Post within a Post within a Post

Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it, but I am afraid He will ask me the same question. ~ANONYMOUS

Post #1: Why Ethiopia? Why Not...
I am going to start with a video that has convicted me deeply..... I get the question about WHY ETHIOPIA? quite a bit. I will give some answer about being called there or having a heart for Africa. Yet when it comes down to it....WHY NOT??? After watching the video below yesterday, I sat in tears staring at my Why Not holding onto his Buzz Lightyear. Why do children have to stand in feces and urine in a trash dump without shoes? Why do mommies die of preventable illness leaving 5 million orphans in a country? Sitting in here in suburban America, I am worried about paying my seemingly unsurmountable medical school loans and paying for pre-k and wanting to buy a home and get 100% out of debt, when my son's birth mother has no concept of debt.....she could not feed her youngest.....her debt is the missing son in her heart. It is sobering when I STOP and realize how blessed I am. With all of this said, Ethiopia is on my heart. The thoughts of the deep disparity between where I am and what is going on there are unsettling in me...I do not know what this means for me and my family currently...YET the verse below is keeping me focused....

"Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12 (Thus not acting ISSSSS a sin. I fear most people only see action as a sin rather than not acting.)

So while I can not pick up and leave Louisville right this second, I can make a difference....
Please watch the video. Please visit http://www.ordinaryhero.org/..... her motto "Change the World for One." I have "one" playing with dump trucks in my living room but I want to change the world for many.... now praying how we will do that.....

Ordinary Hero~ A day in the trash dump in Ethiopia from Kelly Putty on Vimeo.

Post #2: Vacation Days with Mommy:
I have been blessed with having August 1-15 off from work. I spent last week with Tedi and JT going to the lake, swimming at Pop and Granna's, and dentist appointments. I can not express the joy each moment with Tedi brings to me....even the frustrating times when acts out or won't get in the car or wants take eighteen toys with him somewhere. I get four weeks off each year of residency and it is daunting to think I won't have any more until February. (I know this seems like a lot to most people but most people do not work 80 hours per week and get only 4 days off each month). Today, we went to have a tooth pulled.. NO FUN. He is still complaining of a bit of pain but we managed to go paint pottery. JT's dad has a birthday this month so we went to Earth and Fire, a pottery painting place in southern Indiana and made him a gift.... Tedi's attention span is not very long so this was a quick trip but I think Pop will love it! We also visited Daddy at work today and met all of his new co-workers! Tedi got a balloon from Ms Katy, the PR associate, and loves it, as he does all balloons.

However, the best moment of my vacation happened at 8:15am this morning. Tedi and I were exiting from the Watterson Expressway to Bardstown Road on the way to his dentist appointment. I started singing Jesus Loves me, which is the song that I sing softly to him each night as we lay down. He stopped me and said, "NO Mommy. Tedi do it." And he proceeded to sing Jesus loves me in his precious Ethiopian accent dropping the occasional word...over and over he sang with time for me to record, call JT and my mom. This, my friends, was the sound of Adoption!

Painting for Pop

Waiting for Daddy to get home so we can go to his new school's open house
Tuesday: playing at Waterfront Park with GiGi (my sis)
Tuesday: Trying to ride his bike....not quite there yet.

Post #3: Louisville Zoo with GiGi

On Monday, my sister and I decided to take Tedi to the Louisville Zoo. It was SOOOO HOOOTTT. I can't even tell you. Tedi was mostly interested in each of the animals. He could name the giraffes, elephants, tiger, monkeys, and ducks. He loved the hippo....Don't ask Why. I don't know. He also thoroughly enjoyed the monkeys and did want to leave the monkey area. Next year, we hope to get a pass for the zoo.... until then here are some pics

Measuring up with the Ape and Mommy

Checking out the Ape

Chasing Around the Hippo with some other kids

Looking at the giraffes

Loving the Monkeys

Sunday Night: showing GiGi how to use injera

Being silly with GiGi

Post #4: 147 Million Orphans

We first met the Gwen and Suzanne at the Adopted for LIfe conference here in Louisville in February. We bought this shirt for Tedi under jest that pink is for girls! Well, I personally think he is ROCKING this shirt! He still does not like having his picture taken but they turned out okay. I even forwarded these on to the ladies at 147 million. Check out their website if you haven't..... www.147millionorphans.org

7 Years...


Happy Anniversary, JT. I should write more and will later but for now, I love you JT.

Long Weekend Vacation

This past weekend we headed to central Kentucky for a little lake/swimming vacation so that Tedi could have some time with one half of his family! We had a blast. Below are pictures by Day. I realize I should have reversed the order...oh well!

Day 4: Sunday, August 8, 2010

Today, we started our morning by leaving the houseboat and headed to visit our former church family at First Baptist Church in Somereset. It was great to see everyone and visit so many people who supported our adoption, financially and in prayer. Afterwards, we visited my grandmother (mom's mom) at her nursing home. She is not doing well so it was a blessing that she was able to meet Tedi today. We returned to Louisville with my sister, Gretchen or "GiGi", in tow. We took her to Queen of Sheba to try Ethiopian food (pictures of that to come). The owner, Selam, took time to talk to Tedi but he was nervous when she spoke to him in Amharic. We speculate that he associated it with going back to Ethiopia. He had tears running down his cheeks but did not audibly cry. She was very understanding of the situation....of course the food was great! Now, at 9:30, Tedi and GiGi are sleeping!

