Babies Sunbathing

Buns-in-the-Sun (click picture to enlarge)

This is another picture that our social worker, Rebecca, sent. From Rebecca’s recent email, “The group picture is of the babies' daily (weather permitting) sunbath. It is really quite cute. The babies are taken outside and rubbed down with oils and allowed to sunbathe for a bit. I believe Tesfa is on the left side and the third one closet to the camera. Getting a little sun and some tummy time."

We really don't have a lot of new updates or information at this point. We are still working on travel plans once we are in Ethiopia and I am also working on getting the nursery ready. We've also started to put more thought into what Tesfa's new first name might be.

We recently found out that we will be in Ethiopia the same time as two other couples who we know. It's interesting to think that our babies (Tesfa, one set of boy/girl twins, and a girl) are all hanging out together in the picture above! The number of Ethiopians being adopted by Twin Cities families is growing dramatically so hopefully we will be able to stay connected to those children and families over the years.

Thanks again for all of your prayers, support and excitement! Blessings, Anna

We’re going to Ethiopia!

Today is Tesfa’s three-month birthday and we will be leaving for Ethiopia one month from today on Tesfa’s four-month birthday! We will be flying from Minneapolis to Washington / Dulles on Northwest Airlines on Wednesday, June 22 and then departing that evening on Ethiopian Airlines for Addis Ababa. After a refueling stop in Rome, we’ll arrive in Addis on Thursday evening around 7:00 p.m. Total flight time will be 20 hours! We’ll be bringing Tesfa back to the United States on the Fourth of July to lots of loud fireworks. Hopefully we will all be so tired from traveling that we can sleep through the night!

We’re sorting through the details of what we will do in Ethiopia on the extra days we have built into our schedule. We’ll keep you posted as those plans come together.

Thanks for reading,
Grant

New Tesfa picture and updates

Our social worker (Rebecca) was recently in Ethiopia to escort a child to the United States. While she was at the care center in Addis Ababa she was able to spend some time with Tesfa. Rebecca called this past Thursday morning and I was able to ask her all sorts of questions. She said that Tesfa is quick to smile and she could get him to laugh easily. She said that he seemed inquisitive and really stared at her when she was holding him. It was great to get this report from someone who was recently with Tesfa and saw him in person. Rebecca also took some pictures of Tesfa that she recently emailed to us. The picture above is one of those that Rebecca emailed to us. Grant says that Tesfa is practicing for his senior pictures!

We also got a phone call on Friday saying that we can start to make travel plans! This will be a big week as we look into travel dates and plane tickets. We hope to have all of our travel plans set by this time next week. Please pray that we can find somewhat reasonably priced plane tickets and that all the details will fall into place this coming week.

The past week and a half have been so much fun as so many of you have shared your joy and excitement with us. THANK YOU!!! We look forward to introducing Tesfa to all of you very soon! - Anna

It's a boy!!!

Tesfa

Anna and I are happy that so many friends and family have been able to join us on our adoption journey by reading this web page. We’re especially excited today to introduce our new son to you!
The process has indeed moved very quickly, but looking back at our entry from the beginning of February, we appear to be right on schedule. It’s a strange stage that we’re in now since we know we have a baby waiting for us but there’s nothing to do but wait and be excited. Hopefully we can enjoy these last weeks of calm and save up energy for the work ahead!

Anna’s thoughts:
We first found out about Tesfa on April 12th. The past three weeks have been very difficult as I desperately wanted to get excited, start to become attached to Tesfa and tell everyone I knew that we had a referral. Now that we know for sure that Tesfa is our son everything has changed! The anxiety and uncertainty I had been feeling the past few weeks has been replaced by excitement, anticipation, and just a wee bit of nervousness. Grant and I have put down our adoption books and started reading parenting books! I can also say that I’ve never prayed for another person so much in my life. Is this what it is like to be a mother? I know the next six weeks or so will fly by, but please continue to pray for patience for me and that I will use this time wisely to prepare for motherhood and for baby Tesfa. And, as always, please pray for the health and safety of little Tesfa. And pray that he is getting lots of love and attention from his caregivers. Thank you! – Anna

Name: Tesfa, meaning “my hope”. We have not yet decided if we will keep this as his first name or choose another name. We plan to wait until after we have met him in person before making a name choice.

Birth date: February 22nd so right now he is only 10 weeks old!!!

Height/Weight: on March 15th (three weeks old) Tesfa was 22 inches and weighed 7 pounds. On April 26th (9 weeks old) Tesfa was 23 inches and weighed 11 pounds.

Health: from all reports Tesfa is a perfectly healthy little guy. From his most recent medical report (4/26) he is starting to smile responsively, he can raise his head, and is soothed by holding.

Timeframe: Our paperwork (dossier) was sent to Ethiopia on May 2nd so we should be able to travel about six weeks after the dossier is sent, which puts us at the middle to the end of June. Tesfa will be just 4 months at that time!