The Richardsons

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know the adoption process is changing all over the world. The latest news from Guatemala is disheartening. But the situation in Liberia is not much better. When we went to get A&E there were several families who were within weeks of us and preparing to travel in August, then September, and now most of those families are looking at November and beyond. The consular at the U.S. Embassy is going through all paperwork with a fine tooth comb and any mistakes means a denied visa. Our paperwork had tons of mistakes in it but under the old regime it was allowed because reps from the U.S. at the Embassy understood the issues facing Liberia. Now all those documents are being sent to our agency so our director can make sure they are correct. I don't even know what's involved in the new process. But I know there are families who are seriously worried they won't get their kids at all. The whole reason for this is to crack down ...

A month ago we went to the dentist and found A&E had 9 cavities between them and were sent to a pediatric specialist. Today we had a visit to the dentist and found Emmanuel has 20 teeth, 15 of them have cavities. So many so that he will be admitted to the hospital and put out to have them fixed. (I would say since during a five minute exam he kept saying, we're done!) Of course our union health plan at work only provides preventive dental care. So that will be a nice 4-5 thousand dollar Christmas present. I actually had the nerve to ask, what if we don't fix them? As to which, the very nice and patient doctor replied calmly, they will all get infected, fall out, and affect his adult teeth, never mind the extreme pain he'll be in. I said, "so we want to have those fixed ASAP." She said, "uh, yea." OK then. As for Abegail she has 6 teeth that need work including one that needs to be pulled. The doctor says that should only take an hour. ...

Abegail and Emmanuel are officially part of the catholic church. They were both baptized at the 4 p.m. mass tonight. I was so nervous all day because let me just say E-man can be a challenge at church. You know, pretending to wash my hair, rolling on the floor, crying, asking if church is finished, hitting his sisters, usually this is all before the first hymn is over. But they both did amazing. They were both so good. It did help that E-man fell asleep at the beginning of church and woke up just in time to be baptized. Then got sleepy at the end too. But they were so brave, they didn't go in the water but they did lean over and get it on their heads. E-man liked wearing a tie so much, he wore it to bed. Then we came home and had a little cake for A&E 's cousin, Maddie who turns one Sept. 30 th . This was the first time they met Maddie and they were so excited to have a baby in the house, here is a photo of minutes after hey met. It didn't take long until the...

Emmanuel Johnson's surgery to repair his imperforated anus was a success! He was in pain the day after the surgery, but nurses kept him comfortable. He will be leaving the hospital soon and in six weeks have the colostomy that was done in Liberia removed. He and his mother will be in Minnesota until January. Apparently, this problem happens 1 in 5000 live births Angela Davis, a reporter at our station, went and did interviews with Mom and Doc yesterday. Not only did Dr. Saltzman do the surgery for free but his daughters went out and bought Emmanuel a whole bunch of things he would need.

Or as some of us would call it, his head shaved. He and Scott are very proud of their work!

I just got these from one of the woman there at the arrival. Took a while because of course I was running late and didn't have my camera. In the group picture from left to right: me; Mrs. Liberia of Minnesota; Georgette; Emmanuel and his Mom; Mrs. Liberia's husband. Emmanuel's surgery is set for Wednesday!

So it just occurred to us TODAY that Emmanuel's initials are ER. We thankfully have not had to visit the ER yet but I thought we might on Wednesday when Eman was stung by a bee. Apparently he is very allergic. His hand where he got stunk swelled up to an elephant man's hand, he had a rash all over his body, and he was warm. Scott took him to the pharmacy to get Benadryl and the pharmacist says, "you don't need to worry unless he has trouble breathing." He was completely fine the next day. But I have never seen a kid itch so much. We are in house working mode. We ripped up our carpet in the living room which got more stains and dirt these past eight weeks than it had in 6 years and Scott is as we speak laying down wood floors. Abegail and a friend took on a project of their own today. We found this book shelf on the street and we are going to use it to store toys in A&E's room. Abegail picked out the paint color herself (from the basement) a...

One of the things Scott and I are asked repeatedly these days is, "Mommy what are you doing?" "Daddy, what are you doing?' When we answer, they repeatedly ask again as if its going to change in the next five seconds. Even when it's very obvious, like using the potty, its "Mommy what are you doing?" So we started to say, "making pancakes." As my aunt says sarcasm is so wasted on children, but not this time, they got it this time and now I can be folding laundry, or cleaning the floor and Emmanuel will say, "Mommy, you making pancakes?" They also ask repeatedly, even if I'm sitting down, "where you going?" So I started saying, "to the moon." "Mommy, can I come? Can I come with you to the moon?" From one of our AFAA parents: I ' ve come to learn that adopting a child doesn't necessarily equate to instant love (and word on the street is that giving birth is the same way, though l...

