Presenting...our little M&Ms!

Well, it turns out some things have come full circle. Remember that post I made a while back with the twin bibs? It looks like Eric and I will need a matching set.

Yep, we've been referred TWINS!!

We got the call Monday afternoon. Eric got the call and then the email at work. At first he was confused, because there were 4 pictures. Why 4 similar pictures of the same baby? And that's when the adoption coordinator explained to him... that's not one baby, it's TWO!! One boy, one girl!

He immediately called me to share the news. I was also at work, and to say the least... I was in complete disbelief, and happy, and excited, and surprised, and well, pretty much ecstatic!!

Since I'm not sure what the rule is on giving out names, let's just use their initials --M&M. They are currently 2.5 months old, and are possibly the tiniest, sweetest little creatures I've ever seen. We've pretty much stared a hole through the photos we've printed out, and neither one of us can hardly wait to get them into our arms.

It's funny that even though the photos aren't that great (see above), you can tell that they have vastly different personalities. M-boy appears to be quite the busy body, as he is wiggling in his photos. Meanwhile, M-girl seems to be rather calm and collected. (Oooh, wouldn't that be nice for the plane ride home?? hee hee) Of course, I could be making this all up in my head. It's probably not fair to base their personality profiles off two photos. (Lord knows, I'd probably be filed under "dense" if that were fair judgment.) But, it's fun to think about, eh?

Anyway, we are on cloud nine. We feel so incredibly blessed to finally be thisclose to them... it's hardly fair to make us wait 2 more months until we can hold them. But it looks like we'll have to. No word on a court date yet. Hopefully soon, but I have to remind myself that this stuff takes paaaaaatience.... that word I've grown to appreciate. Or loathe. One of those.

We have finally picked names, I think. We (Eric) thought we had done that yesterday, but I kept waivering. And today we (Eric) thinks we've done it again. I'll sleep on it, and see what tomorrow brings. But really, I don't think I could pick better names than what we've got in our heads right now. They just fit their sweet little faces perfectly... and we could only imagine, their personalities too. We will be using their given names as middle names.

Well, off to make a list of what needs to be done in the upcoming weeks. I feel hugely dumb at this point in the process. Where to begin? What does all this mommy lingo mean??

So much to learn!

What an unbelievable week...

Last time I posted, I thought I'd be posting projects and other random things for the next few months.

Well, guess what? I was wrong!

WE GOT OUR REFERRAL THIS WEEK!!!

More to come. Right now we're just trying to update family and friends. Trust me, there are some real surprises ahead! Details soon...

Cha-CHING

Yup, I said cha-ching...like a register. As in... we're now registered in Ethiopia!

This means we officially begin the 3-4 month wait until referral now. I know, I know. I've probably said that before. But for REAL. We're really really waiting now. No more nexts. Just the wait! Throughout this process it seems like there has always been an unforeseen step pop up. But not this time. It has been verified that we are WAITING!

Whoever thought I'd be this excited about...waiting?

Anyway, hopefully this means our next big post will be a referral!

Of course, I will probably be posting on some of my latest projects, just so you all still know I'm still here...and distracted. So much to do! And it's finally spring!!

Say a little prayer for Jesi and Joe, who are in Ethiopia right now, picking up their precious twins–Ezra and Olivia.
Oh happy day. :)

TGID

Dear sweet baby Jesus...

OUR DOSSIER IS DONE!!
notarized. authenticated. in the mail. out of our hands. DONE!!

thank you for this day.

Name change...

Since we changed countries, we never updated our pet name for the baby. Well, the search has ended, and we've landed on Opie!

No, not like Opie Taylor. More like Ethi-Opie.

Deep, I know. Aren't we clever?

thing 1, thing 2

Ahhh.... still no signs of our paperwork from CIS. *sigh* BUT! I've kept myself somewhat distracted with projects over the last week or so.

I've been into sewing lately, and I found this cool pattern on chickpeastudio. And we just found out some of our friends are expecting twins! So I whipped up these #1, #2 bibs. The most exciting part for me was learning how to incorporate snaps, since I had never done it before. It was surpringly easy, and I'm a little giddy now that they're done!

Now, how to decide who wears #1?

V-day Buffet

Well, we're waiting on one final form before our dossier is complete—the revised approval from CIS. Then we'll be on our way to D.C. for authentication! Hopefully we'll get the approval this week.

Eric took me out to eat for Valentine's day. It was a place called Abyssinia, where they serve authentic Ethiopian food! The lady who served us was from a part of the country called Facil. (We could not find it on a map, so maybe that's a local name or something.) She gave us recommendations on what to try, and we ended up getting a huge sampler tray of food. It was so spicy and delicious!! They serve it with this funky bread, called injera.


I've heard injera described as a spongy pancake, but Eric and I thought it looked more like a wet blanket. Somewhere between pudding and bread. Appetizing...right? Actually, it's awesome... with a sort of sourdough flavor, and it's used as an eating utensil, since everything is eaten with your hands. (This primitive form of eating seemed to suit Eric very well.)

After 3 refills on the bread, and countless glasses of water (that'sa one spicy meatball), I tried to stop myself from eating anymore, as my stomach stretched to dangerous levels... but I continued to nibble until I was in a food coma. The bread... oh! so good! The spicy sauces...so addictive! We tried our best, but could not finish the last bit, and finally had to call it a night.

Needless to say, it was a delicious meal, and I think it made us look forward even more to our trip to Ethiopia! Beautiful babies and scrumptious food... heaven on earth!