Home Visit Scheduled!

It looks like we've scheduled the Home Visit for October 20th! We're glad that it's before November!! Earlier this week we thought it might be on October 1st, but then the social worker rescheduled. We're going to be traveling to the States for my brother's wedding. We leave October 2nd and get back October 18th. So, when we see Randy, we'll be dealing with jet lag. Since he travels all over the world, he should understand. 

In other news, Joseph got a hair cut this week. The wedding is October 11th, so it should be just the right length by then. I hate cutting those curls off, but they were getting out of control. Here's the before and after pics:

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circumcision and update

This week has been busy. Joseph got circumcised and came through like a champ! He's still healing, but he's doing so well. We're thankful that it went so well. 

We learned that all of our paperwork is going to expire and so we have to do EVERYTHING all over again! UGH!!! We thought we'd have our paperwork to Ethiopia by now and so it wouldn't be an issue, but things have just gotten pushed back. Really, it's okay. We know that God's timing is best for our little girl to join our family. So, we've been working on renewing our medicals, reference letters, etc... 

The social worker is going to come do our home visit to update our home study in November. It seems so far away, but these weeks are going by so fast. Joseph sure has been keeping us busy. He's just been so much fun! 

Here's a couple of pics of Joseph before his little surgery:

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Happy New Year!!!!!

Three days ago it was the New Year in Ethiopia. They are seven years behind us and so they're in 2001 now! :) Ethiopia is just a funny little country. They have 13 months (the 13th month is only one week long). While we were there we saw posters that said Ethiopia is the only country with 13 months of sun!!! 

The day before New Year's my Ethiopian friends who work at the Ladies Club stopped me and said, "Happy New Year! Tomorrow is New Year for your baby!" I was confused. :) Then I remembered that Ethiopia's New Year is September 11th. Today I brought them a card with Joseph's picture to wish them a Happy New Year. When I gave it to Mary she kissed it and smiled big! She said, "Please come to my house for coffee!" I will visit her soon...I'm excited for Joseph to be able to be around Ethiopians! 

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Happy First Birthday, Joseph!!

Joseph's first birthday was two days ago. Last night we had a party for him! We had a fun time watching him enjoy the frosting! It's hard to believe he's already one. He's growing up fast. Here's a few pictures from the party, enjoy! 

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Fingerprints....check

Yesterday was a big day for us. We traveled to the US embassy to get our fingerprints done again. We had to drive about 3 hours each way. Thankfully, we have some friends who live in this city and we were able to visit them too! 

Here's a picture of the US embassy:

Here's our All American Boy: (Can't wait for our All American Girl!) 

Here's the biggest mosque in the capital city:

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blankets

We got a gift today from Jeni's cousin, Johanna. She sent it with a friend. She crocheted a blanket for our future daughter!!! It was so sweet of her. Thank you Johanna!!! 

She also made one for Joseph and gave it to him while we were in Colorado. She's very talented. Both blankets are beautiful. What a blessing to have these handmade blankets for our children! They're so loved!

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Dibaba wins the gold!

I just think that Ethiopians are such beautiful people! We were excited to watch Dibaba from Ethiopia win the gold in the 5,000m race! There are other Ethiopians in the Olympics, but we happened to watch this one! I couldn't help but think...could our daughter look like her? 

   

Speaking of Ethiopian runners...Joseph will be running before too long. He is standing up all the time!! He walks around the furniture and he loves it when we hold his hands so he can take steps. 

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dreaming of a girl

We have a friend who is moving back to America. We bought a few girly things from her. We can't wait to have our little girl!!! She'll look cute in her little swim suit! :)

I think Joseph wants a little sister. See how he admires his friend Layla in this picture. He'll be a good big brother!

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