Life is Great!

[bluegoose]

What fantastic news! Congrats HFNW.

Like I told HFNW the other day, I have a cousin and her husband in Ethiopia as I type this, picking up 2 little boys that they have been working to adopt for quite some time now. I can only hope to hear a similarly heart-warming story when they land on American soil in a couple of days.

Side note - I baptized an Ethiopian man on my mission. He (along with most of the Ethiopians that I met in Toronto) was a very warm, gentle and kind person.

[happyone]

I'll want to add my congrats to the list. He looks adorable!

[Eddie]

Congrats HFNW. Seriously - great news for both you and your son.

Working in the foster care/adoption field I often hear from people who ask which route they should go in adopting. International? Domestic? From foster care?

My only advice - There are kids out there without families. I can't say that one of them deserves a family more than another. No matter where you adopt from, I'm just grateful that there are families willing to step forward and take on the commitment of bringing in, loving, and caring for an additional child. They all deserve better. I'm glad there is a boy in Oregon now who got what all of these children deserve.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Congrats and good job getting him indoctrinated as a Duck early on.

[BigPiney]

How wonderful. Great to hear all went well. You guys deserve it.

[Drunk Tank]

Congrats HFN and Family!

[Mrs. Funk]

Haven't had a chance to wish you and yours well and very, very happy yet. He's an adorable kid and you're all lucky to have each other.

[UtahDan]

Everything Gabers says goes double for me. For real.

[Viking]

This is such a great thing you did, HFN. Nice work.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Happy Birthday, HFN. I'm pleased you have one more person with whom you'll need to share your cake (strained, of course).

Edit:
BTW, that reminds me of an odd incident that occurred while we dined with the returning HFNs during their SFO layover. When the server asked if she could provide us with anything else, HFN requested that she fill up a formula bottle. She shook her head dismissively, "No, we can't do that." "Uh, why not?", HFN meekly inquired.

"We just have tap water, and that wouldn't be good for the baby. I can run out to my car and get some bottled water for the baby, if you'd like. But the tap water would be bad," she responded.

At this, we all became a bit concerned. "We're drinking your tap water," we observed in unison.

This went back and forth with her, and she eventually relented and filled the bottle, but with obvious misgivings about poisoning young Hawk, little knowing that less than 24 hours earlier Hawk was probably drinking water from an Ethiopian well.

[Donuthole]

Happy Birthday, HFN. I'm pleased you have one more person with whom you'll need to share your cake (strained, of course).

Edit:
BTW, that reminds me of an odd incident that occurred while we dined with the returning HFNs during their SFO layover. When the server asked if she could provide us with anything else, HFN requested that she fill up a formula bottle. She shook her head dismissively, "No, we can't do that." "Uh, why not?", HFN meekly inquired.

"We just have tap water, and that wouldn't be good for the baby. I can run out to my car and get some bottled water for the baby, if you'd like. But the tap water would be bad," she responded.

At this, we all became a bit concerned. "We're drinking your tap water," we observed in unison.

This went back and forth with her, and she eventually relented and filled the bottle, but with obvious misgivings about poisoning young Hawk, little knowing that less than 24 hours earlier Hawk was probably drinking water from an Ethiopian well.

The lesson: Californians are nuckin' futs.

[LA Ute]

The lesson: Californians are nuckin' futs.

It's a San Francisco thing. City's not really part of the USA, and perhaps not even of Earth.

[wuapinmon]

It's a San Francisco thing. City's not really part of the USA, and perhaps not even of Earth.

My sister lived in San Francisco for five years before moving to Big Sur. She said something like, "People in San Francisco, in general, are rude to each other. They say horrible things to each other because they know that no matter what. no one is going to throw a punch. Sometimes, I miss that about Georgia."

[LA Ute]

This is beyond great, HFN, I'm happy for you and think it's a great thing you're doing. Super best wishes!

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Life is still great and other updates in case you are interested. Hawk is such a happy, enjoyable boy. He has truly uplifted our lives in a way I'm not sure I could have hoped in my highest of expectations. He seems to always have a smile and now toddling around trying to catch up to his brothers playing ball or escaping the mothering of his big sister.


He has no problem letting them know he can hold his own with them either.
[YOUTUBE]TojtSUgZ7Es&list[/YOUTUBE]

As last year ended we decided that we wanted to expand our family again via adoption. So shortly after the first of the year we turned in a dossier to begin the process anew. This time the process was about 16 months shorter than last time, as a couple weeks ago we were referred a beautiful baby girl born 11/10/11 and abandoned at a hospital in Addis Ababa. So ldc and I again begin to plan for a trip to the land of Lucy sometime between May and June to meet her and start the court date/embassy with a slightly more experienced set of eyes.

I hope that my selfish indulgence of sharing will be excused and hopefully not construed as grandstanding. I know that many on here do much greater things than I ever will and despite some growing pains that CUF has endured over the last year I am truly humbled by my acceptance in the community and feel a kinship with almost all here.

I have been brought to joyous tears numerous times reading some of the kindness and well wishes in this thread and sent to me via PM/text from members of the board and in reliving the trek to bring Hawk home, it has been a great source of happiness to me. Thank you again for all the previous well wishes and other kindness shared with me and my family, and I look forward to sharing with those of you that are interested the new journey we are embarking on.