REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is a stunning little girl, with beautiful brown eyes and she just turned a year old! I cannot share her name or photos on this blog until we pass court in Ethiopia, but trust me, she is adorable and ready to join Nur & Dur as the cutest kids ever! Funny how the 3 cutest kids in the world ended up in my family eh? We have been calling her "Baby Ray", and will continue to do so until we can share her name.....

Now, to settle down for the next 6 months or so of legal process until she is in our arms....

More pics in my Hubby's blog!

My husband is an amazing photographer, yet it is SOOO hard to get him to remember to take photos of the boys. Check out a few recent Nur & Dur pics here:

http://ourfotovitae.com/blog/2010/03/schmidt-boys/#more-607

Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork!

We have completed our state fingerprinting and all of the required home study paperwork as of today! We should soon start the home study visits and hopefully the write-up will go quickly as it has been less than 2 years since our social worker wrote the last one. BIG changes in those 2 years though….2 of them….NUR & DUR!

Paperwork has been piling for Nur and Dur as well. We finally received the necessary letter from OR State to complete their re-adoption. I filed the paperwork with our local courts this week, so hopefully I'll get a signed judgment within 7-10 days….FINALLY!

Also, our dossier is almost complete! Much, much easier this time around, since we have "been there, done that!". A lot of cut and paste, so hopefully we'll be able to submit our dossier as soon as the home study is complete.

WHEW!!!!!!!

I haven't uploaded pics in a while, but feel bad not posting, so here are a few pics stolen from my Facebook account!

Abdur fresh from his first haircut...Mr.Cool!

My wild man Nursun on the beach!

Family beach pic

My Mom (the boys call her Monga) came to visit!!!!

Nur & Dur have something to say....

Nursun and Abdur have something to say from Brandon Schmidt on Vimeo.

WORST BLOGGER EVER

OK, so I admit it...something like 9 months since I have posted...I am horrible, get over it.  My goal is to post more frequently, if my addiction to Facebook allows it.  To make up for the horrible pain I have caused the blogging community (or my 3 faithful blog visitors), I shall post a pic from every month in 2009.

Here we go! 

January 2009 - The day I met my sons!

February 2009 - Bringing our boys back to the US (ok, more than 1 pic, but February was a good month!)

March 2009 - Our first trip to the beach house

April and  May 2009

June 2009 -  Trip to Palm Springs

July 2009 - Seattle Mariners Game

August 2009 - GO DUCKS!

October 2009 - Happy Halloween!

November 2009 - Thanksgiving in Montana

December 2009 - Winter hiking in Montana!

Family pics

I always seem too tired to write up much, but pictures are better anyway! Here are a few that my very talented sister-in-law took...check her out at http://www.photogemstudio.com/

Oh, and there are no solo shots of Nursun because he was one tired little boy that day!

1st trip to the family beach house!

Last weekend we went with some friends to our family beach house. The boys had a great time and of course Brandon was there to capture tons of photos...here are a few of my favorites...

We are alive, I promise!

I know, it has been forever since I posted, but I have come to find out that twin 16 month-olds take a little bit of time and effort :) I am working on a few longer posts about the boys, Ethiopia, etc., but until then, here are a few of my favorite pics of the boys...

As you can tell, loving these 2 little guys comes so easy!!!!!!!!

Homecoming slide show!!!!!

Being a photographer, my husband has many great connections...perhaps the most rewarding is the amazing photographer, Emily G, who photographed our airport arrival and the many family and friends who greeted us. She has put together a slide show that still brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it (and I keep watching it over and over).

You can view it here, and please ignore how tired and old I look :)

http://www.emilygphotography.com/slideshows/welcomehomeboys/

We are home!

We are home safe and sound, and the twins, Abdur & Nursun, are sleeping safe and sound! The trip, the people, everything was AMAZING! I cried all the way to the airport :(

We haven't even starting to think about downloading pics yet, but here is one of our referral pics, taken last August of the boys...I told you it would make you smile!

We leave in 3 days!!!!

I cannot express how excited we are to soon be meeting our boys!!! I am hesitant to post pics until we return home, but I promise that as soon as I recover from jetlag and new mommyhood (so maybe 18 years or so...) that I will post pics of the world's most adorable twin boys!!!!

We have our embassy appointment!

We need to be in Ethiopia between Feb 5th and Feb 12. We plan on going over early to explore, travel, etc.

That means....we may be leaving in like, less than 2 weeks.

That means....I had better get busy!

HOLY COW MAN, HOLY COW!

WE PASSED COURT PEOPLES!!!!!!!!!

I am so exhausted from all of my living room dancing!

Ourcase was approved today and we are now the proud parents of Abdurhamen and Nursun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melkam Genna Everyone!

We had an amazing (early) Genna celebration with some great friends on Sunday. I'll try and post pics soon!

Really? Seriously?

We just found out that our court date was incorrectly reported and our case was not heard January 1st. Our court date is now (and I guess has always been) set for January 13th. This hurts, obviously, as we have been on pins and needles for the past few days, but I guess it could have been worse...We are just trying to stay positive and hope for the best.

So....start crossing things for the 13th!

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