If at first you don't succeed, then don't take up sky diving!

First, I would like to invite you to visit the Full House and Full Hearts blog. This is the story of a family who is in the process of adopting their 11th child, Solomon, who is HIV+ and from Ethiopia. They have an amazing story of faith and I hope that you will visit the blog, and if you feel lead to do so, give to their worthy cause.

Second, I want to share some great pictures of my kids all dressed up and heading to the homecoming dance. Okay, only one of my kids is dressed up. Oh, alright, only one went to the homecoming dance, too.

I think Seth thinks his sister is pretty, what do you think?


Here is Taylor and her friend, Renida.

Seth and I spent a quiet evening at home as everyone headed out to the dance (James is chaperoning). Well, okay, the truth is that they left and Seth went to bed...

While Renida was here, we had an interesting development. Seth was extremely tired by the time she arrived and everyone was ready to go. So, for about 30 minutes prior to and as they left, Seth was glued to my hip. For those that have not spent anytime around Seth, you should know that in general he does not go to strangers. He prefers Mom or Dad and will go to you once he gets to know you. There really has never been an exception until tonight: his first reaction when he met Renida was to go towards her and away from me. They left almost as soon as Renida arrived, so I never really had a chance to see where he was going with this, but it did get me thinking.

He has been around few black people since we have been home (we live in a rural area that has just recently started becoming more diverse), but in hindsight, they have all been men or children. None of them have been girls close to the age of the nanny that he was so attached to in Ethiopia. Was Seth drawn to Renida because she reminded him of his nanny? I suppose it is possible, but that isn't really what is bothering me tonight. I feel guilty.

Whenever asked, I am constantly telling people that Seth has adjusted so well that "it is as if he has always been here." And for us, this is true. In the last few weeks I have given hardly any thought to the people he left behind and how his memories are probably fading. He has attached to us so well that I have never even considered that he still misses his nanny and would like to be near her again. This is painful for me to type because there is a very small selfish part of me wants him to ONLY love me and ONLY miss me when I leave. That is not easy to admit, but it is true. It is so conflicting to selfishly wish your child had only loved you, yet at the same time pray that they never truly lose all the memories of the people that he loved before he met you. I really do wish that he would never lose those memories, but he will. That is sad for me, and it will be for him someday, too.

I debated with myself on whether or not I should post this. It is so tempting to only post the happy stuff when you are home with this beautiful child that you have been waiting and waiting for so long. But you know what? You will be sad sometimes after you are home... That is normal.

If at first you don't succeed, shouldn't you try doing it like your wife told you to do it?

Okay, so my friend April and I were just talking about the weird keywords that can lead people to your blog. I have had my fair share of interesting ones, but this one takes the cake:

I need to give a shout out to the person from Ontario, Canada who found my blog by searching for "touch his butt" in Google.

If you have no clue how I know this, my Statcounter at the bottom of the page will tell me what keywords (if any) someone searched for that lead them to this blog. It will also give me an idea of their general location and approximately how long they stayed to read my blog. This person stayed less than a second. That is a pretty short time to realize I am not what you're looking for...Why bother even clicking the link?

Anyway, in the interest of drawing more weird people searching for odd words and sayings, I leave you with this: boogers.

Have a good night, everyone!

Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?

First, I want to congratulate all the families that have recently received court dates! The next couple weeks will be a whirlwind of congratulations as each court date is completed.

I have nothing of interest to anyone (other than me) to post. So, please feel free to stop reading here...

I hate gloomy weather. My mood firmly depends on sun and warmth, so expect this post to be anything but. However, I realized that I have not posted anything in a few days, so I should write about something.

Seth is doing good. Actually, he said Mom today while looking at me and then firmly presented a Dadda in the direction of his daddy. That was a good feeling.

He is also sleeping through the night, so that is beyond awesome.

That is it. I got nothin' else. Somebody give me a topic, I feel brain dead! I refuse to be one of those people that have nothing to talk about but their kids :)

Photos of Seth...

They all turned out so beautiful, I am not sure which ones to have printed!

