We have news to share and “stuff to sell”. Our latest “news” is that the Lord provided the perfect buyer for our 20 acres of land and our 5 bedroom home, so we will close and be moved out completely by March 1, 2012, (thank you, Father)!

Our plan is for Kent to return to school to complete a degree in Elementary Education, he’s completed applications to a few universities and we’ve visited those campuses. We plan to rent until Kent completes a degree. We’ve kept six acres along the north side of our current property (we’re selling 20 of our current 26 acres) and over time we’ll build a small home on that site.

Because of our downsizing we need to sell a lot of stuff! So….we’re asking you all (our friends and family) to help us by letting us know of any acquaintances you may have that need to furnish or decorate their homes, offices, motel rooms, or places of business. Pictured below are just a few of the items we plan to sell but we have set up an entire website with over a hundred posts with pictures, descriptions and prices at this site http://rungestuff.wordpress.com. Please peruse it if you have need of any of these things and send it on to any one you can think of who might be interested in purchasing these items from us. At the site, there are photos of all items if you simply click on the title and you can also search by “category”. We are looking forward to the “freedom” and more availability in having and caring for less “stuff”.

Thanks so much for your thoughts, prayers, and “word of mouth” advertisement!

It’s December 3, 2011, and I’m actually sending out our year-end update before the end of the year…amazing! However, it will be fewer words (did we hear some cheering?) and include more photos than in previous years since we’re sending it out via e-mail again. Our snail mail version to those without e-mail will only be a post card…maybe they are blessed??? :0) We’re keeping all of you on a general “update” list that we’ll send update letters to, 2 or 3 times during the year just to keep in touch and so our end of year letter can be shorter and not such a huge project to accomplish. It will, however, include PLENTY of photos…surprise, surprise!

As most of you already know, Kent’s position was eliminated in August (after 7 faithful years with SCS), which sorta “knocked the wind out of our sails” and also put the brakes on our second adoption proceedings (we’d hoped to go back to Ethiopia for a second daughter in 2012 or 2013 and had just finished our adoption home study). Though Kent has faithfully checked the job bank and local papers and sent resume’s with cover letters every week, he’s not even had an interview. It feels a bit scary at times, but it also causes us to “think outside of the box”, so Kent is currently looking into some other educational opportunities and he may be able to qualify for some help through the State of MN with tuition. We’re hoping that whatever employment Kent can find, will allow him time off to travel to Ethiopia in order to minister to the “widows and orphans” as we’re currently feeling called to do. These are just our thoughts and prayers for now…we’ll see what the Lord brings into our path as we seek Him. Though there are moments of concern with Kent still being unemployed, having him home has been a blessing (I’m afraid I’m getting a bit spoiled) and is certainly the reason we’re ahead of most of our projects…a lot of “honey dos” are getting done.

Most of you also know that we decided to list our home for sale in September in order to “downsize and simplify” so that we can be out of debt completely and more available to return to Ethiopia. We’ve had three showings and one offer that was rescinded, but nothing else of late. We’re guessing we’ll be waiting at least till spring for another offer, but only the Lord knows for sure. We know that we can find “freedom in the things we leave behind” as Michael Card sings, we’re just finding it difficult to figure out how to sell our “stuff and things”. We’re trying to sell some antique furniture and wall hangings, but all the flea markets in MN close up after Labor Day. We’ve started to take photos and list some of the items on Craig’s List, but so far haven’t had any sales. If any of you have any other ideas, let us know. We’d like to sell stuff BEFORE we get an offer on our house so that we aren’t needing to use storage for “stuff and things” we don’t need. It’s amazing how little you really “need” when you sit down and think about it.

Our biggest continuous blessing, has been Elisa Mae as she grows from a baby into a “little girl”. She has learned to walk, talk (3 to 7 word sentences), feed herself, and sing in the past six months and her smile is still as beautiful as when we first brought her home from Ethiopia in September of 2010. She also knows her ABC’s in song, often requesting that we “find the ABC’s” or “find alphabet” on our stereo in the morning or “find tinkle star” or “find Winnie the pooh”. She has MANY other favorite songs including, “Holy, Holy”, “Glory Hallelujah”, “Ho, Ho, Ho, Hosanna” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb”…and sings them to herself in the car, in her crib, while she “reads” and many times asks, “mommy sing too?” There are also many challenges as we learn to parent her (what to do with her jabbering and singing for 45 minutes before she goes to sleep every night is one of them :0), but the hope and joy she brings is endless. She is currently 22 months old, weighs 21 pounds and is 31 7/8 inches tall (about 5th and 10th percentile, respectively, for US numbers) and though she is small in stature, she learns very quickly, is usually obedient, talks nearly incessantly (in our presence), and still loves to read, sing, and to play with carts, bears and necklace beads. She is also doing very well with helping mom pick up her toys and books and sits silently during all the concerts, musicals, and services we bring her to…we’re proud of her…and sometimes exhausted by all the “relating” she requires! Our photos below basically show a lot of “firsts”, since this was our first full year of being parents. Hope the photos help you “know” us a bit better and bring smiles to your faces…

Our love and wishes for God’s presence and provision to you all,

Kent, Laurie, Elisa Mae and Little Girl (doggie) Runge

We’ve had to come to terms with the fact that we may not be able to adopt from Ethiopia again since jobs are getting harder to find…at least the kind that pay enough annually to qualify for adopting. It’s been hard, and yet, we know that God is in control and He knows the situation we’re in and if He still wants us to adopt from Ethiopia, He can provide the right job. We also realize it may be the Lord’s way of halting our second adoption until the right daughter is born or is orphaned in Ethiopia…we have to trust in Him and we do. In the meantime, Kent, Elisa and I can certainly live on much less than adoption standards require and Kent will take whatever job he’s able to get.

