It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!!!.........

We now have our house all decorated for Christmas, we're out of school, I'm done all my Christmas shopping, and it's Christmas in 2 days! But even though all of that is happening, it still doesn't feel like it should be Christmas all ready... we just finished school today.. I'm not used to working right up to Christmas. But it's sooo cool getting ready for Ayana and Moses' first Christmas ever! It's going to be soo cute. And my Oma is going to come for Christmas Eve, which is going to be so cool.. it'll make it so special. I can't wait to see Ayana and Moses' faces on Christmas morning.. even Christmas Eve! It'll be so cool to see what they think. So anyway, we decorated our tree a couple of weeks ago, and I'm going to put some pictures of that on here. Ayana was so confused... she did not get why we were putting a tree inside the house! But she was really excited none the less. I can't wait till Christmas!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

Snow Day!

Today was Ayana and Moses' first snow day. They were soo excited! Ayana kept looking out the window, and saying "fnow! fnow!" It was so cute. When we actually went outside to play, she loved it. She saw everybody throwing snowballs, and wanted to join in too.. so she did.. right in Moses' face! She laughed.. he cried. :D We went sledding at our friends house, and Ayana loved it the whole time. Moses got fed up, and went inside, but she kept right on going. After about an hour and a half, though, she suddenly realized that it was cold, and started to freak out. We went home, and she fell fast asleep. Moses was already asleep in my arms... dead asleep. It was really fun to play in the snow with them for the first time, and this was probably the coldest they've ever been in their lives. And now we get another day with them tomorrow... no school! Yay! Oh, and by the way, it's been snowing since 6pm last night.. and it's now 8pm the next day and still going strong... I'm hoping to get two, maybe three snow days out of this!

Ayana's Birthday Party

I know I'm a little late, but on November 12th, we had Ayana's 2nd birthday party. It was really cute. We invited like 4 people, and she didn't even get it, but she was soo excited all the same. It was a fairy princess theme, and she got allll dressed up. We did dancing, keep the balloon in the air, presents, and cup cakes, and everything was adorable. When she had to go to bed, Ayana was not happy. She's going to think we do this every month... November it's her birthday, December it's Christmas, and January it's Moses' birthday... February is going to be a big let down! :D I'm going to put some pictures of her birthday party on, and I might post about the snow today after too. Sorry about the picture of her costume... I couldn't figure out how to turn it around on here.

Ayana's Birthday

Today is Ayana's second birthday. She had no clue what was going on, but it was really cute. We were going to go out for Ethiopian food, but since it was raining so hard, we decided that it would make more sense to go tomorrow... so we're having Ayana's special birthday dinner tomorrow. But we did everything else today. We got her a little doll stroller. It was soooo cute... she LOVES it!! she was so upset when she had to go to bed, cause she wanted to stay with her "baby beep beep"! We kept on singing Happy Birthday to her, and when we were watching our movie, she turned to me and said "Appy ifday a yoo!" It was so cute.. so then we had to sing it again of course! She's two now! I can't believe it! She had a really good birthday day, and was soooo excited to get her presents..... it was really really cute. Can't wait till Moses' FIRST birthday!!!!! :) :)

Surprise Shower!!

Tonight our friends had a surprise shower for Ayana and Moses! It was so cute! There was a huge pile of presents, and a bunch of balloons, with "It's a Boy!" and "It's a Girl!"... it was so cool! I'm at home right now, babysitting Megan, Ayana, and Moses. My parents and Josh are still at the shower. I just finished looking through the presents..... they are so cute! Ayana got a HUGE pile of Groovy Girl stuff.... like 11 eleven groovy girls, with clothes, and accessories and tents and all that. It makes me wish I was younger, and there was a surpise shower for me! haha... I always used to want ALL the Groovy Girl stuff. I guess I'll just have to help Ayana get to know her new stuff! haha... jk... and all the baby toys and books and clothes are soooo cute! Everyone was so excited. It was really neat. Well, I'm gonna go now.. I'm pretty tired. I just thought I'd do a bit of an update, seeing as I'm not exactly all that regular at doing that! :)
**...By the way.. that bag is crammed full with just Ayana's Groovy Girl stuff!!**

He's Better...

