Good Camera!

I have been a very bad blogger!!! Here are a few pictures from a good Camera taken about a month ago by my friend, Amber, when Gabre was visiting family in Illinois. More to come soon!


Gabre and Grant(Amber's Son)

Gabre and Daddy

Rwanda Adoption!

Rwanda is most likely where our second child will be from! We started looking into the Rwanda adoption process a few months ago. The best thing that we have learned is that Rwanda prefers to work with families directly. This means we would be doing a private adoption, with the help of other families who have adopted before us.
In many ways we would love to adopt from Ethiopia again, but the more we learn about Rwanda the more drawn we are to this beautiful country and the people. More to come............
pictures of children at Home of Hope, Kigali Rwanda

Our dossier has been registered in China for almost 30 months and we have passed our 3 year mark since we signed with our China adoption agency. It appears we have 2-4 years of waiting left. At this point our China adoption does not feel real any longer. We will not pull our dossier from China, but it does not seem possible that we will have a daughter from China. Some days this makes me very sad, sad for the children in China who remain in orphanages. Will I ever be able to let go completely? No.

One Year ago Today.........

Banchigize Gabre was placed in our arms and life forever~

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Pictures Pictures!!!!

~Easter Pictures~






~Ethiopian Birthday Party~




~Ethiopia Babies Get Together in Dallas~


Amber and Ayana Boyd......here is her blog!





~Just cute pictures~

Adopt & Shop

Please go here!

An Army of Thousands

We have been home from Ethiopia for almost 10 months and I am still unable to completely digest what that experience taught me. People say a baby changes everything and they are right, but what if your baby comes from a part of the world that feels forgotten. This will also change everything. I look at my daughter's face and realize she could have been one of the forgotten. Now I understand the huge efforts of the many Charities working in all parts of Africa, yet the suffering continues. I tell people about what I saw and about what I have since learned through books and research, but it doesn't seem to impact them in the same way it has me. Is this because I have an invisible and forever tie to Africa through my daughter? Maybe so.
I am unsure how to process all of this, what do I do next? how can I help? how can I be a good example to my daughter that we cannot sit back and let this continue?
Why is it that mothers in Ethiopia are dying after child birth because of lack of food and water. Yes, we can adopt these now motherless children, but the problem will just persist. I have to believe there is another way!
I have to believe that we ALL, all of us families adopting from Africa, are adopting for a bigger reason. I know the saying, "I may not be able to change the world, but I can change the world for one child", but why can't we also try and change the world? We are now An Army of Thousands, thousands of families who have or are adopting from Africa. One may not be able to change the world, but what about THOUSANDS????????

No!!!!!

Thanks everyone who gave their thoughts on the, "name thing". We have decided to keep her birth name Banchigize. Someone commented that her name was all her birth mother could give her and that is how we feel. If her birth mother gave her the name Banchigize, we should give it the honor it deserves.
Nothing too exciting going on here. We have been going to lots of play groups, the library for music class and of course still working with my IAN families.
Gabre is getting some molars and we had one rough week of sleeping issues and just plain bad mood issues. It only lasted one week and then we seem to have turned a corner. What we are still dealing with is lots of hitting. Gabre will hit us, the dogs, my computer and even herself, whatever is closest. We started time out and she has no problem serving her time. If Scott or I tell her she needs to go to time out, she just walks herself to the dinning room corner and sits down. It is really funny!
As good as she is about going to time out it has not helped with the hitting. As soon as Gabre hears the word NO the hands start going, not hard but still not good. I guess this is the terrible 16 months????

Here are a few more cute picture from the last few weeks.

