Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Judge Finds . . .

In the case of the Wetzels and the country of Ethiopia vs. stupid delays, the court finds in favor of . . . the Wetzels! We are officially Mom and Dad to Anna Jubilee!

And just as icing on the cake, we got three new pictures from a recently-returned traveler (thank you, E.W.!). Our daughter just keeps getting cuter, doesn't she?

















Tomorrow has enough worries of its own . . . today, we rejoice!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

10 Reasons the Birthday Boy Will Be an Awesome Dad

Happy birthday, Aaron! Let's get cheesy and recognize 10 of the many reasons I love him and he'll be a great dad.
10. He's bionic (or will be soon).
9. He's tall enough to place things out of reach of children (and his wife).
8. He laughs out loud. Hopefully not at me when I don't know what I'm doing with the kid.
7. He's not a big pushover like me. He can be firm with kids.
6. He's been taking better care of himself so he can keep up with Anna (although I will say this is making me look bad . . . please pass the Snickers).
5. He strives to love the Lord our God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength.
4. His commitment is true and total. He never even considers giving up on me--even when I would.
3. He has a true appreciation of toys, especially Legos.
2. He is real. He has no interest in pretending and sees through those who are fake in words, motives, facades.
1. He is easygoing enough to say hey . . . spit happens!




PS: Yep, this is a filler post (albeit a true one). Until Friday I'll be using my Get Out of Blogging Free card, although not due to dial-up.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Court's Coming

Our court date is next Thursday, May 31. Once our case is heard and approved, we are officially, legally, technically, permanently, and in all other ways the mother and father of Anna Jubilee.

I am anxious for it to be over and done with. I don't like to tell God what to do (okay, let's get real: yes I do), but in my humble opinion we can NOT afford a delay. Please pray that court is successful on the 31st or . . . somehow even earlier!

I will try to post soon on the plethora of baby gear we now own and other scintillating topics.

Any questions on anything else (ahem) . . . email me. Some things are best discussed off the Internets, since they are, you know, a series of tubes.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Anna at 4+ Months

We received an update on Anna today:
  • 10 pounds 2 ounces
  • 23 1/2 inches
  • 100% adorable!

Monday, May 14, 2007

Sale Report; Court Date

The Great Garage Sale weekend was . . . appropriately great. We did pretty well--lots of people, steady sales, $750 in the bank, and only an entire trailer load left over for the thrift store. Thank you to all those who helped work and make it fun! This sale's Workhorse/Selfless Servant Award goes to Margaret Ann, the only person who at age, uh, a lot more than me will outwork you for three days straight and then call you to thank you for letting her do it!

We have a court date set for May 31. This takes place in Ethiopia without us. I am going to be getting nervous because delays do occasionally happen. If our court is unsuccessful or postponed, besides the general suckiness of waiting longer, there is no way Aaron will go to Young Life camp. But God knows how much the kids and new leaders need him there and has taken care of everything this far. Pray that he ensures success for court and comforts us in our anxiety about it.

After court our embassy date will be scheduled for about a month later. That is the date we plan our travel around. The earliest would be the very end of June . . . so it's possible we'll try to pull off some crazy scheme of going to Michigan for Justin and Toshia's wedding and going from there to Ethiopia. Maybe we will meet our baby on our tenth wedding anniversary! However, that would mean leaving here in one month. Aack! That is exciting yet terrifying because we have so much to do beforehand and because we can't really plan our travel until after court. So I can't plan travel until after court but I want to start traveling just two weeks after court?!? I am going to start calling the expert travel agents and see who has an impressive solution to that little dilemma.

That is just some of what's going on. Please pray for us . . . this is a very stressful time. More information soon.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Anna's Age and Size; Out with the Junk, in with the Pink!

I think an update is overdue--although it has to be fast because we're having a garage sale in 24 hours and I'm not even close to ready!

Anna is now four months old. Yes, just four months now, because her estimated birthdate was changed from December 7 to January 7. The main orphanage doctor saw her and disagreed with the first doctor's assessment of her developmental markers. Unfortunately no word on exactly what that means, but I guess this is not uncommon. But the more accurate the better, and we are happy to have her a little younger (one month longer until she's a teenager, ha ha). This does, however, ruin the cool story that her birthday of December 7 was the exact day we dropped off our completed dossier at the agency. Ah well. We'll say it was exactly one month after. If anyone happens to have a newspaper or the like from January 7, could you save it for me?

At her medical exam on April 7, she was just shy of 8 pounds and 21 inches long. Tiny little girl! Americans are born that big! But Ethiopians tend to be smaller, and it's possible she'll start growing faster now that she's in good orphanage care and once she gets on super-nutrition-ized U.S. food. Or she may always be tiny. I am anxious for a medical update to see how she's growing. I look at baby clothes and some look so tiny, but then some make me think, "If she's that small, this'll fit her in a year!"

Mom was out here for a fun visit and brought a bunch of clothes she'd picked up at the resale shop and some gifts from others. We couldn't help but buy a few more things so her closet has a significant amount of pink (and a great football rattle) in it already. I also bought some organization-type things for her room and things we'll need for travel to Ethiopia. Church is throwing us a "baby party" (I think the word shower is verboten lest all the men run away) after church on the 20th. You are invited.

We are having our second fundraising garage sale Friday and Saturday. I didn't advertise but Saturday is Great Garage Sale day, when everyone has their sales, so I figured since tons of people will be out cruising for sales, we might as well throw everything out there and see how we do. Yes, I could really use some help getting ready and in the mornings which tend to be busiest. Time to get to work!

Monday, May 07, 2007

World AIDS Orphan Day


May 7 is World AIDS Orphan Day.

Please read my previous post from World AIDS Day. I really don't know what else to say, except that since I wrote that, at least 948,000 children have lost a parent from a one hundred percent preventable disease. And not only should this not be happening, it does not have to be happening--but we have to be the ones to stop it.

Will you do something this year? Will I?