Life After Hurricane Ike

Where have I been? Well, Thursday we awoke to our local news stations saying that we were now under a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Ike. I knew that was going to happen. All week the news stations had been reporting that the hurricane was going to hit around Corpus Christi or Brownsville, but if you watched the models on www.stormpulse.com , then you could tell that they were going to be wrong. I think the real reason was that our state spent a lot of money on evacuations for the last hurricane which didn't touch us, so this time we had very little time to prepare, just like Hurricane Rita in 2005.

So, we packed our necessities and headed back to Troup, Texas where we stayed until Sunday. Sunday, we decided that since we had no power where we were, we might as well take our generators and head home where we at least have breathing room. And so now we are just waiting for power, but until then, we use our generators to run the refrigerator, two small A/C units, and our water well.

My How Your Thinking Changes

when you have a "spirited" two-year-old. I decided last week that I would NOT wait until Sheridan is three to put her in school! Can you blame me? She was so bored at home with me. She already knows all her colors, shapes, some letters, and counts to 20. No wonder she can open "child-proof" locks, climbs cabinets (decorates them too!), gets sticks of butter and eats them, and applies Desitin to her face so she can "shave" like Daddy! You might think I'm exaggerating, and I wish I was! Therefore, I called North Star where Skylar went to school when he was 3, and what do you know, they had one opening! Hurray!!! So, today was her big day. She got out of the car this morning and said, "Let me walk, Mommy." She went right in and never looked back! When I picked her up, she told me everything she had done today. I suppose now I'm just making room for Maritu and Mamush...

What Do You Call a Little Boy in Ethiopia When You Don't Know His Name?

MAMUSH! or Mamo... We've been thinking of calling him "Mamo." I think it's a cool nickname.

At Peace

Lately, I've felt a strange sense of peace. I feel so confortable with my process of adoption, thus far, for Maritu and Mamush. I guess it helps having wonderful Hope families that have showered me with older pictures of Mamush, not to mention the new ones of Mamush and Maritu. I can't imagine having to go through the process like other agencies (i.e., Dove) without getting these weekly pictures and video. My heart goes out to all adopting families. Even with these things, it's hard just waiting for the courts to re-open.

Here comes....

...Hurricane Ike! The big question for the next few weeks is "Will we be evacuating again?" I guess time will tell.

Great news

My husband talked to Dr. Paul Mikus in Ethiopia, and he seems to think Mamush's eye problem is confined to an area where he can be a candidate for future cataract surgery. What great news! Of course, we are prepared for the worst, but we'll hope for the best for our little guy!

Announcing....

the newest addition to our family


....MAMUSH!


Kenneth and I decided to accept the referral today thanks to finally getting some information about his eye problem from Dr. Paul Mikus who is with our agency and picking up a child in Ethiopia as we speak. Mamush has River Blindness. So, what is River Blindness? River blindness (onchocerciasis) is caused by a worm that breeds in fast-flowing rivers. It is transmitted to people through the bite of a black fly. The worms spread throughout the body, and when they die, they cause intense itching and a strong immune system response that can destroy nearby tissue, such as the eye.It is a major cause of blindness in west and central Africa.

The facts about river blindness:

1. around 18 million people are infected, of whom roughly 300,000 are irreversibly blind
2. 99 per cent of those with river blindness live in Africa
3. a further 125 million people are currently at risk from infection

Mamush does suffer from blindness in one eye...

Picture and Video High!

I'm on Cloud 9 right now. I've gotten video and pictures of Maritu! In the video from Jaclyn, Maritu is sitting up and clapping to music. Oh how I could just squeeze her right now! She and Ashley both got pics of Maritu with a grin, and to my surprise, I see two teeth!

We are back home!

I feel lately like I have suffered from my teenagers Attention Deficit Disorder. First, we were going to drive to Branson, Missouri, then it was Hot Springs, Arkansas. Well, yesterday, I checked on hotels in Dallas, but we decided to wait until today. Then, after waking up and seeing that Hurricane Gustav had not changed its path, we called the people we knew that were involved with emergency management to see if we would be stopped for trying to re-enter the evacuation area. We learned that no one was being stopped, so we chose to head home. Yea!!! Traffic was minimal, and now I get to sleep in my own bed!

Mercado's Restaurant

If you you in Texas or Louisiana and have a Mercado's Restaurant or Posada's, I suggest you try it out! We ate at Mercado's today, and all I have to say is, "Move over Pappasito's. Mercado's just took your #1 spot!" The home-made tortillas were mouth-watering! Oh! We can't forget the salsa! Wow!!! I'm so stuffed I feel like that little girl on Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that blew up like a big, fat blueberry!

We Are Evacuating!

I awoke at 5:30 A.M. in order to watch our local news stations for any hurricane updates. What I found out was that there was a voluntary evacuation under effect and a mandatory evacuation would be called at 6 A.M. tomorrow, so I had to get our house in order. I didn't do anything yesterday. I just procrastinated, but today I had no choice. Then we were off to Troup, TX where my Aunt Crystal lives, at least some of us were anyway. I left Skylar with Kenneth so he could play with our neighbor's kids. Kenneth waited on my Pops because FedEx made them work! They finally arrived with the RV about 2 A.M. This evacuation trip was much more pleasant but can you imagine 8 people kooked up in an RV? I love my parents and all, but there is a reason I don't live at home anymore besides the fact that I'm married!

To Pack, Or Not To Pack?

