Day 2: spending time with Levi and a traditional meal out!

Hey!

We are back at the guest house and waiting for dinner. Jason isn't sleeping...he's just resting his eyes, so I thought I'd send a little email while the computer was free. Today was a great day. We hung out with our cute little man this morning and again later this afternoon. He is such a sweet baby. We got there this morning during bottle time, so we were able to finish giving him his bottle. He is so happy and sweet and we love him to pieces. We take turns holding him and I hate when I have to hand him over to Jason! Another family from our guest house was at the transition home while we were there so they joined us for lunch. Our driver had his own lunch plans so he dropped us off at a little restaurant down the street from the guest house. The other family is from Ohio and have been such a blessing to be with. Its just the mom and the two kids they're adopting. The little girl is 8 and speaks english very well because she spent a lot of time with some missionaries. She was a huge help to us while ordering our food. It was a traditional Ethiopian meal but I'm not sure exactly what it was. It was a fun experience, that's for sure!! After lunch we had our driver take us to do some shopping. That was a crazy experience too! It was a little overwhelming to be honest with you. There are always people following us asking for money. And the shop owners jack up the prices because we are American. Luckily, Danny is there to help us out. He gets them to come down on their prices and tells us if its a good deal or not. He's very helpful and trustworthy. After that we went back to spend time with Levi. He was napping when we got there and he is soooooo cute when he's sleeping! Luckily he woke up right away. He was again, so happy!! I know I say that a lot, but he's seriously such a happy little guy. I'm amazed a what a good baby he is. I think I was afraid he'd cry the whole time and we wouldn't know what to do!! We played for awhile and just enjoyed being a cute little family of 3!! It's funny how I could just sit and stare at him for hours. One of the nannies brought in some kind of food for all of the babies so we were able to feed him. I have no idea what it was but it smelled like white gravy! He actually ate the whole bowl, which seemed huge to me, and this was the first time we have seen/heard him cry or get mad. Apparently we weren't feeding him fast enough. :) The nanny looked over and said, faster! We managed to feed him and not get too much food on him. But, I'm a real mom now because I'm wearing my son's drool and baby food all over MY shirt! As always, the time comes to leave. I hate saying goodbye to him and miss him the whole time we're not with him. We are really struggling with the jet lag/lack of sleep.

We have court tomorrow morning. Please pray that all goes well and we hear the judge say, "he's your's." We will also be meeting Levi's birth mom. I'm already emotional about meeting her so pray that it goes well and we can communicate our gratitude for her precious baby.

We've taken over 300 pictures! Can't wait to share them with you!! And thanks for all of the people who responded with his weight! :)

There is again a line for the computer, so I'm going to go.

love you all,
Lindsay and Jason

lunch with our new friends

a view of Levi Biniam's room

Day 1: Meeting Levi Biniam

We are home and adjusting back to normal life. The jet lag has taken a toll on us. We arrived back in El Paso Sunday night around 7:00 and were warmly greeted by the youth from our church. That was a fun surprise!! We went to bed around 10:30, beyond exhausted. I woke up around 5:00 am and could not go back to sleep. Jason slept until 1:30...pm!! Last night was much better for me...I went to bed at 7:30 and woke up around 6:30 this morning. Neither one of us slept straight thru the night last night, but I feel much more rested today. Jason is back to work today and I'm doing stuff around the house. I'm ready for things to be bck in order again. While

we were in Ethiopia, I sent a daily email update to family and friends. I will update the blog each day with that email. It's killing me that I cannot post pictures of sweet Levi yet. It's the first thing I am going to do after I hear that we pass court next week. Until then, here are the updates...

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Hello again!I have waited 45 minutes for the computer and I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.We slept well last night. Jason was wide awake at 5:30...I slept in until 6. :) We got ready for the day and went to breakfast in the dining room of the guest house. There are many families here also adopting, but we are one of the few american families. After breakfast we called our agency's office and arranged to have our driver come assoon as possible.