It's all in the NAME

Well, recently Scott and I have been feeling bad about changing Gabre's name. Her birth mother gave her the name Banchigize. At first we could not even say her name and felt this was not the best name for a child in the US school system. We didn't think twice about changing it to Gabre because Gabre is an Ethiopian name. The caretakers at her orphanage called her Bunchin. I primarily call her Bunchin and so does Scott.
This weekend we had a talk about keeping her name Banchigize because it was the name given to her at birth, plus we now find it to be a really beautiful name. We are thinking about naming her Banchigize Gabre Mira Reeves. We would still call her Gabre as a child and then she can decide as a young adult what name she wants to go by. I have never been a person who really likes the 3+ name thing, but what are you going to do.
Has anyone else struggled with this????

what Ethiopia Taught me.......

AIDS, STARVATION, CHILD SOLDIERS, GENOCIDES, ORPHANS....
*These are the IMAGES that come to mind when I think of AFRICA
*HOW can I Help?
*HOW can I make a DIFFERENCE
*I THINK....... I am NEEDED HERE....
*They have so little....AND I have so MUCH
*often there is a LEVEL of SUFFERING here that is UNIMAGINABLE
*But it is hard to reconcile the CHALLENGES many Africans FACE
*with the JOY I see in The People
*but the IMAGES spilling out of my T.V. showed ONLY MISERY and I was FOOLED
*I BOUGHT into the LIE....that CIRCUMSTANCES defines HAPPINESS
*in Places where Despair SHOULD thrive....I found adults DANCING and SINGING
CHILDREN playing soccer with a ball TIED of TRASH
*RELATIONSHIPS and FAITH provide JOY
*my NEW REALITY....my JOY should have NO regards for my CIRCUMSTANCES

I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head to my HEART

I NO longer want to NEED the "NEXT THING" to have JOY

Africa NEEDS our EFFORTS and PARTNERSHIP

Because it is Africa that has TAUGHT me that POSSESSIONS in my Hands.....
will NEVER be as VALUABLE as PEACE in my HEART

for ME......

I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME

CLICK HERE to learn more.

Happy 2009!

Well, new year another adoption.....just a joke. We are hoping to start another adoption from Ethiopia in this new year. The when is still unknown. What we do know is that we love our baby girl from Ethiopia and would love another. I know this year will bring lots of fun times as Gabre grows. She will get more teeth, learn to talk, start to run, loose the bottle, have her 2nd birthday and much much more. We are so looking forward to 2009!

Our Fist Christmas

Our Christmas started with Scott dressing up like Santa, this was a surprise for me as well. I think he scared me and the dogs more than Gabre. She will let almost anyone hold her and Santa was no different.
After Scott removed the Santa costume, and the dogs finally calmed down, Gabre and the dogs opened gifts. Just as we thought, Gabre opened her gifts and was on her way to other things.

After Presents

After presents we went to the Barton Creek Spa and Resort for a breakfast buffet. Gabre loved the gingerbread pancakes. We took lost of picture, about 60, and just a few turned out. Gabre was not in the mood for family pictures. I would say her favorite part of Christmas was walking back and forth in this huge hallway at the hotel, as you can see from the Big smile on her face in the first picture. Overall Gabre had a Wonderful 1st Christmas with her Mommy and Daddy!

Merry Christmas!

Ethiopia Girl!

Merry Christmas Eve! We had planned to stay at a nice resort tonight for Gabre's 1st Christmas, but we have dogs and no sitter with short notice.
We plan to go for a big breakfast buffet at a very nice resort tomorrow for Christmas morning. When we finish Gabre and the dogs will open presents.
The Ethiopian dress Gabre has on in this picture was given to her by her BFF Lidya, who was at Hope for the Abandoned with Gabre. It came from a great organization called, Ethiopian Orphan Relief. If you have not checked it out you should here

Baby Gap!

This is one of Gabre's Christmas pictures. Doesn't she looks like an add for Baby Gap?
We are staying home for Christmas. We think she is going to enjoy opening gifts, although she will like the bows and paper better than the gifts this year.
Gabre is finally walking, but still goes back to crawling when she wants to get somewhere fast. She loves to go go go.

