Monday, April 26, 2010

belated update I KNOW!!!

Hey all! I'm sorry I have not update in awhile. I've been a little busy LOL!

So the kids are doing great! I JUST got a call from the International Pediatrician, whom we visited last week, to tell me the good news! Micah is negative for: HIV, Hep B and C and Syphilis, as we were told. Also levels are good for thyroid, liver and kidneys! His titer test shows that he has been vaccinated for tetanus, polio and Hep. He HAS HAD chicken pocks so we will not need to poke him for that one! In other words, what we were told by ET has all been confirmed to be true. I am, of course, thrilled!

Micah is doing great even though it does not look like it in this picture ! i had to post it because I think it's hilarious!  Anyway, he is crawling, pulling up and started to move his feet while standing. He is saying "baa baa" and making lots of other noises. For an 8 months old, he is right on track so I am told by our regular pediatrician! I think if he's going to behind in anything it will be speech, which is expected. He is not sleeping through the night yet... That is my ONLY complaint! But, we are working with that! He LOVES his sisters and just fits right in. He eats like a pig most of the time and has had no issues with any food yet! He is eating puffs and other table food like avocados etc. and doing well with it. Praise the LORD! He takes 2 naps a day and is cheerful most of the time. He also LOVES his baths and often takes one with both of his sisters LOL! I have to get a picture of that for use later in life :). I fully expect Jackie to protest before too long on that one!

The girls are adapting well. Anna has only had a little bit of trouble with it. Typically she shows this by wanting to be in my lap too, and I happily comply if at all possible and make a Micah sandwich which she finds hilarious. I have increased my cuddle time with her and have worked hard to pay even MORE attention to her while Micah is awake. It seems to be working! She is the best at illiciting laughter from Micah. So much so that now every time he sees her he starts wiggling and laughing. So funny. She has gone over the top with her gymnastics as she knows she can always get my attention with handstands and cartwheels :). She will be trying out for the "team" in May! Yikes!

Jackie adores Micah! She plays with him and kisses him all the time! It's SO nice to have her sit next to him in the car because she totally entertains him and even feeds him for me! We drove to Roanoke to visit my sister and it was JUST FINE thanks to the girls help! I will say I am happy the adoption happened when it did. Anna and Jackie are the perfect ages in my opinion! Some news on Jackie...  she is the only girl on her soccer team and is doing awesome! Playing with boys is apparently a good thing for her as she is very aggressive at times! I'm going to send her to soccer camp this summer and see how she likes it.  We are soccer fans for sure as shown in this picture!

Ty and I are doing well with the change too! I feel attached! I feel like he is mine! It's nasty but, his spit up etc does not bother me at all. Children who are not mine can make me gag with that stuff, LOL!



Micah has learned how to allow me to train dogs and he loves going around the trails in the jogger. He was never afraid of the dogs at all, or anything else for that matter! The hardest thing about the transition has been the sleeping for Ty and I. But, this too shall pass. We did get an infant after all! :) Yesterday as Ty was going out to work on the fence he promised Micah he'd be allowed to join in a few years. I can't wait for that day! I am so thrilled for Ty to have a son :). Micah looked like he wanted to go too! God is good! :)  The picture here I took before everything got green.  Ty bought this little motorcyle for the kids back in the Fall.  Oh joy!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Gram and Gramps sent a dog! Love it!


 

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Saturday, March 27, 2010

the transition

The transition is going well!  We jumped right back into "baby land" it seems.  The week plus with him alone probably really equipped us :).  But now we actually have to take care of all three of the kids, dogs, house AND cook dinner!  UGH!  Oh well :).  The house will be a bit dirtier and dinner a bit later for awhile. 
So far the girls are enjoying Micah.  Jackie especially seems to have a bunch of interest.  She tries to soothe him when he cries and is especially helpful in the car.  Today she tried to feed him for us from her vantage point of the middle seat!  Anna is actually being pretty gentle, for Anna!  It's such a good thing that he is a tough, strong, active baby!  I'm not worried about her hurting him as I would have been a less strong baby!  A newborn would TOTALLY freak me out!  Anna does not have naturally soft hands like her big sister.  She would love him to death :).  He is smitten with them.  It's fun to watch!  Most importantly though, the attention does not center on him alone.  Today we went to see Jackie's art at the art festival.  Very cool!  She did a great farm scene (shown here in the pic.  it's above her head) which I loved.  Then we went to the Eggsplosion, which is a very cool easter egg hunt.  They got to bounce, ride a pony, get a tatoo, eat popcorn and hunt for eggs.  THEN we came home and they played outside while Ty seeded the yards (YES my agility yard too!).  Micah came along for the ride.  It was a good day.  He still wants to sleep a lot and snack every three hours.  We are working hard on that!  Ty stuffed him so much last night that we managed to get him to sleep from 8-3 ish.  Not bad!  I feel much better today because of that!  Anyway, he is SOO cute.  He is totally in that squishy stage where you just want to hug and tickle him.  He is really trying to crawl!  I feel sort of like I cheated by getting him right in my favorite baby stage :).  LOVE it!  He'll be 8 months old a week from today!  Amazing!  I will blog about the trip when I have more energy.  Thanks for all the prayers!  We are SO glad to be home!