I didn't write that title - Sue did! I am not doing this of my own free will...nobody around here is doing anything of their own free will these days. I am only kidding of course. I have been here for almost six days, and there is much I would like to write about, but there is one overwhelming first impression that I have and it is this: Sue and Scott have committed themselves to a life full of challenge, sometimes confusion, occasionally chaos, often sleep deprivation, but always they seem to meet these challenges with love, patience and determination to make this work and turn these five people into a truly caring, loving and mutually respecting family. I must admit that I was a bit intimidated by E-man before I even got here because of the stories of his 'melt-downs' at the Cape, that I had already heard about from various family members. E-man is challenging, there is no doubt about it, but let's not forget that each of these children is challenged and challe...

I was telling our AFAA agency director that I think Abegail gets homesick and cries for long periods of times every now and then. She told me that when her Ethiopian daughter would get homesick she would take her outside at night and lay under the stars and moon and tell her it was the same moon and stars in Ethiopia. So Saturday night, Abegail cried for a long time about something very minor. Scott went in and tried to get her to talk to him. Then I went in and said come here, and I took her outside. Unfortunately, there was not a star or a moon in the sky. I said, "look up, see the sky? It's the same sky as in Liberia. See these clouds? There are clouds just like them in Liberia." I said "Do you think it's sunny or raining in Liberia?" She said, "raining." She went back to bed and was asleep in two minutes. The next day we were driving to church and she said, "Mommy, where's the moon?" I said, "it's daytime, ...

Sue was a guest on Esme Murphy's radio show tonight on WCCO. It was an hour-long discussion of our adoption process and the trials and tribulations of our family's journey. Esme is a co-worker of Sue's at WCCO-TV and a friend. They had a really nice talk about everything from the challenges of a bi-racial family to the cost of the adoption. We all gathered around the kitchen table and listened on an old boom box...while Sue barricaded herself in the attic so as not to be disturbed! :-) Two things: I didn't realize how difficult it would be to find a radio in this house!! It was a good thing Sue was upstairs because Abegail and E-Man dropped Annie on her head half way through the interview!! I'm not sure if Esme's listeners were able to hear the "thud" or not...but I think the neighbors did! (Annie's ok) I wish you could all hear the interview...but I don't think 'CCO podcasts their interviews. Nice job Sue!

We've been following the story of Emmanuel Johnson Jr. for the past several months. Here's the update: He arrived with his mother, Lorpu Vorkpor, yesterday from Liberia for surgery on his imperforated anus. They had a long trip. Mom said Emmanuel did not sleep at all and that neither did she. They had to fly through Kenya, Amsterdam, and then to Minneapolis. Mom is tiny, tiny (maybe 80 pounds) and so is the Emmanuel, but a face that will melt your heart. And they are very grateful for this lifesaving opportunity to get Emmanuel surgery at Fairview. Emmanuel's mom said it was extremely hard to leave her other four children. Ajenia Enterprises is sponsoring this trip and is looking for donations, go to any TCF bank and donate to the Emmanuel Johnson fund. From Georgette Gray (head of Ajenia) this a.m.: Emmanuel and his mother slept well. We could not find the colostomy bags over the counter so I called the Dr's office and we went in at 4pm expecting to see a nu...

Check this out. This is one of our AFAA moms who adopted from Ethiopia. Now she's on a book tour! Her website with an awesome slide show is http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/ These are my three nephews on their first day of school. Are they cute or what???? The oldest is Owen (2 nd grade) then Cameron (Kindergarten) and Chase who was extremely upset he could not go to school too. They live in Falls Church, VA. As for us, we had our 2 nd round of shots yesterday. The kids cried and screamed at the top of their lungs!! The entire building heard them. Abegail cried, "you're hurting me, you're hurting me." We get to do it again in two months. UGH. The parasites like their homes and while Eman was getting better, he is now back to where he was before. So we will re-treat him. Abegail of course, tested positive for Giardia and is on the yucky medicine. Eman is pretty good about the medicine. "Mommy I take my medicine, I am a good boy." The medici...

Today is Abegail's first day of school !!! And like our parents did for us...we made the kids pose for pictures! Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a picture in focus until the bus arrived. Oh well, Annie was picking her nose anyway. Abegail got onto the bus like a real pro!! She was soooo excited! As you can see...Annie and E-Man were skeptical. Frankly, E-Man was quite concerned.

We had a great weekend traveling to South Dakota to see an old friend of A&E's, Junior. Junior came home just three weeks after A&E and they were together at the AFAA house for almost the entire time they were both there. E-man and Junior had a fabulous time seeing each other again and all the way home E-man told us he wanted to go to Junior's house. Junior has a fabulous new family, we even met Grandma and Aunt Tammy and nieces and Nephews. It was so nice to meet Valerie and crew, we felt like we had known them for a long time! Junior is cuter than ever! And such a good boy, we're hoping E-man picked up a thing or two!