Submitted!!

We were submitted to the US Embassy today!!! When we got the call, I told Isaiah that God answered our prayer and he shouted the biggest "Yaaaaaahoooooo!!" All night he kept saying "I am very very very happy that my file is at the Embassy now!" Someone has told him all the steps of what happens in this process and he knows what comes next. Thank you to each one of you that prayed over this, we are so thankful that we were submitted.
I just now got an email from our agency saying they already need another piece of paper to be added to our file, but our agency thinks this should be easy to obtain and add to the file soon. Please pray that it is.

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures of the fun we are having at the new house!!

Busy Mama

So sorry for the lack of posts! I am one busy mama!!! By the time the boys are sleeping I am ready for bed too. Last week we moved to a house with two other families, the Marshalls and Myers. It has been GREAT! We are renting a house that has a maid and cook. We have also hired a nanny to help us mama's have a chance to take a shower! The boys are all loving it here. They get to play outside riding scooters, kicking a ball, or laying in a hammock. It's so nice to have other families around too! Brad was here the first few days after we moved to the house, but now I am on my own. Bonnie Myers is also on her own with 2 babies. We have ventured out a few times on walks with our kids, and we were pretty proud that we made it there and back with all 5 of our kids. Nichole and Aaron Marshall have a little boy too. So that makes 6 kids between our 3 families. It is so nice being with other waiting families and keeping each other company as we wait.

We are praying that we are submitted to the Embassy this Wednesday, would you please pray with us. We had been told that we had everything we needed last week but our medicals weren't there in the morning, so we are really hoping everything is ready in a file on AWAA's desk and its ready to go on Wednesday. We can only be submitted on Wednesdays and so if we aren't submitted this week we will have to wait another week.

When we made plans for us to stay in Ethiopia until we could bring the boys home with us, I thought I was the one that was going to have a tough time taking care of all three boys here by myself, but I think Brad is having a harder time knowing his family is half way around the world waiting to come home. Please pray for him! We are so thankful that he is willing to go home and work for our family and I am sure he will be lonely as he waits for us.

We have no plans for the next three weeks! Brads parents are coming in three weeks to help out and hopefully help us come home (depends how long it takes to clear us). They will be here up to 3 weeks, so we are hoping to come home in the next 6 weeks.

Thank you for all the prayers so far!! We really appreciate each person walking this journey with us!!!

Isaiah and Kaleb's Birth Town

Last week we visited Isaiah and Kaleb's birth town. It was a great day and a hard day. Isaiah was great! He was really looking forward to it. It had been over a year since he had been there. He was bouncing all over the guest house in the morning. As we were driving there, he kept asking "how much longer?" Once we got close, he started to recognize places. He knew the towns that were close by. Right on the edge of town is a dirt road and he said "this is the way to my school" and a couple of roads later he said "this is the road to my father's house". He was right! We got to visit both of those places later in the day. I want to keep most of the details private for the boys sake, but I wanted to share a little bit too. We got to meet several members of their Ethiopian family and many more friends that kept coming by once the word spread. Every single person we met gave us a kiss and said "thank you". I really didn't know how to respond and I really didn't expect to be thanked. We are grateful these boys are our sons. I was afraid it might be awkward since we love these boys and they are our sons now, but it wasn't at all. Everyone kept saying that we are all family now. Which is so true, we will never forget the people we met this day. These people helped make Isaiah the wonderful kid he is today. Their birth family is so kind and full of love. We are grateful they had so much love in their lives before we knew them. The day was overall great! But when it was time to say goodbye, I lost it. And I looked at Brad and he was bawling too (this doesn't happen often). I was hugging these people telling them we love the boys and we will take care of them and raise them to love Jesus and they were hugging the boys good-bye, maybe forever. We plan to bring the boys back here someday in the future, but there is a good chance many of the family members might not be alive next time. It is something that I will never forget. Adoption is such sacrifice. They were all so strong hugging us with smiles and with hearts full of gratitude. They were so thankful we took the time to come and meet them too. Kaleb didn't really care for any part of the day. He didn't remember anyone. He was less than 1 year old when was taken to the orphanage. He kept reaching for me or Brad whenever someone took him from our arms. This was great to see that he has started to bond with us (he usually could care less who held him) but it was hard to see him not want to hug anyone from his first family too.