Hope

Yesterday was a huge step for America. Our Country's original Constitution did not give African Americans ANY rights, to a Country that just elected their first African American President. It does not matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, we should all be proud that our Country has come so far. I hope this is a sign that our daughter's future in America will be that much better.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Wuz a Bear

I have been tagged

Two soon to be Ethiopia adoption mamas, Erin and Chistina, tagged me.
1)I have been a vegetarian since middle school.
2)I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
3)I prefer a landscape of Sky scrapers to Mountains. My favorite is NYC, of course.
4)My husband's nickname for me is Pumpkin.
5)I adopted my first dog from the CCAA in NYC and she was half bald, but I loved her anyway, my Madison.
6)Currently I only watch CNN.
7)My red hair is real!

I tag.........
Lisa
Lory
Shawn
Kelly
Steph
Chantelle
Mindy

Our Journey to Ethiopia

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Fun in Denver

Gabre and I went to Denver a few weekends ago. Gabre got to meet her cousin Maci for the first time and see some of her Ethiopian buddies. The pictures say it all.


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Party Girl!!!!

Saturday was Gabre's Birthday party. Who knew a 1 year old's Birthday party could be so much work. It took my mom and I three days to pull off this party. We had catered Ethiopian food, PB&J for the kids, a candy buffet, elephant and giraffe cupcakes. I will say we had a few laughs Friday night trying to make the cupcakes actually look like elephants and giraffes. It took us all night with a late night run to the grocery store by Scott.
I also made a Happy Birthday sign in Amharic. It was so windy at the park that the sign lasted about 5 minutes. As you will see it took Scott getting on top of the car to hang the sign for that 5 minutes.
We had a petting zoo come for the last hour. Gabre and all the kids loved the baby animals.....so cute. It was a Birthday to remember.

Our 1 Year Old!

Wow, we had quite a week. Tuesday was Gabre's Birthday and we had lots of fun. First we picked up Gabre's Noni at the airport. Then headed to Ester's for some good Ethiopian food and on to the Austin zoo, which is really a sanctuary for rescued animals. It's not a big traditional zoo, but perfect for small children. We got to feed goats and sheep, while chickens and peacocks followed us around. Gabre really loves animals!
The top picture on this post is the REAL Gabre. We somehow captured her personality it that one shot!

MeleKame Lidete Gabre!!!!!

Happy Birthday Gabre!

I cannot believe our baby is 1 today. She is truly a little miracle to us. Today we honor her, her birth mother and her birth country.

Gabre,

Today is your First Birthday and 142 days since you have been in our arms. You are our greatest joy. We love the sound of your giggle. We love the way you pose for pictures. We love the way you fake cough. We love that you greet us with a big smile every morning. We love that your first word was "Dog" or really "Daw". We love how you reach your hand out to greet all new people. We love that you have a loud voice and us it, a lot. We love that you like a good meal or really any meal. We love the sad look on your face when we have to tell you "No No". We love that you perfectly fit in our arms from the moment you were handed to us. We love your tiny feet. We love your curls. We love your beautiful eyes. We love You!

Daddy and Mommy

Got Ethiopian Food?

We had an early dinner at our local Ethiopia restaurant yesterday to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year. This was Gabre's first taste of her homeland food. She LOVED it. As you can see from the below pictures she went to town. We are so lucky to have an Ethiopian restaurant and the owners are so kind to us. They hold and play with Gabre while we eat. We feel right at home.

Here are some cute pictures.

Melkam Addis Amet! = Happy New Year!

Today is Ethiopia's new year, 2001. The Ethiopian calendar is made up of 12 months, each lasting 30 days, and then an extra month is tagged on lasting just 5 days (6 in a leap year). Most of the world's calendars are in fact based on an ancient Egyptian calendar so there are many similarities. Ethiopia is 7.5 years behind the Gregorian calendar because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church didn't agree on the date of the creation of the world, so they started off from two different points many hundreds of years ago.
We are going to the local Ethiopia restaurant today to celebrate our daughter's heritage. We will be welcomed with warm arms. We continue to be amazed at the warmth all Ethiopians have shown us, from our time in Addis Ababa to our return. They have open hearts for all.

