Blog

  • heading home!

    Today we leave Ethiopia for the long trek home.

    Some quick hitting notes:

    • the food at our guest house has been amazing!
    • the people here are very warm and friendly
    • the weather is a near perfect 76 degrees
    • the boys are starting to be clingy and are avoiding bed time at all costs.
    • we are a little worried about being THOSE PARENTS on the plane with the fussy screaming kids. (prayers please!!!)
    • I will be glad to see “normal” driving again. They drive super crazy here.
    • ohh yes – we are looking forward to sleeping inour bed!

    That’s about it for the moment. If we have time (read no screaming boys, and we have energy left in us) in LAX, we may blog / facebook some quick updates.

  • we made it!

    We just got a chance to use the internet today (wednesday ETH, Tuesday night USA).

    The flight went really well. 16 hours is a really long flight for 2 adults. We’ll see how it goes with the boys. All of our luggage made it!

    The boys are super cute, and doing well. The first night was a little rough, as all 4 of us had no idea what to really expect. The second night went much better. We figured out a system that works (for now). Attached is a pic of the 4 of us in the guest house courtyard (excuse the laundry, its not even ours).

    Ethiopia is very nice this time of year. Actually cool for us from AZ. Very hilly, and busy, lots of people, cars and traffic.

    Well thats it for now. I dont think we will get to use the internet again before we go, so we will see everyone when we are back on tuesday night.

    Wish us safe travels!

    Matt, Stephanie, Noah & Ezra

  • and we are off

    I think we have things all set. Spent last night running some last minute errands then went to dinner at Camarones at the chandler fashion mall. Wow it is really some of the best mexican food we have ever had. We both got vegetarian dishes, and really tasty stuff.  We even went and saw Star trek last night. For those that know us, we rarely see movies at the theatre. Not really sure why, just not our thing. 

    Got home kind of late, then spent a few hours packing. In bed by midnight. 

    4 big suitcases and 2 carry-ons. All under the max sizes and weights (which was the hard part for carry-ons).

    The travel plan:
    PHX to LAX via commuter.
    LAX to Dubai  (stay sunday night)
    Dubai to Addis monday morning.  

    Please say a prayer for us. We’ll try and post something on the blog if we get access to an internet cafe somewhere.

  • My Garden

    It has been quite some time since I have mentioned my garden on here.  Poor thing is feeling a little neglected.  It has not been a stellar spring, most of my seeds did not take, but I do have a few things growing.

    Cantaloupe and the little tiny plants are a desert mellon similar to watermelon.

    Cucumbers!

    Pomegranate

    An artichoke in bloom, it is a really vivid purple

    I also have two tomato plants that I will try to keep alive through the summer, some okra starting to sprout, and peppers.  My fig tree is starting to get fruit, I should have plenty by the time we get back.  I also have a nice rosemary bush.  My basil shockingly did not come up on its own this year, so I just put out some seeds this morning to see if I can still get it to grow.  On a sad note it looks like I have killed another peach tree, I guess me and peaches are just not meant to be.  I will try a citrus next year, if I can make up my mind on what I want to grow.

  • My Handsome Guys

    We received more pictures of our boys today.  Thanks to Stefany for taking them!  We are so happy and extremely lucky that CHI started allowing traveling families to take pictures for families waiting to travel.  We have been able to see the boys grow and are thankful to everyone who took pictures for us.  You all are a tremendous blessing!

    Look who’s not crying!

     

    I added the rest of the pics to the photo gallery.

  • Busy, Busy

    Matt and I have been very busy making sure everything is in order for our trip.  Can you believe we leave this Saturday?  It is coming up quick!  We have been busy getting a few projects done around the house and making sure the business will run smoothly while we are away.  I think we are doing pretty well, our to-do list is getting shorter even with a few glitches thrown in last week.  

    So what have we been up to?

    Paperwork, I know you think you are done with it but there is always something else.

    Laundry, all the boys stuff is washed.  The cloth diapers are ready to go!

    Yard work, we didn’t want to have much to do after we return home, so we have been busy making sure the weeds are pulled and the shrubs trimmed.

    Matt has also steamed cleaned all the carpets in the bedrooms.  To me this was necessary as our animals seem to barf a lot.  

