As Promised : NKOTB Awesomeness Part One

Okay, this is quite possibly the most fun post I've ever done. I have to thank my dear friend Brooke S for the awesome idea of celebrating her 30th b-day in style. She was the event coordinator for the NKOTB concert. I had a blast. Felt like I was twelve again. Golden! Here it is guys. In Pictures.

Event Coordinator Brooke S. purchased iron transfers to make the look complete. Thanks Brooke!
I have two very special Brookes in my life. Here is Brooke F. I credit her for introducing me to my amazing hubby. I owe her BIG time :)))
Gelena is a fun lady to be around. Here she is creating magic in the form of a fan tee shirt.
Yours truly :)
Tina our resident photog. Thanks for the pics Tina!! You're one special peep!!

This was all in prep for the big night. Don't hate becaue everywhere we went ladies were jealous of our awesome tees!

Red Letters campaign- Travel Anxiety Increases

Okay friends. We need your prayers. This travel stuff is getting messy. The Thanksgiving holiday is making planning much more difficult. Our travel group TTD has changed to the Saturday the 29th of Nov. We planned to try to get a flight out on the Wednesday before (the 26th) but domestic flights to DC are booking up fast and the flight to Addis is Completely booked. So, this means we will have to leave much earlier than anticipated. Earlier by a whole week. I can only assume that the Lord has heard our prayers to minister in any way He chooses in ET and thus He's allowed events to happen this way. Dustin and I are asking for your prayers for wisdom and guidance as we make decisions about travel. A longer trip means more childcare for the kids to be managed, more money for in country expenses and more time away from work for Dustin. All things that need to be seriously considered. We really need to know what the Lord's desire is regarding our travel.

To add fuel to the fire flights are booking fast and we could choose to book tix but if we don't pass court we'd then have to pay a change fee and go to the back of the line for seats on other flights all over again putting us in the same position only with less money in our pockets. I don't want to book tix out of fear. I want to have confidence and faith but I'd be a liar if I didn't say the heat has been turned up on the situation.

Red Letters Campaign- Tentative Dates

Well, we got our tentative dates for travel today. Nov. 30 - Dec 6. Dustin and I will be leaving earlier than that so I am not sure what our actual dates of travel will be, but this is the jumping off point. We are really excited to meet all the families in our travel group. Just over 6 weeks till travel if everything goes well in court. PLEASE PRAY to that end. Our son will have been in institutional care for over half his life by then. That reality makes me cry!!!!

Travel still feels far away but I know with the holidays approaching it will fly by. Dustin and I might be traveling during Thanksgiving. That will be interesting! Airfare is more expensive around the holidays which leaves us feeling less than thrilled about costs and crowds. I checked today and a return flight home in Business Class would cost $5343.37 for me and Dustin and the baby riding on our laps (they do charge for babies BTW) that's a little too steep for us. So looks like it'll be coach all the way for us.

I still haven't gotten around to posting on the New Kids concert. I will do that soon. It was a blast :)

Kids Pros/Cons List

Cons:
-Laundry
-Expensive grocery bills
-College tuition

Pros:
-Never a dull moment
-House full of love and joy
-Your own complete rock band

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Field Trip

My mom is a member of the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden and so she took our family yesterday for a field trip. Even Dustin took off from work early to join us. Because of her membership we all got in FREE. Isn't that great!?



The kids had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent there. The garden has made major improvements recently. I was impressed with how beautiful it now is. The kids received little booklets and were asked to be Desert Detectives while they spied out the different types of plants. They were able to learn a lot through observation.



One popular attraction of the PDBG is the Butterfly exhibit. It was my first time seeing this exhibit. The butterflies are stunning creatures and seeing so many together was such a treat.



I forgot my camera but thankfully my mom didn't. She sent me just a couple of pictures.

Mariposa Monarca
The girls held their arms up and stood still in the hopes a butterfly would land on them. I had to giggle a little bit. Of course they have gone and ruined life for themselves proving to me that they can, in fact, be extremely quiet and still when they are motivated. No more excuses for them.
The girls with their Desert Detective papers. Don't you just love hubby's choice to store his water bottle in such a picture perfect spot?
Grandma Mimi and the grand kids. They adore her so much!

