Ethiopia pictures

Leaving the South Bend Airport on December 14th. The beginning of one emotional roller coaster of a trip!

We are standing in front of the Addis Flower Guest house. We were getting ready to go get Benjamin! The gates to Benjamins orphanage! We could not believe we were so close!

Benjamins Orphanage!

Some beautiful Ethiopia snap shots!

I love you to Ethiopia and Back

I will start from where I left off...We lost power for one day and then the internet was down for 2 days. After all of that, the craziness of taking the babies back to their orphanages began and I just did not even know where to start blogging again. So I have been home now for a few days, I have tried to collect myself again, and I will try to get it all blogged.
My last post was on the 20th. As you read we were able to bring Stella to the Guest house. And I was shocked! I really did not think she would be able to come spend the week with us! But she did and it was so wonderful! She is just adorable! It took her a night and a morning to get use to us but when she did... it was perfect!!! She can crawl and sit totally unsupported. She also is eating solid foods and does not care much about her bottle. That is totally different from Claire and Benjamin, they love their bottles! Stella is a 100% momma's girl! She would crawl on Darin and play Peek-A-Boo with him but when it came to feeding, and holding her it was all me, all the time! :)
Ohhh then there is Ben!! The thing that surprised me the most about him was how BIG he is!!! I took all 6-9 month clothes because he is 8 months old. Every out fit was up to his elbows and the pants were up to his knees! So he is in at least 12-18 month cloths!! He can not sit up yet and he tries to crawl. But the thing that is the most striking about Ben is how quick he is to laugh!! I would just look at him and say Fiikkkaaadoooo (that is his Ethiopian name)(it is actually Fikadu.) and he would let out the cutest baby shriek and have a huge smile. Now Ben was a Daddy's boy. He and Darin have this really cute bond already! He is joyful!
Both of the babies had something weird going on with their skin so we to them to the doctor on the 20th. Ben has severe eczema and Stella had infantigo. So we got medication for both of them and hopefully they are still using it at the orphanages!!
We had to take Ben back on the 21st to his orphanage. We could not take them to court and his orphanage want him back before the 22nd. It was one of the hardest experiences of our lives. We laid back down in his crib and we could not walk away...We kept telling him we would be back as soon as we could. He just smiled at us as our tears were flowing!
On the 22nd we had court and we did not pass. The babies paper work was there are they have passed their part. Unfortunately our paperwork is lost somewhere in Ethiopia!! So we are not exactly sure what is going to happen. It had absolutely nothing to do with our agency, they are doing all they can to find it. So we have another court date on January 13th. :( Hopefully they find it by then. I really do not even want to think about what will happen if it is not found by then... GRRRR. But the babies are for sure ours!! Now it is just a matter of when they will get to come home. Could be 2 months, could be longer. We just do not know.
We had to take Stella back on the 23rd and that was easier because we had gone through the court process and we knew he paper work went through and that she will be ours! So it was difficult. But there was more peace in knowing that we will have her and Ben soon!
Then the night of the 23rd we headed home. Our flight left at 2 AM Ethiopia time (6PM) U S time and we were at home by 10PM Christmas eve. Of course this a shortened version of the trip but there are some parts I do not know how to put into words...

This is Jolene's friend, Danielle. She has not had a lot of time the last 2 days to post, but she wanted me to let everyone know that they have both of their precious babies (they picked up Stella 2 days ago and have had her with them ever since!). They are doing great. She also asked that people PLEASE PRAY as their court date is December 22nd. I'll let you know if I hear anything else.

