one hundred seventeen

this is how many days have passed since we met our boys. it seems a lifetime ago. it is hard to believe they have not always been with us.

the delayed update is due to several things. i.am.busy. can you believe it? we finally got a decent computer. yea b. the main reason....i cannot put into words the past 117 days.


we get the question, "how are things going?" very often. i will start there.


things are going extremely well. crazy well. the boys are amazing. the girls are in love. we feel very blessed. we are thankful everyday that these two have joined our family. life is full and wonderful and loud.

many of you (does anyone even check this anymore???) have had the pleasure of meeting the boys. for those of you who have not....i will tell you a bit about them.


chala is 4 1/2 now. he almost always has a smile on his face. his eyes sparkle in a naughty way. his voice is shrill and high pitched. he never stops talking. he never stops moving. he loves his daddy. he is hilarious. i love that God gave us a son from the other side of the world, with the exact same sense of humor as me!! throughout this process (adoption), i thought about a lot of things. i wondered if chala would be scared, shy, reflective, outgoing....i never considered he would be funny. another blessing. he loves to play. he loves to ride his bike. tonight, he asked for a t.v. in his room. (the answer was no.) he is a joy. he lives life in a big way.

this little boy is lit from within.




jonas is 2 days shy of 11 months old. we have known him for more than half of his life. he is the happiest baby we have ever met. always smiling and laughing. seriously, what a buddy. we are crazy about him. when we returned home from ethiopia 3 1/2 months ago, jonas could not hold his head up. now, he is crawling, pulling up on everything, cruising on furniture. it seems that every day he has a "new trick". he weighed in at about 12 pounds in the middle of february. now, he is 20+ pounds. he will eat everything. this includes beads, woodchips, and the toilet brush. he is ticklish on the back of his neck. he will blow zerberts on your cheek if you'll let him. he prefers his momma to everyone else. his momma prefers it that way, too :)


they make us smile. all six of them. the boys are doing fantastic. the girls are doing fantastic. our hearts are full.



but, this amazing journey has a hard side. at the same time that our new additions make us laugh in some way, and while our love for them is deepening....our heart breaks every day.

for them. for their birth family. for what they have lost.



i wonder if jonas' birthmom ever got to see his huge brown eyes? i wonder if she knew that he has a birthmark on the right side of his chest that looks like a kiss? i wonder if she held her amazing baby?



they don't know that he wrinkles up his nose when he laughs. or that when you rub his left cheek, his eyes roll in a sleepy way.


they have never heard his giggle.


but then i remember that they HAVE heard chala's......and that may hurt worse.



these boys.... that have meshed their lives with ours....who we love more than we thought we could after 117 days....they have a story. and a history. and another family.



they will have questions that we cannot answer. they will have questions that are hard for us to answer.



but we will walk that road with them. we feel honored to be a part of their story.




in the meantime, we will live in the moment. and laugh while they laugh. and hold them when they need us to.

and marvel at how God heals hearts.

Ethiopia Pictures

Check out some of the pictures from our journey to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia Pictures

Success!

We are back from the embassy and we are all set!! We sat for quite a bit, but the boys were perfect! ( please be the same on the plane, please be the same on the plane....). We are counting down the hours til we leave. Sitting in a hotel room with a ( very curious and active) 4 year old and a baby is getting old. Especially when one is craving a chocolate brownie and some fresh air! :).

Btw- those who described chala as 'reserved and quiet, an observer', lied to us. Quite the opposite.

This time tomorrow we will be in the Addis Ababa airport! Less than 24 hours now!

lh

Sent from my iPhone

Wow.

Hello friends and family!!

We are feeling so blessed here today. Chala slept all night, clinging to the photo album of our family! He woke up happy and jabbering. Anna, Claire, Lauren and Emma-- he can say your names!! He LOVES to play, another child to destroy our basement!! :). He picked out a shirt with trucks on it and can count to 5 in English. So far, he is not shy at all, which we were expecting. He is crazy about B. ( of course!!)

Jonas did great as well. He is an easy, happy baby!! So cute. I woke up to his face looking at me with a big grin! What a sweet baby. He only woke for a bottle ( though he is a slow eater!). He went right back to sleep.

We are so happy to say we are heading home tomorrow!! Sone days it felt that wouldn't happen. We will cherish our time here but I never want to be away from my girls that long again!!

Our travel agent told us there are no bassinets available on any of our flights. Hello 36 hours of baby holding!! Please pray that the flights go quickly and well. We are so hoping there is no delays!! Snow, cooperate...we are coming home!!

We are leaving for the embassy in 1 hour. I am praying there are no issues. The paperwork for 2 children was rather complicated!

signing off in Africa!!

