Hi

How To Encourage People Who Are Adopting

2011-10-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

My America World Adoption Association yahoo group has been discussing both positive and negative comments that we have received concerning our adoptions. A fellow adoption mom complied all our experiences and posted it on her blog. PLEASE, PLEASE go check it out! International adoption is so difficult and it helps to know how to encourage the people you know.

Thank you to all the AWAA moms to be for their honest words.

We have had our fair share on hurtful comments, unintentional snubs, and careless words. I think it is always good to try to understand how other people are feeling. It is so easy accidently hurt someone's feelings. This blog entry gives you a good idea of what to say and not to say. Anyway, check it out. I think it will be helpful!

http://ourethiopiandaughter.weebly.com/

Love, Laura

Mission Trip Pictures!

2011-07-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

Zamara and Laura had a chance to go on the San Carlos Apache AMOR Mission Trip with our church back in June. Laura made all the food for the group while they worked on the construction of a house.

It was a great trip and ZiZi's first mission trip and camping trip, as well. Here are some of the pictures from the trip.

We feel so blessed to have these opportunities! What an amazing trip! Can't wait for more to come.

LkdDesigns @ Flagstaff Farmer's Market

2011-06-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Just a heads up to come out and support Laura at her first appearance at the Flagstaff Farmer's Market on Sunday June 19th from 8am-12pm. Look for the LkdDesigns sign/booth. You, as a loyal follower of this blog, will get absolutely no discount whatsoever. See you there!

Location: City Hall West Parking Lot on Route 66 by the Main Public Library

Zizi and Kate on the AZDailySun Front Page!

2011-05-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

Go to http://www.azdailysun.com/ TODAY (Monday) to check it out or buy the paper. There's a little slideshow on the Daily Sun website. When you go to the page, it will scroll through the slides. They are #4 in the slideshow. If you miss it on Monday, here's the pic.

The Ducommun's are Featured in a new Adoption Book!

2011-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family! I wanted to let you know about this amazing book that has just been released. It is all about how to fund international adoption without going into debt. It is called Adopt Without Debt.

We were featured (along with several other friends and fellow-adoptive families) for our rag

doll fundraiser (see page 93-94 in the book).

I just got the book in the mail and I can tell you that it is a really great resource on adoption, handling money, and fundraising. If you know if anyone who is adopting (domestically or internationally) I would highly recommend it.

You can buy it on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Adopt-Without-Debt-Creative-Adoption/dp/0983539804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304980983&sr=1-1) but it is temporarily out of stock.

You can also get the book from the author's website: http://adoptwithoutdebt.com/.

It is a great book and we feel honored to be a part of it. Thank you Julie Gumm for including our story and fundraiser.

We are currently still fundraising for adoption #2. Please check out my rag dolls at www.lkdKids.etsy.com or if you live in town you can purchase one at Babies To Kids (on Steves Blvd) or U.T.O.P.I.A (downtown on San Fransisco St). If you know of anyone who might like one please go and pick one up. They make great bday presents or baby shower gifts. I also make custom dolls to look like any child, just let me know what you want. 100% of the sales will go toward our adoption expenses.

You can also make a tax-deductible donation in our name to Lifesong for Orphans. It is tax deductible and will go directly to our adoption expenses. www.lifesongfororphans.org. Make sure to list it is for the Ducommun family.

UPDATE ON OUR ADOPTION: We are still waiting for a referral and trying to keep ourselves busy. We are hoping to get "the call" that we have been matched with a child in the next 3-4 months. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we try to be patient and wait.

Some Good News!

2011-04-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in the last few weeks, but a lot has happened in the adoption world. I have been waiting to see how everything is going to play out.

After I posted my last blog entry, we received an email from our agency saying that MOWA, now under a new name, is back up and running in Ethiopia and working on getting paperwork completed as fast as they can. Everyone involved seemed to think there were a lot of positive steps taking place.

Over the last few weeks we have seen several of our fellow AWAA families pass court. That was another encouraging sign that things were beginning to move forward in Ethiopia. It was a blessing and all the families took a big collective sigh of relief.

To make things even better, this week, we got news that there were 6 referrals for AWAA families! It was such an exciting time. Lots of tears and prayers all around. We have a group of AWAA Ethiopia families who all participate in a yahoo chat group. Not all the families in the program are in the group, but a good majority of us are.

We have an informal posting of each family, their dossier submission date, and their child(ren) request. For several months we stayed at the same number...21. Finally this week we have officially moved into the teens! We are currently #17 for an infant boy and #19 for an infant girl. It was great to see our number jump up so much in just a few days!

We are still not expecting a referral for several months, though. It could be even longer and we are preparing ourselves for another 6-9 months. I would rather have the worst case scenario in our minds and be pleasantly surprised with good news.

I am including some pictures from our trip to pick up Zamara in Ethiopia of children from Kids Care Orphanage and the AWAA Transition Home. It is a great reminder for us to keep remembering why we are adopting in the first place. Just looking at these amazing little faces and I remember why we were called to adopt in the first place.

Trying to Get My Heart to Listen to My Brain

2011-03-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

For whatever reason today has been a rough day for me personally. As most of you know, our paperwork (called our dossier) has been in Ethiopia for 4 months now. At that time our agency said to expect a referral anywhere from 5-8 months after sending your paperwork to ethiopia. In my heart I dreamed that since we are open to a special needs child that our referral would come even quicker than that. It was a silly dream and in my head I knew that in reality it was not going to happen like that. As I look at our number in line I don't see us moving up the list very quickly. Last week we were family #21 and now we have moved backward to family #22 again! Grrr! I know there are families ahead of us in line that make changes and that can affect our ranking. With Zamara's adoption we were family #5 for over 3 months! In my head I understand all this, but my heart doesn't seem to want to listen. Looking over our agencies statistics over the last year, it seemed that referrals were coming quickly! Some months there were over 15 referrals! That would mean being number #22 would only last a couple of months...in theory! But since January, the referrals have barely trickled in a few per month.

Since we started our adoption 15 months ago, we have had a couple large hits...

Last March (after being in the adoption program for 4 months) Ethiopia changed their adoption laws so that families now have to travel to Ethiopia twice. It was a huge blow to all of us. Financially the cost of adoption would raise another $6000+ for the extra travel and in country costs. In addition, we would now travel to Ethiopia meet our child and then have to come home to USA and leave him/her for several months before heading back to pick him up. One of the reasons we chose Ethiopia over other countries was because we didn't have to do this. I could not imagine leaving my child in a foreign country for any reason!! Because of the new law, that was exactly what we were going to have to do. It was heartbreaking!

When I look back at our adoption of Zamara I cannot even fathom letting her go for even 5 minutes, let alone having to leave her for potentially several months. But I think Craig and I took it in stride and tried our hardest to trust in God's provision to carry us through, both financially and emotionally. We understand that international adoption is full of unknowns and this is just part of what we signed up for.

Fast forward to the first week of March 2011. Our agency emails us another bombshell. The Ethiopian agency who handles the adoptions, MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) had it's budget cut by 80%. What this would mean for us is a HUGE backup of children going through the system: i.e. fewer referrals, longer wait time between travel, more children left in the orphanages for longer times, etc... Potentially we would have to wait another 12-18 months between getting our referral and traveling to meet them for the first time. It was almost too much for us to even fathom!

Over the last few weeks adoption agencies in Ethiopia have been meeting with various government officials and agencies in Addis trying to find out what is really happening and how we can reverse this problem. At this point, we have no idea what the exact fall-out will be. We do know that this will slow down the program significantly, but since it has only been a few weeks, there has not been enough time for families to see how it will all play out.

As some of you may recall, we had a similar situation when we tried to adopt from China. When we first began the process in 2005 the China program was running along quite smoothly. By the time we had sent our dossier to China the program had slowed down from a 9 month wait for a referral to over 2 years! It was heartbreaking for us to leave this program and start over again with Ethiopia. My heart still grieves over that chinese baby that was never ours. And now it feels as though it is happening all over again.

Up to this point I have held it together fairly well. When Craig would freak out I would say, "Well, it sucks, but there is nothing we can do about it so let's not get upset. And besides, things may change again in a few months" I have been saying this for 2 weeks now, and I almost think I just might believe it. If only my heart could seem to hear it too! For some reason, my brain and heart are not communicating very well. Today I have really struggled with everything that has happened. It is a frustrating feeling to feel completely helpless to change the situation. Of course I know all the right answers, "God is in control", "God wouldn't have put this on your heart if He didn't intend to carry you through it", "God has blessed us in so many ways, of course He will bless us through this situation", etc...etc...if only my heart could hear all of this. All I know at this point is that there are hurting children in Ethiopia who need Mommy's and Daddy's. God does not intend children to grow up in over-crowded, understaffed orphanages. My child may already be born and is waiting for us to come and get her. I cannot bear to be apart from my baby for as long as I may be required to be...and all because a corrupt government is trying to make power play.

In my brain I know we are on the right path. I KNOW we have been called to adopt internationally. When I look at Zamara I know we made the right choices in the past and I know the same thing will happen once we are on the other side of this process.

Perhaps tomorrow my heart will finally listen to my brain...

Zamara is 3!

2011-03-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome 3rd birthday party for Zamara. Can't believe she is 3!!!! Tons of friends, a bounce house, cake pops, and musical chairs. It was very fun! Here are some pictures...