We still have a heart for Ethiopian orphans and have decided to put our house and 20 acres for sale (keeping 6 acres of woods) in order to move to a much simpler/cheaper house (maybe a condo in town) so that we can be out of debt completely and more available (time-wise) to go to Ethiopia for a month or so every year (or so) in order to volunteer in orphanages and/or schools. We’d been talking about the possibility of this earlier in the year, but had decided to wait until our second adoption was completed in order to keep our lives as unchanging as possible to minimize paperwork in the adoption process. Well…since Kent lost his employment, we decided it just may be God’s way of moving that idea and process along, so in September, we listed our home and 20 acres for sale. This was hard too, since we love our home in the woods, but we really felt it was what we were supposed to do. So far, we’ve only had one showing, so we pray and leave that in God’s hands and timing too.

Kent busies himself with filling out job applications, updating his resume’, writing “our story”, organizing and publishing his photography online in hopes of selling it www.togetherbydesign.smugmug.com, and cutting down trees and cutting them up for me to split and stack for our winter wood supply. We’ve never been this far ahead on our winter wood supply since we used to have to wait until weekends or evenings for him to have time, so, that is a blessing. However, if we sell our home before winter, we’re doing it for someone else’s benefit. Oh well.

In the meantime, we continue to marvel at Elisa’s growth and at the joys and challenges of parenting. She is now 20 months old and finally hit the 20 pound mark on the scale (the weight we could turn her around to face the front, in her car seat). Kent was looking forward to that so he could see her face when we drive. At 20 months (Sept 20th), she was 20-1/2 pounds and 31-1/4 inches tall, which puts her still below the 5th percentile in weight and at about 15th percentile in height for our nation’s average 20-month old child. Though she continues to be small in stature (still wearing 0-3 month shorts, 12-18 month pants and 12-18 month tops), her vocabulary has exploded and she sings too…Yay! She not only knows hundreds of words (that we can understand…and many more that we can not) but now she uses two to four word sentences like: “seat (sit) up”, “hoed (hold) it”, “goo gil (good girl)”, “up pees (please)”, “down pees”, “dah ee’s bike”, “mommy’s bike”,”open it”, “close it”, “I runnin”, “I knock”, “kake (thank) you”, “I drop it”, “I lay down”, “I see you”, “read to you”, “how do you do”, “dumpin (jumping) up and down” and her most recent phrase and our favorites, “I love you” and “hug”. What fun it is to hear new words nearly every day!

One of the first words she learned was, “noisy” (I later realized it was in one of her favorite books). Every time she hears a “kuck” (truck), an airplane, or a motorcycle “bike”, she says, “noise”…and I always agree with her, “yes, Elisa, that IS noisy!” Another curious thing she used to say before she learned “please” was, “open, no…open, no,” and she said it all the time! I soon learned that it was her way of saying, “can I open this?” and then answering her own question with what she thought I’d say…“no”. So I’d usually answer with, “yes, you can open that, but you may not play with what is inside”. She continues to do incredibly well with opening and closing any door, cupboard, or drawer within her reach without playing with the contents inside; with four exceptions and she knows the four…her toy drawers and the leftover container cupboard…lower shelf only. She learned that distinction back when she was just 12 months old…”goo gil”. :0)

Elisa loves to sing and dance, which we do most mornings to the stereo in the living room; to swing and slide, which she learned recently on some playground equipment; to walk outside; and to talk on her “pretend” rock or door stop phones. Most of Elisa’s “pretend” phone conversations start with “no, no, no (each with different inflections) and then she tosses her head back and laughs (a purposeful, fake laugh) and then she usually says, “daa ee” in there somewhere among the jabbering. Oh, how she makes me laugh sometimes! :0)

Elisa continues to love her books…especially those that we sing, that rhyme, and her ABC book. Her books, her bears, her push carts, and her sponge numbers and letters are her favorite things along with purses filled with odds and ends, which keep her busy on long car rides, at funerals, weddings, and the like. She often climbs up on a chair with a book and sits and reads out loud…using her own words and the words she remembers mommy saying, based on the pictures she sees (she never holds a book upside down!). She also recognizes and says the letters A, B, and C and usually the numbers zero, six, eight, and nine…I haven’t figured out why those particular numbers, but hey, I’m impressed that she can say them and recognize them.

A couple of months ago Elisa heard SHe DAISY’s moving, acapella version of, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, on our stereo and sang along on the chorus with the word, “ha lei yew ya (hallelujah)”. Later that day, while I was changing her diaper she said, “gory gory (glory)”…it took me a minute, but I realized she was singing more of the same chorus! Every time that particular song comes on the stereo, she stops whatever she is doing and sings, “gory, gory, ha lei yew ya”…oh so cute!

This week she surprised me by singing through the ABC song with all the correct notes….but not all the correct letters…she repeats ABC, AB, ABC a lot. (You can hear her sing it, since daddy later got it on video at… http://gallery.me.com/kentnlaurie#100276 name: elisamae password: sillygirl) Maybe she’ll be like me…I remember melodies easily, but words escape me all the time.

