Feeling Grateful

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know the adoption process is changing all over the world. The latest news from Guatemala is disheartening. But the situation in Liberia is not much better. When we went to get A&E there were several families who were within weeks of us and preparing to travel in August, then September, and now most of those families are looking at November and

9 Cavities? I WISH!

A month ago we went to the dentist and found A&E had 9 cavities between them and were sent to a pediatric specialist. Today we had a visit to the dentist and found Emmanuel has 20 teeth, 15 of them have cavities. So many so that he will be admitted to the hospital and put out to have them fixed. (I would say since during a five minute exam he kept saying, we're done!)Of course our union health

The Best Part of My Day

Baptized Without A Hitch

Abegail and Emmanuel are officially part of the catholic church. They were both baptized at the 4 p.m. mass tonight. I was so nervous all day because let me just say E-man can be a challenge at church. You know, pretending to wash my hair, rolling on the floor, crying, asking if church is finished, hitting his sisters, usually this is all before the first hymn is over. But they both did

Emmanuel Johnson Surgery A Success!

Emmanuel Johnson's surgery to repair his imperforated anus was a success! He was in pain the day after the surgery, but nurses kept him comfortable. He will be leaving the hospital soon and in six weeks have the colostomy that was done in Liberia removed. He and his mother will be in Minnesota until January. Apparently, this problem happens 1 in 5000 live birthsAngela Davis, a reporter at our

E-man gets a hair cut

Or as some of us would call it, his head shaved. He and Scott are very proud of their work!

Emmanuel Junior Arrival Pictures

I just got these from one of the woman there at the arrival. Took a while because of course I was running late and didn't have my camera. In the group picture from left to right: me; Mrs. Liberia of Minnesota; Georgette; Emmanuel and his Mom; Mrs. Liberia's husband. Emmanuel's surgery is set for Wednesday!

E.R.

So it just occurred to us TODAY that Emmanuel's initials are ER. We thankfully have not had to visit the ER yet but I thought we might on Wednesday when Eman was stung by a bee. Apparently he is very allergic. His hand where he got stunk swelled up to an elephant man's hand, he had a rash all over his body, and he was warm. Scott took him to the pharmacy to get Benadryl and the pharmacist

Making Pancakes

One of the things Scott and I are asked repeatedly these days is, "Mommy what are you doing?" "Daddy, what are you doing?' When we answer, they repeatedly ask again as if its going to change in the next five seconds. Even when it's very obvious, like using the potty, its "Mommy what are you doing?" So we started to say, "making pancakes." As my aunt says sarcasm is so wasted on children, but

Guest Blogger, Here's Aunt Nancy

I didn't write that title - Sue did! I am not doing this of my own free will...nobody around here is doing anything of their own free will these days. I am only kidding of course. I have been here for almost six days, and there is much I would like to write about, but there is one overwhelming first impression that I have and it is this: Sue and Scott have committed themselves to a life full

The Same Sun and Moon

I was telling our AFAA agency director that I think Abegail gets homesick and cries for long periods of times every now and then. She told me that when her Ethiopian daughter would get homesick she would take her outside at night and lay under the stars and moon and tell her it was the same moon and stars in Ethiopia.So Saturday night, Abegail cried for a long time about something very minor.

Sue on WCCO Radio

Sue was a guest on Esme Murphy's radio show tonight on WCCO. It was an hour-long discussion of our adoption process and the trials and tribulations of our family's journey.Esme is a co-worker of Sue's at WCCO-TV and a friend. They had a really nice talk about everything from the challenges of a bi-racial family to the cost of the adoption. We all gathered around the kitchen table and listened on

Emmanuel Johnson Arrives

We've been following the story of Emmanuel Johnson Jr. for the past several months. Here's the update:He arrived with his mother, Lorpu Vorkpor, yesterday from Liberia for surgery on his imperforated anus. They had a long trip. Mom said Emmanuel did not sleep at all and that neither did she. They had to fly through Kenya, Amsterdam, and then to Minneapolis. Mom is tiny, tiny (maybe 80 pounds

More Shots, More Parasites, More Paperwork

Check this out. This is one of our AFAA moms who adopted from Ethiopia. Now she's on a book tour! Her website with an awesome slide show is http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/These are my three nephews on their first day of school. Are they cute or what???? The oldest is Owen (2nd grade) then Cameron (Kindergarten) and Chase who was extremely upset he could not go to school too. They live in

First Day of School

Today is Abegail's first day of school!!!And like our parents did for us...we made the kids pose for pictures! Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a picture in focus until the bus arrived. Oh well, Annie was picking her nose anyway.Abegail got onto the bus like a real pro!! She was soooo excited!As you can see...Annie and E-Man were skeptical. Frankly, E-Man was quite concerned.

Reunion With Junior

We had a great weekend traveling to South Dakota to see an old friend of A&E's, Junior.Junior came home just three weeks after A&E and they were together at the AFAA house for almost the entire time they were both there. E-man and Junior had a fabulous time seeing each other again and all the way home E-man told us he wanted to go to Junior's house.Junior has a fabulous new family, we even met