Obligitory Christmas Pictures

So Christmas came and is went...and we participated. Here's proof.  For the record we stayed in our PJ's the day.  Marjorie and I called it a "Den of Slack", which is a reference to Reality Bites...a bad movie from the 90's.

Elias wasn't so stoked about taking pictures at first.

Tobiah got his own Nintendo DS for Christmas.....to stop the fighting.....we limit play time....except for on Christmas....so we didn't see the boys most of the day!

 Corban was probably the only boy in America who asked for sensitive toothpaste for Christmas.  His front adult teeth are very sensitive.....so that was an easy one.

The boys got Marjorie the new girls Nerf gun.  We figured if she has to live in a house full of boys, she should be able to defend herself properly.  Later in the day Tobiah decided to shoot Daddy in the temple from 2 inches away with this very device.

Marjorie has been asking for a La La Loopsie doll for a year now.  Again, since she has to live in testosterone world, I thought it was middle ground.  She's now looking for play dates with little girls.

He was pretty content sitting inside the boxes playing with other things.  His little bum fit nicely.

 Checking out what big brother is doing.

Wherever you are....Blessings to you and your family in the coming year from the Reinard family.

Catching Up to Christmas

Funny things happen when you finally come home with your child that you've been waiting for.
1.  It doesn't seem as important to tell everyone what it's like to be waiting......since we're not waiting any longer.
2.  You instantly become busy with things you either didn't know you had to deal with or totally forgot that came along with little kids.

So forgive us....but I'm sure you understand.

So here is an update and a bunch of random information for you.


E is doing great.  I think his adjustment is going exceptionally well.  There are still some little glitches from time to time...a couple minor meltdowns....but I couldn't have imagined that the transition would be going this good this quickly.

Coming home on the 10th of December didn't leave us a ton of time to think about Christmas.  I'm typing this on the 21st and we just put our tree up.  So we're a little behind.....we were kind of hoping everyone else would agree to just push Christmas back a week this year for us?

I (Aaron) have been across the country quite a number of times.  I've been around the world a few times too.  I've never dealt with jet lag.  When people talked about jet lag, I've always thought "you're a wuss".  For whatever reason, the return trip home kicked my BUTT!  We're finally getting back to normal sleeping and eating habits, but we were seriously messed up for awhile there.

That being said, E sleeps like a champ.  We put him down at night and don't hear him until the next morning.

His big brothers are amazing.  As I type this they are all in the living room playing.  He's hugging Corban.  Corban particularly is extra protective and caring.

E drinks out of a regular cup like a champ.

Tickling 3 boys is harder than just 2.

Marjorie having maternity leave until February is AWESOME!!!!

We COMPLETELY appreciate everyone respecting our nesting.  He is doing great and we're going to start venturing out more in the next week or two.  You're gonna love this little dude.  Just don't get between him and food and you're safe......because he gets cranky when it's time to eat and he doesn't have food in his mouth.

HOME!!!!!

Yes.  We're home.

It was a great trip.  We have our son.  FINALLY!

We have lots to tell you about.  LOTS.  We plan on having a bunch of posts here over the next little bit to fill in some of the story that is important.

We're all pretty tired.  E is a bit sick.  There is LOTS of adjustment that is going on....for all of us. 

I would encourage you to re-read a post we put up at the beginning of November called Nesting and Cocooning.  The Cocooning part is particularly important right now for us.  We know you're all excited to see us and E....we are going to need some time and space to work on our attachment. 

We promise to take pictures and keep you as updated as we move throughout this coming weeks. 

WE'RE GOING TO GET HIM!!!!!!!

We received official word.  The wait is over.  We're going!!!!!!

We can hardly believe it.  However this is real.  We have an appointment at the US Embassy next Thursday. 

So many plans to be made.  Lots to do.  SO EXCITED!  He's finally gonna come home!

Thank you for your prayers to get us this far.  Please continue to pray us through.

Stay tuned here for more updates in the coming days and weeks.  This journey is just getting started!!!!

Update 11/22: Operation Ivy

Back in my younger days, I was pretty big into metal and then punk.  There was a band way back when called Operation Ivy.  They had a song called Knowledge.  It's not an amazingly well written song, and I'm not linking anything here because they drop the F bomb....and more importantly because the song itself has nothing to do with anything relevant to this blog.....EXCEPT.....I started singing the chorus to it this morning.