That IS the question our family is pondering. Yes, we have to make a judgement call by tomorrow because we have a soccer tournament in Houston this weekend. Those that hold those tournaments do NOT want to lose money, so they could care less if our team might be subject to an evacuation. Three years ago we evacuated for Hurricane Rita. We drove to my aunt's house about 3 hours north of us. It took us over 7 hours to get there. My husband who stayed in town a few more hours to get someone to cover his hospital patients suffered from a 12 hour drive! You just wouldn't understand unless you've actually been in this situation. Him, my father, and my uncle also drove back the day after Rita hit to clean out our refrigerators and freezers. Just think of the people that didn't return for a couple of weeks what they found in their refrigerators and freezers... YUK! We also returned home a week later and lived in 90 degree Texas heat with no electricity for two more weeks. Just imagine the devastation we encountered as we got closer to home. Trees down everywhere! The landscape as you knew it was forever changed. And we didn't suffer as badly as others...

Oh the Joy!

Oh the joy I get in hearing snipets of info on Maritu! Yesterday Nikko asked, "Holly, did you see the video clip I took of Maritu on our YouTube site?"

(Maritu was a sleeping angel...)

Today, Lisa W. sent me a pic of the little angel sitting up so big! She said, "Maritu looks GREAT, she is a cutie pie... they put her in the corner crib nearest the window which was Zaela's!"

Chris, my friend from San Antonio said this: "Hi Holly!!

I just have to say, it's a good thing our hands were full with Sof and
Helena, because Maritu is a keeper!!! She is so sweet and looks so
healthy!!! She is absolutely beautiful. Her eyes are truly captivating!!!
I snuggled with her right before she went down for a nap! You are going to
be in heaven with her!!! I have a picture of her and I will upload it
soon!! You have been in my thougths and prayers!!! I will call you when we
are settled for sure!!

Hugs,

Chris"


(I am amazed at how fast she is growing. Just one more month of court closure to endure, then hopefully I'll get a court date!)

Back To School

Not only do I have 3 of my 4 kids back in school, I received the most awesome pic of Maritu today from one of the Hopesters. I wish I could post it, but it's not worth the risk of losing my ability to adopt from Ethiopia... but as soon as we pass court, her pic will be plastered all over my blog!

BYSC Kick-Off Classic Champions

Good thing I'm feeling better! I couldn't miss my child's soccer tournament... Though I don't think it was such a good thing to be outside in that heat. Curran's team won the U-12/13 age division. They won all of their games except for one that ended in a tie. She even won a game where some of her old teammates were on the opposing team! She played awesome. She's gaining so much confidence with her amazing new coach and team!

This Doesn't Happen To Me...

I've had an eventful two days! That headache that started Sunday progressed into a full-blown nightmare on Thursday. Kenneth brought me to the office to x-ray my head. We were thinking it was my sinuses, but low and behold, the x-ray was clear. He then had my Mom bring me to the chiropractor. He stretched my neck and did accupuncture on me. I looked like the pin head guy off of the B-movie Hellraiser! I couldn't even open my eyes because my head hurt so badly. I never take medicine, but I took everything and anything that day that I could get my hands on. Still, nothing touched the pain. In fact, I took a migraine med incase that was causing my pain. Later in the day, the pain was so bad that I thought death was my best option. I was losing control. Kenneth thought I needed to go to the ER, so off we went. This just doesn't happen to me. So, I got a CAT scan and blood work, but still nothing. The ER doc said I needed a spinal tap... Oh my!!! I hate needles! I said no... For anyone reading this, that was not very smart of me. I took a 10% chance of having a bleed in my brain go undiagnosed... I wouldn't have done that if it hadn't been for having a husband that is a doctor and has practiced emergency medicine. He even thought I should bite the bullet... I got Reglan for nausea and Toradol for the pain. Kenneth gave me Ambien when I got home. That did the trick! I slept all night!!! Yea! I only had a slight headache when I awoke this morning but I'm going to be a couch potatoe all day!!!

Oh My Head!

I woke up this morning with a slight headache that got worse as the day progressed. I'm so glad the hubby came home! He gave me some Tylenol, and now I'm going to bed!!!

Did I say that?

Did I make some comment about having a relaxing weekend? God must be laughing at me! I stayed up until the Olympics were over (1AM), then I woke up Friday morning at 4AM to watch soccer. Well, I don't know what kind of bright idea I had because Sheridan started vomiting at 1AM Saturday! So, what do you do when the hubby is gone but call good 'ole Mom to the rescue! I'm glad she loves me... She hopped right on over so I could get harrassed at Wal-mart. You see, Sheridan needed some Sprite to drink, and there was nada in the frig. I cruised to Wal-mart, and the total at the check-out was $8.49. I hand the clerk a $20 bill and proceeded to pull out the change. She handed me my receipt with $2. I told her I gave her a $20, but she claimed it was a $10. I just knew my husband had only given me $20s, so I asked her to double check. She called her manager, who counted down the clerk's drawer after "huffing" about it. The clerk was short, but it wasn't exactly $10, so she said there was nothing she could do. I got in my car, and looked at my receipt where I noticed that the clerk punched in that I had given her correct change! Very strange! So, beware of Wal-mart clerks after dark!!! And by the way, the hubby confirmed today that he had given me five $20s...

Peaceful Weekend In Sight

I think I'm in for a peaceful weekend without the hubby. I guess if you call a weekend with 4 kids peaceful... He is flying to St.Louis to meet Mark and the band. From there they are traveling to meet his Mom, Dad, and Sister at Mark's concert at some county fair in South Dakota. I think we've only been apart on 3 occasions in the many years we've been married, so I can't complain. Anyway, I'm looking forward to sleeping in the middle of the bed!

Word From Ethiopia

I heard from Jaclyn today. Hear is what she said," I held Maritu for a long time the other day. The boys had taken off with my camera and so I didn't get a picture of me hugging on her yet but she was so lovey. She loved the snuggles and when I had to put her down she burst into tears. It broke my heart. You will be snuggling her soon. Maybe we will be coming at the same time to get our babies!!"

She's craving attention... We'll be there soon Maritu!