Well, my parents left at around 8:20 for the hospital the other day, and didn't get back until 3:45am. I was asleep on the couch when they came in. They had done a whole bunch of different tests to make sure he was ok, and find out what was wrong with him. They said it was a virus, but seeing as he just came home from Ethiopia, they wanted to make sure it wasn't anything..... African I guess! But for most of the last 2ish hours, they were just waiting for him to pee. And then finally after a while, they came back and said they didn't need it anymore..... and 2 minutes later he filled his diaper! :P But they were all exhausted... Moses had only slept for about an hour and a half that whole time. He's much better now, but still has a low fever, and is kind of cranky.. but at the same time he's still hilariously funny!

Praying for my Baby Brother!

I'm sooo worried right now. I'm home with Megan, Josh and Ayana, and my parents just took Moses to the hospital.. cause he has a super high fever.. 39.4! I'm so scared for him. He was boiling when I picked him up. And he's really tired and kinda droopy. My poor baby! They'll be gone for quite a while, seeing as it's late-ish, and they had to go to emergency, because of the time. I want to stay up to see how he is.. but I'm so tired.. i might go to sleep on the couch with the phone beside me so that it wakes me up. He better be ok. I love you Duyo Duyo! Get better soon hun...

Outside Adventures

Today I took Ayana and Moses outside to play with the "Beby Dummy"... "Baby Bunny". I sat them on our beach mat, and watched them for a while, pulling them down the mat on their tummies by their feet for about 5 minutes, which was very exciting. Then I asked Ayana to get "Rara's Chamas". She wouldn't listen to me until I said "Rara's Shoes". And then she ran straight in and grabbed my school shoes.... she's actually learning and understanding!! Then I ran around in the rabbit cage for a while, trying to get a hold of at least one bunny. When I finally grabbed Blackberry, Moses was eating grass, and Ayana was sitting in the flower bed. And she wouldnt' even come near the rabbit. Moses, on the other hand loved him.... or he loved his whiskers and ears at least, which are very good handles and pull toys by the way! Ayana eventually came and touched the bunny, and even ended up giving it her special kisses. And then..... it got away. I was sitting there on the mat, holding Moses by the strap of his overalls to keep him from crawling off, trying to make sure Ayana didn't fall into the pond, and with my foot, trying to reach the rabbit and push it back towards us. I finally told Ayana to "Koochby" on the mat with Moses, and be very very "Oush". I crept behind the tree, trying to sneek up on Blackberry, and looked back, to see Ayana, with Moses sitting in between her legs, tightly holding both hands across his eyes and mouth, and pulling him close to her. I almost fell over laughing! It was so hilarious! She was doing her very best to keep him quiet and still for me. And the funny thing was.. he didnt' seem to mind! Anyway, I finally caught the bunny, said "Bye-bye", picked up Moses and got safely inside.... to find that we had only been out there for just under 15 minutes! But we had a lot of fun. I just wish I had had my camera out there with me!

Ayana's Crib

Well, i sure wish my parents had thought of getting Ayana a crib instead of her toddler bed a lot sooner! we got it yesterday, and she slept for 12 hours, napped today without a sound, and went to bed tonight perfectly!! i'm so happy... maybe now i'll get some really good sleep! they're both fast asleep right now. these are pictures of them sleeping so cutely! :P
these were in Ethiopia, but it just shows how even more adorable they are when they sleep!
sorry about ayana's.. i couldn't turn it around! :(

My new, exciting, tiring life....