He picked us up in cute little Toyota and we were off. I was a little nervous as we got in last night while it was dark...so this was our first time seeing the city during daylight. The driving is crazy!!!You just go and basically pray no one hits you. People walk in the street and there are honking horns every second. We only drove for about 10 minutes when we pulled off the main road onto a dirt/gravel/bumpy/doesn't really seem like a real road kind of road. His phone rang and apparently we were at the right spot. They had moved Levi to the Hope Transition Home and we were parked right outside. I have to admit that I got a little teary as we were driving through the city knowing we were on our way to meet our son. I had no idea it would only take 10 minutes to get there!!

We walked into the gate and into the Hope office. We introduced ourselves and then they said we were free to go see our son. We walked over to another building and there was a door that said infant room. We walked in and looked around but didn't see him right away. Then a nanny picked him and showed him to us. Immediately I teared up and stared at his beautiful face. She handed him over to me and I fell in love. He is so sweet. Daddy was busy taking pictures of us. After I kissed him and loved on him for a moment, I handed him off to Jason. (he had tears in his eyes too...and the look on his face, I'll never forget.) I snapped a few pictures of him and Levi together. We made our way over to a couch where we just laughed and smiled and admired our precious baby. We were able to hang out with him for an hour, maybe more. The other babies in the room were demanding attention too, so we took turns holding Levi and playing with the other babies. Jason had the honor of feeding his first bottle from mommy and daddy. He was more interested in playing than eating. After a while, he fell sleep in my arms. Precious!! We put him in his crib and walked outside because they were preparing the coffee ceremony. We met another family who is here for their embassy appointment. We shared the coffee ceremony with them and then joined them for lunch. It was nice to meet another family and share our stories. After lunch we went back to hang out with Levi for a bit. Then because we were dead tired we came backto the guest house, took a nap and then ate dinner here.

one of the nannies preparing the coffee ceremony

Before I go...I'll share some thoughts on Levi. He is super tiny!!! His little legs are so skinny. The nurse weighed him and he was 6.4kg. Someone convert that for me!! (I now know that it converts to a little over 14 pounds!) He may be small but he is beautiful and happy.He didn't cry one time and laughed a lot on the second visit. He loved Jason's hat and we love him. I can't wait to share the pictures. We'll go back tomorrow to hang out and then we'll do some shopping.

We're off to bed. The tylenol pm works great!!!

here are some pics:

our room at the Yeka Guest House

Jason and our driver, Danny on the first day

me in the backseat on the way to meet Levi Biniam

From Friends...

One word. WOW. I am blown away by the generosity my friends have shown over the last few weeks. I put out a message that we were taking donations to the orphanage in Ethiopia and this is what my dining room table now looks like:

Stuff came from friends in El Paso. I got boxes in the mail from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Wisconsin!

Matthew 25:40, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

ONE more week!!!

Time is flying bye. We leave one week from today. I feel like I have a lot to do before then. Since today is MLK day, Jason had a four day weekend. (one of the many things I love about the army!) We took advantage of that and went up to Ruidoso to ski. We drove up early Friday morning, skied all day, and then hit up the Dream Catcher for dinner. They cater a lot of the marriage retreats we do up there and always treat us well. Yesterday was church and relaxing at home. Jason watched football. I worked on Levi's nursery. And, we finally put the crib together.

My list of things to do this week included getting our vaccinations. Somehow I missed that step. I like to pride myself on how detailed I am...but this one got overlooked. Luckily we caught it in time and the immunization clinic on post can take us as a walk-in tomorrow morning.

Well, I'm off to do some cleaning and organizing. The donations have over taken my dining room!! But I need to start working on getting that stuff packed!!

The Countdown is On!!

We leave for Ethiopia in 2 short weeks!! I'm excited. anxious. nervous. excited. happy...

I tend to stress out before I take any kind of trip. This trip has me a little more stressed out. I am constantly thinking of things about the trip. And I sometimes get a little panicked over certain items. Like the other day, I thought, on my gosh! Where are our passports? My heart started racing...and then in the next breath I remembered exactly where they are. Yesterday morning I woke up around 6 thinking about what I was going to wear on the plane.

So, with that being said, the next two weeks are going to be long. Especially because more than anything, I am ready to meet my son. Saying those words almost seem surreal. In 2 weeks, I'll be traveling around the world and will get to hold my precious baby. I can't wait to kiss his cheeks. To tell him Mommy loves him. To hold him tight. Jason's ready too. He doesn't get all worked up like I do, but he's ready...I can tell.

