Tis' The Season

Gus the Elf arrived. His arrival marks the beginning of the holiday season in my mind. The Empress was so excited this morning when she spied him sitting on the shelf. I even heard her talking to him while I was in the other room. Isn't it glorious? That childhood wonder. That sweet innocence. I can't wait until the little dude gets it. The Empress introduced him to Gus the Elf, but he wasn't impressed. He just didn't get it. No matter. She gets it and that makes me smile. She is all about Christmas. Her joy makes the season more than special.

Soon the Christmas cards will arrive. Soon the shopping will be complete. Before you know it we will be opening our Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve, baking gingerbread cookies for the Big Red Guy, mixing and spreading reindeer food on the lawn, reading the traditional "Twas the Night Before Christmas" before bed, and saying goodbye to Gus for another year. In the morning we will be awakened by an excited child, watch the pure happiness of our little people as they tear into their gifts, eat way to many crepes and bacon, and be ready to nap by 10.

Happy Holidays!!

Fall Post....(Past Due)

My mom reminded me today that I hadn't posted to the blog for some time. She is right. Life seems to just whiz by. Many evenings I collapse into bed after a long day at work, chasing the Empress to her various after school activities, followed by an evening of cooking, cleaning, off tune violin and first grade chapter books. My life is full. Brimming really. But, satisfying. Just sometimes my forty something body has a tough time doing the job of a twenty something working mom. But my lame excuses aside, enjoy our fall recap in pictures.

With more sadness than I will ever be able to express, we said goodbye to our beloved Matisse on October 14th. We all miss her terribly and our family has an enormous hole that can never be filled. We love you Toot!! In an effort to numb our pain and provide our little killa Attila the pug (who still looks for Tisse) some companionship, we added some adorable kitties to our nest. Harriet and Hennigan are sweet kitties. Grayson is a super mommy to her kitties. Despite being somewhat tentative towards them in the beginning, Grayson is beginning to hold and pet them. She feeds and waters them twice a day and keeps their cat box clean.

We made our annual trip to Sweet Pickins. It is a magical little farm complete with pumpkins, farm animals, corn maze, a train, go carts and a huge jumping pillow. Autumn heaven.

We carved lots of pumpkins this year. Mommy became obsessed with roasted pumpkin seeds. Yum-O! I believe at last count we carved 10 pumpkins.

T was gone this year for Halloween. He was in Mumbai, India for the week. We missed him, but soldiered on. Our sweet friend Sheri went Trick or Treating with us and we treated her to a Morstein tradition - Mummy dogs. Yes. Mummy dogs. Yum.

For the most part, with the exception to losing Matisse, this fall has been great. Lots of fun. Greer loved Halloween. Didn't quite understand ringing someone's door and not going in to their houses. He attempted several times. There were several occasions when he was nearly pushed out of houses. Funny. Grayson went as Mulan. She was stunning. She was also very driven. I nearly had to run to keep up with her.

Happy Fall!

One Glorious Year

Last year on October 5, 2010, we awoke in a strange country to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. It was strange and very foreign, but oddly comforting. We dressed quickly, grabbed a quick bite and headed to meet our son. We were so excited and anxious to meet him. When we arrived at Layla house we were taken directly to the baby room. He was so beautiful. I remember seeing him immediately when we entered the room. Strangely, it was as if he had been expecting us. He was not happy to see us. He clung to the legs of his nanny while all the other children came directly to us. Those that could talk were saying "mama, mama" and clutching my legs. All I saw was him. Standing there. Terrified of us. Finally, he ventured near. He smiled, but quickly ran back to his nanny. We played with the other children, hoping he would begin to feel more comfortable. Finally, when we couldn't take one more moment of not touching him, not kissing him, not hugging him close, we scooped him up and sprinted out the door. He wasn't happy. We sat down in the courtyard and held him. We spoke softly to him. He began to relax. Then we took him back to the guest house, played with him, fed him and put him down for a nap. He was ours. Forever. Thank the Lord!!

Today, Greer is a happy, silly, smart, loving little guy. Each morning he wakes up singing with a huge smile on his beautiful face. He loves his sister and waffles. He is into the difficult twos. Not terrible, but definitely difficult. He is all boy. He loves cars, trucks, trains and motorcycles. He has grown like a weed and talks a mile a minute. He has come a million miles since that first morning at Layla. We have been blessed and love our little guy.

Today is a celebration of Greer's Gotcha Day. We went out for Pizza and frozen yogurt and he received a book and a coloring book and crayons. When asked what day it is he excitedly shouted "Dacha!" You got it dude. We Gotcha and we are never letting go!