Earlier this week, she started trying to put on her socks and her shoes (with a few successes) however, she does express frustration when it doesn’t go easily and she doesn’t want our help…she is learning patience along with us. Elisa does help me pick up her toys and put her books on the shelf when I ask her too. “Goo gil” :0)

In the past week she also learned that mom’s name is Lo wee, daa ee’s name is Ken(t), Grandma’s names are Ahh dee (Audrey) and Vada (Varda) but Little Girl is still…“dog”. I think she has figured out that Little Girl is an odd name for a dog and refuses to use it. :0) How perceptive and funny! Unfortunately, she also slipped and fell between the vanity and the toilet, two days ago, and chipped one, very white, front tooth on the toilet as she went down. Her lip was cut slightly and she cried a bit, but cuddled into mom and the tears were amazingly short…she is so easily consoled now that it amazes me sometimes!

I condition Elisa’s tight curls (which are 5-1/2 inches long on top) usually twice a day with a spray-in conditioner and style it in pig tails, pony tails or just headbands with bows or “fow ers” (flowers) on them. While I do this, she busies herself with taking her hair dealies out of their bags and then puts them back into their bags, usually identifying, “buh er fies”, “bows”, and “fow ers, oh, fow ers!” Just today she said, “uh oh, uh oh”, when she discovered that a light blue pony holder was in the bag of barrettes that she was playing with…she knew it didn’t belong there and wanted me to put it with the rest of the pony holders in their own bag…that’s my girl!!! :0)

Elisa enjoys brushing her 15 teeth (three of her canines are her most recent additions) and asks to brush them by saying, “teef, oh teef (teeth),” nearly every time she is in the bathroom. She now feeds herself quite well and asks for her favorite fruits by saying, “gape, oh gape” or “ree, oh ree (raisins)” or “aah cot (apricot)” and “mee na” (banana). Just this past week she learned to look for the moon and the stars in the night sky and while walking in the evening, she repeats, “moon, moon, oh moon” over and over and over again until we acknowledge her and say, “yes, Elisa, that is the moon” or “did you see the moon?”. She does this rapid repeat of many new words she learns with annoying tenacity, but she’s learning to communicate, of course she is excited about identifying and saying new words. We just need a bit more patience with the process sometimes. :0)

We tried our first raised bed garden this year and found the tomatoes (cherry and grape), carrots, jalapeño peppers, zinnia flowers, and kohlrabi were a success…for the most part. Elisa loves picking tomatoes with mommy, but every time she bites into one (and she tries each time) she ends up wrinkling her nose and spitting it back out and handing it to me…which I then devour. Guess she doesn’t like tomatoes…yet. One of the times we were out picking tomatoes, I had filled up my shirt (forgot the bag) and then tripped, which sent the tomatoes rolling across the grass. Elisa, following me, said, “I drop it, I drop it” and I howled with laughter! I realized she’d heard the phrase from one of her nursery rhymes, “A Tisket, A Tasket,” and obviously understood what “drop it” meant…she even used the right inflection from the rhyme. Smart cookie, at least these doting parents think so.

Her other fascination this autumn has been picking and eating honey crisp apples from one of the trees we planted ten years ago. Every time we go outside she says, “app oh, app oh (apple)”. Then she says, “hoed it, hoed (hold) it”. She usually eats at least half an apple by herself and has even eaten a whole one, as she carries it around with her while I do yard work. The jacket she wears is usually wet with apple juice and she willingly allows Little Girl (dog) to lick her apple every now and then. Ewww! (She knows that word too!) Sometimes she drops it and gives it to me saying, “dooty, dooty (dirty)” and I wipe it off on my pants and give it back to her…it’s “clean” dirt.

Little Girl, our shih tzu dog, is now blind in her right eye. We have been doctoring it for the past year and a half, but to no avail. The vet’s “guess” is that she had some kind of an internal infection that went into her eye and first just caused it to swell a bit and have a large pupil that wouldn’t completely dilate. This spring, though, it turned blood red and she can no longer see through it. Fortunately, she has very little pain or pressure, so she’ll keep her eye for now. If it begins to be painful, we’ll have to have it removed. Poor little creature…she had such beautiful, big eyes. We still love her, even if she is a bit growly and crotchety now and then.

I leave you with a request to pray for us as we struggle with waiting in “limbo” between jobs, homes, and adoption. (Elisa often reminds us to pray after we eat by saying and reaching for our hands, “han, han? (hand), a mem? (amen)”) We have no trouble with trusting the Lord to provide for us when and where we need, but we are struggling with the “limbo” feeling.

Thanks again for “listening” to our hearts and letting us “brag” about our daughter…it is so much fun to write about her; it makes me forget our other challenges. As always, our MANY photos (for the past year) and videos can be viewed at our website http://gallery.me.com/kentnlaurie Click on the album called, “Our Silly Little Girl,” and use Name: elisamae and Password: sillygirl if you have the time. If not, just enjoy the photos below (not in date order). Kent, Laurie & Elisa Mae Runge, 33928 County Highway 27, Erhard, MN 56534, 218-739-5452, krunge@gmail.com.

