Chicken Pox Suck

Poor Mahlet is covered in Chicken Pox. As if this poor girl isn't overwhelmed enough. Last night was almost horrific for us as I had to give her a bath to help the itching. She just sobbed the whole entire time. It was undoubtedly the worst night we have been through since bringing her home. After her bath I got in bed with her and we held each other very tight until she quit crying and asked for sister. I am so amazed at the bond these two have...they were truly meant to be sisters. Hannah just sleeping in Mahlet's room instantly settles her down. But last night was kind of funny because as soon as Hannah noticed that Mahlet (she calls her Mahlee (Molly)) was asleep she came out of her room and said to us "I really need to sleep in my own room tonight". We were so OK with that as Hannah has been the best little girl during this whole transition. Mahlet got up earlier than usual for her but ended up sleeping on the couch until noon.

We were so blessed to have one our neighbors deliver a "Chicken Pox Fun Box" for the girls. It was filled with fun stuff for girls to do being stuck in the house. So we painted each other nails, put on the lip gloss, played the marble game and played with the little ponies. It was super sweet of my friend to do this...Thanks so much Diana.

I was so stir crazy being in the house for the last couple of days I had to get out so I took the girls to Grandpa's house. Their Aunt Trish and Uncles Bob, and Rich were there cleaning house getting ready to move grandpa to his new apartment tomorrow. We walked away a few little treasures from grandma Rovang's room. Hannah is so proud of the purse she scored and Mahlet got some mittens and scarfs...and I got a couple of brand spanking new soft socks.
Hannah does miss her grandma bunches. Mahlet never got to meet grandma Rovang but grandma got to see photos of Mahlet before she passed away and thought she was very pretty.

Blessings,

Bliss

Chicken Pox

Mahlet has the chicken pox. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as there was an outbreak at the Transition Home while we were there. I was just holding out hope that since it has been over two weeks since our return we would be OK. No such luck. You can maybe see them in this photo...she has a pretty good crop on her face some in her hair and a couple on neck and torso so far (they actually look way worse in person than in the photo). She was pretty miserable last night and most of today but...as you can see she can't help smiling. What a trooper she is.

Hannah is already trying to steal her sisters clothes...she said I need this to hold my boobies. Sisters busy making beaded stuff

Mahlet loves ice cream

So the Rovang household has been invaded with chicken pox. I know Hannah will probably get them in the next couple of weeks since she has not yet been vaccinated. I am kind of bummed that Mahlet has them because she has been meeting with her ESL teacher and was scheduled to be tested Friday for placement and then start a couple of school classes next week. I don't think this will happen now...STUPID CHICKEN POX!!!!

I swear I will get around to sharing more about our time in ET and my thoughts about adopting an older child. I also have thoughts on instantly having to share my love between two very different children. One who speaks English and has been apart of our lives since she was 10 mo. old and has no recollection of her past and one who speaks almost no English and has every memory of her past. Mahlet is such a brave young girl who has lost both of her Bio. parents, her grandmother had to relinquish her because she couldn't care for any longer, and her Aunt and cousin that she left behind in ET. I'm still trying to process it myself...I can't imagine what she is feeling. I know how hard it was to loose my mother and MIL as an adult and I didn't have to leave my country or learn a new language or get chicken pox all in a week or so...

Blessings,

Bliss

Transition

I have to say once God calls you to adopt he is there right beside you no matter what the challenges might be. We had a few along the way but he always made the path a lot less bumpy.

