Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. We have been in a whirlwind of travel plans. We had our travel date changed from December 9th to the 6th! The good news is that we will be able to meet Keziah Webitu 3 days earlier. The bad news is ….NO PARIS. There were no flights that came into Ethiopia on Thursday from Paris so we are going to stay in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for an extra 2 days. We are staying at the New Flower Guest House for the extra two days. We chose it mainly because they noted on their website that they arrange drivers for you to/from the airport and for you to go shopping (and help negotiate prices since the Ferenji “white people” prices are usually much higher). I can’t believe we will be leaving in ONE WEEK!!! We fly out next Monday!!!

Please pray for our health insurance situation. We purchase private insurance and when we tried to include Webitu into our plan we were dropped because the insurance company does not cover anyone who is pregnant or in the process of adoption and anyone who has not been in the country for at least 6 months (our plan is not backed by an employer so they can drop us if they want). We have applied for Hoosier Healthwise and PRAISE THE LORD have an appointment on Wednesday morning. The issue is that Keziah Webitu will not be a citizen until we readopt here in our county which could take anywhere from 6-18months! Hoosier Healthwise says that a person who is not a citizen will either receive emergency coverage or full coverage (duh, what other choices are there)! So I am assuming it is up to the person you talk to when you apply. Please pray that they grant Keziah Webitu coverage that will start Dec 1st or when she gets off the plan on Dec 14th!!!

WE ARE GOING TO GET HER! After stalking the phone all day, our SW called today at 3:30 while I was picking Noah & Carter up from school. When I tried to return the call I got the answering machine :( My friend Nikki told me to keep calling back so I called every 5 minutes or so...what's the harm. Well my social worker told me that she was caught on a 40 minute call that she couldn't leave and saw that I was calling each time (how embarrasing!!!)

Our travel date is DECEMBER 9th (this is the day we get to meet her)!!! We are still working on all of the travel details...if tickets are cheap enough we plan to go early and either stay in either Paris or destinations within Ethipioia. We will likely depart on Dec 3,4, or 5th. and return on Dec 15th or 16th!

After a 30 minute crying session I gave in and got more paint to touch up the rust spots on the dryer. Painting is so theraputic! Somebody please give me a travel date before I decide to scrape all of the popcorn finish off the ceiling!!!!

1) Bad Mommy: Carter has the flu....I didn't realize this at first. He woke me up at 4am and told me that when he drank some water he choked. I thought this meant that it just went down the wrong pipe so I told him to go drink some more...slowly. He came back to my room to tell me that he drank too much water this was followed by a 5 minute barfing session. I stayed up with him and watched Dora on Tivo with him sitting on my lap...then he had the Hersey squirts in his pants!!!!
2) Bad Tooth fairy: Noah woke up at 7:30 and came in my room crying...the tooth fairy forgot to leave money for the tooth that he lost last night at Daddy's birthday dinner....she was up all night filling out thank you notes and working on Christmas calendars. The poor little boy found a $5 bill (instead of the standard single) in his tooth box after school and ooops the fairy's helper forgot to take the tooth!
3) Bad Handy woman: I finished painting the garage door and front porch yesterday and happily deposited my overused paintbrush in the trash can....when I woke up I was surprised to find that it had rained last night! The porch will have to be painted again but I refuse to do it until the summer.
4) Bad Library Patron: After Carter had diarrhea 3 more times in his pants I put him in a pullup and proceeded to lay down with him to read "Outsiders Within- Transracial Adoption". When I reached over I noticed that Carter had barfed on it!!! (This was actually great because these were my exact sentiments about the whiny people in the book who like to blame all of their problems on their parents without taking any responsibility for their own lives or just moving on.)
5) Bad Personal Trainer: So the stress of the above with a Parent teacher conference and no travel date thrown in for good measure I consumed quart of chocolate Peanut butter Ice cream and half of a Digioro pizza!

I NEED A TRAVEL DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Can you hear the deparation in my exclamation points?!)

Torrey turned 30 yesterday!!! He is now officially old!!! We both thought that we would be in Ethiopia by now or at least packing our last suitcase so we didn't really celebrate much. Torrey has also been swamped at work and school. He is back on his CRAZY schedule where he gets 3-4 hours of sleep at night and we don't see him at all during the week. Last night he worked us in for an hour birthday dinner at Cebolla's then back to work until 5am. His boss and associates are kind of freaking out about him leaving for 1.5-2 weeks because he is the resident techie in the FW office. Pray for him in the next few weeks before we leave.

We finally received an update on Keziah's height and weight (several other families received theirs last week)
She is now
Height: 35 inches (5th percentile) (33.7 @ referral)
Weight: 26.5lbs (10th percentile) (24.1 @referral)
Head circ: 18.7 inches (18.5 @ referral)
I am so glad that she has finally gained the weight back from her bouts with Malaria and severe ear infections!!!
NOW ALL I NEED IS A TRAVEL DATE!!!!!!!!!!

