New Family Photos

Hello All,

I will continue to admit that I am the least active blogger out on the web, life just continues to keep us busy with the normal daily grind. But I promised I would post some updated photos and I always try to keep my promises. Those can be found here in our media gallery.

I am still working two jobs and Raylene still manages things at home. The kids will be starting school soon; Zach will be attending Kindergarten and Livy will be going to Pre-School, both are very excited. They seem to make friends well enough at church and have been invited to a couple of birthday parties already. We are all still making adjustments and getting settled. The kids have come along way in accepting the drastic changes in their lives, but honestly 6 months far too short of a time to expect them, or us, to adjust completely.

Despite growing pains we still manage to have moments of fun and laughter. Just a few weeks ago at the La Verkin City Pioneer Day Celebration Zach asked Raylene if he could have one of the candies he had gathered from candy cannon. She handed him one and he says, 'No the wrapper.' A little confused and curious, Raylene complies with his request. He calls out thanks as he runs back to the adults handing out candy to the children, and then returns with another payload and giggling to his hearts content. It turns out the children were being rewarded with more candy if they picked up trash. So barely five years old and already Zach has demonstrated his cunning and intelligence.

There was something Livy did this weekend that made Raylene and laugh and for the life of me I can't remember right now. So when I do I'll post an update.

Hope this finds you all well! Sincerely, the Millers.            

On the brite side

We have been home for about three months now and things are doing better than when we first arrived home. We are all beginning to adjust and perhaps even find our own little groove. Putting the kids to bed is not perfect but is infinitely better than when we first started out. Last night I was even able to put the kids to sleep by myself! Shocking isn't it, amazing how much our goals change once we have kids.

So far Saturdays are Raylene's day off, usually, so I attempt to perform an approximation of my parental duties by feeding, bathing, playing with, and generally keeping Raylene from completely going insane from the total lack of adult conversation or those awful toxic playdough fumes, I am not quite sure which it is. Actually, Raylene tells me that I do a good job the kids seems to like having me around so I think it is safe to say I am not a terrible father or husband.

We all still have our good and bad moments, and most always still glad be together! :) Here are some more photos of the kids I posted on our photo gallery.

A Break from the Screaming - Almost

Today was the 1st semi-good day in over a week, which is good because yesterday was the WORST day thus far, by a whole lot - wow! The fact that we all lived through it is really amazing. The major meltdowns didn't happen today until this evening and now both kids are mostly asleep, which means that I can soon follow. Yippee... :0) I will be trying to get our photo files moved to my computer so that I can post a few. That is my goal for this week, along with unpacking our suitcases! I know, lofty goals indeed as is has been an entire week since we have been home :0)

We made it back!

(This is a repeat post from Face Book)

Hello all! Yes, we are back and we have our kids with us :0) We got home at midnight on Tuesday. The trip to Awassa to meet the children's uncle was amazing although we really missed the kids. We got back from Awassa Sunday afternoon and the kids started acting out a bit. Monday was THE WORST day ever!!! Our little girl would scream at the top of her lungs and kick and cry for hours on end. Then Mamush would act out because we would be trying to calm Kefelech down and he would feel left out.

The trip home was the longest day of my life - both figuratively and literally. With the 10 hour time change our day was 34 hours and more than 30 of those hours were spent getting home. Kefelech continued to have massive meltdowns, but never got to the screaming at the top of her lungs. It was such a hard day. Our first day home (Wednesday) the kids continued to act out and I began to worry that this was the true norm for them. I was so exhausted. Mom came over so I could at least shower and for support. I don't know who flipped the switch on the kids, but it wasn't fun at all.

Luckily yesterday (Thursday) we have began to see glimpses and longer periods of the awesome kids we first meet - I think that we all might make it through this transition. :0) They love all the food that we have given them here, so far, and are in absolute love with play-dough. They spent 2.5 hours playing with it yesterday morning and wanted to play with it for almost another 2 hours in the afternoon.

I don't have much time to post at the moment, as the kids still haven't fully adjusted to our time zone, but we are getting closer. We are doing so much better than the previous 3 days of "Oh my goodness, What have we done?" The kids were back to giggling and being cute!! Yippee -

I will be adding posts with more details about our trip as time allows and of course adding pictures. But for now, I am going to head off to bed!

Monday's Text

"We have boarded our plane and so far we have had only small melt downs from Kafee and a little whining from Mamush, lame no water rule. Keep praying. Thanks."

Thier plane departed at about 2:00 a.m. Poor family... a first plane ride in the middle of the night!

Sunday's Text

"Returned from Awasa today, all safe together. Get trans-visa tomorrow and finish packing. Very glad to be traveling home soon! Kids are still great!"

Saturday's Text

"Both met the kids' uncle today, he is a wonderful man, glad could meet him. Also saw lots of countriside on trip and Lake Awasa evening."