A few more pictures

2011-03-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

Birthday Pics

2011-03-12T20:55:00.000-08:00

More Pics from Bday Party

2011-03-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Zamara turns 3!

2011-03-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

I made cake pops for Zizi's bday party. They turned out really amazing (thank you Sharon for helping decorate them at 11pm at night!!!), but they were more work than I anticipated.

What do you think?

If you want to know how to make them go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXCm7XTKXRc&feature=fvsr. It is a great video and is easy to follow.

Tax Deductable Fundraising!!!!

2011-02-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

First Ballet Class!!

2011-01-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Zamara's first time at ballet class. Her good friend, Kate, has been taking ballet since last fall and has loved it. In December we all went to see the Nutcracker together and ZiZi has been excited about ballet ever since. So we decided to give it a try.

First off, it was very cute to see a 3-year olds ballet class. They tend to roll around on the floor and look in the mirror more than they dance, but it was so adorable to see them in the class wearing their tights and ballet slippers. There were only 4 girls in the class and I think that helped to keep them focused.

I was so proud of our little Z. She was not nervous at all and just walked right into the room when class started. I think it helped that she had her friend Kate there with her who already knew the ropes. Her teacher was amazing and did a lot of fun stuff while teaching them some basic techniques.

Zamara was so proud of herself when class was over. We let her wear her "ballet costume" (as she calls it) home and while I was making dinner she danced around the house doing some of the moves she learned in class. Every few minutes she would come running into the kitchen to show me her dancing and then run back into the living room to practice some more.

So, I think we will sign her up for the semester and see how it goes. I am including some pictures of the big class.

Jesus Conversation!

2011-01-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

At bedtime, once teeth are brushed and jammies are put on, we snuggle in the lazy boy rocker and talk about the day, pray, just plain snuggle.

The other night I was snuggling with Zamara and we were talking about the people we loved. I told Zamara that I loved Jesus the very best and she asked me "Why?" I said, "I love Jesus because He loves me and took away all my sins."

She asked, "What are sins?". I said, "Sin is when we do something naughty."

Zamara said, "Oh, OK" then asked, "He takes ALL our sins away?"

I said, "Yes. He takes all our sins away if we ask Him."

To this she said, "Actually, He only takes some of them away, though."

So we went on for a few minutes with me trying to explain that yes, Jesus does take all of our sins away. It was a very cute conversation and so purely simple that it almost brought a tear to my eye. She has also been trying out some new vocabulary like, "actually" and "though". She tends to add them on to almost every sentence.

The whole conversation was very adorable and I wish I would have had a tape recording all of it. These are the conversations I want to remember for forever.

More Braid Pictures

2010-12-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

At the hair salon!

2010-12-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today was braid day! I picked Zamara up early from school and we went over to Angie's Hair Salon to get her hair braided. A friend had won a gift certificate at a charity event and passed it along to us. Zamara wanted to have extensions to make her hair longer so she could flip it around her head.

She had a lot of fun. Karen gave her candy, washed her hair, and made her feel very pampered. It took about 2 and 1/2 hours. (whew!) Zi did so great. She sat there the whole time watching videos on the ipod. I think it looks so cute. I didn't get any "after" pictures, but will take some tomorrow morning.

It was all great fun. I love that Zamara is girly and likes this kind of stuff.

Christmas School Program

2010-12-16T11:25:00.001-08:00

Last night was ZiZi's school program. It was so cute!! She did such a good job (very little nose picking-which was an improvement from last year). We have video too but I haven't checked it out yet to see if any of it was usable. It was kinda dark in the auditorium and the pictures didn't turn out so great. Well, enjoy!

Also, today is hair braiding day at the salon! So excited to see what Zamara will look like. I am a little misty eyed thinking about this being her first time to the salon for braids. I will post pictures and video soon.

Merry Christmas,

Laura

Thankgiving Pics

2010-12-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving here in Flagstaff. Craig's parents came to visit. We had a lot of fun and did a ton of cool stuff. We went shopping on Black Friday, ate a lot food, made a gingerbread house, watched movies, played 3-year old board games, and drove to Williams (exciting, I know!).

Zamara's 99 Cents Store Adventure!

2010-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

As some of you may have heard over the last few months, we have been struggling with potty training. She had been doing good all summer and then fall hit and she started to throw fits whenever we even mentioned the potty to her. We have tried all sorts of methods: stickers, candy, princess underpants, etc...NOTHING DID THE TRICK. It did not bother her in the least when we threw away her precious "Arial undies". And that is saying a lot since she is in love with princesses. She just doesn't care if she has an accident in her panties. It seemed to be worse while she was at school since the teacher had 6 kids to look after and didn't have time to look for the "signs" that ZiZi was about to go potty in her pants. So it seemed for more than 2 weeks Zi would come home in not only a diaper but new clothes as well since hers got soiled.

The problem is not that Zamara doesn't know how to use the potty or doesn't know when she has to go, it has to do with control. I am convinced of that. She is very stubborn and willful. She had just decided that she wasn't going to go potty on the toilet anymore.

This last week though, we had a bit of a breakthrough. It wasn't anything we did, mind you. She just decided that she wanted to use the potty again. She even said things like, "Mommy, I need to go potty." It was amazing! So after 1 week with NO ACCIDENTS we decided to reward her.

On Saturday while Craig was at work, Zizi and I emptied her piggy bank and collected $1.15. I had her put the money in her purse along with a few other needed items (i.e. Buzz Lightyear action figure, a fake care key, a mirror, and a sippy cup) and we headed off to the Dollar Tree. I told her she could use her money to buy anything in the store she wanted. She was so excited. I even brought her little toy shopping cart so she could wheel it around the store and collect her items.

She was so excited and obviously felt very grown-up as we headed to the store. She was clutching her purse and kept checking to make sure her money was there. As we walked in the store, she put her purse in the front of the cart ("just like mommy does at the grocery store"). Our plan was to find several items that she MAY want, put them in the cart, and then make a decision at the end of the expedition.

The toy section is in the back of the store, so as we were heading that way Zamara saw a display of porcelain statues. They were horribly designed and painting was poorly done. Of course, you would expect nothing less from the $1 store! She was riveted, however! She picked out several statues and put them in her cart. One of the statues looked vaguely like Snow White.

So we finally got over to the toy section and we found several fun ideas: princess watch, coloring book, horse-head stick thing you can gallop around on, sparkling tiara, etc...

(side note: as we were looking at toys a boy of about 10 walked by us. Zamara yelled "oww!" and I looked over at her. She told me the boy had pinched her. She usually tells the truth, so I am not sure what happened or why the boy would pinch her.)

Once we had all the items collected, I spread them out on the floor and let her decide which one she wanted to buy. She loves watches, so I was thinking she would choose the princess watch. However, she waled right over the Snow White figurine and said, "I want this one". I tried to dissuade her for a few minutes by talking up the virtues of the watch, horse-head, and other items, but her mind was set! It wasn't that I didn't want her to have the figurine, I was just worried that she would try to play with it and it would break, and then she would have a meltdown.

We quickly put away the other items and headed to the check out counter. She put her statue on the conveyor belt and started to collect her money from the bottom of her purse. When it was our turn, she handed the checker her money, he handed her the change along with a receipt, and we headed out the door. She had the figurine in one hand and the change/receipt in the other. As we got in the car, I asked her if she wanted to put the change/receipt in her purse. She did not. She wanted to hold it. As we drove home, she looked lovingly at the Snow White statue and continued to say, "She is SOOOO beautiful". It was enough to almost break your heart (of course, she also said a strip mall was "sooooo beautiful" so I am not 100% clear on what her criteria is for "beautiful").

Anyway, Snow White now sits on the shelf in her room. 5 days later, she is still very happy with her first "real purchase". And I am happy to say, that Snow White is still in one piece.

Have a great day!

Laura

We are officially DTE!!!!!

2010-10-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family! As of today, we have completed our paperwork (called our Dossier) for adoption #2!!! ...and it only took 10 months. (whew!) Yesterday we received our last piece of paperwork in the mail. Today I went down to Kinkos to make 4 copies of all of it.

So, before everyone gets too excited, let me explain what comes next in the process:

It should arrive in Virginia at the main AWAA office on Monday. If everything looks good then it will be sent to the Ethiopian Embassy in DC to be Authenticated and then it's off to Ethiopia. When that happens we receive our DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) number. This number tells you where you are at in line to get a referral. With our last adoption we were family #21 which meant that we could track approx. when our referral would come by knowing who had already received their referral. When we got up to #19, we knew we were close. The Ethiopia program has grown substantially so it will be interesting to see what number we are at after 3 years.

Our agency cannot give us an exact time frame since there are tons of variables in the process. Anyone who has been to a foreign country can understand how easily things change. They have given us a estimated time for referral from DTE to be 4-8 months for a healthy child ages 0-12 months. We are requesting a child 0-12 months, either gender, and we are open to special needs. This may or may not speed up the process for us.

So in a nutshell, we are moving forward, but we still have a while to wait. It is good to be over the hurdle of completing the dossier, though. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare to wait. This is by far the hardest part of the process and prayers for patience would be appreciated!