The last month has really eaten away at me. I am asking for your forgiveness ahead of time as I let the negative energy out. I have held on pretty well emotionally until this week. I am so tired of having my life on hold. I am tired of having to tell people that I may or may not be here during for the next meeting. I really just need a travel date!!!! I am tired of reading about the issues that MAY arise from toddler adoption and how to do hair, and what to say and not to say.....I just want to get started already!!! I am a hands on type of girl and I really need to just hold my little girl in my arms and find out who she is, what she is like, what makes her smile and giggle. I am feeling anxious about the transition and have too much time to think about the "what ifs" that it is freaking me out. I had to make a new "to do" list for this week because I am pretty sure that I won't make it through with sanity intact if I don't have something to distract me. So this week is Christmas preparation week. Torrey and I addressed our Christmas cards and signed them today. I plan to get 100% of my shopping done with presents wrapped because we will likely travel Dec 7th or later at this point which means we won't hit US soil until Dec 15th (9 crazy days before Christmas Eve) with a little frightened girl who will need all of our attention. I guess it is good to have the time to prepare now.
Praying for some travel excitement.....I need the adrenaline flowing through my veins again (yes, I know I am a stress junkie)

My Great Grandfather Abbott died yesterday. It has been heavy on my heart today. Some of my best childhood memories are of staying a my grandma & grandpa's house. Every Christmas we would go to the DANA & American Legion Christmas parties with them. It was the highlight of my year! I never knew grandpa was so involved in the community until reading his obituary. Grandpa, I love you!
Richard C. "Dick" Abbott
RICHARD C. "DICK" ABBOTT, 89, of Fort Wayne, died Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007. Born Sept. 3, 1918, in Craigville, Ind., he was a lifelong resident of Fort Wayne, graduating from South Side High School in 1936. He served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946. He loved bowling at Smitty's Lanes and was a Little League coach for nearly 30 years. He retired from Dana Corp. after 30+ years, in 1981. He then drove for Avis part time. As a member of American Legion Post 241 for 53 years, he served as commander in 1986 and 1987. He also was a member of AmVets, Masonic Lodge and Waynedale Methodist Church. He is survived by his wife, Margie M. (Miller) Abbott; son, Daniel P. (Carrie) Abbott; granddaughter, Danielle Abbott and her children Bailey, Gavin and Riley; grandsons, Scott (Luanne) Abbott of Sarasota, Fla., Jeff (Karen) Abbott of New Haven and Eric (Rhonda) Abbott of London, Ohio; sisters, Miriam (Carl) Harriss of Fort Wayne and Betty (Halden) Elzey of Valdosta, Ga.; four grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and 10 great-great-grandchild ren. He was preceded in death by his son, Harry Abbott; and grandson, Brian Abbott; sisters, Nedra Robinson, Martha Lagemann, Margie Ellis and Connie Lalsure; and brothers, Jim, John and Paul Abbott. Service is 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Elzey-Patterson-Rodak Home For Funerals, 6810 Old Trail Road, Fort Wayne. Visitation is from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, with a Masonic service beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, at the funeral home. Burial in Covington Memorial Gardens, with military honors by American Legion Post 241.

You can leave a message for the family at
http://www.legacy.com/fortwayne/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=97536904

Noah came home on Tuesday telling me that the same boy (B.C.) who was telling the other boys to ignore Noah is now calling him a "nerd". Noah didn't know what a Nerd is and thought the boy was calling him candy. I explained to Noah what the word meant and that it is not a nice for B.C. to call him that. He seemed okay about it but I didn't want it to continue and escalate. I think it hurt Torrey & I more than Noah. "Nerd" is such a charged word for the both of us. I could see the hurt and rage in Torrey's eyes when I told him about the situation (watery eyes as I type thinking about it). Mama & Papa Bear instincts started to flair...but how are you supposed to handle these situations in a civilized manner? My awesome CHSFS forum friends helped me out (many of them are teachers or guidence counselors). They encouraged me to talk to the teacher immediately because the teacher wants to know things like this and it is apparently law that any type of bullying (physical or social) has to be documented. Apparently if a child starts a pattern of bullying then couseling in required (GO SCHOOLS!!!!) One parent made if very real to me when she said that a child at their school was punched in the nose in 6th grade but it is most definate that the kid didn't start bullying all of a sudden, it probably started in Kindergarten with no intervention. Very encouraged, I decided to send a note to the teacher explaining the situation (I hate confrontation). She took the boys aside during silent reading time and let Noah tell B.C. how he feels and made B.C. apologize. She then talked to them about how words hurt others. Noah seemed happy with this. It made me & Torrey feel much better about the whole situation. Noah has found a friend in Rachel O. , He says she is very nice and is reading chapter books just like him (He is very excited about this).
UPDATE: At Noah's Parent Teacher conference the teacher let us know that SEVERAL Parents had reported that B.C. had been bullying thier children and she was unaware.

Thank you Erin, Jennifer, & Mary Jane for throwing us an awesome adoption shower!!! We are so blessed to have such great friends! Thank you to everyone who came in the yucky, cold, rainy Indiana weather to show your love for our little Keziah! Your generosity blew us away...obviously we did not expect such a huge blessing. Here are pictures of us trying to get home with everything in the Yaris.Noah & Carter loved opening all the presents for thier little sister!

We just got word that we made it through court!!! (No travel date yet, they are waiting on more paperwork to come in). Our SW estimated that we would travel around the end of November to the 1st week of December at the latest!!!

What an awesome day!!! Keziah turned 3 today too!!!

Here is the only picture we have of our birthday girl:
We love you baby girl, and can't wait to bring you home!!!!