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8 days

with 8 days till court, I cant help but be excited about 8 specific toys i look forward to playing with the boys. 

  1. legos. I really enjoy legos. Even if the little ones will destroy anything tall i build. 
  2. cars and trucks. seriously, the cool stuff they have today.
  3. hot wheels! I know, i need to wait a few years for that one. 
  4. bikes. These boys are gonna be on bikes way early. I’ll pull the pedals and cranks off so they can be walkers / running bikes so they get the hang of balance. No training wheels here. 
  5. coloring books. i didnt wait for them here. I already enjoy them. I have my own box of crayons. 
  6. art projects. glue, stickers, markers, cutting paper. all fun stuff. 
  7. musical instruments. I suck and melody and rhythm, but that wont stop us from rocking out on the kid instruments we have already.
  8. remote control cars. they have them for little kids now. super simple, but noah and ezra will enjoy them for sure. 
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9 days

9 days until Ezra and Noah’s court date.  Since I am a worry wort, I thought I would share 9 prayer requests.

1.  That the boys stay healthy

2.  That all the paperwork is done correctly and turned in on time for court and that we pass on the first try

3.  That we receive a May 28 Embassy date, June 11 is the next possibility after that, and I am done with waiting, plus we kind of purchased plane tickets (I know, I know not the best idea)

4.  That we are able to stay at the House of Hope, they only have two rooms and it is looking like 10 families will be traveling when we do, but I would really love to stay there

5.  Safe travels (you mean we have to fly over the polar ice cap?  seriously freaked out!)

6.  Sleepy babies on the flight home 😉

7.  Health for Matt and I

8.  That Abby’s upper GI goes well on Thursday (hey not everything involves Noah and Ezra, I want their cousin to be in tip-top shape for their arrival)

9.  My Grandpa’s health

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10 days

It’s only 10 days till Noah & Ezra’s court date. I thought I would share 10 big things we are looking forward to (in no real order).

  1. finally holding you boys
  2. hearing you giggle and make goofy baby noises
  3. seeing you discover new things for the first time
  4. napping on the couch with you
  5. seeing you be fascinated with the cats, yet they wont let you catch them (yet)
  6. taking way too many photos
  7. oddly enough, I do look forward to trying to figure out two of you at the same time. 
  8. Watching you play with your toes and your tongue. 
  9. seeing you in all the awesome clothes we have and fun cloth diapers. You guys are gonna look so cool.
  10. did I say holding you yet?
Stephanie thinks we can keep a list a day up for each of the 9 days left. We’ll see how that goes. I stole most the good stuff here. Any ideas on what other lists we can expand on over the next 9 days? We probably need the challenge to keep our minds occupied. 
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Baby Shower #2

Me and the cloth diaper cake

Yesterday I had a wonderful baby shower and received some wonderful things for the boys.  I had a great time celebrating the soon to be arrival of Noah and Ezra.

Of course, a few games were played.  The most entertaining being the toilet paper diaper game.

The winners (they finished before the time limit and even put bows on their diaper)

All the diapered bottoms (my mom was in charge of the one on the left, note to self don’t let her diaper the boys)

Me holding the “quilt” Kimberly B. made for me

The quilts her mom made the boys, she even put their names and birthdate on the back (she encouraged me to color code the boys, Ezra is green, Noah blue)

The very chocolaty cake

The silverware my Grandma used with my dad

The now very messy nursery

I have a ton of organizing to do in the nursery!  Thanks to everyone and their very generous gifts and donations.

Okay totally not related to the shower, but Matt took new pictures of Abby last night and this is my favorite picture.  She is too cute!

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Two Weeks!

OMG I have been freaking out lately.  Only two weeks until court and then after that two weeks, one day until we travel!  I am getting so excited, anxious, and nervous.  I am starting to feel a little unprepared, even though we have been preparing and waiting forever, I don’t feel like I know enough or have everything they need.  I am, of course, most worried about the flight home.  I have been worried about this since we started the process and now that the day is drawing near I am getting scared.  I have never even packed a diaper bag for a short outing, but now I have to pack for two infants and a total of 33 hours and 26 minutes of travel time (flight and layovers).  Can anything really prepare you for that?