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

It is becoming increasingly hard to post these days. Man, I cannot wait until football season is over. Between band events (because the Taylor does color guard and plays the flute in the non-marching season), Varsity football games (because the Taylor does color guard) and Junior Varsity football games (because Taylor cheers), and chasing a fast little crawler around, I have decided that I am much too young to feel this dang old! (that, was a little salute to country music for all you fans out there!)

Our high school band is doing great though. At the last band competition, they took first in their division and brought home all but one award. Not bad for a small town band. Here is Taylor in her color-guard costume:

As of Monday, we will have been home from Ethiopia a whole month, but it feels much longer. We have settled in, for the most part. I am still relearning how to do things with a baby on my hip. I had forgotten that normal activities (like showering) really can become quite the chore...

Seth is definitely saying a few words. We weren't sure at first, but he makes it perfectly clear when he is "ALL DONE." It is so cute! Maybe it won't be when he is two years old and we are trying to get him to eat his broccoli, but for now it cracks us up.

I promised to share some of Seth's outings since he has been home. He loves being out and about, although lately we have noticed that he gets his fill of all the attention fairly quickly. Last night at our football game he turned his head whenever anyone tried to talk to him. Eventually, he started screaming and made it very clear he was sick to death of people being in his face. We brought him home and he was fine. This is kind of a new development, but to be honest I don't blame him... I would get sick of it too! At least he knows that when he is tired, he just needs to let us know and we will give him a much needed break.

Last week we visited a local zoo with Marissa and her kids. I think Seth had a good time, I know we did!



Here he is working out with his daddy:



This week we had a great opportunity to get together with some other moms (all adopting or have adopted from Ethiopia) and chat. I had a really nice time and Seth was reunited with his old buddy, Mikias, from his orphanage.


They did not go running into each other's arms (as I had planned), but it was very nice to see Joanna and Mikias. This was the first of many get-togethers for these two! Soon they will be playing together, rather then in the same vicinity of one another :)

It was also really nice to talk to all the other moms. I can't wait until we can all get together with ALL our children. So many of the moms will be traveling soon to get their little ones, so please pray for them.

Yesterday we went to my friend Amy's studio and had Seth's first photos taken. They turned out BEAUTIFUL! I will share them as soon as I get the go-ahead from the photographer. By the way, she is awesome and you can check out her blog here: Behind the Lens.
She would have a website right now, but her friend had to go get a beautiful little boy from Ethiopia in the middle of designing it... So, in the meantime, check out her blog :)

And just for kicks, check Seth out with his buddy Heath. Aren't they adorable?



I guess if I posted more often I wouldn't have so much to share in one post. I will try to do better about that!

Why don't psychics predict the winning lottery numbers and retire?

Apparently I have been tagged, which means that I now need to tell you eight things about myself that you do not already know about me. Thank you, Marissa :) Of course, this may be difficult because since I have started writing this blog I have been pretty much 'no holds barred' on randomly talking about myself. I will give it a shot...

1. I am a psychology student. That isn't the part that you don't know about me, however. The truth is, I am interested in psychology because I am just a teensy bit crazy. Okay, some of you may know this.

2. I have an aversion to all things nail (toe and finger) related. Do not show me your injured fingernail, I may pass out. Just finding a loose nail clipping on the floor will gross me out for weeks. I would rather deal with a deep, bleeding wound then a broken nail. Told ya I was a little crazy.

3. I love to try weird food. Anything odd and I will eat it. I have not found anything yet that I will not try. I do prefer that it be cooked, but the only steadfast requirement I have to date is that the item I am about to eat be dead.

4. I finally finished Harry Potter #7 the other day. Phew! That is the longest it has ever taken me to read a Harry Potter book.

5. I do not like to fly. I do fly, but it usually requires some sort of medication so I can either be asleep or distracted. That is an unfortunate fear for a missionary, huh?

6. I have a tattoo of a scorpion on my back. Yup, I am cool like that :)

7. I am going to bounce off of Marissa's post for this one: I HATE SNOW. If it did not snow all winter long I would be happy. It isn't even the cold that bothers me, I just hate that fluffy, wet, white stuff lying all over the place. I know, I know, I am the Grinch.

