Nuff said :)

Twin update

I thought it was about time to update you on the news we have been hearing regarding our boys, aka the world's cutest twin boys!

A. is walking all by himself and N. is trying to...he still needs to use the furniture for a bit of support :)

Both A. & N. are saying a few words...mom, dad, etc. and I believe they are in Amharic.

N. is always described in his reports as very "smiley"

Both boys are continually described as "active"...in any language I think that this means double trouble, and I simply cannot wait to chase those little guys around!

4 weeks and 2 days until our court date!!!!

Operation get those boys home in full effect!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!

Finally! Whew!

January 1st!

New Year's Day!

Wish us oodles of luck!

Where have I been?

I know, I have completed disappeared from the blog world. I apologize for the long period of silence. I think it is due to a combination of a rough few weeks and a feeling that I just don’t have anything interesting to say. I wish I had news, but I don’t. Everyone asks...daily, but I really don't have anything to say.

We are still waiting for a court date. It has been 2 months, 1 week, and six days since we first saw the two most beautiful faces in the world and accepted the referral of our twin boys. I am definitely learning the art of patience! I guess the good news is that Brandon and I have both been really busy. Work has been crazy for me, and Brandon is just wrapping up the wedding season, so the lack of time to breathe and allow life to slow down has actually been a positive lately.

We did receive an update on A & N recently. A is definitely walking on his own, and I am sure that N is not far behind him. They are even saying their own little words! I also had the chance to hear from a few families that were lucky enough to see the boys while in Ethiopia. Sounds like we have some fun, lovable, and certainly adorable little bundles coming in the *near* future.

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more upbeat, and maybe, just maybe, we'll have a court date to share! Wish us luck on this roller coaster :)

Happy Birthday to my Boys!!!

So, Sunshine has wanted me to post on her blog for a while now and I couldn't think of a better day than today...she's at work and doesn't know that I'm posting.

Today our boys are turning one and it's incredibly hard to miss this huge milestone. Since receiving our referral we have been thinking positively and hoping we would have traveled by now...very unrealistic but that was our hope. Now we just hope to travel by the end of the year (but that's not looking so promising either :-(). While the boys aren't with us we have still been celebrating with friends and family. A couple of nights ago we had a birthday party for "the Brothers" at Micah's house. Throughout the adoption process we have made so many new friends and it has been wonderful how supportive everyone is. Tonight, we are having a 30th birthday party for my sister who now has to share the date with her nephews...I don't think she minds. In fact, Megan, my nephews, and I are going to get some bday presents in a few minutes...I'm a major procrastinator.

Since today is my first post, I thought I better take a few pics for Sunshine's Blog:

A wide angle shot of the Boy's Room

Closet space is at a premium these days

Despite what you think, one crib is for the boys to share and the other is for our cat Kootenai

Our scary Halloween decoration....BUMPERS

A birthday gift to N. from Jody's Family

There is nothing wrong with boys playing with dolls. At least Franky my CHILDHOOD cabbage patch friend doesn't think so!

A rockin' moose from Grandma Clark

In order to eat supper at the table with our boys every night we needed to get some new chairs...for us too!

Sunshine decided we need two Injera baskets at the Holt Ethiopian Auction...I don't know how we ever managed without them!

This shot is for our social worker/friend. While not quite finished, our house looks MUCH better equipped than last time you were here.
An Alligator

My first baby shower

The first baby shower for A & N was held today at our house. My wonderful mother-in-law and sister-in-law threw the event, and we filled the house with aunts, cousins, grannies, nannas, etc.

We received so many great gifts; car seats, baby gates, high chairs, baby monitors...you name it, and everything in double. These boys are so welcomed and so loved and they don't even know it yet!

I had so much fun showing off the nursery, photos, and the DVD of A & N to everyone. It is strange how much I swell with pride when I tell everyone that N gained a pound and A can stand on his own for 2-3 seconds! I used to glaze over when people talked about percentiles, baby weights, first steps, diapers, etc. but I have turned into "one of those" and I love it! If anyone wants weight updates and diaper discussions, just give me a call!

Updates

1. The courts are open! Please, pretty please let us get a court date soon...I need to get to my boys!

2. My mommy came to town last weekend and we spent tons of time (and money) getting the room ready for our little dudes. We have a sweet little room with matching cribs. Pics to come later, I promise!

3. We received updated measurements for A & N. They are steadily gaining wait. Chub up boys, chub up!

Our boys....

Wow, thanks to everyone for the great comments and congratulations! ...and thank to those who have been e-mailing me constantly begging for more details...I love it! Sorry I have taken so long to post...most of my time is now taken up staring a photos our our little boys - and watching the awesome DVD of them created by our agency! Hurry up court, hurry up, I have some boys to bring home!

I cannot share too much information or pictures, but the twins are both boys and will turn a year old next month. Plus, if you know me in "real life" or live within a 12 hour driving distance, I have probably rushed over to your home, unannounced, to show you the pics! A very wonderful coincidence is that they were actually born on the day that we submitted our application to Holt!!! We are keeping their Ethiopian names, but until we bring them home we'll just be calling the A & N here on the blog. They are little guys, pretty small for 11 months, but happy and healthy and ready to be little Schmidts!

