Having fun with our new camera while we wait patiently

Along with the waiting, wondering, pondering, and hoping, adoption also comes with many unknowns. One of our biggest unknowns right now is when we are going to be able to travel over and meet and pick up our little boy. As it turns out, the post I had a couple of weeks ago about Parker moving from Kamashi to Addis was not accurate. We have come to find out that he has yet to move to Addis. The reasons for that are a little blurry right now (one of the unknowns). We have heard that it is partly because he has not received his new birth certificate, and until he gets that, there is no rush to get him to Addis. We have also heard that it was because he was going to be traveling with a mother that had to get to Addis for court, but she did not end up going. So, for whatever reason, Parker is still in Kamashi.

Today marks 3 weeks since we passed court and with each passing day that we don't hear anything it seems that our travel will be delayed even more. We don't know that for sure (another unknown), but it seems more and more unlikely that we will be traveling at the end of this month. With that being said, I am going to remain positive and hope that we will be assigned the June 2nd embassy appointment we have been hoping for.

The process in Russia, although longer and much more involved, seemed easier to understand. I can't seem to get my hands around the process in Ethiopia. When do we find out when we are going to travel? Who determines that? When does he need to be tested for TB? There are many more questions, but I just can't type them all.

I don't want to come across as unhappy with this process. It has gone much quicker and smoother than we could have imagined. We could be one of the families that continually has to endure not passing court for the most trivial reasons (I feel very badly for those families and certainly hope that each one of them gets to experience the joy that goes along with getting the good word that they passed court very soon). We have been very fortunate thus far and are just very anxious to move forward and get over to Africa and pick up our little boy.

So what are we doing while we wait? We are beginning to organize our donations. The response to my request for donations for Ethiopian children has been overwhelming. We are now try to accumulate enough suitcases so that we can get most of these donations over on this first trip.


While doing that we are also having a heckuva time taking pictures of Lleyton with our fancy new camera. We invested in an SLR camera and it is fantastic. We wanted a nice camera to take with us to document our trip to Ethiopia. Here are a few of my favorite recent pictures of our little man.

Bath time fun.


He fared a little better on a Bobcat than I did the last/only time I was on one, as I ended up in the emergency room.


Not sure if this picture is cute or disturbing, as he kind of reminds me of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight in this picture. You be the judge.


Don't tell Parker, but we are planning on getting him a bike for his birthday in July, so we decided Lleyton would love a bike as well. He can't get enough of it.