almost a year old!

I am sorry that I do not blog much now. When I have time I am working on baby books:) I finally finished our adoption story book-there is just something about having something to pick up and read and be able to one day give our kids that I really want to have.

The boys are doing great. They are SO active now and keep me busy every moment of their waking day. They love to take everything and anything out of or off of whatever they can find-cupboards, tables, drawers, window sills...they love to climb up and down the stairs (or whatever they can climb on), they love to explore and play with balls and sticks and eat dirt and sand (handful after handful). They both go around pointing at things saying "DAT, DAT"-it seems to me like they are saying "look at that mom, that is something I would like to touch, or that is something that looks interesting"...it is usually lights, fans, or things they know they may not touch (fireplace, light sockets, etc...)...

I am loving being a mom, I am exhausted often and currently very hot and missing my air conditioned office during the day (its been about 100 degrees all week long), but would not choose to be anywhere but here with my sweet boys playing and teaching and loving them:)

Here are a couple pics, the first is of the boys on their new slide that our friends the Nicolls recently passed on to us (Eli in Orange, Caleb in Blue). The second picture was taken just this morning-they love their new beach balls from Auntie Sarah. It is too warm for clothes today! Eli is in front in this picture.

check this out!

http://www.catholicvote.org/index.php?/site/homepage/#

9 months old!

Here are the boys playing today. They were 9 months old on Tuesday, I can't believe it! They are starting to scoot all around, sleep a bit less and get a LOT of teeth. They have 4 coming in on top right now. My babies are growing up so fast, I'm trying to enjoy each day as it comes.

Okay this is the last one, see how Eli's eyes light up when he smiles!

Okay I'm going a bit crazy posting pics again. I am finally going through all our pictures on Picasa and with one click I can post them. I'll stop for now. I just love some of these early pictres we have with them!

Happy Baby!

Kerrigan Grandparents meet Caleb and Eli in early February

Grandpa visits Ethiopia on his way to Rwanda

Some of my favorite pics in Ethiopia

5 weeks home

Its almost 8am and the boys are still sleeping! I can't believe it. They actually woke up around 6:30 (much more typical) but they still sounded tired to me-usually their coos in the morning sound very happy and these sounded barely awake, so I left them and they are back asleep. It is nice to get some things done before they wake up. Life with two babies is very busy for me, and I am finding it hard to get things done that I thought I'd easily have time for.
We've gotten so many sweet gifts since we've been home but my two favorite are my cloth diapers and my Ergo carrier. I use both of these every day. I use a combination of bum genius and kissaluv diapers (with thirsty covers) and they work wonderfully.! When we realized that we would likely spend over $1000 on diapers in a year we went this direction and it is great, so much easier than people make is sound like it will be. I don't use them when we are out or at night but when we are here I use them every day. I have a total of 14 and this is a perfect number for both boys for two days, then I wash (first in cold water, then hot) them all and use them again. So there is my plug for cloth diapers!
Ergo carriers I think are pretty popular now but I really don't know what I'd do without it. I hate using a huge double stroller when shopping and most stores do not have space for two kids in a shopping cart so I always carry one kid on my back and one in the cart (or single stroller if we go someplace like the library or post office or anyplace that doesn't have shopping carts). So I am getting the hang of getting around with the two of them thanks to my Ergo!

The boys are doing great and their personalities are emerging more and more each day. Eli is always laughing and his eyes just light up with delight whenever he finds something that amuses him and tells us about it with sweet coos. He watches his brother constantly and is very interested in others. He is comfortable in most situations and is not easily bothered. He seems to require a bit less sleep than Caleb and seems to yield to his brother and wait for him to do things first.
Caleb is my strong, usually content child. When he is not content though, he makes it known. In public he is very quiet unless he gets overwhelmed and then he starts screaming. He can be very loud and determined. He seems to get a bit flustered in new situations and holds on to us very tightly even when we go outside or to the car. He seems to like being in familiar places but adjusts fine to new ones once he has time to. He continues to seem to do things before his brother-he is now scooting around a bit and can move any direction very quickly. He is able to focus on tasks fairly intently and plays well independently.
They both LOVE bathtime and would spend their whole day there if I let them. Caleb likes to be on his tummy or back (scaring me a little bit) and kick and kick, splashing the water. Eli laughs and laughs at him-so cute...
Anyway I'll try to get a video of it all to share. Here are a couple recent pics (Eli is on the left in the first two pictures, Caleb is on the left in the last one):
First Easter and first time in the sandbox at Grandma and Grandpa Kerrigan's house!
We love our Grandma and Grandpa Sheridan!Duplos are our favorite

