Another great day in Addis

Today has been another great day here in Addis Ababa!  We are tucked into our hotel for the evening...just catching up on our Internet time:). We spent time with Seifu and the other kids at the orphanage today, we played soccer, memory, jumped rope and just has alot of fun. These kids are so sweet and have the best attitude.  Then we headed to lunch and then out for a little souvenir shopping.          Our driver is so good, he translates and negotiates for us.  We are so blessed to have him as our driver.  Tomorrow we are heading to the volcano lakes with Seifu for a day outing.  We are going to soak up the rest of time we have left here in Addis.  This has been a wonderful trip:).

Date with Seifu

Today we had a very great day!!!  We got to take Seifu out to lunch today and spend sometime with him outside of the orphanage.  Seifu was alot more shy and quiet outside of the orphanage than he has been inside.  We also went to visit Denver's orphanage today and all of his nannies were so excited to see him.  We told them Waqo was here to visit and they were so excited they started yelling to all the other nannies to come see Waqo.  They wanted to love and hug on him but he was pretty shy and scared of all the attention.  They had a picture of him when he was an infant up on the wall, so Grant took a picture of it.  I think we tired Seifu out today running him all over Addis with us but I think he had fun.  Denver and Seifu have already bonded so much, they are going to be great brothers!  I just realized the pics I have posted yesterday and today are not showing up so Grant is going to add them to his Facebook if you want to see him.  If you're not his friend he said just friend request them and he will accept:)

Meet our new son Seifu!!!

We had court today and we passed...Seifu is officially a Morgan!!!  He is such a sweet boy and Denver and him love playing together.  They are going to be best buds!  Everything is going really well and we are enjoying every moment we get to spend with him and all the other kiddos at the orphanage.  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Meeting Seifu

Today we met Seifu for the first time.  We got to spend 3 hours playing with him and all the other kids at the orphanage.  We are all still exhausted from flying and jetlag so we are going to stay in and rest this evening.  Seifu is such a sweet, smart and funny kid.  His personality is going to fit perfect in our family.  He took my camera and started taking pics of all the other kids and  then showing all of them...it was so cute.  We will head to the agency tomorrow to go over some court questions and then head to the orphanage to see Seifu.  After that we have our court appointment, and then we just get to spend time with Seifu the rest or the trip.  Thanks for all of the thoughts and  prayers!  Many blessings

Going to Ethiopia!!!

I know I have been horrible about updating but I have come to the realization I will never be good at blogging so I will just do my best....which is not very good at all:)

 

We leave tomorrow for Ethiopia for our court date for Seifu, YAY!!!!!!  We are so excited to meet him and spend time with him at the orphanage.  We are all 3 going over as a family and Grant's mom is going with us.  It is going to be such a great trip.  I have heard such wonderful things about the kid's at the orphanage and how great they are.  We will spend 3 hours/day playing with them and just getting to show them love.  Seifu will not be able to come home with us this trip b/c this is just our court date and we will have to wait for his embassy appointment before we can bring him home.  We are hoping this will be 6-8 weeks after his court date which is May 29th! 

For any creepers who read this we have people house sitting for us

and 2 crazy pets so don't try anything! 

 

Now I need to get packing!!!

Vanessa

Seifu Updates, Denver's Party & Fundraiser Update

We just got an update today on Seifu and his court date.  He is doing really well and is feeling better.  The agency worker in Ethiopia submitted his court documents to court today.  Now it's just waiting for a court date from the Ethiopian court system.  We are getting very close.  Seifu looks really good and they say that he is feeling well so this is great news.  He has been having English tutor lessons about 3 times a week so his English is coming along.  We got a video of him speaking English during one of his lessons and he has the softest, sweetest little voice. 

Denver turned 3 last month and we had a "Lellow (Yellow) birthday party" for him...per his request.  I still can't believe he is 3 but he talks like a little man and likes to boss me around so I guess it's not that hard to believe :) He really is alot of fun and keeps me laughing all the time.  He is so excited about getting a BIG brother!  He loves showing off Seifu's bunkbed to everyone that comes over. 

The Valentine Sugar cookie fundraiser went great...all together we raised over $1,400 and I made 52 dozen cookies.  That's alot of cookies.  I still can't believe that we sold that many, it was a huge blessing.  I couldn't have done it with out all the help of my family, my mom was right in there with me baking and decorating.  Grant, my mother in law and my dad each had there turn helping keep Denver entertained and out of the house so his little fingers didn't end up in the icing.  We are so very blessed to have such a great support from family and friends.  I would post a pic of some of the sugar cookies but believe it or not I did not take one single picture of any.  I was so sick of seeing them that I couldn't even muster up the strength to take a picture...I know I'm pathetic. 
Some might ask how long it took to make 52 dozen sugar cookies....this is a rough estimate b/c I'm not good at keeping track of the details but I would say altogether it took about 30-40 hours with 2 people working. 