hey there,
well since we got home, i've had about half the amount of sleep i usually do. how wonderful for me. the first day back, i went to bed at 1, fell asleep at 2, and woke up at 3:30.... and was up after that till 10 that night. especially since ayana and moses woke up at 3 and screamed together until 4:30, and after that, ayana kept on waking up every hour or so to cry a little more. i wasn't really mad though, just tired and sorry for them.. they were probably so scared! new room, jetlag, and no one getting them up! awwww! :( but since then they've been getting better. they're actually screaming right now, but that's cause they're going down for a nap. i think it's actually just Moses. Ayana already fell asleep. i love them so much! they are so cute! she is so seriously bossy and has a huge attitude.. she picks a new favourite just about every other hour, and won't go to anyone but them for the next couple hours or so. it's really funny.. but also really frustrating, especially for my mom.. since whenever it's bed time, my mom is never a favourite, which increases the screaming by 10 notches! but apart from that, i'm loving it! it's exciting to see them every morning.... i'm sure that in about 5 years it'll change.. i mean.. i don't get excited to see my other brother and sister every morning! :P
these pics are of our first day back.
1- ayana's first time seeing a tv- Maisy!
2- moses's first time in his new crib... he loved his mobile!
3- moses's first time in his excersaucer.. as you can see.. he had a lot of fun!
4- ayana was jealous of him.. she likes it too! :P

well, that's all for now.... i gotta go.. moses is still screaming.

~Erin~

Pictures from last post

Hey there
sorry, these are the pictures that were supposed to be in the last post, but didn't work.
same captions as before.
~Erin~

Back Home.. Looking Back

Since the blog wasn't working in Ethiopia, this is the email I sent to my friends........

Yesterday, the 22, we went and met ayana and moses. as soon as i saw them.... it was really wierd. i've only known them through pictures so far, and suddenly they're here! i didn't think i'd get like emotional or anything. i mean, i've held josh and megan when they were born, and i didn't cry or anything. but i guess this is different.... there's a different story behind it, and we've been waiting for so long... well... i cried. i gave the video camera to ben, our leader's adult son.. i didn't want to be holding it while everyone else was meeting them. they're so cute! i'll tell you more about it when we get home, but they were both really scared, but after a while, moses was laughing and playing with us. ayana was still scared, but then she started playing with Yeabie, one of her friends, who is being adopted by a couple in our group, and then she relaxed and started getting happy. but she was still scared when it was just us. i can't load pics on, cause the computer's too slow, and it costs a lot, but we have tons, and i'll show them all to you.. through email or in person. then we had to leave them, to let them "process what had happened" and we went out for lunch. i ordered chicken chili spaghetti, thinking that sounded interesting... umm.... yea.. it wasn't quite wat we would call chicken.. or chili.... or spaghetti as a matter of fact. yum... haha.. so me and our leaders adopted daughter (she's 14), Berekti switched and i got her pizza. that wasn't so.... western... or.. good either, so i wrapped it up and took it home.. and gave it away!! lol. then today we went back to the foster home and got to take them home with us. we spent time with their caregivers and Haregwain, who found them and matched them up for us, and then we brought them back here to our guest house. (it's called the Weygoss Guest House by the way). they were really quiet on the drive.. they've never been on a vehicle before, but Ayana liked looking out the window, and Moses was dancing in my mom's arms! it was so cute. right now they're sleeping, and since i had nothing else to do, i decided to email you guys. i'll try to email some more. everything's so cheap here! it's so cool! i haven't gone shopping yet, but i think on friday or saturday we get to go to the biggest market in all of africa, so i'll be using a lot of money there. well, i should be going. it costs quite a bit to be on here. Bye!

This is the whole email I sent. I'm actually going to put pictures on this time, because we're home now. Even though I made this for our trip, I'll keep on posting about our whole adoption time. I'll post again today, but this is just my "looking back" post. So, goodbye for.. 5 minutes

~Erin~

* The first picture is the first time I held Moses
The second time is the first time I held Ayana
The third is the first time we were all playing together
The forth is the caregivers saying goodbye to all their kids.....
well they should be.. i'm not sure if the pictures worked......

