Snowy Awesomeness

Snowflake on my nose

I looked out the window today to watch the rain (yes, those of us in the desert do that), and had to do a double take. I couldn't believe what I was seeing....it was SNOWING!! In my 44 years of mostly living in the desert, I have never seen it snow. We've always lived in the lower elevations...you know, the ones who get the 110+ degree weather in summer. Not only was it was snowing but they were big white flakes coming down heavily and blanketing our grass. For us out here, that made it a GREAT day!!

View from our street

It's sticking!

Grass is turning white!

Ethiopia in 2-1/2 weeks!!!

Today we got our long awaited court date for Ethiopia!!!! March 18 we go before the Ethiopian judge to be approved to adopt our boy. And better yet, we will finally meet him a few days prior!

I'm glad we have a little time to get things ready before we leave. I've been working like mad on a bunch of art for clients (who always need it "now!") and trying to get as much done as I can before we take off. Internet service is similar to the '90s over there and no WIFI. It will be strange to go backward when I depend on the internet so much for my job and communicating with family!

We will also have the chance to see the city our son was born in (about 7 hours from Addis Ababa) and tour the orphanage there. Currently, he's in a transition home in Addis Ababa. I'm very excited to experience the culture there,  not to mention get some great coffee. haha!

So until then, we are crazy busy until we leave! Yay!!!!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year!

I'm so glad we're fortunate to have a chinese cultural center here in Tucson. Every year we go the center to celebrate the Lunar Festival - Chinese New Year. Every year the crowds seem to get bigger and more than the center knows what to do with. ha! Last year we made the mistake of playing all the kiddie games first (which was like being pushed around in a super crowded Fantasyland at Disneyland). By the time we decided to eat lunch, the lines were crazy long, we missed nearly all the cool entertainment and they ran out of most of the food!

This year, we got wise and headed straight for the food booths, saw a lot of the performances and totally skipped the kiddie games. The weather this year was freezing...ok, maybe not to the rest of the nation but definitely to us! Compared to last year when we were sweating in the food line and getting sunburned. We had a fun time and had some awesome chinese food. Here's a few pix for you.

Our Adoption Update

It's been awhile since I've posted about our pending adoption. The orphanage director had a court date on Jan 21, basically to say that "J" is available for adoption and was referred to us. Now we are waiting for MOWCYA (Ministry of Women, Childrens Affairs) in Ethiopia to submit an approval letter to the Ethiopian court & get our court date to travel. Originally, that was supposed to happen now, however, we just found out that MOWCYA is backed up in paperwork and trying to get ahead. So no court dates for the adoptive parents are being issued until they can do that.

That means we are basically in limbo until MOWCYA gets to our case. We have no idea when that will be or how long it will take. Please keep us in prayer for this process to move quickly!

In the meantime, we received 2 new photos of our J! He is looking happy and healthy and is 20 months old now. We are trying to learn Amharic (or really, "I" am trying to learn since Don has pretty much given up!) as he does not speak a word of English. Neither do the nannies in the transition home so we will definitely have a language barrier. Nate is picking up a few words too but so far he only seems to remember, "Wait!", "Stop!", "Bird", "Night Night", & "I love you". haha.

We are not allowed to post photos until we go to Ethiopia & the judge says "He's yours", but here's a few glimpses of our little guy. Until then,

~Ciao!