tomorrow, tomorrow...

We leave in the morning. Wow. The day is almost here. It still feels surreal. We've got Matea's gigantic bag packed, we have a bag of donations packed (48#!!) and we have a few last minute things to pack tomorrow and then Aaron and I will be ready to go. I feel like I've packed too much, but not enough all at the same time. It's kind of weird.

I REALLY don't know if we have the right stuff for Matea, but I suppose we've got the necessities (diapers, wipes, bottles, clothes) and we're buying formula there. She'll survive until we get home if we're missing anything. This is going to be quite the crash course in parenting. Here is your daughter! She's 7 months old! Good luck on your 25 hours worth of traveling home- on an airplane! I know it isn't EXACTLY like that...but....!!!

I'm hoping to update the blog while we're gone - if nothing else, my sister has instructions to post when we have a chance to send out an email or two. We have a few prayer requests - safe travels, that we'll stay healthy, fast attachment for all 3 of us, and for Aaron and I to be able to start to really get to know Matea and her personality. You can also pray for our plane ride home that there aren't any meltdowns from Matea - or me. :-)

A final thought before we leave - we find it really interesting/neat that we are coming home one year to the day that we were put on the waiting list for an infant. It has been an interesting year, full of changes, challenges, and blessing. I like it that we can look back and it is EXACTLY one year. Who knows what August 8, 2009 will be like!!

Just think - the next picture you see on here will be the three of us together! YEAH! That is going to be amazing....

One week to go

One week until we leave.

Last week we received what is called a "social history report" on Matea Mimi. It gave us a run down of her personality, schedule, development, etc. It was really long and included a bunch of awesome pictures, one of which is up above. We think she is absolutely adorable.

It sounds like Matea is a happy child who likes to be cuddled and held. She is very attached (even clingy) to her nannies, which is a good sign to us that she attaches well to people. She is a slow eater, so she'll fit in great with Aaron and her Uncle Brandon. The report also specifically said that she "likes noises and seeks out musical toys with a strong beat." Gotta love it. God knew what kind of family would match with her personality!

After reading the social report we can really start to imagine Matea being here and it really feels like she's a "real person," not just a photograph. We are getting more and more excited for her to be here and we are ready to get to know our daughter!!!

7 years

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today marks 7 years of marriage for Aaron and me. We joke that we've had 6.5 great years...probably a half year wasn't so hot. :) I wanted to put a picture up from our wedding but I realized that we do not have a single picture that is DIGITAL from our wedding! That is so strange...a lot has changed in the world of photography in 7 years. I'll get around to scanning some photos someday.

I thought I'd take a minute to brag about my husband. I love it that he is level headed, analytical, and handy. (of course, his analytical side does drive me nuts at time, but I'm learning to value it more and more). He has a great sense of humor and he is self-driven enough to not only start his own business, but for it to be very successful. On top of it all he is creative, musical, smart, and humble. And he puts up with me - I'm most thankful for that.

God has been faithful to us and has blessed our marriage and although we are not always Christ-like as individuals or as a couple, I pray that we are consistently moving more in that direction as we grow in our relationships with Jesus and with each other. We never would have thought God would have brought us to where we are right now, but we wouldn't have it any other way. I'm excited to see where we'll be in 7 years from now!

We're going to Ethiopia

We're going to Ethiopia in just over two weeks to bring home this cutie. We are supposed to arrive in Ethiopia on July 31 and head back home on August 7th. Wow. More details to come as we get them!!

big winners

Obviously there is much more to our lives than waiting and preparing for Matea. Over the 4th of July Aaron, Gary, and my dad went on their annual fishing trip and us girls had Flavin Girls Weekend. On the 4th the girls headed to the Twins game with an ultimate goal of getting circled by Bert. (If you are reading this and not from MN you just wouldn't understand.) Not ONLY did we get circled by Bert, but we were the "Minnesota State Lottery Winners" for the night and won $100 worth of scratch offs!!!! We won 65ish bucks off the lottery tickets, but we had fun!


We made our signs on the sidewalk in front of P.F. Changs
Here is us with Telly Hughes!!!!!! It was AWESOME.


It was a big birthday for mom not too long ago, so we all got together and finished off our weekend with a nice dinner out.

quick update

Just a quick update for you all before I get ready for bed. :)

We got a health update on Matea last week - she's growing in length and head circumference, but she hasn't gained much weight at all. At least she hasn't lost any.

Still waiting on the birth certificate - hopefully we'll get one in the next day or two. I hope for tomorrow. Rumor on the forum has it they are still trying to get families to travel on the 17th and the 24th. We're hoping for no later than the 31st - we'll see. Personally, I think the 17th would be a bit too early, but Aaron said he'd leave on Friday if he could!

the nursery is done!

The nursery is done - yeah!!! We are very happy with how it turned out. Here are pictures...

Before...


Aaron putting together the crib....(and Page hanging out - she likes to sleep in the nursery...)


This is from Jen - it is on the door.


This is what you see when you walk in!

We had a bit of a hard time finding art - or something - to put on the walls. We wanted something child-like but still something that WE enjoyed, something feminine, and something that matched with the room. We were making our final stop of our shopping trip at Michaels and we found the print that is on the wall below. The following picture is a close up. There was NO WAY we WEREN'T going to buy it after we saw it...
Can you even believe it?!?! It says MIMI on it!! Insane. It is exactly what we were looking for, and it matches the colors PERFECTLY.
Gotta love the Ugly Doll my mom bought for Matea!
For some reason I didn't take a picture of the wall with the mirrored closet door. There isn't much to see there - we bought a frame that matches the "mimi" print, and we are planning on putting a photo that we take in Africa in it.

We have been so incredibly blessed by friends and family, I can't even begin to tell you. Most of the things in the nursery have been given to us and we are SO thankful. Now all we need is a travel date to go get the munchkin!!

For the first time in my life.....

Posted by Aaron:

.........I have a basketball hoop AT MY HOUSE! I'm going on 30 and I've never been able to walk outside my door and shoot a few hoops. Katie's parents got me a backboard and rim for Christmas this past year (thanks Dave and Jodi!) and I was finally able to put it up a few weeks ago. Thanks to my brothers (mostly Jesse - Brandon just stood around a lot) and Jon for their help with putting in a new and getting the backboard up.

When Jon and I were putting the backboard up, we had ladders on both sides of the post and the only way we could figure out how to get the stupid backboard up was for me to stand inside the hoop, lift it up around my waste (like a fat ladies girdle) and slowly, awkwardly walk up the ladder (with my hoop/backboard girdle looking so stylish). To bad we didn't get a picture of that. We would have, but Jon wasn't able to take pictures at that point since he was waiting on the other side of the post at the top of his ladder as my human safety rope. At any rate we finally got things finished up and it's been put to good use ever since.

Here's a picture of Jon putting the finishing touches on it...

Oh yes...life will never be the same.