I never did post Caleb and Eli's referral pictures, so here are the boys at 2 and a half months:) (Caleb on the left). Its kind of fun that I have this picture, and another one when they are 3 months. The first pictures we have of them with us are before they turned 5 months so I have pics of them during their 2nd 3rd and 4th months which is so great for a baby book, if I ever make time to do this! This weekend was crazy crazy because my mother and father in law, and two of my sister in laws with their kids were all here and I had a shower that my friend and sister put on. Very fun but very busy! Here is one more picture of Caleb and Eli with their big cousins Caden and Dane (who are 8 and 7 months older than Caleb and Eli).

Caleb, Caden, Eli and Dane!

Well we've been home about a week and a half-how time flies. I am so much busier here. I miss the time I had in Ethiopia during the boys' naps. Here once the kids are down I'm almost lost as to where to begin catching up on stuff and just maintaining the house (having one room that a person came to clean every day was QUITE nice). Anyway the boys are well, I am finally getting over a cold I've had for 2 weeks (I'm never sick that long?) and yesterday we completed their bloodwork/stool samples etc for the doctor. Everything takes forever with two boys! I went grocery shopping with them for the first time today and now I am exhausted! We are very much enjoying seeing friends and family again though-Here are some pics of the last week :Eli and Dad
Caleb

Eli
Their new Stroller:)
Caleb Jumping:)


First time in carseats at the airport-I'm not sure they liked them...

We're home!

We arrived home on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm. The next morning we woke up to snow, quickly followed by rain, hail, wind and sun-a very Seattle area March day! Here is a picture of my three long haired boys...It is wonderful to be home.

Our house feels SO huge. I just don't know what to do with myself-all these rooms, different places to place the children and let them explore, ROCKING CHAIRS (SO comfortable to feed the boys in vs the plastic chairs we had in our room in Addis), any food we want, high chairs for the boys, so much help, water pressure, clean tap water-I'm just taking it all in and feeling quite randomly tearful throughout the day as I am reminded what God has done, how Great He is, how he has made our family complete. I also though am thinking about how much stuff we have in the US, it is excessive and I will try my best to keep our lives simple despite this.

On the way home there was one more miracle that I must share:) As we arrived at the airport check in stand at the Addis airport (with our 7 bags to be checked and two carry-ons and 2 infants) the clerk kindly informed us that because we were going through Germany the boys required a transit visa and she could not allow us on the flight without this visa (US citizens to not require the visa but they were not US citizens until they entered the US, even though their parents are US citizens...crazy). We had been told that this was not required if did not leave the airport and that several families had been through Germany without this visa. We explained this to the clerk and she said she was sorry but this was incorrect and we would have to rebook our flights for next WEDNESDAY after we obtained these visas...Both of our hearts just sank and we began wondering how we would even contact our guesthouse as we had just given away our last birr in tips to the baggage handlers and no longer had our cell phone. I began praying, oh Lord, PLEASE open this door as you have opened the other doors. Sean stayed calm and began exploring options, could we change airlines and get on a flight directly into the US? No this flight was full...finally the clerk asked her boss if anything could be done. We waited and waited as she said her boss was seeing what she could do. About 20 minutes later I saw Sean talking to the clerk (I was standing with our huge pile of luggage) and he got a big smile! The boss had called Luftansa airlines in Germany who gave us special permission to fly without these visas. PRAISE GOD once again.
I thank so many of you for praying us home...We are all adjusting well. The boys did great on the plane and seem to be switching time zones very well. I think we can relax now and settle into life here with our new family...

We're coming home!

It has been quite a week and it is only Tuesday night. On Friday we were disappointed to find out that the US embassy was not open until Tuesday so we had four days to wait until we could find out how much longer we would be here (Monday was another national holiday). I was very nervous as our updated visa approval was apparently not in country last week even though the National Visa Center stated that it was sent twice, once on January27th and then again on February 26th at our request. The embassy needs this paperwork to give the kids their US visas. Anyway I was very worried again and wondered what God might have for us now. Would we be here another month, waiting for this paperwork? Last night as we prayed I realized that it was very likely that we would not be able to fly home this week.

Three things needed to happen that were not at all guaranteed:

1: We needed to be one of the first 50 people to have blood drawn at the embassy and because another requirement is to have a doctor first look over the kids, we had to first go to a clinic for this appointment, THEN go to the embassy for the blood work-this would mean we would be arriving at least 3 hours after it opened…

2: The embassy would need to have our approvals from the national visac enter.