At lunch after seeing everyone Isaiah said "it was a really, really, really good day". We were worried how his heart would take it all, but he just loved every minute of it. He said he was happy he has an Ethiopian family and an American family. I'm thankful he has a strong heart and could handle everything from this day. He was hyper, the most hyper we have seen him, when we got back to the guest house that night.

Isaiah's school

Isaiah was so happy when we pulled up to this gate

Isaiah inside his 1st house


Isaiah's old shoes were still on the floor of his 1st house


Waving good-bye from the van as we pulled away

Isaiah and Kaleb's Video

Our First Week

We have had the boys for one week now. Here is an update on each boy
Isaiah
He loves Brad! It’s nice to see how comfortable he is so quickly. He shows a little more affection to me each day too. He loves to eat hamburgers, but not french fries or ketchup. He loves playing with anything. We have been to a few playgrounds and he loves each thing. He loves building with legos and hopes we get some more when we get to America. We went swimming yesterday for the first time and he loved it. He is also hoping he gets some goggles, floaties and a kickboard when we get home too. He is a great big brother and loves to hold Jacob and play cars or ball with both Jacob and Kaleb. We are working on teaching him that he needs to tell us where he is going and asking for permission to eat things or go places. He loves to just take off, which can be scary for us when we turn around and he is gone. It is also normal around here to litter and throw your wrappers or garbage on the street, so we are also working on putting wrappers in a garbage can.
Kaleb
Kaleb wakes up each morning with a huge smile and likes to give kisses right away. The first few nights he didn’t want me to hold him when he was going to sleep but the last few nights I have held him until he falls asleep and wakes up wanting to snuggle too. He likes balls and cars, but he’s not too interested in books yet. He is getting better at not hitting as much. He is still obsessed with electrical outlets and cords. He is constantly sticking his fingers in the sockets or playing with the cords. He doesn’t like to be told ‘no’ but his meltdowns are getting fewer and fewer day by day, thank you Lord!! The first day was great, but days 2-5 were hard. Since the 2nd day he has been saying “hi” and waving to people. Then a few days ago he started saying “thank you” too. He still calls everyone “dada”. He LOVES lights, he likes to turn them on and off or just look at them. Kaleb wasn’t too sure about bath time the first few times, but he seems to like each bath a little more.
Jacob
Jacob has really warmed up to his brothers. He is doing much better sharing mom and dad too. He seems to be feeling much better than he did the first week we were here. He is now walking 90% of the time. He can go from one side of the room to the other!

We are having so much fun with all the family time. Life is crazy and busy now. But it’s great! And we both go to bed even earlier than we did before. Looking forward to many more family full-filled days!!

The First Few Days

I have been having trouble accessing blogger in ET, darn. Sorry for the lack of posts.
Our first few days together have been pretty good! We passed court on Friday and got to bring the boys back to our guest house since we are staying until Embassy. Isaiah was very excited to leave with us. When the AWAA employee came to tell us we passed court, they told Isaiah in Amharic to make sure he understood. He gave the biggest fist pump with a “Yeaaaah!” Kaleb of course has no idea whats going on, but he LOVED the car ride to the guest house. He was silent and sat still staring out the window soaking it all in. We gave the boys baths and we had to go buy Isaiah some new shoes. Isaiah wasn’t quite sure what to do in the shower and Kaleb wasn’t too sure of the bath either. Brad helped Isaiah with the shower and I tried to teach Kaleb how to splash in the bathtub. Kaleb hated the water over his face and wasn’t interested in splashing at all.
As we were pulling away from the TH with the boys, I realized that I didn’t ask when Kaleb eats or takes a bottle or how much or often. So I’m trying to figure it out on our own, ha! So far the boys schedule has been the same, and Kaleb seems OK with that. Both Kaleb and Jacob are taking 3 bottles a day and eating 3 meals. Kaleb acts like the world might end if he doesn’t get a snack within 5 minutes of waking up in the morning too. He has the longest arms and can reach everything. He can reach up on the kitchen counters and everywhere else that we don’t want him to, lol!
Today, Isaiah has really come out of his shell. He is laughing, and joking around a lot. He is so good with Jacob and Kaleb. He makes them laugh all the time. It’s such a sweet sound hearing my 3 sons belly laugh!! It’s great to see all three boys get more and more comfortable each day. God’s healing hand is on each of their hearts, we are so thankful for that.
We are looking forward to many more family days as we are getting to know each other and our new normal!

