1 Year today

It was one year today that we got the best phone call ever. A year since the referral of our sweet little Eyob. Hard to believe that this year has gone so fast but at times (waiting for court) seemed to take forever. I feel so blessed to be chosen to be his mom. We are so blessed to have him in our family. He has been an absolute joy to have around. We literally fight over who gets to snuggle with him when we watch a movie. He is all boy (busy, busy, busy). But one great snuggler and hugger and kisser. My only regret is that there is only one of him.

referral picture

                                                                         Eyob now!!

With those eyes he can get away with almost anything.
We are so thankful that God carried us through the waiting and we did not give up. He has blessed us beyond what we ever dreamed.

Happy Birthday!!!

Well it's Eyob's 3rd birthday today. I can't believe he's already 3. It was almost a year ago that we received the referal for him. He is doing amazing. His english is coming along really well. He can say short phrases and understand almost everything I tell him. He is very polite saying  "thank you" whenever someone does something for him. He's got a great sense of humour.
It's been so nice now that Christmas is over. Ever since we've come back from Ethiopia it's been hard to really try and stay home and make sure the bonding was really happening. I knew he loved us but he was still quite friendly with others as well. Since we had Barry's mom's passing in November and then Christmas on the heels of that we have been so busy with functions that involve lots of people. There had also been numerous family functions and some well intentioned people holding him ( a lot) and basically giving him everything he asked for. Since the new year I have made a point of staying home with him as much as I can and giving him my full attention. People have a hard time understanding the whole bonding process. And I have a hard time telling everyone to back off.

My kids love teaching him all sorts of things. In this picture he is "cool" and my daughter has him repeating the phrase "I am cool". The poor guy has no chance but he loves all the attention. He has a whole army of teachers at his disposal. (Not always teaching him the best things LOL). Anyway just wanted to touch base as a bunch of you had told me not to end my blog.                                              

2 Months

I can hardly believe that it has already been 2 months since we stepped into the Toronto airport. I have not been a good blogger. Nor do I intend on being one. I guess I mainly set up my blog to keep people updated on the progress of our adoption. I have found that I do not enjoy blogging. I reminds me to much of my english classes. I have always been bad at journaling. My poor kids won't have too much written down about their growing up years. I have taken a lot of pictures though.
Things have been going well with Eyob (all things considering). We had been home only 2 weeks trying to set routines and adjust to each other when my husbands mother took a turn for the worse. I had mentioned her in a previous blog. She developed a blood disorder about 7 years ago and it was only a matter of time. My prayer was that she would meet Eyob. That prayer was answered- thank you God. She went into paliative care in her home and that meant we wanted to spend as much time with her as we could. The next 2 weeks were a blur of visiting and helping take care of her. Eyob was bounced around between their house, friends houses and staying home with my older kids. I must say he was somewhat miserable at times. He did end up bonding a lot with aunts, uncles and cousins. One of his favorite's was his grandpa. And so many days he was able to get his grandma smiling dispite all the pain she was in. He literaly was a gift from God. All those times in the summer when I wondered about God's timing. My questions were all answered. He was the LIFE in a time when there was so much pain and ultimately death. Everyone loved having him around just to listen to him and watch him. On November 8th my dear mother-in-law went home to be with her savior. We made Eyob a part of the crazy days to follow. Everyone wanted him around just so we could smile. He was the positive energy (if I can say that??) at the visitations. He was the joy at the funeral (wierd to say that). When my husband went on stage to say the eulogy, Eyob wriggled out of our seat and went up on stage to hold his daddy's hand. Oh how that touched everyone.
We are now about 2 1/2 weeks post funeral and I finally feel like we are finally getting our groove. Eyob has an amazing ability to make everyone laugh. He freely gives hugs and kisses to everyone in the family. He loves to play with his siblings and farm with his daddy and grocery shop with his mommy. ( And yes there are times when he frustrates me beyond belief). He just seems like a very typical almost 3 year old.
All those times I felt like giving up on the adoption. I think of everything I would have missed out on. It blows my mind that I almost didn't have this amazing blessing. I know there will still be challenges ahead. We don't have all the answers. I have raised 4 kids and know that they can all be unpredictable and all have their seasons where they go through tough stuff. We expect no different from Eyob. We know that we will experience great joys and also great frustrations. That's all part of growing and we hope and pray that he will grow into a strong young man.
I probably will not post a whole lot after this. I am not quite ready to loose my connection with all my cyber friends I've made. I hope to rejoice with some of you when I hear of your referals and when your kids become part of your families.
I pray that you will all have a blessed Christmas with friends and family. Hold tight to God.

