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.

Last Day in Ethiopia

We are anxiously awaiting our trip to the airport to commence the arduous journey back to the states. Luckily, George is a great baby, but that will be put to the test over then next 32 hours. He sleeps through the night waking up once to eat at like 2am, and he's a total piggy eating 8 ounces of formula every 2-3 hours. We'll fatten him up in no time. Pictures and more stories will be posted when we return to the states.

Last Day in Ethiopia

We are anxiously awaiting our trip to the airport to commence the arduous journey back to the US. Luckily, George is a great baby. He sleeps through the night, waking up once to eat at about 2am. He's taking a bottle well, actually he's a little piggy as he drinks 8 ounces every 2-3 hours. He laughs, smiles, and loves to play. Fortunately for the other Eichhorns, he's already a real talker, babbling and cooing in his own language-Amharic, I believe. We will post pictures when we have faster internet access in the states.

Live from Addis Ababa

Julie and I are safe in Ethiopia. This is the first access to the internet that we've had, so we apologize for an unnecessary concern. We've had a great week, including a very exciting Landcruiser tour to the south (more about that on a later post). George Tsedeke is an adorable totally terrific kid. We are so lucky. Julie and I had our Embassy day yesterday with George. We changed our first diapers and gave him his first bottle. He did wonderfully. We will get to take him to the guest house tonight to stay with us. This place is pretty crazy, yet pretty incredible at the same time. When we return, we'll post more pictures of Ethiopia, ourselves, and of course, George.

We leave Friday night for our 18 hour trip home and look forward to seeing everyone soon. George Tsedeke is looking forward to meeting all of you as well. Bandwidth is scarce here so I'll sign off and update more when we're back in the states.

Pictures of George

I almost forgot to post these pictures of George. This first is his photo from about 6 weeks of age and the second is his most recent photo that accompanied his birth certificate.

First Real Post--WE'RE LEAVIN' ON A JET PLANE

I have usually found blogs to be quite annoying as is the whole "Blogosphere." Usually a bunch of uninformed amateurs. However, this format should be a great way to disseminate information to friends, family, and other interested parties. Julie and I have tried to write on this blog previously but have been too overwhelmed. Now we are writing to let everyone know that we leave on FRIDAY for Addis Ababa to get our baby George. We have made it through court and received his birth certificate with an updated picture last week. Julie and I are traveling with 5 or 6 other couples, and we are staying at the guest house when we arrive on Saturday. Sunday we get to take a trip to the southern region where George was born. The rest of the week will be spent with George at the orphanage. Tuesday we go to the American Embassy to get our visa, etc. We return to the U.S. on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully, we will be able to continue to post pictures and updates depending on the availability of bandwidth in Addis.