JT, Tedi, Granny Ginny and I

GiGi, Tedi, me, and Granny Ginny

Tedi kissing Granny Ginny

Day 3: Saturday, August 7, 2010: On the Lake

This morning started early with "feeding duckies" with Grandpa Kevin. Tedi loved the duckies!!!! The poor ducks ate so many crackers and hotdog buns! Grandpa Kevin then showed Tedi how to fish with the new Sponge Bob fishing pole. They then went fishing with live bait, but Tedi hated the worms and quickly returned to the boat. GiGi spent most of this day sleeping because she had worked night shift two days prior. We took the pontoon boat out on the lake and parked next to some houseboats owned by my dad's friends. Tedi jumped off the back of the boats at least 50 times and went down the really tall houseboat slides three times! He is fearless!!!! He loved the smoked pork and baked beans Grandpa cooked for dinner and went to bed early and exhausted!!!

Day 2: Saturday, August 6, 2010: Meeting New People and the Boat

We started our day by picking up yummy pistachio muffins at Baxter's coffee shop in Somerset and heading to JT's old State Farm office. We visited with his co-workers, Melissa and Margaret. We then headed to my old office where we played with all the girls and waited for the docs to visit...though they did not make it, Tedi had a blast.... From there, we all headed to Granpa Kevin's houseboat.... We drove the pontoon boat around, swam, and ate great steak. I was not feeling well so I laid down. However, Tedi had a blast wrestling with Grandpa, watching Toy Story and feeding the ducks.

with Christian Dawes....who will soon get an Ethiopian sibling

Day 1: August 6, 2010: Swimming with Stella and Sexy Mexy

Just for the Tedi, we specifically planned for him to have a day with his best buddy Stella. He was so very excited that he kept saying "stella's house" all day. They ate pizza, swam and watched, you guessed it, Toy Story, together. We were able to sneak him out of the house without him having a breakdown missing Stella. This day was the first real hint that he would no doubt love the water.....He was sliding head first down a little tykes slide into the water! Afterwards, we headed to Somerset to meet our Sexy Mexy friends....when we lived in Somerset, we ate Mexican every Wednesday night with three other couples. We wanted them to meet Tedi, even if it was a Thursday.

30 Days.....

......ago Tedi came home from Ethiopia, into our home forever!!!! So much has changed. Tedi's English is improving each day and continues to amaze me. We hear these phrases on a daily basis....

"Tedi do that."
"Hang on Mommy/Daddy"
"Wait a minute"
"I love you mommy/daddy"
"Mommy doctor, Tedi no doctor, Daddy no doctor."
"Mommy work, Tedi no work, Daddy no work"
"Daddy's car. Mommy's car. Tedi, no car."
"Woody, Buzz, Dinosaur, Jessie," (thank you Toy Story)

And many many many more. He will eat rice, tilapia, hamburger, steak, spaghetti, pizza, any kind of bread, corn, lettuce, eggs, Eggo's, but NOT fettuccine, pulled pork, mac and cheese, or Grands biscuits.

It isn't easy watching him get six shots and a TB skin test (as JT did last week) or have six vials of blood drawn yesterday, or go to the dentist today. I must admit to my surprise that the dentist appointment went well. He is missing most of his teeth as you can see in his pictures but the dentist said upon exam, only one of the remaining teeth needed to be pulled. He even told us that Tedi has had dental work in the past.... YES, you read correctly, dental work. He said the two teeth that we were most concerned with, though they appear bad, one has a crown and the other a filling. Crazy! We were pleased to learn this. The dentist we went to takes the children back to the exam area without the parents. Tedi did so well!!!! He even got a gift out of the toy box....sunglasses!!!

The last thirties days have changed me, my life, and everything about us! We go to bed earlier, get up earlier, wash more clothing, have a lot more fun, have my patience tested more often, have less adult conversations, but hearing "I love you mommy" at least one hundred times per day erases all the other facets of my life that have changed.

In the next thirty days, we will be getting said tooth pulled, getting a few more shots, starting PRE-K (three year old class), spending more vacation time with mommy, watching daddy start a new job, visiting Grandpa Kevin at the lake, experiencing his first month of mommy being on call every fourth night :-(, hopefully learning even more English, celebrating our 7th anniversary, and continuing to savor every day as a family (even the moments spent in time out because they are teaching us too)

July 3, 2010

August 3, 2010, more hair, less scared

Here are some more pictures of the last few days during the start of my vacation and the week JT is getting to spend with us before his new job. I am still getting my picture a day....I will have to help in September when I go to a call month, but we will manage! Enjoy the pictures. I plan to take many more pictures throughout this week... tomorrow we are swimming with Jacqueline, Chris, and his boys (who are ultra pumped to meet Tedi)..Thursday we are heading to Campbellsville to visit with Tedi's best bud, Stella, for more swimming. He refers to her as "Tedi's Estella. Not mommy's." From Campbellsville, we are driving to Somerset KY to visit with my family. We are seeing my dad and staying on his houseboat, visiting our Mexican dinner night friends, going to our old church, and visiting our old co-workers. It is going to be a long weekend for all of us but a good one. I know Tedi will be shy but will adjust. After the weekend, my sister is coming to Louisville to stay with us, but more to play with Tedi. We are going to the zoo together, painting pottery, and taking her to Queen of Sheba for a full Tedi experience. She is even going to babysit for us so we can go out on our anniversary! Once the craziness is over, I will be sure to post pictures! Enjoy the pictures below!! He is too cute, if I do say so!

watching for Daddy to come home....

Rocking the State Farm Hat for Grandpa Kevin

State Farm, a family company