3: The embassy would have to expedite our case and schedule an appointment for us this week, usually the appointments are at least a week out.

So we were not especially hopeful last night but we also were feeling very ready to go home, so we prayed, please Lord go before us, open the doors that only you can open, and HE DID! I still can hardly believe it, we get to bring our babies home!!! It was a long day though-doctor’s visit at a clinic, then across town to have the boys’ blood drawn at embassy (ooh first needles on these kiddos), then talking with the embassy about an interview appointment, back across town to the doctor’s office for immunizations (second needles, these they really didn’t like), out to lunch, then to the house of hope to fill out more paperwork for our embassy interview on Thursday (Caleb and Eli will be 7 months old on Thursday).The kids did great but were very tired and grumpy when we finally got home.The visas should be issued on Friday morning and we are planning on leaving that evening. Wow!

We also had the opportunity to meet with the boys’ birth mother on Monday.We got up early and left around 6am. We dropped the boys at the House of Hope (first time I have left them during the day, this was not easy) and drove to Asela to the orphanage where they were dropped off in October. It took about 4 hours to get there, about 3 to get back, and we stopped for lunch on the way back so it was an all day trip. The birth moms do not always show up but we were very thankful that this mother did decide to meet with us. It was quite an experience and one I am still processing. We were not allowed to exchange any information or gifts with her, but we were able to ask questions, video and take pictures of her to show the boys. She is a wonderful, kind, strong, beautiful very young woman and I am eternally grateful that we were able to meet her.

We found out that even though the boys are from Asela, which is where the Oromia people group (mostly) live, she is Amhara, as is their biological Father. The Amhara people are from the North and many generations ago some of them moved south to take advantage of the rich farmland in the south.The Amhara people are strong, have survived in the mountainous/nonfertile part of the country forever. They also are the royal class (going back traditionally to the Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon in the bible) and have had ties to the Jews going way back. The Amhara people also converted to Christianity very early on and traditionally are loyal Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. The history of Ethiopia has become very fascinating to me as well as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church here which is very dominant.It has a lot of Jewish influence, more than Catholicism or Protestantism (due to the early Ethiopian ties to Judaism). Today though the Protestants here and the Orthodox people seem to look down on the other-I think in many ways it is like Protestants and Catholics in the states.

Anyway it has been a full couple of days but the Lord has continued to lookout for us at every step. Thank you again for all your prayers. I cannot express how thankful I am that we have had the opportunity to be here for the past two months. I will miss Ethiopia and many of the wonderful people I have met here. I also know though, that we will be back, half of our family was born here! I also though am very excited to come home. It will be SO nice to sleep in my own bed in less than a week, and see all the people I miss from home…

More Pictures

Week 8 - March 7, 2009

Well today we have been here for exactly two months. Things seemed to move a little slowly after the adoption was final (the court took a few days to write up the proceedings) but when they were finally completed on Wednesday, our wonderful agency (Children’s Hope International), specifically the director and his wife, worked very hard to get ALL the Ethiopian documents rushed for us, including the boys’ Ethiopian passports. These are all complete now so now we are just waiting on the US embassy (which is closed for 4 days, Friday-Monday?) and hopefully they will have received our paperwork from the national visa center in the US who will supply the boys with their visas. These visas will make them US citizens upon arrival in the country. Last week they had not received the paperwork yet even though it was sent in January so this weekend I am a bit nervous. If I have not learned patience by now though, I have missed something important through this process!

The boys are doing well. They are about 19 lbs each and are more active and able to stay up longer during the day. We had to move back into a small room as a couple had reserved the suite here weeks before we arrived, so we are a bit cramped but have everything we need. Caleb is LOVING to stand up. He holds on to our hands and just wants to stand there and look around. He looks very proud and happy not to be so low to the ground. He can stand for several minutes but has absolutely no balance yet, but strong legs! Eli has been bringing his feet to his mouth for several weeks which I think strengthens his core. He has been able to sit pretty well without being in the tripod position (both arms out) for a couple weeks. He has just started wanting to stand like his brother. Caleb is just now learning to balance without his hands forward. When sitting he carefully lifts one hand and puts it out in the air to balance, then lifts the other. It is amazing to see how much coordination and practice these steps take and it is interesting to see that they are learning them in different orders. Caleb has just started bring his feet to his mouth while on his back so this maybe is associated with being able to sit without being in the tripod position? Eli is very joyful and smiles so easily with people who he doesn’t know. Caleb is more cautious and holds on very tight when we are in the car or around strangers and sometimes even cries a little. They both are talking more and more and seem to even go back and forth with each other. The sounds are not very distinguishable, mostly, ah, ah, ah, ah, ba, ba, ah ah…