Happy New Year Gabre!!!!!

Hello again!

I have not been a very good blogger as of lately. I have been doing a lot of work on my computer and when I have had some extra time I have not felt like even looking at my computer. The good thing is I have lots of pictures saved up to show you.

Gabre is doing great and we are planning her 1st birthday party, to be held next Saturday. We are having her party a few weeks early, her Birthday is on Sept.23. The party is going to be lots of fun with friends and animals. We are having a petting zoo come for all the kids. Gabre loves animals, I think she gets that from her parents, and it is also a good learning experience for all the kids.

I cannot believe we are already planning her 1st birthday, WOW! She has changed so much in the last month alone. She has found her sense of self.......and how to get what she wants. She can be sooooo loud when she wants something she cannot have. I have a feeling everyone will always know Gabre is in the room and in the world.
She is no wall flower.

Here is to NOT being a Wall Flower!

A New Look!

As you can tell our blog has had a face lift. Shauna Callaghan did the make over for me, Thanks Shauna.

Adopt and Shop

I am working on starting an online Adoption Gear store. I am hoping to have adoption tees for babies to adults, diaper bags, bibs/blankets, hair bows and just fun cute stuff personalized for adoptive parents. If you have any ideas or suggestions I would love to hear them. I am very excited about this endeavor and hope you all will enjoy shopping at the soon to be Adopt and Shop online store for those who have or are adopting.

Here are a few early prototypes.




Gabre's BFF Lidya from Boulder.

10 Months Old!

Today Gabre is 10 months old. I cannot believe how fast the last three months have gone. She has changed so much from just 9 to 10 months. Her personality is really starting to develop and I think we have a little comedian. Well she makes us laugh all the time. We look at her everyday and think how lucky we are to be her parents.
Here are some of the things Gabre can do at 10 months:

-She is starting to pull herself up to stand.
-She loves to stand, none of that crawling stuff.
-She has two bottom teeth.
-She likes to point with her left index finger.
-She can finally find shoes that fit. She can fit into size 0-3 month shoes now.
-She dances whenever any music comes on.
-She loves her Tofu.
-She still does not love her car seat.
-She had ice cream for the first time and loved it.
-She still has to fall asleep in mom's arms for all naps and nighttime.
-She is about 17 lbs. and 28 in.


First time eating ice cream.

Last Weeks Adventures

Gabre and I spent the 4th of July in Illinois with her Nonni and Popy. She had quite the schedule and must have been held by 20 different people a day. Nonni wanted everyone to see her first grandchild. I must say she was quite a trooper with almost no complaining. She was/is also cutting her first tooth.
While in Illinois she started waving bye bye. Now she can clap, wave and today she started covering her eyes to play peek-a-boo. Sometimes instead of covering her eyes she puts her hands on the top of her head with her eyes fully exposed. She totally thinks she is still playing peek-a-boo, it's too cute.
We had to see a doctor on our visit because she has a cyst on her arm and my friend "nurse" Morgan said so. They did her growth chart for us at the visit. Gabre is a little over 28 in. and 16.5 lbs. This puts her in the 75% for height and 10% for weight. She has grown a lot in the last two weeks. She is starting to grow out of some of her clothes. All her clothes were big when we first returned from Ethiopia. I guess I will have to put them away for our next baby. Scott said today, "So when are we starting the process again". I know he was just joking, but it would be nice.

Here are some pictures from last weeks adventures.

Nonni and Gabre

Popy and Gabre

My best friend of 18 years, Amber and her son Grant.


