Merry Christmas.

We are having a white Christmas. Not something that happens in the Portland area.
We have had over 12 inches of snow the past week. Naing has been driving me to work every day. Thankful I married a Canadian:)
I am hoping it all melts away and life can get back to normal. It is pretty but our town is not equipped to handle the snow and it has put a big damper on life here.
Our agency closed down cuz they had so much snow there and staff couldn't get in safely.
Guess I'm not getting that Christmas referral.
Merry Christmas to everyone and their families.

All I want for Christmas

Christmas is less than one week away. I can't believe how this year has flown by!
After a week worth of bad weather, snow and ice (we usually don't have to deal with this in Portland) I haven't been much in the Christmas spirit this week, dealing with getting to work in the bad weather and our business not being busy. But I will get there!
My one Christmas wish is for us to get our referral by the end of the year.
I so want to know who our children are, what they look like and see their little faces.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. Naing's new job, finishing our paperwork!, our friends and families. The best way to end this year would be to get that info to start out the New Year.

Naing and I are about to celebrate our wedding anniversary as well, so it can be a combined gift for both of us:)

We are hoping this snow stops so we can get the rest of our errands run and finish the Christmas shopping. At least I got the packages in the mail that needed to be mailed. Hope to do Christmas cards this weekend.
All the best to your family at the holidays.

Today my Mom, went back home to Texas. Something that has happened many times in the 28 years I have lived in Oregon. But I feel so sad today. I wonder if I will get to see her again. She is almost 86 and said it was too hard to travel up here, so she won't be doing it next year unless one of my siblings come with her. That just made me realize that our children really won't get to know her and she is a great! grandmother! Naing's parents are both in the 80's too so it very possible that our children won't get to know the joy of having grandparents in their life. Just makes me very sad.

Creating our children's room

My Mom is town for Thanksgiving. She hasn't been out and about much when she is with me, cuz I'm still cleaning out the spare room so we can get the nursery ready. But yesterday she went with me when I ordered the new blinds for the room. Got the paint mixed up for the colors we chose and I found a new wallpaper border that I like better than the one we got a few weeks ago. I even ordered a growth cart that matches the adorable border. If you know Naing and I and have been to our house, we aren't really material people and our home is a huge work in process. But our children's room will definitely be the best room in the house when it is all done. I want it to be bright, cheerful and warm. A place for them to feel safe and love to be in. I can't wait to get it all done, it is a good way for me to keep moving one step closer to our babies.

Officially there

As of 10 AM Addis time on Tues 11/18 our paperwork arrived in Addis Abba. All I can say if finally!

On the way

Our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia! Hopefully will be there on Monday. So we are officially waiting now. I find that humorous since we have been waiting forever and a day already to be parents before we started this process. We are so excited!!!!

Restless

I'm feeling restless, very restless. We are in limbo now and nothing I can do will move it forward.
Our paperwork is still in DC. I was hoping our dossier would be in Ethiopia by now. I don't like waiting. Naing is suggesting I chill out or I'm going to drive myself crazy. It is just so hard to wait and not know when things will happen. I know everyone that has been through this says it all works out when it is suppose to, so you get the child that is suppose to be in your family. But when your living it, it is harder than looking back at the experience with your words of wisdom.
All I have to say is hurry up already!

Asking

I asked the pastor of the church we are attending if we could ask for donations for the orphanage. She let me and asked me to go up to the podium to speak in front of the whole church. I made Naing come up to. Of course I started to cry talking about what we are doing and the number of orphans that need help. I dropped a box off today all decorated and people are donating pens, paper, and used clothes. It was so touching to see how many people want to help. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

Our dossier is done!

YES it is true we finally have all the paperwork finished for the adoption. I turned it in on 10/23 to our adoption agency. Now they have sent some papers to the Ethiopian embassy in Washington DC and have to wait for them to come back approved before our file goes to Ethiopia. We are hoping for a speedy turn around and for our paperwork to be in Ethiopia by the second week in November.
I had Chinese for lunch yesterday and my fortune said I would soon gain my greatest desire......................(being a MOM.)

More of the farm, the Rockies and the Big Horn Sheep.

The Farm!

Naing and I drove to Canada to have Thanksgiving (Canadian) with his family. While we were there we spent a couple of days at the Bocock's farm. Naing worked while he was in college. I LOVE the farm and so understand why he still talks about his time there. The Bococks were wonderful hosts and hostesses, we even had afternoon tea every day.

We had a great time and it was worth the drive, but boy it was a LONG drive 14-16 hrs in the car. On the way back we drove through Banff, the Rockies were so beautiful. Enjoy the pictures!

