Put down the Duck! Jamz

Anything goes on a snow day. And a snow day it is. Even if the embassy wouldn't have decided that they need documentation that they have never required before, we still wouldn't be leaving for Ethiopia this weekend. We are snowed in... to the tune of 10 inches in 12 hours. So it is better they said no, because if they wouldn't have, right now we would be driving 5 miles an hour trying to get to Sioux Falls on the off chance that our plane would take off and be able to land in St Paul, which is also snowed in. So, January 18th is the next available embassy date and our agency says hopefully the new documents will be obtained by then. Til then... we're stuck here. And next weekend we're having a "we should be on our way back with our two new kids but instead are here with nothing to do" Genna party. Anybody up for some Ethiopian food is invited.

Christmas Time...

Photo credit goes to my sister, Elz. It was all pretty much as much fun as it looks. More to follow...when I get over being depressed that we're not going to Ethiopia this weekend.

More Waiting... but with New Pictures!

Set backs are inevitable, but when they are this late in the game they are so hard!! The US Embassy has not released the schedule for Visa appointments for 2011 and they just released a statement saying they will let everyone know at the end of December or the beginning of January... which makes us getting tickets nearly impossible, because our agency says it is too risky to buy tickets until we at least know the schedule. So... on hold again, this time waiting for the US government.
On the bright side...they look happy. Healthy. And oh so lovely. Although, you'll notice Melese got some serious burns on his hands. Poor guy! They said he got burned when they were bringing in the porridge for breakfast... not sure how it happened, but I sure wish I could be there to take care of him.
New pictures from this month. It is so fun to get new pictures and be able to show people! I will say, for all of the hard things that have happened with our agency, they are great about giving us updates. We get medical and developmental updates weekly, and pictures monthly. So different from when we adopted Mer and only got pictures once right after we passed court!

A Princess Among Peasants

Yes, that's right... two blog posts in one day. That makes up for two weeks of no posting.
We each chose an ornament for our tree this year. Nathan and I chose Yenenesh's


and Melese's...

This is the one I chose...

Nathan's...

and, of course, after 15 minutes of deliberating, Meron chose this...

Blue-ish

So, Christmas is coming. There is a lot of magic this year. Meron is old enough to know what is going on and to anticipate, but not old enough to care about presents. In fact, she couldn't think of anything she wanted for Christmas... other than 'presents.'

She enjoyed her first hot chocolate,

helped me make sugar cookies,

sat on Santa's lap...

all the things that make Christmas lovely. But there are still two little people missing. I can't help but picture what I thought this Christmas would be like.... 5 stockings hung up, two little girls in fancy dresses and a natty suit for Melese, trying to maintain proper sprinkle to cookie ratios with three sets of hands 'helping.' Everyone who has adopted knows that you shouldn't get too caught up with the pictures in your head, but it is hard. Really really hard to resist. So while I am loving this Christmas... I am so missing what I was hoping this Christmas would be. And I am wishing that I could give my little ones who are still so far away a little bit of the feeling of family and love and magic that we are feeling here.