On the plane


Back home

Our First Get-Together

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we drove up to Dallas for the DFW Ethiopia adoption group get-together. We finally met the Meyers face to face. Gabre and Gabi loved each other. It was really great to meet them after all we have been through together. Our adoptions were on the exact same timeline and we helped each other through all the ups and downs.
We also got to meet the Boyds. Amber and I have become good blog buddies. They are such gracious people. They even offered to let us stay at their home and we took them up on their offer. They welcomed us like old friends, I hope to see ourselves as old friends one day. They are really wonderful people and I cannot wait to rejoice with them when they get their referral. They are going to make one baby girl very lucky to have them as her parents.
We also met many other families in all stages of the adoption process. We plan to go to many more monthly get-togethers.

Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend.

Fave Foto Friday

Next week we should have some fun pictures because Saturday we are going to the Dallas/Fort Worth Ethiopia adoption group get-together. I am so excited to meet all the other families. I know a few families through the "Blog World" and one family who also used IAN to bring home their beautiful baby girl. We signed with IAN at the same time and our Dossiers went to Ethiopia together. We have talked on the phone more times than I can count and we have never met. Another blog friend, Amber Boyd, is opening her home to us for the night. The adoption world is like no other. We are there for each other through the great moments and the hard ones. I highly recommend it!
I took this idea about favorite photos of the week from other blogs.

Here are the first FAVE FOTO FRIDAY pics!

9 MONTHS

It is hard to believe Gabre is already 9 months. She has changed so much since we picked her up. Here are all the things Gabre can do at 9 months.

*She can stand while holding on to something. She loves to stand.
I think she will skip crawling and go straight to walking.
*She can sit with no support. She has been sitting since about the second week home.
*She can clap when you ask her to clap.
*She loves to have her picture taken.
*She, for now, favors her Mama.
*She sleeps through the night, she has done this since her first week home.
*She is starting to feed herself little snack puffs.
*She has decided her doggies are fun.
*She loves to use her outside voice inside.
*She still loves to shop.
*She is as adorable and sweet as ever.

Happy Fathers Day!

New Baby + New Job = New Life

I have a new job. My new job description; answer questions about Ethiopia adoption, guide families through the wonderful world of the "paper chase", cry with families when they receive their referral, rejoice with those same families when they pass court, and celebrate when they return home.
Well the job is a little more complicated then that. I am the new Texas Ethiopia Adoption Consultant for International Adoption Net (IAN). This is the agency we used to bring Gabre home. I have been obsessed with international adoption for over a year. I have spend countless hours researching about any and every country. Finally I had a revelation, "I should work for an adoption agency".

Now about the new baby. Gabre is doing amazing. She is in the 50% for height and head, but only 5% for weight. Although she is at least 1 lb. heavier than her last weigh in only 2 weeks ago. She is growing fast.
Developmentally she in also on track for 8 months. This girl can talk. Sometimes she lets out this adorable scream of excitement. I am trying to get her laugh on video because it is the cutest laugh you have ever heard. She can stand with help, a lot of help. I will leave you with a few picture.

Lots of Firsts

First time in a shopping cart

First time meeting my friend's daughter Grace.

First visit to the doctor.

First time eating baby food. This girl will eat anything.

First time realizing Hot Pink is her color.

First kiss from her sister Orea.

First time at the Dog Park


First bath in her very own bath tub.



First time getting ready to go shopping with Papa alone. Of course they went to the sporting good store. She will go shopping with anyone anywhere.

First time going on a run with Papa. She wasn't even breathing heavy when they finished.


First time in our pool. She loves the pool. We knew we bought a house with a pool for a reason.


Please NO more pictures......

First time at Babies 'R' Us.

First time in her exersaucer. She will stay in it for about 10 minutes and then she becomes bored.

Photo Shoot

We are all doing great. Our time in Addis was life changing in so many ways. I plan to take a few hours this weekend to post about our wonderful trip.
Gabre's Noni was visiting this week, so we went to the mall to get some pictures taken. She was so cute in all her pictures it was hard to decide what to buy. I had to scan the pictures to post them and they didn't turn out great.