8. Until recently I had forgotten a few things about parenting a baby: you do not sleep, you cannot be sick, your house is always a mess, and you (in general) look like crap 99.9% of the time. For some of you this may not be true (God Bless ya!), but it certainly is for me. BUT...I am not complaining. I love having the little guy at home, he is a lot of fun. I am just going to have to learn to function with a baby a little better. It will come, right???

***

By the way, I am going to tag some people to do the same thing I just did in their own blog (so you will all FINALLY post something):
April , Jen, Cori, and Amy

Here are some gratuitous cute kid pics:

Seth being Saint-like (Hey, Kidus does mean Saint)


And here is the picture we decided to use for Taylor's school picture. I think it turned out really nice. She is so photogenic.




The next post I will fill you all in on Seth's various outings since he has been home and also how awesome Taylor's band is doing. Until then...

Day eight of our journey to Seth Kidus

Well, I am finally at day eight, our last day in Ethiopia. It is hard to believe that we have been home for three weeks already!

Day eight was another whirlwind. After receiving requests from a few adoptive parents to get pictures of their newly adopted children, we decided to start the day with a special trip to Enetalem Orphanage. Most of the Hahn family had opted to spend a relaxing day at the hotel, so Gary was the only member that was joining us. And since we were visiting another orphanage, we thought that might be stressful on Seth and opted to leave him with the ladies at the house. This time was extremely hard, however. As we were leaving, Seth had a look on his face that said, "I can't believe you are leaving me." That was the last time we have left him to date.

First stop had to be at the US Embassy to pick up the babies' visas. Gary and James went in to pick them up, while Taylor and I waited in the car. I know it seems like nothing too exciting to report, but this meant that both children were going home!

The next stop was the Enetalem orphanage, where we were sure we would just be in and out. After explaining to the director that what we were there for, she lead us to an area to cover our feet with plastic bags! They did not want us tracking in anything for the babies. This was the cleanest orphanage I have ever visited. To make a point, this is what I wrote to one of the adoptive mothers:

The orphanage is really wonderful. There were always nannies with the babies and the center is clean and neat. The older children are doted on just as much as the babies. The director walks into a room and their eyes light up. . . If they were my children, I can honestly say that I would be perfectly comfortable with their care. It is run better than many American day care centers.

I stand by those words. This is an exceptionally nice orphanage. Of course, there is sadness at every orphanage, but none of this sadness was coming from the children. They are happy; Of course, they would all be happier with forever families. Knowing that is what brings the sadness.



After getting all the pictures we needed, the director invited us to a coffee ceremony. We were short on time, but you can't say no to a coffee ceremony, so off we went. We walked through a group of kids who began singing to us... About 20 minutes of singing. It was a lot of fun. Some songs were in English, some in Amharic.




After that, we went in for our coffee ceremony. We were served by a beautiful Ethiopian woman, whose name, unfortunately, escapes me:


We drank one cup (fairly quickly) and then we were off again. Did I mention that we had not even begun to pack for our flight home that night? Those of you that know me, know that inside I was in complete panic mode. It was about 12:00pm at this point and we were to be at the airport at 6pm. Oi Vey!

On the Norris' list of things still to do: track down two Amharic Bibles, tour the Merkato, and buy more diapers for the flight home.

Gary also had his own list to complete.

After leaving the orphanage, we were off to tour the Merkato, but only as a drive-by. We drove up and down each street of the largest open-air market in Africa. There are really no words to describe it other than CRAZY. It was so busy and there was only one lane. Did I mention that traffic went both ways? My heart rate increases just thinking about it :) There was really no good way to get pictures of it, but we got some good video, I believe. I will show it to you when we get around to sorting out all our video.

Once we escaped the craziness, we went to another area of Addis for the Amharic bibles. James wanted to buy one for him and one for Seth (when he gets older.) Apparently, there are no Bibles in print right now, so we had to go find an "alternative dealer" of sorts. Interesting, to say the least, when you are buying a Bible. We did get them, though.

At this point my insides are going into full panic mode because we were not packed yet and only had a few hours left. Since Beth was at the hotel packing for them, Sammy (the driver) dropped us off at the guest house and Gary continued on without us.