Sean went to visit an Area Development Program overnight this week and was able to visit with a child that my father sponsors through World Vision. Sean says it was a really fun experience, the boy was very excited but very nervous to meet with an American. Sean gave him a soccer ball and provided his mother and father with a bit of extra money. They gave Sean some local flowers, some of which I am pressing. The boy looked at pictures of my parents on his computer, likely the first time he had seen a computer. The family was very happy and thankful and I think my Dad will have fun seeing pictures/videos of his sponsored child.

I am sending some more pictures and again they are in time order (I’m sure you figured out that last weeks pictures were actually in opposite order with the one on top being the most recent). The first picture is of the boys sleeping in the pack and play. For the past few weeks, they each have their own as Sean’s parents brought us an extra P&P (thank goodness, they were well over the maximum weight capacity!). The next two pictures were taken in early Feb. because EVERYONE here kept telling us that the boys must be cold, even though it is always about 85 degrees here, and their skin is not cold at all. The people here dress their children VERY warmly so I decided, since we are in Ethiopia, do as the Ethiopians. Since then, however the boys are usually just in a onesie and they seem just fine-but they sure looked cute in their warm clothes, although not very happy (Caleb is on the left, Eli on the right in these pictures). In the next picture, Eli is on the left, you can see them playing together (they love to chew on each others hands and toes). Eli is next, playing with one of his favorite toys (thank you Chet and Katie), doing one of his favorite activities, feet to mouth Caleb is next in his tripod sitting position (a few weeks ago). The boys are then seen outside American style in their shorts, with their Dad during our guesthouse’s BBQ and finally you can see how we feed these boys often, in chairs, a very messy process (Eli)! I also have included a recent picture of the boys sunning in our new room (I am standing at our door to the hallway) you can see it is quite a tight fit for all 4 of us!

The Lord gave me this verse on the day before our court day and it was very comforting for me:

“The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all who live it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” Psalm 24:1-2.

These children were his from the beginning! He is in control and he is a good God, how comforting it is to place our trust in Him.

Hopefully we will be coming home in a week if all goes well with the embassy. We are getting excited about this possibility; we miss so many of you!

Pictures

Week 7 - February 26, 2009

Today we are happy to announce that we are officially parents! I really can’t believe it!

So we introduce Eli Tariku Kerrigan. Eli means God is uplifted. The stories in the bible of the priest Eli who adopted the great prophet/judge, to be, Samuel as a small boy (told in 1 Samuel), as well as the stories of the prophets Elisha and Elijah (told in 1 and 2 Kings) have been a GREAT encouragement to me during this long wait. These were people of GREAT faith and people who boldly asked God to act in situations that seemed impossible.

We also introduce Caleb Dereje Kerrigan. Caleb means Bold and Faithful-the story of Caleb and Able have also been a great encouragement to me during this long wait. Early on God gave me the verse “He is ABLE to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine”(eph 3:20). We considered the name Able (as in Cain and Able) but decided instead on Caleb (which has the letters of able) because we were inspired by his story as well and again the theme of FAITH and boldness.

The meanings of their Ethiopian names, Dereje and Tariku both have something to do with history, change, and stories of their birth. I hope to speak with their birth mother in the next couple of weeks to find out more about why she chose these names. It is important to us to keep these names, which signify their RICH Ethiopian history and ancestry.

For me, one of the hardest parts of waiting for a family for these 5+ years has been the fear that I would not be a mother, the fear that perhaps for some reason God did not think I should be a mother. At some point I realized that this was a lie and not the truth at all. God began revealing to me that he had a different plan than what I had originally thought for my family and WOW how wonderful His plan is!

So, here are our children, the first two pictures were taken 7 weeks ago on January 8th when we met them, then the pictures are in order by date up to the picture of all four of us that was taken just last week I chose pictures where Caleb is always on the right and Eli is always on the left so it will be easy for you to see who is who (actually strangely enough it just worked out that way!) In the individual pictures, Caleb is in blue and Eli is in Orange. Both boys are doing very well. Still no major health concerns and both are progressing so well. They could barely hold their heads up when we met them and now they are sitting pretty well without assistance and standing up (when holding on to us), picking things up, looking for them when they drop them etc…The progress has been SO fun to watch. They also are MUCH quicker to smile and laugh, its SO fun. What a gift it has been to have this time with them.

