Greetings -
Well the time has come!!! In a little over 24 hours Kenneth and I will be on our way to Tariku! It has been a whirlwind of emotion here at the Hammons House! Still so much to do and such little time! But we are beyond excited about this journey and we are taking with us an amazing professional photographer to capture the trip for us!! So for those curious here is our itinerary and for any scary people out there PLEASE NOTE our home will not be vacant as we have numerous friends staying to keep watch of our precious puppies!
Kenneth and Courtney’s Journey to Tariku!
July 29th – Aug 9th 2010
Day 1 – Thursday – June 29
Depart Nashville Airport @ 3:00pm on Delta
Arrive New York (JFK) @ 6:28pm
Depart New York (JFK) @ 11:00pm on Emirates
Day 2 – Friday – June 30
Arrive Dubai @ 7:45pm (remember that is 8 hrs ahead of Nashville)
Day 3 – Saturday – June 31
Depart Dubai @ 8:25am on Emirates
Arrive Ethiopia @ 11:30am
Check into the Yebsabi guest house – www.yebsabi.com
Day 4 – SUNDAY – Aug 1
We believe this is the day we will meet Tariku’s birth family
Day5 – MONDAY – Aug 2
9:30 am Meet in the lobby for paperwork party at the Hilton hotel
Lunch @ Hilton hotel
1:30 – 4:30 pm Visit to Transition Home to meet Tariku!
(Consultation with the Transition Home doctor)
Afternoon Activities:
Ladies – Boston Spa
Men – Guest House
7:15 pm Meet in the lobby for a Traditional
Ethiopian dinner
Day 6 – TUESDAY – Aug 3
9:30 – 11:30 am Meet in the lobby to go shopping
12:30 pm Lunch at Guest House
2:00 – 4:30 pm Visit Transition Home and take Tariku with us!!
Dinner on our own
Day 7 –WEDNESDAY – Aug 4
8:30 am Depart from the Guest House for the Embassy
Lunch- Lucy’s / Blue Tops
Afternoon
Shopping at Piazza (soccer jerseys and jewelry shops)
Dinner on own
Day 8 – THURSDAY – Aug 5
10:00 am Meet in the lobby to depart for Kids Care
12:30 pm Lunch at Metro Pizza/Makush
Afternoon Taking Tariku to the Black Lion Zoo ( our first family outing!!!)
Dinner on our own
Day 9 – FRIDAY – Aug 6
10:30 – 11:00 am Meet in the lobby to pick up visa for your Tariku
Coffee factory tour
12:30 pm Lunch on our own
3:30 pm Meet in the lobby for prayer and group pictures
7:35pm Depart Ethiopia on Emirates Airlines
Day 10 – Saturday – Aug 7
12:45am Arrive in Dubai on Emirates Airlines
2:00am Depart Dubai for NEW YORK CITY!!
7:45am Arrive in New York (JFK)
Day 11 – Sunday – Aug 8
New York City with the family
Day 12 – Monday – Aug 9
Morning with the family in New York City
3:40pm Depart New York (La Guardia) for Nashville on AA
5:15pm Arrive home to NASHVILLE!!
There you have it! We would love to see you at the airport in Nashville!!
Wishing you a magical day~
Courtney
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
What does Tariku eat?
Greetings -
This is a question I get alot! How will we make the food transition! Thankfully a loving family just back from Ethiopia took a picture of the menu that Tariku follows!! Here it is - looks like we will be eating alot of scrambled eggs in our future!
Wishing you a Magical Day~
Courtney
This is a question I get alot! How will we make the food transition! Thankfully a loving family just back from Ethiopia took a picture of the menu that Tariku follows!! Here it is - looks like we will be eating alot of scrambled eggs in our future!
Wishing you a Magical Day~
Courtney
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Ethiopia Bound................Almost!!
Greetings -
Wow what a wonderful week of surprises! On wednesday (day 24 of waiting for DNA results) we received a call from Anna at our adoption agency! The test results were in and YES the birthmother is Tariku's mother!!!!!!! So all we needed was for the embassy to look at the results and tell us we could come! Well as we have truly learned nothing with adoption is ever that easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday after having the results for 2 DAYS the embassy told our agency that since the results did not arrive via courier from the lab they would not accept them. So in awesome AWAA fashion they got the courier to the lab and back to the embassy!! Only to be told they would look at the results next week (this week now!!)So we voided the plane tickets we had (to leave on saturday - yes a mere 48 hours after the call!) and have put new tickets on hold to leave July 28th!!!! So now we wait a little more to get the approval to leave! By leaving on the 28th we will have the INCREDIBLE opportunity to meet Tariku's birth family!! Pray that we receive the good news asap!!
On another note some dear adoption friends of ours have just launched their fundraising t-shirts head on over to http://marquezfamilyjourney.blogspot.com and check them out! They are even giving one awesome shirt away this week!!!
