2010

in pictures

Since I started blogging my med school adventure in 2006, I have tried to do a year in pictures.  Though I know all of you have seen most of these pics...I probably enjoy these posts more than anyone.  I hope you enjoy!  There will be a lot of pictures

January 2010:

We were in the midst of our adoption fundraising as January began....both finishing up ornaments and starting to plan our tshirt sales.  We welcomed home our friends' child, Hensley Hannah, who happened to be the first Ethiopian child we held in our arms.  The best day, though, was January 23 (my mom's bday)...was the day we first saw Tedi's face and fell in love!

 Hensley Hannah on Jan 2, his second day home

 JT shoveling up the multiple inches of snow we got last January.

February:

We continued our fundraising, working and waiting to find out where I would do my residency.  I celebrated my birthday and we enjoyed my grandmother's 80th and last birthday.

 from an Africa exhibit we attended in Somerset

 an Africa decal we purchased from another family

 our T-Shirt order arrived!!!!

 babysitting Hensley as he sported our shirt!

 Celebrating my 27th birthday at El Taxco, my favorite Somerset Mexican joint

March:

Unfortunately, I could not find any pics from March.  However it was a big month.  I found out that I matched into residency at the University of Louisville and we received two grants for our adoption. 

April:

What a busy busy month!  JT built Tedi's headboard with our good friend, Jason Fox.  Several of JT's cousins organized a big cookout fundraiser for our adoption... Two of my dear friends from med school got married in Chicago and we enjoyed Derby festivities with friends!

The Louisville Slugger headboard

 RiverBats game on the day of Thunder

 with my dear friend Sarah at O'Shea's after a baseball game

 so many of the people that attended our cookout

 at the Derby Festival balloon glow

 with Sarah's boyfriend Zach

 in a Chicago hotel room with a new picture of Tedi....he was finally smiling

 Lindsey, Jason, Lisa and me at the rehearsal dinner in Chicago

 the lovely bride and groom

 Hensley also got a sister...meet Hollis Hannah

May:

During the fifth month of 2010, many beginnings and endings occurred.  One of my dear friends, Jacqueline got engaged.  I finished working with the neurosurgical practice in Somerset, KY and we moved to Louisville.... AND WE PASSED COURT IN ETHIOPIA

 Jacqueline's engagement

 flowers from my dad the day we passed court for TEDI

 Tedi's furniture that I refinished with Sarah

  

 Goodbye party at work

 ByeBye Somerset

June:

We traveled to NYC for my medical school graduation....FINALLY.  We settled into our new Louisville home and I started residency orientation.  Most importantly, JT traveled to Ethiopia to bring Tedi home...what a busy, blessed year.

 wearing my Simply Love shirt in the LOVE sign on 6th Ave

 with JT's fam at graduation

 with my fam at graduation

 my good friend Eunice and me at graduation

 Tedi's bedroom finally finished

 our shower for Tedi

 JT and his buddy Salom in Ethiopia

 MEETING for the FIRST TIME

GO TOPS....ETHIOPIA STYLE

 July:

I started residency and we were a family of three... there is not much more to say

family of three at the airport

eating Ethiopian with mommy and the family for the first time

 August:

The lake, swimming, time alone with mommy... a busy but very fun month

 first jump off the diving board

 on Granpa Kevin's boat for the first time

 with my Grandma Morris, one month before she passed away.

 Ethiopian party with many of his friends from the orphanage

First Day of Pre-School

 September:

First Football games, and mommy working a lot...Though we did not get many pictures, September was a month of continued bonding and adjusting as JT got aquainted with his new job at Family and Children's Place.

 at the Louisville vs Kentucky football game

with mommy

 October:

Halloween, Huber Farm, Stella's Bday party and getting to see old friends.  The most rewarding part of September was when Tedi was able to meet his friend, Isaac Meseretu, who was in his orphanage in Ethiopia.  They loved playing together!

 with Stella, trick-o-treating at the Louisville Zoo

 Huber Farm

 with Isaac Meseretu

Tedi really thought this was "Woody"

 November:

Tedi's "4th" birthday, new friends, Lightening McQueen, and seeing Grace Hiwot again

 with Grace Hiwot, his favorite girl from Ethiopia

 Loving his new car

Awesome birthday cake

December:

I can say that I have never never enjoyed Christmas more than watching the pure joy that Tedi showed this Christmas.It was truly a blessing and was the BEST Christmas gift I could have been given. 