Mowen Family of 5!!!!!!

We are so excited that we passed court today!!! Isaiah Kirubel and Kaleb Surafel are forever our sons!!!!

Making Some Progress....

It’s been a few busy days, I haven’t had time to blog. Then we have been going to bed early when back at the guest house. I’m not sure when I’m going to have the time to blog when we have all three boys with us!! We are still waiting to hear about passing court. Yesterday we found out that we have a positive MOWCYA letter, now we are waiting for the judge to review our case again. The court had meetings today, so the judge didn’t get to our case today. Maybe tomorrow….. [:)]
This week has been great with the boys. Kaleb is starting to respond a little more to us. He has fallen asleep in my arms twice now. I’m so thankful he is comfortable enough to relax and fall asleep. Jacob is going to Isaiah pretty easily and he will let Isaiah walk around with him, BIG improvement! Brad and Isaiah enjoy playing soccer with the other boys at the TH. I wish we would have passed court right away, but I am thankful for this time for everyone to get more comfortable with each other. We have gotten Kaleb to laugh a little too, he smiles pretty easily when people say hi to him, but he doesn’t really give people smiles with eye contact. But he is making a little progress every day. I can’t wait to see how much progress we can make once we have him full time!
Please continue to pray for us to pass court and for the bonding process.

Harar/ Dire Dawa

We went to Harar today! Jacob is from Harar and we didn’t get to visit there last time we were here. I was really excited to go see where he was from, and his first orphanage. We left our guest house at 6am to head to the airport. We flew to Dire Dawa, which was about a 45 min flight. We checked into our hotel and then drove about an hour to Harar. We stopped and bought some bananas to take to Abenezer Orphanage. Then we went to the new orphanage building. Abenezer changed building about 7 months ago. Jacob was in the old building, but the same people were working there. They were so excited to see Jafar! They couldn’t believe it was him because he has gotten so big. It was sweet to see them remember things about him and his story. I was impressed how much they remembered about him. We got a few more details about the day that he came to the orphanage. We got to meet the guard who brought him in and named him. We got to see the road that he was carried down (cars can’t drive down it). I wasn’t expecting this to be emotional, but it really was for both of us. Jacob was great, he didn’t react to anything. The guard wanted to hold him and kiss him and Jacob went right to him. This was huge because he has only let one other guy hold him here. He isn’t a huge fan of other guys holding him. We also got to take pictures with his first nanny and the officer that helps with the paperwork for Abenezer. They were all wonderful and it was so nice to know how much they care about the kids.
Abenezer Orphanage is small and since it is far from Addis, not many families visit there, so we were warned that they don’t have much. We were able to bring 26 cans of formula that was donated by a family in out small group and all the diapers we could buy from a store bought from some donation money my mom had received. When we walked in we first went into the babies room, there was one little boy without a diaper on. We were glad that we had bought a few diapers, but we also know that in a week or so they will be out again, and so it wasn’t a permanent fix, but that baby is at least sleeping with diapers tonight. If you go visit an orphanage outside of Addis, take all your donations there. The store room was pretty scarce and pretty small. When we walked in the doors with two soccer balls, the kids started cheering and singing. They didn’t have much to play with.
After the orphanage visit went for lunch, then to drive/ walk all around the city. We got to see the wall around the old city. It was built to keep the warriors out. There are 3 old main gates to get into the city. We got pictures of those too! Then we went into the old city and got to walk around a little bit. We bought a beautiful basket and some coffee. Harar is known for great coffee. The coffee factory was very small and only a few people worked there. The workers were sitting there chewing chat (a drug) on the job. Harar is also known for the hyena’s that come out at night. The people of Harar have befriended the hyenas and feed them so they will protect them and not eat them. People can feed the hyenas at night from their hand or their mouth. We weren’t there at night, but Brad might have been interested if we were.
Then we went back to Dire Dawa for the night. Since it was Christmas Eve there were people outside singing Christmas carols by a fire. My mom really wanted to go, but we were all tired and went to bed early. The bed was probably the worst I ever slept on and it was a long night. But Christmas morning we woke up and had breakfast downstairs with the Simon’s and Job. Then we drove around Dire Dawa (Dre Daw wa) and stopped by the local zoo. It took less than 10 mins to see everything. They had one hyena, one ostrich, several monkeys and birds, a couple owl, rabbits, and chickens. And in the middle of the zoo was a playground for the kids. The poor hyena was all cut up because it had tried to get out.
Next we headed back to the airport to fly back to Addis. We ate lunch then went to the TH to see Kaleb and Isaiah. Isaiah was happy to see us and was waiting by the gate. He got to go to church to and sing Christmas songs. We got a little (I mean very little) bit of eye contact from Kaleb today, it was the best day with him. He actually sat on our lap or let us hold him the whole time. It was the least amount of crying I think we had too! He doesn’t like to be told no, or if he can’t do what the big kids are doing. We tried to teach him to put his arms up in the air when we ask him how big he is, he started to catch on and liked when we all cheered for him when he did it. Isaiah thought it was pretty funny when we were cheering too.
Such a different Christmas Day than what we are used to, but it was nice to be relaxed and getting to know Jacob’s history better and spend some more time with Kaleb and Isaiah. We will celebrate Christmas on January 7th, the Ethiopian Christmas.