I can’t thank you enough for your prayers. I was so nervous (and so was Sean) and your thoughts and prayers upheld us during this time.

Week 6

Sean has returned from North Eastern Ethiopia and his mother now is back in Rwanda. Sean led a group from the US to a remote people last week, who live nomadic lives raising camels and goats. World Vision has done good work with these people who initially were very resistant to any work that World Vision, or any NGO might want to do but now they are open not only to the work being done, but to people visiting them. They are a fierce people who file their teeth into spikes.

I stayed here in Addis with the kids and Sean’s mother came from Rwanda
to help. We had a nice week and it was a great opportunity for the kids
to bond with their Grandmother.
They are both doing well, enjoying trying new solid foods now that they
are over the 6 month mark. They are sitting up pretty well and I have
to watch them so carefully now if I place them on the bed as they move
all around and I am never sure which direction they might go!

I went to church this morning for the second time at BEZA church, an
international church here in Addis. This church is only three years old
but is very large. The musicians and pastor are very talented people
and it is fun to go worship among people from all over the world, mainly
of course Ethiopians but this church has a heart for Africa in general
and reaches many people. I have gone both times with a lady from my
guesthouse who is from Rwanda. Worshiping with someone who has endured
the genocide is quite humbling. I think we have no idea what real loss
is in America. This lovely woman has lost her mother, father and all of
her siblings in the genocide that happened only 14 years ago. Talking
to her just a little bit about her story, which is unfortunately not
rare at all in Rwanda, makes what happened there so much more real to
me. I will not, I hope, forget her story as quickly as I did forget
about the genocide after I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is so hard to
understand how such mass killing happens, how you stop seeing people as
human just because they belong to a different tribe or race than you
do…I really feel my heart expanding not only for Ethiopia, which is
doing very well in many respects, but for Africa in general. I find
myself praying often for this continent, that God might move among the
people in a way that we have not yet seen.

Ethiopia is surrounded on many sides by countries that are in civil war
or in conflict with Ethiopia-Sudan, Somalia, Eretria, there are problems
at nearly every border. I just don’t have the historical knowledge I
guess, or the context coming from America, to understand or know how to
pray sometimes. I want to return here. I love the people and the
culture, it is so beautiful. I hope our children will learn Amharic.
It is a bit of a sensory overload in many ways to be here on the streets
(I have gotten good at getting around even on my own-today I rode the
minibuses that are all over the city for the first time-it costs about 6
cents to ride them) and see all the beggers and cripples and orphans, to
smell the different smells and to observe the mass of people who
obviously come from such a wide range of socioeconomic places. I
definitely feel like an outsider who breezes by with no real clue of who
people are or why they do the things they do. On the other hand I
realize more and more that they are not that much different than me.
People every where have the same wants and desires, they love their
families and work hard to improve their lives.

So this is the week, we’ve been here almost seven weeks and we’ve waited
now six for this second court date. Please Lord Jesus, please let these
children who we have grown to love dearly be ours officially on
Thursday. If you pray, pray Wednesday night, the court date will be
going on here Thursday morning which is Wed night there. I hope to post
pictures then, you’ll be sure to fall in love with them as I have Thank
you for upholding us in your prayers. I know that our God is able to do
vastly more than we might ask or imagine. God Bless you!

Week 5

We are going into our 6th week now with the boys. They continue to grow and display new skills every day. It is SO fun They are smiling more and more and now sitting up when they have their hands out to hold them! We just compared the pictures from the first week to the ones in the past few days, what a difference! They will be 6 months on Thursday. The big thing I have done with the boys in the last week is to train them to make themselves fall asleep and it has made SUCH a difference. Before they would need me to hold them until they fell asleep and it was really hard with two babies! The also would want me to hold them every time they woke up at night or during naps to go back to sleep. Well, they are doing great now at making themselves fall asleep. It required that I allowed both of them to cry for about two hours strait, probably the hardest thing I have every done (especially with people all around hearing them!) but now I lay them down awake at bed or naptime, tell them that it is sleep time, and a few minutes later they are asleep! I do miss holding them during those sweet moments but I think this is an important life skill to develop, putting yourself to sleep. I am reading "babywise" thanks to my sister in law, which I just got last week so that has been very affirming in how I am doing things Anyway since putting themselves to sleep they wake up much more rested and happy and I am able to rest too (for 2 two hour naps a day!). They also now each have their own pack and play to sleep in as Sean’s parents brought us an extra one and I think this helps them sleep better too as they are not so aware of the other one.