I'll keep everyone updated as our process progresses, but basically we are waiting for the Ethiopian courts to re-open after the rainy season. Rumor has it this may happen sometime around the first week of October, but nothing written in stone yet. Once the courts re-open, we'll get an assigned court date and once we pass (some times it takes more than once), we'll travel over to meet and bring home the world's most beautiful little baby boys. Home by Thanksgiving would be awesome, but probably Christmas more realistically.

So...right now we are busy preparing our home for A & N - finishing the remodel, registering for baby items, etc. Wish us luck, and a speedy process!!!

P.S. -They aren't identical, but share a common cuteness!

TWIN BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11 months old and the cutest little bugs I have ever seen!

More to come later when I start breathing again!

Patience

"Patience is a virtue"

"Good things come to those who wait"

bla bla bla

Isn't 6 months and 2 weeks patient enough?

Can anyone tell that I am ready?

Really, it isn't THAT bad, and I am sure it will be one of those things that the second I see my child(ren), I'll forget all about the long road to get there. But right now, the road is pretty bumpy and tiresome...someone show me my exit!

Definitions

Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial.
Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.
Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.
Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.

I just came across this and thought I would share.

A change in direction?

After quite a bit of communication with our agency, and of course with each other and our families, we have decided that a request for young siblings may be a very long and difficult wait and the need may simply not be there. We made the decision a few months ago that if we did not receive a match for siblings by the beginning of August, we would change our request to siblings OR a single child. Since we are at the top of our agency's waiting list, this most likely means the referral of a single child.

Brandon and I are both at peace with this decision and can't wait to have a family...whether we have one Ethiopian child, two Ethiopian children, or maybe even 20 (ok, maybe not), we know that whatever happens will be our path and I think we are comfortable in that.

Now, where is that referral? :)

Questions? Comments? Referrals to give?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Friday the 18th is my birthday. I'll be 13, yup, finally a teenager...maybe I'll get my ears pierced.....

Or....maybe I'll really be 27 and buy a stroller or something!

We are taking a 3 day weekend at the beach house and leave tonight.

No, I didn't fall off the edge of the Earth....

See below for a bunch of blogs that were written and never published....I know, I am a horrible blogger!

Montana!

As usual, spending a week at the cabin was amazing! I got to spend quite a bit of time reading and relaxing in the sun, riding our 4-wheeler, hiking, kayaking on the Kootenai River, enjoying not one but two 4th of July events, and seeing quite a few of my old high-school friends. Sounds like a good time, huh?

Here are a few pics from a nice LONG 12 mile hike we did...

Zulu is excited and ready to go!

My Dad & I at Turner Falls

Just me...

Wild Rose!

One HUGE Rock Cairn!

One of the 3 lakes we hiked into

A Boy & his dog...

Maybe I am getting a bit tired after all of those miles...

Zulu is exhausted! With all his running back & forth, and leading the pack, I'll bet he did 30 miles!

My hubby is such a great provider! (The fish went back in the water though)

Dad too!

Welcome home Lechame!

My friend Jody arrived home from Ethiopia today with perhaps the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen! I met her and her husband at the airport, along with a few mutual friends and 2 ladies from our agency. She had nothing but wonderful things to say and although exhausted, was glowing!

Congratulations, Jody, Chris, and big brother....enjoy the new addition to your family!

Bikes, BBQs, and the Beach!

I think summer has officially come!

This past weekend, we were invited to a BBQ at a newly found friend's home. The family has twin boys that have been home from Ethiopia for a few years and are the cutest little guys ever! Also in attendance were 2 other families in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. All 4 families live within walking distance of each other!!!! It is so great to have these families so close and I look forward to many Ethio-American play dates!

This coming weekend, we are headed to the beach with a few good friends. The weather should be awesome...100 degrees here, 80 degrees at the beach! PERFECT! Directly following the beach, Brandon and I will head to Montana for a week for the 4th of July and we'll have a whole week there!

Finally, this past Friday, Brandon and I went and bought 2 nice cruiser/city bikes to get around town on. We were so excited and felt like little kids riding around our little town together. At one point he asked me to be his girlfriend and we held hands in the park :) Big stuff!

So, who would we be if we didn't take the bikes out for a little photo session?

So, what can I buy to prepare when I know nothing...

Baby or toddler? - Nope!

One child or two? - Nope!

Boy or girl? - Nope!

Hmmm...I think I need some retail therapy for sure, and something small and cute to get me through this waiting game.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Today marks 4 months of offically waiting for a referral.....

7 months, 1 week, and 1 day since we started the process.....

In 1 week it will have been 1 year since we made the decision to adopt.....

But really, who is counting?

ME!

Here ya go...

Ok, nothing new, but I figured I had better say something!

Here are a few little notes and tidbits to tide you over...

The first families to receive referrals through our agency are returning home from Ethiopia this weekend with the newest members of their families!!!!!

