Rachel's Ballet Recital

Enjoy Grandma's! : )

The Berg Sans Nipple

Jesse's brother, Shane is in a band called "The Berg Sans Nipple". They were in town on Memorial Day touring. Jesse & his other brother, Matt were able to go to the concert. (I unfortunately missed out...wish I could've gone, but had to stay home with Rachel) Shane is an INCREDIBLE drummer! Jesse & I saw him about a year ago, when he was playing drums for 'Bright Eyes' on their tour. He is amazing :)

Anyway thought I would let you hear a little for yourselves.



If you want more go to their myspace page.

or buy their album here.

Here's a picture of the 3 brothers... It's amazing how much they look alike, isn't it! : )

Our 7th Anniversary

Jesse & I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Saturday. I can't tell you enough of how lucky I am to be married to such a great man. Here are 7 things that I love about him.... (in no particular order)

1. He's the most honest man I've ever met
2. He gives the world's best back massages!
3. He loves God
4. He's a great dad! (Just ask Rachel!)
5. He's Thoughtful...for example he always puts the toilet seat down! (since we have been married he has not once left it up!)
6. He's a hard worker (at whatever he is doing)
7. He is always thinking of how he can show others God's love

I could go on and on, but most of you know how great Jesse is anyway! (told you I was lucky)

Last night he surprised me by taking me away for the night. He had his brother, Matt (who by the way is living with us for the summer) watch Rachel, and then we went to downtown D.C.


He had booked a room at the Grand Hyatt...really nice! He had planned to go to dinner at a restaurant along the Potomac River, but right around 7pm it started to pour, so we decided to go to an indoor restaurant instead. : ) We went to a great Irish Pub, The Dubliner. It was so nice to be able to have a nice, LONG dinner! We sat there just talking for at least 2 hours. (the little things you enjoy after having kids)


Then we headed down to the Mall to look at some of the monuments at night. They are beautiful!





Needless to say we had a wonderful time. Thank you God for giving me such a perfect other half! : )

Embarrassing Song At McDonald's

See how good we are at discipling the youth in our church!?

Homestudy Woes

One of the first things to get done in the adoption process is your homestudy. We set up our first of three homestudy meetings back in the middle of March. We were told at that time that it would be 3 meetings, 1 per week, and then 3 weeks to write up the homestudy. Well here we are 10 weeks later since the first meeting and still no homestudy.

We expected things not to go completely smoothly, but it has been frustrating the last couple of weeks. The main reason we are in a hurry about this is that the Ethiopian courts close for the months of August and September, and we wanted to try to get things done before the closure. We really needed to have our homestudy in by May 1st in order for this to happen. I had talked with our social worker about it, and she said that should be no problem. So after not getting it a week after May 1st, I gave her a call, and asked where she was in the process, and she told me that she was just starting to write it and would have it done by Friday, May 11th.

I was out of town that week, so I was annoyed to find that once I got back she still hadn't sent it. I called her on Friday at 5:45pm, and she got really annoyed with me that I was calling her then, and all she said was that she would talk to me Monday. So today when I talked with her she said she had it done! I'm still waiting to get the email with it, but I am so glad that this part is basically done.

Now our agency and us look it over, and make any changes if needs be. Then we get finalized, notarized copies from her, and send them to the US government to get their approval, which can take up to 9 weeks.... aghhh a lot of waiting! The other copy eventually goes to the Ethiopian government. More on that later. : )

Pictures From Our Trip

We are back. Our trip went fairly good, but of course after any trip, I'm exhausted. : ) Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

Rachel & I in Minnesota:



Uncle Bob & Aunt Liz with Rachel at the sculpture garden:



Rachel's favorite sculpture:



Rachel with her 2nd cousins, Megan & Micheal:



Grandma Frey and Rachel riding the carousel...pure joy!

We Are Off....

Rachel & I are leaving tomorrow for a week long trip to visit my grandmothers. First we fly to St. Paul, Minnesota. We'll be staying with my Aunt & Uncle, and be visiting with my Grandma Zilen. Then I head down to Iowa to meet up with my Grandma Frey. We then head straight to Missouri. My cousin's wife is graduating from college, so we are going down for that. We'll be there for a couple of days and then drive back up to Iowa where I'll spend a couple of days before my flight leaves on Wednesday. I am looking forward to spending some time with my grandma's. They both are getting older, and I treasure all the time I can get with them!

