Curls and Tellico Grains

We were blessed on Saturday afternoon to receive an update on Will T from an AGCI family who just returned to the states from picking up their son at Hannah's Hope! Our sons were in the same room with the same special mothers and she sent us 8 new pictures! Here is what she said about him.....

"He does nothing but smile and giggle. I mean nothing but! His lungs and breathing sound great. You would never know he had pneumonia last month. His disposition is perfect. He is perfectly content and happy to hang out in a bouncy chair or bumbo -- or be in your lap playing. Enjoy these pics -- you're going to love love love him!!!"

This news and these pics made our day! These are the first pictures that we have seen with his CURLS! In previous pictures that we have seen of him, his hair has either been slicked down, or he just didn't have much! But it has really grown in! Love it! I still can't show his whole face until we get home, but I've cropped one picture that she sent so you can enjoy the curls!! One week from today we will be waking up in Addis Ababa ready to make the walk from our hotel to Hannah's Hope and meet him for the very first time! I can't wait!

Although there is much to be done, we are trying to hang out and spend good quality time with Beckett and Helen! We took a great trip on Friday to this place........

to get one of these......

Yum! I've been anticipating eating one of these club sandwiches from the Tellico Grains Bakery in Tellico Plains, TN for quite a while! We finally drove over for lunch on Friday and it was SO worth it! I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area! I had the club, Sean had the reuben and the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches. We also enjoyed some of their baked goodies for dessert! Sean would move to Tellico Plains in a heart-beat, but it is just too far from a Target for me! :) It really is in the middle of nowhere and it is a beautiful place. It is on the edge of the Cherokee National Forrest which is Sean's favorite place to fly fish! One more pic with Beck and Helen in front of the bakery....
On our way home, we stopped at another favorite place. Benton's Country Hams. We stocked up on our Saturday morning favorite.....Benton's bacon. While we were there, Mr. Allan Benton himself, took us on a tour of the facility and explained to us the process of dry curing ham. He was such a nice man and let me take pictures of the kids in some of the rooms! This place is just an old block building, but they sure make some yummy bacon and ham! They have been featured in Southern Living magazine and their products are used in many restaurants, including the Tellico Grains Bakery on my club sandwich!

Helen and Beckett with some bacon.....

and with some country ham!!

The kids will be going to Vacation Bible School every morning this week. This is Helen's first time to go and she is pumped! I'll try to post one more time before we head out! Can't believe it is almost time to go! Thanks for your prayers as we prepare to travel!

Pouting Princess

Helen is such a sweet little girl! She loves to snuggle, hug and kiss on us! She plays so well with her big brother and I can't wait to watch her with Will T! I know that she will be a wonderful big sister! We do, however, have glimpses of "the tween years". She can turn on the drama! She and Beckett were playing yesterday afternoon and evidently he didn't do something that she wanted him to do. This is what I found.......
Beckett explained to me that Helen got mad because he wouldn't play the way she wanted to, so she took her PRINCESS umbrella and sat down in the middle of the front yard to pout!

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw her sitting out in the front yard under her umbrella, so I got my camera to take a picture. When she saw me, she turned the umbrella so that I couldn't see her. (Just to add to the drama!) Then after a little coaxing, she lifted the umbrella and this was the look.......

I have a feeling that I will be getting more looks like this through the years! Fortunately, her drama only lasted a few minutes. She and Beckett headed out with Sean not long after this to go fishing. He took them below the dam that is just a few minutes from our house to try to catch some fish. They didn't have much luck, but the kids had a good time. I gave them about an hour to fish and then brought a picnic supper over to the lake. It was a good evening!

The packing has begun and we are excited about traveling soon! I'm headed out today to buy bottles and formula. Those are the last items that we need! Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers! We leave in ten days! :)

Two Weeks From Today!

It is hard to believe that in two weeks, Sean and I will be flying into Washington DC to catch another flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! We are SO ready to see our baby and bring him home! We are keeping busy with the many things that need to be done before we leave. Our flights are booked and now we begin the process of packing! We will meet Will T on Monday the 15th and he will stay with us from that point on. We are gathering all of the things that we will need for him such as clothes, diapers, bottles etc.! Haven't had that kind of stuff around here in a long time! It has been fun! Even though we have LOTS to do, we still have many other activities going on. The regular season of baseball ended last Saturday. The River Dogs won their last game and we celebrated with pizza and trophies at Mr. Gatti's Pizza. It was a fun afternoon! The Machine Pitch league had a tournament this week and the River Dogs (12th seed) beat the 5th seed in the tournament on Thursday night! It was a great game! They played again today and lost 13-12. It was another great game! I am proud of both of my River Dogs! (Beckett and "Coach Sean"!) Check out Beckett's blog, The Slam for a couple of video clips and his thoughts on the season! Here is a picture of the boys at Mr. Gatti's last Saturday.
On Thursday, we met Jill, Connor and Lillie in Maryville and drove over to the Cade's Cove picnic area. We met Nana and Papa there and had fun playing all morning until the rain sent us home a little earlier than we had planned. Lillie and Beckett had fun in the water with inner tubes!