As the weeks pass, we are getting more and more excited about going back to Ethiopia to see the friends we made there, to visit Elisa’s birth mom (we hope), to visit the school and little girl we sponsor there, and to bring back a little or bigger sister for Elisa. We are requesting that our second daughter be within two years of Elisa’s age (0-4), with the hope that they will be great playmates and best friends as they grow up together. The wait time for Ethiopia has also slowed some, but nothing in comparison to China’s wait time. So, going by current wait times, we “guess” we’ll be traveling to Ethiopia (first trip will be all of us) sometime in late 2012 or early 2013 to meet our second daughter. We’ll then wait the 8-10 weeks between court date and embassy date and Kent will fly back to Ethiopia to bring our daughter home. Instead of me staying in Ethiopia for that 8 week period as I did with Elisa, we’ll be flying home to wait in the states. It’ll be hard to leave our second daughter behind, but now that I have Elisa to care for, I don’t have the freedom to stay (too costly and too hard)

Now to summarize our lives…Kent is still working for Synstelien Community Services (6 1/2 years) but has a new position and new looonnnnggg title, “Project Manager and Assistant to the CEO”. :0) Though Kent misses some of the “people” relationships he’d made as the Executive Director, the drop in stress and the increase in home-time has been a HUGE benefit for all. He still works Monday through Friday and gets two weeks of paid vacation every year.

I retired my business of house cleaning last summer and have jumped in as full-time mommy…my dream job. And so you don’t get the idea of “all is peachy”, I DO have my days of frustration, confusion, exhaustion, and exasperation, but then, I’m guessing all moms have those days. I stay at home every single day, except Friday, which is the day I grocery shop and clean for Elisa’s local grandma’s…once every three weeks for both of them. This gives Elisa and both Grandma’s a wonderful opportunity to spend time together. Though I’m usually totally spent by the end of that day (so Kent treats us to Pizza Hut for supper), I’m grateful I still have the stamina for 3-4 hours of working while my daughter is with me…she naps for two hours of that time…thankfully! Actually, I’m often at their home for 4-5 hours, but that includes diaper changes and eating/feeding lunch. Every third Friday, I get to take Elisa in to town with me (after her nap) to shop at the local thrift stores…for some interesting item or bargain. It’s fun just to “dress her up” and “show her off”…she is a GREAT traveler and is well behaved in stores…mommy sees to that. I usually get at least three “oh, she is adorable” comments per outing. Who knew we’d get such a beauty! On Saturday and many Sundays I get to “sleep in” because it’s “daddy” time with Elisa. Kent absolutely LOVES being a daddy (as I knew he would all along) and looks forward to getting Elisa up, dressed, fed, hair combed (he even conditions and puts in a hair band), and then either takes her to town for a couple of hours to Fleet Farm or Home Depot or a local Pancake breakfast or he simply sets her play pen up outside and gives her tools and bolts to play with as he works on a home project. And me, I get some blessed, sweet, sleep. :0) It’s definitely a “win win” situation!

We did have the opportunity to take a spring vacation and spent nearly all of it biking the south eastern bluff country of MN…it was BEAUTIFUL (oh so lush and green!) and PERFECT for bicycling! We also planted a small, raised bed garden (that Kent built) to try our hand at gardening again and hope to expand as we experiment. We’ve attended two parades (boy, does Elisa get a lot of candy tossed in her direction) and have our favorite to attend on the Fourth of July in our very own, tiny town of Erhard. Little Girl (our Shih Tzu dog) has finally accepted Elisa as part of the family and actually brings toys to Elisa so that she’ll play with her…it is so much fun to hear Elisa giggle hysterically and squeal with delight when Little Girl enters the room or gets water from the sink faucet. I enjoy taking Elisa and Little Girl for a walk nearly every day and often (when the weather permits) we take a family bike ride in the evening.

Elisa is 17 months old now, has 12 1/2 teeth, is nearly 30 inches tall and weighs only 19.2 pounds, which puts her in 12 month clothing and 3-9 month pants/shorts. She just started walking last week with a bit of “practice” and encouragement from mom and dad and TODAY she peed on the toilet three times…mommy and daddy are soooo proud! Potty training here we come. Elisa jabbers in long paragraphs, but uses only about 12 words that we understand. :0) She eats her mashed vegetables and meat very well (usually, leftover casseroles, etc.), but especially enjoys raisins, pretzels, cheerios, yogurt, and applesauce. Though she’ll eat some candy, she isn’t much for sweets yet, except of course, ice cream. True to her Ethiopian roots…they like VERY HOT foods and almost no sweets. Elisa still LOVES to be read to, sing/sung to, and now wears “beee” or beads around her neck most every day. She also carries rocks…the bigger the better (in each hand) during our entire walk…asking for another when she drops one with, “ohhh”. And mommy finally figured out that “bah bow” means “up” or sometimes “down”.

Well, it’s getting late, so I better retire, tomorrow is a cleaning day for Grandma Audrey and the day starts a bit earlier than usual.

Below are some spring time photos but you may go to the following link for WAYYYY more photos and a bunch of videos if you ever have the time/interest! We’re both “shutter bugs” and our favorite subject, of course, is Elisa!

Laurie and Elisa departed Addis Ababa Ethiopia in East Africa at 11:30p local on a Lufthansa A340-300 to Frankfurt am Main Airport in Frankfurt Germany arriving at about 6:00a local.

At around 11:15a local she boarded a 747-400 and departed Frankfurt am Main for Chicago O’Hare; arriving at about 1:15p local. A very stressful and hurried 1.5 hours (spent getting through customs and passport control) later she and Elisa Mae fell into their seat on a Bombardier CJ-200 bound for Fargo North Dakota where she arrived nearly 30 minutes ahead of schedule…

…and into the arms of husband, daddy, puppy and home.

