They call me LLCA

Thats for ladies love cool Addis. If you don't understand my joke, then, maybe you shouldn't be reading this blog. Only kidding, but seriously...

Well...

I (Miranda) just emailed Shimeliss, a first in itself and told him that we want Anteneh!!!

Addis.. the baby who grew overnight!

So when we went to pick up dear little Addy, newborn clothes were swimming on her. We went out to eat at a nice restaurant and literally as we stood up, her little 0-3 month leggings fell off of her. Well apparently overnight just last week she became a chunker. She was doing fine in her 3-6 month clothing, all was well. Then on Friday, Addy's beloved babysitter and I were getting her dressed before mom came home and decided to try out her new 6-12 month pants. Well they wouldn't fit. We had to lay her down to button them. Don't worry she wasn't in any pain or anything, the pants loosened up after we got them over her FAT belly. We can't carry her anymore, both of our backs are killing us and every time we try to take a nice warm bath, she goes crazy thinking it is tubbie time! For those of you who want proof of her portly-ness, here are some nakie pictures and a few to show how good she can sit up!

sitting up so well!!

She has leg fat!!!

Off to play some tennis at the club dahhling.

reading her book like such a big girl!

and finally looking super Ethiopian with her puppy.

and another???

So. There has been something my mom and I have been struggling with ever since our first day in Ethiopia. When we went to pick up Fitsum we met this AMAZING, beautiful, smart, helpful, intelligent, EVERYTHING 10 year old boy. He was the sweetest thing and spoke such great English. We both were instantly attracted to him. That night my mom said "I am so adopting that boy!" but I mean things aren't that simple. We are already bringing home two girls this year and we have NO and I mean NO boys in our family that live close or could be a male role model for him. We have never even been around boys. Aren't they like.. different to raise or something haha. But as we have been home, Mom just keeps bringing him up. It seems like little things keep happening to remind us that he is there. All of his friends are being adopted and I would feel so so horrible if he was the only older child left there. Imagine the opportunities we could provide him, and the things he could provide us! He could provide a REAL connection to Ethiopia for Addis. She will never learn Amharic, but he could teach her words and tell both of the girls what it was like to be raised there. I don't know we are really really struggling with this. Please pray and/or keep us in your thoughts (whatever your religious affiliation haha) about this issue. We need some help!!

Addis Fitsum's Story

Second referral- On August 21st, while Shim was in Et, he sent an email saying, "We have a 3 week old girl I don't have any pictures, I think she's perfect for you." My mom wrote back immediately and said YES YES YES we accept!! That is how we received Addis Fitsum's referral. When he came back we got a mugshot picture of a little fat 8lb 3 week old baby that looked like a little old man. We were in love. Then our little hell story started. Shimeliss went to Ethiopia in early October and noticed immediately that something was horribly wrong with Fitsum. She was down to about 4 lbs. and had not been eating for a very very long time. The caregivers could not get her to eat and just figured she didn't want to eat. (don't worry the whole staff was changed because the pictures of my sister were ridiculous and heartbreaking!!!) He immediately took her to the hospital himself and she was put on a feeding tube. She stayed there for two weeks and got back up to 7.5 lbs. We were so so nervous yet so proud of our little Fighting Fitty! She had a problem with drinking from a bottle which the doctor explained to all the caregivers and they learned how to feed her. When we went to pick her up, she was back in the hospital with Pneumonia, Sepsis of the blood, severe malnutrition and a gastrointestinal infection. Psh say that three times fast! It was the worst day ever I think. We got there and I just started crying because I was so sure she was going to die after all she had been through. She couldn't make eye contact, cry, hold her head up or do anything. She weighed 7.3 lbs at 6 months. It was pitiful. We decided to stay with her that night at the hospital so she would begin to understand that we were her family. IT WAS HELL! We had a twin bed, a baby who WOULD NOT stop crying and didn't know how to eat from a bottle. Oh yes and no food. The next day we transfered her to another hospital that was within walking distance of the New Flower Guest house and that was when we began to see her turn around. She was placed on a feeding tube and began to drink from a bottle. She started sleeping while being held and we got to eat too! I will never be able to thank Helen who owns the guest house enough. She brought us meals, and took us to the hospital for outpatient antibiotic shots. She began to laugh and hold her head up around the time we were leaving. She has doubled her weight in just a month and a half and now weighs in at a rotund 14 lbs, yes my back is hurting. Now at 7 and a half months she can: mimic sounds, sit up VERY well, try to crawl, eat ALOT, play with her puppies, PLAY IN THE TUBBIE(her fav), oh and INFECT EVERYONE IN OUR FAMILY WITH SCABIES---ouch. We will be having a little picture session tomorrow so look for some exciting pictures but for now here is a sweet one of her sitting up and admiring her self-- two of her favorite things.

