Finally!

Here are some photos at last. The last few days have been, frankly,
pretty awful - John and I have both been sick and the babies have been
unwell too. Fortunately we are now all picking up and it's possible to
sit upright again for long enough to type this. We have been so
incredibly thankful to have my mum here - without her I really don't
know HOW we would have coped with the last few days. She has done our
washing and kept us supplied with enough sprite to keep going when we
couldn't hold down anything else - I don't think these attributes are
specifically mentioned in Proverbs 31 but I rather think they should
be.

We are thrilled to say that the babies are doing really, really well.
We hardly recognise them even from the babies they were a few days
ago. They are eating (and eating and eating) and we can see them
gaining strength right before our eyes. They are really delightful and
we are so thankful that they are finally with us.

I really hope sending these photos works, because they are pretty cute, huh??

Much love

John and Caroline

Dear Family and Friends,

We have good news! This morning we attended the First Instance
District court and were officially declared the parents of Isaias
Peter Semir Charles and Lulit Heather Semira Charles.

We are thrilled and very thankful. We will be picking up the babies
later this afternoon, and will post pictures as soon as we get a
chance, we just wanted to pass on the good news now.

Lots of love

John and Caroline

Got snowsuitsGot bearsuits *Got stripes Got wipesGot clothes for him **
Got clothes for his twin
Got books and toys***Got wishes for joy****Got homemade owls
Got baby towels*****Got suitcases packed
(Got help from the cat)
Got nappies******Got happy And so.

Let's go!!*******




* is this child cruelty? I sure hope not.
** check out the tacky but fabulous superman outfit!!
*** the cot is in our room, before you think we've forgotten something major here...
**** sorry about that rhyme.
***** and yes, the towel ALSO has an owl! I didn't make that one though.
****** if you were writing this in the states, what would you rhyme with 'diaper??'
******* 9.30 tonight! And yes, I'm finally ready! For the flight at least, if not for parenthood. It's taken mum and I all of this week to get me sorted with everything that we'll need for the babies, but we're finally there. Prayers needed for no lost luggage, please!! John flies out on Sunday night because there was only one ticket available on the friday night flight. Will post again from Addis as soon as we can.

Court Date

We have finally had a court date allocated! It will be October 27... twelve days time! It's going to be a bit of a rush getting ready to go again, but we can't wait. We're just dying to see those babies again.

So, it seemed like time to fire up the blog again... more updates as they happen!

Update on Plans

Hi all,

Unfortunately, we now have our plane flights back to the UK booked for
early this week. Yesterday, we had to kiss our babies goodbye, which
was pretty much as awful as we thought it would be.

Our overall timeframe should remain the same, the only real change is
that I will be at home (rather than in Addis) for the bit in the
middle. Our completed paperwork was submitted to the Ministry of
Womens Affairs here on Friday, and we are now waiting to be allocated
a court date. We may find out our allocated court date sometime in
the next two weeks - once we know what that date will be (likely to be
around sixish weeks from now) we can make plans for our return.

We are finding the thought of this long separation very hard. We know
that most people who adopt from the UK need to go through this, but we
were hoping to avoid it, and really weren't prepared for how hard it
would be.

We know that some of you have been praying for us and for our babies,
and we appreciate it more than we can say. We have found this sudden
change of plans difficult to deal with (obviously!), and we have very
much appreciated support from family and friends.

We are really dreading going home to an empty house, since I (C) had
thought that next time I went back to Reading it would be with two
wriggly bundles. I also feel extremely stupid since I said all my
goodbyes for three months and will suddenly be back again in less than
three weeks! No teasing please, unless you want to see me cry.
Although you will probably all see me cry anyway.

Lots of love

Caroline and John

Change of Plans

Hi all,

 

The last few weeks have been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster (obviously) and it seems that we've come to an unexpected dip.  Most of you know that I (C) was planning to stay out here until we could bring the babies home with us. We were both very keen that I would stay and get to know the babies, cuddle them as much as possible and make sure they were okay.  However, it seems that this isn't going to happen. I would really like to stay, but the orphanage director has told us that it won't be possible, and I will have to go home next week with John.

 

This makes us incredibly sad.

 

We are very encouraged by the fact that the babies have started to put on weight, but it is heartbreaking to think of leaving them and being unable to see them every day, and not to know whether they are continuing to do well. I'm sure you can all understand that nobody wants to leave their children on the other side of the world!
 

In the next few days, we need to change flight plans and see as much of them as possible. We know that their nannies are taking good care of them, but we really don't want to say goodbye.

 

Lots of love

 

J&C

Gobez!

Gobez means 'good job!' in Amharic, and if the nannies here are to be
believed, it's what you say to a baby when they have drunk a whole
bottle of milk or done something else spectacularly clever.

Well, both of our babies get a big 'Gobez!' this week because they
have both gained 100g! Baby boy is now above his birthweight for the
first time ever. We are hugely relieved. They continue to make lots of
eye contact, and today we heard BB do some pretty convincing
screaming... so we know their lungs are in good working order too.

This is a huge load off our minds - they are still tiny, but it is
wonderful that they are growing.

Lots of love

C&J