Lindsay

Sent from my iPhone

Time to change our blog name

we have 2 boys!!

after the day we had yesterday, to say we were feeling overwhelmed would be an understatement.

at 2:00 we headed over to Enat Alem.  the first things we heard were "here is chala!" he came outside with a shy smile.  he is adorable.  he quickly took to us (due to the fact that we had a bag of toys).  he saw the hotel van and headed out of the courtyard and hopped inside.  our driver,sami, told him to go and say goodbye to his friends. he casually flipped his hand and said "caio".  currently he is singing to himself and playing with anything he can find that has wheels.

baby jonas is beautiful.  he was in his crib, pushing up on his arms when we arrived.  he greeted us with a smile!  he is napping right now and did not enjoy his bath.  the nanny told us that he goes to bed at midnight and wakes for the day at 5am.  in between those, he wakes for 3 bottles. so much for a sleeper!  the orphanage was such an improvement from the last one! the kids seem happy and well loved! praise God.  the nurse director showed us jonas' record and told us that they were told he would likely pass away on the drive from the other orphanage. i wept. she told us that after 20 days she thought he may live.

things are going very well.  i am feeling tired and a bit stressed because it is all new....but things are going well.  so far chala has been very happy.

jonas is wheezing a lot. it makes me nervous to be so far from our doctor. i am wishing we had a pediatrician traveling with us.  please pray this improves and doesn't get worse before we arrive home.

tomorrow is our embassy appointment.  they told us it could be quick or it could take all day. hoping for quick.

i am desperately missing the girls.  i feel constantly on the verge of tears, and cannot wait to be back home with them.  pray for me that these remaining days in africa go quickly and well.  we are very much dreading the airplane ride home with 2 kiddos but are looking forward to where it will take us!

please keep us in your prayers. life changes so quickly.  we know God has taken us here and know he has his hand on all of this.  the big picture can seem too big to digest!

we will try to get pics asap.  it is pouring and the power is out.  the hotel is running on a generator.

love,

lindsay (and brian and boys)

the meeting

Hello! Sorry for the lack of info...our hotel struggles to keep the Internet working.

Today, while we were eating lunch, we were informed that we would be meeting the boys dad in 30 minutes. Needless, to say, it was a little stressful.

The meeting itself.....well, we are still reeling. It will take a while to process today. Also, the orphanage ( where the boys were at first) was hard to see. It was a hard afternoon. We would appreciate your prayers as we sort out the meeting and our hearts.

Tomorrow we get the kids! It doesn't seem real! We have been here less than a week, but it seems we've been here for a long time. We won't be heading to Enat Alem until 2:30.

Anna, Claire, Lauren and Emma....we miss you SO much!! I cannot tell how much I want to be back at home with you!

We will update after we meet the boys ( if we are able)!!

Love,

Lindsay

Sent from my iPhone

Pictures from Ethiopia

Hippos in Lake Awassa

Beautiful Country

Lake Awassa

awassa.

hello from awassa!

we are 275 kilometers south of addis ababa in a town called awassa.  we arrived yesterday after 7 hours in a tightly packed car.  last night and today we went to the evado orphanage, which is where the other families children are from.  we couldn't find a hotel last night, lets just say it was a struggle for me last night once we finally arrived at our "accomodations".  we have a different hotel for tonight, thank goodness!!  today we took a small boat out on lake awassa and saw a family of hippos! the weather here is gorgeous....today was a great day!  we found out that the boys dad will be arriving in addis on tuesday and we will meet with him on wednesday.  we are excited that he is coming, but also feeling nervous about the meeting.  we are thankful to get to speak with him, though.  tonight we are heading to a coffee farm and tomorrow morning we will head back to addis.  it was great to get out of the busy city and see some of Ethiopia's countryside.  it seems like we have been here much longer than just a few days.  i am missing the girls terribly (especially after endless nights of not sleeping).  when we see all of the children here, it makes me sad for chala.  we are taking him from all he knows, life here is so different......keep the prayers coming.  we have moments of panic and moments of excitement...sometimes not far apart from each other. 

that's all for now. we hope all of you are well and we will update again as soon as we can!!

can't wait to see you all soon!!

l.(and b)

africa.

we have arrived.  we are sitting in our hotel lobby and trying to get this email out before they turn the generator off and we lose power. :)  brian already made an outlet smoke in our room!!  the other families arrived last night and are out at the lion zoo.  we are kind of bummed we missed it.  we leave tomorrow to head south and won't be back to addis til monday night.  wednesday we will go and meet the boys, but not until 2:30.  ok, i am having a hard time forming a coherent thought.....time to rest.  hope all of you are doing well! we will update as soon as we can.

l

Last leg!

We are sitting in the Dubai airport, waiting for our last flight! When we land, we will be in the same city as our boys!! It will be hard to have to wait 5 more days to see them, but we are so glad to be almost there!