We had a nice visit with Sean’s parents last week. They were here last Wednesday and Thursday on their way to Rawanda. It had been quite awhile since we had seen them (since before our referral) so we had a nice opportunity to catch up. I also got some shopping done which was fun too.

Sean’s mom will be back on Monday for another week!:) Last Sunday Sean stayed with the kids and I went to another church service with a lady at our guesthouse from Rwanda. I liked the service much better than the one from the week before. It was quite long, 3 hours, but SO fun and alive! I could really sense the Lord’s presence and the music was So great. It was very Ethiopian which I just loved even though it was an "international church". The whole service was both in Amharic and English (one was always being translated) and it was fun to hear singing and
talking that long in Amharic. It is such a beautiful language. Anyway

God is so good, I have more to say but I must go now. I will try to write more soon but do not know if I can as Sean will be on a WV trip for a few days next week with his computer I hope you are all well.

Week 4

We are now only 3 and a half weeks away from our second court date. The time is really flying and the boys are changing every day. This past week E and C switched a bit in that C wanted me to hold him all the time, was crying a lot, and had big fits E was content to be on his own while I tried to figure out what was wrong with C. I actually think we were spoiling him a bit because he was SO easy the first few weeks. I’ve learned it is okay to let them cry sometimes. This week they weighed in at
18 lbs and 17.8, C again caught up from last week and is back ahead of his brother (75% in American standards!). E also rolled over this past week and the day he did it he wouldn’t stop! C now is having a hard time remembering how to roll over? So funny how that works, maybe the extra weight is holding him back But C is moving around more. If I place him on the floor on a pillow and blanket he scoots himself 90 degrees the other direction. It is so fun to see them moving around so well. They are so excited, laughing and smiling all the time, it brings me SUCH joy. They now are not as thrilled with solids as they were last week. They much prefer their bottle and protest when I try to feed them some rice cereal. The good news is that their schedule is MUCH better. The have only woken up ONCE between 7pm and about 6am for the past 3 nights (at about 2am for a feeding). This is SUCH an improvement. They are also sleeping longer for their naps and they are so much more delightful and I am more rested as well after getting these breaks during the day.
We had a lovely weekend as well. On Saturday I went shopping with several of the other people picking up their kids at the HOH and Sean stayed with the boys. I purchased several small things and really enjoyed talking to the other families and learning about their stories. Their children are all adorable and doing well. We had a wonderful traditional Ethiopian meal back at the HOH which was delicious as usual. Unfortunately I forgot to wash my hands (after shopping all morning, touching money, merchandise, who knows what else) and since you eat Ethiopian food without utensils or napkins I licked my hands and got VERY sick afterwards. I lost all the food in less than half an hour and felt so miserable. I went home and took a cipro (sp?) and was better by the next morning thanks to my husband tending to me and people here at the guesthouse giving me chamomile tea etc…On Sunday I went to the International church here for the first time with a Psychologist missionary that was staying here at our guesthouse for the weekend. She is from the states but has lived in Uganda for the past 23 years! It was so fun to talk to her and nice to be around another Christian, counselor and American After church I cooked at the guesthouse, as I usually do, but with a woman from India. We made a wonderful dish of lentils, veggies and rice. We used so many fun interesting spices and it settled very well in my stomach. The people here at the guesthouse are from all over the world-Afghanistan, Ghana, Germany, Rwanda, etc. There are about 15 of us here and I don’t think ANY of us are from the same country (the missionary lady has left already). I was quite shy the first few weeks but have been spending more time talking to people the longer I am here. The Obama inauguration was HUGE with everyone, they were all PACKED in the living room, it really surprised me the interest in American politics, but it is quite common.
Anyway we are looking forward to Sean’s parents coming in tomorrow night.
We are SO excited for them to meet the boys and the boys are excited to meet them too, I’ve been telling them all about them today.
Well I must sign off and get some rest. I hope you are all doing well, again thank you so much for your prayers. I actually have been getting a quite time with God most days and this makes a huge difference too. He is teaching me about how we, and all our worries, are all temporary, only Christ is eternal. This is why we so desperately need Him! (2 Corinthians 4, Hebrews 12) Bless you!