The strangeness of life

I found out today I am going to be a great Aunt. My oldest nephew, who is 31 and his wife are expecting their first child. I was 14 when he was born and here we are preparing for our child/children at the same time. It seems so strange to me. I don't feel old enough to be a GREAT aunt. But at least I'm not the grandma :) my sister is a little in shock over this that her baby is going to have a baby. The circle of life. I hope when we do get to go to Texas w/our children they will have fun with their second cousin. Is that right???? I have no knowledge of the family tree once you start into one generation removed.

Frustration

Tuesday in the mail was an envelope from the USCIS office. I was so excited to open it thinking it was our notice of approval. NO! Instead there is another appointment for finger printing scheduled for Naing on Oct 10th. No information attached to this notice on why, just the notice. There is a number to call, but you can't get through to a live human. No matter what you do and my question is not one of the options they offer you. So now Naing has to take off work again and go down to see why and probably be re-fingerprinted. It would be so simple to write a note or even have a form letter saying we need to redo your prints. But when is our government ever simple.

Fingerprints-Check!

Today we got our fingerprinting done- Yeah. Now we wait for that one little piece of paper saying we get to immigrate two children from Ethiopia into the US. I had posted a question on our adoption group bulletin asking how long it takes to get this paper back after the fingerprinting.
The responses I got were so varied. It is pretty amazing that we are all going through the same process but have had such different experiences. Naing and I had to be there at 9 am. We got there about a quarter til thinking there would be a lot of people, but there was not. I was the second person fingerprinted and he was the third. It went fast, I hope the processing goes fast too.
Some people in this adoption group that live in other states talked about walking into the USCIS office with the application and getting an appointment right then. Others said they waited for weeks and months. One lady talked about armed guards being present when they went for their appointment in another state. It is amazing how random and varied things are through this whole process.

We also got to meet the Ethiopian lawyer who will be representing us in court for our adoption. He was in town visiting our agency and they had a couple of functions for him. We went to the dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant. Had great food and got to meet people I have chatted on line with but had not met before Saturday night. It was so interesting to listen to every one's stories of where they are in the process. See pictures of people's children, those that have referrals but haven't traveled yet. And of course see the beautiful children of the families that have come home. That is what keeps me going through this hurry up and wait for the next step.

Finger printing appointment

In the mail today was our official letters for the finger printing appointment. We are scheduled for next Wed the 24Th of Sept. I'm so excited, one more step closer, YEAHHHHH.
Today I also interviewed a woman that I feel could step into my job and handle it. I still feel like I'm abandoning my clinic and my sister who owns the clinic, so meeting someone that could take over my job was a great step for me to get over the guilt. Hell she might even be better at it than me, she sure seemed to be a better Human Resource person than I am. Here is hoping things progress there as well.

There is Green

We have been working on a big yard project and last weekend we finally seeded the yard.

Yes we have grass coming up. This is so exciting, we have been living in a dust bowl since the spring when the bob cat came in to level out the yard. Naing has put many, many hours of back breaking labor into getting the soil just right and the yard level with no dips or craters (thanks to the dogs). In just a few weeks we will have a luscious, thick green lawn and no more layers of dirt every where in the house. I am not the best house cleaner but it was a loosing battle trying to keep the dust level down.

Next summer our back yard will be so lovely with all the plants finally in the ground and flower beds.

Next project is building a brick patio but that can wait until next summer.

New Milestone

Yes, we got our official home study report in the mail yesterday. I sent Naing to the post office to mail it to the USCIS office today while I was at work. We are one more step closer to getting our approval to immigrate two children from Ethiopia. Once we have that paperwork for the US govt our dossier is ready to go to Ethiopia. I just want every thing to speed up and get done faster, but I know it will happen at the pace it is suppose to happen. Our children are waiting for us.
But I can hope that it will be a brisk pace!

The other great thing is the couple we met from Newberg got their referral for twin boys today. 11 month old boys, I'm so excited for them and can't wait to see them.

Time to get the nursery ready

Now that we are almost done w/all this paperwork it is time to get the room ready for the babies. We are going to do some room switching to put them in the office across from our bedroom, so I have lots of work to do. I need to clean out the spare bedroom so we can move the office in there and then start painting the children's room. Guess that will keep me busy so I don't go crazy during the waiting period.

Homestudy Report

I'm so excited. We got the draft of our home study to review. This is the second to last paperwork we need to complete our dossier. All I can think about is how close we are.
I don't know if I can sleep tonight.

Home study.

