"My Daughter"

My daughter.  

My daughter?  

My daughter!  

It doesn't roll off my tongue yet.  I'm so used to saying, "my boys" or "my sons", for years now.  

Hi, I have a daughter and her name is Sarah.  She is 16 months old.  

My daughter is a toddler and is the cutest thing!

I have 2 sons and a daughter.

I love my sons and daughter equally.

My daughter's birthday is at the end of August.  

My little girl is amazing!

OK, I'm getting the hang of it now! :)

He's off... somewhere over the ocean

The taxi came for Gabi at 3am this morning.  He managed to sleep a few hours and then awoke at 1am something.  I guess he was too nervous to sleep.  He flew to Wash DC and then boarded Ethiopian Air.  He should be landing at about 3am - in 5 hours.  I haven't heard from him since he left.

He will email me when he gets to the guest house before heading out to meet our daughter.  

I'm so excited and nervous for him!  

The New Flower Guest House is wonderful and agreed to get some Nestle NIDO and have it ready for him when he arrives.  

I wish I could say the boys are great, but it was a hard day for Joshua.  He woke up wet, which never happened before, and, well, that about set the tone for the day.  The first thing I thought while I'm stripping his bed and shoving the comforter in the wash is "well, isn't this a great start to things."  Then he had a few melt downs in the morning - very very rare.  By the afternoon he was himself again.  I think being with Noah helped.  

I've done 2 pages of Sarah's scrap book and let me just say, it's really worth the effort!  I enjoy doing it, but it does take over the table and it makes a mess.  (yes, "it" makes a mess - I have nothing to do with it!)  The house is is unhappy, feeling neglected.  I'll have to clean tomorrow. :(  

READY TO GO! - um, kind of

So, our agency tells us to bring Nestle Nido dry milk since that is what Sarah is drinking.  Well, it is nowhere to be found around me and I've searched everywhere!  I could have ordered it online, but it's too late now.  They said it's readily available in Ethio. so he'll have to buy some as soon as he gets there.  I just emailed the guest house to see if they could get some for him so he has it when he arrives.  

Bottles?  Where did the bottles go?  We bought, way way back when, bottles to use with drop-in liners so he wouldn't have to deal with cleaning bottles while there.  Well, they have disappeared!  The drop-in liners are still here though.  Grrrrrr.  

The donations are overflowing.  We decided to bring over all the underwear that is possible in his 2 bags along with the toothbrushes and some other things, but there is more that won't fit.

Instead of paying $300 to the airlines to bring over an extra piece of luggage, we are donating the rest (which is not much, but still needs a home) to the HOPE Residence in Paterson.  It is a newly opened housing unit for homeless families.  I think there are 100 adults and 200 children approximately.  The money collected will be used in Ethiopia for the orphanages.  We figure, instead of giving the $ to the airlines we can spend it there and boost the local economy.  

I made a doctor's appt. for Sarah for 5 days after she arrives with Dr. Aronson in NYC.  I feel very relieved that we are taking her to what seems to be the best doctor around for her.  (and 'best' does not come cheap!)

I've perfected waiting for baby Sarah.  I am not at all sure what to do now.  

I want to make a scrap book for her with all the pictures we have of her and some info. about her.  That should keep me super busy!  Of course, I could be cleaning the house, but really, which is more fun?!

Underwear.... under where? Everywhere!

As you can see on the right, we have collected approximately 743 pairs of underwear for the orphanages in Ethiopia!!!  WAY more than I ever imagined!  My sister, Alicia, is responsible for most of them.  

I feel surrounded by underwear!  It's everywhere!  

We also collected more money than I expected which will all be spent on the current needs for the orphans there.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!  

Books Books Books

I've added a list of books I've read and recommend.  It's on the right just under our picture if you scroll down.  I haven't finished Notes from the Hyena's Belly yet, but I'm enjoying it and it's very informative.  It's like reading a history book about Ethiopia (which I have and haven't gotten far in) but in story form.  It's his memoirs of growing up in Ethiopia during the 70's.  It's very good and very enlightening.  

Traveling!!!

Update!  My husband will be traveling January 11th to Addis via Ethiopian Air and returning January 17th.  We are happy to have gotten a flight (through Susan Parr travel) for the dates we wanted AND the quickest way to go.  

The flight from Wash. DC to Addis is 17 (SEVENTEEN) hours!  Basically, it will take him a whole day to get from our door to Addis and whole day to get back.  

I HOPE Sarah is a happy flyer!!!  

The MANY faces of Sarah!

My computer wouldn't let me add a slideshow so here are some pics of Sarah!