Week 3

All three of the boys are sleeping right now so I thought I would try to write a quick update Sean has taken the past two days off so it has been SO nice to have two of us with the boys vs. only me. He is hoping to work between 3-4 days/week here and is really enjoying getting to know the people here at World Vision. Last week he also helped out his former employer, Water Missions, and helped a team here with some well work which he also enjoyed. On Friday they treated us to a WONDERFUL seafood dinner at the Hilton. We both filled up on very good food that night!
We have been here three weeks now. I can’t believe it. The boys are doing well, still crying when they are tired and refuse to sleep but generally they are healthy and I have much to be thankful for. C rolled over this past week and both are sitting up well with a little help (they fall over after about 10 seconds if you don’t support them in some way). They could not even hold their heads up when we met them so this is great progress I think! Today we fed them a little rice cereal at lunch and they gobbled it down with no problems at all (eating is one of their specialties!) We aren’t trying other solids until the official 6 month date (2 weeks away) but I think we just can’t keep them full on formula alone. I am hoping it will help them sleep better too. E has now caught up with C in weight, both 17.2 lbs. I think C’s cold may have slowed him down a bit I got out a bit today as well on my own. I have been a bit hesitant to do this, I feel so much safer when Sean is with me but this is hard to do on this trip! I decided to take a walk down a road I hadn’t been down (Sean stayed with the boys). I found a mall with many nice shops, some coffee houses with wireless internet connections (nice to know!) and a theatre. I don’t think we will have much time to go but it was nice to be a place I felt safe to roam about and to start thinking about what I might want to bring back with me, it was also nice to get a little exercise. Next Saturday I am hoping to go shopping with Almaz (Tsyguy’s wife) and a bunch of Americans who will be here picking up their kids at the HOH so I am looking forward to that too. I also found some cute baby stores on my outing which was fun as well. The only thing I bought today though was water. We really go through the bottled water here between the 4 of us! A

2 liter bottle is about 60 cents and we go through about 4 liters a day so I bought 6, 2 liter bottles. It seems we go shopping here about every day for something as we can only carry so much walking. There are many small shops around our guesthouse-small grocery stores and fruit/veggie stands and since we cook most of our meals at the guesthouse it seems we are always in need of something.
After shopping this morning, I came back to Sean looking exhausted as both boys had only slept for 40 minutes for their morning nap and they were very grumpy. (He has come home to me in this state a few times now too). He had to call on one of the ladies to help him while I was gone as they both were screaming…poor guy. This parenting thing IS exhausting, I love it but both Sean and I feel fairly delirious as we are going on so little sleep every day. We did not bring pacifiers but I found some the other day and they work wonders to get the kids back to sleep during a nap so we are using them for this purpose. I think it comforts them and they are SO much happier in the afternoons if they can sleep for a few hours vs. a few minutes. I can’t wait until we can take the boys out with us in America, I am sure this will be a whole new experience. So far we basically stay in one room with them all day. But, I wouldn’t change one minute of this time for the world. I LOVE being with our babies, they are so sweet and smiley and wonderful.
Sean’s parents arrive next week and we are very excited to see them, both for the support and because they will get to meet the boys!
Thank you all so much for your emails and prayers and support. It has been hard to find time to sit down and journal or pray or anything but I do feel God’s loving arms supporting us every day and I am sure this is due to all of the prayers you are sending out for us.
Bless you!

Week 2

I once thought, once we have kids, What will I worry about?

Fears of motherhood

"Is his poo the right color?"
"Does he have a temperature?"
"Does he have some strange, rare disease?"
"Is he connecting with me?"
"Am I connecting to him?"
"Will I ever get to do anything again other than change diapers and try to calm crying babies?"
"Is he progressing at the right rate?"
"Is he getting sick?"
"What will I do if he gets sick?"
"They are so fragile, what if I do something to hurt them?"
"Is that clean?"
"Someone might try to steal them!"
"Am I getting enough time to stay healthy myself, how do I exercise or have time to process all these thoughts I have?"
"Am I interacting with them enough? Am I interacting with them too much? Am I dividing my time equally between them?"

Crazy! Thankfully I have a great husband who is able to help me laugh at some of my ridiculous fears. Yesterday was a hard day, neither slept well and they were very grumpy the whole day. Also they are"talking", Cuing and googleing more each day, so when they are awake it seems like they are either crying or ga-ga-ing, which I think is good but very different than the babies we met a week ago who just sat there and observed and pretty much never cried. Today they are much happier and sleeping/napping very well. This makes such a difference. It allows me to put them down by themselves (which I just have to do with two babies) without bursting into tears
I am having my sister post these for me as I do not have access to my blog so I will not be able to read any responses you might have for me.
Feel free to email me at Rachel.kerrigan@gmail.com

We have arrived!

