Crew sleeping in his stroller bed. We did not know he was down for the night, but he way. He slept in his Cards uni.

I am going to try to post 1 picture at a time and see if this works.  The connection is not

First full day with Crew

We survived our first night together.  Crew slept from about 6 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. (getting up once to drink a bottle and then go right back to sleep at 11:30 p.m.)  He was able to sleep through us moving around the room which was a nice change from our other kids.  We have had a good day together.  Crew was much happier with us, talked to us, and even laughed some.  I woke up this morning to Crew kicking up his legs in the air.  I guess living in an orphanage teaches you to not cry when you wake up and just lay there until someone gets you.  I wonder if that will change once his daily needs are met by us on a routine basis.  I guess only time will tell.  We went back to the orphanage today to talk the doctor, deliver donation items, and get other paperwork (feeding schedule etc.).  I was a little worried that Crew would start becoming upset again because we were back but he seemed okay.  I never took him back to his room just in case it would set him off.  The meeting with the doctor was informative.  We confirmed our suspicions that Crew needs a helmet.  She called it a triangle shaped head and said it was from malnutrition and that he needed Vitamin D and calcium supplements.  She also said that she did not think the malnutrition affected his brain development so he should have good potential for typical development and learning.  His weight and height are still not on the growth chart but they are going in the right direction.  Crew’s meal menu was very interesting.  They had all different kinds of foods they feed him such as ground beef, pasta, fruit juices, cereal, and mashed potatoes.  However Crew does not seem to be a fan of any of the solid food I brought him.  He seemed to like the sweet potatoes a little bit more than the applesauce but didn’t act thrilled about either one.  We will definitely have to work on that.  After the orphanage we went to lunch at a pizza restaurant.  It was excellent pizza better than what we get in the states.  They also gave us bread with fresh salsa which Justin really enjoyed.  This afternoon we filled out paperwork that we will take to the US Embassy tomorrow to apply for Crew’s VISA.  Crew has kind of struggled since that time.  He cried from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. fighting a nap.  Justin had a brilliant idea to put a blanket over his head (while he rocked him) which put him almost immediately to sleep.  Now I am looking at the sweet sight of them both sleeping together in a chair.  I will have to take a picture when I am finished.  So please pray for us tomorrow for our Embassy appointment.  Pray it all goes smoothly so that we can get Crew’s VISA on Thursday.       

Back in Ethiopia

We are back again in Ethiopia.  We traveled on Saturday into Sunday and arrived at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning.  We were both feeling pretty tired since we got up at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and basically didn’t get to sleep on Saturday night because we were on the air plane and arrived local time at 8:30 a.m. but it was 11:30 p.m. Bloomington time.  It was nice to know what to expect this time from the flight to navigating the airport.  We were greeted by one of our guides who immediately remembered us and asked us about our safari in Tanzania.  I was impressed with his memory since he interacts with different American couples all the time.  We were brought to the hotel to promptly leave for church.  We attended the same church as last time but it was a little bit of a struggle to keep my eyes open.  Plus the chairs were placed very close together so we were having flash backs of being on the airplane again.  We then went to lunch and then to the orphanage to see Crew.  We were having conflicting reviews from the guides of whether we could take him home with us today or not but we ended up taking him.  We will have to go back tomorrow to see the doctor and receive his daily schedule (feeding, sleeping, etc.).  Crew was a little sad to see us but got over it quickly.  It seemed like he was saying “you guys again; I thought I just got rid of you.”  We took him back to the hotel after a couple hour stay at the orphanage.  His nannies said good bye to Crew with hugs and kisses.  It was very cute to see he would be missed.  He loved the car ride back to the hotel but screamed uncontrollably for about an hour to an hour and a half after arriving at the hotel.  We then gave him a bottle and he has been sleeping ever since.  I hope he does better tomorrow.  Hopefully he sleeps through the night as well.  We will see.  Stay tuned for tomorrow’s entry in our adventures in parenting a newly adopted child.   

Two new pictures of Crew

We got our February update from our adoption agency which includes two new pictures.  These were taken on Feb. 22.  Crew is sitting up now and weighs 16 lbs.  He looks like such a chunk in these pictures.  I can't believe how much he has changed in just one month.  It is amazing.  I can't imagine what he will look like in one year. 

Crew's finally coming home

Our good news finally came. We cleared Embassy today which means we will be traveling back to Ethiopia in two weeks. We will have a US Embassy date of either March 14, 15 or 16 to get Crew's VISA and then we will return with our little guy finally! Praise God. We are so excited.  Lots of packing to do and plans to make. 

Cleared for Embassy

We receive a call from America World today saying we were approved for Embassy the week of 3/14.  For those of you who know Justin it is creating a major inner conflict for him as it is the best week of the year MARCH MADNESS.  They are still confirming the exact day, but we are excited to pick up our little guy and beginning travel plans.