HERE WE GO!!!!! We're off to Ethiopia!!! Would you like to see HER?????

HERE SHE IS!!!!!

Here is our little beauty. 

 

Her name is Aregash Dejene, 

pronounced O (aw) de (short e) g (hard g) osh (like gosh)

Her first name means "to make stable" 

and her last name is her Father's first name, 

which means "My Protector".  

These are the pictures we received of her the day we were "matched" or referred on June 22, 2010. 

These are the pictures that came through sideways on my email! 

I was in awe from the first moment I saw her.

  

Then in October we were sent this picture.....

She had changed soo much that we wondered if it was our same precious girl.  

Chubby cheeks gone and more hair......

but the same smile and twinkle in her eyes.

So we traveled across the world to meet her for the first time

and call her "OURS" in front of the high courts of Ethiopia 

on November 24, 2010.

And this is the day we met.......

The second day.....

she was ready and waiting for us when we got there.

Lots of smiles this day!

Do you see the twinkle?

Time for goodbye....for now. 

I love this one.  Time for nap with toys in tow.

And our last day in Addis Ababa with our punkin....

She came down with the same head-band/bow 

she had been given by another family the day before.  

That's my girl.

Aregash Faith Dejene Chiolis

Just the beginning of The Beginning.

These are some of my favorite pictures, but you can see more by looking at the book below. 

And then when we return there will be more to share!  

I can't wait to share her with you all!  

Please pray for our trip, our health, our safety, our hearts, and our boys back home.  

My love to all of you........

my friends I have met through this amazing experience, 

and those who have prayed for and supported us along the way.  

You are such a God-given Blessing.

We return January 28th at 3:15 for anyone who would like to meet us and share in our joy!!!  

We would love to see you!!!

With peace in my heart and a smile on my face..........HERE WE GO!!!!!

 This is the book I made as a gift for our baby's sweet Birth-Family to take with us when we meet them.  

It is not only to help them remember her and see our family, 

but mostly to thank them for the most-amazing, self-less gift in the world. 

We are grateful.

You can click on the link to make the pages bigger.  And you can slow the pages down by pausing on the top of page.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Less than 2 Days to go!!!!

And we will leave for Ethiopia!!!  Soo happy.  Couldn't be more excited!!  Almost done with starting to pack! Ha!   

 Thank you to Martin Luther King Jr. that we can join our families of different races without judgment....or at least not as much.

Happy Day!  We ARE soooo blessed.  I have stamped on every t-shirt package I have sent out.....a famous quote from Dr. King, "FAITH--Is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."  This last year we have lived by this.  Hence the reason her middle name will be FAITH.  Our family is now complete BECAUSE of FAITH.  
Both figuratively and literally.

 Check in Wednesday morning to see the beautiful punkin girl who is joining our family forever.....pictures to come. :0)

 We are in love.
And it's real.  It's really happening.  
We are having a girl!!!
i so love pink.

Six more!!! leaving on a plane to Ethiopia, that is...and then she'll be HOME!

 Six more days.......I'm not even close to being ready...emotionally, YES.......not so physically.  
That won't stop me though!!!

Ethiopia...here we come!!!
Can't wait to bring her home!

Eight...count them....8 MORE DAYS TIL WE BRING OUR BABE HOME!!!!!!!

I am shopping, packing, making photo books for the birth family, cleaning, doing laundry, making lists for our boys' care-takers, and trying to get some t-shirt orders out!!!!!  We are soo excited that in eight VERY short days we will return to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to see our precious little girl, then go to meet with her birth-family, grab her visa at our embassy appt, and then we bring her HOME---Friday, January 28th....3:15 (please meet us at the airport) !!!!!  I can't believe it's finally happening!!!  We have been blessed this week with t-shirt orders to help pay for the costs of this last journey.  Our punkins one-way plane ticket cost us $600 MORE than ours!!  Can you believe it??  So I am asking that if you feel it in your heart to help us with just a few more expenses, we would be soo grateful.  It hasn't been easy to ask. This is an understatement.....it has been painful to ask.  This process has been soo humbling, and these shirts have provided a great amount for our family.  Our friends and family have been soo great and are all adorned in our shirts.  If you don't have one, or know someone who may enjoy one, we would be soo grateful.  You can order to the right side with PayPal or you can send a check snail-mail addressed to Kendra Chiolis, 3795 S Valley Dr, Rapid City, SD, 57703.  You can see more pictures of the shirts by clicking HERE and scrolling down.  If you have questions about sizing you can email me at cholo5@wescomm.com.  Please keep in mind we will be leaving next Wednesday, but I will get back with you when we get home.  I have a goal to sell every single shirt I have left!!  There are a LOT left, but the sizes I have the most of are the large & x-large in women's, all sizes in men's, and baby shirts sizes 9 mo.-18 mo.  You can see all the sizes and colors on the ordering panel to the right>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. :0)

