American Citizenship!

We officially re-adopted Denekew in Washington State on July 18th and now Dene is an American Citizen!

Going to court with all three kids was kinda crazy, but fun. We were accompanied by Caleb's parents and my best friend, Becky. Dene liked the judges bald head! We celebrated afterwards with some ice cream at B&R, Dene slept through the fun!

First Post-Placement Home Visit

We just had our first post placement home visit this past Saturday.
It went well. It felt more like having our good friend Diane over for a visit, join us for a cup of coffee and chit-chat, than a home visit by our social worker. Never mind that the entire time Jag was bringing Diane another baby doll to trade with her and help take care of! In fact when Diane first arrived Denekew was asleep and she asked to see "your baby." Jaguar happily brought her on tip toe into her bedroom where all of her dolls were lined up in her bed, tucked in taking a nap! It was a pleasure to have our family life look and feel like a healthy functioning unit.

We also received all the information we will need to begin to work on re-adopting Denekew in the State of Washington.

Serious Discussion

This morning Ocean (my 5 year old biological son) came into our bedroom at the first sound of Denekew awake, like every morning since we've come home with him. While playing, Denekew had a serious look on his face and Ocean claimed he was thinking about why we (Ocean & Denekew) have different skin colors. I ask him if he knew why. He answered: "Cause we're from different countries." So I thought I'd ask him some other questions about skin color and here is how our discussion went.
Mom: Is one skin color better than the other?
Ocean looks totally confused and finally slowly answers "Yes?" watching me to see if it's the right answer.
Mom: No, no skin color is better than another. They are just different.
Ocean quick and confident: Oh, Yeah! (He knew this all along.)

Mom: Is one skin color prettier than the other?
Ocean: Yeah! Denekew's skin is so pretty cause it's darker.
I just laugh - cause this is not the answer experts say kids answer!

Mom: Some people don't like people just because they have dark skin.
Ocean interrupting and lunging to hug to Denekew: And some people do like them!

End of discussion. We all toppled over on the bed!

Daddy Love

Monday was Caleb's first day back to the office since we went to Ethiopia to get Denekew. He took two weeks off just like he did at the births of Ocean and Jaguar.

I was making dinner and Denekew was just hanging out in his favorite spot; sitting in the johnny jump up in the door frame in the front hall (it's really a wide hall way so he has lots of room to jump and not hit any walls!) Caleb came home and walked in through the front door and instantly Denekew was jumping like crazy and squealing and laughing! Caleb got such a kick out of it. Me too! Denekew definitely knew who Daddy was and was so excited to see him home!

Pictures!

I finally located where Caleb hid all of our Ethiopia photographs on the computer! (Ok, he didn't really hide them. I just had trouble locating them!)

Here we are getting to see and hold and have Denekew for the very first time in person! It is Monday Feb 18 at about 10am we are inside the Hannah's Hope Orphanage Compound.

I got to hold Denekew first!

Caleb was the first to get him to laugh. But we found out soon enough that he laughs and smiles easily and often!

Here he is fast asleep in the tummy carrier!

--------------The building on the left has all the nurseries. The open building on the right is where all the babies sun bathe each day!

--------------Here we are outside the compound gate. These are the other two families that we traveled with to all bring home our children!

Here is Denekew fast asleep in the moses basket that the orphanage let us use while we stayed in Ethiopia. As you can see both the pajama and the basket is a bit small for him! Poor guy!

--------------Here is the crib that was Denekew's bed. Above is the cute painting that was on the wall opposite his crib.

We have so many more pictures and stories to share. For now I hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse of our first day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Arrival of Denekew Lewis Oglesby

We have now been home for one week. I feel bad that I haven't yet blogged. But we are still adjusting to a 11 hour time difference (as well as waking up and caring for a baby in the middle of the night)!

Denekew is AMAZING! From the time we picked him up on Monday Feb 18th at Hannah's Hope in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia he has been nothing but smiles! He breaks into a grin just from getting a grin. He full on laughs at little silly things! He did NOT cry a single time for the 29 hours of flights and layovers, traveling home from Ethiopia! He laughed, we played, he slept, we slept! It was unbelievable!

We think that he is adjusting to us and the sights and smells of America well. He is always checking everything out! He is sleeping good (besides the time difference thing). He eats GREAT! He rolls over, although not often. He is almost sitting up on his own. And he LOVES the johnny-jump up (he gets himself laughing in that)!

We took him to the doctors this week to start getting his regular appointments going. He weighs 17 lbs 12 oz and is 26 3/4 inches long! He was in the 50-75% for weight and 75- 90% for length! And those statistics are made based on American born babies! Overall the doctor was really impressed! And we are too! We couldn't have asked for a happier, funner baby.

As far as Ocean and Jag go: They are ecstatic! At our home airport as Caleb, Denekew and I came up the escalator to baggage claim the first thing we could see was Ocean and Jag squealing and jumping up and down! Then one of the first things Ocean said was "Denekew likes Ocean better than Jaguar." Oh, the sibling rivalry, but this I did not expect! I couldn't help but laugh. If I can figure out how to get a video clip from our new video camera up here, you have got to see the kids when they first meet Denekew! And even now the thrill of a new sibling has not worn off (as I thought it might).

Thank you everyone for your prayers; I know this transition would not be this smooth if it had not been for you!

Take Off!

Bright and early this morning (it's 4:30am and I've never been so awake!) we take off for Ethiopia! Our trip begins at SeaTac airport with a 7:40am flight. Please be praying with us for traveling mercies.

In an unusual twist of events, last night my Ethiopian friend called me to tell me that her friend is also traveling to Ethiopia today! We are on the same flights! She has arranged for us to meet each other. Her friend is going to be there in Addis Ababa and may also be able to spend some time with us while in Ethiopia! If nothing else, I have someone to chat with for the 24 hours of flying time!

What a sense of humor our God has!

Next blog post we will be home!!!!!!!!