Most of you know we adopted Hannah at 10 mo. old from China and her adoption was so easy...she instantly bonded with me. I can't explain how easy she was as a baby/toddler. She was just a gift from God to us as new parents. Fast forward to this next adoption. Mahlet is either 10 or 11 yrs. old (we are not quite sure) and was not what I had planned on when we began this journey for a second child. Our initial request was for an infant girl 0-12 months old. Once we saw Mahlet's photo on the waiting children's list we knew she was the child for our family. And God moved mountains to get us to her in record time. We received Mahlet's referral Feb. 3rd and we were assigned a court date of May 8th and if we passed we would have traveled at the end of May. Well God apparently didn't want us to be apart that long as our court date got miraculously moved up to March 26th and we ended up passing on March 27th because the judge wanted to talk to Mahlet (a first for a judge wanting to meet with an older child...I will share more on this later). We only had two weeks notice that we would be traveling to bring her home. This made for an interesting couple of weeks as we had to get her room ready, purchase our airline tickets, get things worked out with family that would be taking care of Hannah and dealing with very disorganized govt. agencies. We actually ended up getting our Senator involved to make sure our immigration paperwork got to the embassy in Addis Ababa on time.

Everything worked out and we are now at home transitioning from a family of three to four. It has gone remarkably well. The girls really bonded well quite quickly and now Hannah always wants to sleep in Mahlet's room (no problem because Mahlet has a trundle bed) and Mahlet wants her sister with her all the time. Hannah has now calls her sister Mahlee (Molly). I think this is what we we will all call her as nobody can seem to pronounce her name correctly.

Back to why the judge wanted to meet with Mahlet. I learned from Duni that Mahlet had turned down 3 families before us. I knew of one before we traveled but when I heard 3 I was a bit blown away. Duni told me that Mahlet was very grounded in her faith and was holding out for the family God had planned for her. I am so humbled to have such a child such as her. I am so amazed by my God and how he works. There are no words to describe how how blessed I feel. I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful girls. Yes, we have some language barriers but love is definitely a universal language and we are so thankful for the gift of adoption.
Blessings,
Bliss

My Girls

Mahlet wanted her little sister to sleep in her room last night. It was so sweet. She has a trundle bed so it worked out OK. Hannah is such an early riser she was up at 6AM this morning telling Mahlet it is morning time to get up. Mahlet was having nothing to do with getting up before 8AM. I've never seen a kid that can sleep through so much noise and commotion. I guess you have to get used to that when you live in an orphanage and sleep with 2 other girls in your bunk.

We met with the ESL teacher at Mahlet's school today. She just explained that Mahlet will have to be tested to see what level she will need to start at. We go back again on Monday to meet with her. Mahlet does know some English words but does not speak in any kind of sentences. I think she will do just fine. She really wants to learn but I think she is intimidated at saying something wrong.

Are biggest challenge is getting her to try new foods. I did discover she loves PB&J...thank the Good Lord for that as I can pull that off with out messing up.

She is a wonderful girl and doing just super. I will blog about some thoughts that I have had during this whole process of adopting an older child once I get my life in some sort of order. But I have to say I didn't expect it to go this smoothly.

Blessings,

Bliss

Life Is Good

I don't know how to begin this blog post... I have to just say there are really no words to describe what has taken place in my life in the last 7 days. I guess it should really be no surprise if you think back to what God did in 7 days...and then he rested on that 7th day...I need to figure out with the whole time change situation...when I get that rest day.

OK that was my little attempt at humor...but seriously my life has been changed by this past week. I can't explain it in words. I am in tears as I think back at it and try to put it into words.

Blessings,

Bliss

Almost Back Home

We arrived back in the States yesterday to a warm welcome at the Minneapolis Airport. It was a very long two days of traveling but it is so good to be almost home. We still have a six hour drive tomorrow before we arrive in Aberdeen. Mahlet did great on the flights. She grabbed my hand when the plane took of in Addis and held it for a while. But as soon as we were in the air she pretty much passed out and slept until Rome. She was able to see the lights of Rome from the air it was very Kon jo (beautiful). We were on the ground in Rome for about an hour and then took off and she was out again for nearly the entire flight to DC. Boy can she sleep. We had lunch in the Dulles airport and our waitress was Ethiopian so she able to talk to Mahlet. We ended up giving our waitress all the brr we had left over from our trip to send back to her family in ET (it was like $30 worth).