***Adoption update: I talked with our social worker today, and she said she was writing our homestudy now, and should have it done by the end of the week! We are getting anxious!

Eating Ethiopian

We tried Ethiopian food for the first time the other night with Tamara & Brian. It's pretty spicy, so luckily since we are used to Sri Lankan food, it wasn't too bad for us. Unfortunately Rachel didn't like it, but we'll have to try some other things next time we go.


For those who have never gone, I'll try to explain what it's like. There is a big plate brought out with injera covering the plate. Injera is kind of like a big crepe. It's their type of bread, but Jesse thinks it's some kind of potato product as well. It's really spongy.... it's interesting. Not bad, but not that great either. On top of the Injera they put different garnishes on it, and then you order different types of meat or veggies. We tried a chicken dish, beef dish, and a lamb dish. We all liked the lamb dish the best, with the beef dish coming in a close second. The chicken dish was okay, but not as flavourful as the other two. You use the injera to pick up the meat and garnishes...no silverware. Again that wasn't a too big deal for us, b/c of our experience in Sri Lanka. It was fun to get a little taste of the culture, and we are both happy that we like the food! : )

Ethiopian Get-Together

I've joined a couple of Ethiopian Adoption Yahoo Groups since we started the process, and although I don't post much on them, I do get a lot of information from them. One of the groups, is specifically for this part of the country, and they had a get-together yesterday. So Jesse, Rachel, & I all decided to go.

I have to be honest, and say that we were a little nervous at first. One thing that we've noticed from these yahoo groups is that some people are very outspoken on how they feel about everything. And often times I feel like adoption becomes their platform. I know this isn't necessarily bad, but I guess it's just not where we are. I haven't felt that way about the local group, but we were still nervous that maybe we wouldn't fit in.

Well we were pleasantly surprised. We met some wonderful families, and it was so nice to see all these Ethiopian children running around. It was great to hear how much this group has even grown in just one year. They said that at their gathering last year, there were only two children, and a bunch of families waiting to go pick their children up. Well this year there were about 10 children! And since the weather wasn't all that nice, a lot of families didn't come.

On the ride home from the picnic, Jesse and I were so excited! We couldn't help but have huge grins on our faces. We just can't wait to bring whoever God has for us home! Rachel talked the whole car ride home about how she couldn't wait to be a big sister. Yesterday I think just made it more real to us, which is nice, b/c sometimes I think you can become a little removed from it, since it's not like pregnancy, where the throwing up constantly reminds you that you are going to have a baby. : )

We're Adopting

So as you can see I've done some revamping of our blog. Hope you all like it. : )

Jesse & I are very excited to be on this adoption journey. We always knew that one day we would like to adopt, and we can't wait till we have another little one join our family.

Adoption has always been apart of my life. My father was adopted, I babysat for a little girl who had been adopted, both my parents had jobs at one point or another working in some way with adoption, etc. I think the turning point in my life was the summer after my freshman year of high school, I went on a mission trip to Albania with my parents. While I was there we visited an orphanage. The conditions were horrible. Albania had just opened up it's borders, and the country was a mess. It was so sad to see babies and babies just laying in their cribs. Most of them were twitching, b/c since they had not been held their nervous system did not develop right. I also had a chance to work in a wonderful orphanage in Kenya for a summer, while my parents lived there. Both these experiences really made me realize that I would some day love to adopt. Thankfully, God brought me a great man, who felt the same way. Rachel is also really excited about having a new brother or sister, b/c I think she is definitely getting a little bored with me. : )

Erik & Lauren

It's official! My little brother is getting married! This past weekend he asked a beautiful woman, Lauren, to marry him. The best part is that we had been informed before hand, and invited to a surprise engagement party on Saturday Night. So Friday night Tamara, Brian, Jesse, Rachel, & I all headed down to Chattanooga, TN. (a 9 1/2 hour drive) We got there Saturday afternoon, just in time to get ready and head over to the engagement party.


The party was great. Lauren's family, who lives in Nashville, were all there, and all of their friends were there too. My parents, who are in England, although very sad that they couldn't be there were able to join us by webcam!