Friday, March 26, 2010




Posted by PicasaHow we spent 19 hours or so... No extra seat.  No bassinet.  My back still hurts.


Anna and Micah rockin'...




Posted by PicasaJackie reading the goodnight story.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

HOME SAFE!

Well.... Audrey, Ty and Micah made it home safely. Everyone is tired, and adjusting to the time difference and the newest addition. I'm sure Audrey will update soon, but I thought I would post some pics of the morning!


Jackie and Anna and their signs!


The girls had VERY different methods of waiting...... Jackie......


And Anna......

pretty typical reactions of these two, I would say. Jackie is super serious, and Anna is..... Anna!


Walking in from Customs.....


Anna's reaction to seeing her Daddy!


First Meeting.....


Big Hugs!


Audrey and Micah....


Ty and Micah


Big Smile!


Seriously...... does it get cuter?


Jackie and Anna meeting Micah!


Smiles at his big sister....


Walking out of the airport.... a complete family!


The whole Burton/Ferrel clan....


Nat, Audrey and Micah


Nana and Pug and their newest grandson....


Jackie holding her little brother for the first time....


Micah

Monday, March 22, 2010

HOMEWARD BOUND!!!!


They are coming HOME!!!! Below is the email from Audrey:

Well the Lord has provided! Ty and Micah and I had a good day today. We had a great bfast and then were picked up by David and Robel and went to a bakery. We bought a YUMMY pie/cake for the AWAA staff and a few other pastries, which we ate! YUM! Then we went and delivered it to the office. After that we went to the Transition house to take pictures of a few of the kids and to play with all of them. Anyway, I can't show you any of the pics we took, but they rock! After their families pass court, I'll show you. :) Then we went back to the "post office" area to shop some more. Then we were out of money :). We went to "lucy's' again for lunch. David and I played punch buggie all day (since I am rotten and get to ride up front!) and now my arm is bruised. I'm hoping his is too! We had a really good time. David did not kill anyone either! If you ever wondered where all the old style VW bugs went, the answer is Ethiopia.


Then we came home and put Micah down. Ty and I got into the bible and spent a lot of time praying. Then the phone rang. It was Duni giving us the good news! Basically the investigator found the stories to be true. He gained information that confirms that Micah was indeed given up by his young mother and that she did it for the welfare of the child. Case closed! We have an appt for our visa tomorrow at 8 am ET time! Then we meet with the US Embassy to hear about the investigation. We are told the investigator was very, very thorough. The best part? We fly out tomorrow night! 24 hours from now we'll be getting ready to board a plane (oh joy). We will be arriving in Dulles on Wed morning.



We will be picking up from the airport on Wednesday! The girls will be glad to have Mom and Dad home, and a bunch of us are looking forward to squeezing that sweet boy!

Thanks for following!
KT

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Some More pics!

Yesterday involved some sightseeing for the Ethiopian branch of the Ferrel family. I know they went to a museum.... not sure where the animals were! Here are some pics:



Audrey and Micah at the museum


LIONS and tigers and bears, oh my!


Ty and Micah checking out the lions


Black maned lion


I really don't know what the heck this is......


David, their driver...... ROCKING his VT Hokies Hat!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Pictures.....

I don't think that A is able to post pics.... so here are some that we received!


Micah!


Micah and Ty


Micah using his bathtub as a playpen



Micah with the guard at the Guest House



Travel Group



Street



Kids at orphanage