COMING SOON.... our next fundraiser is going to be called "Scarves for Seifu". My mom and another sweet lady from church have knitted and crotchet several scarves that they donated for us to sell on our blog.  My hope is to get pics of all the scarves posted later today or tomorrow so come back soon to check them out.  They are beautiful and I have had to resist putting one on everyday.  I love me some scarves. 

Many blessings....Vanessa

Can't believe my baby is 3 years old...

Today Denver turns 3 years old...I cannot believe that exactly 2 years ago this day we met our baby for the first time.  I will never forget how sweet our little man was on his 1st birthday and how blessed we were to spend this day with him in Ethiopia.  It just worked out his 1st birthday was the first day we met him in person.  God has a way of working things out.  So much has happened in the past 2 years...I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it all.  This morning Denver woke up and had some chocolate chip muffins for his birthday breakfast.  Yesterday I asked him what he wanted for his birthday lunch and he told me "peppa jack cheese"...did you know he is a cheese conasuer?  Since he has cheese for every breakfast   meal, I decided to surprise him with something different.  Although he probably would have been happier with his standard cheese breakfast.  I forgot to get candles at the store so he only got to blow out 2 spare candles that I dug out of my pantry...I am such an awesome mom.  I did have a 8 candle that I tried to cut to make it look like a 3 but it ended up breaking into pieces.  Can I get a little help around here?  I think I am the only person who can go to the store and always forget something.  I would like to know what it feels like to come home and realize that I got everything that I was supposed to.  Anyways, this is supposed to be about Denver and not me so I need to zip it. 

Denver with daddy on his 1st birthday

I will never forget the first bottle I fed him

It's so hard to believe how much he has changed in the last 2 years...he is not this little baby anymore

Our first meeting was captured by a wonderful photographer couple out of Kentucky, Wes and Nina Mullins.

Denver at 1 1/2 years old
photo taken by Rhianon Welty

Denver at 1 1/2 years old
photo taken by Rhianon Welty

Family photo in October of 2011



Denver at 2 years old
photo taken by Rhianon Welty



Family photo in August 2012
photo taken in the Paseo by Rhianon Welty

My 2 handsome loves

Such a stinkin cutie

Denver told me he has a serious face for this picture...not sure why.

What a handsome boy!!!

Just so I can be one of those annoying moms and brag on my child, here is a list of some of the things Denver is doing now.

He can:
Dress himself
Correct his mom when I say something wrong or that he thinks is wrong
Dribble a basketball
Hit a golf ball
Spell "Bible"
Go to the bathroom completely by himself
Tell me when the stoplight is red or green...it's not annoying at all (thanks Dad for teaching him about traffic lights)
Say his ABC's
Say the Pledge of Allegiance
Count to about 20ish
Sleep in a big boy bed
Tell you when you say a word that he thinks is bad...even when it isn't.  Did I mention he is a tad bit bossy.
knows all the colors
Do gymnastics off of his bed, this consists of him jumping off his bed and going straight into a somersault
Help momma with our babies that we watch
Feed our dog Charlie


Okay, I'm sure there are more things but my brain has shut off and I'm sure you are tired reading all of these. 

I will end my bragging with a funny story from this week:
Grant was working with Denver on the fruits of the Spirit and when he asked Denver what Joy meant Denver said "that's Grandma Mimi".  Thats Grant's moms name so he was right but it gave us a good laugh.  When Grant asked about Kindness Denver said "that's when we rinse our nose"...I guess that sinus and kindness sound similiar and since we rinse Denvers sinuses he got the 2 words a little confused.
It gave us a really good laugh.

Update on Seifu:
They said that Seifu is feeling better and has gotten over his recent sickness.  Our dossier documents are in D.C. being authenticated so it should only be another week or 2 before they send them to Ethiopia. From there it is just waiting on Ethiopia to set a court date for us so we know when we will travel.  It's getting closer and we have got to get Seifu's room ready. 

Update on Valentine Cookie Fundraiser:
I sold 45 dozen cookies and will start delivering them next week so it is going to be a little busy for this momma but we are so thankful to have sold that many.  We are so blessed by great friends and family who have helped support us through our journey to bring Seifu home.  We have had people that don't want the calories of my cookies but want to help so they still donate money.  It makes me feel so loved and know that so many people care. 

Have a blessed day!!!