Time Until We Board...

Kevin is very excited about this trip - he has a permanent time ticker on our desktop that is currently counting down the hours until we leave. Right now it says 96 hours and 55 minutes. Yep, that's right - we are under the 100 hour mark people! I am currently packing and doing laundry (had slight scare yesterday when washer was acting up!) and trying to figure out what else needs taking care of.

Here is Micah's pile (which has since been moved to Micah's bag) -

Yeah - I think it's obvious that I have a thing for stripes. I really didn't know this until I looked at this picture. Scary. Hope Micah likes to sport the stripes because it looks like he won't have much choice.

Since the bags are out and packing has commenced, the dogs are pouting a little bit and not helping at all with the packing-



They don't know it yet, but their Uncle Rob is watching them while we're gone, so they won't have to leave the house and we know our home is being taken care of. He is going to take them to the doggie hotel the day we get home so we can have a few days to readjust before introducing Micah to the entire family. :)

Back to packing...

P.S. GREAT NEWS! Kevin just called and he got a promotion at work!! YAY KEVIN!! I'm so proud of him - he works so hard and he really wanted this promotion - he deserves it! :)

Reality Check & Futbols

So today was my last day at work for a while. I left work (I was there by myself - everyone else was either on vacation, sick or had left early) and I just felt like 'now it's really happening'. Which, of course it is really happening! I don't know how to explain it, but I guess I've been waiting a long time to take leave from work - I always thought about how that time would be - and here I am actually doing it. I'm going to be a mom, and I'm going to be hanging out with my son all day. That thought hit me and I could not stop smiling. This all might not make sense, but it's good. :)

Also, today I went to the local soccer store to see about buying some soccer balls to take with us to Ethiopia. I think the kids at the House of Hope and the orphanage we'll be visiting would love to have some new futbols to play with, and we're soccer fans, so it will be fun to share that with them. I told the guy why I wanted them and he told me that he was going to Africa with school. I asked which country and he didn't know!! SO funny! Anyway... the point of this is to say that he went in back and talked to team sales and got me a great deal on the soccer balls. Now I just have to get them to fit in the suitcase. (Oh, they are not inflated yet in case anyone is wondering if I'm crazy.)

Cute Referral

Okay, I just had to share this because it is funny - This family just got their referral - go take a look! :)

Cute Onesies

So we were thinking we needed some more onesies for Micah and I found this site, the trendy tadpole with super-cute ideas for onesies (snapsuits) and laptees. I'm still not sure which ones I want to get, but these are my favorite so far...

Any other Entourage fans out there? I think this is so funny.

This one is extra special b/c some of the proceeds go to benefit animals.

Cute and socially concious!

This one is just cute. And, obviously, I would get it in blue. :)

Okay, so Micah probably does not yet love Johnny Cash. But, still, very cute (again in blue!)

So, I'm torn. They also have a mommy tattoo and a daddy tattoo design - which are both very cute. I was going to go for that but my good friend Keri sent me a mommy tattoo t-shirt (thanks Keri!), so now I'm back to deciding. What's that? Get them all? What a great idea! :)

Celebrate!

We are so lucky to have such good friends and family!

On Friday some of our friends (even Chryssi & John who are patiently waiting for baby Jack to decide it's time for his birthday!) braved the idea of eating without utensils and had dinner with us at the Ehiopian restaurant...

Luckily, everyone loved it! They all told Kevin he needs to learn how to make injera. The crowd favorite was the avocado and tomato wrapped in injera.

My brother Ryan and his girlfriend Danielle joined us for the yummy food. They brought us two cutie outfits from Gymboree - so soft and comfy for Micah!

Kevin loves injera!

This is one of my college roommates Jim (our other roommate was there too - she took the group picture). I love that he was a part of our celebration. :)

My family also had a shower for me today that was so much fun! Of course, I forgot my camera, but I was promised pics from those with cameras, so I'll post some as soon as I get them. The lowdown - we got both of our carseats, the umbrella stroller I've been dreaming of :), our cute little wagon for Micah, lamps and great stuff for his room, his pack n play, a cute hand-made quilt, and some other great stuff - diapers, cute clothes, towels- all the necessities.

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend! Now I really have to get to work - tomorrow night we are making lists of what we need to pack and what needs to be done before we leave. Any advice? (HELP! :)

TRAVEL DATE!

This has been an exciting week. Our friends got their referral, then we passed through court, and now... we have a travel date! And, it is in 2 weeks!! We are planning to leave August 4th. Our embassy date is August 8th. My head is swimming with things to be done, not to mention the extreme excitement level of seeing our little baby boy for the first time!!

I'm so excited - that's all I can say. And, I have a lot to do. :) Tonight - we're off to the Ethiopian restaurant with a few friends to celebrate. And then tomorrow I'll get to work!

Oh, and if you want to see some more pictures from our referral day - go to the CHI Blog. I love the one of our social worker, Erin, and our Program Director, Sharon, seeing Micah Yabsira for the first time - it is priceless. (I think that is what the first pic is - I could be wrong, but it's a great picture anyway :)

It's Official!!

That's right - we passed through court today!! Micah Yabsira is now officially our son!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes -it means the world to us to have so much support for us and so much love being sent to OUR SON!! :)

And, here he is....

This is his referral photo - We think he is around 2 1/2 months old here.

I was going to wait to post them all, but I can't! So here they are -

We think he is just over 3 months old in these pictures. And, he's smiling!!

And, he loves his puppy! Cutie!!