11 months

Baby Girl, today you are 11 months old!  Hard to believe you'll be a year next month.  Today was big day for our family.  We heard from Holt International that YOU are going to be a part of our family.  We will be getting a bunch of paperwork next week that will make it all official.  We told your grandparents and Wilson and Miller. Everyone is excited- especially Miller.  She looks at your picture and says "there's my baby sister" with the biggest grin on her face.  She's planning where your bed will go in the room you'll share and she's even given you a name, Cruella.  I wouldn't take that the wrong way- she LOVES the bad guys in movies, it's more a term of endearment.  Plus she's not even three yet, I'm sure she'll have forgotten all about it by the time you're both in high school!!

For the first time I'm truly sad about missing out on your first year.  Until I held a picture of your little face knowing that you'd be my third child, I just accepted that that was part of inter country adoption.  We would miss out on a lot of firsts, but we'd get to hold your hand through many more.  But it's finally hitting home that you've been growing and learning for a whole year without your mamma, daddy, and big brother and sister to cheer you on!  Miller keeps talking about she's going to take care of you, which warms my heart. But then I realize you're going to get here and be a head strong toddler and probably won't want a whole lot of help from your sister!  Please indulge her a little :)  Although, I'm thrilled to hear how well you're developing and how "on schedule" you are, there's a little ache that I've missed your first smile, roll, time sitting up, crawl, pull up, and cruise.  To have been born a few weeks too early- you have accomplished A LOT in your almost first year.  You're making your mamma proud and sad all at the same time.  AND I HAVEN'T EVEN MET YOU YET!!

I can't wait to get an update on you and new pictures- I also can't wait to share what we have with the world.  I guess I'll just have to, but I'm dying for EVERYONE to see how beautiful you are so they can gush with us!

Happy 11 months!  Can't wait so see you and tell you in person.

Teaser

Well, I can just hardly hold it in much longer. But because, as most of you know, the only thing certain about the adoption process is uncertainty, I'm going to have to. Just wanted everyone to know that the adoption is moving along REALLY WELL and I hope to have some REALLY FUN news & pictures in the next week or so. Please pray for our family!

'Tis the Season!

The Christmas season is in full swing around here.  A few days after Thanksgiving we went to see Santa.  It was so much fun this year- neither child was the least bit apprehensive.  They climbed right up and when Santa asked what they wanted Wilson told him an 18" bike and Miller said skates.  Guess I should be hoping for one of our world famous balmy Mississippi Christmas mornings because if the Big Guy comes through- we'll be spending the day outside! 

We've gone to a local paint it your way place and made our traditional hand print ornaments.  This year was a little different, though.  Wilson decided he did not want to do the ball with his hand print, so he selected a mitten shaped ornament to free paint.  He ended up stamping his hand in the mitten on the back, but it went completely over all of the edges.  My baby maybe too big for a hand print next year! 

Friday night my dad took the kids to the annual Singing Christmas Tree while Phil and I went out to eat.  This is such a fun tradition- the choir from a local college scales a set a of risers that form the shape of a Christmas Tree outdoors on the soccer fields.  Everyone brings blankets and chairs and spreads out to take in the show.  If it's actually cold you bring hot chocolate to keep warm while you listen.  This year it was very pleasant so the plan was to have hot chocolate at my parents when we all got back.  Well, little Miller fell asleep on the way back and we had to go straight home.  Wilson was most disappointed about missing his snack at Granna's, but we soothed things over with the sight of a Christmas tree tied to the top of our car when we went out to load up!  We got the lights on that night and Wilson drank some warm chocolate while he watched me. 

Saturday Phil's dad took us all to the Nutcracker.  This was a first for both kids and they loved it!  Not too long into the show Miller announced that she wanted Santa to bring THOSE shoes to her for Christmas (ballet toe shoes).  She was in heaven and twirled and danced in front of her chair a good bit.  Wilson leaned over about 5 minutes into it and said "Mom, I think they're telling a story."  I have such a cultured 6 year old!

Hope your start to the Christmas season has been as fun as ours has!