Ok I admit I was worked up about our first home study. I have felt like we were under the microscope for this adoption, on paper and now with the social worker coming to our home.
Our home is a work in progress and still needs work. Not to mention all the damage Tenley did as a puppy that I was frantic to fix before the meeting.
When I talk about damage, I mean damage! She unraveled carpet, chewed two baseboards and also bit a hole in 3 couches. So I got slip covers for the couches, patched the carpet, puddied the baseboards and repainted all the dings in the walls from her ball being thrown in the house.
Naing thought I was crazy and told me so many times, not to be obsessing about the house. Even my sister, Patty told me that was not the purpose of the home study, but I felt like that was the only part of this whole process I could control was how the house looked.
Now tomorrow we have our second home study visit and I am not all worked up about it. I did clean the house but I'm not obsessing about every last thing. Once again, I should have learned from the experience with the preparing for the green card interview. Oh well live and learn. Once we get our home study report we are ready to send off the copy to the USCIS to get the immigration approval for two children and then the dossier is ready to go, except I have to finish the letter to the board of the orphanage. I have started it many times, but found it very hard to put into words what having a family means to us and keep it to one page. I'm sure I will get it done soon, because I don't want to hold anything up not having it ready when the paperwork comes back from the USCIS.

Northwest Ethiopian Networking Group Picnic

We joined the yahoo on-line group and went to the group picnic. Again it was so great to meet other families that have gone through the adoption process or are in the process so they understand what we are going through. Also the sharing of experiences and wisdom has helped make this process less isolated.
We put faces to names we have chatted on-line with. One of the couples we met, the husband is Ethiopian ( I can't remember how to say/spell his name, sorry) and he has offered to help us learn how to speak some phrases in the native tongue, so we can communicate with the children better. Since we are going to adopt one that will be over 2 in age, I want to know how to ask certain questions. I'm in the process of writing the list and trying not to make it too long. But it will be nice to be able to thank the guest house staff and driver that help us while we are there as well.
Hopefully this knowledge will help the 30 hour flight be less horrible than I am imagining. Two children that don't know us, don't know the language on a long plane ride, when they have probably only been in a car twice (the two times they will go with us before we leave Ethiopia to the Embassy and the airport).

Ethiopian Children living in our neighborhood.

The wonderful thing that happened, was Naing went to Safeway instead of Fred Meyer. He stopped at the store on the way home from work and went to Safeway(we hardly ever shop at Safeway) where when he was in the checkout line, he saw a man with two boys that had to be from Ethiopia. He approached him and asked if his sons were from Ethiopia and they started to chat. Chris and his wife, Mindy adopted twin boys from Ethiopia when they were three months old. They were one of the first couples to adopt from Ethiopia with Dove Adoptions. They invited us to come over and meet their family and also meet two other couples who live in our town of Newberg, Oregon that are adopting from Ethiopia as well. Now the kicker, we all live within 5 blocks of each other. I'm so excited our children will go to school together and know other children from Ethiopia. I was worried about our children being the only black children in school, but now I don't have to worry about that.
Meeting these families really motivated Naing to finish his paperwork. It made it more real for him. We are so thankful we met them.

The paperwork begins

Once Naing started his new job at PSU, we started the adoption paperwork. Now adoption is not foreign to me, my sister adopted from the Ukraine, my best friend has two domestically adopted children and another good friend, Lisa had a daughter adopted from the Ukraine. So when we started looking at agencies, I had some idea of what I wanted from an agency. We we looking at international adoption because it would be some what faster for us and since we are in our 40s I didn't want to wait for years to have our children come home. Friends of ours told us about Ethiopia adoptions, they had looked into it. After looking at different countries and what their criteria/restrictions are and the agencies criteria/restrictions, we found a fit with a smaller agency out of Banks, Oregon called Dove adoptions and chose Ethiopia. Now remember I told you earlier Naing lived in Ethiopia as a child for two years. The more we researched it the more I knew it was the right place for us. We decided to adopt two children at once so our children will have a sibling. Our siblings are so important to us, we wanted our children to have that special bond as well.
We got our home study and our dossier packet and I was overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork. Where do you start????? I decided to do them at the same time, so anything I had to have for both packets I could do at once and not have to duplicate at a later date. I have to admit at certain points of time in this process I felt like we were in over our head, with all the questionnaires and signed, notarized documents. But we got through it all and we started our on-line courses. I finished all my paperwork and did what I could of Naing's and was waiting for him to get on the stick. I didn't want to nag him, but I felt like he was holding up the process. But I let him do it at his own pace, cuz I felt like this is our journey and maybe he needs to take longer to get through this than I do. Well that philosophical wisdom didn't last long, I started to nag.
Then the most wonderful thing happened.

Christmas in Washington

For Christmas we met NiNi, Gerald and their son, Christopher in Orando, Washington. Never heard of it, neither had we. It is in northeast Washington. Really a summer resort town, but we had fun in the snow at Christmas. It was so great to have a white Christmas and go to the quaint town of Leavenworth. This Bavarian town looks like something out of a hallmark card. We so enjoyed being a tourist and listening to the carolers sing and we met Father Claus. The rest of our time together was spent playing mahjong and skipbo. A tradition I would love to continue.