January 13, 2009
Hello from Addis Ababa. We have now been here one week. On Monday we had the court date that we had hoped would finalize the adoption, unfortunately it was not successful and was rescheduled for February 26th, we would then travel home about 3 weeks later. We are now in the process of deciding whether or not to stay here and wait it out for many weeks or to go home and absorb the cost of another flight out here in March. We are hoping to stay here and Sean is talking to World Vision about the possibility of working for the office here in Ethiopia. Apparently there is much he could do from here. I then would spend the days with the children as I have been since we have gotten here.
It is WONDERFUL to be spending this time with them. They change so much every day and I think they are really benefiting from the one on one interaction. They are adorable, very healthy-16.5 and 17 lbs at 5 months. Caleb was born first and has maintained a ½ lb lead on his brother. They smile and coo and giggle. It is a delight to be getting to know them. So far we have been there from about 9:30 in the morning (before this they get a sun bath and water bath from their nannies) and then we stay until it is getting dark around 6. Sean is going into the office today so we should have some answers as to whether or not he can work from there, and I am going alone to the HOH for the first day. I am a bit nervous to care for two at once, so far we have been able to each have one of them. People at the transition home (HOH) are wonderful and have invited us to stay as long as we need to. We will get to meet many families if we are here for 10 weeks, come and leave with their children. So far we have met two families and it is a delight to see them during such a special time. So there are many wonderful things about being here.
It is hard to be away from family and friends, especially as I have many baby questions to ask, and to get use to figuring out everything here. Sometimes I get quite frustrated but if I can sit back and really reflect on all the blessings I have in my life, which are more apparent than ever, I am thankful. We are trying to save money where we can so we have begun cooking for ourselves. This is a challenge in itself as the food here is quite different. Also we have not figured out daily transportation so we have been taking cabs back and forth from our guesthouse to the HOH (we get one free week of transportation as every family does through our agency but the rest is on our own). Now if Sean starts working here, we would like to hire a driver to take me to and from so I am not trying to negotiate by myself with strangers. Also the guest house is about 15 minutes away from the HOH so we may also look at alternative housing closer to the HOH. The other challenge I need to figure out is washing clothes, we can pay for this, but if I can hand wash the clothes myself (which there are many with two babies) I can save money. I just need to find a place to dry the clothes as our room is quite small and we currently are sharing a bathroom with other guests. I know we are "roughing it" in American standards but I really don't mind, I just like to have all of this worked out and to be on a schedule, then I can relax into it a bit. Anyway, I am off for another day with the babies! Sean is off to World Vision and will send this from there. I have not been able to reach my blog on internet connections around here but World Vision has broad band so that will be very nice. They also are giving him a cell phone today for local calls which will also be quite helpful. God is taking care of us and I am very thankful for his provision. I hope you all are well back in the states! I hear there has been flooding in Washington near our home, I pray everyone is safe.
We were able to take a trip to see some of the countryside this weekend. This was SO great and I would highly recommend it to anyone who might be traveling here. I will try to have Sean post some of the pictures here, this country is SO beautiful.

Leaving tomorrow morning

We're all packed, my practice is shut down, I've prepared some for when we get home all in about a week. It is really and interesting wonderful scary feeling to be doing all of this...God is making/growing our family.
I was feeling a sense of fear earlier this week about taking such a huge risk, going to Ethiopia and meeting the kids before they are officially "ours", knowing we have to get through a court date that is often rescheduled and an embassy date that could also be delayed due to some paperwork expiring soon. I do still feel some of this nervousness but this is normal, a normal feeling to something that is huge both because it is somewhat risky but also because if it does all happen like we hope we will be a family of 4 instead of 2. Anyway I was reading about Jacob in Genesis this week and how he didn't want to send his sons back to Egypt, he especially didn't want to send his youngest Benjamin because he had already lost 2 sons and the thought of loosing another terrified him. Anyway he eventually allowed them to go, all of his sons, to Egypt saying "as for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved". He accepted that the risk was great but it was worth it to save his family from the famine in Canon. What he didn't know is that when they returned they brought home not only food and Simeon who was left as assurance, but news that his other son who he thought had died years ago, Joseph, was alive and was running Egypt. What if he hadn't allowed his sons to go?
Somehow this story encouraged me. He was scared but he accepted that the risk was worth it. I think it is for us too-it is worth it to meet them as soon as we can, it is worth it to be in the country for at least a month and absorb the culture, it is worth it to potentially have all that time, just the four of us before we get home and Sean goes back to work.
Anyway here we go! Off to Ethiopia, what an adventure, what a gift to be able to spend time in such a different place, the birthplace of our children.