End of June Pictures

2010-07-07T22:12:00.001-07:00

June has been a very crazy month. We have done tons of stuff. Here are a few things:

1) went to Middle School Camp

2) moved ZiZi to a big girl bed! (she could crawl out of her crib!)

3) Craig's family came to visit: Uncle Mike, Aunt Angie, cousins Logan and Eric.

4) got sick 3 times: the flu, a cold, the flu again

5) ZiZi got sent to the "principals office" at school for kicking her classmates during nap time.

6) went to Phoenix for the 4th of July.

Here are some pictures of the events of the last month

Oregon Trip

2010-06-30T10:15:00.001-07:00

In May we visited my family in Oregon. We had such a fun trip!!! It was very laid back. We did a few fun things though. Abbey's Pizza! A trip to the Oregon Coast! A combined birthday party for Travis and Craig. Visits from Brad, Sarah, and Patti, and Andrea. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Cute quotes from Zamara

2010-05-13T10:26:00.001-07:00

at the dinner table: "Dear Jesus-God, thank you for mommy. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for food. Amen!"

while hiking on a windy day: "The trees are singing. They say 'I love you'".

in front of our senior pastor: "Mommy has boobies"

this morning while blowing her nose: "eating boogers is no-no. Yukkie!"

talking about her friends at school: "I pinch Aiden. It no-no. I go time out".

talking about Daddy: "Daddy boy. He handsome!"

Sedona!

2010-04-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring everyone! it snowed this week in Flagstaff...I guess Flagstaff doesn't know it 's spring yet. Zamara and I headed down to Sedona with Michael and Kyla Garrison and their little girl Kate, one of Zamara's friends. We had a good morning and afternoon walking around and enjoying the sunshine. Daddy had to work so he couldn't join us. I love the picture of the 2 girls in front of the fountain back to back. Kyla mentioned that whenever they sit next to each other she thinks of the song "Ebony and Ivory". I do too!!! So cute!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T22:55:00.001-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend. Craig worked most of the weekend so it was mainly Zizi and I hanging out together. We had a lot of fun! Friday morning we went to Stroller Strides for class and then an egg hunt. There was a professional photographer there getting pictures. She took the amazing picture of Zizi in the hat. Later in the day we took a bath and then made it to the Good Friday Service at our church.

Saturday was pretty boring with the exception of making lemon scones (yum!) and macaroni neclaces. Zizi was the chef and did a great job with both projects!

On Sunday we made it to church (with only 2 morning meltdowns over clothing and what I can only imagine was a tantrum because I put the strawberries on the wrong part of her plate), went to brunch with the Garrisons, and then had an egg hunt and dinner at our house with the Garrisons and Grayums.

Overall it was a fun Easter. This year Zamara realized there was candy inside the eggs and we had to make an effort to keep it out of her hands...she still found some and we had a hard time getting her to sleep after all the sugar.

The "paci" fairly is coming on Wednesday and taking all of Zamara's pacis to babies all over the world who need them. She does not need them since she is now a "big girl", which she enjoys reminding me of at least a few times a day. HOWEVER, this girl is addicted to her pacis. She tells me she dreams about them at night. To help ease the blow the Paci Fairly will also be leaving her with some new springtime jammies as a gift (Daddy messed up this morning and mentioned that "mommy and daddy were going to shop for her new jammies today". To his credit he did try to recover by saying that we were shopping with the Paci Fairy). Hopefully that fact has slipped her memory. We have been talking about it for a while, but I don't think she really understands that she will no longer have pacis to sleep with. We are praying for a smooth transition but we are expecting a few sleepless nights as she adjusts to not having them.

We hope everyone had a great Easter. We look forward to talking to you all soon.

blessing, Laura

First Prayers and Easter Eggs

2010-03-31T20:05:00.001-07:00

Every night at dinner we pray for the meal. If we forget, Zamara will always remind us half way through dinner. Over the last few months she has been learning to pray by repeating what we say. We usually keep it simple and to the point.

Tonight we prayed and she repeated us as usual. Half way through dinner she said she wanted to pray again. So we stopped eating and folded our hands and she said her very first prayer all by herself!!!

"Dear Jesus, thank you for dinner. Amen"

It was soooo cute. Craig and I both got tears in our eyes.

After dinner we colored Easter eggs. It was a very fun night!

Have a great Easter everyone!

The Ducommuns

ZiZi's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-03-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

More Pictures to choose from

2010-02-26T21:47:00.001-08:00

Here are 5 more pictures to choose from. Check out the post below this one for 5 more photos.

Pictures...which one do you like?

2010-02-26T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today a photographer was going to come over and take some family pictures for ZiZi's 2nd birthday. She called this morning to say that she was sick and didn't want to spread germs, so we had to reschedule. Since we already had things set-up we decided to take some of our own.

They aren't professional, but we would love your feedback. Which one(s) do you like?

Zamara is turning 2!

2010-02-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Zamara's birthday is just around the corner (3-8-08) and we have been trying to figure out a good time for a party. March is shaping up to be a crazy month for the Ducommuns so we will let you know a date as soon as we can figure one out.

Friends and family have been contacting us about what ZiZi might like for her birthday. After much deliberation we have decided to do something different for her birthday.

After Zamara was found at the church in Addis Ababa, she was taken to an orphanage called Kids Care. She was only there for about 2 months before being moved to our agencies Transitional Home. We were blessed to get to visit Kids Care when we traveled to Ethiopia to pick ZiZi up. It is such an amazing facility. We were completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of children they are taking care of. We went into room after room filled with children. As you can see by the pictures, the facility is a lot different than what we are used to seeing here in the States, but I can tell you that they do their very best with very little. It is clean and well run. The nannies love on the kids and it shows. Zamara was very well taken care of while she was there.

Both Craig and I feel like we need to give back to this orphanage. We contacted our adoption agency in Ethiopia and were able to get a list of items they could use. So in lieu of gifts for Zamara, we would like to put together a box to send to Kids Care. Below is a list of items they need:

Donation Items You may send for Orphanages and Transitional Home

Paper Towels
Children’s clothing (new or slightly used); Boys and Girls; sizes 0-8 years. Clothing needs include day clothes (especially pants), pajamas, underwear, and shoes.
Diapers size for up to 30 pounds
Toys to stimulate babies such as colorful objects, rattles, etc. that are appropriate for babies up to 2 years
Unscented baby wipes
Powder formula with DHA/RHA
Lactose free formula
A + D Original Ointment, Diaper Rash and All-Purpose Skincare Formula;
Hand Sanitizer
Pens (to use as gifts at appointments, etc.)
Candles
Children’s Notebooks
Underwear for older children

Medications/Medical items:

· Multivitamins

o Tri-vi-sol (o to 6 months)

o Poly-vi-sol (6 months to 2 years)

o Chewable multi-vitamin (2 years to 9 years)

o Adult multivitamin (9 years plus)

· Tylenol (acetaminophen)

o Infants

o Children's

o Suppository

· Syringes for giving medicines (5mL)

· Plastic and Latex disposable gloves

· Baby nose saline spray

· Neosporin

· mouth and nose masks

· Benadryl liquid/elixir

· Permetherin for scabies

· Lice kits

· Toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss

We know this is a long list and we are not expecting to send everything. In addition, we will have to ship internationally we would like to try to keep the box a reasonable size and weight. We would love it if you would like to help us collect some of these items.

As we mentioned above we will be having a party for Zizi and we have a few gifts we will be giving her. She really doesn't need a whole lot (she has a ton of toys and clothes already). If you would still like to get her a small gift it would be welcomed, but not expected.

We are excited to be able to help Kids Care and to teach Zamara about giving back to those in need. Please let us know if you have any questions about the donations.

Check back soon for confirmed birthday party date and time. For those of you in the Flagstaff area, we will be sending out birthday invitations.

blessings,

Craig, Laura, and Zizi

We have Poo in the Potty!

2010-02-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

This last weekend we went down to Phoenix on a mini-vacation. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect--75 degrees! We did a ton of fun stuff! I will be sending more pictures in the next week or so, but I just had to share our exciting news.

She will, of course, be mortified when she gets older, but we are so excited that our little girl did her first poo in the potty. She has been sitting on the potty for a couple of weeks now but this is our first official "landing". It happened on Sunday morning while we were getting our swimsuits on for pool time. She was so proud of herself. We HAD to get pictures of the event. So cool! Our little girl is growing up! We all did a little happy dance and she got to flush the toilet.

So here is our "racy" picture. I apologize in advance for those of you with weak stomaches...after 13 years of youth ministry it doesn't even phase me.

I JUST WON THE "WORST BLOGGER AWARD"! (JK)

2010-02-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

So I know I am really terrible at blogging. I have come to terms with it and so should all of you (is there actually anyone left out there still tuning in?)

I should probably start out by announcing that WE HAVE BEGUN THE ADOPTION PROCESS AGAIN. We are currently collecting paperwork for our Home Study. Our goal is to have our dossier sent to Ethiopia by June 1. This may not be possible, but I am working hard toward that goal.

This time we are asking for a child under 12 months, either gender. We can't wait to see who God brings into our lives this time.

Zizi is very excited to be a big sister. She is quite bossy and will be a great big sister. Right now she only gets to boss around the cats ("no, no! Budderfiga" she says when the cat gets up on the counter), so I am sure she will love having someone smaller then her to keep in line.

