Cadets

We found our nice camera! We had it stashed away in the back of Riley's bedroom closet, but now that we've got a working camera & charger I'm back in business & will have to post pics of our house & all my fun projects. In the meantime, here are some pics of our day today...
These are 4 of the 1250 new cadet candidates who arrived 3 weeks ago for their summer training called Beast. Once they make it through those awful 6 weeks they officially become cadets and their academic year as a plebe begins. These guys have had no internet access, phone access, and have been drilled and harassed constantly for the past 3 weeks (even 10 years later Riley remembers that well). Today is what they call the Ice Cream Social, where the cadets are allowed to go to a host home on post for the afternoon to relax, eat, sleep, talk, call home using our phones, & get on the internet, etc. The four cadets who came over were so young -it's hard for me to believe Riley and I were this young when we met! The young men were extremely grateful for the food, especially the raw cookie dough & the ice cream sundae bar Ellie & Saedi set up. These guys were a pleasure to have in our home! I took some pictures of them to send to their mothers & I've already received two emails letting me know how nice it was to hear their son's voice & to see close up pictures of them.




Link

New Pics of Sol at 9-10 months

I love it when these fun email surprises show up in my in-box. We received over 20 pics of Solomon today. Here are my favs...

looks like he's beginning to crawl & scoot

happy boy!

Link

Jellystone Park

Here's a fun Post Family picture from about a month ago...that's how far behind I am.
This past week we went on our first family camping trip since Isaac's birth. We stayed at Jellystone Park and it was a perfect one-nighter trip with the kids. We had a lovely campsite on a stream so we could hear the water at night and the kids had lots of exploring. There were fun activities for the kids (cake and ice cream for Boo Boo's birthday, wagon rides with Yogi Bear, water balloon tosses, bingo, etc) but we mainly hung out at the water park and added small detours to the playground or hiking around the lake. Our camera wasn't working so I have no pics of Isaac's first camping trip. Oh, and all 5 of us slept in a 3 man tent but it went well!

Since then, the girls came down with a nasty 12 hour flu of violent vomitting for about 7 hours. They're feeling great now, but they were pretty bummed when we had to shift cheat night from Sat night to Sun night! Oh, and I finished the last of the painting (for now...ha ha) tonight! So, the living room/dining room, girls' room, kitchen, & master bedroom are done! Riley starts back to work tomorrow and I've got to get used to having the kids on my own again. Our home study visit is Tuesday, and several other appointments are thrown in there as well. We've received Solomon's birth certificate and we finish up our doctor's appointments on Thursday. After that, there should be no more paperwork for a bit. Each day we're getting closer to bringing our son home!
Link

Happy 4th!

Link

Whirlwind!

What a whirlwind we've been on this past month! I've done a terrible job documenting our family events lately, but I've been intentional about getting us settled in NY as quickly as possible, and so that commitment is taking up all my time. Before I try to summarize this past month I'm still in awe and praise about how well we are settling in and bonding as family and feeling at home here at West Point.

We've been here for 2 weeks now and I'm slowly learning my way around (the first 2 weeks are always my least favorite since I'm directionally challenged). Our first week here the girls attended Pandamania Vacation Bible School on post from 9-12 each day. VBS was a short walk up the street and a perfect way to get the girls meeting kids. It also allowed Isaac to get his morning nap, Riley to get in-processed & me unpacking. Our friends Sean & Meghan introduced us to people who have introduced us to more people, and Riley knows a lot from his time here as a cadet, etc. We quickly met another family who have a 3 year old son adopted from Ethiopia. Veronica is my age and they also have 3 biological kids so we've had dinner with them a couple of nights already.

The house is coming along fast! The dity move went smoothly and between CraigsList, Target, Home Depot, Ikea & the Carpet Mill the house is live-able and actually starting to feel cozy! Meghan helped me pick out rugs and from there I found a lot furniture off Craigslist (I need a separate blog about that). Paint colors were decided Thursday night, purchased on Friday and the living room, dining room, kitchen and girls room are all painted!

Another fun highlight for me is that I joined a running club. It's called the Knight Runners and they meet every Sat morning at 730 for a group run. They usually have a 4 mile route and then a longer route option since several are training for upcoming half marathons. I've run with them twice now and have met some neat gals that way. My legs and lungs are quickly adjusting to there brutal hills!

Uncle Kyle was our first house guest!!! He took the train up yesterday and spent the 4th with us picnicking on the Hudson River, watching the Cornwall parade, licking ice cream cones, watching the amazing WP fireworks display and swimming at Round Pond.
The girls were in awe of fireworks this year-oooohing and awwwwing and commenting after every explosion.

And the adoption...well, we've got the court decree saying that Solomon is ours, but we can't bring him home yet because we're required to re-do several documents since we moved and have a new state. Big disappointment as we were hoping we could bypass all that. After several days of frustrating phone calls we finally chose a local agency who will come out and give us a home study update and file all of our NY background checks, physical, etc. We're praying for speed in processing & that none of this will delay getting an Embassy date and that we would remain patient with the system.

And now, the past month...
While Ry and I went to Ethiopia the girls had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa in Ohio. They saw their Aunt Meg everyday and loved all the things they did together- rode the carousel, played at the beach, went shopping at the mall, read lots of books, & played with their cousins.