Here is a cute picture of the four cousins that went that day. Can't wait to get a picture of all SEVEN of the cousins when we get home with Will T!

We are headed to Chattanooga tomorrow after church to meet mom, dad and Susi to celebrate mom and dad's 45th wedding anniversary! Susi is our REI connection and she is hooking us up with all kinds of good stuff for our trip! Hope everyone is enjoying a great weekend!

We're Going to Get Him!!!

We received a call this afternoon that confirmed our embassy date in Addis Ababa for the 15th of June! We will leave here on June the 13th, arrive in ET on Sunday evening the 14th and we will get Will on Monday morning the 15th! We are SO excited! I haven't had a whole lot of time for blogging, but I did want to update everyone and let you know our good news!

15 Years Ago Today......

Today is our anniversary! Sean and I have been married for 15 years! What an amazing journey! Each year just keeps getting better! On our tenth anniversary, we vacationed in Maine. We had just found out that we were expecting baby #2 and we were thrilled! Who would have thought that for our 15th anniversary, we would be celebrating by traveling to Ethiopia to bring home baby #3? What a blessing!
I am so blessed to be married to my very best friend. Sean is a wonderful husband and an amazing father! He is so funny and keeps me laughing all of the time. He leads our family so well and seeks wisdom from God in all decisions. For this I am so grateful. I love you so much Sean! I am enjoying the passage of time on earth with you! It's just a lovely ride!

Update

Well, plans have changed. First and most importantly, Will T is out of the hospital and back at Hannah's Hope. We were told that he is doing much better and is smiling at everyone and very happy. This is a huge relief!

The second bit of news was a little dis-appointing. Our travel dates will have to change. The paper-work for Will T's birth certificate and visa did not get processed in time to have the June 1st embassy date. When I spoke with Julie yesterday, she was quite certain that this would be the date, but something happened and it didn't work out. So now we wait. She said that we might hear something about a new embassy date in the next week or so. At that time, we will make travel plans and she expects that we will now travel sometime in the middle of June.

There are some positive aspects to this news. We obviously will not be so rushed to get every thing planned in such a short amount of time, so this is good. Another good thing is that now I can work on collecting some donations for HH! I'll be letting you all know how you can bless Hannah's Hope (Will T's orphanage) with the items that are needed and Sean and I will be able to take those things with us when we travel! When everything began moving so fast, I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to pull this off, but now we can get some things together to take to HH! I was really excited to be traveling so quickly and getting him home so soon, so I'm a little sad. But I am choosing to look at the positive side of things and hopefully these next few weeks will fly by!

Thank you for your prayers for Will T! We are so happy that he is out of the hospital and doing better! We will continue to keep you updated about the next round of travel plans! We are confident in God's perfect timing and trusting Him!

The Countdown Begins

Everything has moved so quickly with this adoption process, that we had not even sent a care package to Will "T". I was planning to mail it last Friday, but when we found out that we were going to be traveling so soon, we decided just to take the items with us. Then we spoke with Julie again late on Friday afternoon and she said that if we could get it to her by Monday, she could put it in a package that was headed to HH on Tuesday. So on Saturday morning, Helen and I went to Fed Ex and sent Will a few little goodies! My dear friend Marilyn made this "taggie" for him on Thursday evening! She embroidered his Ethiopian name on it and put the little silk tags around the edges. Both Beckett and Helen had them and loved them. Thank you Marilyn for making such a special gift for us to send to him! We also included a UT onesie, a Pooh Bear rattle and a soft plastic covered picture book with pics of Sean, me, Beckett and Helen so the special mothers can help him look through it before we arrive! Julie got it today and it will be sent tomorrow. Will will have his goodies by Friday!

Helen held the package tight all the way to Fed Ex!

After making our delivery, we headed to Beckett's baseball game. It was a great game! If you check out Beckett's blog, he will be posting about exactly how fun the game was! The picture might give you a little hint!

We did not receive any updates today regarding Will's health. Julie said that no news must mean good news, but we are still anxious to know how he is doing. Please continue to pray for his improved health! Thank you!