Boothe's Nursery

a year later, here's pictures of Boothe's room!  There are actually pictures in the picture frames now, but if i wait to take pictures of those to post, then it will likely be another year! ;)  I love how it turned out!!  I'm a horrible photographer though, so I'm afraid these pictures don't really do the room justice.  At least you'll get somewhat of an idea, & I'll have some record of it!

walking in from the hallway (ignore the shadow...i told you i'm bad!;))

a wider view

the front wall...see more about the couch here

the wall to the left...again, i wish i was a better photographer-this isn't a great pic.  The frames are now filled of sweet pictures of boothe & our family (I am extremely blessed to have 2 great friends that are AWESOME photographers!) The print that is in the middle of the empty frames belonged to one of matt's grandfathers.

i know this is blurry (i just cropped from the above pic), but i wanted you to have a close up of the prints above his bed.  The one of the left has an image of the globe with Africa in the middle & says, "compassion for the Earth & all who inhabit it."  LOVE!! My mom found it, & it could not be more perfect! Maybe i'll get a round to taking an actual detail picture of them, so you can get the full effect. ;)

sorry...another bad picture...but here's a detail of the bedding.  I fell in love with the tie die fabric about the time we got on the wait list. I finally decided i could make it work for either boy, girl, or gender neutral so bought several yards & waited for probably close to a year before doing anything with it! My sister's mother-in-law graciously made the bumper pad, sheets, & skirt for me.

the wall opposite of the bed.  searched long & hard for this dresser, but sooo glad i did! one of my favorite pieces of the room!  i think i already touched on the shells in another post, but had that & the stars early on in the process too.  The stars are a nod to the Ethiopian flag.  The ball in the tray & the small yarn animal (a camel) by the vase are also from ET.

another angle from the opposite corner of the room...you can get a better sense of the star placement.  pretend the extra clutter on the dresser isn't there :)

the back wall (taken at a different time, so there are different sheets on the bed incase you are wondering!) The yarn banner above the closet (& the one with his name above the mirror) were from a shower that my friends threw.  I loved seeing all the pictures all together that i insisted on keeping them!  The top clock is Ethiopian time & the bottom our time.  Remember that jacket?  Boothe has gotten some wear out of it, but i just leave it up as decor.  Sure glad I spent that $5! ;) The giraffe stacking stools were a fun find from ET!!  I wish i had a better picture of the rugs in front of the crib :(

a close up...i just love 'em & hope they'll be a family "heirloom" of sorts 

a gift from one of the other "Southern 6" mommas...the saying is beyond truth & a fun momento of God's grace & provision

a neat tip that i thought of & happy to pass along...use wall mounted magazine holders books! Boothe loves digging for them, & it works especially well for people like me who may not have the room for a shelf.  (go ahead & pretend like there are labels in the slot & that Boothe doesn't pull the bows out of the bumper ties...it works wonders for me!!;))

just for fun, my handsome little man :)

I hope to be back soon with an update of our little family since we've been together just over a year now! I'd also like to say that I'm going to catch up on here with his birthday, holidays, "gotcha" day, etc., but i still need to blog about his homecoming so that's probably not likely! ...one can dream they'll eventually be on top of things again ;)

Hello world.

Hi old friends, if there are actually any of you left in my little blogging world. ; )  I've been meaning to get back here for a while, but I just can't seem to make it a priority these days.  However, Ethiopia has been on my mind a lot these past few weeks, & a little surprising to me, I'm sad I have no plans to go back in the near, near future.  To help fill the void, I thought I would celebrate our mile markers that we have in June by posting pictures from our first trip to meet our little man - Boothe has been home 6 months as of the 15th & the 23rd was the anniversary of our referral & seeing his sweet face for the first time.

P.S. a few quick updates from the last post: all 6 babies stuck in our political mess did come home by Christmas.  Three of them actually came home on Christmas Eve! : ) You all will never know how much your prayers are appreciated still to this day.

also, as I was typing Boothe's name, I remembered a post I did talking about the debate Matt & I were having over it... we landed on the 4 name option... Boothe Tegegn Russell Baxter, & we love it!! We even sing it to him using the tune of John Jacob Jinglehiemersmit (sp?) : ) Boothe is Matt's grandfather's & great grandfather's middle name.  He has always wanted to use it if we had a boy, & once I met his grandfather & saw how much he & Matt were alike, I knew we had to use it too.  Tegegn (pronounced Te-gain) is his name given to him at birth, so it was important to us to keep it as a prominent name.  It means God found [him,] which could not be more appropriate.  Russell came into play because it's my dad's name & seeing how this is the first "son" in his life with 3 daughters & almost 4 granddaughters, we thought it was time for him to have a namesake! ; )

On to the pictures...geesh, i'm wordy...this is why i never post! : )

 he was asleep when we got to go in to see him

 just opened his eyes

 oh, hey there momma

look, there's dada 

 first family pic

already thinks dada is SO funny:) 

these ladies will never know how much they mean to me 

 soaking in our last time together after finding out our case was on hold

saying good-bye...still brings tears... 

the families that we shared our week with - the baby girls in the middle on the back & front rows were also on hold with us...they were 2 of the babies that came home on Christmas Eve:)

LOVE, LOVE my little man...LONGING for a perfect world...

