Why Ethiopia?

When people find out that you are adopting a child from Ethiopia, you get a lot of questions.  I love the fact that people are curious and we are able to share a little about our journey.  I have addressed some of those questions before, but there is one I wanted to answer again.

"Why adopt from Ethiopia?" was one question that I could never really answer in a way that truly relays our reason.  I would try to answer with, "it was a country that we meet the age classifications for" or " we were so moved by friends who have adopted from Ethiopia".  And sometimes I would just reply, "It just felt right".

Now while all of these answer are true, it is not the reason.  We now have the answer.  One that we got on June 16, 2010.  His name is Tate E. Plumb. 

The moment we saw him, we instantly knew that God had lead us to this little boy.  His face felt like home.  I have never been more convinced in my life of God's plan for us.  He perfectly orchestrated  bringing a family together through a  little boy in Ethiopia and a couple in Oklahoma.

We didn't choose Ethiopia.  God knew that our son was there.  Ethiopia chose us.  I am just so thankful that we listened.

Tate update!

We got an update on Tate today!  I can't tell you how great it is to get to hear a little bit about who he is with each update!

"I found E. chewing on one of his favorite toys today when I walked into his room. He just looked at me as if to say, “Hey.” E's never shown any signs of stranger anxiety, so he and I have this kind of familiar relationship where I can just walk in and we just pick up where we left off.  I don’t have to keep a formal distance from him in order to help ease him into our visit. He’s always ready to hang out for a while—mild-mannered, relaxed, content—no worries and just happy to be around people with a good toy to chew on."

I just stare at each picture until I have every little piece of it memorized.  We have picked up on the way that he bites/sucks on his bottom lip.  And that he raised his eyebrows when he is looking at people as if to say, " Can I help you?".  (I like to think that he is actually saying, " You're not my mom or dad, but I guess you can hang out with me until they get here.":)) 

I'll leave you with a picture of his beautiful brown almond shaped eyes, because they are one of our favorite things about him...along with his thick curls...and his perfect pouty lips...and his precious little nose...and his chubby little wrists...you get the idea.:)

Time to register!?!?!

So I have really been itching to get some stuff done around here. I mean, there could potentially be another human living here in about 14 weeks! Most of the time, that seems like forever away.  But I am still freaking out a little about there being so much to do!  When we first got on the waiting list back in October '09, I made a list of all the things we had to do.  I can honestly say that we have not completed one thing on that list!  Seriously?!?!  What have we been doing?!?!

I would LOVE to get started on the nursery, but we are still waiting for our baby bedding that we ordered off etsy!  It was suppose to be here about 8 weeks ago, but the person who is making it moved, so she is running a little behind.  Trying to be patient...

This weekend, we decided to go register!  Maybe it is a little too early, I'm not really sure.  But that is the thing, no one has ever wrote a book about registering for a baby with an adoption.  Not to mention that there are no checklists for registering for a 10 month old. So we are making up our rules as we go.  

YAY for registering!

I have no idea what I am doing. I seriously don't even know what I am looking at.

Brian stole the gun.  He looks like he means business.

 

Brian with the gun meant I had to pay VERY close attention. I caught him almost registering for this spoon that you put the food into the handle and squeeze for the food to come out. Oh Brian.

No words.:)

It took us two nights.  The first night, we were there for 2 hours and registered for 35 items.  When I took the gun back, I told the lady that we had only registered for 1/2 the store.  She said with 35 items, it shouldn't even be half!  To which I replied, "How much do babies need!?!?!?"  And I was serious!

I will ask that you do not judge us by our registry!:) 

We really have no idea what we are doing!