells for $200 and I snatched it for $40. It's as good as new!(Those are our neighbors jumping while JT was sleeping.)

We then headed off to Stribling Orchard. For the last many years, we have been apple picking with Nicole and Mike. Jenn and Tommy had joined us several times in the past and this time we were joined by Heather, Bobby and their two kids, Darden and Parker. This was also JT and Gavin's first time. We never made it last year. Kevin and I continued the tradition of never even buying apples and just eating as we went along! We did enjoy the fresh white bread they make and had that for lunch. Kevin did his yearly entertainment of juggling, while munching on an apple at the same time. The pigs were still there, rolling around in mud and eating the apples we threw at them. We will be back again next Fall.

On Monday we went to Cox Farms.JT learned how to milk a cow. JT and Kevin went down a big slide. We ate apples and had apple cider, which JT didn't like. JT made friends with a baby cow and stuck straw up his nose. And the best thing of all, is that JT made a new friend. JT found the lonely gray goat at the bottom of the hill and found a corn cob. He was nice enough to share and they hit it off. After a nice morning, JT came home and took a nice long nap.

As for adoption stuff, still no word! I am pretty annoyed that we still haven't gotten our fingerprint papers back but I am emailing them today to see what the deal is. Hopefully they will be here soon.

Another Summer Gone By

We have decided that we will try once a month to write a post with updates, not just about the adoption but with the family as well. This way, our "child to be" will know what his family was doing while we were WAITING. We did get a phone call saying all of our paperwork was done correctly and nothing had to be redone. The paperwork for the fingerprints has not come to us yet and until that is done our paperwork sits on a desk in Mass. When we get the fingerprint approval, then the dossier gets sent to Ethiopia. Then we will officially get put on the wait list. So for now, we wait. We will be doing a lot of that, so I guess it's good practice.

Another summer has come and gone. We did some home improvements and spent most of the time relaxing. Well, at least JT and I did! JT learned how to sweep the floors and enjoyed playing in the sprinkler and alligator pool.( He makes a great plumber!) We headed back to Ocean Isle for about the 30th year. This was JT's 2nd beach trip. Of course on the way down we stopped at McDonald's. He met Ronald and ate his first grilled chicken sandwich. He had a great time at the beach with his cousin Taliya. She kept him very busy. They enjoyed the sand and the water. JT ran around like a mad man. We are hoping next year, he will want to sit for a few minutes and build a sand castle and we can relax a little.

I have started school. I am working in the mornings, Tuesday-Friday. Kevin continues to sell people insurance and won a trip to NJ for selling so much life insurance. Thanks to all my friends that had babies! JT spends the mornings with his babysitter Stephanie. He loves her and she loves to play with him all day, so they make a good match.

That's all for now. When we get our fingerprints back, we will be sure to let you know.

Hopefully an A+

Today we went to get our fingerprints taken for the US. We did this already for the state and for some reason they can't just send them over. Everything has to be so difficult. The prints are good for 15 months and so we have a feeling we will be taking them again next year.

The good news is we have finished the Dossier. The Dossier consisted of...

1. Power of Attorney Documents- State Seal Required
(This says we allow Dr. Tsegaye to act as our lawyer in Ethiopia)
2. A Statement of Reason for Adopting an Ethiopian Child
3. Photo Pages
4. Employment Verification Letters
5. Financial Statement
6. Original Birth Certificates
7. Original Marriage Certificates
8. Health Forms
9. Police Clearance Letters
10. 2 Letters of Reference
(Thanks to Lisa and Tracy!)
11. Obligation of Post-Placement
12. US Approval of Petition for an Orphan
13. Home Study Approval

We got the form sent to us today with the state seal on it. We got an approved Home Study two weeks ago. Kevin headed to Kinko's and made the 4 copies of all the papers needed and we will send it all in tomorrow. Hopefully they will call and tell us that there are no mistakes. So far, we have gotten 2 calls saying we have done great with all the other paper work. We need just one more! We think after everything is approved, we fill out an application specifically for Ethiopia. Then we get put on the waiting list. Right now we just want a phone call saying we got an A+ on our Dossier. We think we were good students and followed all the directions. We will keep everyone updated.

Welcome

Hi Everyone,
We are starting a blog, really for us to keep track of our "adoption journey." Some of you are well aware of what we have been up to and many have asked questions. We figured this was a good way for us to keep track and keep family and friends informed. Everyone who knows Erin was not surprised when we told them we were starting the adoption process. Erin always wanted to adopt and for some reason always wanted a child from Africa. Maybe it was from her love of safari animals? So there wasn't really any decision making that had to be made when picking a country to adopt from. Ethiopia it is.
We started our paperwork back in February. Our Home Study has been completed and we are currently working on our Dossier. (The important paperwork.) We will have this all completed by September. Then comes the waiting game. As of now the estimated wait time is 14-18 months. By then JT will be over two and ready for a sibling. Tzeli will be 10 and Zeus will almost be 6. Kevin will be 42 and Erin a young 31 year-old! We will all be ready. We are not going to be crazy "bloggers." We will update this as information arrives and when there is news to share. We already need to thank our friends Jen and Tommy, Mike and Kate, Julie and Brian and Nicole and Mike. They had to fill out a many-paged referral on our behalf. Nicole even met with the social worker and put in a good word for us. Thanks everyone for helping. Thanks for reading.


- Kevin, Erin, JT and the Dogs