All I know is that I don't know
All I know is that I don't know nothing
All I know is that I don't know
All I know is that I don't know nothing

Beyond the grammatical error (it's punk, come on)....this is pretty much what we have to share with you this week.

It seems that we have been asked by everyone this week what we know, and when are you going, and why's it taking so long.

Friends, we don't know when we're going.  We thought we'd know by now.  Heck we thought we'd be there and home already.  We're not.  We don't.

There have been some delays.  The Embassy has asked that some things be re-done.  It's completely out of our hands.  There's nothing for us to do physically.  Some pieces need to fall into place to make this happen.  We have an inkling that it's moving forward, but we can't put a time table on anything.

We promise that when we know something we will be shouting it from the mountains.  You will know.  We will post here, blast e-mails, post on Facebook and Twitter.  You will know.

As for now....

All I know is that I don't know
All I know is that I don't know nothing.



Prayers appreciated.  As frustrated as you might be with these setbacks, know that we are more so.

News Update and Thoughts 11/16

So this week there was an interview at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa on our behalf.  When others have had this type of interview the Embassy has cleared them to bring their child home within 24 hours.  Some, within 2 or 4 hours.   So we totally expected to wake up Tuesday morning to an e-mail from the Embassy telling us that we had cleared and come pick up E.

We didn't get that e-mail on Tuesday.
or Wednesday.

We heard that there was a mis-translated date on one of our papers and that that was re-submitted on Wedneday and we should hear Thursday morning.

Sure enough we got an e-mail Thursday morning.....but it was NOT the e-mail we were expecting.  This email said that some other pieces of paperwork needed fixed.  This will take a few more days to get all those together.

So we wait again.


Marjorie was reminded this week while reading Tobiah his nightly Bible story, that Jesus waited days before he went to his friend Lazarus so that God's glory would be shown.

God show your glory in our story too.  This was your plan from day one, not ours.  If we need to wait a little more, then His plan is going to pretty awesome on the back end. 

Nesting and Cocooning

Most pregnant women go through "nesting"  to prepare for their child.  The idea of "nesting" has actually been studied and there's some evidence that lead some to believe it's an actual instinctual behavior much like birds.  The need to get things ready, to fix and clean things.

I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, that nesting is not limited to pregnancy.  With each of our adoptions Marjorie has nested.  I mean MONTHS ahead of any possible time a child could come home, she's getting things out, putting up decorations, getting out blankets, and toys and clothes.  We have to get ready.  She couldn't wait for me to help set up the crib, no it had to be done months ago, and all the blankets she and others made for Elias went immediately into the crib. Little toddler toys were out weeks ago. 

But there's something else that is written about in the adoption community-it's a little different.   Cocooning.  Cocooning is a period of time where intense care and bonding happen.  The idea is to kind of close up social shop and just spend very very intentional time with your new child.

If we're honest, we weren't the best Cocooners with Corban.  We were new to parenting and adoption.  We didn't realize how much one on one time he needed with us.  We didn't do horribly....but we could've done better.  We didn't want to say no to people when they asked if they could stop over to see him....or just showed up at our door.  They had waited with us too.  He needed way more alone time to adjust to being a family and new stimulation.  Once when our parents were visiting, Corban had enough of visitors, so he took Marjorie's hand and led her to his room.  What he wanted was to sit in the rocker with her for awhile and have alone time.  So she did that with him till he was ready to visit again.  With Tobiah we had a week alone with him in the isolation room at the hospital, so it happened naturally.  

We are preparing you now for cocooning.  When Elias comes home, be prepared to see us less.  We are going to be bonding with our child, meeting his every need as best we can, making up for the past 2 years, growing trust and making sure he knows we are here for him.  Just because he is home, doesn't mean he is prepared for all the new things in his life.  He needs time to adjust to a lot of new things.

We will be limiting visitors.  Elias might not go on all the outings right away, like to the store or library or church with us right away.  We might need to miss some events and large gatherings.   Please understand and respect that as we move forward. We'll be coming out of our cocoon slowly and tentatively, trying out the new surroundings and sometimes retreating.  This time for him could last anywhere from 2-6 months.

We can't wait for you to see him!  We know you've waited and prayed for him to come home for a long time.  We'll make sure to post pictures, so you too can rejoice in him being home.
And while we need to be the primary caregivers for Elias, we'll need breaks too, to refresh from intensive parenting.  Thanks for supporting us in this stage of our adoption journey as well!