Friday's Text

"Traditional meal was good. Traveling to Awasa tomorrow."

For those of you who don't know Awasa is the city where Zach and Livy were first placed in the orphanage. If there is any chance of meeting any relatives of the kids, to get information and ask questions, this is the one and only chance.

Thursday's Text

(There was no text on Wednesday) "Sorry I fell aspleep last night. K (Olivia Kefelech) slept better and so did we. Starting to see more of thier personalities and talking. They are so good and such a joy always."

Tuesday's Text

"Day 2- Mamush: can tie his shoes, trace most of the alphabet correctly, get dressed, say the alphabet, fold his clothes, match sets for go-fish, smiles a lot. Kefelech: helpful, made the bed, get dressed, loves to draw and copy brother, 1st real laugh, tiny and talks, can write about half the alphabet correctly, cute. They called us Mommy and Daddy today, looked for us when time to go, are restless wiggling sleepers, eat well, talking more, and are absolutely wonderful! LOVE"

Monday's Text

"Today was amazing and so tiring. The kids are absolutely wonderful! K (Olivia Kefelech) doesn't like onions and is so smart. M (Zachariah Mamush) is ticklish and got car sick."

1 day down, only about 4745 days till they are 18 years old

I am just kidding, right now we are really enjoying this time with Mamush and Kefelech. It was the most exciting day in my life next to our wedding day! Just FYI, Internet connection will be intermittent so we may or may not be able to post regularly.

So Children's Hope International (CHI) picked us up at Melkham House around 9:30 am local time and it was about 15min driving to reach House of Hope (HOH) and then we were shown into a room on the second floor with couches, chairs and what not, basically the equivalent of the torturous hospital waiting room, 10 min later one of the nannies walked in with the kids. Neither one of them knew who to look for ( we found out later the photo book, stuffed animal, and toy caddies made for them never arrived so they have never seen us until today. ), once they were pointed in the right direction it was hugs and picture taking city. I wish I could write more however time is limited. Overall it was the awesomest day ever, life is good when you are thirty years old and it is OK to play with the big wheels!

P.S. Ethiopia is 3+hrs ahead of greenwitch time, 10+hrs ahead of Utah.

The latest from Raylene and Patrick

Hey everyone... This is Shiloa (Raylene's sister) The happy parents asked me to post the texts and emails they send to us here on their blog so that everyone can enjoy this week with them. Just so you all know, Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead.

On Saturday morning (Saturday at 9:00 p.m. for them) we received an email that they were at the guest house (where they will be staying). The trip was long but they arrived with no problems. I also got this text from Raylene, "We are 10 hours ahead. All is great. Can't wait to see it in daylight. We should get a bit of sleep. I sent a message to Mom. Saw a fruit stand. Love it so far."

Yesterday (Sunday) we received a text as well... "Today we were just lazy. Slept well, ate pizza at Green View. Loved hot shower. Nervous & excited about tomorrow, seems surreal. Patrick's phone not working. Love"

Then later that evening my mother got this email... "We just got the Internet to work! I wanted to write a quick note to say hello. Everything is going well and we will see the kids in less than 12 hours! This is so exciting and wonderful and completely nerve racking at the same time. Hope that the cats aren't giving you too much trouble - thanks so much for all that everyone has done to help and support us in getting here. This is truly amazing. I will try to write again tomorrow when I hope to have so much more to tell. Take care, I am going to bed now!
~ Raylene Miller, mommy to 2 :0)"

By now they are with their children... Hooray!!!!

I'll try to keep their blog updated. ~Shiloa

Final Updated Photos

Raylene was bouncing at 6am this morning, not a normal occurrence in our home, but that is only because in 24hrs we will be boarding the plane to leave for Ethiopia to bring our kids home. In addition to that, she also received the last of the updated photos of our kids. This next week should be a whole lot of fun!

Investing for the future

Travel Immunizations $363.00

Lodging while in-country $942.00
Plane tickets for Ethiopia $4,960.00

Seeing our children's faces for the first time ... Priceless!

One Week and counting

In one week we will be somewhere in the air between Las Vegas and Chicago on our way to Ethiopia!!! So much to get done and yet the time can't come soon enough! So exciting :0)

Pictures and Updates

Thanks to some other traveling parents with CHI we received these new photos last night! They are so precious and we can't wait to hold them and love on them. We love that Livy Kefelech is smiling in these. They are so beyond konjo (Amharic: beautiful / handsome)!

We also got an email from our adoption consultant with their updated heights and weights. They are actually shorter in this round of measurements, which really isn't all that uncommon. We have been told that sometimes they are measured with shoes on, the kids can be wiggly, standing on uneven ground, you name it. They are definitely gaining weight, which is great!