Recap from Starbucks

If you check the last posts you will notice that they are all posted today, Sunday, August 7. We haven't had an internet connection, so to speak,for many days. So today we headed to Newport for lunch and Starbucks Wi-Fi. Tomorrow we leave our little paradise. It has been a lovely vacation and we would all love to stay longer, but funds are short, we miss our beds and our puppies, and work calls. So I leave with a photo recap.

Hanging in the trailer

We hit the beach first thing this morning. Boy was it chilly. After we got back and warmed up we decided that perhaps we should just hang out in the trailer today, napping, reading, playing, blogging. We need a little down time.

Tide pools and a starfish named Patrick

Boy, we couldn't get outa bed quick enough this morning. We junped in our clothes, grabbed our buckets and practically sprinted to the beach. The weather started out a little bit dreary but soon the sun came out. We roamed the beach for a couple hours looking in the tide pools and collecting shells. Grayson came upon a starfish flipped upside down on the beach. It was obvious it was dead, so we allowed Grayson to take it back to the trailer. She named him Patrick and he is currently drying in the sun. After the beach we regrouped, loaded in the truck and drove up to Newport to the Oregon State Aquarium. It was a lot of fun and both kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. While the kids napped, Todd drove back to Newport and did some laundry. This is the life.

Cheese Marvelous Cheese

We headed south early and hit the Tilamook factory. Rather interesting how the entire town, which was quite small, smelled like cow manure. Herds of dairy cows dotted both sides of the highway for miles...and miles. The factory was immense. Very interesting. I found myself thinking to myself how awesome is it that this cool tour is free... and then it ended in the gift shop. We managed to leave with only one bag of squeeky cheese and a quart of ice cream. Finally we arrived at Seal Rock. All I can say is, it has been too long. This place is so peaceful. So beautiful. Can't wait to hit the tide pools in the morning.

Dreams of a beach house

Manzanita is a sleepy little beach town. The town itself is maybe two blocks long. Perfectly quaint. The kinda place we would one day love to call home. Many years from now, perhaps. For now our beach house is the "Morstein Family Fun Trailer", which is more than fine. And,the name aptly describes our little home away from home. We decided that today would be a beach day and Grayson wanted more play time with Max. So, we grabbed a quick lunch at the Bread and Ocean and headed to the beach. The kids played with their sand toys and flew a kite while I relaxed and read and Todd took a walk down the beach. Afterward, Grayson played with Max and then introduced herself to the next door neighbors. They are Chinese. She asked. :) The very nice couple have an adorable three year old son named Arron, who is also fascinated by our trailer. Tomorrow we pack up and head south to Seal Rock. Looking forward to it.

Down by the Seashore

Not much today. Went north to Seaside to check it out. Turned out the truck needed servicing, so Todd took the truck and the kids and I bought sand toys and headed to the beach. Seaside's beach was crowded and not nearly as pristine as Nehalem's, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Grayson and Todd bought kites, which they flew on the beach on our return to our campsite. Grayson made a friend across the road named Max and they became best buds rather quickly. Max and his folks are from Maine and are tent camping up the Coast for a couple months. Very nice people. Max is very interested in our trailer and wants to play in it. I have to keep shoeing the two besties out of the trailer. Grayson and Todd discovered a wonderful biking trail that they rode while the little dude was napping. We are having tons of fun. The weather has been awesome. Tomorrow we plan to drive the two miles to Manzanita and have lunch. After lunch more beach time.

Oregon Escape

We arrived at Nehalem on Monday afternoon after two days of driving. We were all beat, but after setting up camp we high tailed it out onto the beach. Paradise. Miles and miles of white sandy beach. Hardly anyone to share it with. We tiptoed into the surf. Giggles. Frigid. After a couple of waves, Greer tumbled. Brrrr. But, no tears, just chattering teeth. All was better after we stripped him down and sat him in the warm sand. Shall we say sand everywhere? No plans. Just relaxing. Enjoying the ocean, the sand and each other.

Terrible Two...We hope not!

Since there was some question as to Greer's real birth date, we have gone with the date the Ethiopian government put on his birth certificate. July 9, 2009. So, on Saturday, the ninth, we had cake. Nothing more. He is too young to comprehend the significance of the date, but definitely understands the significance of cake. BB and Papa Joe were here, so we sang the song and ate the cake and played in the sand box...his gift. The sand box is a huge hit. Hours of enjoyment. We have discovered that sand in Greer's hair is a bit of a mess. Shall we say, power wash until the curls go straight.

