brian's blog

Well, after installation and some tweaking, I think I've finished setting up the new photo albums for the site. You can check them out via the Photo Albums link at the left. This system allows Danielle to add and edit photos and their captions much more easily than the old system, so hopefully we'll be getting more pix up here, and more often. If you have any problems with the photos (or any other part of the site), please drop me an email , so I can fix them (or at least try!).

Well, Miriam finally slept through most of the night last night. One of the main reasons Danielle and I haven't posted anything on the website the past few days is our lack of sleep. Last night, though, Miriam slept from midnight to 5am, after a block from 9pm to almost midnight. That allowed Danielle and I to get nearly the same amount of sleep ourselves. We are all in much better moods today.

Well, we're here in Addis Ababa. We have our daughter now. She seems to be adjusting okay to us--we're not adjusted to waking up every hour or so. :-) We're scheduled to go to the embassy this afternoon for our visa appointment. We've taken pictures and video which we'll edit and post after we get back to the States. Just thought I'd let you know we made it okay. Oh, and Miriam is just as cute as (if not cuter than) her pictures! :-)

Well, after a day trip in London, we made it safely to Kenya. We came out to visit our friends (www.ejoka.com) in the Turkana desert. Our visit with them was very relaxing for us and them. We were surprised that they have a well that puts forth clean, drinkable water. Today we're in Nairobi, staying with some other friends. We fly from Nairobi to Addis Sunday night (local time) and will receive Miriam Monday morning.

Today we received an email from our agency with two new pictures of Miriam--one of her being given a bath, and one of her being held by one of the caregivers there. The email also included more information about Miriam's development, her daily schedule, her likes and dislikes, etc. It sounds like she's doing very well, right on target with her developmental milestones. She's still a bit on the small side, but sounds and looks like she's very healthy and happy otherwise.

Today we got a scan of Miriam's birth certificate. It lists us as the adoptive parents, with her name created by the usual Ethiopian formula: the first name is Tideg, which they gave her at the care center, but the middle name comes from her father's first name. So the full name on her birth certificate is Tideg Brian $%^&. Very odd. Her legal name will be changed to the name on this website after we get to the states. Anyway, here is the picture of her from the birth certificate, a "mugshot" of sorts.