It's done!!!!!

Well, almost....it just needs some finishing touches. Of course, I don't have a before picture but imagine dark green walls, cracked off-white ceramic tile and a big ugly sink/vanity. Ryan spent his entire 1 week vacation renovating.

Here it is.....

busy! busy! busy!

Water parks, cupcakes, best friends from out of town, The Art Institute & Millennium Park....all in 2 days...whew!

Fun with Dani.....

... and her fabulous girlfriend, Lydia!

He was one of a group of breakdancers at the park. You can't tell from this picture but he was poppin' & lockin' with Coco :)

August 18th

One year ago today Ryan and I stepped off the plane in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia knowing that our lives were to forever change. We stood around Bole Airport with some others from our travel group for what seemed like an eternity waiting for Massi, our main man of the week, to pick us up.

Massi arrived and ushered us into a van, throwing our luggage into another and off we went. I'll never forget my first impressions of Addis Ababa. There was so much vibrancy, so much life. People everywhere...we were certain that we would run over a few of them! As we drove, Massi handed out packets to all of us. I was so surprised to open the envelope and see my baby! We had only seen 2 pictures of her, her referral photo and her birth certificate. I started crying when I saw photos of her smiling, eating, playing & being cuddled by her nanny. She looked so different and so happy.

We arrived at the guest house and Massi brought us each to our assigned rooms. Ours had 2 beds, a tiny crib and 1 window overlooking the inside of the house :)

Everyone was just trying to keep it cool but we were all dying to meet our kids...but no one wanted to seem too impatient.

We were taken over to the main building where others from our group who arrived earlier were already waiting. We were rushed into a conference room where...to be honest...I have no idea what was being talked about! We made arrangements for our trip south the following day and then...BAM...it was time to meet our babies! I remember the social worker coming in and asking for "Tigist's parents" and off we went! We were being video taped at this point and it was a bizarre walk to the building next door. I was certain that I was going to trip on the stairs and that would be forever immortalized in T's video. Really, that is all I was thinking at that point. I think I was too nervous to think of anything else!

They opened the door to Mussie B and behold! 8 babies!! Holy crap!! I was so scared and wasn't sure which one was our daughter! It was a little overwhelming to say the least. After I took a deep breath I recognized her. She was laying on her back, playing with her hands and wearing a silly purple gingham sun hat. She smiled as soon as she saw us and our hearts melted.

Wow, alot has sure changed in a year. My sweet baby is now almost 1 1/2 and amazes us everyday.

We are truly lucky to be her parents.

We love you T!!!

random photos from the past week :)

Mayhem Fest '08 or I really am getting old.

Ryan & I hit the Mayhem Festival on Sunday to see 2 of our favorite bands, Machine Head & Mastodon. Yes, we went to an all day fest with a million bands just to see 2. We had a great time but were disappointed that Machine Head only played a 30 minute set :(

It was an interesting day, filled with some great people watching. Some guy blew his knee out in the pit and Ryan had to carry him out because his friends were too drunk to help. Nice. It's an odd feeling being at these things and knowing that you are as old or in some cases older than the bands and waaaaay older than most of the concert goers. We found a few old farts sitting near us at the main stage and we had a few beers :)

Yes, there are few Porto potty pictures because Robb Flynn (my love) from Machine Head was in one so Ryan tried to snap me a few photos. What a nice husband I have :)

CHEERS!

Culture Camp '08

We headed just over the border today for a (very long) day at the annual Ethiopian Culture Camp. We had a great time with old & new friends!

Really, my only complaint was the freakishly ginormous spiders. Why do bugs have to be that big?

Other than the bugs, "Camp is Good"