 

 with Santa

 first Christmas with Granny Sylvia

 Christmas tree at home

 Christmas with Granna and Pop....gotta love Handy Manny's Flicker

Christmas Morning with Lots-O and Porkchop

Christmas 2010

This year was Tedi's first Christmas in our family, our first Christmas as parents, and my first Christmas as a resident....  I had to work Christmas day but we managed to do Santa very very early in the morning before I went to work.  We spent Christmas Eve evening with JT's parents and Tedi got to open presnts there..  He did not understand taking turns and repeatedly yelled "Me Turn! Me Turn!!!"  He loved getting presents and opening everyone else's presents.... Christmas morning was so much fun and posted the video below!  I hope you enjoy.  I am very tired right now and hope to post more later!

With Flicker from Handy Manny

 Before opening presents...

 Eating Santa's Cookies

 So precious

 With Lots-O and Porkchop

The Best Christmas Gift EVER

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cookies

For those that know...you know I am not great at cooking or baking.  Honestly, I really want to be.  My mom is a fantastic cook, and I wish I had both the skill and desire to cook. Yet, I decided to buy sugar cookie mix, icing, sprinkles and ornament sugar decorations and make cookies with Tedi.  I got off early from work, so I have had the wonderful opportunity to spend a full afternoon with Tedi..  We decided to make cookies....though messy and not beautiful, we had tons of fun singing from Mariah Carey's Christmas album, dancing and licking the spoons!  It has been so much fun...and I am so thankful for days like today.   Here are a few pics from this great day... Lets just hope the weather holds off.

 singing "Santa Clause is coming to town"

 with our cookies

Tedi's First Christmas....

We spent last weekend in Tennessee for my sister's college graduation and to celebrate Christmas with my mom... Her house is always decorated beautifully, but with SO MANY SNOWMEN...and so much food.  I think Tedi had a good time :-)  Below are some pictures!  Enjoy.... OH, and please forgive the Tennessee outfit, it was a gift from my sister.

Saga...

Let me tell you a story.  It started late late at night on Saturday, December 4, 2010.  JT and I had been praying to be more involved with orphan care, even more than we already were.  With JT involved on the board of the LYDIA Fund, me keeping up with our blog and both us having Tedi, it would seem on the outside like it was enough.  We were not seeking out a second adoption.  However, as I sat and talked to friend I met in the adoption community, she told me of a little boy who needed a family, as so many do.

She has adopted from Ghana and is now facilitating indepentent Ghanan adoptions through an orphanage in Ghana.  This little boy, whose name is Saga, was born to a Muslim woman and Christian man. The mothers family was not supportive of this child and threatened both her life and Saga's.  She fled with her son, seeking refuge with John, a man who runs an orphanage in Ghana.  So now the mom is seeking to put him up for adoption for both his well being and hers, though mostly his. 

Our friend asked us if we were interested.  JT and I decided to pray about this for one week separately. We then came together a week later to discuss what God had shown us.  Our ultimate decision was to proceed with the adoption....to slowly proceed...while simultaneously asking God to stop us if this was not for us.  So in our hearts, we were ready to accept God's call and though nervous, we moved forward.  We had a name for him in the back of our minds and were ready for all the criticism and questioning we would receive.  

About three days after our decision, I was talk to someone about this.  God placed an unsettled feeling on my heart.  I called JT about an hour later because I could not quite shake this feeling. Not shockingly, he was having a similar feeling.  We talked about his and felt it was God trying to tell us something.  Immediately, the same family's name was uttered by both JT and me. I contacted the wife and discussed this..  They were considering adopting from Ethiopia but nothing had quite moved forward with this.   They decided to pray about this option, to take in Saga....