We are all very excited for Erik & Lauren. Lauren is a wonderful person. I have enjoyed getting to know her a little, and am really looking forward to getting to know her better in the coming years. She has such a "realness" about her that is very refreshing. Everyone in my family just loves her, and she fits in just perfectly. I think the world of my brother, and I am so glad that God has brought these two together. I am so excited to see what God has planned for them in the future.

So.... Congrats Erik & Lauren! We love you!

Easter

Here are some pics of Easter... Hope you all had a great day!

Rachel looking for gifts from the easter bunny:


Church easter egg hunt:


Lunch with Tamara, Brian, and our friends Ryan & Candice:


Uncle Brian helping Rachel dress up in her new princess ballet outfit:

Circus

Rachel went to her first circus this past week. She loved it. (okay Jesse & I enjoyed it too) She especially liked the elephants & cotton candy.



An hour before the circus started they let everyone on the floor, and you could try on costumes, see the animals, and meet the clowns. What do you think of my new look?

For Daddy?

Rachel & I went to the pet store & got to play with one of the puppies there. Rachel was in heaven. She loves puppies. She insisted that Daddy would love to get a new puppy...I'm not sure why she would have that impression, since Jesse is constantly trying to get rid of the one we have. : )

Warmer Weather

Since we are finally getting warmer weather, Rachel is getting to enjoy her bike that she got at Christmas. She especially loves the Princess helmet & knee guards...Jesse tries to get her not to wear the knee guards, but she insists.


She also loves playing with water...


although sometimes she misses. : )

Ballet

Rachel went to her first ballet class last Thursday. & big surprise she loved it! It was so fun to see her in her little outfit. Unfortunately, their class is in a room with no windows, so I couldn't watch, which would have been really fun! We only get to go in for the last class, I can't wait.

Rachel's New Room

Here are some pictures for you all of Rachel's new room... she is loving it!

Leaving

I just realized that I haven't even let you all know when we are leaving Sri Lanka...it's funny how you don't think about putting up basic information like that on for everyone. So this might come as a shock to some, but we are actually leaving tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 2am on Tuesday (Dec. 5th), but we will leave our place by 10pm Monday to make sure we have enough time to check in.


So needless to say we are in packing mode. We are actually almost completely packed up, so tomorrow we will just have some time to enjoy one last day in Colombo. So far we have 13 bags to check....I know we feel very embarrassed about bringing 13 bags to the airport, but in our defense 3 are full of IJM work stuff. They are all at the weight limit or a little above, so hopefully we get someone nice checking us in, who wont charge us for extra weight.

Going Out With A Bang....

There was another bombing today in Colombo. It was in the neighborhood just north of ours. (Don't worry we are fine.) Again like the previous suicide bombings it was very targeted. This time they were trying to get the president's younger brother. They failed on getting him, but right now the news is reporting 3 dead with 14 injured. Chitra, the lady who's been cleaning our place and teaching me to cook, was only blocks away from the explosion when it happened. Everyone here is getting more worried, and looking at ways to leave Sri Lanka. It's so sad because Sri Lanka has so much potential! & this war is just ruining the country. Please keep Sri Lanka in your prayers. & especially all the friends we are leaving behind, please pray for their safety.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Since we were feeling a little lonely & jealous that we wouldn't get a big Thanksgiving meal this year, we took off for the beach. We went about an hour and a half south of Colombo to Bentota. Man, it was beautiful! We were surprised we hadn't heard much about it. This has to be the best beach Jesse and I have seen thus far in our life. Granted we haven't been to Hawaii, which I hear there is no comparison, but still they were amazing.


The waves were great, b/c they were quite small for Rachel to play in, but they also had bigger ones farther out, so Jesse had fun as well. Usually Rachel is scared of the ocean, but she overcame her fear, and had a fun time playing in the waves. She also learned to swim in the pool by herself. (well with arm bands on)


The hotel had a great location. On one side was the ocean, while on the other side was a river. So Jesse was able to go water skiing as well. We also went to a turtle hatchery, and went for a catamaran ride on a lake. So as you can see we stayed pretty busy. We had a great time...it almost made up for missing out on family, friends, and food. : )