Red Letters campaign- Formula and Diaper Drive

We had an agency conference call today. There is a need for diapers and formula. We were told that at the orphanage where our son is at (not our agency's Transition Home, it's full) is at risk of running out and resorting to cow's milk. You know that made my mommy heart tremble! SOOOOO I will be sure to send some formula with the next travel group and stock up on some for when we go so that no children will be without. If you live locally you know what I am going to ask next don't you?!

Please, if you can purchase a can of formula or some diapers we would be thrilled to take them with us when we go. You can email me at Jsloniger2@cox.net and I would be happy to pick them up. Thanks!!

Red Letters Campaign- Financial Concerns

Who doesn't have financial concerns these days!!?

Ours have arisen following an email for our Program Director informing us of increases to our adoption fees to the tune if $1385.00 to be exact. Two things: first of all God has provided every step of the way for this adoption and I don't believe He's going to stop now and second I am telling ya I am not enthused about the increase. Especially at the time of year when, with the holidays approaching, more money is flowing out.

To keep perspective I remind myself that costs are going up in Ethiopia and at home and our agency is struggling to continue the level of care for the children it is responsible for. There are other factors too. I don't feel like going into them right now.I hear other agencies are struggling as well. I heard a report of one agency just closing it's doors. Leaving families without anything. All their money gone. I'd much rather AWAA let us know this way and take steps to continue the process for it's families than leave us high and dry!!

I know there are valid reasons for the increase. Do I like it? NO. Will I pay? You becha. I am anxious to see how the Lord will provide the funds we need for travel, especially during these turbulent financial times for the US.

Every night Dustin and I talk about how to weather proof our business against the stormy season ahead. We wonder how we can increase productivity and cut expenses while maintaining our current workforce. We wonder how our industry will be impacted. Already, we are seeing sings of slowing this week.

We placed ourselves in a position of utter reliance upon him for our survival a LONG time ago. Since that time the LORD has never disappointed and has been not only faithful to us but given more abundantly than we couldn't have imagined. It's a miracle we are at this point. By moving the hearts of friends and family around us the Lord provided much of the money needed for the adoption. I have no doubt that the Lord will provide the rest of the money needed. We may need to get creative once more. Tighten our belts in new ways. That's a minuscule sacrifice compared the joy of welcoming home our son!! So on one hand I can say we are concerned but on the other I can say we are confident and hopeful.

We still have enough in the Eternal Family Fund to cover our accommodations while in Ethiopia and possibly some food and driver costs even with the fee increase. We will however need to come up with more for the airfare. We had been plugging away at that though this month I began shopping for Christmas gifts to get a head start on the holiday in light of travel and all. Now I feel like I should have waited. The little I've spent so far is all the more that could have gone to tickets. Poor hubby's hopes of having first class seats for the ride home when Jonas will be riding on our laps may have just gone up in smoke. I was hoping the return flight First Class tickets would be our Christmas gift to each other. Again, Oh well. It may be that I encourage some heavy drinking during the flight in hopes that my hyperactive hubby will pass out :) hahahaha I am far more worried about his behaviour than I am about the baby's. HAHA He's gotten stir crazy on a 5 hour flight before. I can't imagine how he'll do 18 hrs on a plane!

We consider ourselves to be the fortunate ones in this situation. Others with AWAA who are further behind us in the process have had their fees increase well over $7000.00. Can you imagine the panic they feel? No, I'll take $1385 over $7000 any day.

Court Results for Friends

Four AWAA families passed court today and three did not. Those families with referrals for siblings had the requirements switched up on them and unfortunately weren't told about it until their cases were before the judge. It's heartbreaking for these families because the courts are full and the earliest they could get a court date was for Nov. 8th. Now they will have to watch the travel group they were supposed to be a part of leave without them. TOUGH stuff people. My heart is soooo heavy for them!!

I am saving the best for last though. Now that their families officially have custody of these children you can visit Benaiah's family blog and Azana's family blog and see their precious faces!! I am so thrilled for their mommies!!! I have said this many times before but honestly I've never come across an unattractive Ethiopian and the boys are just more proof..... Two handsome boys.