Embassy Update

After a spotty Internet day yesterday for the folks in Addis, we got news today that the U.S. Embassy has requested a birth family meeting for next Tuesday, Dec. 6th {his 9 month birthday btw!} at 7:30 am. If things go smoothly, we should hear word from the embassy in the next few days that we are cleared & be given dates to travel. {to give you an example of a scenario we would be blessed to follow: a family had their same interview yesterday & found out today that they will need to leave THIS Friday to go to ET!}

Also, the other 3 families were submitted yesterday!!! I am praying that all 6 babies will be home by Christmas...would LOVE for you to join me! ;-)

Submitted to embassy

Last Monday, our file was submitted to U.S. embassy to be reviewed, approved, & obtain a VISA appointment. The U.S. also does their own investigation of adoption cases, proving that each child is an orphan. The embassy takes 1-2 weeks per review & then comes back with 1 of 2 scenarios:

1) the case is cleared & dates are given to travel to get Little Man's VISA so that he can enter the United States

2) the embassy calls for additional information. then, will review the case a second time once that information has been given.

Now, along with all the changes with adoption on the Ethiopian side of things, so the U.S. has vamped up their scruitany of cases on their end as well. Most all cases, if not all in general, have gone the #2 route. The main thing they have called for are additional birth family interviews. {Just fyi, birth families are also called to testify in the ET courts before you are ever given custody of your child, & documents such as this will be in your file that the embassy has.}

CALLING ON ALL PRAYERS :) - on Monday, we were submitted with 2 other families. those families have already received 2 different emails from the embassy. One, that their file was "opened." Two, that a birth family interview was requested. We have not gotten anything from the embassy directly yet. My case manager assured me that this does not mean that they are not working on our case & that they are not consistent in their direct correspondence with adoptive families. However, I am getting nervous about it. Part of me is just so relieved that my baby boy is actually coming home, that I don't care...but, another part of me is begging the Lord that this lack of correspondence means we are being cleared! ;-) {for lots of reasons we would love for them not to request a birth family interview} So, will you join me in praying the following:

1) that the embassy will clear our case the first time

2) that we will hear word from them either through them or our agency SOON

3) that the other 3 of the Southern 6 will get submitted tomorrow - really tonight according to ET time :)

We all just want to get our sweet babies home ASAP!!! :)

It's OFFICAL!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, this news is super late in coming, but as of Monday, the Baxter family is officially a family of 3!!! Monday morning we found out the court had received our MOWA letter & issued our "final, final" court decree! I have pretty much been running at full steam ever since trying to get caught up on all the things I have been putting off...it's a little hard to register, have showers, buy diapers/clothes/etc. when you have NO IDEA how old your baby is going to be when he comes home. SOOOOOoooo glad that's over with!!!:)

I wish I could show you all a picture of his sweet little face & announce his name to really make things come alive! However, our agency is extra precautions & doesn't like us to show pictures of our littles until they are safely in our custody....& there is a little debate over what exactly his name will be. It's pretty much set for the most part except we can't decide whether to sneak in a second middle name. I'm for & against it for several different reasons, & Matt is mostly against. So, we'll see how all this plays out! ;-)

Next steps are AGCI will translate our paperwork & make an appointment for our lil guy to have an extra medical exam at the embassy's clinic. Once all that is complete, they can submit us to the U.S. embassy who will then complete their own investigation of our case. The embassy is very strict & only allots certain days that each agency can open files. Ours is Monday. We are praying that our staff is able to get everything done in time to submit our file to the embassy this coming Monday! We know Almaz & everyone will make it happen if they can! :)

Yay!!!!!!!!! Matt & I have been on cloud 9 since last Wednesday {when our case was taken off hold!} I can hardly tell that my head is spinning in 5 different directions- ha!

Roller. Coaster.

So, this post is a little later in coming than I wanted, but now my mind is flooding with ALL the things that I have been putting off! :) I feel the need to take you back to where I was last week, to be truthful of this sweet journey & the majesty of God & our walk to our son.