Elisa Mae and her family are together.

On the way to her forever home in the great State of Minnesota Elisa will fly well north of New York Harbor where a famous statue bears a motto of invitation to all Immigrants: “Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses…yearning to be set free”. My ancestors arrived in the Americas well before the United States existed, long before that statute was erected…my descendent(s) arrived much later…

Elisa Mae will become a citizen when she and Laurie Anne pass through the Port-of-Entry in Chicago; a full citizen of the United States and a co-inheritor of a nation “conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created Free”.

This is obviously a very big deal to me…and Elisa will grow up learning about these wonderful ideas and truths about freedom, liberty and responsibility. She was conceived, born and lived the first few months of her life in a very unsafe place…and we’ll teach her that liberty and freedom aren’t safe either…but they are good. This little naturalized citizen will grow up learning truths about her nation that most born citizens have forgotten.

Laurie & Elisa depart the beautiful and hospitable nation of Ethiopia Friday Afternoon (our time) at 3:35p. They fly from Africa to Frankfurt Germany, change planes and fly to Chicago Illinois; where they pass through the Port of Entry into the United States. They then catch a (relatively) short flight from Chicago to Fargo North Dakota…arriving late Saturday afternoon. Saturday afternoon/evening and the remainder of the weekend will be close family time…Laurie and Elisa will have just sustained a long and grueling trip and their circadian rhythm will be horribly disrupted. They will need rest…so…

…please understand that we love all of our friends and family…and also please understand that we need this arrival time together as a close family. Bonding, reconnections, rest and acclimation needs to take place. Most importantly rest… So, knowing their travel plans please simply pray as you are led for safe and convenient travel; but please don’t plan to join us in Fargo for any sort of welcome.

There is a close connection in Chicago especially considering the pass through Passport Control and Customs…the 12:00p – 3:00p timeframe (our time) on Saturday is very important…I’m not one who believes that prayer is bound by time or place…but if you do…please pray during that time.

“The prayers of the righteous availeth much” (as it says somewhere in God’s word), especially when it coincides with His will…so, thank you, ALL of you, for your prayers for a speedy Embassy date! We GOT IT! Elisa’s Embassy date is September 15th and just two days later we’ll receive her visa, her passport, her birth certificate, and her court decree, allowing us to leave Friday night, September 17th at 11:35pm (3:35 Minnesota Time). We already switched our tickets from October 1 to Sept 17th and I should be home Sept 18th by late afternoon in Fargo, ND. Kent and I are SOOOOOO excited!

Though I’m very much looking forward to being home, I also realize what a huge opportunity and blessing it has been for me to stay here this long (including when Kent was here, it will be a total of 44 days). This very weekend is the Ethiopian New Year (they have their own calendar and their current year is now 2003) and I got invited by one of the receptionists at the guest house where I am staying to join her and her husband and 4 month old baby to see how they celebrate the New Year here! What a cool opportunity…I’m so excited about it. Elisa and I will walk to what is called, “The Junction,” of two large roads and meet her tomorrow at 11 a.m., then walk with her to her small home. They eat Ingera (a very sour, spongy bread that ALL Ethiopians prefer because it is made of a substance called “teff”, not flour, that is only grown here) and they make a very, spicy hot, chicken sauce that they eat on top of the Ingera. Yesewzer is the name of the lady who has invited me and was wondering what she could feed me since I can’t eat spicy stuff and I really can’t stand their Ingera bread, but I told her I’d wing it and I’d be fine. (I will bring some power bars and maybe some jerky, just in case).

In addition to that wonderful invite, yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with Elisa’s birth mom again and ask her more questions (that I thought of after we met her back on court day and after watching a translated DVD interview between she and an agency worker…that was part of our Embassy documentation and investigation). I also got to take photos of her holding Elisa and gave her the outfit Elisa had on…to remember her by. (Elisa was already beginning to grow out of it; it was one of the smallest outfits I brought.) And I told her I’d send her the photo of her holding Elisa, in the outfit she got to keep, through our agency, once we’re back in the states. I changed Elisa into another outfit that says “I Love Mommy” on it and I photographed Elisa being held by her birth mom in that outfit to save for Elisa some day. Elisa’s birth mom seemed glad to see us…especially Elisa…and answered even the hardest questions I had…though with quiet, shyness. Of course, we had to have a translator, so two of our favorite, young men that work for our agency and helped us navigate our court experience (Job and Yonas), were both there to help. Elisa’s birth mom even approved of the name we would be giving to Elisa when returning to the states. Oh, I also showed her a small photo album of Kent’s and my life in MN (that I’d sent to Elisa before we arrived in Ethiopia) and the birth mom got to keep that as well…I’ll duplicate it for Elisa when we get back home.