Okay beyond freaking out about travel, I am totally excited to meet my boys!  I cannot wait to cuddle them, give them kisses, smell their little heads, watch them sleep, and hear their giggles.  

We just can’t wait to be with them.  🙂

Also, I cannot wait to share their pictures with you.  Please keep our court date in your prayers.  I really want to share them with you in two weeks.

On a side note, if you haven’t been to our site in a while because you read blogs in a reader program, Matt added a new countdown to the top of the sidebar.  At the time of this post:  28 days, 23 hours, and 34 minutes until we leave for Ethiopia.

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Earth Day

I am going to be honest, I don’t really do anything for Earth Day. I looked I didn’t even do a post last year. It’s not that I don’t care, but that to me every day is Earth Day. I strive each and every day to take care and be a good steward of the resources I am blessed with. I don’t always succeed but I do try. I thought I would take the time to just share a few quick things with you.

Being green isn’t more expensive, most people think it is, but it isn’t. Yes I do spend more on my food than the average person, local and organic is not cheap. But I spend considerably less on my electricity, less on my water, and overall less on consumables. We hardly use anything disposable so we don’t have the recurring cost that comes with those items (think paper towels, napkins). I make most of my cleaning supplies, vinegar is a cheap basic ingredient for this.

Earth Day is not about marketing.

According to this guy biking isn’t an answer to global warming, but I disagree. Anytime you are not using a fossil fuel to do something you are making a difference. I thought as an ode to the bike I would share some cool biking stickers from peace supplies.

Yes they are 😉

The perfect sticker for Matt


Always a plus

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18 days, 33 days

18 days until our court date!  33 days until we potentially travel, wow that is coming up quick.  Please pray that we pass court on May 8 and that our travel dates stay the same.  Right now we tentatively have an Embassy Appointment on May 28, if it doesn’t happen that day it could be June 11, and I don’t want to wait that long to hold my boys.  (please, please pray that we get the May 28 appointment)  I have already waited long enough, in my opinion.  😉

We received new pictures and this update from Hollie this morning:

Here are the pictures of the twins.  I saw them twice while I was in Ethiopia.  The first time they were in their room and the second time they were getting their sunbath outside with all the babies.  It was so cute!  One of your little guys was peeing as he was sun bathing.:)

That’s my boy, pee freely!

Also, last week while chatting with Autumn over email, she realized she had met our boys at the orphanage and had this to share:

I told Dan that I was in contact with you about your little ones and he reminded me that one of them was sooooo smiley at him.  Dan called me over to see how smiley he was.  They were so cute…really.

Awwwww, don’t they sound just precious?

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new wheels times 2

We did get a new (to us) car. One of just a few cars out there that fit the 2 rear facing kids and me. 

The 03 4runner. Its a 4×4 and a v8 (i know, I know, you are thinking gas hog). Its actually pretty fuel efficient for its size. So far we are getting 21mpg (way better than a suburban or something). I think its pretty cool. Very comfortable, quiet, and lots of cool toyota features. 

IMG_3525 IMG_3526
and yes, i already added the appropriate stickers. I just need to get some good biking related ones.
IMG_3528
(click for full view)
 

 

This week I also got my new bike. Finally after a few months of no road bike, the replacement is here (last one was stolen from a friends house). Its a 2009 Jake the Snake Cyclocross Bike. Meaning its a road bike, but burly, can fit knobby tires, and is meant to be taken in the grass, dirt & mud. Not sure if I will ever run a cyclocross race, but its cool to have a bike that is quick on the road, and can cut through the park when i want to.

IMG_7943 IMG_7949 IMG_7953

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will green hippies judge us?

If we drive an SUV?

