what? it’s been over 10 days since i last blogged? that’s not right…
i guess i’ve been busy with school, life, and preparing for international travel PLUS having another baby!
i went to a baby shower for my friend, crystal. here is a pic of all the expecting moms at the shower…i’m in the pic because i am expecting a toddler! as they were taking the pic someone said, “more than one way to do this thing”…i love that…there sure is more than one way to make families!
speaking of family…here is a sisters picture. leslie and lauren, me and monica, crystal and lindsey. we’ve all basically known each other since les, monica and crystal were in 5th/6th grade?
and one more pic i stole from monica’s fbook page…my mom and me! yay for mimis!!!!
deacon is getting more excited and saying things like, “i take masamo to the park and teach him how to slide”. or as we are sitting at the dinner table, he points to the empty chair and says, ‘masamo’s chair’. and my favorite is when we play in his room and he sees the ball that he knows is from ethiopia, he will say, “we go get masamo from ethiopia!”
of course, give it two weeks and deacon may be ready to send masamo back… but from what i’ve heard about this new little guy, he doesn’t seem to timid and i believe he will stand his ground and give deacon a little run for his money. which is what this used-to-be-an-only-child needs!
also, any families that have or get referrals need to hit me up to take presents to your babies! we bought electronic humanitarian aid this time and it fits inside my purse, so we have plenty of suitcase room!!!! email/twitter/fbook/dm/text me or you could actually make me use the phone feature on my iphone and just call me…
This morning Natalie called from Gladney with the great news! Which is good because I don’t think I would have survived another delay. She said the birth father showed up to court and all went super. We are set to travel the week of March 1st! My sister, Monica, is going with us which totally eases my fears about being on a plane for 18 hours with two little guys.
Here are the pictures we got with our referral about 2 months ago:
Masamo is this little guy’s birth name and we loved that name the moment we heard it…Couldn’t really think of another cool name to go with Deacon, so we kept his name. He is 22 months old right now and will turn 2 on March 23. He and Deacon will be 18 months apart.
Masamo has a heart breaking life story that we probably won’t post here. I can say that Masamo was brought to the care center with MANY health issues, but thanks to the good people at Gladney he has made a full recovery and is said to be “the life of the party”!!!
Not afraid to wear pink (this happens to all ethiopian boys!)
Here are some pictures that a sweet mom took of Masamo the first week of January when she was their meeting her child.
Warning: They woke Masamo up from a nap to give him our gifts and outfit, so he is showing us his sad face. Good to know…don’t wake this kid up!!!
most recent pic we got:
he is wearing the shirt we sent him from target and for some reason, that makes me so happy i cry. also, he is ridiculously handsome and from what we hear, quite a charmer….i’m going to be in so much trouble in about 12 years.
so, it is time to kick this game into high gear…i’ve got about 5 weeks to get ready to fly across the world and bring our second son home. lots to do…do not be surprised if you get an email from me in the next couple of weeks asking for a suitcase. (don’t worry deneise, we promise to not leave anything in them this time
this pic was taken on our way home from ethiopia when we went to get deacon (almost 3 years ago!!). we were in the DC airport, camped out at our gate for a plane that didn’t leave for 3 hours taking naps. yes, clayton and deacon were both napping on the floor of the gate.
looking at this pic reminds me that it is a long trip there and a long trip back…this trip will only be made more ‘fun’ by a toddler that just met us and a pre-schooler (bc deacon is too old to be a toddler any longer) that sometimes doesn’t listen to us.
what advice do i give myself? just breath…after deep breath, try and get everyone home alive….happy and clean is optional…
i’m hoping the 3rd time is the charm for our court date. we were scheduled for last monday and we got a positive opinion from MOWA, but birth father’s car broke down on the way to court. they rescheduled for last wednesday, but again, birth father couldn’t get to court. so we are scheduled again for this monday… come on…let’s finish this up.
if we get through on monday, expect to see a cute new face all over this blog!
we got delayed again on wednesday. next try is monday the 25th. hopefully, the third time is the charm. i offered to hire some sort of courier or bounty hunter in ET if that would help get the birth father to the court house. so, hopefully, the next time i’m blogging, i’ll be the legal mother of 2!
so i got the call from our case manager. it was a great news-wait news situation. we got a positive opinion from MOWA (Ministry of Women’s Affairs) which is AWESOME! it means they think we can take care of toddler faulkner and they don’t need any more proof.
BUT, toddler faulkner does have a biofather that needs to be in court to relinquish rights and on the way to court today, the car he was in broke down! so, tomorrow is an ET holiday and courts are closed. MOWA said they’d hear from biofather on wednesday and after that toddler faulkner is legally OURS! Woohoo!
cars hate me. apparently even ethiopian cars hate me. i’ve never had a car that didn’t try to blow me up or kill me. so, this makes perfect sense.
this is what international adoption is all about. it never goes 100% just like it should. it is tricky trying to move a child from one side of the planet to the other. but, in case you haven’t noticed…it is totally worth it.
24 hours from now we should hear if we got through court! so check back tomorrow. and if you want, check out our target registry and buy us presents. if we get through court, sign the card ‘congratulations’. if we don’t get through court, sign the card ‘here is a little something to help keep your spirits up’.
in 4 days something might happen. in 4 days the newest faulkner might legally join the family. in 4 days we may be able to share the newest faulkner’s sweet face with everyone on this blog. in 4 days we may have our travel dates.
or, as is common with international adoption, none of that will happen because we won’t get through court on the first try.
we will find out monday if we are heading to ethiopia in the next 6 weeks or if it will take another try at court.
so, please continue to pray for success at court on monday. and don’t forget to check back monday night to see if toddler faulkner makes an appearance here!
i got a call today. actually, a voicemail. natalie at gladney said we have a court date!!! i wasn’t expecting this call for another month or so.
but then she told me the court date was on MONDAY!!!!!! as in 6 days away!!!! MLK day to be exact. WHAT? while i’m so happy, i’m kind of freaked out.
all i can figure is that god has gotten bored and wants to watch me squirm. possibly traveling to ethiopia in 3-6 weeks is making me freak out! my to-do list just blew up!
(hmmmm…deacon needs a passport, new kid needs a bed, we need to buy humanitarian aid to take with us, i need to borrow about 5 big suitcases, and so forth and so on).
of course, many people don’t get through court the first time, so it is possible that we won’t get through until a later date.
But I have a dream. I have dream that toddler faulkner will be home by valentine’s day.
This is a music video I made for the last song on my EP called “Hello.” The song is about the day we met Deacon. I used video and photos from that day to help tell the story. Deacon was home the moment he was placed in our arms. And everything did change from that moment on. You can get this song and the others at http://claytonfaulkner.com
goodbye 2009. you were a fun year. nothing super big happened, but still fun. some photos to remember you by:
i went a saw this big liar. instead of preaching about how important family is, maybe you spend some time in the same state with yours.
cousin got married and we got to see some beloved family.
found my street outside of austin.
deacon got his first goose-egg.
deacon began potty training. (we are almost so potty trained…still have accidents a lot at home.)
we hung out with old or met new adoption friends.
we tried to dry up the great flood of ‘09 with our bodies.
we made pizzas.
we acquired at least 10 new hats.
we exercised our artistic tendencies.
cousin blaze was born! we met and played and kissed and hugged him every chance we got!
we went on a boat and hung out with mimi!
deacon fell in love with all things superheroes!
we went medieval at the ren fair.
we had snow!
it was a fun year. i can’t wait to see what 2010 looks like! i know one thing that will look different…we will have one more ethiopian in the pictures! i can’t wait to pass court and show everyone what a serious cutie this kid is!