Today re-read an email I wrote to a friend last week, & I think I'll just use it to fill in the gaps in order to keep this post from being forever long. {For those of you who don't know me well, I'm sure you've figured out by now that I tend to be a little wordy!}

honestly, hearing that someone is praying for us daily is huge. I need to know that someone is interceding for me on the moments/days it gets too discouraging to plead for the exact same thing one more time. We did find out on Monday that the judge issued our written decree, but we still need our MOWA letter before we can move on. we also got confirmation on Monday that MOWA is not cooperating as we suspected. I feel so guilty because I know I should be rejoicing & praising the Lord over this small victory, but I can't seem to get there out of fear that this next hurdle is going to take even longer. ...I just feel so guilty because this is an answered prayer. 

Then that Friday {last week,} one of the other "Southern Six" mommas {that's what we became known as on our agency's list serv} asked if AGCI would be open to talk about making an extra trip to go visit our babies. I'm not sure if they realized that we were all looking at plane tickets for December:), but they agreed to "talk" about it. I dreamed about seeing Little Man again all weekend, & Matt & I started brainstorming on fundraising. Well, on Monday I found out that the option of an extra trip was being taken off the table. We love our agency & they had good reasons, but I was still super bummed because we had no idea when we would hold our baby next. Plus, there still wasn't any new information about why our cases were still on hold & what exactly was going to be needed to get them off even though 2 more of our Southern Six families got their court decrees.

So now I hope you have a little sense of my mental state when the phone rang Wednesday...in fact, don't be surprised when I tell you that I was in bed at 11:00 AM.;-) My case manager told me, much to EVERYone's surprise, MOWA had agreed to go ahead & write our letters!!!! Our orphanage director explained it best, "The steps have been many to get here, but most of all it is God's thing, no one can move men's hearts but God." AGCI expects our letters to get here by the end of next week...Little Man is coming HOME!!! Matt & I are elated to say the least & are truly beyond grateful for each one of your prayers. We aren't really sure about the timing yet. It will depend on when we actually get our letter & how the VISA process goes, but there is a possibility it could be by the end of this year! :)

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to see these last few years as purposeful refinement, even though I cringed at that thought just 3 short days ago. Thank you for continuing to give me permission to ask for things that may give You glory because I'm beginning to realize the depth of your love for me. I am humbled by your grace in so. many. ways.

so much for not being wordy, huh?! wow, this post took a turn i totally wasn't expecting...here's your reward for making it to the end ;-)

Nursery Update

How 'bout a little nursery update...and some other random subjects? :)

I painted the nursery this week. I had the color picked out since March, so it was probably about time to mark that off the list! ;) It's Benjamin Moore Gray Mist, OC-30, but I used Behr Flat Enamel Paint per the recommendation that it is completely scrub-able. I am really pleased with how it turned out!! {P.S. I got the scrub-able tip from the interior design blog Urban Grace. If you don't know about it, you should check it out...it's my favorite!}

It's a really light gray with more of a green undertone than a blue. I think that will complement nicely with all the blues that will be going in the room.

To be honest, painting the room was a daunting task. It was something that I really wanted to do. As I talked about before, I want to actively move forward in completing his room, but I was overwhelmed to get started, afraid of the rush of emotions I knew would come. So, after several mornings of saying I was going to do it, I decided to jump in & start at 11:00 pm Monday night! That's right, P.M.!! For some reason, it just seemed easier to tackle at night. I put on some worship music & pretended I was on Ethiopian time {they are 8 hrs ahead.:)} It turned out to be a sweet time of prayer, & of course some tears, but I was happy to get a chance to feel connected to bringing my son home.

On another note, we got 5 new pictures of our little man this week. I wish so badly I could share them with you all!! {Maybe someone can share with me how to do those little hearts over the faces?? Not sure if that's even worth it as far as seeing him, but maybe I'll play around with it & see.} Trust me though, he is super cute!! ;) His hair is thickening & the curls are coming in...it was pretty much board straight for the first 6 months. He has the biggest round brown eyes & the greatest facial expressions! Even though we also found out he has a viral infection in his lungs & ears, he is still big smiles like he has been since he's been at Hannah's Hope! We really are so lucky that he is cared for so well. Of course I zoomed in on every square inch of the pictures, & I do believe he is about to have at least one bottom tooth come through. He was drooling & chewing a lot when we were there back in August, & now his bottom gum is a bright light pink right in the middle. It stands out really well against the purply pink of the rest of his little gums. :) There was a family that traveled this past weekend for their court date who took pictures & asked some questions for us...looking forward to getting an update from her next week!

Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts & prayers! I know the business of life, so each thought & prayer genuinely means so much to us.

Hope you all have a great weekend!! We'll be celebrating my dad who turned 60 yesterday!!!

Notice any resemblance?? ;)