Andy is now 22 months old and becoming more like a 2 year old every day.  He is talking more and asserting himself more.  He is coming up with his own ideas and makes us laugh with the things he remembers.  The other day I was driving to Indy and he started talking about Javan’s car being hot and smokey which was from our trip to Nairobi in October when the van broke down.

Today Andy counted to 10 which shocked me and he has even started singing a couple of songs.  He loves to finish our sentences, such as “Home again, home again….”  Andy has been very happy this week while Uncle Colin is home and the Smiley clan was around.  He’s had lots of attention and lots of boys to rough house with.

Andy LOVED opening presents at Christmas and I have to keep an eye on him because he would really like to open Eden and Ben’s presents which are under the tree.  He was fun to watch because he gets so excited when he starts to open the gift and then gasps when he finally can see what’s inside.  Then he just wants to sit and play with that gift for a while and he needs encouraged to open the next one.  Andy also had fun playing in the snow, as you can see below!

We received word tonight that Eden’s humanitarian parole was granted!  We haven’t made any plans yet (or even talked about it because Ben and Eden are still sleeping!) but we’re excited here and will post updates as we have them.  Praise God for the AWESOME things He is doing!

I just got some good news from Susan at Little Angels! Well, first she toyed with me and gave me the bad news: the national committee STILL didn’t hear our case in their meeting on Wednesday. Their backlog apparently goes back to last April. Susan heard of this at 9am on Wednesday, though, so she quickly wrote up another letter for the Little Angels committee that was also meeting on Wednesday afternoon. She listed out all the extra steps we did, the headache from the national committee, etc. And they did it! They approved Eden “clear for adoption” and approved us as able to adopt! It would have been nice if they had given us this approval 6 weeks ago…or even 4 weeks ago after we got the paperwork they asked for! I’m super happy they did approve us though, the backlog from the national committee is not looking so good.

Next Steps:
Our lawyer takes this letter to court next week and hopefully is seen on a Certificate of Urgency (2 days wait instead of 3 weeks). This first hearing is the appointment of a Guardian Ad Litem. This person is supposed to come visit and observe how amazingly wonderful we are with Eden, how she is thriving in our home, etc. We then have another court hearing 1-2 weeks after that where the guardian and a little angels’ social worker present their reports and (hopefully) the court grants the adoption. Its unclear if we have to go back to the national committee at that time or not. If we do, well, hopefully they’ve worked through their backlog! Worst case scenario is that we have to wait 3-4 weeks for the first visit, then 3-4 weeks for the second visit, then 4-8 weeks for the national committee…but thats where the humanitarian visa would come in: we could at least come back for a little bit to see Meghan/Andy/Gracie/family in the middle of all the waiting.

I’m way overdue for a post on the pregnancy, but better late than never!

I am now 33 1/2 weeks.  Grace is very busy stretching and kicking these days but has settled herself quite uncomfortably on my bladder.  I feel her most often on the bottom left portion of my belly.  She is sitting much lower than Andy did.  (You can see a picture of me at 35 weeks with Andy here).  It’s funny how different this pregnancy has been from Andy’s.  I suppose her being a girl and this being my second pregnancy make the difference.

I can’t believe that I only have 7 weeks left.  The last several weeks have flown by and I know my due date will be here before I know it.  I had an appointment on Monday and everything looked good.  I’ve consistently measured just a little bit smaller than my weeks indicate, but Dr. Lund has told me that I shouldn’t be optimistic about having a smaller baby this time.  I’m still hoping!  I have another appointment next Wednesday before the office is closed for Christmas.

Eden turned three years old today! Saying that, 3 seems so much older than 2. (at least 50% older) And really, Eden acts it and then some. She does a great job expressing herself with words instead of just tantrums now. She loves to make conversation with anyone around her that will talk back with her. She plays with the “big kids” in the compound whenever they’re around (and they like playing with her). The best thing in the world, though, is to have things match: her hair ribbons, her shirt+pants, her shoes, her fingernail polish to her toenail polish, and the nirvana: her outfit to her doll’s outfit!

We celebrated with a grand ol’ party last night. Nearly everyone in the compound came for pizza, cake, and ice cream. We did an Elmo theme. He was splattered all over the plates, cups, noise makers, hats, gifts, and food. For some reason though, Eden and I were the only ones that wore our Elmo pants. But that was ok by her, at least we were matching!

Getting ready to sign for Eden

Chrissie's amazing homemade Elmo Cake

Izzy and Eunyoung made Elmo Cookies. They tasted even better than they looked!