 

Mississippi Fall

Thanksgiving week in the park

Thanksgiving morning- wearing next to nothing (because it was in the 80's)- sitting on the deck coloring turkeys

Morning after Thanksgiving- sitting by the fire (because it was in the 30's)-wearing sunglasses "so the fire won't burn my face" with Blah Blah

New Family Hobby

The Ethridge family has begun a new hobby. "Treasure hunting" if you ask Miller or Wilson- better known as Geocaching to the rest of the world. It has been a great way to spend a few hours outside on the weekends. Here are few pictures of Wilson at our first find. He traded a mini etch a sketch for the cool red car that was left in this cache.

Removing the hidden cache from a tree trunk

Miller "flying a kite" while everyone else hunted for the cache. A piece of caution tape hung in a tree- she's a clever one!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Instructions for Thanksgiving Dinner From "Marney"!


Wow- I'm now a little unsure of what I should put my squash casserole in for our family's dinner!! Guess I'll put the large blue dish back- wonder if I even have a "regulation size" casserole dish.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Another Big Day!

Sadly, no pictures to commemorate any of it, though. 

Wilson lost his 2nd tooth- and pulled this one himself!

I got a HUGE chunk of Christmas shopping completed!

We got a letter from Holt saying that our Home Study is officially approved and was mailed to Korea on the 19th!  Wow- our names are on their way to our sweet little one's birth country.  I definitely feel one step closer today!

Happy Birthday, Phil!

This is a belated Happy 32nd Birthday blog wish to my sweet husband.  The big day was actually yesterday- and I hope it was great.  It started out with Miller telling him what his birthday present was before he opened it while eating breakfast.  Then donuts with coworkers, chick fil a at work for lunch, and dinner (Chilis) & a movie (Megamind) with the fam last night

All I can say is "wow" when I look back over what you've accomplished in your 32nd year.  Completed your first marathon, knocked a big hole in the wall of the kitchen and learned to hang drywall, made the decision to adopt a third child, and completed a rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon- just to hit the highlights. 

We love you and are so proud of you.  Thanks for being our fearless leader!!  Hope your 33rd year is as fun filled as teh 32nd was!

Birthday Boy with his "sweet precious"

It's all about the accessories!

So, why are we celebrating?

Thursday was a great day- we finally received a draft of our home study.  This was an email that we had been promised a lot sooner.  The author said she'd write it and send it on to our agency ASAP and that we could just add in that we had clear FBI backgrounds when we got those reports.  Instead, she put our file somewhere to wait until the FBI reports got here, many weeks later.

So our home study made it to our agency in time for our case worker there to email me saying, "I got the rough draft, I'll forward on any changes that need to be made, and we've just given the last referral for the rest of the year- but thanks for trying."

Phil called home from work and said, "you know I've been thinking, we should celebrate finally having the home study- let's go out to eat."  We decided on Keifer's because even bittersweet news tastes better with a gyro and pita mozz. 

I went across the street to get Wilson and we got home and I started putting clean clothes on the kids for our night out.  Wilson wanted to know why we were going out to eat.  I told him we were celebrating that we had gotten the report that told the people that have our baby that we're not bad guys.  And it said that we're such good guys, we'd make a great family for our baby and to please let us come and get them.  He got excited and said, "so we can go get them now?"  To which I said, "well we're actually going to have to wait awhile before we can get them- it won't be as soon as we thought."  "So, why are we celebrating, mom?"

Oh just eat your pitta mozz and stop asking me questions. 

That's probably pretty close to what I answered.  Because at the time I didn't really have a good answer for why we were celebrating.  We had a hastily written document laced with gross grammatical & spelling errors (if I can catch them- it's REALLY bad!) that said we'd make a fit family for a baby.  But a wall was being stacked up in front of us that wasn't supposed to be there.  We'd been told we'd probably get a referral this year.  Now, the emigration permits have all been handed out (so no one else can travel to get their children until next year) so the next logical step is to suspend referrals so there is not a huge back log once the EP's get flowing again in 2011. 

Why ARE we celebrating!?