Oregon Garden

If you love flowers and appreciate the beauty of garden landscapes a trip to the Oregon Garden in Silverton is a wonderful way to spend your day. And to make the trip even better, dogs are welcomed at the garden. I have gone many times, but for Naing's birthday we took our wonderful dogs, Stuart and Tenley. We spent the afternoon strolling in the garden and enjoying the view, plus you get wonderful ideas on how to group certain plants together for your yard.

The dogs loved the big grounds to walk around and the water fountains to play in, ok only Tenley loved the water fountains to play in.

The green card

After getting married, we started Naing's green card process. Mentor had started the process, but once they heard we were married, suggested we continue it without their assistance. So off we go on the paperwork journey. For all those that have done adoption paperwork, the green card was nothing. In Sept of 2007, Naing got his green card, YEAH. I was so worked up about going for our green card meeting. They gave you this list of things you need to prove your relationship together. I brought a photo album of us while we were dating and of our wedding reception. They never looked at any of it. They wanted to know how much money I made, see proof that we had joint assets and asked us questions about how we met, how long we dated and when we got married. THAT WAS IT, 10 minutes tops. Maybe I should have learned something from this process and taken it with me as we prepared for our home study, I say in hindsight.

Our wedding and reception

We decided to get married and planned our wedding in 4 weeks. My mom was in town for Christmas, so we decided to get married while she was here. We picked New Years Eve, because it is a day of celebration of things to come. Since it was such short notice, most of our family could not attend, so we decided to have a reception in March so they could plan to come and celebrate with us. Our wedding was so special because our friends and family helped make it happen. We were married at my sister's house. My best friend Debbie, helped me find my gown and got us a wedding cake, my friend Cathy Jo made me a headpiece and did our hair for the wedding. Naing's friend's son, Caleb, played music to accompany us down the isle . And I saved the best for last, my friend Michael when he heard that I couldn't get the flowers I wanted for my bouquet, had peonies, flown in from New Zealand and his wife made me the bouquet. We truly are blessed with our friends and families.

The families came in March and we had a big party for everyone to dance, eat and drink together. Most of our siblings came. We had so much fun getting our families together. Hard to do when they live so far apart.
6:26:00 PM
by Becky & Naing

Canada

Naing took me to Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving and to meet his family. The Rockies were so breath taking. I loved Banff and Lake Louise, we want to go back and spend more time. We were going to honeymoon there, but we haven't had a honeymoon, YET.

I was very nervous to meet his family, he had not shared with his family that we planned to get married yet.

They were very welcoming. His sister NiNi and her husband Gerald, opened their home to me and made me feel so welcomed.

His parents and my Mom are so sweet together and enjoy each other's company.

Meeting the families

We went to Texas for Naing to meet my family, before he officially proposed. Here we are with my sister's Donna, Mary, niece Taylor and my Mom (who never smiles in pictures). I had so much fun taking Naing back to Texas. I miss my family and all that happens together when I'm visiting. I don't miss the heat and humidity of Texas. We went out for real TexMex (how I miss it), had a typical Sunday afternoon in Nov, watching the Cowboys and having a big family get together. Naing fit right in, and my sister Donna spoiled him so. I can't wait to go home with our children so they can meet the family.

Fun Trips

We have seen some beautiful things the last few years. Places, family and friends included.

Crater Lake was one of my favorite places we went.

For those of you that do not know our story, it begins on E-Harmony. Yes, Naing and I met on E-Harmony. We are both in our 40(s) never been married and we got matched up. We started dating and found out we did have so much in common. We are both the youngest of 6 children. Even though he was born in Burma and I was born in Wisconsin, we were meant to be. Naing has led a more exciting life as a child than I did. His father worked for the World Health Organization and after they left Burma, he lived in Ethiopia (remember that for later) Tanzania, India and then they moved to Canada. That is where Naing finished his education and went onto college to get two degrees. He moved to Oregon for a job for a small start up software company, that did not survive. So he decided to stay in Oregon and went to work for Mentor Graphics. While attending Mentor he went on to earn his Masters in Software Engineering at PSU. He left Mentor and is now at PSU in their IT department. I grew up in Texas and moved to Oregon in 1980. I liked it so much, I stayed and went to school at PSU. I now manage a vet clinic in Hillsboro.
When we were dating and talking about getting married, we also started discussing adoption.
We both knew we wanted to have a family. After we got married, we had to get Naing's green card finished before we could start the adoption process because he had to have permanent residency to adopt.
5:19: