Merry Christmas

Grandma Lenz & 14 Grandkids

Only 1 child is missing....

He's in Ethiopia.

Waiting for us to bring him home.

Next year this picture will be

Grandma Lenz & 15 Grandkids!!

Noah (9), Cassie (14), & Jordan (11)

Yes, I made them get close to show how much they LOVE each other!

Noah's presents: SpyGear ATV, nightvision goggles, Brett Favre Minnesota Vikings Jersey, camera, ice fishing tip-ups, DS games, Wii game, socks, sweatshirts, pajama pants

Jordan's presents: cell phone, furry boots, lots of girly-clothes, earrings, robe, Wii game, Wega softball jacket, llama Webkins, sweatshirts

Cassie's presents: Wega softball jacket, earrings, necklaces, vests, shirts, shorts, gift card, purse, wallet, more clothes, University of Kentucky pajamas, sweatshirts

Brad's presents: wallet, ice fishing tip-ups, Menards gift card, bungees, pajama pants, money

Sue's presents: diamond earrings (WAY TO GO BRAD!), sweaters, earrings, tops, picture frame of Mom & Kris and I, money, star wall decoration, hand towels, snow plowing from neighbor, Learning Shop gift card, camera (St. Nick present), Ipod touch (early gift in November)

Brad & I at Grandma Lenz' home on Christmas Day

Girls in PINK!

I LOVE this camera!

I took this picture from across the room!

SO COOL!!

We had an awesome Christmas with our families. The weather was quite YUCKY! I honestly don't remember another Christmas where we got snow, sleet, and RAIN, RAIN, and more RAIN! The roads were all ice-covered on Christmas Eve, while we drove to Kris and Steve's home. I played on my Ipod touch and tried not to watch Brad drive. Brad was happy, so I wouldn't yell at him every second about slowing down and not passing people. Great Grandma Beck wasn't able to join us on Christmas Eve either, because the roads were terrible! We did call her and sand Jingle Bells though! :)

Everyone was asking us when we're leaving for Ethiopia and I just LOVED telling them ~ January 6th! YEAH! I'm getting so excited. This weekend, we'll put all our new things away and then we'll start packing for Africa. I'm nervous, anxious, excited, and just plain giddy, about meeting our little boy for the first time. It's just so much to think about. I can't wait to meet him and tell him that I LOVE him!!

Merry Christmas to everyone! May God bless you and keep you safe!

We're TRAVELING!!!

We found out on Tuesday (December 15th) that we have an embassy appointment in Ethiopia for January 12th, 2010. YEAHHHH!! That's what we've been waiting for...our time to finally meet our son and bring him home.

Once again, on Monday the 14th, I was getting impatient of not hearing anything, and emailed Holt to see if they have any ideas on embassy dates in 2010. I never received an email back, which was really odd. They always get right back to me, no matter if it's good news or bad news.

I also posted a question on the Holt Yahoo group, wondering if anybody heard about embassy dates. On Monday evening, I found out that somebody did hear about the January 12th embassy date, because they received an email that they were traveling. I was so bummed. I figured we would have received an email too, IF we were going to travel for the January 12th date.

After little sleep on Monday night, I waited until lunch time on Tuesday, and emailed Holt again, just wondering if they know of any embassy dates.  STILL, no email back. I was just baffled. They ALWAYS answer back. So, after a long IEP meeting at school, I called at 4:35pm to Holt in Oregon. It was only 2:35pm there and everybody was in a meeting. UGH! I did leave a message but was kind of bummed out.

So, it was 5:04pm and I was at home. Jen from Holt called to say, "Didn't you receive our email today? You're traveling!" WHAT?!?!? Where is the email? Oh my gosh! We're traveling!! I called all 3 kids together and told them our great news. They were all cheering and excited. I called Brad right away, and then Dorinda and my Mom. This was the BEST news!!

So, I had to let work know my plans on Wednesday and also contacted the travel agency. It's going to be a little bit different than I had envisioned, as far as coming home from Ethiopia, but I guess I can do it. Brad will have to leave Ethiopia on Wednesday, January 13th to go to the ATA show in Ohio. I won't be able to fly home until Friday, January 15th, late at night. UGH! That means I'm in Ethiopia for another 24 hours, without Brad and the rest of the travel group. That makes me nervous, but I'm sure it'll be OK.

So, now my brain is going a million miles in so many directions. I'm thinking about all the things that need to be done at school, Christmas shopping and wrapping, packing, shopping for last minute things, making lists for Dorinda, and making lists for everything that needs to be done before we leave. But, this is all GOOD! I'm so glad we finally have the DATE and know when we'll be going and when we'll meet our son. Such a great feeling!!

14 Inches, Oh my!

We received at least 14 inches of very heavy, white stuff since yesterday. It has tapered to flurries but the winds are blowing so hard, the wind chills are going to be below zero tonight. Brad is STILL not home yet. After sleeping in Minneapolis last night and hanging out at the airport all day, he has now flown to Chicago. He is planning on flying into Appleton tonight after 9pm, but his flight is delayed as of right now. UGH! Gotta love snow storms!