When we were finished, after about 2 hours, we made plans for Elisa and I to pick up her birth mom at a shopping mall in the city to join her at her Ethiopian Orthodox Church on Sunday, here in Addis Ababa. How totally cool…I get to experience Elisa’s birth mom’s worship…which I’m told is mostly prayer for 3 hours…so, depending on Elisa and her birth mom…we may leave early…it is allowed…I checked with Job and Yonas. Pray for us though, we meet her at 7 a.m. and that is when Elisa is waking up (sometimes 6:30a.m.) so that’s pretty early…for me, anyway. I’ll have to set my alarm and be up at 5 a.m. Uff da! When we were all ready to leave, I found out that they were all riding with Elisa, me and my driver. Another cool thing. So, me holding Elisa, her birth mom, and Job squished in the back seat and Yonas sat up front with the driver…we got a pretty cute photo of all of us squished in there. My driver took us all to the grocery store (I needed more bottled water), then we dropped off Elisa’s birth mom near her work place, then dropped off Job and Yonas, and then lastly, he dropped off Elisa and I at our “home away from home”, the Yebsabi (means Welcome) Guest House. What a VERY wonderful day…I was soooo blessed!

Another experience we’ve enjoyed is meeting and talking with young and some older men, that strike up conversations with us as we walk around the city…many of them seem to want to practice their English and sometimes, it’s a challenge to understand them, but we’ve learned a lot from their enthusiasm and willingness to share about their home country, Ethiopia…history and all. One of the young men (age 33) has been a pastor and a missionary to different parts of Africa with his family =being from Nairobi. He actually thought I was 30! Whoa…what a compliment…ten years younger than I am…what a pleasant surprise! Anyway, he’s hoping to come to America some day to finish his master’s degree in tourism in order to start a tourist/missionary work back in Africa. Elisa usually receives from 1 to 4 kisses per walk (which we “wash off” at the end of our journey) from young children and from men…the ladies usually smile, nod and even giggle…at a white woman carrying a black baby…IN FRONT of her instead of on her back (I use a front carrier that was given to me by a previous adoptive mom). EVERYONE we meet that finds out I’m adopting Elisa and taking her back to the USA says, “oh, she is lucky!” (It is VERY hard for anyone here, to get a visa to visit the USA.) While we walk, we’ve been able to give small gifts of food to some of the young women with babies and disabled folks that live on the streets…it’s been fun to give and I have other adoptive families (here before me and left before me) to thank for that, as I got a LOT of food passed onto me…granola bars, fruit and nut bars, instant oatmeal packages, mac-n-cheese packages, instant soups, candy, nuts, and even some dried fruit. God, indeed, is my provider!

So, sickness difficulties and all, I’m glad I have had the opportunity to stay in Ethiopia. If I hadn’t stayed here between our court date and embassy date (6 weeks), then I’d not have had these neat experiences (not to mention fascinating photos), to share with Elisa when she grows older….I’m so grateful for them all!

Thanks again, for your prayers for a speedy return…now we need prayers for that 25 hours of travel from Ethiopia, to Germany, to Chicago, to Fargo – 18 hours in the air. Please also pray for a quick trip through passport control and customs in Chicago…only two hours for that entire process. I’m thankful that my seats on the two longer legs are on a “bulkhead” with a baby bassinet provided.
“Lord, I’ll need your strength, endurance, and patience.

Amen”

It takes a total of 3 trips, but they are granting me a 2 month Visa for $20 US. I paid today after being in 6 rooms and moving from chair to chair in each room as someone left and the next person took that spot and so on. Not much discussion about the 2 year visa. I was just asked why I had two passports (in the first room) and I explained, but then later in another room, they were going to give me a 30 day visa until I mentioned to the lady that my daughter’s Embassy date might not be till Sept 29th and I’d need to stay 3 days after that, then she gave me a 60 day Visa. Whew…glad I spoke up…you don’t really speak much, they just pass you around from room to room each official doing a different thing to your paperwork. I expected to pay $40, but when I got to the 6th room they only asked for $20 US and kept my passport and form and copy…which made me nervous, so I asked David (who was outside in the hallway holding Elisa and my diaper bag, very helpful…she wanted to play with my pen the forms, my notebook…he wasn’t really allowed to wait with me, he had to wait (standing) in the hallway…wasn’t allowed to “sit”), “they kept my passport, how do I get back in tomorrow?” He pointed to the piece of paper that they’d written 31/08/2010, Room 90, 3pm on and I turned the paper around and noticed that it was a receipt…that’s how I get back in and they process it in 24 hours. So tomorrow at 2:30, David will pick me up to go to immigration again….this time for the visa in my passport…I hope.

I tipped David 40 Birr…though he couldn’t really do much explaining for me…I was in the rooms with Elisa by myself, he did carry my stuff and got copies made for me too. I didn’t know I needed copies of my passport…but David new, so he took both passports this morning to some part of the offices to get copies made while I filled out the form. Forgot to ask him if he had to pay. He does have to pay a bit (coins) for parking. No one ever really asked for or cared that I had the 2 year visa…David kept that paperwork since they only wanted the current one. Oh well. By tomorrow this time, I should have my extended visa.

At one point I had a Chinese businessman on one side of me and a lady from the UK studying ecology…specifically a certain kind of baboon. Short, but interesting conversations. The Chinese guy asked if I had other children at home so I told him she was our first but we’d started in 2006 to adopt from China and still waiting. He said Elisa was a “beauty”. She has big eyes. I agreed with him and started talking to the UK lady. Anyway, just an interesting piece of my day.