 I will try to update one more time before we leave and maybe even sneek a picture of sweet baby "A" in for you to gawk at until we return.

Peace and Blessings to you all, dear friends!

Help Bring Baby "A' Home.......in less than TWO WEEKS!!!!

Dear Friends,

I am taking this wonderful opportunity to show-off my t-shirts one more time before we travel to Ethiopia to bring "her" home...for good.  I am elated, ecstatic, delighted....you get the picture!  I'm just soo HAPPY!!  As always, every cent from t-shirt/necklace sales will go directly to our remaining travel expenses (they may be remaining for a very long time :0).  So if you so desire to "grab" a shirt, you can do it by clicking on the link on the right sidebar of this page.  And just soo you know, we will be forever grateful for all of the love, support, prayers, and blessings we have received.  I will post as many pictures as possible so you can see the many colors available.....but it's also listed over there>>>>>>>>

Youth Sizes Available in several colors

Baby and Toddler sizes in LOTS of colors!!  
Sizes for the whole family!

The Daddy's.....

 and the Mama's 
are wearing them......

 

women's colors

They're for cousins......

and teachers......
we love them all!

 

**front**

We will NOT leave them as orphans.......

**back**

One child at a time!

We CAN make a difference!

Coming for baby "A"......to her family who loves her.

Just 13 more days until we leave on a 25 hour trip of a lifetime.  

 Join us.

Embassy Date!!!!

Dearest Friends,
A little note to tell you that the worrying, wondering, waiting....well, it's OVER!!!!  Today we received THE email that we are going to get our baby girl from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in just two weeks!!!!  Woo Hoo!!  We leave Jan 19th and return Jan 28th.  Thank you all for your prayers and support during this amazing journey!  It is just about complete and I couldn't be happier!  Soon, she will be in our arms....forever.

So I better go start packing.

God, You are always soo great.
Hallelujah is right!!!!

Christmas Memories

This is the last year we will celebrate Jesus Christ's birth as a family of 4Boys1Girl.  I can't wait for the lessons she will teach us all.......as our family of six. :0) 

 

painting a gingerbread house

 creating Christmas mice for Santa

 

dic's side of the family at our house on Christmas Eve.

settling down for a story.....

 santa's mice & milk all ready

 my side of the family for Christmas day.....

at our house.

love the memories.

can't wait for next year.

Does She Know? Merry Christmas Baby Girl.

Tomorrow is Christmas eve.  

We haven't gotten word yet about our trip to bring our daughter home.  I have been praying hard...I think I even pray in my sleep.  I don't understand what makes it all take soo long.  I'm frustrated..I'm angry..I'm sad..I'm longing...and my heart hurts real bad.  

But this isn't about me. 

I just need her to know that we will be back.  Are they telling her that?  Does she know?  Does she know that the people she met a month ago are really her mommy and daddy?  Does she know that we love her as if she'd been with us forever?  That we are longing for her just as she is longing to be held and rocked and sung to?  Does she feel God's presence and hear Him whisper that her mommy and daddy are on their way?  To love her forever?

God, please wrap your arms around 'lil sis and comfort her when she's sad and lonely and lost.  Please carry her and hold her when we can't.  Please place in her heart that she has a family that will be there soon and won't ever let her go.  Please, God.  I feel so helpless right now.  I haven't lost my faith in you.  I trust that your timing is right.  I pray for all the hurting hearts tonight that they may find  their peace in You. 

Amen.

