Cuteness Abounds

It is 12:30am and I should more than be in bed with my sleeping baby. Instead I am finishing sending the revised dossier documents to Natalie for review tomorrow. I am missing Kate Sproat (KBS Dossiers) right about now and wishing I had splurged and spent the extra $275 to have her up late taking care of business for me. Oh well, next time for sure we will use her! We are impatiently awaiting our I-171H and my mail man has ceased making eye contact out of what appears to be fear of the stalker mommy lurking by the mail box! Oh help me make it through this wait once again.
M*s room gives me great comfort on these nights. I just walk in there and look at her toys and things and imagine her sitting in the middle of her bed. Soon, very soon, her smile and laugh will fill this house with even more love than we knew existed. Two children, born in my heart, birthed in Ethiopia by two women, will create one family, inseparable for life.

Enjoy the video of my little cutie pie as he entertains his faithful audience.

Happy First Birthday to Ian!

Today we celebrated the much awaited, much dreaded event...the first birthday party! I dreaded the dickens out of this day because the turning of one seems likes the closing of a chapter. A chapter that I just was not ready to finish. So today, we celebrated Ian's birth, the day in which he came into the world with such a bumpy start but with will and determination that will carry him through this life. We celebrated the making of our family, the union of two people with a perfect little boy who was carried and birthed by another woman but entered this world with the fate of becoming a Clevinger. Today as I watched him assert his independence and show off his new skills I can be certain that a part of who he is...is because of me.

Ian and cousin Lucas
Cortney appears to be in pain

The bounce houses!

Ian, Star and Sam (our neighbors)
Ian's birthday present from Mommy and Daddy!

My beautiful son.

Officially IAN!

Today was our stateside adoption hearing for Ian's adoption. When our court date happened in Ethiopia Ian's Ethiopian birth certificate was issued and his legal name at that point was Surafel Cortney Clevinger. It has been that officially until today!! He is officially Ian Parker Surafel Clevinger!!! We had some issues with his birth date and it looks as if from this point forward we will have to celebrate his birthday on June 5th instead of May 20th as we had originally thought. We have some conflicting dates on a few of the papers so the court went by his Ethiopian birth certificate. In reality that date was the day he was received into Enant Alam orphanage. So now, I am thinking we will be having four very special days each year to celebrate for Ian. His legal birthday, the original date they had given us, the day he was placed in our arms forever, and today, the day he was officially Ian!

While we were waiting for our hearing today I just stood there and reviewed the changes that the past year has brought to my life. I look at this amazing little boy and my heart melts. I am Ian's mom. As badly as I wanted to be a mother I could have never imagined the joy that he would bring me. I just can't imagine life without Ian, a little boy with a million smiles, precious kisses, and a personality that can light up a room.

Enjoy the pics of our super special day!

Today is my Adoption Day!!
Mommy and Ian before we went to the hearing.

Ian playing with the toys in the children's room at family court!

Time for us?
YAY Daddy!
Mom and Ian

Judge Thompson and Ian Parker Surafel Clevinger!!!

Mother's Day...finally

I just wanted to say how very grateful I am to have joined such an elite group...mothers. Today I celebrated my mother, my grandmother and myself. But today I also celebrated the mother who helped me become a mother. God Bless her and we pray that she is safe.

Nearly ONE

Just 17 more days until my little baby turns one. I have not wanted to plan for this party because I knew that it mean accepting him growing up. But, guess what? I have no choice...he is growing by leaps and bounds every day. His little personality catches me off guard. I just don't expect him to be so witty so young! Ian knows he is cute. He also knows that we all know he is cute. He uses this knowledge to entertain, get his way, and show off! Nonetheless, I am always amused and this he knows as well!





Good news about our paperwork. All clearances were received and our homestudy is at Gladney being reviewed. As soon as they are finished it will go to CIS thank goodness! Who knows how long it will take CIS to grant us an approval? We submitted our application on March 21st, got fingerprinted on April 11th but our homestudy won't make it to CIS until probably May 12th (long estimation I hope). It could be as little as a week or two or up to 6-8 weeks. So my secret hopes of being home before the shut down are quickly dwindling and now my worst fears of being gone at Christmas again are cropping up. No one panic...it is just my worst fear. That would be some kind of worst case scenario where EVERYTHING went badly for us.





We are still praying for our friends who have not made it through court despite many attempts. I would love to offer some words of comfort to them but I'm sure at this point comfort will come only when they are united with their children.

mouth FULL of water...

mouth EMPTY!!! Cute smile and two teeth!