Home Sweet Home

It is good to be home.  We finally arrived home late Friday night.  We were greeted by a big group of family and friends.  Thanks to all who came out to welcome us home.  Denver is still adjusting to life at his new home.  He’s had good days and bad days.  We think the bad days are mostly related to not feeling well.  Vanessa is a natural mom, which I already knew.  She’s been doing a great job of taking care of him.  Denver really likes all the toys he has, especially the ones that make noise.  His favorite toy, however, is pushing the laundry basket around the house.  Now if we could just teach him how to put the clothes from the basket into the washer and start the washing machine.  And thankfully he loves Charlie and Bell our dog and cat.  They keep him entertained.  That’s about all I have for now.  Sorry for the short post.  I’m too tired to really think straight.  I guess that’s called being a parent.  Please continue to pray for Denver’s health to continue to get better and for Vanessa and I to get some much needed rest.  I’ll finish this post with some pictures from our trip.  Our next post we'll have pictures from our arrival at the airport. 

 

  

  

A Little Delay

I talked to Grant a little while ago and they have arrived safely in D.C.  Praise the LORD!!!  They were 3 hours delayed leaving Ethiopia so he missed his connecting flight in D.C.  Therefore they will not be arriving at 4:30, but the good news is now they have a direct flight here instead of having a layover in Denver.  There is always good in everything :)  They will be getting in pretty late tonight so if you can't make it we completely understand.  If you want more information just give me a call.  Thanks so much for everything, God bless!

They're Coming Home...

Last I talked to Grant they were about 10 minutes from leaving for the airpot.  They were getting there about 4 hours early and their flight was a direct (17 1/2 hour) flight to D.C.  They arrive in D.C. about 8:40 am tomorrow and then have another layover in Denver before they land in OKC at 4:30.  I am soooooo excited to get my boys home, it has been a rough week without them.  I don't know that I would have done well without my parents being at my beck and call all week long.   I need to tell my dad and mom thanks for all they have done for us this week.  My mom has been hanging out with me alot helping me check things off my "honey do" list and my dad is doing all of the "manly" things on the list.   Thanks to him Denver will be very safe in his new car seat.  There is no way that thing is going anywhere...it is very secure. 
Please continue to pray for Grant, Reggie and Denver because they still have quite aways to go. 
Thanks again to all our family and friends for all of your support.  God bless you all!!!

PS:  I will post on the blog if they are having any flight delays, that way everyone knows what time to meet at the airport.  We are going to meet down in baggage around 4:15. 

Prayers Answered!

I just talked to Grant and he said that everything is going much better today and that Denver is the happiest he has been the entire time.  From here on out they are just trying to stay in, rest and get ready for their trip back across the big pond.  Grant actually slept more than 3 hours last night for the first time since he left.  I am so thankful for that, because I know this has been very hard on him.  All they have left is a coffee ceremony at Denver's orphanage tomorrow before they head to the airport.  Please continue to pray for safe travels...for a new dad, a sweet uncle and a 17 month old little cutie.  God bless you all!!!

Quick Update on Denver!

I was able to talk to Grant a little bit more about what happened with Denver.  From the story that he told me it seems like maybe Denver chocked on his own phlegm and was unable to breathe and because of that he lost consciousness.  I think when Grant started doing CPR he was able to dislodge whatever was stuck.  So I don't think he had a seizure but we will have him checked out with our Pediatrician on Monday.  Please just pray that they will not have any delays getting back home.  They leave Thursday at 10:15pm, which is 2:15pm Central time.   Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, calls, e-mails, comments and texts.  I truly don't know what I would do without such great family and friends.  Love you all and God bless!!!

Please PRAY for Denver!

I just got a call from Grant about 1 hour ago and he said that Denver was in the bed and he started crying.  Grant went in there to pick him up and he went unresponsive and stopped breathing.  Grant started to resuscitate him and the driver rushed them to the hospital while Grant was in the backseat resuscitating Denver.  I guess he started to wake up at some point and they did a lot of tests and lab work at the hospital.  They are going to do an EEG tomorrow to try and figure out what happened.  So far they are not sure but they went ahead and sent him back to the guest house. 
I'm not really clear on what happened but it sounds like he may have had a seizure.  Please just pray that Denver will be okay from here on out and they will be able to get home on Friday so we can get him to the Dr. here.   Also pray for Grant and Reggie because I know that this is really hard on them and they are probably very stressed and warn out.  God is so amazing and I trust he will get them home safely.  Thanks for all of your support, God bless you!