I also have been promising Christmas pictures...I know it is already Feb. But anyway, better late than never. Here are a few to tide you over until I post again..

more snow pictures

2010-01-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

more snow pictures

2010-01-22T10:11:00.001-08:00

SO MUCH SNOW!

2010-01-22T09:57:00.001-08:00

We are in the middle of the craziest storm right now. Since Sunday we have had AT LEAST 4 feet of snow. This final storm should last until Saturday morning. We have been all snug in our house for 2 days straight now. We are all going a little stir crazy. This morning our heater went out. Craig is up on the roof right now trying to see if there is a problem with the vent. It is a little scary to have Craig up there with so much snow and ice. Luckily we have 2 fireplaces--one upstairs and one downstairs so we are doing ok.

We sledded down our driveway yesterday and made a snow man (Zizi's first!). The snowman is now buried in the snow we received overnight. We went out today and sledded, but Zizi wasn't too excited about it. I think there was just too much snow. I am thinking it must have scared her. It was WAY over her head.

I am adding a bunch of pictures to this entry and the one after it. These first 2 pictures are of our back yard. The first one is a picture I took yesterday and the 2nd one is the picture I took today. You can really see how much snow has accumulated overnight.

By the way, you can see these and more pictures on my facebook page: Laura Kieschnick-Ducommun.

We hope everyone is doing well.

Preschool Christmas Program

2009-12-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday Zamara had her first Christmas program with her school, Abundant Life Preschool. She was amazing! Well, she picked her nose through the whole second song, but she was still amazing.

Here is the video.

Cutest Video Ever!

2009-12-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

This video doesn't really need any explanation. We took it on the way home from sledding today. How adorable is our daughter?!? SERIOUSLY, she is amazing! She can say Addis Ababa better than we can!

Sledding Video

2009-12-13T21:40:00.003-08:00

We went sledding this afternoon after ZiZi's nap. It is actually a drainage ditch near our house, but when it snows it is perfect for sledding. We were not sure how she would do after her meltdown on Tuesday about the snow. But she had so much fun...after each run she would say, "ZiZi's turn!" Craig did much better with her. The 1 (and only!) run I did with her ended up in a bit of a crash. She was fine though, once I got all the snow out of her nose. We only did 5 runs and figured we should leave while she was still having fun and not after another meltdown.

3 feet of snow!

2009-12-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to 3 feet of snow...IT WAS CRAZY! We tried to walk around the neighborhood and go sledding but the snow was too deep to walk and it was too fluffy for really good sledding.

You can see the picture of Craig with Zizi on his shoulders--the snow is up past his thighs. Zizi got tired 1/2 way through the walk. In some of the pictures it looks like she is laughing but I am pretty sure she was crying. I hope we didn't traumatize her too much!

We stayed in the house the rest of the day. I made Zizi a tutu and we danced around for a while. Craig tried to make it into work but got stuck on the road in front of our house. A few of our neighbors had to come and help him out!

I also straightened Zizi's hair while she was watching Tigger and Pooh. I had wanted to do it for a long time. It doesn't look too great yet. It needs to grow out more and I need to use the right products so that it comes out silky instead of frizzy. But it was fun to see how different she looks with straight hair.

First Snow!

2009-12-07T09:31:00.001-08:00

It is snowing and I am putting off going into work and driving in it. It is beautiful to look at, but not so fun to drive in. This is our first snow storm of the year. We got up, had breakfast, and bundled Zamara up in her snow clothes. Since she was so little last year, this is the first year she has ever really played in the snow. We had a great time. Zizi spent a lot of time eating the snow and licking off her runny boogers. We tried to make a snowman but there wasn't really enough snow on the ground. We did make a snow angel, though. After work today we will try to go sledding if the snow sticks around.

Thanksgiving in Denver

2009-12-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. We got home from Denver on Monday evening. We had a great trip visiting Craig's family. We were busy the whole week, but had an amazing time with everyone. Zamara really loves to be with family. I miss those times when we are here in Flagstaff just the 3 of us. Here was our week in a nutshell:

Tuesday: we drove from Flagstaff to Phoenix and spent the night. We had fun swimming in the pool before bedtime

Wednesday: few from Phoenix to Denver. Very uneventful. Got the rental car and stopped at Mustard's Last Stand for hot dogs on the way to Craig's parents house.

Thursday: Thanksgiving, of course! Craig Uncle Ron and Aunt Virginia came over with the 3 boys. Ethan loved Zamara. They held hands most of the day--very cute. Ethan was so good with her.

Friday: early morning shopping, lunch at Parisi, and then off to see Santa Claus at the downtown tree lighting in Littleton.

Saturday: This was a big day--we took Zizi to Casa Bonita for the first time. It's the Disneyland of Mexican Restaurants--as cousin Chris would say (we later found out he stole the line from SouthPark). Zizi loved Casa Bonita! She could have eaten the chicken and cheese enchaladas all night! We also took the lightrail to downtown Denver and walked around for a while before we went to Casa Bonita

Sunday: church, swimming, and celebrating Grammy and Papa's birthdays at Red Robin.

Monday: we flew back to Phoenix and then stopped at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner.

Christmas Gifts

2009-11-20T15:52:00.001-08:00

Oh it's that time again...lots of you have been asking what to get ZiZi for Christmas. She would anything you get her. But that being said, here are a few ideas:

1. We are giving her a princess "kitchen" that we found at a baby consignment store in town called Maddie and Mo's--since I had a credit there, it didn't have to pay anything for it. So she could use some things to go with it: play food, pots and pans, dishes, etc...

2 The only other gift we are getting her is a barbie doll. So anything to go along with that would be great. Clothes, accessories, etc...

3. Anything for dress up. She loves hats and clothes and shoes

4. DVD's: Veggietales, Disney, Yo Gabba Gabba.

5. We started a college fund for her so if you would like to contribute to that, we would also appreciate it as well. (And since she is so young she wouldn't know if you gave her that instead of a toy, anyway). I know it is not as exciting, but I know she would love it.

6. She loves books as well. She really likes ones with a lot going on on each page.

7. She also has an American Girl Bitty Baby (thank you uncle Mike and aunt Angie!) and she loves to dress her and undress her, but we only have the one outfit for her. I think Zizi would love to have more outfits for her.

Lastly, Craig and I don't really need anything for Christmas but if you really would like to get us something here are some ideas:

We bought a Wii and a WiiFit so we always like new games for that

Craig loves Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, etc...

I love Anthropologie, Bath and Body Works

And as always here are a few recent pictures. The first 2 are from the night we put together our Operation Christmas Child boxes for children all around the world. You can still help out: go to www.occ.org for more info. In the last picture, Zamara finally realized that she has pockets on most of her clothes. Doesn't she look cute?

love, Laura

Some not too bad pieces of media

2009-11-19T09:18:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

I have been meaning to post about a few things for way too long so here I am. Real quick.

A great song to download..."daylight" by Matt & Kim. I think the album is called Grand.

Other good songs we've recently come across..."Obiero" by Ayub Ogada. Album is called En Mana Kuoyo. We came across this song on a really cool Flagstaff photographer's website. It was Kdi or Ldi photography or something like that. Good luck finding that in a google search! I dare you! Anyway, very cool pix. I think Laura and I have finally found a local photographer that we would be EXCITED about having take pictures. Yeah! I think Beth from Laura's Stroller Strides community recommended that one. Good rec!

Also, another Beth recommendation....."Yo Gabba Gabba". An incredibly cool kid's show. You know that kid's show that you hope exists out there somewhere...the one where the parent AND the child like it.....well "Yo Gabba Gabba" is it! I will try to add pix of those three things. Wish me luck!

Finally, 2 movies Laura and I have liked....2012--not nearly as bad as we thought it would be. It was actually quite enjoyable. A summer popcorn movie in the winter. Perfect.

(500) days of Summer. A group of old ladies left the theater right behind us and said, "that movie didn't go anywhere" or something to that effect. Exactly. Great movie.

(not a)LEGAL DISCLOSURE--I GET NO COMMISSION FOR ANY OF THESE RECOMMENDATIONS UNFORTUNATELY.

Zamara-ism

2009-11-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

Last night we had breakfast for dinner--one of our favorites. I made blueberry pancakes (ala the Sneaky Chef recipe). Zamara was in and out of the kitchen while I was making the pancakes. When we sat down to eat she gobbled up her first pancake and then pointed to the stack on the table and said, " more mama cakes, pease."

Sooooo adorable! So now pancakes are called Mama-cakes.

This picture was from last week. I put her hair in two french braids for the day. I took them out before she went to bed. Her hair looked to crazy after I took the braids out. We always have to get pictures of crazy hair!

Halloween

2009-11-07T19:19:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Halloween at our house this year. Zamara went trick or treating with her friends William, Kate, and Alana. The kids all had a lot of fun. At the first house, Alana walked right in the door and down the hall. Once they got the hang of it, they had a blast. Zamara even walked right up to some the doors and knocked. The best part was that Zizi didn't know there was candy inside the wrappers...so Mama and Daddy got the candy!

Pumpkin Carving Party

2009-10-25T20:46:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! We just got home from our friends house. We had a pumpkin carving contest. The parents did all the work. All the kids thought it was too messy. I am also adding a crazy morning picture of ZiZi with Kramer hair.