It looks like a full flight and we are once again in the back! So much for quickly getting off the plane to avoid waiting in line for our visa!

Well, we neglected to pack any bathrooms supplies....we are lookin pretty great today! ;). And I am sportin one of the most unfortunate pair a (dirty) black socks ( with khaki's) that you have ever seen! Africa, here we come!

L

Sent from my iPhone

long flight done.

We have arrived in Dubai. The flight went great! It was a beautiful airline and we had an empty seat between us, so we could stretch out a bit! We are waiting for a shuttle to take us to our hotel. Tomorrow at 8:30am our plane takes us to Ethiopia! I cannot believe we are so close!

Thanks for all the comments of support and all of your prayers! 4 more hours on a plane and we will be in our boys country!

lindsay

Sent from my iPhone

sweet chala and baby jonas......

it's time.

well, we are sitting in the airport. i truly cannot believe this day has come.  we feel overwhelmed by the hugeness of this all, yet remarkably peaceful.  we have no doubt that the peace is a result of all of your prayers, so keep it up!!  we will update when we get to addis (or from JFK if i am really bored. :) )  on saturday, we will be heading to the southern part of ethiopia and i am guessing we won't have any internet availability.  we will be back in the city on sunday or monday and we will try to update then.  brian changed our format, so you no longer need to have a gmail account to post a comment on this blog! so, feel free to comment away!!

i tried to email photos of the boys to this blog, but no luck.  guess you will have to wait a bit longer to see their beautiful faces!

thanks again to all of our friends and family.  we have truly felt your love and support.  say a little prayer for our girlies.  lauren's tears almost did me in this morning!

love,

brian and lindsay

p.s. we got updated to a bulkhead row on the flight to jfk!! woo-hoo!

the great big update.

oooh, it has been so long. too long. in my head, i have composed daily blog posts. on the computer, not so much. here it is....a brief recap of the past 9 months!

much here is still the same. anna is freaking hilarious and has grown about 12 feet. the trips are loving kindergarten and growing way too fast. we have been blessed with healthy and amazing children, and we are trying to appreciate all we have. this morning for instance...the girls arrive in our room at 6:59 am and by 7, there is a full fledged fight about claire holding onto the toothpaste, while looking for her toothbrush. meanwhile, emma is toothbrush ready, and so so sad that claire won't release her grip on the glister. so, you know....trying to appreciate life's big moments! :)

in other news- there are 2 more hart children out there!! 2 sweet boys with our last name are awaiting us in Ethiopia. How's that for an update!! Brian and I will be leaving in "8 sleeps" to meet our boys, see their beautiful birthplace, and take them home to their new life here with us. God never ceases to blow our minds!

here is the history, in case you don't know it. last December (2008), we decided to listen to the prompting in our hearts and move forward with adoption. we have a love for africa and that seemed to be our direction. we told our caseworker we were open to a child 0-4 years old, knowing we would probably find a child in the 2-4 year old range. She asked us if we were open to siblings and we said yes we were. we were not anticipating this would happen, because many families are waiting only for siblings. we signed our names, read the books, relied on a God who already knew how this would play out....and we waited.

fast forward to november 2009. i receive a phone call late in the afternoon. caller i.d. reveals that it is, indeed, our agency. I try to remain calm, but am puking a little in my mouth. brian is currently in california (or germany). I answer and she says, "I have a referral to talk to you about". right at that moment, my phone starts beeping 'low battery'. through the beeping i hear "2 boys" and something about 4. umm, let me call you back, and did you say twins? because that would be a real hoot, God!! turns out, no twins. but a beautiful 4 year old and his chubby cheeked 4 month old baby brother. wowzers. i feverishly wrote down the info, squeezed emma tight, called my hubby (who never answers his phone), and ran outside to tackle my neighbor with the news!! brian finally called me back SEVEN HOURS later, and confirmed what i knew as soon as my email loaded those pics....his words "those are my boys". amen to that.

on the 4th of january, we passed court. Chala and Yonas Tesfaye are now officially ours.

rooms were set up. clothes were gathered. a crib was set up (who knew!). prayers continued. and now, in 8 short days...the final leg of this adoption will end and our new (amazing) lives will begin.

there is so much that goes with this story. most of it, too hard to put into words. i will tell you that this has been the most amazing journey that brian and i have ever been invited to walk. God is so good and we have been so thrilled seeing His plan for our family unfold.

so, that is the update. life is changing. we have 6 kiddos. (we still choke and laugh every time we say that.) i will put pics on here as soon as my husband shows me how to access them.

the next updates will be from Ethiopia!! we will spend 10 days there and will send updates as much as we can! we covet your prayers for the boys and their adjustment to another huge life change. and also for our family as we figure out this new life together.