(to listen, pause my music in upper right corner)

Waiting.....on Christmas

We are finishing week 3 of waiting.  We are waiting to hear from our agency when we will be submitted for an Embassy date....also to bring our baby girl home.  It's been tough.  We are one of the first 20-30 families in the 2-trip process, so things have run a little lot slower.  And it's taking it's toll, to say the least.  I thought Christmas would give me something to think about.  But in-between picking up gifts for this person and that person, I see or think about what "A" will need when she gets home.  You can tell me to stop thinking about her.  You can tell me that I have too many other things to worry about right now and that I should just focus.  It doesn't work that way....I don't work that way.  She is in my every thought, in my heart.  I know that this is such a great time of year and I should be joyful.  As one of my friends pointed out, this is our last Christmas as a family of five.  I love this time of year for indulging my kids, in the name of Christ.  I do.  This has always been a tough time of year for me just because I can't handle the stress of it all.  I have toned it down and done away with some of the less-important traditions, just to save my sanity.  I'm not sure what else I could do differently and still make it special.  I am doing my best.  I have taken the last few days "off" and I plan to pick up where I left off tomorrow.  That still gives me a week. :0)  And I am going to try to be joyful.  This is a sweet time of year, regardless of the consumerism.  We don't have to be a part of that.  We just do our thing and keep going, we join together and celebrate Christ, we praise and worship......and we wait. 

I am giving it all to the Lord.  

I am keeping my Faith that He has given me.  

I will trust that His timing will be perfect once again....

and I will wait.

Those left Behind.....

If you haven't seen this, you will want to. I have been feeling soo sad about being so far away from our little girl. After I saw this I mourned the fact that I will have to leave soo many behind. Watch and be moved. Be moved into action. No excuses! Do something!

My heart is with a little girl in Ethiopia

My heart is heavy today...and it aches.  I am missing my baby.  She is across the world and I can't get to her.  I thought it would be soo hard to leave her and I am having a much harder time now.  Now that I know that only a few Embassy dates were given this month, which means there will be soo many more families trying to get through next month.  And with there only being one date to get an Embassy appt, it will be a miracle if we get in....which means we won't see her until February.  It's too long.  No child should have to be away from their loving parents....ever.  Now that we've met and we love her that much more, it makes it that much more difficult to be without her.  We were "matched" with her in June and it could be February before we get to bring her home.  That's 8 months.  It's too long.  I'm sad....more than sad. 

Today I am sulking.  

Tomorrow I'll be hopeful. 

We are HOME...Part III

If you'd like to start at "Part I....click HERE!

This trip was life-changing.  Not only did we meet our child and get to hold her for the first time, but we had soo many experiences in just a few short days that will stay with me for the rest of my life!  And sometime soon (hopefully) we will be told of our second date to return.  It is looking like January 24th could be a possibility if our agency can get all of the paperwork together before then.  We are praying that this is it. :0)

 You wanna hear the juicy details about the court hearing?  WELL.....we were prepared with respectful, dressy clothes to honor our judge, the country  of Ethiopia, our daughter and her birth parents.  We got all of our info in line so we wouldn't disappoint "her highness" with the wrong answers.  And we showed up on-time.  Well, close to on-time. :0)  I don't think anything ever happens in a specific amount of time in Ethiopia, and everyone will remind you of that.  Our driver obviously didn't get the message.  We were due in court at 9:00 and our driver came to get us about 8:45...hardly enough time to cross the city.  If I felt car-sick any day, this would be the one.  He drove soo fast and furious I thought I might lose it.  

You see in Ethiopia there seem to be no rules either.  If this car needs to get from point "A" to point "B", it will get there, even if it cuts in front of other cars with a split second notice.  And the other driver will just honk his little horn--"beep, beep", and they wave at each other politely and move over.  I learned after the second, maybe third day that these weren't the mean honks that we get back home, where you see "the finger" from across the way.  No, these are courtesy honks, which seem to say "excuse me, I'm to the left and you are too far over" and the wave means, "oh, pardon me....I didn't see you there and I would LOVE to move just a tinsy bit to let you through".  Seriously.  That's how it is.  And it works.  It seems chaotic and it makes me sick, but it's functional.  It really is.  Only a couple of times did we see a little fender-bender.  And once we had to be "untangled" from a mess of cars all going their separate directions, but there was no way to get out.  If only we had soo much respect and love for each other in America.  
And patience.