Day One and Two in Ethiopia

We landed early this morning at 3 AM. We went to sleep around 4 and then we were up at 7:30 because we thought our ride would be here between 8:30 and 9 AM. But around 9 a group of people had to go to court, and then right after that another group of CCI people had to go to their Embassy appointments. So that kind of left us without a driver. Once everything settled down around 12 we were able to have a driver take us to Baby Ben’s orphanage. The day was beautiful!!!! It was about 80 degrees and sunny. When we pulled up to the orphanage the older kids, who ranged from 3-6 years old, were singing Jesus Loves Me and all kinds of precious little kids songs. Then they took us upstairs where they keep all the babies. We took our shoes off and walked in to the baby’s room. And all of the babies were sleeping. We woke up Benjamin and he was still very sleepy. I held him for about 5 minutes and he just stared at me. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. He had constant eye contact and my heart melted for this miracle God up into our lives. In the babies room there were 10 to 12 little ones in there it was so heartbreaking. There lay of these tiny little babies who were not being tucked in, sung to and rocked to sleep every night. Don’t get me wrong the nannies who are there adore these children and they get great care. But there is nothing like having a mom or a dad who can give that one on one care. I was then very happy to find out that all of the children at that orphanage have already been placed in to forever families. And their parents will be there with in the next few months to bring them home. After that we spent some time playing with the older children out side on the play ground. There are about 13 -15 older kids there. Again all already placed into a family! J

We then came back to the guest house with Benjamin and he was wide awake laughing and snuggling. HE LOVES HIS DADDY. Wow there is a bond there already! Darin has this amazing demeanor. He has a very low soft spoken voice and Baby Ben just melted into him and Darin held him most of the night. At one point I went to take him from Darin and he turned and snuggled his little face into his daddy. It was so fun to see that bond begin to start.

We were able to Skype for about 15 minutes tonight!! And that was so wonderful We talked to baby Claire and my mom, dad, and Justine were all able to see Benjamin.

You all might be wondering what about Stella. Well we just found out that her orphanage director, the woman who authorizes Stella to leave the orphanage is out of town until Saturday. So we will not even be able to go see her until the 18^th. It is just a bummer for me since our baby girl has really been such a mystery to me these last few months. I can not wait to see how she has grown!! On the 18^th we will go and hopefully be able to have her here at the guest house with us until Tuesday, the day before we go to court. Tomorrow will be very quite. We will just spend time with Ben and relax. My time clock is all off. It is actually 1 AM here, and that makes it 5 PM at home. So I am all off.

Thank you for all of the love and support.

We made it to Ethiopia!!!

There is always something so surreal when you realize you are in the same town as your children. After waiting for them for 6 months we are literally only a few miles and a few minutes from them. But it is 3 am (7pm your time) unfortunately we have to be mindful of others sleeping. But all I really want to do it GO GET THEM! J Our travel went perfectly!!!! Thank you for all of the prayers! God is good all the time. We left South Bend Airport at 7 on the 14th and arrived in Ethiopia at 2AM on the 16th so with the 8 hour time change is was something like 23 hours of travel. The flight from Chicago was 11.5 hours and I took a nice little pill and when I woke up there was a lot of turbulence and I actually got sick 2 times!! I had never had motion sickness before but I think the pill making me sleep and all of the turbulence did something to me. Then from Istanbul we had a straight flight to Ethiopia. And that was about a 6 hour flight. Anyways we are here we are safe. I am so happy to be back in Ethiopia!

On a sad side, it was horrible to leave my baby Claire!!! I did really well until we had to go through the security screening, and actually walk away from her. I just could not help but let the tears roll. It was the sick hard lump in the throat, eyes burning that you can not control kind of cry. And once she could not see us any more I heard her say, MOOOMMY, mommy mommy….and she was crying hysterically. That was my worst fear…. And then I lost it again.
Well Darin is in the room trying to sleep and I really should try to sleep just a little too. We just heard that Alazar is picking us up between 8:30 and 9 am to go get our babies!!! I could not be more excited!

Sending all of my love and please continue to pray for our family.
Jolene

3 days!

The nerves are setting in! Our anticipation is growing as we are trying to finish some last minute Christmas shopping, parties, and fun. We also have not packed for ourselves yet. All donations and all things for our babies are packed. So Darin and I need to get on that soon :)
But there are some exciting things happening here...
Thursday night we met with Karl and Danielle Black and it is official. We are starting a not for profit organization. Our vision is becoming more clear and it is very exciting. We will be focusing on African aid, here and abroad. Lots more to come on that!!
Then yesterday my sweet baby Claire turned 2! I can not believe it. She is growing beautifully! One of her new favorite things is to try to prolong bed time by praying for EVERYONE she can possibly think of. It melts my heart and even tho right now her intentions are to stay up longer my prayer is that her compassion and love for people grows through her LONG prayers. :)
Today we have 2 Christmas parties. The 1st one is with Darin's side of the family. So all of the cousins will be together (minus 2 who are still in Ethiopia) And they will be spoiled with all kinds of gifts from Grandpa and Grandma. Then this evening we will venture down to Fort Wayne for Darin's firm party. That is always a good time for me to put faces with names I hear Darin talk about all year. :)
Sunday is church. I am excited to worship and spend time with church family right before we leave. Monday Claire has her 2 year check up and shots and I will need to do my last minute shopping for the trip. And Tuesday off we go!
So we still have a lot going on! Life is fun and exciting. And I am so thankful to God who is blessing us!

