Eli and Ethan's Baptism and more...

We're going on five months now and this last month and a half has been really quite busy. We celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary with our boys going out to dinner. Eli took his first steps (now he looks like a pro!) and Ethan decided he should start standing up in his crib (at six months old!). Not only that, but Ethan decided he would start crawling. He has suddenly discovered the world and wants to see all of it. His development has been nothing short of amazing. He saw his older brother start walking (and master it) and decided he could start doing things. He is much bigger now and is very strong for a baby.

On a sad note, we lost our best friend, our dog Calvin. He was fifteen years old and was very precious to us. We are glad that the boys got to meet him and that he got to meet them.

We are excited about both the boys' growth. Eli is taller. He loves to read books with us. He got his first hair cut for the baptism. He yaks a lot (mostly "mama" "dada" "boom" "go" and "roar" - when he's making his lion sound). Ethan won't be ignored either; his voice has gotten quite loud at times (mostly "dada"). He likes to follow Eli around and giggles when Eli gets in trouble. Both boys are brushing their teeth (kind of). Eli loves it, Ethan's not so sure about it yet.

The bonding/attachment process has gone very well. The boys know and trust us now. When someone new is around they look to us for reassurance. We've even started using a few babysitters lately.

Both of the boys were baptized on September 21st at an Ethiopian Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. Jodi's sister, Lori, is the godmother and our friend, Daniel, is the godfather. Their were eight baptisms total (including our friend, Holden). It was a great experience for all; being a part of the local Ethiopian community and seeing other kids and families. We got a little glimpse into what the boys' future might look like. We were glad to have this spiritual "rite of passage" happen. God has blessed us more than we could have imagined. We are very thankful for everything.

A week later, we celebrated Holden's first birthday (with our friends Eric and Tamra - "mom and dad"). It was great to be at a kids birthday party, especially having our own kids at the party (finally!!) Like Eli's first birthday, the birthday boy had a lot of frosting on his face (and his hands and his dad....). We love having connections to other people who have adopted, especially from Ethiopia (we all appreciate so much more.).

We've been doing video calls (with our computer) with Steve's family in Florida and Oregon. It's nice for those a long ways away to be able to see and interact with the boys. It sure is a new world we now live in. It will be good for the boys to know their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents ("nana and papa").

We had our final post-placement visit from our social worker. We are in the process of scheduling our final court hearing (here in Minnesota), which will finalize the adoption process (at least legally). This will probably take place by Thanksgiving. We are very excited about the holidays this year. Everything will be done and we might even have two boys walking by Christmas. To be continued....