the hart girls + 2 sweet boys=a miracle. we are eternally grateful to be chosen for this.

lindsay

dressing room depression.

so. have you ever found a pair of jeans and decided to try them on? and then the helpful store clerk says "let me know if you need another size!! that brand tends to run quite big." and then you look over the selected jeans, still on their hanger, and think " they do look enormous." but then decide to try them on anyway, because it will be a good self esteem boost to be able to pull them up, while still buttoned. and oh! how great it will feel to see them hang loosely around your waist. you may even pull them out in the front (while sucking in abnormally) just to see if indeed, 2 of you could fit in these huge-o jeans.

in you step....big over the ankles, as anticipated. all is going well until about 3/4 up the thigh. they must still be buttoned. nope. so you hop a little and kind of wriggle back and forth to get them up and over. you wrestle them on, but make the mistake of looking in the mirror. you could describe the sight as comparable to watching a pile of sausage get stuffed into that skin/sack it comes in. there is serious flesh spillage coming out the top. you then see the posted note "dressing rooms monitored. tapes reviewed every night."

you puke a bit in your mouth.

the tag was probably wrong. skinny clerk probably meant they run really small!

don't bother to put those stupid jeans back on the hanger. step back into black sweatpants that never get stuck on your backside........


not that this has happened to me or anything.

cuz' that would be embarrassing, and nothing you would share with others.
and it may make you wonder how long 5 year olds remember things.

yea-- that has definitely never happened to me, either.

baby girls.

dear baby girls,

today you turned 5. it cannot be true. of course, i see you growing up and gaining independence...but 5, really?? your dad and i say daily that we wish we could freeze time and stay just like this. believe me when i tell you, we did not think we would ever say that. i realized that i never pictured getting to this stage. i never looked forward enough to imagine you at 5, about to start kindergarten. it didn't seem like it would ever happen...but here it is. even if i had tried, i could never have known how amazing and incredible and different you all would be. to say that you have been a blessing to us, every single day of your 5 years, would not be enough. you have managed to fill in every place in my heart and seeped into places i didn't know. you are miracles. we are so proud of you, and cannot wait to see your life unfold. we pray that you each know that though you arrived together, you came with your own amazing plan from God. we feel privileged to be a part of that. we hope you continue to figure out who you are independently, as well as appreciating the bond that the three of you have. no matter your age, some things will never change. like the fact that we will always feel you are growing too quickly. and that we will always love you. and probably, that your rooms will always be a disaster. (except for you, rosie..you are impressively neat!) so be who you are. continue to love and laugh like you do. and please, stop growing up so fast.



since photos are more than over due..here are the birthday girls at their "luau party".

spring fever.

I heard a couple of grumblings about my blog neglect. I had no idea it had been a month already. Life is really moving quickly!

Here is a quick story. The main, sharp tongued character is miss anna.

Janie, I will dedicate this to you! :)

We are checking out of old navy with a pile of great deals for the girls. I say, "I didn't even LOOK at clothes for mommy and I am the one who really needs some".

Anna adjusts her new, super cute hat and says:

"do they carry size pretty big here?"

a request from me.

**to clarify- this post was not intended to bash breastfeeding. This was written ONLY for gymnastics lady, who for whatever reason, wants to nurse for a full hour...which we all know is not needed now nor was it necessary when milk lips was born. My apologies to any who were offended in the writing of this blog. It was truly not my intent.



dear lady at the gymnastics place,

i am truly glad that breastfeeding your 18+ month old has been so "rewarding" for you. i even try to assume the mutual "enjoyment" you speak of is real, even as your child is constantly flailing and trying to escape your infant hold. i even can come up with some good reasons why she needs to be constantly nursed, even into her 2nd year of life, while asking for a cookie or an apple. please, lady with the smallish head, please...just one request. while i try to ignore the whole "forced enjoyment" you two have going on, please dont chase around the escaped toddler yelling... "c'mere, milk lips! c'mere milk lips! mommy gonna get you!" because at that point, there is no safe place for my mind.

thank you. give milk lips my best.

7a.m. brushing anna's hair.

"mom, were you EVER pretty?"

"why do you ask that?"

"I'm trying, but I just can't picture it!"

Thanks.

blog slacker.

I have a very good reason for not blogging. Several of them, actually. I have been away from my home for 13 days now. And the sun is so bright down on the beach, that I cannot see my computer screen. Rest assured it has not been ALL sunny Florida bliss... the sun and chlorine have been torture on my hair. AND I have to shave every day! Plus, I have a really lame sunglass tan line. What else?? Nope, that is the only bad stuff... otherwise it has been relaxing and fantastic!! :). Something about waking up to the ocean every morning... therapy for my soul, I tell ya!!

3 more sleeps til the reality of Michigan in the winter. Boo.