30 January 2008

Ethiopia, here we come!

More like: Denekew, here we come!
I'm so excited; our trip is finally scheduled.
We leave Seattle Feb 16 and return with our son Feb 22!
One week in Ethiopia and our family will be changed forever!

Here is a little update on Denekew: He is currently 4 and a half months old and 15 pounds and 23 inches long. He is wearing clothing size 3-6 months and diaper size 2 (12-18 lbs). He is drinking 6-8 8oz bottles a day!

Right now his legal name is Denekew Caleb Oglesby!
Totally our son!

28 January 2008

Travel Call!

WOooo HOooo! We finally got our travel call. I am so excited. Some final details are being put in place but it looks like our trip will be Feb 17- 22nd. We will have this confirmed tomorrow. I spent the day calling our moms and telling them and getting quotes from travel agents!

Thank you to everyone keeping us in prayer.
Caleb and I went to Portland for the weekend and attended my aunt Marilyn's 50th birthday open house. There we met many of her friends, all of whom responded to us "Oh, you are the people adopting! We have been praying for you!" How refreshing!

22 January 2008

Nursing our son

This is a personal choice, but I wanted to share that I am planning on nursing Denekew. The few people I have told were shocked that this is even possible. I thought maybe if I shared a little about it now from my blog, I could head off some surprised looks and questions later!

Yes, adoptive breastfeeding is possible! There is actually an amazing amount of information out there (internet as well as published books). I have inserted some links at the bottom that I have found helpful. I am planning on using the Lact-Aid supplemental nursing system, where the baby nurses and can get breastmilk (if you have it) and/or gets milk from a supplemental bag. The device was actually invented by a couple that adopted in 1969 and wanted to breastfeed their child! Here is there story:
http://www.lact-aid.com/lastory.htm.
The system is designed to help your milk come in by inducing lactation. But even if it never comes in you can have the close bonding experience associated with nursing while your child gets their formula from the supplemental bag!

I am still trying to locate an adoptive mother actually doing this! So far I haven't heard back from anyone with the La Leche League. If you are or know of someone nursing an adopted child, I would love to hear from you!

http://www.lact-aid.com/
http://www.llli.org/NB/NBadoptive.html
http://breast-feeding.adoption.com/nursing/preparation-for-adoptive-nursing.html

11 January 2008

Prayer Please

Caleb and I feel we are under direct attack. We could really use your prayer. Here is a run down of our week... so far.

*A rock came through Jen's car sunroof
*Caleb's car wouldn't start this morning
*Both kids have pink eye
*Caleb and Jen both have bad colds (Caleb's is probably a sinus infection)
*Under the kitchen sink sprung a leak overnight and covered the floor in water & even down in the basement!

And lastly today we received notice that we will NOT be traveling with this next travel group. Our travel will most likely be middle February.

We are confident that God is in control. We don't know his plans for us, but we know that they are for the best.

Hallelujah that we are following the Lord and worthy of attack from the enemy!

10 January 2008

Almost Travel Call

Today I received an "almost travel call" from our adoption agency.

We are supposed to be in the next group of adoptive families to travel to Ethiopia and bring home our children all together. We were #3 on the "waiting to travel" list. However, our papers have not yet cleared the courts and a travel group of 4 families is being put together. Meaning that 2 families sets of papers came out of court out of order, before ours!

Take heart, we may still be in this group if our papers come out this week or next. We will have less time to buy our airline tickets and prepare than ordinary. We are receiving our travel packet along with the other families preparing to travel so that if in fact we do travel with this next group we are up to speed and know everything ahead of time. If we don't travel with this group we will definitely be in the following group and they are tentatively scheduled a month out.

I don't care if we only get a weeks notice till we fly, I want to bring home my son!
Please be praying with us that our papers clear court.

09 January 2008

Amazing Soap Sales!

Here is an update on our adoption fundraiser:
Soap sales have raised over $1700 towards bringing home our son!
Thank you everyone for your purchases and generous donations!
We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful, caring network of friends and family. Special thanks to my aunts Connie and Betty for distributing our fundraiser letter amongst their coworkers and collecting sales! And special thanks to Pastor Peter for his idea of the bulletin insert and selling soap in the church foyer.

Our fundraiser is not over! You can still order soap. I know the Christmas rush has died, but don't think we stopped making soap! Actually, we have been making soap on a regular basis for the past 4 years and don't see that changing. Contact us for more info or look on blog post titled Yekemeum Shai: Ethiopian Soap

P.S. About Christmas

Just a note to tell you what a save it was to have Ethiopian Christmas earlier this week.

Santa was able to correct his error. A terrible mistake occurred at the December 25th Christmas when Santa didn't fill a stocking for Denekew. Ocean and Jaguar (mostly Ocean) were in an uproar when it was noticed, halfway through opening their own stockings, that Santa had not filled one for Denekew! Thank goodness that's been remedied!

07 January 2008

Merry Christmas!

Today, Jan 7th 2008, is the Ethiopian Christmas!
Caleb & I went to an evening Christmas service last night at St. Gebriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Seattle. It was an amazing experience and VERY long! The service went from 7pm until midnight. Unfortunately we had to leave after only 4 hours and didn't make it to the end of the service.

Everyone was very nice to us. I found I was more anxious about doing something wrong (like sitting on the wrong side of the sanctuary or sitting down or leaving to use the bathroom) than about language or race. When we first arrived we noticed the gender segregated seating; only men were sitting on the left, while only women were sitting on the right. As we took off our shoes we discussed what to do. Just then someone came up to us and ask if we had found seats yet. Then he ushered us to seats on the left side and I ask him if it was OK that we sat together and he assured us it was fine. After awhile I was no longer the only female on the left side of the church. As the service progressed more and more people came. The pews were completely packed elbow to elbow and then all the standing room up the aisle and across the back and even the foyer area.

I felt bad leaving early, the end must be the best part of the service, cause we did get some strange looks. But I was so tired from standing nearly the whole 4 hours (Caleb stood the whole time! While other women sat for short times, the men never sat down!) and the incense was overpowering, the room became hazy from it all. The woman who ended up sitting right next to me was very kind. Her name was Azeb and we got a chance to chat slightly between parts of the service when there was a lull (it was also the only time everyone sat down).

I think the whole experience could only have been better if my friend Addis (who told me about the service and goes to the chruch regularly) had been there. She told me that she had guests and that the service was too late for her children (that should have been a clue to how long the service would be, me already knowing that the Sunday service is 3 1/2 hours long!)

Merry Christmas!

02 January 2008

Travel Recomondations

We are still waiting for the call to fly and bring home Denekew. It should come soon and when it does we need to be ready to go in about 3 weeks. So I am anxiously preparing. In preparation for our upcoming trip Caleb and I got a bunch of recommended travel immunizations . That's how we spent New Years Eve! Hope you spent yours in a much more fun way! Happy New Year!

This year I resolve to bring home my son!