I'm having a hard time uploading some new pictures. Crazy internet out in the country. I'll try and get some new ones soon.

4 weeks

I can't believe that we have been home 4 weeks today. It seems to have gone so fast and yet it seems like we have had Eyob forever. Eyob seems like a well adjusted typical 2 yr old. One moment he can frustrate me and the next moment he has me rolling with laughter. This evening seemed like one comedy routine after another. In Ethiopia we ( that's you as well Ashleigh) assumed that he was a calm mild mannered boy. He is anything but. He is busy, funny and stubborn.
We have been battling with food issues. He does not want eat a lot of the things we make. I totally expected this but am still frustrated by it. Lately he has been putting different things in his mouth and testing them. If we would let him eat cereal 3 meals a day he would be a happy camper.
Another struggle that just surfaced over the last few days is wearing winter gear. He HATES his winter coat and hat. It could be a long cold winter for him if he doesn't give in on this one. Wait until we try the snowpants. Hmmm. That could be interesting.
On the whole he is a happy delightful little guy. He sleeps through the night. That happened about the second week with a bit of training from me. I know a lot of people bring their little ones (especially newly adopted children) into bed with them but I can't do it. I'm an insomniac on good days and to have a squirming toddler in bed with me means no sleep at all. I need to be a refreshed good mom during the day. He also has naps every day. That makes an "old, exhausted" mother happy.
He LOVES his siblings. It's so fun to watch them all interact with him in different ways. I get a kick out of watching our 17 yr old son sit down and look at car magazines with him. He cries every morning when they go off to school. He loves to go on outings. So far he's an amazing little shopper. He loves all the big farm machinery he gets to go in with his daddy.
I'm in awe that this little guy was entrusted to us. God allowed us the privilege of raising Eyob and our other 4 wonderful bio kids. I think that about sums up my feelings at this moment.

I Never Realized....

I never realized that it would be this sweet.
I never realized that I spend hours just staring at your little face.
I never realized you would completely capture the love of the whole family.
I never realized that God would save such a precious little boy for us.
I never realized that it would be this sweet.

Just a quick update. We are doing well. Eyob has captured the hearts of everyone inculding my teen son. He has been a delighful little guy. He seems to be doing well in bonding with us. He is trying new foods and new english words. He plays well with the kids. He does not like our animals but that is improving as well. We feel so blessed to have him in our family. He can be so silly at times. He can also be a typical 2 yr old which is good to see. ( Maybe not so good at times).:) All those years of waiting, I can't imagine any other child with us now. The best part is that he is so huggy and snuggly.

MEET EYOB

Hey Everyone,

I haven't posted for a long time. I wanted to wait until everything was definite and there were no more setbacks. We just came home from picking up our new son.  Last time I posted we had not even passed court. Well we were able to pass court on Aug 5th. Everything went quickly and smoothly form there on. We received the visa call Sept. 19th and were on a plane Sept. 21st. Our "Gothcha Day" for Eyob was Sept. 24th.  He's a sweetheart and we are so blessed to be able to welcome him into our family.
We arrived in Ont. late Thursday evening. Our kids are so excited to be able to get to know him. He has had a bit of a rough start here. We already took him into the clinic with a double ear infection. he's having a hard time adjusting to the new time. Thank you everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement throughout this long wait to bring Eyob home. In hindsight we have seen God work through this whole process. At the time we wondered what he was doing. God provided us with a huge miracle and because of that we have Eyob home with us.
I hope to write more of our trip later. At this time we are all adjusting and are happily tired most of the time.

Small Miracle

At this point I will take any good news I can get. I found out that MOWA has sent in their supporting statement and now it needs to go back to the judge to be signed (a formality) and then they give us a new court date. This all should be done within the next couple of weeks. I was told that they are now booking court into mid Oct. and that seems like an eternity away especially since we have waited so long. Pray that we will get one before that. It's a possibility since we have already done the birth family court . I'm not sure how it works but I'm guessing that those with mid Oct court dates are that late because they have to do birth family court before that and court only resumes Sept. 26th. Please pray with me that we will get a early court date.
2 more months!!!!! It seems like forever but it isn't really.
I received this info today while in the car and was listening to a Christian radio station. A few minutes after the call a song by Downhere (I think that's the name) came on and the few lyrics that stood out were "HOPE, IT IS RISING.....". So suitable for the moment. It does feel like hope is bubbling up and that there is possibly an end in site.