Zachariah Mamush

At Referral (11/10/2009)
16 kg - 113 cm
(35.3 lb - 44.5 in)

Now (1/12/2010)
19 kg - 108 cm
(41.9 lb - 42.5 in)


Olivia Kefelech

At Referral (11/10/2009)
15 kg - 105 cm
(33 lb - 41.4 in)

Now (1/12/2010)
16 kg - 103 cm
(35.3 lb - 40.5 in)

We had a travel call with our agency this morning and we should find out our official VISA date tomorrow! Which means we should be able to buy our tickets and finalize and the last minute travel arrangements very soon!

In His own time ... is finally here!

The long awaited time has come, we are officially parents! No more psyche gotchas, no more just kidding pranks from life, our adoption was approved in the courts of Ethiopia on December 23th, 2009. We are the happy (ecstatic, lucky, etc. fill in your own exciting verbs, whatever) parents of two siblings, an almost 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl, by the name of Mamush and Kefelech. We will be keeping their Ethiopian names as their middle name, along with one of our choosing, so their new names will be Zachariah Mamush Miller (the almost 5 year old boy) and Olivia Kefelech Miller (the 3 year old girl). We are tentatively picking them up during the first week in February, so we only have four weeks to prepare since until now we could not be sure what ages and gender we would be getting so things will be crazy insane for the this next month getting everything ready we are supposed accomplish.

I've been told to inform everyone that Shiloa, Raylene's sister, will be planning to hold a kids shower on Saturday, January 16th, 2010. So if you think you'll be in the La Verkin, UT area around that time put a note on your calendar. All friends and family are invited and we will do our best to get everyone an invitation but odds are we will miss a few so just give a heads up by emailing kids.shower@millermoments.net. Patrick's cell at 435.767.1235 or Shiloa's cell at 435.669.8555

Lastly, we will be back posting the events that lead to this point of the yo-yo ride over the next week or two.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all a very Happy New Year!

P.S. Here are some additional photos of them. media.millermoments.net

Tuscan, Arizona

We just got back from spending a wonderful relaxing 4 days in Tuscan, AZ.

On the drive down we made a short detour to visit the Mesa, AZ Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This tradition was initiated by Raylene when we were first married, which is to visit any near by Temples while we are traveling and we have always enjoyed it a great deal. After spending some time inside and touring the grounds (temple photos) we continued on to Oro Valley, AZ where we would be staying and checked into our room at Worldmark Rancho Vistoso resort.

After spending 9 hours in the car and 2 hours at the temple we were well ... exhausted! So we threw the clothes somewhere in the closet and sat down to eat dinner and just slow down for the evening.

Friday was spent in total relaxed veggitation state within our cool air conditioned room, we did not want to run around and sweat ourselves into oblivion just yet. We did however eat some good food, Raylene got her TLC and Food Network fix, and Patrick re-read a book from one of his favorite book series, Misborn The Well of Ascension. We also made a run to the grocery store for some necessities, ice cream being one of them. :)

Saturday, we went the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where me met a hawk, investigated scores of reptiles, crawled through a mini-underground cave, saw a mountain lion,
oogled at rattle snakes (well Patrick did at least), meet some iguanas, and enjoyed seeing a host of other desert creatures and desert life: turtles, tarantulas, a glow in the dark scorpion, desert flowers and vegetation, dinosaur fossils, many brilliantly colored minerals, a bobcat, an ocelot, some prairie dogs, some Mexican wolves, two beavers, and coati.

The only sad part was the otter's were a no-show in their exhibit :( . We did take bunch of photos at the museum as well and you can view those here.

Sunday came and we checked out and then drove home. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves.

Homestudy Update

With the carpet installed and the baseboards touched up, I was more than ready to move everything back into the house. I figured it out today, it has been over 5 months since we have been fully unpacked - It was really starting to get old! Last night, with the help of my family, we moved most of it back. Some days when I start a project, I don't want to stop until it is completely finished, last night was one of those nights. It was a good thing too, because we got a call after 10:00pm from our social worker stating he was able to set up our walk-through appointment for tomorrow morning (today). I was so glad that the house was already back together. We knew that when we moved we would have to get an update and with a referral once again in hand, it was something that we couldn't put off. We were glad that we could schedule the meeting for 6:30am, since we had planned to leave on vacation to Tuscan about that time. The whole process took about 20 minutes and cost us an additional $150, even though we had already paid the $200 fee. Our agency has it in writing that we would not be charge more than $50 for travel, but then the visit was subcontracted out and that social worker had the additional charge. We will definitely be talking to WIAA and try to get this staightened out. It seems that everywhere we turn lately there is another fee, but I keep trying to remind myself that it will all be worth it to get our kids home. We were able to leave on vacation just an hour later than planned and are one more step closer to having all our paperwork in order.