Genevieve Eyerusalem's Story

First referral- Early on my mom decided that because she was so young she wanted an infant so we requested an infant girl and said we were MAYBE open to the possibility of siblings. Well on July 15th Shimeliss, the coordinator, decided to just send us some pictures of a little girl who was a little over 2 at the time. We fell in love immediately. She had a stubborn look, huge eyes and was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Her paperwork was nowhere near being ready, but neither was ours so we GLADLY accepted her referral! She was staying at a orphanage run by an Ethiopian Orthodox nun that Shimeliss supports. We decided to name her Genevieve and call her Vivi because the name just FITS her! Her mother is still alive, and because of this, her paperwork is continuing to hit more and more snags. We were so fortunate to meet both of them while we were picking up Addis. Let me tell you, she is a little bit of a brat! For anyone who has read "There is no me without you" Vivi is the Nun's little pet just like how the lady in the book had her little pet. She sleeps with the nun, is continually held by EVERYONE there and overall just runs the place. She is the youngest there and is everyones baby. When we met her, she was so shy but playful at the same time. I was tickling her and she screamed to the nun "Mooom she's touching me!" in Amharic. (All the kids call all the caregivers Amaye there.) I cried when she let me kiss her cheek after I bribed her with a piece of chocolate. She's just the sweetest thing ever and I miss her so much it hurts. Here is to hoping that we are able to bring her home sometime SOON like May!!!!! We aren't able to post her picture because she hasn't been through court yet but this is kind of what she looks like.. hahah

Our story!!

So I know that we have some new readers who may not be privy to exactly all of our family story so I am going to recap EVERYTHING for everyone! Warning, super long post!!
Okay so I am Miranda, 19 years old, International business major with a minor in Italian. What can you do what that you ask? I don't really know.. I was hoping to work for some super luxe food importer like Dean and Deluca but now I feel my heart may be lead another way. I know that I definitely will go spend a year or so working in Ethiopia doing whatever I can after I graduate. I tell everyone that at age 25 I will be coming back with a sibling set of 3!
My mommy is Grace, a wonderful lady is an Occupational Therapist, who owns her own rehab company that works in different nursing homes doing therapy. She now is a partner with our AMAZING adoption agency Hope, and helps out mainly with any questions, signing up new people and handing out referrals!
We live in Lubbock, Texas and it is a little less diverse than I would ideally want for my sisters but I love it here! We have been here since I was 7!!
It has always been me and my mom. She was married while I was in middle school but the two divorced a while back, so except for that always just us girls. This summer we were in Spain and the most exciting part to us was looking at all the babies and children. We realized that hey, maybe it was time to add to the family! We started researching and soon decided on Ethiopia because one can just tell how much that country loves their children. We decided on Hope agency sometime in late June. Also for anyone wondering on the name of my blog, we used to have 4 girl dogs and all of them were sister something-- Sister fast, Sister fat, Sister Little and the oldest was Sister mom. I stole her name because I knew I wasn't just going to be my sister's sister.. I was going to be something a little bit more special! Can you tell we had too much time before Addy came home...

ROAD TRIP!

Today we take Addy's first official road trip. We are going to see our Grammy! She lives about three hours away so we are hopefully that Addis will be okay with the journey. Grandma is so so so excited to show of Addy to everyone in her town. This is from the lady who wasn't sure about the adoption. On another note, BARACK OBAMA is coming to Lubbock. We are so excited because even if you don't believe in his politics, it is amazing what he stands for in this country! Off to see Grammy more pictures later!!!

Dear Addis,
Please stop pooping on me.
Thanks, your sister

What a difference a month makes!

Mohawk!

Someone's hair is long enough to actually style and put it into a real Mohawk. Let's just say she is officially the coolest girl ever!

Fikir

Uh oh it's official. I am completely enamored by Addis. While we were waiting to go get her I always thought, "There is no way I can ever love anyone as much as my Mom, maybe in 20 years I'll love Fitsum that much but no way I will right away". Well the first day I saw her, I loved her more than anyone else but my Mommy and Grandma. And well last night, I realized that some time in the last month she got up to Mommy status. If she could learn to sleep 10 hours a night and change her own diapers I think Mom wouldn't even be in the running! Juuust Kidding. I can't wait to go get Genevieve and add someone else to love this much it's so much fun!