You better believe I am gonna stalk these blog in the weeks to come. I can't wait to follow along with their adventures in travel. I am waiting for that special day when I can see these families holding the children they love so much. What a great day that will be!

Res Letters Campaign- Itinerary? Who needs one?

I do!!! Please and thank you.

You'd think I would be uber-organized for travel having waited through the court closure and all but NOPE, I basically spent my time staring at a picture of our boy Jonas and drooling. So....... not much organizing was happening over here. That and I have still been doing that self preservation thing-y which has to do with kinda detaching a bit from the reality of travel in order to survive the prolonged wait and possibility of dealing with disappointing delays once the courts reopened. Seems that tonight, though, I've decided to throw all that to the wind by planning for things to progress according to our hopes and prayers.

The reality of facing the eventuality of travel brings with it the amassing of luggage items loaned to various family members and the dusting off of the behemoth grand daddy suitcase of them all which is rarely used in this family. (I remind you that I claimed to be a light packer and am no liar as the layer of dust on the big suitcase confirms it!) Unzipped are the luggage lids and propped up against the walls of Jonas' bedroom. They will most likely stay that way for a good month plus. (I told you I like to plan ahead. Waaaaay ahead. Don't laugh!!! If it were up to Dustin he'd throw two items in a suitcase the night before the flight. We need each other. This way we balance out and equal one well-enough adjusted person.) One of the big suitcases will hold donations and is about halfway packed. I hope to pack light enough to carry donations in half of the other large suitcase as well.

The packing part, while daunting isn't what has me freaking out. It's the travel planning part. I am a ducks in a row kinda girl. The less waves the better. I like planning, and schedules. I like having a clue about where I am going and when. Yes, I'll say it I LIKE CONTROL!!

Yea, I'm SO not in control on this one. Basically as things stand we'll have 4 or less weeks to plan our trip. While I've always known this would be the case the reality has only recently dawned on me. Suddenly I find myself thinking I'd like to have more time than that to plan. The fact that we will be going early only increases my stress level because our agency is very adamant that we meet up with the rest of the Travel Group (TG) on a specified day/time TBD. They like their TG's, AWAA does. That's fine. We do too. We can't wait to meet our extended AWAA family. But, planning a mini trip inside of a trip makes me twitch. The planner in me wants to line out all the details for the portion of the trip we will be "going it alone" but I must wait! I can't make a move until we get our Tentative Travel Dates (TTD) and even then what if I book things and then the TTD falls through. Oh wow. I feel a death spiral coming on. Any notion of myself being a vicarious world traveler has forever died a painful death. But, I digress. Anyhoo, there's LOTS to be done and I am just itching to do it. SO MUCH closure to be had...... if only.

In The Kitchen

Well guys, I'm going to attempt to do some Ethiopian cooking. There is a local Ethiopian Market here in Phoenix but I figured I wouldn't get very far there considering the language barrier. I didn't envision the shopping trip being super successful with me asking for spices and herbs I've never seen before and them possibly not knowing the English name. So, I figure I will learn what they look like and be able to spot them when I go to market to restock next go-round. That way if something gets lost in translation I can at least look at the spices and see if the appear correct.
I ordered a few hard(er) to find spices at the Spice House. I felt comfortable ordering from them because I have heard wonderful things about their quality and I don't want to have to run around to several stores when I can easily (read that lazily) order good quality spices online. The Spice House's recipe for Berbere look a little too exotic and excessive compared to other authentic berbere recipies I've seen and seeing as they are in the business of selling exotic spices I opted to forgo purchasing their spice mix. I know I can at least get this right at market.

Dustin and I are planning a pre-travel party with friends and family and I am going to order much of the Ethiopian portion of the menu from a local woman who makes take-out. Nan's Beef Alecha is highly recommened by a friend and I can't wait to give it a try. I also plan to order injera and a few other traditional dishes from her. A few others I will attempt myself out af a cookbook a dear freind got me as a Christmas gift last year. The easier ones that is! About 3 ingredients or less. I figure it's a good idea to let the pro's do the cooking for the sake of our party guests. I do plan to give injera a whirl on my own in the future but I don't want to cook it under pressure and I want our guests first encounter with Ethiopian food to be authentic (and pleasant, I might add. hahaha)