Lunch was waiting for us at the guesthouse and then we were on to our packing. It took us a couple hours, but we managed to get everything packed up and ready to go. Since we were planning on being at the airport by 6pm (to be sure we got that all important bassinet seat), we had planned to just get dinner at the airport. Of course, the wonderful ladies at the house made us an early dinner and you guessed it, a coffee ceremony (man, I miss those ladies!)

After all the rushing, all the worrying, all the fussing... it was finally time to leave. Alemu picked us up and took us to the airport. But not before many goodbyes.


At the airport, we learned two things that put us in less than pleasant moods:

• We learned that despite being told the contrary, the bank was closed and we would be stuck with well over $1,000.00 worth of Ethiopian Birr.

• We also learned that we would not be getting the bassinet seat after all. Although, we really weren't sure why...

Of course, that put us in a mood, but as we were filling out the exit visa cards, I was asked to help two ladies fill out their cards. The challenging part of this task was that neither spoke a word of English and neither could read. So, we fumbled through most the questions and apparently it worked out for them because I saw them on the other side later in the evening. That put things into perspective for me and gave me a chance to relax. God works in weird ways sometimes :)

The plane was delayed by about 45 minutes, but we were never sure why. African time, I guess. And when I say African time, I mean no disrespect what-so-ever. Actually, I am envious of the way that relationships take precedence over time. If we were all like that, the world would be a better place.

Here is the whole gang, getting ready for take-off:


Once we were checking into the flight at the gates, our spirits were considerably better. The gentleman at the gate made our spirits even better: he offered us a bassinet seat. The only catch was that we had to sit one row apart from each other. We weren't complaining, though... We were so happy. Seth enjoyed it as well:



Seth and I had really nice company on the flight, too. We were blessed enough to be seated by a wonderful gentlemen who was also a missionary to Rwanda. James and I had a great time chatting with him as we switched back and forth throughout the flight. He also never complained that due to the bassinet he was blocked from leaving when he wanted to and couldn't use his movie screen. He was a great guy!

I am going to fast forward you a little bit: we had a very uneventful flight (both to Washington DC and on to Detroit) and even arrived a little bit early into Detroit. As we were heading towards the luggage claim area, we heard people yelling our names. Down by the luggage claim area were many of our friends and family there to greet us:



And at home, we had even more people waiting for us. Through it all, Seth was amazing. He is obviously a people person and acted as if he knew he was home from the moment he stepped foot into our house. Here he is meeting his new friends and cousins. He is telling them all about Ethiopia, but of course it is in Amharic, so they can't understand him... They think it is just babble... What? He is really bright! ;-)



No one stayed too long and we all went to bed and slept like babies for a good 10 - 11 hours... Even the baby slept like a baby.

The end result of this amazing trip is our amazing little family. I thank God everyday for bringing us together. Today it feels as if we have always been together.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
~Desmond Tutu

Now that the trip recitation is complete, I can use this blog for what God intended: to brag about my kids. :-) Believe me, I have got plenty of that to catch up on!

Day seven of our journey to Seth Kidus

Day seven was a whirlwind, so even as I begin this post, I know that it is going to take me a day or two to finish it...

Day seven started with a tour of the city. This means that we all piled in the car (all members of both families, even little Leila Hahn was able to join us for this trip). The whole tour took an hour or two and I feel pretty safe in saying that we went entirely through the city. What was most interesting was the highway: it looked like your standard interstate with exits and on ramps. I have never seen a road like that in Africa. Of course, Africa is a big place and comparatively, I have seen very little of it.

It was difficult to get pictures in a moving car, but we managed one or two. Believe it or not, this is the best one:


We did get awesome video that I hope to post on here soon, just not today...sorry!

After the tour of the city, we went back to visit a local zoo that had a big lion exhibit. The zoo was small, but the lion exhibit was awesome. The pictures say it all:



Where in the US can you get that close to a lion? Some sort of government agency would take issue with it. We enjoyed it quite a bit. The funny thing was that the lions were set apart in a different section of the zoo with a fence around them. Well, while we were inside that fence looking at the lions, the locals were outside the fence looking at us. We became the exhibit...That was an interesting feeling to say the least!