Now FAITH is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see- Hebrews 11:1

You are all sons of God through FAITH in Christ Jesus- Galatians 3:26

We live by FAITH, not by sight- 2 Corinthians 5:7

Have FAITH in God . . . if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go through yourself into the sea,' and . . . believes what he says will happen, it will be done for him- Matthew 11:22-23

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through FAITH. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.- Ephesians 3:17-19

We celebrate because we have been blessed by Jesus with the gift of FAITH.  And what a gift that that faith can be placed in a God that is all powerful, all present, and all knowing.  That that faith does not have to be placed in men with file folders or government stamps.  He has called us to bring this baby home and that day will come.  There will be trials and troubles and frustrations along the way, but what better way for the Lord to display His power as he bursts through all these walls & mountains that are placed in our way by the enemy and mere men!  Shine, Jesus, shine and don't let my frustration with your timing be a hindrance to others!

Well, I feel better.  :)  I love the image below.  It serves as a reminder to me to pray diligently for our child and for the many caregivers they will have before they reach our home.  Please join me!

We Passed!

Our social worker emailed Phil a draft of our home study this afternoon.  Hopefully it's also made it's way to our case worker at Holt.  The best line is on the last page: 

"Mr. and Mrs. Ethridge are recommended and approved to adopt a child of either gender from ages 6 months to 2 years of age. The family is approved for a child with minor to moderate correctable special needs, including but not limited to a child who had complicated birth conditions. They are also approved for a healthy child. It is my pleasure to recommend that Korea place such a child with the Ethridge family of [our home town]."   

It is OUR pleasure that this child is a part of our family. 

So now, well, we wait.  :)

They came, they came, they came!!

FINALLY!! :)

What a BIG night!

Phil FINALLY got home from a nine day hiking trip to the Grand Canyon tonight at about 6:30. Less than an hour later he had pulled the first tooth Wilson's ever lost! What a night!

Little sister was close by giving coaching advice. It was too funny!

Bring it on, Tooth Fairy!

Trick or Treat

Miller- Snow White, Caroline- Kitty Cat

They LOVED their fancy costumes

"Did you say they're GIVING AWAY CANDY!? I'm outta here!"

Wilson- Max, King of the Wild Things, Miller- Snow White

Max, Snow, Kitty Cat 1, Kitty Cat 2 (Mabry), Luke Skywalker (John Clark)

Let the busyness begin!!



First Order of Clippies!

 

I'm so excited to say that the first batch of clippies has been received and are ready to be sent to their new owners. I had seen most of the designs already, but there were a few new ones in this order. They are super cute!! A few people have asked about ordering again. I'll try to do the next order in a couple of weeks. Let me know if you are interested and I'll get you down- the order for Christmas trees or Santa hats needs to be placed no later than November 10th to get them here by December 1st.

 

Here's a brief rundown of what's available. I'll try to get a brochure showing the designs available up soon.

 

• Disney- Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Belle, Tiana, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Alice in Wonderland, Ariele, Tinkerbell, Minnie
• Nick Jr- Dora, Ni Hao Kai Lan
• Books/Movies- Madeline, Fancy Nancy, Wicked Witch, Glinda the Good Witch
• Holidays/Seasonal- Christams Trees, Santa Hat, Shamrock, Hearts, Carrots, Fire Cracker, Flip Flops, Cupcakes
• Animals- Fish, Dragonflies

 

They are $5 each and the money will be going towards the care package we can send to our baby once we get our referral.  Items in the care package will stay in Korea.  So, this will first benefit our child, but will also touch the lives of future orphans that are cared for by our baby's foster family.  It's the gift that keeps on giving! :)

Adoption Update

Everyone has been asking for an update on the adoption, and the truth is there's just not much that's changed since my last "adoption post".  I've continued to update the timeline to the right as any baby milestones have been completed.  So here all that is in paragraph form!

We have completed our parent training which we were allowed to do online so we could finish it as quickly as possible.  We had our last visit with our social worker for our home study, which was the home visit.  It went really well and the highlight was probably Miller asking the social worker if she'd like to smell our dog's bed!  I have NO IDEA where that came from other than she and her brother must hold each other down and force the other one to smell it when I'm not looking.  Miller kept insisting and finally our social worker had say, "um, no thank you!"  That child!!  :)  The social worker said she would go ahead and write our home study and send it on to Holt for their review just minus the sentence that says we have a clear background from the FBI. 