A good friend of mine passed court recently (Congrats Jody!) and should hopefully soon be travelling to Ethiopia to pick up her beautiful daughter! At least I can ooh and ahh over her little tot until the Schmidt tots arrive :)

Also, our agency staff have recently been in Ethiopia and have a blog that has pics of the care center where our children will be, Ethiopian staff, information on the adoption process once in country, and most importantly, some cute kid pics, check it out here: http://holtintl.org/blog/?cat=8

Holt (our agency) also has posted a few video on YouTube as well: http://www.youtube.com/HoltInternational

I don't have anything new that pertains to us....basically, we are waiting "patiently" and hopefully each day brings us closer to weaving our little family!

Mother's Day

First of all, a shout out to my Mommy!!! I hate having to be so far away from you on your day, but know you are in my thoughts and I love you oodles and oodles and bunches of gobs!

As for me, I honestly never gave a thought to Mother's Day this year as it pertained to me. I didn't feel sad to not be a mom and didn't even think about that fact that I am a mother-to-be, so I wasn't expecting any attention from anyone, let alone everyone!

To start with, Brandon and I joined his family at their family beach house for the weekend. When I woke up and stumbled upstairs on Sunday morning, my father-in-law told me that he had a gift for me....the gift was a beautiful silver bracelet and one of the sweetest notes ever letting me know that even thought I am not a mother quite yet, he knows my children are somewhere waiting for me and that I'll be a great mom.....AWWWW!

Then, my sister-in-law gave me a great book with guides to being a mom in the Portland area and a very sweet card.

Finally, my sweet sweet hubby gave me a book for our children called "Happy Adoption Day" and the most adorable little wooden train set!!!!

I am so lucky to have added this family on to my own and our children are even luckier to grow up with such great family!!!

Here are a few pics of my loot :)

I am a horrible blogger...

Man! It sure has been a long time since I've blogged! So, what have I been up to? I'll list a few highlights below...

Wednesday, April 30th - We met up with 4 other Portland area families that are adopting from Ethiopia via our agency. We met at a nice Ethiopian restaurant in north Portland and had a great meal. The owners were so warm and welcoming and offered to have us back as soon as our children come home to celebrate.

Thursday, May 1st - I had all 4 wisdom teeth removed! Seriously, NOT FUN! I had them put me out, but I was still pretty terrified and it was pretty painful.

Friday-Monday, May 2-5th - Ate my own body weight in sorbet and had my husband wait on me hand and foot.....Hmmm......maybe I can find a few more teeth to have removed...

Saturday, May 10th - We attended our first "waiting families" get-together. This an event our agency sponsors where families in all phases of international adoption and in all countries get together and mingle. It offers sort of a support group, if you will, of people who know what it feels like to be waiting what seems like an eternity to bring a child home. The meeting was pretty fun, and we got to see a slide show of a recent visit to Ethiopia by our agency Ethiopia Program Director that included quite a few pics of beautiful little Ethiopian children!!!

Finally, Sunday, Mothers Day - I'll include a separate post about how great this day turned out!

We received our I-171H

On Tuesday! Yup, I have been a very bad blogger! Brando and I took a little trip to Montana again and we just got back on Tuesday evening to find it in our huge stack of mail.

For those of you wondering what the heck an I-171H, it is the final piece of paperwork from the Department of Homeland Security stating that we have been approved to adopt! Officially, it is our "Notice of favorable determination concerning the application for advance processing of Orphan petition". Wow! Who wouldn't understand that one?

So, as you guessed, we are still waiting "patiently". I think because we don't know the ages, gender, etc. of our children, it makes this whole process very hard for me. I am a planner and a dreamer and I don't even know if I need 2 cribs, or a crib and a toddler bed, etc. so nesting and baby shopping isn't really an option. Brandon, of course, it taking it all in stride. He is very excited, but patient and calm at the same time. Hmmph!

Nothing.

I don't really have anything to update on, and to be quite honest, the past few weeks have been pretty hard on me patience-wise. I know we really haven't been waiting that long, but I feel frustrated that I have nothing to do to bring our children closer to us. I long to know who they are, see their faces, and start preparing for them to enter the great little family we are building!

I know I need to cheer up and be strong, but seriously, I never had much patience to start with! It has been 5 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days since we started this process...but really, who is counting?

On a happy note, we are heading off to Montana again this weekend! I have some work over there, and Brando's parents are coming as well, so that should be fun. I'll try and get some spring in MT photos and cheer up my next post!

Our dossier has landed!

Just a quick update to let everyone know that our dossier has been received in Ethiopia!!!

From here the dossier translation process will begin. Once we receive our referral, it will then be submitted for processing through the MOWA and the Federal Courts.

Can I hear a whoop whoop?

Montana Pics

As I mentioned below, we escaped to our cabin in Montana for a little Easter break. We did a fair amount of playing around with the camera and here are a few of the promised pics:

Look, I can take a decent picture!

Zulu hurt his paws on the ice - This is Brando applying salve

We made sure to use his snow boots when we went on long walks

Is Zulu trying to catch a snowflake?

Just a girl and her dog, talking a mid-day nap after a long hike...

I am a very serious card player!

and here is my proof....he didn't stand a chance!