Aspens in the Fall

2009-10-19T20:45:00.001-07:00

One of the greatest parts of living in Northern Arizona is watching the aspen trees change color each year. This last week Craig's mom was in town and we made 2 trips up to the mountain to hike and take pictures of the fall colors. We borrowed a friend's toddler backpack (Thanks Michael and Kyla!). Here are some pictures...

Labor Day!

2009-09-11T20:12:00.001-07:00

Zamara is officially 18 months old now. She has grown 4 inches since her 1st birthday! She is getting tall and has really thinned out. It is crazy because she is a little girl now, not a baby. She talks constantly and is obsessed with Elmo and Pooh Bear. She puts their names together and calls them "Elmopooh". She is also good at reminding us to pray at mealtimes. If we forget, she will fold her hands and declare "AMEN!" until we pray. She is developing quite a little sense of humor. It is exciting to see her learn new things each day.

Laura's parents came to visit over Labor Day weekend. We had a great time. It was the first Laura's stepdad Ralph had been to our house with Zizi here. We both really appreciate them taking the time to come and visit.

One of the projects we worked on (and are are still working on!) is a play structure in the backyard. It is HUGE! I had no idea how much work would go into it. We are almost done though. We will show you the evolving pictures when we are finished. Zizi loves to play in it even though it isn't done yet.

We also went to the county fair over the weekend. It is a total small-town thing to do. It is not a great fair, but it was good enough. It is always fun to walk around, eat greasy food, and talk to your neighbors. Very fun! Zamara got to see a lot of animals--she was able to pet a chicken--she thought that was pretty cool. We didn't go on any rides, but Zizi played in a bounce house for a little while. I am sure we will be going on A LOT more rides next year.

Zamara had another first today--she got her finger slammed in a door at school for the first time. We are surprised it hadn't happened earlier, to be honest. It seems like little fingers are always in the way when doors are shutting. She is fine. They put some ice on it and gave her some extra cuddles and love. It is swollen, but it didn't seem to hurt her this evening during dinner.

Well, here are some pictures from this last weekend.

Happy Birthday Bekkah!

2009-08-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Laura's sister Bekkah's birthday. Zamara had a very special message to give to her auntie...enjoy!

Disneyland Pictures

2009-08-01T22:26:00.001-07:00

THE PICTURES WE PROMISED

2009-08-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

We have been having problems uploading pictures to our blog. Hopefully this will work. More to come...

pictures!

2009-07-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hi. Sorry it has been so long since we have updated our blog. It has been crazy here for us. We just got back from a BIG trip to Los Angeles with our high school students. Craig took a week off and we brought Zamara along. It ended up being a good trip, but Zizi had a hard time with her mommy working long days. Craig was the pastor's husband the whole week. It was kind of funny because a lot of youth pastor's bring their wives and kids...so Craig was the "house husband" last week. I think he decided that he couldn't do it full time though. It ended up being a good week for our students. God moved in a powerful way.

We flew out a couple days early to spend some family time together. We went to Disneyland. Zizi was too small to really enjoy it, but she was very exicited to meet Pooh Bear. When we got up to the front of the line to meet him, she got very scared. The rest of the day she kept yelling "mickey!" and "pooh!" It was so cute! Our friend JJ had a year pass to Disneyland so he met us there. He is Zamara's self-proclaimed "Godfather", although I have to say that JJ makes a good godfather. She loved him and snuggled right up after only a couple of minutes.

During the week we also went to the beach a couple of times with the students. It was Zizi's first time at the beach. She LOVED the sand, but was a little unsure about the water. She like to point and say "wader", but she wanted nothing to do with the real thing.

The last picture (or maybe the first) is of Zamara's giant puke in the middle of the night. I was out talking with students and Craig woke up to her crying. She had puked in her bed and had gotten it EVERYWHERE! It was very impressive. Craig got a few really good pictures of it. Basically all the food from dinner and her snack had just sat in her tummy waiting to come back up. Craig had to give her a shower in the middle of the night. He said she kept falling asleep in the shower. It was not fun, but now that we can look at the pictures it is kinda funny. Even after the shower, we found puke pieces in her hair the next morning. Poor thing was all huddled in the corner of her pack and play trying to get away from it, but by that time she had already cover herself in it.

2009-07-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to our little local 4th of July Parade. It is the typical small town parade. Zamara had a great time. She loved every minute of it.

Today I got an email from a friend who had found Zamara on someone's web page. It is for a scrapbooking store in town called "About Memories and More". Someone had snapped a picture of Zizi and put it on the webpage. It is an amazing picture!

Here is the link to the site: http://aboutmemoriesandmore.typepad.com/were_so_much_more_than_a_/2009/07/the-4th-of-julyin-pictures.html#comments

More pictures of our trip

2009-06-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of the awesome things we got to do while in Indiana was visit with Sean and Tisha Cox. We traveled to Ethiopia together last august. We picked up Zamara and they picked up thier son Wesley. We had planned on meeting at a park on Memorial Day, but (of course!) it was raining so we ended up meeting at a Pizza Hut. Craig's ENTIRE family came with us. I am sure we overwhemled them a little. It was great to see Wesley, though. He is only a month older than Zamara. He is so darling and quite little character. I can't believe how big he is. We had a great visit and it brought back all the memories of our trip to Ethiopia. It was as though we picked up right were we left off. Zamara fell asleep at lunch so her and Wesley didn't have too much time to interact. It was so fun to have a little reunion. AWAAEthiopia has a reunion this Labor Day in Branson MO, but we won't be able to make it. Perhaps next year...

Our trip to the Midwest

2009-06-03T11:58:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone! We took a trip to Chicago/Indiana over Memorial Day weekend. We had the best trip! Craig's grandparents live in Attica Indiana. We took the trip to see them. It ended up being a big family reunion of sorts. Craig's parents came, his sister Ashley, and his other sister Angie, her husband, and their 2 boys also showed up. Craig's aunt, uncle, and cousin arrived, and then Craig's great and aunt and uncle came for a day. We basically took over the tiny town of Attica. Here are a few pictures of the trip. We will post more pics and more info about the trip later on.

My book

2009-05-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

The book that I have 2 quilts in came out in book stores last Tuesday May 5th. Craig and I stopped by Barnes and Noble on Friday night to see if they were carrying it...and there it was!!!! How cool! If you have a Barnes and Noble (It is probably in other bookstores that carry Lark Books also) go check it out. It is a how-to book of 20 baby quilts. Some of them are amazing! I feel honored to be a part of this project. It is at least worth thumbing through just to see some of these amazing artists.

"Quilts, Baby!"

2009-05-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

I am a proud husband. The book Laura's quilts are in is now in stores. "Quilts, Baby!" should now be in most Barnes and Noble stores as well as many others. We'd love to hear if it's in a bookstore near you. I was so excited to have Laura's work in our local Barnes and Noble that I took 3 or 4 pix. Imagine that! Craig taking pictures! Way to go Laura! Many years of hard work have gone into this. This is a very cool accomplishment. AND...Happy Mother's Day!

Meeting Zamara Video

2009-04-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Referral-versay!

2009-04-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the anniversary of our referral. That is when we learned who Zamara was for the first time. We got her picture, name, and all of her information. It was such a great day for us. I have been working on this video for a while and I have finally finished it and thought it would be fun to show it here. It was the day we met Zamara in Ethiopia for the first time. I am also including a couple pictures of Zamara--the first is her referral picture and the other one is her 1 year later. Pretty amazing, huh?

Time Out

2009-04-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I was at a friend's house for a mommy's night out. Beth's daughter, Lily, is about 18 months old. Lily was acting up and she put her into time out. She actually stayed there for about 2 minutes. I was totally amazed! I didn't know when to start doing time-outs with Zamara (or as the Supernanny would say, sitting on the naughty spot). Beth started doing time-out with her several months ago. Craig and I figured that now was probably the right time to start working on it.

Zamara has been starting to exert her independence lately. Her big thing is walking in the wrong direction as us on purpose and hitting. She does both of those things to get us angry at her and to be defiant.

A few days ago Zamara kept hitting me and wouldn't stop. It wasn't hard, but I had said "no!" several times. I told her that the next time she hit me she would go to time out. She looked me right in the eye and then hit me. So we put her in time out for the first time. We sat her down right by the couch. I had no confidence that she would actually sit there, but she did! She burst into tears and threw quite a little fit on the floor, but she sat there for well over 30 seconds--which is a pretty long time for a 13 month old. It was so cute (and kinda funny) to watch her sitting there wailing her heart out when we were just a few steps away. Total crocodile tears, of course! Then we got her up and asked her to say sorry (which she can't really say yet), gave her hugs and kisses, and told her why she was put into time out. She was in a bad mood for the rest of the night, though. We have not had to really discipline her that much, so I don't think she knew how do deal with it.

We had to do time out again while we were in Phoenix because she kept hitting me again. It worked just as well and she bounced back much quicker. It's been really hard to do but we feel it is the right time to get things started on the "discipline front". That first time was especially rough! Please keep our little family in your prayers that we would make wise, godly decisions that will bring Zamara up to be a girl who loves God with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength and loves her neighbor as herself.