Also interesting was David’s question of me on the way home…”what happens in our culture when two are engaged to be married and one breaks it off?” I told him about someone I knew, then he told me about his friend who was engaged and whose fiance just broke up with him and his friend was heart broken, so David didn’t know what to tell him. I then told him my own story. We got back to Yebsabi and he said he likes to ask those who are older than he for advice. I told him all I could do was share from my own experiences, but that it was wise for all of us to seek counsel.
When I came into the Guest House, I got to see Erin’s little girl (big girl) she was born Feb 10, just two weeks after Elisa, but, boy, what a chunk! And Bethany’s little nine month old (she was small…just a bit bigger than Elisa) who has an eye impairment…quite a cutie even though you can tell one eye doesn’t track right. They do cute kids over here! Then, Yonas came up to me and said hello, so I gave him a hug and he gave me Hamanot’s CD! He said, it will be emotional, so have some tissues close by. Can you tell me how to play it? He also told me he’d e-mailed you and told you he was out on medical leave for a week due to fracturing his foot bone…ow. He said he was doing fine, though. So, that was more good news…moving along. Wish I’d thought of asking him about my paperwork, but don’t know that he’d know anyway, besides, Fortuna said this a.m. that it would be submitted on Wed…yea!

Oh, I bought Ethiopian peanut butter (in a jar, but not sealed, David said it’s the kind he gets and it was cheapest…the others were imported and much more expensive). I also bought salted peanuts (not in shell) since my gorp is running low and I thought I could have some peanut butter and honey sandwiches (Amanda left me some local honey). But, will it be safe for me to eat do you think? I’m not cooking it, peeling it or boiling it, so can I eat it? What do you think.

Regan just knocked on my door and gave me another whole bag full of food…crackers, soups, micro meals and the like. So I asked what they were having this evening for supper, she said David’s lasagna. Wish I had known, then I would have signed up. OH well. I did ask Yesewzer to let me know when he cooks: veggie pizza, lasagna, penne with veggies, chicken with rice, and fish with potatoes, so I can sign up for those meals. I was gone a lot, so maybe they tried and couldn’t find me. Oh well. More jerky, gorp, and granola bars tonight and maybe I’ll have a chance to heat up the last of my elbow macaroni with cream of mushroom soup….I try to pretend it’s like tuna hotdish…it’s not, but it goes down better that way.

Isn’t she just adorable? Now she’s in the bouncy chair. I’ll try to get a photo of that for you too.

Just got back from immigration…took just under an hour (left 1:30 back by 3:45) and met other children from the TH and nannies who brought babies…Rob & Maureen’s twins were there too. One of the nannies recognized me from a distance (Elisa was tucked in my carrier) and she immediately called out “Hymee, Hymee”. I gave a tootsie roll to each of the 3 nannies and 4 of the older children from TH that I waited with to get passport photos. The little girls tended to want to be close to me (before I gave the tootsie rolls).

For some reason, they let me go first in all the lines…kinda felt bad since some lines were VERY long.

David Belay asked to look at my passport and said, “American Passport…I’d like one of those.” I’m feeling better…even hungry. I ate my saltines in the car and bought some more at the market on the way home. Later I’ll bring my leftover soup down and reheat it…looking forward to more soup. So grateful for the antibiotic.

I emailed you yesterday sitting on the steps, but had to go to the bottom to send it. By the time I got back upstairs the effort made me puke and I lost the rest of my breakfast…hadn’t eaten anything else all day, just water. While on the steps both Jen & Teri (nurse) and Amanda said to call if I needed help. After puking (plugged the sink, so I called staff to come unplug…she cleaned toilet and sink for me), I took Cipro and ate some of the saltine crackers that Jen & Teri gave me (they gave to me while I was typing the e-mail to you on the steps)…thankful for those since I can’t bring myself to eat anything else.

I called front desk at 6p (while staff was here cleaning my sink/toilet) and asked them to get a message to Jen or Amanda in room 104 or 102 to come check on me, but the receptionist (I think Messeret) said they were both gone. She offered to send a staff member up, but I asked that she wait 2 hours and then send someone at 8p to check on me (thought I could rest and feel better). Thankfully, Elisa has been quite good and I’m able to care for her…moving at a snail’s pace. Anyway, 8p came and went and no one showed up, so I toughed it out. Elisa slept from 8-1:30a, but though I was tired, my back hurt so bad and my stomach so icky that I couldn’t sleep till 1a then, of course, Elisa got up at 1:30a for a bottle, 30 minutes of sleep…woo hoo. Uff da…last evening was hard. I finally had to rub my back/shoulders (similar spot as yours) in order to relax and sleep…it took a long time, though, and I continued to pour fluid out of my bottom every time I went to the bathroom. Haven’t puked again, but have been close a couple of times. I did sleep while Elisa slept from 1:45a to about 6:15a when she woke for another bottle (a couple wakeful cries in between which were satisfied by pacifier). I have to sleep in a sit up position or my stomach gets too queasy.

Elisa is now contentedly laying beside me in bed watching me type…she likes the light of the screen. I ate a few more crackers and had a second Cipro at 6:45a. Will need to call staff to come sterilize Elisa’s bottles, I only have one left and don’t have the energy to get back downstairs…or at least not up again. I don’t want another puking session like last evening…yuck! I’ll also have to have someone take the laptop down to get this sent to you. I’m thinking I’m stuck in my room for the day or so, so I may miss my 2p appointment with you…way bummer, but I just don’t have the energy.

My mouth is so very dry…all night, so I drink about 3 swallows of water as often as I can. This morning I drank one whole little bottle of water with about 4 crackers so I could keep the Cipro down. Still watery poo, but not as frequently this a.m. as yesterday. Think I’ll pull through and I know my Father is with me.