Going back to June and the Swingset

Though I am getting totally out of order, I thought it proper to post about the swingset. Ya see, In my childrens' hearts it is sooooo very special and important. Grayson wanted a swingset. We promised one. In February, for her 6th birthday, we told her that as soon as school got out she would have her swingset. So, in June, we purchased the most amazing swingset money can buy. It is massive, and took a full three days to complete. The huge smiles and hours of fun have made the anguish of the huge build totally worth it. They love it!!

The 4th "near" the Lake

I say near because, though we had intended to be "on" the lake, we weren't quite. I blame it on T. Despite my constant nagging, he failed to make a reservation for a campsite for the 4th until it was too late. When he did get around to it, we were left with only one option. That option sounded good in theory. It was in Woods Bay on the lake. It was in Woods Bay and did have access to the lake but that access was through a neighborhood and was a very small shared beach. Nonetheless, we loaded up the trailer with kids and dogs and headed out. Though it wasn't what we had expected, and nothing at all what we had dreamed of, it was fun family time. We are loving our new trailer!

Our Happy Ending......

Finally, after several long, bittersweet years...our happy ending. Today we re-adopted our baby bird. My boss man Sean did the adoption for us and another friend, Judge David Ortley issued our final decree. It was very special and afterwards T, the kids and I took the Judge and his wife to breakfast. Only in Montana!

First Trip to the Woods

We are campers by nature. Love the woods. Guess it is the Montanans in us. When we were younger and without children, we hiked and liked tent camping. Now we are older and sleeping on the hard ground is no longer comfortable or possible. And, I can say with certainty, I don't miss waking up in the middle of the night deep in the woods and having to go to the bathroom. First of all, the woods are dark. Not dark like normal dark. I am talking dark like your head fully emersed in a bucket of tar dark. Anyway, we have owned a trailer for the past three or four years now. This year we bought a bigger trailer. Oh my, it is awesome. Big enough for us, the kids, the dogs and about 4 of our closest friends. It is lovely large. Not in an obnoxious way. It is not luxury....well, yes it is, for the woods it is luxury. So, we finally got out this past weekend. Just close. It was marvelous. Lots of family time. Lots of hours on the lake.

Enjoy the pics.

Baby Backs.....yummmmm

Had to share. Little dude is an eater. He loves corn on the cob, and will suck on the cob until I pry it out of his greasy little mits. His new favorite is ribs. Kids and moms all love easy food. Ribs and corn, easy peasy!

Mom - The Best Word In The Whole, Wide World

I am so thankful for being a mom. It can be said that I went to great lengths to be a mom, and thus I intend to celebrate my momhood! My children are blessing from God. My family is a divine design. Has to be. How else could we have found each other in a world of billions? We fit perfectly and are bound together with intense, pure love. I am blessed. We are blessed.

Today I am also very thankful for my mom. She is a beautiful, strong, loving person who has taught me by example how to be an awesome mom. I love her so very, very much. She is a great friend and an awesome Nana to my kids. My kids are soooo lucky to know her and love her and be loved by her.

Then there are my childrens' birth mothers. Thank you. You gave me my greatest gift. For that I am forever grateful. I will continue to talk to my kids about you. They will know the love you had for them, to have given them up. Your hopes for their futures. Thank you. Thank you and God bless you both. Happy Mothers Day!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

Ethiopian Adoptions...now.

If you don't follow my other blog, momslaw.blogspot.com then you are probably unaware of the scope of our most recent adoption. By this I mean several things, time frame, country change, government hoopla, yada yada yada. In early 2008, we applied to adopt from Ethiopia. Within a day we received a call from our agency letting us know about a new pilot program. Burkina Faso. Would we be interested? First of all, where the heck is Burkina Faso? I seriously had never heard of it. Thought I was smart. Had a grip on my world geography. Apparently not. Burkina Faso is a small West African country on the southern end of the Sahara in an area of the continent called the Sahale Hot and dry. Not much on the internet about this country. From what I gathered it is around the size of Colorado. Captial city Oaugadougu. We ended up jumping into the program, though in hindsight I was apprehensive about the country from the beginning. We were told that the adoption would take approximately 4 to 12 months. Things never progressed. Criteria changed. After 18 months and absolutely no movement of any kind, we pulled out of the program. So, here we go. Ethiopia.

I believe you know the story from there but, to recap, we received our referral in February of 2010. Received our court date shortly after. First court date was April 6. We just knew we would pass. But, we didn't. Orphanage issue. Little man was suddenly in limbo. No one knew what would happen. We were offered another referral, which we declined. He was our little man, and we were bound and determined to stick it out. The summer went by with lots of tears, fears, and disappointments. Finally, we passed court on August 6 and ultimately flew to Addis two months later.