"Update from Ethiopia"

This is a post from Grant:

Well, as usual the internet connection here is horrible so it is very difficult to update the blog.  Hopefully this will work.  We’ve been here two days now.  I’m going to give brief updates of both days:

Day 1

We arrived around 8:00 am on Saturday morning.  We were taken to our guest house and told that our agency would be at the guest house shortly.  4 hours later we were still waiting.  We finally got in touch with our agency and found out Solomon, our driver, was in a wreck and could not make it to pick us up.  It turns out he was ok.  But they had to send a different driver.  I don’t know how to spell or say his name yet but he is very good.  So he took us to the orphanage at 2:00pm.  Because of all the confusion our agency rep was not able to meet us to get Denver.  This ended up being a mess because the nannies didn’t speak good English and neither does our driver.  They didn’t really have many instructions or tips about feeding, sleeping and all the other important things.  So we’ve been figuring it out on our own.  We left the orphanage and went to eat a late lunch.  Denver was a perfect angel.  He never cried and was perfectly content just sitting there.  After lunch we went back to the guest house and called it a day so Denver could adjust to us.  He played and laughed.  It was a great night.  He was a perfect angel.  Then day 2 came along. 

Day 2

We decided to go shopping on day 2.  However, the angel I put to sleep was not there.  Instead he had been replaced by a terror.  He wouldn’t stop crying unless I was holding him and standing up.  Oh, and he stopped crying to eat (his favorite thing to do).  We had breakfast at our guesthouse.  I ordered Denver some scrambled eggs but they gave him an omelet instead.  The omelet was about the same size of the normal sized dinner plate it came on.  Denver ate all but 20% of the omelet because I ate the other 20%.  My pancake wasn’t good so I had to eat some of his.  So we went shopping at the post office area (its a row of shops just big enough for 2 people to stand in on the side of the road).  Of course I had to hold Denver the whole time.  We then went to the Hilton to eat a late lunch.  That is the point Denver really started to get grumpy.  I barely got him to eat.  So we decided to call it a day after lunch and head back to the guest house.  Back at the guest house Denver was an even worse mood.  I finally got him to take a nap.  But the only way I could do that was by letting him sleep on top of me.  Every time I tried to move him he woke up crying.  Finally about 5:00 pm we figured out what would probably take most women 5 minutes to figure out.  He has two more teeth coming in.  So, we decided to give him some Oragel.  I about lost a finger but I got it done.  And sure enough 10 minutes later Denver the angel re-appeared.  He was back to his normal self.  Except for he is still very clingy to me.  As I type this he is sound asleep.  Hopefully he’ll stay like that for the next 8-10 hours. 

Tomorrow is our Embassy appointment.  Then we’ll be doing some more sight seeing.  I just wanted to take one second to say that Reggie has been a huge help to me.  I wouldn’t have made it this far without him.

Lastly I wanted to also thank my wonderful wife Vanessa for being the best wife/mom in the world.  She had me packed so well that it has made taking care of Denver a cake walk.  All snacks she packed for Denver have been perfect (of course he loves all food so far).  All the stuff I need to take care of Denver was put together with instructions;  Everything from taking care of his teething to giving him a bath to getting his clothes to match.  No one could be a better mom from 7,000 miles away (I guessed on the miles).  I love you Vanessa and you are the best.  I can’t wait to see you in 4 days.  Trust me I’ve been counting down. 

    

A Tribute to Grant on Father's Day!