Day 6

Today we spent the morning and afternoon at the TH. We left for lunch at Bon Café (not our favorite). We finally got some smiles and giggles out of Kaleb. He likes to be thrown in the air. He is 30 lbs, not so easy to throw in the air. But he liked it. Right before lunch we got to celebrate little Solomon’s first birthday with his parents and all the other kids at the TH. Matt and Margaret bought a cake and everyone was excited for a piece. As all the singing started, Kaleb started to throw up. Brad had the pleasure of getting puked on today. Yes, this is the 3rd time one of the boys puked on us in 4 days. The nannies started to ask what we fed him, but we didn’t give him anything today. Not sure what is causing him to throw up so much, but the doctor thinks maybe he is over eating. They feed them like crazy in the TH. All of Kaleb’s food is mashed up for him, but he can drink out of a cup on his own. Isaiah was missing the tablet today because he liked to play Angry Birds. We left it at the guest house on purpose because he would play it all day if he could. We built the legos with him again, he really likes those! Jacob is really starting to warm up to Isaiah. Another boy here, Ashenafi, loves Jacob and he plays with him every day. Today Isaiah started to get a little jealous and tried to get Jacob to play with him instead of Ashenafi. It was sweet to see! Isaiah is pretty quiet so it was sweet to see him show some emotion.

Day 5

We spent the morning and afternoon at the TH today! When our van pulled up, Isaiah was peeking out the gate watching for us. Then he jumped in the van to hug us before we could even get out! He was excited that grandma was feeling better and came back today. We spent the morning taking turns playing with each our of sons. It’s a total tag team effort  Kaleb loves to walk laps around the outside of the TH. Brad and Isaiah went for a run around the house. After a couple of laps, Brad was way out of breath, Isaiah didn’t seem faded at all. Ha!
We left for lunch with other AWAA families and Kaleb went down for a nap and Isaiah went back to the other TH for lunch and a rest. We were back at 2pm. Kaleb was still sleeping, so we sat on the porch with Isaiah and Jacob. Isaiah liked playing Angry Birds, some other kids came to play too. It was somewhat relaxing of an afternoon. Kaleb didn’t quite have as much energy, so he actually let me hold him for a little bit. We have quite a bit of work to do to bond with him. Please be praying for us.
I got to take some pictures for another AWAA family today. They have been waiting since their July court date to come back and get their infant son. Well in the mean time, they have decided to adopt a 10 year old boy too!! I’m so excited for them!! Today their older son came to the TH and I got to take pictures of their 2 boys together!! Job, an AWAA guide, kept saying “their mom is going to be so happy to see them together!” They are coming here next week and I can’t wait to meet Debb, the mama!
My goal today was not to get puked on. On Tuesday Jacob threw up on me and on Wednesday Kaleb threw up a lot on me. Awesome. Just one of the joys of being a mama! Thankfully both boys were feeling better today and no one threw up!!
Someone from AWAA went to court this afternoon and our MOWCYA letter wasn’t there yet. They will check again tomorrow.