We're Here!

hi guys,
well, we're finally here! the flight was very very very very long..... and tiring...... and boring at times too.... but we're finally here. the only bad thing is, mine, and my brother's bags were lost, so i've been wearing the same clothes that i wore for the last three days.........at least i put an extra t-shirt in my carry-on! it's been so amazing. i love africa so much. but there are so many beggars.. everywhere. it's so sad. and so hard to say no and keep going. we've given some stuff, but we can't give stuff to everyone.. so yea that part's not good. but everyone is so friendly and so pretty, and the kids are all so cute... i love it! we visited our sponsor girl here called Masresha today and that was so cool. they did a traditional coffee ceremony for us... it was amazing. they were so poor.. and they still were so happy and gave us such a nice meal. i felt so guilty taking their food, but it would be a huge insult to refuse.. so we had to eat and drink everythign that was offered. of course, my brother wasn't so happy about that when he had to drink a whole cup of boiling hot tea without any milk. i felt so bad for him! but he was very good at pretending to enjoy it, so no one suspected a thing... except my mom, who gave him prompts to tell everyone that he loved it! haha... Masresha is so cute.. she's 12, and my sister is 11, and Masresha comes up to my sister's...... shoulder. she's tiny!!! she looks about 8 or 9. she's so sweet. i'm going to be going soon with my dad to the airport to see if our bags are finally here... i'd really like a change of clothes soon! and my own toothbrush would be nice! lol.. just kidding... we went and bought me one from the supermarket.. but still... i can't wait to get my bag! in 24 hours we'll be leaving to go and see Ayana and Moses for the very first time. i can't believe it. it still seems unreal. but i can not wait. i'll tell you all about it tomorrow.. if i can. but if not.... then you'll have to ask me when i get back! lol
anyway, this internet is the slowest i've ever seen, so it'll probably take about 15 minutes to post this, and since i have to pay for every minute, i'd better get off now.
i'll see ya later
~Erin~

Leaving!!

hey there,
we're leaving today, and i'm SO excited!! but i'm not so excited about the 22 hour flight. well, all together it's 22 hours or more. it's not straight flying. by the way. lol.. anyway, we're leaving our house at around 1:30 to 2:00 ish, and our flight leaves at 6:00. yea.. we have to be there quite early.. at least we kno that they have time to properly check for bombs!! haha.. well, i might not be able to post in ethiopia at all, but i'll really try.
see yas
~Erin~

Yay!!

hey there,
just to let you know, British Airways changed their new policy thing..... we're allowed to take stuff on the plane now!! i'm so happy! we can even take like gameboys and stuff. only one bag is allowed, but whatever.. we get to take stuff!! so i'm really happy about that.
~Erin~

Boxes and Bags

hey hey,
yeah, well there's only 4 more days until we leave for Ethiopia! our office is covered with boxes and bags full of donations for the orphanages, foster homes, schools and projects we're going to be visiting. seeing as we can only take 2 bags each, i'm not quite sure how we're supposed to be taking all our stuff, plus all the donations and clothes that people are giving to us, but whatever. that's my parent's problem. :P
and my brother is just thrilled with all the frilly princess things showing up in the room he'll be sharing with the kids soon. everything is all set up; their beds, clothes, everything. it's so cute! i can't wait to see them wearing the clothes and sleeping in the crib and stuff. well, i'll be seeing ya.
~Erin~

One Week To Go!

Hey everybody,
i can't believe that there's only one week before we leave to go to Ethiopia!!! i can't wait. except for the stupid new rules about the flight. i hope they change them. because right now, we can't take ANYTHING onto the plane. only your passport and money if you need it. you can't even take a paper and pen, or a book to read or anything like that. but apart from that, i can't wait to go! in one and a half weeks, i will have a new brother and sister. it's so wierd. it really doesn't seem real. but i'm so excited about going. i'll try to post everyday in Ethiopia, because our guesthouse has internet access, but if i can't, i'll just do it as often as i can. i'll try to put pictures on too, because i'm sure you'd love to see me looking all groggy after the plane and other lovely things like that. :D
well, i'll see you later.
buh bye now
~Erin~