I’m so glad I found that pacifier for Elisa…she uses it ALL the time…helps with the frequent waking. I gave the US pacifiers I brought to the Trans Home yesterday with the other donations I had…she never liked those…nipple too short, I think.

I felt crumby since noonish (after doing our laundry…which hurt my back, unfortunately)…diarrhea and a bit queasy, so I almost called to cancel my outing with David B, but decided I could tough it out for Elisa’s sake. It helped a bit to talk a lot to David B while we traveled…got my mind off how I was feeling. He picked me up at 1:30p, took me to trade scarf…no problem he is a “customer” there and the young girl remembered me…she had really cool hair style, so I told her so , then to Bambi’s where I got more bread, some diaper rash cream $4 (you may not need to send stuff from home), and 4 double A batteries for when the noise maker runs out. Then we went to TH where the Embassy group & Kristen were experiencing a Coffee Ceremony. Jonas & Job encouraged me to join, but the incense they burn just made my tummy more upset, so I decided to wait for Dr. outside of his office.

Holding Elisa was hurting my back so, I squatted against the building with her (porch was wet, so didn’t sit) until the Psychologist/nurse saw me and brought a chair for me. I saw Dr. at 3:30 (instead of 3…Africa time) I had to wait till Embassy families were done seeing him. Anyway, he and psychologist/nurse were helpful and answered my questions. Elisa has no ear infection (she was somewhat mellow yesterday and slept a lot, so I was concerned that she didn’t feel well either, but she had no fever either). I think that her “mellow-ness” was a God-send for me. The Dr. said to take her temp when concerned and to call him if she was over 100 F. She has congestion, but they said the weather makes most of the kids have that. I asked about her screaming before a bottle and they both assured me it was normal, all of the other babies did the same thing, and it was likely an “institutional” thing. Dr. said when we get Elisa “home” with us she’d likely calm down. The dry patches on the back of her head, he wasn’t concerned about, but said to let him know if they got worse. He also pointed out that her head is misshaped because she lays on one side too much….I told him she tosses and turns constantly in her crib. He said that was pretty normal too. He also said it was good to use baby oil on her (I asked) and I can use vaseline in her nostrils for dry, boogers (I asked). I was concerned that since the vaseline bottle says “external use only” I shouldn’t put it in her nose, he said that was external…just not to swallow it.

Lets see, I also dropped off the rest of my TH donations and got another receipt and Jonas took my photo album to nannies (I didn’t want to go back in for Elisa’s sake) and they found the toy keys and my strawberry bib. Yea. Haven’t had a chance to sterilize them yet, but at least I got them back for her. They couldn’t find the socks I sewed strawberries on, but Jonas said he’d keep a look out for me. I’d like those back too, but not a biggie. Then David B. held Elisa for me and I went to speak to Fortuna (she was gone) and Wosson. Wosson had to rely on Mule’ to translate, but I found out that they have to wait for the court decree 8-9 business days, then they apply for a birth certificate, then they call me for her passport photo, then they submit all of that to Embassy on a Wed and then I get a date about a week or so later. I don’t have the DVD yet because they didn’t get an interview with birth mom yet. ??? Don’t know why. That (DVD) is also a piece that gets submitted to Embassy. I made sure Wosson (gathers and submits paperwork to Embassy) and Girma (who calls for passport photo appointment at immigration office) had my name and knew that I was at the Yebsabi GH. They said they knew that and they knew Hamanot’s name.

After that David B took me back to GH at about 4, so I paid him $20 US. He was anxious to take his fiance’ to hospital for a pain injection for menstruation troubles. She had called him on our way back to GH. He will plan to come for me next Wed at 1:30 for another shopping trip, unless I call to cancel. I may not need anything by then…except more saltines, but maybe I’ll ask David (actually, I asked him his last name and he put it in my cell phone for me; it is Fasil) to get me some when he is out and about. He took my Kid’s Care donations and mail yesterday morning after you called at 9:30 a.m., so I gave him two more chocolate bars to thank him.

Elisa just fell asleep and then promptly cried out for her pacifier…it’s a hit…yea! It’s 8a and I’m feeling a bit better, think it helps to keep mind off by typing. I went back to put in paragraphs…hope you appreciate it. Think I will call soon to get some help with sterilizing bottles and see if someone can get this e-mail sent to you.

Oh yea, I ran into Andrea (she is part of Embassy group this week [along with Ashlie, Deanne, Amanda & James, and 3-4 new families] and they all sat at breakfast table doing Embassy paperwork together…about 7-8 families) at the Bambi’s grocery store. Boy, that was a long parenthetical thought. She asked if we got photos on Facebook yet. I told her no. She was so surprised and sorry. I told her I’d have you check again. She said they didn’t use email because Facebook was faster. She then got a call from her husband in their apartment and she sounded concerned so I asked her about the call, she said their son just pooped out a 6 inch long worm. I told her that when I was a little girl, I had the same thing, so it wasn’t earth shattering, but to still take him to the Dr. She said she’d pray for me (sick) and I said I’d pray for her son. During breakfast the family from West VA (51 year old guy, wife & 2 older girls and boyfriend) wanted to hold Elisa…they love playing with her and fed her too. I spoke with boyfriend (in law school, wants to be a prosecuting attorney) and girlfriend (is taking elementary education) and loves babies. I chatted with them while the Embassy parents did their paperwork at the other tables with Robel walking them through what to write where on the forms.