Weekend in Phoenix

2009-04-26T19:39:00.001-07:00

Each year as part of our jobs, we get a weekend off to visit another church in order to see how church is "done" in a different place. So we decided to check out a great church in Phoenix called Scottsdale Bible Church. We decided to spend several days down in Phoenix. We went to the World Wildlife Zoo, swam, and ate at a few good restaurants.

This was our fist trip at a hotel for multiple nights, so we were wondering how Zamara would do. She did great--she didn't sleep through the night at all--but it was pretty good for being in the same room as us and in a different environment.

Here are some things we found out on this trip:

1. Zamara loves petting zoos
2. Zamara hates to eat at PF Chang's (we are not sure why, she just gets grumpy)
3. Zamara loves to swim and play in the water
4. Zamara is afraid of feeding giraffes (I mean have you ever been inches away from a 20 foot tall animal? It's pretty freaky!)
5. Zamara called every animal at the zoo a "cat"
6. Zamara loves Greek food, spaghetti at "The Spaghetti Factory" as well as the chicken nachos at "Cantina Laredo" (the best nachos ever)!

We really had a great time in Phoenix. The weather was beautiful. The Zoo was great. I would recommend it to anyone. All the exhibits were close together and there wasn't that much walking. The coolest part is feeding the giraffes. We will definitely take Zizi back there when she's older. The new aquarium there wasn't our favorite. We'd have to rank Monterrey Bay as #1, Newport, OR as #2 and Wildlife World Zoo as #3.

We also spent some time at an outdoor mall (Desert Ridge- if you want to take your little one there too) where Zamara could play in the fountains. We put her new little bikini on her. She looks so funny in it with her diaper--it doesn't really cover up her booty very well.

In the picture with Zamara on Craig's shoulders, there is a monkey in the left bottom of the screen. I thought I would point it out since it's hard to see him.

It's Sunday night now and we are getting everything unpacked and back in it's place. We will be heading to Illinois and Indiana at the end of May, so this was a great test run for that big trip.

Seriously, you have got to have the chicken nachos at Cantina Laredo! Go now!

Have a great week everyone!

Craig and Laura

YAHOO!

2009-04-21T19:33:00.001-07:00

8 full nights of sleep in a row...let's make it 9!

Dance Class Video

2009-04-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Zamara has been taking a community dance class for a few months now with her friend Aspen. Thursday was her last class so I made sure I got some pictures and video. I used our little digital camera, so the picture quality isn't the best. But Zamara looks cute anyway.

There is not much else going on around here except the usual. However, I will say that Zizi has slept through the night 3 nights in a row...and we are hoping tonight is 4.

It has been snowing on and off all week. It's April!!!! We are so ready for spring I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to take Zamara back to the park, let her play in the sprinkler outside, and all other things you can do in the summer. We have all felt a little cooped up lately.

Finally, last week the publisher that is publishing the book I have two quilts in sent me an adavanced copy. It's called, "Quilts, Baby!" It turned out so great. The other artist's work is amazing and I can't believe I am a part of it. It comes out on May 5 in bookstores. I hope everyone can go down to their local Barnes and Noble and take a look at it. You can also see it online at Amazon.com.

Well, that's about it. Have fun watching the video of Zamara at dance class.

Good night!

Re-Adoption

2009-04-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. We have finally completed the re-adoption process here in the United States. Today we went to court to finalize all the paperwork. And Zizi's name was changed from Liyana to Zamara Liyana. It took all of about 5 minutes in court. Here are the pictures.

Random Pictures from the last few weeks

2009-04-12T13:27:00.001-07:00

enjoy!

Easter Pictures!

2009-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone! I don't think we have blogged since Zizi's birthday. WOW! That was a month ago already. The Ducommun's are doing well. Zamara had a cold, an ear infection, and was cutting teeth all at the same time. She is better now, but there were a couple rough weeks there at the end of March. We actually didn't know she had an ear infection. We thought she might have a urinary tract infection so we took her in to the dr. Her pee was fine, but she had puss in both ears! She hadn't been pulling on her ears at all. She is healed up and back to normal...except the teeth. She is still working on them and is drooling all over the place.

Today is Easter! It is so fun to get to celebrate Jesus' resurrection with Zamara. Of course, we had her all dressed up today for church. She looked adorable. Craig has been working all weekend...literally. I think he got 3 hours of sleep on Friday and 2 hours last night. He just got home from the last of 7 services and is now going to take a nap. Once Zizi wakes up I will be taking her on a field-trip to the mall to let daddy sleep--and do some shopping with mommy!

Yesterday we had planned a big Easter Egg hunt in our back yard with some friends, but it snowed! So we moved the hunt inside. The kids had just as much fun, though. Zamara really got into it. She still doesn't know there is candy inside the eggs. I am completely fine with that because I didn't really want her to have candy before her nap anyway. She just thought they were fun rattles.

So here are some pictures of the weekends festivities. I love the last one with Zamara showing a little baby crack! So funny.

Also, Craig's sister, Aunt Ashley, came to visit this last week. Zamara calls her "Asheee". We had a lot of fun. Zizi misses her aunt so much!

Lastly, today is also my mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMY MARY!

blessings, Laura

Off to school

2009-03-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today Zamara started preschool. We have a great preschool at our church called Abundant Life. We have had Zamara on the waiting list since she was 5 months old. Today was the big day! We were both excited and worried about how she would do in the new environment. She did great, though! She walked in with her Hello Kitty lunchbox looking like a big girl. We got there right at outside playtime, so her teacher took her little hand and walked her outside with the other kids. We watched her for a few minutes through the window as all her little classmates came up to touch her and play. I cried as I watched her. It was just too cute.

Since we both work at the church we peeked in on her all day--her poor teachers were probably sick of us. We were particularly worried about nap time. She is not the best napper, but she did great! She woke up only once and Jolene got her back to sleep fairly quickly.

When we came to pick her up at 4pm, I think she really wanted to stay and play with her new friends. She was happy to see Mommy and Daddy, but she was having fun. I don't think we could have asked for a better first day of school.

BIRTHDAY PICTURES

2009-03-15T13:51:00.001-07:00

Our friends Michael & Kyla Garrison took pictures for us at Zamara's birthday. They did a great job. Some of the pictures look amazing. Zamara wore her traditional Ethiopian Dress. She looked beautiful! When we put it on her with the head wrap (which she pulled off every 2 minutes!) we were awed at how "Ethiopian" she looked.

Above are a few of the pictures:

Zamara is 1 year old!

2009-03-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Today was Zamara's 1st birthday. We had a party this afternoon for her. It was very fun. We had a friend take pictures, so he will be getting those to use in the next few days. We had several friends there. There were lots of little girls running around our house. Zizi loved her cupcake. We have a little video of her eating cake below. It was all very cute. We will post some pictures as soon as we get them.

Zamara also has her 12 month check-up tomorrow...and her dreaded MMR shots. I have heard they are pretty painful, so please keep Zizi in your prayers...and her momma and dada.

We had the weekend off and we spent it getting ready for the party. On Friday we took the short trip to Sedona for a family day. We took some pictures while we were down there and we will post them soon. It was a great weekend!

Laura

My Quilts are being Published!

2009-03-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone. I have some exciting news to share with you. As some of you may already know, I was approached last year by Lark Books about having some of my quilts published. They had found me on my ETSY site (www.lkdDesigns.etsy.com) and wanted me to contribute some of my work to an upcoming book about Baby Quilts. The publishing date continued to get pushed back, but now we have a firm date for when the book will be available in stores beginning May 5th, 2009.

The book is called "Quilts, BABY!". You can pick it up at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and other bookstores that carry Lark Books. I will have two quilts featured in the book. Even if you have no interest in buying it, I would love to hear your feedback. Grab some coffee at Barnes and Noble and just thumb through the book.

Have a great day!

Laura

One week till B-Day

2009-02-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

Hello all. It is one week until Zamara's Birthday and we thought we would take a few pictures. The weather outside was amazing...it was in the 50's. That is amazing for Flagstaff in February. A friend of mine from Stroller Strides also has an ETSY shop. I bought this adorable little dress from her. It is so cute!! I can't wait until it is warm enough for Zamara to wear it without the onesie. You should go check out Colleen's etsy shop: www.justlivmodern.etsy.com. Enjoy the pictures.

Laura

New Pix

2009-02-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

What the heck? Two posts in one day! Laura has inspired me. Here are some more pix from the last few months.

2009-02-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I feel like a real smutz for not adding anything to the blog in so long...and you all have been checking in every so often only to find that we have been lazy. Of course, tons of things have been going on, as I am sure the same has been going on in your lives.

Well, for your viewing pleasure, we have a video of Zamara walking. She started walking last Wednesday...at the babysitter's house of course! Our friend Shawn got to see the monumental first steps. We captured some of it on tape yesterday though. She was very interested in the cat, so she was a little distracted in the video. I cried on Wednesday when I found out I missed the first steps...those darn babysitters! We missed the first crawling too. The Tessmer's were the ones who got to see that first. I did get to see her take her first steps on Thursday morning...where again there were tears, but this time of joy. Zamara is now a busy little girl. All she wants to do is walk now, but she is a bit clumsy and keeps falling. So cute!!