Well, this past Friday night, we got a call from the couple to say they are going to proceed with adopting this little boy.  What a blessing!  And now JT feel an even greater call than merely adopting but to step aside from a child we so wanted in our home and let another family give him a home...to stand beside this family through their process, walking with them, and providing financial support when possible...  I won't lie and act like it does not ache a little bitty bit to give up this call and hand it to another family...

So now we continue to pray...pray for where God will lead us next, what he will show us, and how he will use us... Now, please continue to pray for Saga, the family adopting him and his birth mother. 

SEE

I will admit it... I was reluctant at first.  I did not want to read it.  I even told JT that I did not have time or the interest.  I was wrong.  I just read Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman over the weekend, and was both moved and changed.  She wrote a poignant recollection of her life, her adoptions, marriage, subsequent loss of her daughter,Maria, and her family's recovery thereafter.  I am not a "cry-er" but tears streamed down my face as I read about the death of her daughter, the strength of her friends to hold her up, and the words of her other children as they struggled  through their loss.  Her point of "SEE"-ing is wrapped up in multiple details of her book and overall story that I won't spoil.  However, in reading her words, I have been forced to reflect upon what I need to SEE in my world and what GOD is wanting me to SEE.

So what do I feel that God is wanting me to SEE now in my life...
1) If I trust Him, He can help to change me...specifically with my weight, an area with which I have struggled. This has been a perpetual battle for me since childhood.  I won't go into it much here...but I feel that God is really trying to show me stuff in a twofold manner... to love myself, His creation, regardless of my appearance AND to allow Him to help ME make a change...

2) After reading this book, I realize that in order to fully SEE all that is in store for me I must be more readily reading the Bible.  In the book, she talked about her dear friend speaking scripture over her as they laid in bed and wept.  Being vulnerable, I can say that I could not effectively do that if I had a friend in need. 

3) Although everyday I am blessed to be Tedi's mommy there are times of frustration of disciplining and life.... Her tale vividly and regretfully displaced the need to soak in each moment, and SEEing the little details of life as blessings.. This is not always easy, even when we are blessed and know it.  But the challenge has been issued.

I encourage you to read this book, even if you are reluctant.  I challenge you to be challenged.

5 Months

Then.... on the top from January 2010 and on the bottom from October 2009

Now....

What a difference a family makes....can you make room?

2 Post: 1 Purpose

#1: This was posted today by a fellow adoptive mother and I want to share it.  I can't really articulate more than this does.. Be challenged



#2 From .http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/
This mom inspires me so much...Think about her words this time of year..

Early this morning I sat snuggled up on the sofa. As the soft glow of the Christmas tree lights filled the room, I opened my bible to the book of Luke and began to read about Jesus birth.
Over and over the words "there was no room in the Inn" swam through my head and the Lord began to open my eyes to what He was trying to show me....
Door after door closing.
Person after person shaking their head no.
Voice after voice saying - 'we have no room'.
No room.
And I couldn't help but wonder how many of us are still doing that same thing today?
Because you see, while Jesus may not be roaming the earth today in human form looking for a place to stay-Matthew 25:45 tells us "whatever you did to the least of these, you did unto me".
Mother Teresa said it this way "Each one of them is Jesus in disguise."
Statistics tell us that there are 147 million + orphans in this world today.
A 147 million who are looking for room....
Room in our homes
Room in our hearts
And room in our lives.
If each one of them is Jesus in disguise- and we have no room for them- then have we truly made room for Jesus?
Or could it be that we have No room because those rooms are already full of things that don't really matter?
Stuff that isn't about His kingdom- but ours?
I cannot help but wonder how many of those Inn keepers ever realized that they missed the chance to be a part of the greatest miracle they would have in their lifetime?
And I cannot help but wonder how many of us still do the same today?