We mailed in our I600a which is a document that begins the immigration paperwork process.  It lets Homeland Security know that the Ethridge's will be adopting and bringing a child into the country permanently.  We then received our I-797C Notice of Action, which is just a very fancy way of saying "this is a piece of paper to let you know that we got your piece of paper (the I600a) and we'll be sending you another piece of paper soon".  The next thing we'll receive from them will be the dates and times for our biometrics appointments downtown (basically another set of fingerprints to be taken for Homeland Security).

So right now, we are still waiting for our original set of prints to be run and a report of a clear background to be returned to us.  If we can get them back in the next few days, we'll still be in position to get a referral from the pool of healthy baby boys that need homes ASAP.  Without this all of the above doesn't really get us anywhere. It's all good that these things have been taken care of - a few less things to do once we do get the report back from the FBI.  But we really can't move forward with getting a referral until we have that.  If we don't get them back in the next few days, basically we're back where we thought we'd be before we got the call a few weeks ago asking if we'd be willing to consider a healthy boy.  Which isn't a bad place to be- we can still get a referral of a special needs child matching our profile at any time and we are still requesting records on babies as they get added to the waiting child list that we're interested in.  We will either have a baby early next year or late next year -  please, won't you join us on the hamster wheel of adoption?  :)

Happy Halloween, From the Animal Kingdom

If you're new to the blog, go back through the archives and you'll find that since we moved into this house nearly three years ago, there has been a steady stream of much too close for comfort contact with the wild. All times of day, all manner of animalia, really it could be a blog all by itself . . .

Anyway, I walk through the dining room earlier today and see the above in the window. You may have to look for a minute and you may need to click on the picture to make it a bit larger. Does anyone else see the ghost of a bird in flight!? You can see its wings stretched out, its chest, and head . . . right before it sailed into my window! Sadly there is a matching print on the next window section down. How dumb did this bird have to be? I hate to speak ill of the (assumingly) dead, but look at that wing span! This little fellow had no intention of stopping. Then, THEN, he backed up and tried again! The prints are quite impressive, you can see individual feathers, hollow spots where the eyes are, maybe a little beak. ACSI (Avian Crime Scene Investigators) may be knocking on my door any minute!

Wilson- Age Six

• Loves- Kindergarten, Legos, Wii, Batman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, animals, riding his bike, playing with friends- especially having a little freedom to walk down or across the street to find a neighbor to hang out with, baseball, his little sister, telling others about our adoption, cooking, coloring, doing word/number puzzles, climbing up door frames and saying hello to whoever doesn't know he's up there
• Best Quote Lately- "Mom, since you know so much about olden times, did you live back then?  Was it colorful then?"
• Favorite food- Margarita pizza, "Man Sandwiches" ("Wilson, what's in a 'Man Sandwich'?" "Ummm, eggs, Tony's, cheese, mayo, and . . . a little mustard.")
• Favorite book- Willy Wonka and the Great Glass Elevator
• Favorite movie- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old one)
• Favorite candy- Smarties
• What the most exciting thing that will happen while you're six- Adopt the baby! (BIG smile on his face)
• What's your favorite thing about kindergarten- My work, because my work is fun!

Wilson, you make your Dad and me so proud- we are so blessed to be your parents!  You are becoming such a big kid with such a sweet heart.  You're really owning your role as big brother lately.  You enjoy playing with Miller and helping her out (when she'll let you!).  It has been so fun to watch the two of you enjoying each other's company- thank you for loving your sister and helping her understand what being a part of a family is all about.  You're so excited about the next baby joining our family and I hear (from third parties) all the time about you telling them about the baby and what the latest is with the adoption.  More than once a "sponsor a child commercial" has come on TV and you've come running in to let me or dad know that you've found a baby for us to adopt!  Kindergarten has been a big hit (once you got out of the car on the first day!).  You've made lots of new friends and are learning so much.  We're so impressed with how much you're able to read already and the math that you can do in your head!  We are mostly thrilled that you are learning to view most of life's questions in the light of God's glory and how you can bring Him glory through your actions.  You're beginning to "get it" and it does our hearts good to see you follow as the Lord draws you to Himself. 

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" 3 John 4

We love you more than you'll ever know!  Happy 6th Birthday!