While we were at the zoo, we got a call from Gitachu telling us that we needed to be at the US Embassy for the kids' visa appointments within a couple hours. So, we rushed back to the Hilton to drop off the Hahn family, then rushed to the guest house to grab some lunch. When we arrived, we discovered that there was going to be a coffee ceremony in honor of it being the first day of the short month (AKA the 13th month). Every year they have a 13th month that only has five days in it, every four years that month has six days. This year was a six day year, so they were celebrating with a coffee ceremony and bread.


James cut the bread because we were honored guests. While we were getting ready to eat, Gitachu called again and said that Seth Kidus' uncle was in town and ready to meet us at the orphanage. We were to meet him before going to our embassy appointment. We did not have time to go all the way to the orphanage, so he waited for us in Addis. When we met him we asked if he could wait to talk to us after the embassy appointment and he was happy to wait.

We went to the embassy appointment with plenty of time to spare. Visiting a US Embassy is always an interesting experience, but the new liquid issues with security made it even more interesting. The security guard made us taste our water in front of him and at first we thought he wanted us to taste our bug spray as well. Come to find out he only wanted James to put it on his arm. We got off easy. Gary Hahn had to drink formula... What a trooper :) Unfortunately, you are not allowed to have cameras in the embassy, or I would have a great photo.

We met some really nice people while waiting. Proving it is a small world, we met an Ethiopian business owner who attend Western Michigan University (not too far from our house - Go Broncos!) for four years. It is a small world after all!

Of course, if you have been reading this blog regularly, you know that everything went smoothly at the embassy, we dropped the Hahn family off at their hotel and rushed back over to meet with Seth Kidus' uncle. It was an amazing experience that we were able to get all on tape for Seth someday. His uncle went out of his way to take care of Seth Kidus for as long as he could and then he once again went out of his way to keep in touch with him. Seth has many family members that we will be able to go back and meet when he is older. We are really looking forward to be able to do that for him. We learned that the timing of all our paperwork issues made it so that we were ready when Seth Kidus was ready. Seth did not become an eligible orphan until his mother had passed on, and she did not do so until March 16th. If our paperwork had went as smoothly as we prayed, we would not have our sweet little Seth Kidus... Thank God for unanswered prayers! And thank God for a watchful uncle who was looking out for his nephew.


We completed our evening by heading back to the guest house for a relaxing dinner and a nice, restful night sleep (one of the first since we had arrived in Ethiopia and ironically, our last night in Ethiopia).

There. I finished it in one sitting. I am sure there is already so much that I have forgotten, but one thing that will stick with me is the sheer weight of that day. It was the second most emotional day in Ethiopia, the first being the day we were able to hold Seth Kidus. This all seems like it was so long ago. Hard to believe we have only had him with us for 24 days...feels like he has always been here!

Day six of our journey to Seth Kidus

Day six was our day to tour churches. Ethiopian Orthodox churches are very beautiful and tell amazing stories with their art work. The first church we visited was The Trinity Church:


Behind The Trinity Church was a Hailee Selassie museum. We were unable to take pictures inside the museum, but the items inside were quite interesting.



Off to the side of this picture was a man mowing the lawn with a pair of hedge trimmers. If that does not make you grateful for that old push mower, I don't know what will!

The next church we visited was St. George. This was the church that our driver, Sammy, attended. It was being renovated for the new millennium, but they were close to being done. Normally, you have to remove your shoes when entering all Ethiopian Orthodox churches, but since it was a mess we were able to leave our shoes on. Our guide at this church was amazingly knowledgeable and interesting. He was obviously a scholar and was even able to read and write Ge'ez (our equivalent to Latin.)



Here is our guide standing with a statue of the Ethiopian eunuch that was mentioned in Acts 8:27. The eunuch is credited for introducing Christianity to Ethiopia. Pretty good legacy, if you ask me.



When we were all done visiting churches, we went to a local shop to purchase some of that amazing Ethiopian coffee:



Seth Kidus did wonderful. Of course, those churches echo and babies do love to hear themselves! The guides did not seem to mind, though. The rest of the day was uneventful... We just hung out the house and continued to practice being a family of four :)

Day five of our journey to Seth Kidus

I need to make sure I get these posts done soon because the memories are already fading! Hopefully I can find someplace to print this blog out and compile it for Seth.