We are home!

We are home and have been sick. All three of us have been sick. We had an amazing time in Addis. I have little time to post these days. I am going to post a few pictures and write about our trip another day.

Almost on our Way

Count down!

I cannot believe we leave in 2 days. I don't think it will really hit us until we are in Ethiopia just hours away from meeting her. We are both excited and overwhelmed with thoughts of our future as a family. Although, we have always felt like a family with our dogs. This is uncharted territory for us. Give us a puppy and we have no fears. Give us a baby and we all may end up crying.
I must go, I have sooooooo much to do!

Our Travel Itinerary

We leave May 3rd. Our journey starts in Austin. We then fly to Chicago where we meet up with my parents, who are travel to Ethiopia with us. At 5:30p we leave for London. We have a 12 hour lay-over in London. We will wash up and explore London for the day. At 9p we depart London for Ethiopia, arriving at 8:25a Monday. We will shuttle to the Hilton check-in and change our cloths into our GOTCHA T-shirts. Then we will go to the Orphanage and meet our little Gabre. This will be quite an emotional day.It will have been such a long journey to get her and to get to her.

New Pictures!

My friend,Sharon, just got home from picking up her baby Gabriella. She went to Hope for the abandoned and saw Gabre. She said Gabre is very happy and healthy. We were so excited to see more pictures of her and she has grown. We think she is the cutest baby we have ever seen. We love you Gabre!

Bark Park Fun!

Today we took a trip to the dog park. Orea played ball, Barney followed us like a scared little pup and Lexi rolled around in the grass.
We all love to go to the dog park, sometimes I think the people have more fun. We took pictures and video, like proud parents. The best part of going to the dog park is when we come home they are pooped. They are quiet and calm. This is what it means to be a dog and be fulfilled.

The List!

Since we passed court a list has been created. We have so much to get done. We have had 2 years to prepare for bringing our daughter home. You would think the list would be short.......but it is much longer than the one above. When I get one thing done 10 need to be added. Will the list ever be at o?
I think the list will keep growing and after she is home we will just throw the list away. We want to enjoy our first months with her and not worry about things we didn't get done and new things we need to do. That is the plan anyway.

She is officially our Daughter!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so happy the stress of court is over. We are hoping to travel late April or early May. Soon we should receive her new birth certificate with the name Banchigeze Scott Reeves. As I wrote in an earlier post we are renaming her Gabre Mira Reeves. Gabre is Amharic and pronounced [Gau bray]. The pictures below are the most recent from mid January and her referral picture.

Introducing.............Gabre Mira Reeves

Today is the Day

Today is the day we should find out if we passed court. Since this is our third court day you would think the wait would be easier. Instead we are more nervous, unsure and just plain scared. I think we will find out late in the day. This has been the case for the past two court days.
This is definitely the hardest part of adoption. You become so attached to pictures and in our case also a video. As adoptive parents with referrals we feel like they are our children, but the truth is they are not. It is a strange feeling being between two worlds.

One More....

Two beautiful adoption Videos.(you need sound for these videos)

I may have a Problem.......

Here is a picture of Gabre's closet. These are just for this summer (6-12 months).

I guess this is what happens when an adoption takes 2 years. I started buying clothes for our baby from China and just kept buying for two years. Our Ethiopian baby will be well dressed.

A few summer shoes..........

I love this stroller. It is by Valco and it is "the Buggster".

Happy Thoughts

I know of two families who have court today. Well had court last night because Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead. The Rodda family(Roddapalooza, IAN family) and Karen and Patrick(our family expansion). I am sending happy thoughts to them.

There is no way to prepare for your court day. You are a bundle of nerves. Most adoptions in Ethiopia go through on the first court date. Although we are not alone with our multiple court dates. I was ready for the first delay and new court date. The second delay hurt........