Mahlet slept the entire flight from Dulles to Minneapolis. She was very happy to meet her sister and the rest of the family. But once we got to my SIL house she kind of broke down and cried. I know the poor girl was so overwhelmed by all that was happening that she just needed to let it all out. She ended up falling asleep and slept the whole night (coughing a bit as she has a cold). I did hear her praying early this morning as Ron and I slept right by her side. She woke her happy cheery self and ate breakfast and held her little sister and they are the best of friends. I know we may have episodes of grief from time to time but altogether she has done remarkably well...beyond any expectations I could have hoped for. Continue to pray for our transition as a family and that she will like the food that I make her...I wouldn't blame the poor child if she didn't.

Blessings,

Bliss

Kids Care

We went to Kids Care orphanage this morning.  That is the orphanage that Mahlet spent a good deal of in and really wanted to see her friends and nannies.  She really had fun hugging all her friends and the staff.  Duni's mother Fortuna (the director) was there and she really has a special heart for Mahlet.  She thank Ron and I and told us that Mahlet was a very special girl.  So loving and giving with a big heart.  She told us she was very helpful and and a responsible girl.  I know we have pronouncing her name wrong from the day we inquired about her because we were told it wrong and given a wrong spelling.  It is spelled Mahlet and pronounced Mall law wet.  I' m not kidding this has been my biggest obstacle all week.  And she insists on it being pronounced correctly so those family members meeting her soon better start practicing. After Kids Care we ate lunch at Metro Pizza.  It was pretty good despite the fact we ate Pizza the night before.  Mahlet two big plates of spaghetti and a slice of pizza.  Honestly I have no idea where she put it.  But what I have noticed in the last couple of days is she eats very little breakfast, a huge lunch and very little for supper.  I think they are fed a high carb diet at the TH because it is cheap. After lunch we had to get our guide to the Embassy to pick our child's Visa.  Only one family had a problem and had to go back to the hotel (meaning the bus full had to go to) to return a paper they were given by mistake.  But we all have our Visa and we leave for home tomorrow evening.  We are so ready to go home.  We miss Hannah so much and just want to girls to meet.   We did visit another orphanage later in the day that our agency partners with.  It was wonderful to see all the children but the conditions were very poor.  Some of the children were happy to see us and came up and shook our hands.  But most looked kind of sad and scared.  The poverty of this country is unbelievable.  I just wish I could help them all. We came back and had dinner at the hotel and while at the restaurant I was told Hannah's nanny Tuti was in the lobby.  So since we were on the 6th floor and didn't want to waste time running down all the stairs I decided to take the elevator not thinking Mahlet had never been on one.  It was so funny she grabbed my arm and just smiled so I asked if this was her first ride...yes it was.  She greeted Tuti with a big hug and they exchanged some words.  Tuti had a gift for Mahlet waiting in her taxi so she went to get it and then we all went back up to the restaurant.  Mahlet insisted using the lift (new toy) and I was more than willing at 9,000 ft.  your lungs and legs really feel than thinner air.  Tuti hugged all the other family's children that were dining before sitting down with us to share a little more time with her favorite girl.  She only stayed a few minutes but gave Mahlet a beautiful head scarf that she modeled all during supper.  We once again took the elevator down to the lobby where Mahlet goodbye to Tuti one last time.  Unlike the goodbye at the TH Tuesday there were no tears shed.  You could truly tell this woman loves Mahlet and knows this is the best for her.  She gave me a hug and thanked me and then she was off.  I am so very thankful for this woman and the whole staff at Kids Care and the Transition Home for the love and care they provided for our daughter while she waited for her forever family.   Tomorrow we will be shopping for coffee and then packing up.  We all leave Friday night for the US and can tell you know one is as excited as one girl named Mahlet Maleah Rovang.  Boy if she thought the the elevator was fun an 16:40 hour flight to the coast might just send her over the edge. Blessings, Bliss < /div> < div> < br> it being pronounced correctly.  She is a stickler.  So those family members that will meet her right away start practicing.  I still think that name will become Mahlee (Molly). After we were done at Kids Care we ate at Metro Pizza.  It was pretty good despite the fact that we had pizza the night before.  Considering we have the largest travel group ever we have all stayed healthy except one little illness that was resolved very quickly. < br> < /div> < div> < br>