I usually don't like to brag but being that it's Father's day and my husband is half way around the world taking care of our 1 1/2 year old baby boy, I feel like now is the best time to do so.  Let me start by saying that I am married to the BEST husband ever, he is so amazing!  I had not anticipated how bad I would miss him and how hard being apart from him would affect me.  Luckily my mom is out of school for summer and she has been hanging out with me alot.  I would be so lost without Grant...I guess you could say I'm an addict because I am definately co-dependent upon him.
Funny story:  tonight I went out to take the trash cans to the curb and my mom was helping me.  She asked me what side of the driveway that Grant puts them on and I was totally stumped, Grant always takes the trash out and I don't even have to ask him.  Luckily my mom saw our neighbor across that street, sitting in a lawn chair in his garage, watching us try and decide what side to put the trash cans on.  So what do you think we did next...of course, we asked the neighbor what side Grant puts our trash cans on and without thinking twice he pointed to the appropriate side.  I'm sure he thinks I am a complete doofus now. 
I did get to skype Grant today for a couple of minutes and he said they are doing pretty well but Denver is teething.  I guess he will only let Grant hold him, which is kind of a good thing.  I could tell Grant was exhausted and a little stressed.  He also said he hasn't been getting much sleep so please pray that maybe he can get some good rest.   Their embassy date is tomorrow at 9am, so hopefully everything will go well with that.  Only 4 more days until they head back our way.
I also want to thank my Uncle Reggie and tell him Happy Father's day!  He is so selfless and gracious to volunteer to go on this adventure with Grant.  I am so thankful to call him my uncle. 
Happy Father's Day to the "love of my life" and my sweet uncle!!!
God Bless you all!!! 

Grant is a REAL DAD now!!!

I got to skype with Grant and Denver earlier today...thanks to Uncle Reggie for using a flashlight as a spotlight so that I could actually see them and not just their silhouette.  They are all doing well, when I talked to them they had had Denver for about 4 hours and said that he was doing great.  It was a little chaotic at the orphanage because their original driver (Solomon) got into a wreck so they had to send them another driver who Grant said was good but his english isn't near as good as Solomon's.   So when they finally got to the orphanage there was no one there who spoke good English and they really weren't able to get much information from the nannies.   Having said that they all seemed to be doing just fine with it and just rolling with the punches.  Grant is an AWESOME dad, it was sooooo good to see him holding Denver on his lap, playing with him and making him laugh.  I cannot wait until they get home on Friday. 
This whole adoption process has been good for our patience and has taught us both that sometimes you have to wait for the things you really want in life;  however, this is going to be the hardest part for me.  I am so used to being with Grant that I cannot stand to be away from him, he is my rock.  The prize at the end will all be worth it, but please keep us all in your prayers.  God bless you all!!!

PS:  Grant is going to try and send me some pics tomorrow depending on how good the interenet connection is so check back for them :)

Grant's On His Way!!!

Well sorry it's been a while since we posted...I know I start every blog off like that but I can't help it I feel guilty for being such a bad blogger.  Grant and Uncle Reggie (my trip stand-in) are about 2 hours away from landing in Ethiopia.  They get in 7:45 am Saturday, Ethiopian time, and go straight to the orphanage to pick up Denver.  I am trying to stay busy washing, drying and folding baby clothes.  Grant made me a "Honey do" list before he left to keep me busy.   I'm gonna be making Home Depot runs, taking trips to the grocery store (it's true, don't have a heart attack), organizing all of Denver's bottles and sippy cups, child proofing the house and hopefully finishing many many more tasks. 
Oh and for those who know my family, my brother and sister-in-law had their little boy Eli 5 weeks early but he is doing very well.  We got to make a run down to Texas to see him yesterday after we dropped Grant off at the airport.  His big sister Lilly is very proud of him and already wants to hold him and give him some lovin'.  It was so fun to see them together, I can't wait for Denver to be thrown into the mix.  Signing off for now, but I will post tomorrow as soon as I hear from Grant.  God bless you all!!!  

Airport Arrival!!!

 

Denver, along with his father, will be arriving at the Will Rogers World ariport (I've never really understood where the "world" part came in but oh well)...anyways, my 2 sweeties will be arriving Friday, June 24th at 4:30.  We are inviting anyone who wants to be there.  The plan thus far will be for everyone to meet up in the baggage claim about 4:30ish.  I will post any changes in the date or time if a delay occurs.  I bought some little Ethiopian flags for people to wave, I know it seems a little corny but it's my version of the gum cigars that people hand out after they have a baby.  Although those gum cigars are mighty tasty so maybe I should get some of those to.  Well we hope to see you at the airport in a couple of weeks if you can make it.  Let me just say that this has been a long time coming but Denver is well worth the wait.  God bless you all!!!