I just hope Levi is ready...his little world is about to be rocked!!

Christmas Time in El Paso

Well, this was the first Christmas that I didn't spend with any family. I cried at first, but it turned out to be a great day. We had a relaxing morning. Drinking coffee. Eating breakfast. Opening presents. We even managed to take the bike out for a ride to Starbucks. We enjoyed dinner with friends. And ended the night playing games with more friends. Its fun to think about how different next year will be. We won't be able to sit and sip coffee all morning. We'll be chasing Levi around and assembling toys!! I can't hardly wait!! So even though I was sad to not be with family, I soaked up the time alone with Jason, cherishing this last Christmas just the two of us.

Jason preached a few weeks ago and I've thought a lot about his sermon since then. It was a Christmas message and the focus was on the Christmas story. Jason challenged us to see that the story of Christmas isn't just about Jesus being born. It's actually a rescue story. or a rescue plan. God's rescue plan. And so this Christmas season, I've found comfort in knowing that despite my failures. Despite my sin. Despite the fall world we live in. God sent His Son to save us. Our prayer is that you too, will find comfort in God's rescue plan this year.

It's now a couple of days past Christmas. I'm anxiously waiting for it to be January. This time next month we'll be IN Ethiopia. That's crazy to me. It still seems so far away, but I know it will be here before we know it. Sweet baby Levi, we'll be there soon. We can't wait to meet you. And to hold you. To kiss you. To tell you how much we l

ove you. See you soon!!

Jason opening up his gifts

me opening up a box from my parents with goodies for Levi

out for a Christmas treat at Starbucks

Merry Christmas!

Court Date!!

We have a court date!!! JANUARY 28, 2011. :)

Tuesday morning I was sitting at the computer, drinking coffee, facebooking, blog stalking, and waiting for my friend Christie to get here so I could take her to the airport. A new email popped up and I casually clicked on my email to check it. (I say casually, because I've been a bit obsessed lately about checking email in hopes of a court date.) So, I see an email from our agency. The subject line is "update." I think nothing of it because I'm pretty sure I've beyond annoyed them with my impatience. I figure they are just letting me know there is still no date. BUT! To my surprise, I read the email and it says,

Hello Lindsay,

You have a court date of 1/28/11.

Pretty plain jane if you ask me. But, I don't care...I literally jumped up and down. Cried for a second. Took a lap around the house. And then called Jason. No answer. That's ok. He'll call back. 2 minutes later I call him again. (I'm SUPER impatient) No answer. I send him a text. I call his government cell. I call his personal cell. This goes on for about 3 hours. He was in a meeting...go figure. Anyway...I finally got to tell Daddy that we have a court date and we will be traveling to Ethiopia in January.

I gotta tell ya that after it all sunk in and I really thought about it, I was disappointed. That's 2 months away. That means Levi can't come home until March-ish. He'll be almost 9 months old. I want him now. I went to PWOC the next day, and my sweet friend Marta, gently chastised me for not being grateful for the court date. She reminded me that we prayed for a court date, and God delivered. Talk about a smack in the face. Thank you Marta for reminding me of God's goodness and helping me to be grateful for the blessing of a court date.

Since the news of our date, I've been a little overwhelmed with thinking about the plans of our trip. Unfortunately, I don't think our agency is being all that helpful. I won't go into details, but I feel like I've learned more about the trip from stalking other blogs. Its super frustrating to feel so in the dark when preparing for such a big trip. I feel like every time I ask questions, I'm a bother to the staff at our agency.

At the end of the day, what makes me happy, is knowing that next month we get to meet our baby. We get to hold him. kiss him. love on him. and tell him just how much we love him. That makes me happy.

I feel like I should add some kind of picture. I hate reading tons of words and seeing no pictures on other people's blogs. So...this is random, but here is the most recent picture we have. It's from family day for Jason's unit. Some of the guys (including Jason) spent a week in the field, and then they invited us out for a few hours. We explored some tank like vehicles. Watched them shoot stuff. Ate chow. (gross) And sat through a change of command ceremony. Jason prayed since he's the chaplain and all...he looked super cute...I was looking!!!