Thursday, August 30, 2007

Celebrations-

Nicholas singing Frank Sinatra last weekend!

This kid never stops amazing me... I know, I know, I'm a bit biased, but how often do you see a three year old go up to someone and ask for the microphone so he can sing?? Nobody prompted him either. He got quite the laughs and really turned it on after that. We couldn't get the guy to stop asking Nick to sing.

But back to the title of this blog, Celebrations - We, my fathers side of the family all got together to witness the re-exchanging of vows by my cousin Anthony and his wife Lynn. I was their flower girl! After the church, we all met for a small reception at a nearby restaurant. It always amazes me to see how different things are, but are at the same time, exactly the same. Faces we haven't seen in years, look the same but more "distinguished".

It made me think of this snapshot of our lives and how soon every picture will feature a new family member. This new family member may not know all of the same relatives that I know, but Nick and his new sibling will have tons of these wonderful memories to share together. People, traditions, celebrations, milestones, and of course, tribulations. This child is not going to remain a child, but rather, grow and mature alongside their brother all the while and hopefully one day be celebrating their own 25th wedding anniversary.

There is so much to celebrate about this gift we are about to receive. We will celebrate life, culture, family, country, faith, giving, the kindness of others, their mom and dad, the ability to receive this gift, commitment, strength, community, support of others, love, and most of all God.

I read on someone's blog a while back that adoption was always their second choice. They couldn't achieve a viable pregnancy, and always thought adoption would be "plan B". They too, adopted from Ethiopia. Her post was about how now they truly feel like this was "plan A" all along, but they just didn't know it yet. Well, at first it didn't mean much because we were early in the process about learning Africa/Ethiopia. Now, I know exactly what she was talking about!! I would be so disappointed if I learned I was pregnant! The feeling of absolute certainty that this is what should be is overwhelming at times and I praise Him for guiding us to this path. This won't change the world, or eliminate the currently 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, but it will make a miracle in my family and it will be a miracle for this little child to be given the opportunities and unwavering love that we will all share as family.

I can't wait to celebrate!


Thursday, August 23, 2007

CIS done - THE WAIT IS ON!

Me and the official CIS paperwork stamped!

We went bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning to Manchester to be fingerprinted. It was kinda like being in the waiting room in the movie Beatlejuice. Very interesting people and circumstances surrounded us. We were even lucky enough to have a little girl vomit on the floor to our left! What an aroma at 8:00! It was all done electronically. I had been hoping our fingers would be all inked up and that it would make a cute photo, but oh well, we got a stamped piece of paper instead.

We received an update via email as we will every week now that we're "waiting" from Wide Horizons. They matched eight children in the past week! Yay. They also post the wait times and age(s) of the children matched. Things look like they may have sped up a bit, but we'll have to wait and see. I'll be sure to post when we are "next on the list". Seems like most people requesting a child in the same age range as us are waiting anywhere from 2 months to 7 months.

And lastly, yes, my hair is very dark now - went for brown and got black-ish! :)


Wednesday, August 22, 2007

What's that green thing in the flower?? Look!

Yes, this is a tiny froggie in the flower!!

Unfortunatly it's quite blurry (thanks Sony) but you get the idea! Michael found this tiny little frog in the Lily the other morning. Funny thing is, this flower is about four feet off the ground with only a thin stem holding it up. Wouldn't it be hysterical to see the little guy actually getting up to his thrown!! So cute. Not sure how this little episode ended, but he sure gave us a chuckle!


Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Parkers annual canoe trip-

"The guys"
This is a quick post until tomorrow when we'll have tons to share about our day. But first, this is a picture of MP and his Dad (front red shirt) on the annual canoe trip. They had many "heart to hearts" (yeah right) and tons of fun. Both said this was the best trip yet. Poor MP always gets slammed with deer flies! I hate them!! I'd post more pictures, but I don't know the rest of the guys except for Uncle Don (far left maroon shirt). More tomorrow of our adventures with Dr. Behre Tsegaye!!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Recent pictures of Maine and Nicholas-

Yes, this is Nicholas breaking bread for the squirrel!
This picture was sent to me by our beloved Justin!

Here are just a few pictures from our "too brief" trip to Maine with Yaya and Papa Genovese!
We had fun except for the almost four hour ride home! Yuk. The water was as warm as a bath, almost too warm. It was great to splash around in on my little float and a kayak paddle! I was racing around to try to get MP soaked with the end of the paddle. Big surprise that it almost never worked, but he sure did get me back!! Love ya babe-
















These last two pictures are of Nick at his last day of swim class - :( He loved it, but was probably not the strongest of the bunch (by a long shot). Never show him this post, and God Bless his beautiful lively spirit even if he's missing the athletic Parker gene!! He had a ball, and it was a ball to watch him (unless he wasn't paying attention - often the case)! :) Notice his enthusiasm in his wave, and his guidance and friendship while trying to help the little guy in front of him and his teacher at adjusting his swim bubble! Can you say "TEAM SPIRIT"!

We're so proud of you Nick - way to go!