So skip to today..... As a family we are so blessed. God's plan saw our family through. Though it was a tough, tough journey we were in the end sooooo blessed with our son. He fits perfectly. We love him dearly.

But, Ethiopian adoptions are seeing change. Good changes I believe for the children. Heartbreaking for those potential adoptive families stuck in the process. In the past year the Ethiopian government implemented the two trip rule. They have begun investigating allegations of corruption and child traffiking, and at least one agency working in the country has lost its license. This could be the beginning of the end for adoption from this country. It brings back memories of Vietnam and Guatamala. Can you believe that many families in Ethiopia were told that if they put their children in the orphanage and relinquished their parental rights that their children would be educated in America, that they would send money home and they would eventually come home to them? It is happening. It has happened. There are many horrible stories. MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) has now cut their processing and letter writing to 5 per day. In the past they processed up to 40 per day. Since it is absolutely necessary for your file to contain a MOWA letter before you will pass court, the slow down has caused some anguish from parents waiting to bring their children home. The embassy is doing more thorough investigation as well. This is all in an attempt to stop the corruption. This is needed. This is a good step. But, just the 6 months we waited to pass court was grueling, now it will be much, much longer. On top of the 12-18 months of waiting for a referral, the potential adoptive parents are now in it for another year+ before they will pass court and then at least a couple months or more to receive an embassy date. Bottom line, Ethiopian adoptions are going to take a long time.

I can see that Ethiopia is serious about the welfare of their children. They are implementing changes in hopes of saving the adoption program. As American's we have to remember that we are not entitled to an Ethiopian baby. We aren't. We may, as my family has been, be privileged to have the people of Ethiopia entrust the welfare of one of their children to us, to love and cherish.

My suggestion is this....do your research. Don't pick an agency because it has the shortest wait time. That should be a red flag, not criteria for picking an agency. Talk to people who have adopted through the agencies you are considering. Look to see what that agency has done from Ethiopia. Are they ethical? It is important!

Photo: Our little man is in the striped shirt. He was about 9 months at the time of this picture.

Happy

Things that make you go Hmmmm

The rundown on the little guy.

1. He loves to eat but HATES veggies. Thought we had that worked out with a little dipping sauce for the veggies, i.e. ranch, ketchup, but turns out that the veggies then only serve a purpose....dip stick. Dip the veggie, suck the veggie, dip the veggie, suck the veggie....discard the veggie.

2. Little man loves to dance, and he can really bust a move.

3. He loves his sister. Loves, loves, loves. She is the first one he asks for in the morning. He often will just hug her or plant a kiss on her for no reason.

4. He will run through the names of people/pets he knows over and over (Mama, Dada, Gigi, TC, Tilla, BB, Papa, Nana, Sue-Sue).

5. He loves playing with his cars and will pack them around and make car sounds, which is just adorable.

6. He loves daycare. So much so that often he will throw a horrible tantrum when I pick him up.

7. The first song, or part of a song, he learned and does over and over and over is the "Waaaa waaa" part in Wheels on the Bus, i.e. "The babies on the bus go...waaa waaa waaa".

8. He loves books and will pack them around and ask whoever gets in his way "Up, up?"

9. He has an adorable laugh.

10. His hair is very tight curls on the top, whispy whisps on the sides, and a fuzzy velcro patch on the back.

11. Every night I slather him with lotion and shea butter and oil up his hair.

12. He loves to put on other people's shoes, boots, slippers and march around...or just haul them around. He has what I would call a shoe fetish.

13. He has been banned from the kitchen for safety issues, i.e. the hanging on the leg at the stove while mama is cooking, the pulling open the stove, rummaging under the sink, putting things in and out of the garbage, but, he still manages to sneak in and grab the dish towels hanging on the oven door.

14. Yes, you guessed it, he loves dish towels. Loves them. He will pack them around, stuff them in things, dip them in the dogs water bowl. He especially loves to spread them out on the floor and lay on top of them. Super sweet. He always says "nigh nigh".

15. He has an awesome safari screen that hangs on the wall and at night when he goes to bed we turn it on and he can watch the lit up safari from his crib. He asks for "animals" every night.

16. He has the absolute chubbiest little legs ever. We call them chubbers and he giggles when we grab them.

17. When I ask him for a kiss he runs away giggling and I always catch him and plant one on his sweet little lips.

18. He loves taking a bath and will scream bloody murder when I take him out.

19. He loves to order Attila around and is always telling him "Noooo" or "Down". He even runs over and holds the dog door open for Attila to go out.

