The call! and soon sent care package

*****Some how the photo of this blanket I made for Fikir got deleted from the body of this entry, so I've just added it here so as not to have to redo all*****

I know it's now a little more than a few days later, but I really wanted to document the call, so here goes-

The call came after 4PM Thursday June 12. Daniel and Jesse were enjoying some time out in the yard and I can't even remember what I was doing. All I know is that I heard my phone ring and I looked at my phone and saw the 616 area code and prefix for our agency. The thought "could this be it?" and then "No, of course not. We are too far down the list must be something else, but..."
half a second later
me: Hello.
Carol: Hi, Charlotte this is Carol.... I have a referral for you.... "
me: "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!!! This is the best news ever!" me jumping up and down with joy, and crying.
she starts giving me the details, meanwhile I am running to the backyard jumping up and down waving my arms like a crazy person pointing to the phone and trying to get Jesse to follow me inside so, that I can jot down every morsel of information as fast as my hands will write. Jesse is thinking "hmm, she's awfully excited about those rabbits. I didn't think she was as interested about the rabbits..." We had called a rabbit breeder earlier in the day, but actually never received a call back. Jesse did finally catch on and was just as thrilled and shocked. After the phone call we raced to check the computer for the email that was coming with a few photos and info. As soon as we saw her it was over--- WE BOTH KNEW! and Daniel too! His first words were "Daddy when baby sister comes home from Epiopya I will teach her how to play in the sand box, and she can drive my police car." As far as Daniel is concerned there is nothing more important than playing in the sand and driving his police car! <----Oh my gosh isn't that the sweetest thing ever?! We've of course since then printed her photo many times and have it everywhere. It's funny, over the past months even before being matched, I often looked at a clock and calculated the time difference and wondered what she was doing. Jesse finally changed the clock on the stove to read Ethiopian time. It's kinda neat because the microwave is above the stove so we can see both times together. We were so excited and could hardly wait to put a care package together. It's the only way we currently have to directly express our fast growing love for her. The guidelines for the care packages are that they each can be no larger than a shirt box! Well by Monday morning we had thus to fit in that shirt box:
1 plush puppy
1 oh so soft blankie
2 handmade books
1 small pink Backpack (to carry all the above in)
2 dresses with bloomers
1 sweater (surprisingly the evenings and nights are chilly in Addis)
5 shirts
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair pink crocs with butterfly ornaments
1 pair periwinkle crocs w/ butterfly ornaments
1 pair super soft flexible pink shoes
10 pairs of socks
2 disposable cameras
30 packages of stickers (for Fikir to share with her friends at the orphanage)
Phew- after much stuffing and rearranging I finally fit it all except 2 pairs of socks and the periwinkle crocs. I just hope that when it does arrive that something in there brightens her day and puts a smile on her beautiful sweet face. It's so hard no to be able to hold and comfort her, especially knowing how sad and scared she must be. Our prayers and thoughts are with her constantly.

a few more details on the care package contents:

The plush puppy was given the most important of responsibilities upon her arrival at the orphanage- to cuddle and comfort Fikir until we are able to arrive. We have every confidence in her :)



The books- I have to say I really put my heart into making both of these books, but my brain was mush, and even I must admit they are possibly the ugliest little books that I have ever made- Albeit I really haven't made a whole lot of little books...

The first book is a square 3"x 3". On all the left hand pages are a photo of Fikir and on all the right sides are family photos of us- just to help Fikir get familiar with us.

The second one is a round ~ 5"x5". I basically did the same thing here, only for this one on each page we each took turns holding a large 8"x 8" photo of her. My hope is that on some level she will start seeing herself with us and hopefully won't be too scared when we meet and pick her up, but we know she is going to be scared regardless. I just hope this helps some... and I must thank Daniel's Grammy T- Sheila for the idea behind this book. She has sent Daniel photos of her holding Daniel's photo- brilliant- just love that :)

The blanket! Fikir's pink blankie was the first blanket I have ever made. When Daniel was born we had a lot of family and friends make Daniel blankets, so I kept wondering if I should too, and just never got around to it. With all those blankets we received for Daniel you would think they would be put away now that he is 3, but no, they are still getting tons of use (more to come on this later) So back to Fikir's blanket, I searched every nook at Joann's to find the softest fabric and this was it. Maybe not my first choice of print, but it's bright and cheery and oh so soft- I can totally imagine sweet little Fikir cuddling up with this blanket. I sure hope she likes it.
And, Daniel's little blankie. When he saw me making one for Fikir he asked for one too- not that he doesn't already have 100 or more little blankies. But, the truth is Daniel loves everyone of those little blankies and plays with them every single day, and so part of my routine each day is gathering up these little blankies and folding them again and again, and again, and so off we went today to Joann's. Daniel is way into ducks and birds in general right now and, so it was not a surprise that he picked out this fabric. Shortly after returning home I had his blankie complete too- it is soooooo soft (same kind of fabric as Fikir's).