Zamara's birthday is coming up on March 8th. We are having a birthday party at our house from 4:30-6pm on that day. Anyone is welcome to join us. Just let me know so I make enough cupcakes for everyone.

Laura

...and more pictures

2009-01-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

more Christmas pictures

2009-01-11T15:50:00.001-08:00

Christmas

2009-01-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

We were in Oregon over Christmas visiting my family. We had such a good time. Zamara had a chance to meet my family for the first time. She loved meeting her family!!!!

The trip to Portland was a bit of mess. Because of weather, our flight was cancelled and then rerouted to Seattle. We were suppose to arrive in Portland at 1pm, but did not arrive there until 4:30am the next morning. My step-dad and nephew Travis picked us up at the airport in Seattle. The airline also lost our luggage...so we didn't have any luggage or car seat for the week. We had to go out last minute in Seattle and buy a car seat for Zamara. The trip there was very stressful, but Zamara was a trooper. She did great!

We spent Christmas at a beach house. It was very fun to have everyone together. We didn't do much since the weather was rainy. We did get to walk on the beach and go to the Aquarium. Zamara loved the beach and the aquarium!!! We played games and sat by the fire and listened to Christmas music...oh yah, and we ate a lot of food.

Over the weekend the rest of family joined us back at my parents house. It was so fun to get to see everyone.

Here are a bunch of pictures. We took so many great pictures it may take a while to get them all on the blog.

blessings, Laura

Zamara helps around the house

2008-12-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone. We are getting ready to leave for our Christmas in Oregon. We have so many things to remember to pack now that we have a baby. Of course, the last I checked, there were stores in Oregon if we happen to forget anything.

We are very excited to go, but are also anxious since this will be Zamara's first big trip since coming home from Ethiopia. Please pray for our trip.

Zamara also had some immunizations on Monday. They were ones that leave bruises and make the babies a little sick. Every since Monday she hasn't been sleeping well at all. Naps have been the worst, but she has been also waking up several times at night. We are both very tired and hpe to get Zamara back on track soon.

On a positive note, Zamara is healthy and doing great. She is in the 70% for weight, height, and head size. She can turn pages of books as we read them, clap her hands, show us how big she is, crawl, stand holding onto furniture, and show us where her mouth is. She seems to do something new each day. It is nice to know she is thriving so well (even if her naps aren't so good!) in our care. That is always a worry when you adopt a baby.

We also have this little video we took this morning. I was doing laundry and Zamara wanted to help. Craig videotaped the very end, but Zamara helped unload the entire dryer. It was so cute and it show how well she is standing and responding to our commands.

Again we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas,

Laura

Loch Ness

2008-12-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

I had no idea Laura and I made so many references to the Loch Ness monster. Please be assured we will try to limit those for only truly special occasions in the future.

Zamara Meets Santa

2008-12-11T10:45:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone! We have so much going on and so much to share. Zamara is now crawling. We have tried to catch it on video, but that is like trying to get the Lock Ness Monster on video! We will keep trying, though. Keep checking in over the next week and hopefully we can post a video.

We also took Zamara to get pictures with Santa last week. She loved Santa! She was not scared of him at all. She just sat there and giggled at him the whole time. Of course, everyone at the "North Pole" was in love with her--probably because she was one of the only babies that didn't cry on Santa's lap...well that and she looked adorable in her Christmas dress (Thank you Gilder family for the gift!).

We have been busy with work and church. Craig has been working hard on our annual Christmas production. It will be over this week, so Craig's schedule should open up a little bit after that. Oh wait, then we have Christmas Eve services to plan...well, I guess it is just a busy time of year.

We are having a babysitter watch Zamara this Friday night so Craig and I can go out on a "date". It is the only the 2nd time we have allowed someone else to put her to bed since she arrived home in August. I can't believe we haven't been out on a date in almost 4 months! We are very excited to have a few hours with one another. We know Zamara will be fine. Like most new parents, it has just taken some time to feel comfortable allowing others to watch her.

blessings,

Laura

Zamara has learned how to clap

2008-12-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

Zamara recently learned how to clap. Last week we would have to show her how to clap before she would do it on her own. Now she can clap when we ask her to. So check out this short little video clip...

Season's Greetings!

2008-12-01T13:54:00.001-08:00

Season's Greetings.....What does that mean anyway? That phrase just annoys me. What ever happened to Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving? Season's Greetings is like someone saying "regards" to you. Who says that?

Ok, boy, I just got so excited there.

My younger sister and parents were here for Thanksgiving over the past few days. All of them have left over the last 24 hours so I thought I would go ahead and talk trash about them now that they are gone....Ok, here it goes....My little sister---man, could she be any more perfect? She is like the most amazing person I have ever known. I have no idea what happened to her but she is one of the nicest, kindest and most godly people I have ever known. Seriously, if you haven't met her your life is not complete.

And then there's my parents. They really love their family. They always make an effort to see us (even before we got them a beautiful granddaughter!). I really appreciate all the times they have come down to see us in Flagstaff. I am sure their trips will become even more frequent now that Zamara is here. Posted above this are a few pics of our time together. I think, at times, Grandma and I were having a competition for who could take the most pix. I'm pretty sure I won...

Oh, I almost forgot. We ate a whole bunch of M&M's brand chocolate candies. And we ate at a restaurant named "Wendy's" but did not have a milkshake named a "Frosty". (You had to be there)

Wow, this is getting long. The most important part of this post is that I finally got a picture of Zamara's "poo face". This has been like getting a picture of the Loch Ness monster but I finally got it. Her eyes watering up, a constipated smile look. It's hard to describe. I am guessing you will be able to pick out the pic I am referring to. That will be our little game for this post. Pick out the pic from the ones above that is Zamara's "poo face". Hint: It's the first picture.

Season's Greetings!

Craig, Laura and Zamara

Stuff and things

2008-11-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to post a few recent pix for you all. One is of Zamara wearing a sweater that my daughter's mother's sister's husband's mother made. It's very cute and has the cutest buttons ever. Each button is a sheep and there are little strings that look like sheep legs hanging from each button. The other pix are of our trip to Sedona today with Laura's sister Andrea. We've had a great time with Andrea. We'll miss her. Next up is my family coming for Thanksgiving. My mom, dad and both sisters will be here. It should be a whole big barrel of fun! After that we travel to Oregon to visit Laura's family.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!

2008-11-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

Nighttime sleep issues

2008-11-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! We have been very busy. I begin work in 1 week. I can't believe my 3 month maternity leave is coming to an end.

Zamara has been working on cutting her 2 front teeth the last couple weeks. That has put her in quite a cranky mood lately. She is the most cranky in the middle of the night. Last night was one of the worst for us. She woke up at 1:45am and kept us up and down until 4:30am crying. We tried everything, Ibuprofen, diaper change, rocking her to sleep, singing, a small bottle, etc...nothing worked! At 4:30 Craig and I both decided to just let her "cry it out". We closed her bedroom door, closed our door, turned off the baby monitor, put in earplugs, and went back to sleep! We turned on the monitor briefly at 5:15am and all was quiet. We didn't turn on the monitor again until 7:30am. She was awake and crying just slightly. I went in and she seemed like the usual old Zamara. Smiling and happy (although a little extra tired all day) So I am guessing she slept for at least part of the time we had the monitor off.

All of this may not seem like a big deal, but this was the FIRST time we have let her cry it out before. To be honest, I cried a little bit last night too. It was hard to just let her cry! People have been encouraging us to do this when she doesn't want to sleep at night. Up to this point, we just haven't been ready to do it yet. Since she was adopted we worried that she really didn't know if we were going to come back or not. At this point, though, she has bonded very well with us and I don't think we need to worry about that issue so much.

Friends and family have encouraged us all day. After Craig went into work today I went over to our friend Brian and Debbie's house for breakfast. I told them the whole saga from the night before. They were so encouraging that we did the right thing. I cried a little bit before breakfast at their house too!

Hopefully tonight will be a good night. If not, I feel like I may have a little more confidence to allow her to cry herself back to sleep.

Well that is what has been going on lately. Not too exciting for most people, but it has been a big deal to us.

I hope everyone had a good halloween. We will be posting some more pictures soon.

Blessings,

Laura

Halloween Fun!

2008-10-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend we got ready for Halloween. We "helped" Zamara carve her very first pumpkin. Well, she thought it was interesting for about 2 minutes and then Laura spent the next 1/2 hour carving the pumpkin while Craig entertained our daughter. It turned out pretty cute. The close up picture was Craig trying different settings on our camera. She looks so beautiful in this picture, we just had to add it to the blog.

2008-10-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

We have been working on this video since we arrived home from Ethiopia. We wanted to share some of Zamara's history with all of you...and hopefully for her when she is old enough to understand. We know very little of Zamara's background, however we feel so blessed to have her as a part of our lives. Craig and I prayed that God would prepare the right little girl for our family. And He did! I hope this video gives you a little insight into who she is and where she came from. (It is a little long, but worth it. Let us know if it is too long to process on your computer. We hope everyone can watch it)

blessings, Laura

Snowbowl pix

2008-10-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

Like any good, law-abiding Flagstaff family we were obligated to take our new baby up to Snowbowl to try and get some cute family pix amongst the changing Aspens. Well, the changing Aspens part didn't really work out but I think we at least got a few cute family pix. Enjoy! CLICK ON THE PIX TO MAKE THEM BIGGER--ESPECIALLY THE THIRD ONE--MUCH FUNNIER WHEN BLOWN UP!