    Making baby food.  This last weekend we made a trip to the farmer’s market so I could by some local, organic produce to make baby food.  I didn’t buy too much as I didn’t want to overwhelm myself the week before we left.  I wish I would have bought more!  It was so easy.

    mmmmm sweet potatoes

    and peaches!

    Both foods I love, so hopefully the boys will love them.  (These are seriously the best peaches I have ever had.  I wish I would have bought more!)  I cooked the sweet potatoes in the solar oven and they were perfect and the peaches didn’t need to be cooked.

    We also attempted to put the car-seats in the car last night for the first time.  I think we got it.  We didn’t install them and leave them though because my parents have to use their car to pick us up from the airport (so we all fit)  and the seats will need to be installed in it.

    What do we have left?

    Packing!

    Steam clean the living room carpet.

    Some accounting stuff for the business.

    Finish adding the boys to the health insurance.  (waiting on a letter)

    Clean the house. 

    Run a few last errands.

    Not too bad if you ask me.  I think it is totally doable.  I have some other things I would like to do before we leave, but they aren’t necessary.

    We are both excited and anxious for our trip and cannot wait to meet the boys.  🙂

  • 7 years

    thats how long I have been lucky enough to have such a great wife. Sometimes I still think she is crazy for marrying me. She is pretty much the best wife any man could hope for. 

     

    Thanks for an amazing 7 years Stephanie. The next 7 should prove to be even more exciting I am sure!

     

    just for fun, a pic from our wedding. 

  • Good News All Around

    First, Congratulations to Gregg and Meg, Sam officially became their son today and he is adorable.  

    Second, Abby made it to the 3rd and final round of Baby Idol!  Please keep voting for her!

    Matt took this adorable shot and is very excited to see her make it so far.  It doesn’t hurt that she is just so freakin’ cute!

    Third, Our visa appointment was confirmed for June 11.  We leave June 6!  We are so excited to finally be leaving and super excited to meet those two cute little boys of ours!  We will be back home to begin our new life together June 16!!!

  • Last Chance

    to vote for Abby in the 2nd round of Baby Idol!

     

  • New Pics of Noah & Ezra

     thanks to John and April for taking new photos of our boys. We are always excited to see them!

     

    Noah
    Noah
    Ezra
    Ezra
    Ezra and Noah together
    Ezra and Noah together

    Anyone else noticing a trend here? Ezra is not usually a happy camper. You can tell he was crying, and in all the other pics John & April sent he is crying. While Noah is cool as a cucumber. im sure once Ezra is held more, and grows up a bit he will settle down. Otherwise maybe he and our niece Abby can exchange tips on being crabby (im kidding, abby isnt that crabby, sometimes she’s quite giggly and happy)

  • Noah & Ezra!

    Introducing Noah Esrael and Ezra Yakob born on November 14, 2008!

     

    Ezra is on the left, Noah on the right.  Angie was so sweet to take this video for us when she was there!

     

    Here are their referral photos taken February 10, 2009:

    Ezra Yakob

     

    Noah Esrael

    I am sensing a theme in their daily lives, two different families traveling weeks apart have both sent me this scene: 

    Ezra crying and Noah giving him a look

    Lots more pictures in the photo gallery!

  • Making myself smile

    Yesterday as I was waiting for the news and needed a distraction, I found this site.  It was a big hit on facebook and it kept me occupied for quite a while.

    Today as I am waiting again, I decided to look up how to fix something in wordpress for Meg, I stumbled across another fun find.  From now on if you don’t have a gravatar picture, you will be a randomly selected monster.  Hey its the little things that entertain me.

  • Why

    Our case was not heard today, even though all the paperwork was in order.  The Ministry of Woman’s Affairs wanted a meeting to clarify why the piece of paper was incorrect last week and they did not have time today to have the meeting.  There is a meeting tomorrow with our agency, the orphanage, and MOWA to discuss our case.  If all goes well, and I am holding onto my last shred of hope that it will, the judge will hear our case sometime after that.  It could be tomorrow, or it could be next week.

  • Not it

    Today was not it either.  We might hear something tomorrow, or next week.