After Ohio we drove to NY to see our new house, unload our things and spend 2 days unpacking. We drove to Niagra Falls on our 12 hour+ drive to Michigan.

Riley spent several days with his high school friends back in Michigan while the kids and I stayed at Mimi & Papa's. We went strawberry picking, played with cousins, & went to the Holland street fair where we watched street gymnasts, ate candy from the Peanut Store and watched Mary Poppins at the theater.

We spent a week in Indiana at Potato Creek for a "Post Family Reunion" with all Ry's siblings and kids. We had a great time in our own cabin but meeting up with everyone for Story Time, walks to the general store, swimming at the pond, paddle-boating, play-do, parade, pinatas, and dinners together.

After Potato Creek we drove back to Ohio to spend a few days with my parents at their lake cottage. We spent Father's Day with my dad and he and Riley got to do a bit of fishing.

Then, we drove to NY again to stay!!!

-Ellie lost her first tooth while driving from Ohio to West Point. She immediately wanted to call her Aunt Meg and everyone else she knew to announce her big news. Every morning she wakes up in our new house and asks to sit out on the front porch. She loves to be outside, picking flowers and watering flowers and making boquets. She also loves wrestling and punching her Dad.
- Saedi likes to wear headbands everyday, but she wears them across her forehead instead of on her head. She's a funny girl and likes to make up jokes (like calling Ellie "Ellievator") and prank people with fake pooo. Her favorite part of our house is the "Vasement"
-Isaac refuses to take milk from anything other then me. While Ry and I were in Ethiopia for 5 days he refused milk. He has 7 teeth and has stopped all baby signs. He purses his lips together and says, "oooooh" to everything. The boy is huge. 23 lbs and in 18 month clothes at 10 months old. He eats more then his sisters (3 meatballs and a large slice of watermelon) for dinner plus full nursings still. He pulls himself up constantly and loves to climb stairs but has yet to take a step.

Love you all! More to come...



Link

Best Phone Call Ever

We got the call on Friday (3 days after court)...he's officially ours! Just waiting on his passport, visa, & then our Embassy date so we can return to bring this little man home! We're allowed to post pics now!

Link

Court Trip to Ethiopia

Us outside balcony of guest house

God’s Hand

We returned from Ethiopia yesterday and we have tons to tell, but before we go into the details of the trip, we wanted to share how God has worked for and on us during this trip. As many of you know, we are in a hectic season of life right now: moving, changing jobs, traveling for adoption, etc… Often, we have found ourselves planning and arranging the many moving pieces with the idea that through sheer force of will & hard work we could corral the chaos. Still, it has felt like we have been standing at the base of tidal wave waiting for it to crash down upon us.

However, God ignored our perfectly laid plans this past week and reminded us how His timing and his provision is beyond anything we could create. Despite our last minute planning, He put us in the Family Morning Coffee Guest House for our stay in Ethiopia. The guest house is run by an amazing lady named Birtukan, a previous World Vision sponsor child and current women’s ministry organizer. A beautiful spirit that provided us much needed physical and spiritual renewal.

Then, when we went to visit Solomon Edilu for the first time, God turned the rules and our plans upside down again. We were instructed to not take pictures and that our visit would only be a couple of hours. We had all kinds of schemes in mind to change that, but the director approached Riley and willingly offered to let us stay for almost 5 full hours and even arranged for us to have some pictures of Solomon (not allowed to post pics of him yet). Riley and the director, Huddush, hit it off and Huddush was able to provide us with some great, previously unknown details about Solomon’s story. We couldn’t have hoped for more from our visit.

And Solomon himself… what words can we use? He is perfect. His loving nannies described him as “peaceful” and “happy” and we agree. He was a little unsure of us at first (we probably look/smell/sound different that everyone else he knows) but he warmed up to us quickly. He is quiet but content. He can sit up but is still a little tippy. He has one little tooth and loves to put things in his mouth. No crawling yet, but he is starting to push up with his arms. His ‘fro is gone, replaced with a little buzz cut. We got to feed him and he even fell asleep in Riley’s arms. Peaceful and sweet.

The court date, the reason we were required to travel, was actually anti-climatic. Our agency lawyer was extremely professional and had us fully prepared. We only answered a handful of yes/no questions with the judge and the entire proceeding lasted little more than two minutes. Solomon’s case is complete pending a letter from the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs, which we expect to see in the next couple weeks. Once everything is together, the judge gives her final approval and that essentially ends the contentious portion of the process. We will still need US Embassy approval but that is largely a formality once the Ethiopian courts have approved the case. We are praying for a return date within the next two months, at which time we will collect Solomon’s birth certificate, passport and visa and then bring him home.

We want to thank all of you for your support thus far. From prayers to donations for the orphanage to taking care of our children (Gpa and Gma Mott we LOVE YOU!), you have all blessed us with your participation in our journey. We still covet your prayers as this process nears completion. Additionally, we will try to bring even more donations on the next trip so things like diapers of all sizes, wipes, bed sheets (queen and crib size), formula and children’s clothing would all be blessings for the orphanage.

So tomorrow we head/move to West Point, kids and all, to start the next chapter. We are blessed to have friends like Sean and Meghan there that have really helped with that transition. We can’t wait to RELAX with them and other NY friends and family in the near future.

Blessed,

Riley and Michelle

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee

Link