The Ru is Silly.

Ru meets Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Dawn, and her sweet cousins....

.....cousins who have prayed for her every night, prayed her home.

We love you!

Brother meets the Ru.

Hello! **edited

Alert: This will be a post with ACTUAL WORDS. Repeat: Post contains ACTUAL TEXT.


Hi!

Merry Christmas!

We are doing wonderfully well over here, just relishing our little Ruthie. She is full of personality and spice. We feel fairly sure that these two introverts have adopted an extrovert! Sleeping is SLOWLY getting easier for her (and therefore for us), though we are still up several times a night with her. Same with naps--some days they don't happen at all, some days there are a couple of extremely short ones, and some days there is a more normal one-year-old nap lasting and hour or two. Her sinus/respiratory issues have almost totally disappeared. Ruthie's days are spent dancing, shrieking with delight or protest, , trying to avoid diaper changes, and playing with her favorite toys--stackable/nesting cups, and her xylophone. Busy. Lots to do. Though she initially refused all baby food except formula, she now enthusiastically consumes a number of different things. She is small, but strong and fiesty. It is a genuine joy to watch her settle in and become more comfortable with her surroundings--and with us. I feel like attachment is going really well--it makes me tear up thinking about how our home is becoming her home, too. In short, she's delightful. She wakes up smiling.

Oh, and she's officially walking, as of a couple of days ago. I mean, taking 5-10 steps at once is officially walking, right?? I have mixed feelings. :) Proud. And, 'oh baby, there's no hurry!'

**AND, we are thoroughly. totally. completely. thrilled for our dear friends, Shawn and Jami, who passed court on Friday and will travel soon to meet their oh-so-precious, GORGEOUS twin girls!

Happy First Birthday Ruthie!!!

Ethiopia is beautiful.

Ruthie Dances to Luckenbach

mishmash.

Through a car window, darkly.

A few more each day......

A few from Addis.

Give Tom's Shoes this Christmas

Give Tom's Shoes this Christmas and help children in Ethiopia avoid Podoconiosis. Watch this video to find out more.

At the airport.

She's a pretty good sport after 28 hours of traveling.....

a quick note.

hey guys. we are doing fine and are home safely. i arrived home with some kind of sinus/chest/throat sickness that i developed about 20 hours into our journey home. it's been a long time since i've felt this awful, but i'm on some antibiotics and other things and hopefully will feel better soon. ruthie is also on her own regime of antibiotics, prescribed to her the day before we left ethiopia. she was somewhat sick when picked her up at the baby house, and it got worse right before we left Africa. she is doing better---and i may have gotten whatever she had.....all that to say, i know i owe a lot of you some emails, etc, and hopefully, i'll be back to semi-normal soon!

Update from Ethiopia

hello all and greetings from ethiopia...ruthie is a sweetheart...we
picked her up on monday about two hours after getting off the plane.
we were exhausted but adrenaline carried us through. she is doing
well and is attaching to us well. she is pretty laid back but she
also has a bit of the feisty in her. she likes to walk while holding
on to our hands, seeing herself in the mirror, and was confused when
we put shoes on her feet--she has never worn them before. she is also
a real trooper. she went with us yesterday to a coffee ceremony,
lunch with other adopting families, and then to the u.s. embassy for
her visa. she sleeps well and is eating well too.

i will try to send some pictures at some point if i can. ethiopia is
beautiful. the people are also beautiful and very hospitable. the
poverty, however, is heartbreaking.

Let's Get This Show on the ROAD.

Hello, there. Here we are: our last picture as the two of us. Michael and I don't take lots of pictures of ourselves, but my best friend Roxana was here for my shower recently and took this. (If you live in New England, you should totally hire her to do your portrait.) It's hard to believe that the next time Rox takes a decent picture of us, there will THREE in the family. Hmmm. Difficult to wrap my mind around at this point.

Well, there were a couple of things I wanted to blog about before I left, but this past week has been craaaaazy. Beautiful, exciting, nerve-wracking, surreal. Our bags are officially packed, with the exception of a few things we will stuff (and I do mean stuff) in at the last moment. Yesterday I finally went out and bought a carseat for Ruthie, because it appears that she is actually coming home to us. :)

Our sweet friends Shawn and Jami are kindly bringing us dinner this evening. I am so glad to spend time with them before we leave. My dad comes to pick us up bright and early tomorrow morning and drop us off at the airport. We won't arrive in Addis until 8:30am on Monday the 24th. For the exact time Addis while we're gone, check the clock on the right.

I don't know if I'll post while in Ethiopia. The internet there seems spotty at best. I might try a few posts.

If you are a pray-er, you can pray for health, and that our luggage doesn't get lost.






Guess what I have packed in my suitcase?

And finally:

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Praise Him all creatures here below!

Praise Him above, you heavenly hosts!

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Amen.

We love you and thank you for all of your support and prayers. Now, let's get this child HOME.

Conspire with me.

One of my friends returned from Cambodia recently. While there, she met a lovely young Cambodian man, a follower of Jesus. She asked him if he wanted to live in the U.S. He replied that he would never want to live here, because "the Christians in America are so beguiled by riches."

Amen, my brother. Lord forgive us.

Forgive me.

In which I thank you for your help.

(Hello, sweet one. Did you just wake up? :) Check out that hair.)

Many thanks to you for your traveling advice. It is very helpful to me, as I am generally clueless about such things. Many thanks to our families and friends and church, who are caring for us so lovingly. We are blessed beyond measure.

That's all my jumbled mind has right now, though there are several things I want to blog about soon. Till then....

Lodging, booked. **Edited

Finally! Whew.

Michael and I were talking recently, about how since Monday, we have gradually moved from the "happy shock" stage, to the "it seems this is really actually happening" stage. I have been washing and packing tiny socks and clothes for a little person I have never laid eyes on, but who is legally my daughter. That, folks, is surreal. And amazing.


And yes, we think Ruthie looks like John Legend, too! :)


**As I gaze at our itinerary and contemplate taking the seventeen-hour flight back from Ethiopia to Dulles with an eleven-month-old, I would REALLY love to hear some advice from moms who've been there. REALLY.

Flights, booked.

People, we leave in a tiny bit over TWO WEEKS. We booked our flight THIS AFTERNOON. Oh, joy, oh madness.

We are going to stay in Rome for a few days before Africa. Because, when your flight is going to refuel there anyway, how can you NOT stay for a few days? Plus, it will give us (and by that I mean crazy-sleeping-me) some time to get over jet lag. I would love to meet our daughter when I'm not completely slap-happy and disoriented. Oh, those of you who've traveled with me before know what I'm talking about. Hi, Sarah!

Tomorrow I book our lodging in Rome and Addis Ababa. More later!

We are going to AFRICA!!!!

Introducing our sweet, sweet Ruthie Tagesech.

*Edited to add: Some snappy music chosen by Michael.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank you, thank you for all your prayers

Court Date!

Tomorrow!

If we pass, we travel.

If we don't, we are delayed.

Shower! Today! Yay.

Good ways to spend your time when you're waiting to bring home your daughter.

You can have friends over to carve pumpkins, and you can drink cider and eat too many cookies with sweet almond icing:






You can murderously stab your innocent pumpkin: :)

You can hang out with cute doggies named Ozzie:

You can carve a little pumpkin that strongly favors your husband:

You can do a little silly dancing:

You will have the best time. But you still may find you have one thing on your mind:

(Thanks to Christina for the pictures!!)