Okay.....so we showed up at the court house past 9:00 a little worried that perhaps we were passed over, but it was very quiet for awhile.  (FYI, there are no pictures allowed inside/outside the courthouse or government buildings)  Then people started to come in.  I think their lawyers got the memo saying that 9:00 really meant 10:00.  Cause she really didn't even start until then and even 20 minutes after that people still poured in.  It was a fairly small room, with the judges "chambers" being like a filing/storage closet.  I guess I some how had the vision that we would actually be in a court-room of some kind...not soo much.  This really did make it easier to settle the nerves a little though.  We had been told by families before us that there was no need to stress about anything and it all happens very quickly.  But there is always the worry that the judge may decide to ask us the dreaded question "How will you handle identity issues when the child is older?"  That's the one I was soo unsettled about.  I mean, I have ideas of what we will do, but to explain that to her before she rolled her eyes when my response was too long.....well, a little nervous about that.  So...after a good half hour to hour later we were called in with our lawyer and we sat against a west wall, with her on the North end...not even facing each other!  Wow!  And she spoke ever-so-quietly...especially with all of the noise coming from the other side of the door (not all adopting families were as respectful as ours--sadly, and they were hushed several times by the court-clerk).  She asked a series of about 6 questions like, "Have you met your child before court today?, Do you still want to adopt this child after meeting her?,   Do you have other children and are they happy about this adoption?, Will you try to keep her culture a part of your child's upbringing? (this was the only time it wasn't YES or NO....she said ""This is very important that she keeps her culture"".)  And then the best part of all.......
"Then she is yours".  
Amazing.  
Tears welled up and fell and Dic and I hugged.  I can't remember how we got from one room to the next...I was floating.  I never imagined it would ever happen!  All-in-all it took about 60 seconds, and just like that it was over.  We were officially the proud parents of a little girl...a beautiful little girl!  Our lives would be changed forever.  We hugged the other adopting family and headed back down to the van.  With tears still going we exchanged hand-shakes and hugs with our lawyer and driver (he dressed up soo nicely for our hearing--soo sweet).  And off we went.  As he played "God is Good, All the Time" on his radio. 
Perfectly-Lovely.

 After court we were taken back to the Care Center where our little miss was patiently awaiting our arrival.  By this time she knew our faces and voices and they say she asks for us.  She came down the stairs wearing the sweetest little striped dress and a hair-bow that one of the other moms let her keep.  Little angel.  But this day we could tell she was different.  She was tired.  All of the kids seemed to be tired.  Late party?  Hard night?  I don't know, but she was not the little girl we had spent time with before.  All I wanted to do was put her out of her misery and take her to bed.  She went through the motions with us throwing balls and bouncing balloons.  I even tried to pick her up and rock her, but I think she was worried she would miss something.  I just wish we had learned more Amharic prior too.  We pulled out our list of words, but I wished at that moment I could speak it fluently for her sake.  I asked many times for the words to express myself, but phrases are very difficult.  Uggh.  So I just sang.  She loved it and smiled.  I know that's one thing that will be my saving-grace when she's all out of umph on the plane ride home.  She loves music.  

Soon enough it was time to say goodbye and we took her up to her room for a nap.  Our last time we would see her for a couple of months.  She gave us both big hugs and kisses and crawled into her bed.  I wish I knew how to tell her we would see her again....that this wasn't the end.  That this goodbye wouldn't be forever.  That one day soon we would be together, as a family.  That we would love her just like her birth family did, just like her nannies did.  That her mommy and daddy love her to the moon and back already. 
I wish there were a way to 
get her to understand that soo many great, new things would
be happening very soon.  We will be back.  Oh Lord, please don't let her heart 
be broken one more time thinking that we were gone for good.  Please keep us in her heart.  Let her know that the pictures we left behind are of the people who will take care of her for the rest of her life.  Tell her we love her when we can't.  Is that too much to ask? 

I miss her more now than ever.  But I wasn't broken-hearted that day.  I knew that she was being cared for with love, in abundance.  She loves the people there and she tells them so...I heard it.  I don't worry because I know she is in a great place.  But I miss her.  Dic misses her.  The boys miss her.  We pray that it won't be long and she can fill that void in our hearts.  
~She is the missing piece to our puzzle, 
and we our hers.~

 My Baby Girl.....soon.