Wishing you a Magical Day ~
Courtney
Wow what a wonderful week of surprises! On wednesday (day 24 of waiting for DNA results) we received a call from Anna at our adoption agency! The test results were in and YES the birthmother is Tariku's mother!!!!!!! So all we needed was for the embassy to look at the results and tell us we could come! Well as we have truly learned nothing with adoption is ever that easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On friday after having the results for 2 DAYS the embassy told our agency that since the results did not arrive via courier from the lab they would not accept them. So in awesome AWAA fashion they got the courier to the lab and back to the embassy!! Only to be told they would look at the results next week (this week now!!)So we voided the plane tickets we had (to leave on saturday - yes a mere 48 hours after the call!) and have put new tickets on hold to leave July 28th!!!! So now we wait a little more to get the approval to leave! By leaving on the 28th we will have the INCREDIBLE opportunity to meet Tariku's birth family!! Pray that we receive the good news asap!!
On another note some dear adoption friends of ours have just launched their fundraising t-shirts head on over to http://marquezfamilyjourney.blogspot.com and check them out! They are even giving one awesome shirt away this week!!!
Wishing you a Magical Day ~
Courtney
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
June Update from the adoption agency!
Greetings -
We here at the Hammons House hope you had a magical 4th of July weekend! We were busy removing mold from the garage and putting up a swimming pool! I was also working on Tariku's life book. I have about 15 pages done and feel like I have 100 to go and he is not even here yet! We are so blessed with all the families that are traveling that take pictures and share little things about him! This morning we received our update from the agency! So here we go................
Tariku is now 47inces tall (which means almost all the clothes I have will not fit!!)
Tariku weighs 47lbs (he was 42lbs when we accepted the referral!)
When asked what he likes to eat he said CAKE!!! He will fit in with his momma just great!!
He can speak a few English phrases such as “May I go to the toilet, my name is Tariku, please, sorry, etc”.
He can count some numbers in English. He knows A through Z and numbers 1-20 in sign language.
He is very active. He sometimes gets angry when he doesn’t get his way. He loves cats and dogs.
So there you have it! Here are the newest pictures from the update!
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Wishing you a Magical Day ~
Courtney
We here at the Hammons House hope you had a magical 4th of July weekend! We were busy removing mold from the garage and putting up a swimming pool! I was also working on Tariku's life book. I have about 15 pages done and feel like I have 100 to go and he is not even here yet! We are so blessed with all the families that are traveling that take pictures and share little things about him! This morning we received our update from the agency! So here we go................
Tariku is now 47inces tall (which means almost all the clothes I have will not fit!!)
Tariku weighs 47lbs (he was 42lbs when we accepted the referral!)
When asked what he likes to eat he said CAKE!!! He will fit in with his momma just great!!
He can speak a few English phrases such as “May I go to the toilet, my name is Tariku, please, sorry, etc”.
He can count some numbers in English. He knows A through Z and numbers 1-20 in sign language.
He is very active. He sometimes gets angry when he doesn’t get his way. He loves cats and dogs.
So there you have it! Here are the newest pictures from the update!
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Wishing you a Magical Day ~
Courtney
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Day 13 of Waiting!
Greetings -
So we are glad to know that the testing took place on June 21st in Ethiopia! Birth mom and Tariku were both taken to the lab for the tests! So now we wait!!! We pray each day that it will not take 40 days to get the results, we pray that god moves in ways that only he can but until than we wait. Today while I was in Tariku's room I saw the outfit he was going to wear for his first fourth of july on the lake and it just broke my heart. But we did receive new pictures, new handprint and footprints, and even a video this week from the wonderful Bankers who went last week to pick up their little one! We also received an amazing photo of Tariku's nanny from the Burhanna's and they tell me she just loves Tariku and has lots of pictures of him. My mom told me yesterday that everyone in her office is praying and so are the Notre Dame nuns!!!! So here's hoping to Magical news this coming week!!! I wish you all a fabulous fourth! Take a extra moment and love on the one's that love you! Here for your viewing pleasure are some new photos of our sweet sweet boy!
Wishing you a Magical Day~
Courtney
So we are glad to know that the testing took place on June 21st in Ethiopia! Birth mom and Tariku were both taken to the lab for the tests! So now we wait!!! We pray each day that it will not take 40 days to get the results, we pray that god moves in ways that only he can but until than we wait. Today while I was in Tariku's room I saw the outfit he was going to wear for his first fourth of july on the lake and it just broke my heart. But we did receive new pictures, new handprint and footprints, and even a video this week from the wonderful Bankers who went last week to pick up their little one! We also received an amazing photo of Tariku's nanny from the Burhanna's and they tell me she just loves Tariku and has lots of pictures of him. My mom told me yesterday that everyone in her office is praying and so are the Notre Dame nuns!!!! So here's hoping to Magical news this coming week!!! I wish you all a fabulous fourth! Take a extra moment and love on the one's that love you! Here for your viewing pleasure are some new photos of our sweet sweet boy!
Wishing you a Magical Day~
Courtney
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