Before I begin this post, I wanted to put a clarification out there for anyone reading this blog who is considering naming their son Seth (a great name, IMHO). The previous anonymous poster who claimed that Seth means "A woman" in Amharic was incorrect. Seth (aka Set) actually means "the appointed one." (http://www.myethiopianame.bravehost.com/ethiopianboysname.html)

Okay, now that I feel good and vindicated, I will began my post about day five :)

Day five also started at the wee hours of the morning with Seth Kidus and a terrible stomach ache. This was the night that he slept on top of me (stomach to stomach) for a good portion of the night. Once again, our plans to take him out with us were changed when he was sound asleep (finally) and not feeling well. So, he stayed with the ladies at the house while we headed out shopping. James gave a pretty good account of our day here.

The shopping was so much fun! I know I am woman and totally feeding that stereotype, but shopping was one of my favorite day trips that we took. If only shopping in the US was like it is in Ethiopia. Let me give you an idea of how pretty much every transaction took place:

Me: "I love it. How much?"
Salesperson: "100 Birr" (Birr is the currency there - approximatly 9 birr = $1.00 USD)
Me: "Hmmm... Will you take 70 Birr?"
Salesperson: "No. 100 Birr."
Me: "70 Birr."
Salesperson: "Okay, 90 Birr."
Me: "70 Birr."
Salesperson: "85 Birr."
Me: "No, that is ok. Thank you anyway." (Start to leave)
Salesperson: "Okay, I will give it to you for 70 Birr."

The funny thing was that they always laughed whenever I started to haggle with them. Every time I haggled and turned to leave I got the price I asked for. One thing we were careful about is that we always paid what we thought the item was worth. We were not there to scam anyone and we knew that even these salespeople could use the money, so we got some good deals, but never paid less than it was worth. Once I even paid the price that was asked. Only once though... They really do EXPECT you to haggle. And it really is a lot of fun. Later, Taylor used this same technique at the Washington DC airport and actually talked a vendor down $10.00 off a sweatshirt. I guess you never know unless you ask.


The shopping areas were obviously tourist attractions because we ran into other adoptive parents there as well. We were able to get some very nice items for Seth when he gets older and to decorate our house now. It is important for us that he feels a sense of Ethiopia in our home.



These children decided to use James for their game of Dare. James and I were standing beside the car, waiting to leave, when James felt someone touch his butt. We turned around and the little boy was running away while all the other children were laughing. I am sure that if we spoke Amharic we would have heard "No, you go touch the white guy." "No, you do it, I dare you!"

It was cute, though!



After shopping, we went home to spend time with Seth Kidus and prepare for a dinner out at a traditional restaurant...

(By the way, this is still his favorite outfit) :)

Due to African Time (which I mentioned in a previous post), Alemu arrived fairly late to take us to the restaurant. Since Seth Kidus was tired and I didn't want to leave him again, I stayed at the house. As James and Taylor were leaving, it started hailing very bad. Within 5 minutes of their departure, all the power went out. At that point, I was so happy that I had a flashlight. Once Seth had his dinner and went to bed, it was like I was back in Michigan, reading Harry Potter by candlelight.

Side Note: A week before we left for Ethiopia, the power went out at our house for three days. The first two night I spent reading book number six of the Harry Potter series to prepare me for book number seven which I was going to read on the plane. I have yet to finish it (I slept a lot on the plane and now I have Seth), so please do not tell me anything about it...yet.

While I was busy ruining my eyesight, James, Taylor, Alemu and the Hahn family had a really nice time at the restaurant. It was a buffet with traditional dance and music. From what I hear, Taylor and a few others even got up to dance on the stage. I am sorry to have missed it, but it was the start of some great bonding with Seth, so it was well worth it.

Here are some pictures from their adventure:


And here is the raw meat that James was going to try, but Alemu told him that he should not:



Aw well, would've made a good story!

The power returned about a half an hour before James and Taylor did. I felt perfectly safe during the entire outage, but I was a little worried for my family. I did not know if the power was out everywhere or just our neighborhood, so I really did not know what was going on outside the compound walls. I prayed often. Come to find out, our neighborhood was the only area out, so they were just having a good time, but I was relieved when they returned home!