I know, I know, we are all about being green, environmentally friendly, bike ridding, organic garden growing, line drying hippies. But in a sad reality, most cars dont fit twins with rear facing car seats, and 6′ 3″ drivers.

Nope, no station wagon, mid size car, cross over SUV works. Its down to a bigger Minivan, or full size SUV. Sure we would love to rock the prius, but its just not a reality. 

I will say I have a new understanding for families of twins or more, and families with 3+ kids. There really are not many real options for cars out there that get over 23mpg. Sure, some newer SUVs and vans can get 25+mpg, and still seat 7. But Who has $34k to go out and buy a new car. We do not. 

So please dont judge us for having to rock the big SUV. In our defense, we are still trying to get the most fuel efficient SUV possible, and we will drive it like old people, with 40psi in the tires.

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25 days and a little glitch

Only 25 days until court!  I am getting more excited and anxious every day.  We are trying to get everything prepared and it is keeping us pretty busy.  We went to the doctor this morning to get the last of our travel vaccinations and I am sick (nasty cold) so she said I should wait :(, but Matt is all done with his shots and is ready to go!  We received our car-seats on Friday as a gift from my parents.  We decided to see how well they fit in the car.

That would be Matt completely crammed into the dash, he could only operate the clutch with his hand.  Needless to say that just won’t work.  Since, we have two rear-facing seats, we can’t just put them behind the passenger seat, we need to be able to put them behind both of us.  🙁  We went to a couple of dealerships on Saturday night to get a feel for what fits, NOT a lot fits Matt and two car-seats (Pathfinder, Camry, Pilot, Rav4, Forester, just to name a few, basically all mid-sized cars and small SUVs).  One salesman even joked that I should have just married a shorter guy.  The only vehicles that fit in our price range get around 20 mpg :(, makes my environmental heart sad, but safety and family first.  Right now we are trying to decide between a Forerunner and a Sienna, used of course, the newer models now get 25 mpg, but too expensive for me.  The hybrid Highlander would also work, but that one was way out of our price range.  Matt really, really likes the Forerunner, so that is probably what we will end up with, but we will see what we find.

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Midnight Feedings

When we tell people how old the boys will be when we come home, they are quick to say, “Oh good, they will be sleeping through the night.”  Or something like that.  While we hope that they will sleep through the night there is no guarantee that they will.

For the next couple of weeks I will be going through a test run of midnight feedings.  Yesterday I managed to find kittens to foster.  They are very young and need to be bottle fed.  I am feeding them every 2-3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night.  Last night was my first night and it didn’t go so well.  The kittens weren’t used to bottle feeding and just couldn’t get the hang of it.  I felt so bad that I couldn’t deliver the nutrition that they need.  I swung by the vet this morning and got a small syringe and let’s just say they are now little eating monsters!  I don’t mind getting up a couple of times a night to make sure these little guys get a good start to life.  I know they will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it.  

The group (six total, three black/white, two all black, and one black/white/charcoal)

One of the little ones in my hand to show the size

Yes I am aware of the fact that we will likely travel to Ethiopia before they all find homes.  I have a back-up foster home for when the time comes.  They just couldn’t do all the work of bottle feeding.

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One month!!!

I am starting to feel like this might actually happen!  We have been keeping ourselves busy preparing for the boys and doing stuff we think we won’t have time for once they are here.  The nursery is pretty much ready, house projects are getting done, and we are trying to have as much time together as we can.  The next 30 days are filled with church events, mountain biking, trail running, a baby shower, house projects, doctor appointments (couple more shots), home study visit, and a couple of trips to the vet, and maybe even a movie.  

We know a few more families traveling before our court date and we will be receiving a steady stream of updated pictures.  Seeing new pictures of the boys every few weeks sure makes this wait a little more bearable.  Please keep Noah and Ezra’s health and our court date in your prayers.

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new blog theme

im growing bored of these themes. so I made a new one today (yes, while multitasking at work). 

Click on the “burlap” tab to the right to see it in action. I’m sure i will be updating the others here soon as well.