We also found out today that we will NOT be traveling over Christmas to bring our little boy home from Ethiopia. I was bummed. I really want to bring him home NOW. Waiting is SO hard. I try to keep busy, but when you're snowed in for the entire day, it's kind of hard to stay busy and not think about traveling.

I did get one thing done off of my to-do list. I made a book on Shutterfly today for our son's birthfamily. I used the pictures we have received over the months and then added pictures in of our family, pets, and home. I included summer and winter pictures. That's all I got accomplished today. I had big hopes of finishing a few other projects today, but nothing. No ambition.

Tomorrow we'll all go back to school and Noah has his drama play tomorrow evening at 7pm. It's also supposed to be REALLY cold tomorrow, with the highs around 10 degrees during the day and windchills below zero. Brrrrrr! I really wonder WHY I live in Wisconsin?!?!?!

Blizzard of 2009!

We're under a blizzard warning through tomorrow. We're only supposed to get about a foot of snow. And the winds are only supposed to be around 35mph. Sounds like fun...

Now, the really good part~Brad is stranded in Cincinnati. I think. The last time I heard from him, he was beginning to board a plane there, enroute to Minneapolis. Then onto Appleton. Well, I've been checking websites, and see that all the flights coming into Appleton are cancelled. And, when I check the Minneapolis website, they used to show a flight being delayed coming from Cincinnati, but now it shows it as being cancelled. Too funny, but right now, I actually hear an airplane flying overhead. Maybe it's Brad, flying around in circles! LOL!

So, the other really good part about this blizzard and Brad being stranded, is that Brad never put the snowplow on the front of the 4-wheeler. So, I have no way to plow the driveway tomorrow. Oh well, I guess that's what 4-wheel drive is for! :)

So, after coming down from cloud nine with our great news about passing court yesterday, tonight I hear that families were told they were traveling over Christmas for the next embassy appointment. Kind of a let-down for us. We were really hoping we could travel over the holidays, so I would have a longer time home with our little man. Oh well, I should just be glad that we passed court!

So, HOPEFULLY tomorrow, I will be on a Snow Day from school and get to relax a little bit! And, hopefully Brad will make it home sometime too!

We PASSED!!!

We are officially a family of 6! We found out today at 11:32am, that we passed court last Friday in Ethiopia! We're over the moon with excitement!!

I couldn't stop checking the clock~waiting for it to be 10am~that would be 8am in Oregon! So, once I knew Holt was open for the day, I had Brad stalking our home email account. UGH! He had to leave for the airport right around 11am, so I then had to call Cassie at home (home sick with the flu) to turn on my computer and watch our email. Still nothing. So, I went to lunch and came back to an email (on my school email address) that we passed court! WOOHOO!!!!

Now, we wait for our embassy date that will dictate our travel dates. Can't wait to start making some travel plans to Africa!

We love our new little boy and can't wait to give him a big hug!!

Still Waiting to Hear...

Our court date WAS Friday, December 4, 2009. Today, is Sunday, December 6th and we still do not know if we passed court. UGH!! It has been a VERY LONG weekend just wondering what happened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 4th. We're hoping to hear some good news tomorrow, but again, we might not.

All day Friday, I was so excited and scared all rolled into one. I had a smile on my face almost all day until 2:50pm. That's when I received an email from Holt in Oregon stating that they heard nothing about anybody's court appointments. We were really let down, but always knew that that could happen to us. Yes, it's frustrating but it also wasn't bad news saying that our court date was canceled or rescheduled. So, no news is good news so far!

So, tomorrow we start another week, not knowing WHEN our little boy will come home from Ethiopia. We keep saying our prayers and talk about our little boy like he's one of the family. We have a lot of things put aside for him and can't wait to share with him. We're trying to keep busy with Christmas shopping and wrapping, and just doing the usual cleaning and laundry around the home. It's tough though. It's always on our mind~WHEN?!?!

St. Nick did come for a visit last night. Noah received the SantaBuddies movie, Jordan got a Columbia zip-up sweatshirt, and Cassie received some new earrings. Brad got a new pair of Charlie Brown boxers and I got a NEW camera!! Yes, kind of extravagent for a St. Nick gift, but so worth it. Now, we have an awesome camera to take with us to Africa. St. Nick also came to my Mom's home for me! :) I received a new candle and our little boy received a beautiful new blanket that she made for him. It's just perfect!


We're supposed to get some snow this week, which could actually cause some travel problems due to accumulating snow and wind. UGH! Brad is supposed to leave for Cincinnati tomorrow and return late Tuesday night. Then he's off to Illinois on Thursday through the weekend. Hopefully he'll have safe travels!

I got all caught up with my Christmas wrapping tonight, so now I have to start shopping again. I really want to make sure I'm on top of everything, just in case we get that call that we could travel soon to Africa.

Hopefully the next time I post, it will be some REALLY GOOD news to share!