Some quick pics of our sweetie

Home Forever

I only have a second - it's been a whirlwind of a day - but we are home and Kebor is oh, so precious. I still am pinching myself that she is really home and really ours. I can't get over how beautiful she is. I haven't been able to put her down. We're using the sling right now and she's sleeping comfortably. She is much tinier than I thought she would be. She is in 3-6 month clothes, and isn't really even filling them out. I'll make a more extended post about our wonderful day when I get some time, but I just wanted to let everyone know she is home!

Our Chicken Pox Girl!

This was taken a few days ago. Scott said all of her chicken pox are almost gone now, but you can see them in this picture! I am so in love, I just can't wait to hold her!!! She is being held in the picture by another mom with our agency who is there with her husband picking up their 3 daughters this week!

Just talked to Scott

He said he got to go sightseeing yesterday and he went to the zoo in Addis Ababa, which I think from our conversation just has lions, and to the Merkato, the largest open air market in Africa. He said he had a wonderful driver who navigated him through the Merkato and bargained for him for the items he wanted to buy. Last night he went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with a show. I'll have to get more details on all of this later, as we weren't able to have too long of a conversation. At the restaurant, my husband who HATES coffee with passion, drank Ethiopian coffee and loved it! He said that Kebor is doing great, and is starting to coo and smile a lot now. He said that her chicken pox are almost all cleared up and by the time they are home she probably won't have any left!

I miss my husband

Being alone sucks. I've spent almost everyday this week doing things with different friends, some days I even planned 2 different activities with different friends, but even with all the social contact I'm still lonely and missing Scott. I'm so glad it's only 2 more days. I'm really quite pathetic - he drinks Kool-aid all the time and I hate the stuff, but when I washed his Kool-aid pitcher it made me cry I missed him so much.

Visa granted!

Scott had his appointment at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa about an hour ago and everything went great! What a relief! I feel like that was the last hurdle, and now I can BREATHE!!!!

In Daddy's Arms!

I got to talk to Scott briefly this morning, and as we were talking he was holding Kebor! It feels so wonderful to write that! He hasn't been able to send me a picture yet, but he said there is one slight issue - she has the chicken pox! Apparantely she came down with it on Friday last week, but he said that most of her spots are scabbed over and she's not running a fever and doesn't seem to feel bad. I guess that's one vaccine we'll get to skip! When I talked to him he had fed her one bottle, and he said she ate it extremely fast and then let out a HUGE burp! That's our girl!

I asked what her personality is like, and he said she has been a really easy baby so far and has been just looking around and taking everything in. Oh, and she still has all of her hair. I was wondering if it would be shaved at the orphanage, but nope, it's still all there! I have the bows waiting!!!

Tomorrow is their appointment at the US Embassy, so that is the one last step before hopefully it's smooth sailing home! If he gets to send me any pictures later today, I'll post them when I get them.

An Update from Ethiopia

I was just able to talk to and see Scott over Skype (what an awesome program!!!) and everything sounds like it's going great so far! He sounded so happy, even though he's been traveling for the past 24 hours. He said his flight was really good - he had an empty seat next to him and he said the food was great. He said the guest house is really nice, and the best news of all - in 9 and a half hours Kebor will be in her daddy's arms!!! They are leaving at 10am Ethiopia time to go to the orphanage to get her! It's going to feel so good knowing she's getting lots of love and care from her daddy tomorrow.

This is a great story on so many levels...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080807/ts_alt_afp/oly2008usaflagsuddarfurlomong

Our Dinner Show

Scott had a meeting at school today and one of the questions asked to the group of teachers at the meeting was of course, "How was your summer?". He said there's another teacher who everytime a question like this is asked makes a big point of making sure everyone knows he doesn't have any kids, like he's bragging about that fact. This led to a conversation between Scott and I tonight at dinner about what life would be like without kids. I was making a comment about how boring I think it would be, when in ran our two crazy little men- Braden wearing a Spiderman costume and Zane chasing him wearing no pants and his Diego undies backwards. You can't beat entertainment like that!

One more week....

This is probably going to be some of the 7 longest days of my life. The days at the end of my pregnancies drug on, and each day I felt like there was no way I could make it through one more day without seeing my sweet baby. We are so close to Kebor, and I am feeling the exact same way now. In just 7 days Scott will be off to get our little girl. We got the Ergo out tonight and got it adjusted for him for the trip, and I was in tears thinking about the man that I love having our precious daughter in it in just a week. I am a total bundle of emotions right now. We are packing bags, filling out paperwork for her Visa, washing sweet baby girl clothes. It's so exciting. Thrilling. The joy really isn't describable. At the same time, I'm totally and completed scared. My husband is heading off to a far away country. Our family is going to change. There are going to be transitions for all of us. During the day, I just feel this overwhelming happiness that our girl is almost home. At night, I lay and worry. Will the boys adjust well to having a new sister? Will Kebor adjust well to us? Will our marriage change? Am I going to be able to handle going back to work after just 4 weeks home with Kebor? Will I be able to effectively teach my classes at school after missing the first month of school? Ok, this list could get long. So just one more week...I hope it goes fast.