My Prayer

Thank you Lord Jesus that you have answered my prayer. My prayer to have my eyes and my heart opened so that I may make a small impact on this world and the children you have placed in my life. I pray that other people ask this for themselves so that thousands, even better millions of helpless, homeless orphans will have a FAMILY. Please open eyes and then set feet into motion! In Jesus name I pray.
Amen.

Crazy 8

8 more busy days and we will be off to Ethiopia. Tuesday and Wednesday I work from 9am-8pm I am trying to get everyone in before the holidays. Then Thursday I will go up to Lansing MI to visit a friend who just brought her baby girl Ezra home. www.ryanmeggsjourney.blogspot.com Then we will get together with good friends of ours for a meeting that Thursday evening. Friday is baby Claire's 2nd birthday and I will be having a little party for her that night. Saturday we have 2 Christmas's!!! Christmas with Darin's family and then Darin's work Christmas party that evening. Sunday is church and last minute shopping for the trip. Monday Claire has her 2 year Dr. check up and shots. Then Tuesday we fly fly away... I liked that is 8 looked crazy because at this point that is how I feel!!!!

We are Down to 10 Days!

Only 10 days and we will be off to Ethiopia! Tomorrow will be single digits!! I have very strong mixed feelings...I can NOT wait to get my hands on my babies, Stella and Benjamin. But I will be leaving my baby Claire Dollame. Please pray for ALL of our spirits as we go through this extremely emotional time in all of our lives.

THANK YOU

So much thanks to give! Thanks to our amazing God who time after time has provided. Darin and I started the process of adopting these 2 babies with hardly a dime in our savings. We had just brought Claire home 6 months before we signed back up with CCI. We did it afraid and with all of our hope in God and the stirring of the Holy Spirit in family, friends, and complete strangers. And God has shown Himself again! We placed 2nd in the adoption fundraiser through Ordinary Heros!!!! 2nd out of 54 families!! We were able to raise $1,170 WOW we are so humbled by the love of everyone who has supported us! THANK YOU!

My Crazy November

Wow looking back November has been insane. I am so very thankful that it has been all "good" insane. We have been doing so much celebrating and planning this month.
To start the month off I had picked up an extra day a week at work. So I now work 2 days a week. Even tho it does not sound like a lot I was very comfortable just working one. :)So that jammed up my weeks a little. But we need the $, plus it is right before the holidays so it made my clients happy because it made it easier to get in. It is all good!
But then we also decided to book our flights!!! So at the beginning of this month we did that. And now the seriousness of planning and packing for a huge 10 day trip to Ethiopia, Africa is real!!
My dad turned 50 and we threw a surprise party for him. So there was lots of planning and shopping for that. PS He was totally surprised.
And then it was 2 Thanksgiving meals on turkey day. We went to Darin's parents for lunch. And the whole family was there. It was awesome. There we probably 50 people!! Then to my parents for dinner and there were probably 30 people there!
Every Friday night we have our God Son Tariku spend the night and then Saturday is full of indoor soccer. Its a blast and that now fills our weekends.
I have been working on the Ordinary Hero fundraiser. Trying to sell those shirts.
My lovely friend Danielle and I are dreaming big!!! Check out her blog at www.daniellesdance.blogspot.com (more on that to come soon!!!) But that has also consumed a lot of my thoughts. All I can say is that life is so exciting and I feel humbled and blessed when I think of the loving, supportive people in my life.


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My Mom and Dad on my dad's 50th birthday. They still look like a couple of teenagers! Love them
My dad's new hobby is making a boat. So one of his friends though it would be funny to make a mini Arc with my dad on it. So funny Millers!





Surprise!!!!!

Oh the pre teens in my life....