Sorry it's been so long...

2008-10-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since our last post. We have been busy. My mom came back down to Flagstaff to visit for a week. I was feeling lonely and needed a little help with Zamara. She was amazing! I wish she could have stayed longer. She helped me a lot and I miss her.

Zamara is doing great. She had her first immunizations last week. She did fine but got a little sick from the Flu shot, but nothing too bad. She is growing like crazy and does new things each day. She is right on track for a 7 month old. Her hair continues to fill in. I cannot wait until it is long enough to really have fun with.

She loves to eat whatever we put in front of her. Last night she tried pasta for the first time--real grown up food. She is also learning how to feed herself which is pretty funny to watch. We shot this little video of her trying to feed herself yesterday and thought you might enjoy it.

We have some more video and pictures but we will save it for another day.

blessings,

Laura

First Tooth!

2008-09-27T13:26:00.001-07:00

The Title pretty much explains it there...

New Pix

2008-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some pix from the last week or so. Enjoy! First time with a sippy cup....VERY exciting....for her parents at least. It's so strange saying her first sippy cup was very exciting. But it was. Seriously. At the pool...again. And we just couldn't wait for winter to put this hat on her.

VIDEO!

2008-09-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Our girl can sit!

2008-09-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Last night Zamara sat up by herself for the first time for any length of time. We have been working on sitting, but she would always topple over after about 10 seconds. Tonight was her night, though! She was sitting like an expert! She would start laughing though and kind of fall over. She seemed so proud of herself! She also LOVES the blocks that Aunt Angie and Aunt Ashley made for her.

The other pictures are of daddy and daughter. Craig was eating string cheese and Zamara was laughing like crazy...I'm not sure why, but she was really tickled!

Laura

Fields of Gold

2008-09-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

Just South of Flagstaff is this area right off the freeway just full of yellow flowers/weeds (I don't know which). I found it to be too irresistible of a photo op. Well, I find pretty much anywhere to be too irresistible of a photo op. Here are a few pix.

Halloween Costumes

2008-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Phoenix and tried a few potential Halloween costumes on Zamara. I am sure every first time parent jumps out of their skin with excitement about dressing their little baby up to be a goblin or warlock or witch...wait...we're Christians so that's bad. I mean dressing their baby up as an angel or Bible character....Ok, enough of that. We went to a large big box baby store that will go unnamed and tried on several costumes. We thought both of these options were just about the cutest things we had ever seen. We know which one we bought but the rest of you will have to wait until Halloween. There WILL NOT be a vote on this like we did with baby names. This is just so much more important!

Hugs and Kisses--Craiggers

Pool pictures!

2008-09-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from the pool that I promised you all...and this last one is of baby and daddy watching tennis on TV. They both looked so cute with their round bellies hanging out!!!

A rough week!

2008-09-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

This has been a difficult week for all the Ducommun's in Flagstaff (all 3 of us!). Up until this week Zamara has just been the perfect little baby girl. This week she has been quite fussy. I think the reality of her new life has kicked in and she is having a hard time adjusting. She has been waking up several times a night and not sleeping very well in general. Staying at home full-time has also been more difficult than I thought it would be. I am grateful to be at home, though! I cannot imagine how difficult this transition would be if I also had to deal with working outside the home right now.

I have talking and emailing friends who have gone through similar situations. I have also been reading every book I can get my hands on about how to deal with infants. I know we will get this all worked out, but please keep us in your prayers as we work toward getting our lives into a normal routine. I think there are some real differences with biological kids and newly adopted children. It is hard to sift through all the information and decide what to do in each situation.

On the positive side, Zamara has gained a pound and a 1/2 since we brought her home. She is healthy and growing. Her cold and congestion has gone away. That in itself is a miracle and we feel blessed to have such a healthy little girl.

Yesterday we took her to the community pool. It was her first time swimming. She looked darling in her new swimsuit and ABSOLUTELY LOVED the water! She would have stayed there all day "swimming" around. Her parents were tired, though, so we only stayed for about an hour. We took pictures of her at the pool. Hmmm, I need to find those and get them uploaded to the blog.

Craig is back at work this week. I think that has added to Zamara's overall sour disposition. She loves her mommy and daddy and is the happiest when we are all together. If only we could get paid to stay at home and hang out with our child all day...now that would be a good job! But since we haven't seen a lot of openings for this type of position, Craig will have to continue going to work.

Thanks for all your prayers and for continuing to check up on us every so often. If you get a chance leave us a comment. We love to hear from you all.

Goodnight! Laura

2008-09-05T21:01:00.001-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of Zamara...

Visa Story

2008-08-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Alas, I am finally able to share with you about our visa story...I know all of you are waiting with baited breath for this:

Our adoption agency was having a hard time getting us plane tickets home from Ethiopia (ET from now on). We could get tickets to ET, but all the flights back to the USA were booked. So finally we were able to get a round-about ticket from Addis to Rome to Atlanta and finally to Phoenix. The problem with this itinerary is that a transit visa is required for our daughter to stop in Rome. It is the policy of the Italian embassy that it takes a week to get a transit visa. We did not have an extra week to wait around.

We had to get our US visa for Zamara on Wednesday and then take that to the Italian Embassy to get our Italian Transit Visa on Thursday and then leave ET on Friday night. Rachel and Robel (our in country guides through the adoption agency) had talked with the Italian Embassy and set up a special 1-day turn around on our visa. This was amazing new news since the next available airline tickets wouldn't be available until the end of August. It seemed like everything was coming together.

So we headed off to ET with 3 other AWAA families to pick up our children. On Wednesday we went to the US Embassy and got our US Visas-no problems! The plan was for Robel to take our US visas to the Italian Embassy on Thursday and get those completed. So on Thursday Rachel picks us up at the hotel. We were planning on going to visit the Kids Care Orphanage and then go to lunch at an Ethiopia Restaurant. We were at Kids Care for only a few minutes when Rachel said we had to leave. Apparently the Italian Embassy was telling Robel that they could not issue the transit visa's in less than a week. Whatever they had said several weeks before about getting special expedited visas was no longer going to work. They were very rude to Robel and from what he said, they were not very happy with him.

So Robel left the Italian Embassy and headed to the German Embassy. He had heard that we could get a special German Visa that would work for all European Union countries. However, the German Embassy closed at noon. It was already 11:45am. We had to stop by the hotel to get our paperwork. We ran in and got the papers and drove to German Embassy. They had stayed open just for us. All seemed good. We finished the paperwork and were about to be issued our transit visa's then a German representative came out and told us that a German visa would not work in Rome. We were broken hearted!

We left the German Embassy and headed back over to the Italian Embassy. We spent about a half hour pleading our case to the officials there. They were not happy with us but finally said that they could issue us epidited visa's on Monday (Remember today was Thursday). Since we all had plane tickets for Friday Night (early Sat morning) that was not going to work. However, we thought that maybe we could all change our tickets to Monday night.

So, back to the hotel we went to talk with an Ethiopian Airlines representative. Rachel found out that there were NO tickets available to leave Ethiopia until the end of August. So here was the situation: WE HAD TO GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY THAT FRIDAY! WE HAD TO GET THOSE ITALIAN TRANSIT VISAS!

We headed back out to the Italian Embassy. Rachel admitted on the ride there in the bus that we needed a MIRACLE. We had to get these visas within 24 hours. The whole situation seemed very bleak.

We arrived at the Italian Embassy and Rachel got on the intercom. She was very firm and said that she had to talk with an Italian Representative. We all waited in the bus for over an hour while she was inside the embassy pleading our case. During that time we were all praying and praying. Finally Rachel came out and said that she needed our paperwork RIGHT NOW! After talking with several different people and all of them denying us visa's she finally found someone who would help us. She rushed back in with our paperwork. About 45 minutes later she came out and said that they would have our visas ready the next morning. It was indeed a miracle.

Here's where it gets even more amazing. The last official Rachel was talking to--the guy that finally said "yes" to her--had been saying, "no", "no", "no". Then Rachel said his face completely changed and he said, "yes, I will give you your visas." We asked Rachel about what time this all happened and it was at EXACTLY the same time my mom was praying inside the bus. My mom was praying that God would open up the heart of whatever official Rachel was talking to. Ok, so it gets even more amazing...back here in the US my sister was up late in Newberg Oregon on Wednesday night. She said she couldn't sleep and that God was putting on her heart to pray about our visas. (she had no idea what was going on in Ethiopia) She said she just kept praying for us. She had no idea we needed an Italian Visa or that we were having trouble getting our visas.

The whole story is an absolute miracle. Robel picked up our completed visas the next morning with no problems. Let me just say that God is amazing! He has proved his existence over and over on this trip. I am convinced that God has a special plan for our little children. Satan was working so heard at putting up road block along the way. We had many other difficult issues that I could tell you all about related to getting our children out of the country, but this is enough for now. If you are reading this and are not sure about God, please be encouraged to know that He is real and he does answer prayers!!! There is no other explanation for what happened. God is good an our little ones are safely at home.

My mom took this picture outside of the italian embassy. I thought it was a beautiful picture of a woman taking firewood to sell at the market.

love, Laura