Winter 2007 and First Christmas

We've been very negligent about posting new pictures, but that is the by-product of sleep deprivation and the Wisconsin Winter Malaise. The last few months have been busy with adoption finalization, first snow, and first Christmas. The last few weeks have blessed us with more snow, and more snow, and yet more snow. Have you seen The Shining? Anyway, here are some delinquint photos including Birthday Boy!!!

Autumn 2007

The leaves and temperatures are falling. Daylight Savings Time is screwing us, because Tsedeke wants to get up at 4:30am rather than 5:30am--he's an early riser. He had a great first Halloween. He went to a friend's birthday party as a flamboyant cowboy--he looked like a reject from the Village People. Later in the week, we went to the neighborhood party. Tsedeke was some sort of Sea Monster and Dad was a Sea Captain. Mom dressed as the American Girl doll "Julie Allright," who is apparently some hippy. Julie and George/Tsedeke just got back from seeing her friend Laura and new baby Jack in Chicago.

October Beach Vacation

Last week we went to the beach house at Lake Michigan. As much as I curse global warming, it was nice to swim in the "big lake" in October. Georgie T was a little nervous at first but soon took to the water. We saw friends, grandparents, and relatives in both Indianapolis and Valparaiso. We also spent a day in Chicago seeing Julie's old roommate Margaret before she ran the marathon--we think she survived. He sure enjoys his new Notre Dame hat (purchased on sale, I assume) and his new swing that Dad and Grandpa Darrel installed at the lake house.

Madison Month One

Sorry, I've been really bad about posting new pictures. GDuck continues to get quite portly on our genuine store bought USA formula. Notice his man-boobs and double chin--both of which are American acquisitions. You can also appreciate Daddy's bald spot in one of the pictures. I'd like to convince myself that the hair loss has stabilized. Julie loves Mommyhood and Giddy has taken quite a liking to baby food thrown to the floor. Georgie T has also mastered sitting and the xylophone.

Madison Week 1

Everything is going pretty well. George T, aka Duckie/Ducka, is coping pretty well with life in America. Julie is slowly chilling out. She still holds a mirror in front of his sleeping face to make sure he is breathing. I'm not sure how much better/worse she would be doing if she wasn't married to a board-certified pediatrician. Giddy regards Tsedeke with begrudging disdain, but slowly, she seems to be coming around. We had many visitors this weekend including Aunt Lisa and Uncle Matt. Some of dad's high school friends came over as well. Anyway, please see above pics.

(Note: We are wearing Great-Grandmother Stivers/Great-Aunt Nancy's homemade gifts in the first picture.) They are a little toasty this time of the year but should provide some much needed cranium coating during the chilly Wisconsin winters.

African Adventure I

Part of our trip included an opportunity to travel south from Addis Ababa about 200 km to see the Hosana region where George Tsedeke was born. Children's Home Society has a regional orphanage in this region where George lived for 6 weeks before going to Addis Ababa. We left Addis about 5am and loaded into a Land Rover caravan. It took about 4 hours to go the 200km given the rainy weather and marginal roads. Also, pedestrians in rural Ethiopia have little regard for their own well-being; goats and other livestock seems to all be pretty suicidal as well. Our driver hit the horn often, which seemed to negate any liability for hitting someone/something.

Anyway, we made it all the way south and we're returning north after a great trip. We had stopped to see a traditional home of the region. Our driver hit a bump and the next few seconds were eerily reminiscent of the Chris Farley motion picture "Tommy Boy." The hood of our SUV flipped up smashing/obscuring the windshield of said vehicle. Our intrepid driver slammed on the brakes hoping to arrest the forward momentum of our accelerating death machine. We fishtailed a few times and then performed a 180 degree spin. Our truck then slid sideways and tipped over on its side. At this point in the narrative, I should add that seatbelts are a first world luxury. Julie came to rest on my side, and our driver was unconscious--but his concealed .357 was rolling around the floorboards. There were 2 SUVs behind us with other adoptive couples on the trip. They both stopped and came to our aid; however, Julie had already opened the door and hopped to safety like a ring-tailed lemur (Leaving me for dead, presumably). The engine was smoking and our friend Ben appeared at the door yelling, "It's gonna blow." After I nursed my bruised wrist and changed my boxers, Ben pulled me to safety. By this time, the locals had descended on the accident scene from parts unknown and had surrounded the carnage. About 50-100 people converged to see if any ferenji (foreigner) had died. They helped the driver out and helped right the fallen vehicle. The battery which had previously been torn asunder was returned to it's socket, fluids retopped, hood bungee-corded, and the fallen vehicle was reborn and driven back to Addis Ababa (minus Julie and Kevin who had found passage in another Land Rover). This is all pretty funny now, though not at the time, though as I type this I realize my wrist might indeed by broken. See attached photos.

We're Baaaa-aack!!

Where to begin? The trip was totally amazing. Obviously, the most incredible part was returning with our beautiful son. However, the trip also contained adventure, adversity, new friendships, and near-death experiences. We'll start with some pictures of George Tsedeke Eichhorn. He is pretty great. He is 6 months old and rolls, coos, babbles--he actually talks more than Darrel and Erma combined. We haven't quite settled on what to call him yet. The nannies all called him DuckaDucka. His name is actually from the Hadiaya language in Ethiopia and is pronounced, Tzah-Ducka. We stayed with 6 other adoptive families at a guest house, and we all took to calling him Duckie, or G-Duck. I'm a little nervous about Duckie, as I don't want the obvoius comparison to Jon Cryer in "Pretty In Pink." Hopefully, we can transition to George in due time. So on with some pictures, thanks for your paternal indulgence.