20. He wakes up around 6:30ish, but is happy to sing and play in his crib until I get him up at 7:30ish.

He is showing such a sweet personality. He is all boy. He is sooooo incredibly adorable. So happy he is our little man.

The photo is one I found on our agency's shared album online about a week ago. Had never seen it before then. It was taken just days before we arrived to bring him home.

Update on little dude

Just a quick update on our little man. He is growing like a weed, talking up a storm, and giggling like Elmo.

Greer is so sweet. So sweet. He is also incredibly intelligent. He says Dada and Gigi, but refuses to say Mama while I am around. I believe it is a clever game he is playing. He is like a parrot and repeats everything, but not Mama. Too funny. If I was an expert I would say that his bonding process is complete as is ours. I feel like his mom. I believe he feels like I am his mom. He is very affectionate, and yesterday out of the blue said "love ya" to me. Oh, and he is also very polite (Thanks Terri!) and helpful. He is at that precious stage for parents when their children actually enjoy putting their toys away. The food fetish is on the verge of passing, and good riddance. He is still happy to eat, but it is no longer the frantic screaming, squealing match. Now he happily dances and sings, but is patient. He brings me his tray at each meal and hands it to me and says a very cute "Tank too" which is seriously sweet. He continues to adore his sister and will imitate her gestures while they play. Also, he is recently saying "Dilla" for Attila, which is new. Finally, his little buddy has a name. Now we hear alot of "No no Dilla." Greer still hates veggies...except for corn. But, as Terri pointed out, he will eat them if he has some ranch to dip in. Funny to watch him dip each individual pea. He loves ketchup too. He will dip a fry over and over and just suck the ketchup off. Only when it completely falls apart does he gobble the fry and get a new dipper. He loves cars and books and usually has one or the other, or both, in his hands all the time. He pronounces book "boo" which is especially funny when he chants it over and over.

Well, better wrap up. We are exceedingly happy as a family and love, love, love our new addition. Pictures soon.

Korah, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Korah. What can I say about Korah, other than every human being should know of it. The reality that is Korah. It exists.

I knew of Korah before we traveled to Ethiopia. Unlike so many tourists, I never wanted to experience it. I knew about it. Wanted to stick my head in the sand and not think about it. But we should think about it.

You see.....there is an enormous garbage dump in Addis Ababa. I am talking acres upon acres of garbage. In that dump lives the community of Korah. This community consists of nearly 80,000 men, women and children. Originally, King Haile Selassie had given the land to a group of doctors wishing to construct a hospital for leprosy. He wanted them separated from the healthy population. When the King was overthrown, the new regime wanted to eliminate the leper community and began rounding them up and beating and killing them. But, they survived there. Now Korah is a community for the outcast. The unwanted. Today the population is largely made up of people with leprosy and HIV/Aids. Prostitution is rampant. Many of the children are orphans.

Korah is a mass of garbage, wild dogs, filthy people, gut wrenching smell and circling vultures. There is rotting garbage, streams of black waste water and amimal carcases. And, the people of Korah sift through this mess for scraps of food, cloth, and metal that they can sell for pennies. This is the bottom of the poverty barrel. They have nothing. They only hope to survive. I have heard that the people there raise animals like goats and pigs and often plant gardens amidst the trash.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, it has become a tourist destination. Perhaps it will bring more than gawking folks with cameras. Perhaps it will bring recognition. Perhaps it will bring help. I hope it does. HelpKorah.com is helping. Visit the site. Help the people of Korah. Help those children.

Over a Fig Newton

Greer has been at Terri's since Monday. He is a very agreeable little guy and fit in like he had been there forever. Could be because he is used to having little folk around.

So yesterday, I stop to pick the little guy up and he is eating fig newtons in a high chair in the kitchen. When he is done Terri wiped him off and I lifted him out of the high chair. He reached for Terri. He acted as if I was kidnapping him. He screamed, kicked, and reached for her. I took him in the other room to put his coat on and he continued to scream and did everything his little body could do to keep me from putting his coat on. When I got him in the car he screamed bloody murder for at least half of the drive home.

So, I was hurt. My heart broken. I literally could not look at him for a long while. I am the mama who has loved him and devoted nearly every waking minute to him for the past three months. I truly was crushed. I do understand that the whole thing was over a fig newton. I get that. If food hadn't been involved I don't believe the incident would have happened.

Last night all seemed well again. I bathed him and spent time lotioning him up. He loves that. I got all kinds of hugs and kisses. We read his favorite book "niney noon"....more commonly known as Goodnight Moon. And, by the time I tucked my little elf in bed my broken heart had healed.