we are home!

Wow, how things have been crazy!  We made it home for Christmas Eve service, which was wonderful to attend.  We woke up to a chaotic Christmas around the house with 3 little boys.  This post is to introduce the world to:

Sieber Sodeno - 8/29/2010

Justus Tegegn - 12/23/2010

Our Three Sons!

In Ethiopia

We are so enjoying the time in Ethiopia, and spending time with the boys and rediscovering their personalities.  The US Embassy appointment went well today, and we will have all our paperwork in hand tomorrow afternoon.  We will be leaving Ethiopia thursday with both boys and returning to the United States for our youngest boys first birthday.  After we stay the night in Denver, CO with Dan's Sister who is watching Mason, we will be flying to Kansas Saturday morning.  If all goes well we should be able to make Christmas Eve service with our friends and Church Family. Can't wait for everyone to meet the boys!!!

Getting all Ready to Go!!

There are so many great things about the timing of this trip to get the boys!  Item #1, we will be home as a family of 5 for Christmas.   Wow, that seems so odd...a family of five... ok, well now, onto Item #2, we will be with our youngest for his 1st birthday!  Item #3, there is room at the guest house!  If we went next week, we'd have to stay at a hotel down the road.  Those are the top three, but needless to say, we are so excited.  We have someone taking care of our house and dog, we are almost done cleaning the house.  I need to go to the office and get some claims sent.  We have women's Bible Study at our house tonight, and then it is off we go!  We just are soaring! 

A couple people have asked when we fly in so they can come to the airport and welcome us home as well as meet the boys!  We land in Denver on the 23rd at like 8:15pm or so.  We will have to go through customs, so I am not sure how long that will take in Denver, but we would love to see you there if you are in the area.  It is flight UA949 from London.

We will then fly into GC on the 24th.  Our flight lands at 11am or so.  We would love to see anyone there as well!  Depending on how we are all doing...and if it's open... maybe grab some lunch at Napoli's.... now that's an idea...  We will just have to play it by ear! 

We stayed up until 1:30 last night finishing up the packing, here is the fruit of our labor:

4 army duffels, 2 big rolly suitcases, 2 rubbermaid tubs, 4 carry ons and 2 personal bags!

Miracles DO Happen!

We have been cleared by the embassy!  It was completely unexpected!  What a great suprise this morning.  We are praying we get to head out of town in the next couple of days!  We will have to see what happens in getting us an embassy interview!  We just are beside ourselves with excitement! 

Please continue to pray though!  We have 3 sets of friends who we traveled with back in July who are still waiting and working to bring their babies home.  Having been there and seen others get to bring their kids home, it's hard.  Pray for peace for them as well as a quick resolution.

Also, finally, traveling around the holidays, travel expenses are also going to be a big higher than initially expected.  If you are looking for an end of the year giving for taxes, and you so desire, you can send tax deductible donations directly to West Sands for us.  Just put a note in the envelope that the money is to be credited to our account (Dan and Tara Simmons).  Their address is:  West Sands Adoptions, 1240 East 100 South #1, St. George, UT 84790

We thank you in advance for any help you may be willing or desiring to give. 

All we can say now is YAY!!!

Grant Contest!!!

Hello All!  I am not one to usually do major sales, not it my genes (although it is in Dan's); but I am here today asking for help!  Do to all the chaos with the embassy, we are now facing a $1400 bill that is growing!  Our boys are still stuck in Ethiopia and we are anxiously waiting to ge thtem home.  Unfortunately, the embassy keeps requesting additional stuff.  One of our boys' birthmothers has had to make two trips back to the city, one for an interview, the other for a DNA test to be done.  That was collected the other day and now they are requesting originals of documents.  this requires paper to be brought up from the original orphange the boys were relinquished to.  Usually copies are submitted because theoriginals are kept with the childs file at the original orphange.  So, long story short, boys are not home yet, we are accruing a larger bill, thanks to the US embassy, and we don't have the funds to cover it!

So, on to the GOOD NEWS!  we are fundraising though the Ordinary Hero Store  They have tons of great stuff!  We will receive 40% off of everything we sell.  If you do buy through them, when you check out, there is a place where you can choose and AFFILIATE NAME!  This is important!!!  This is where you click and choose 'SIMMONS, DAN and TARA!!!  Please help!  There is also a grant contest going on, so the top three sellers from now until midnight on the 11th will receive an additional $500!  That's huge!  If we could sell $1000 dollars of merchandise, we would receive $400 towards or adoption, and if hopefully we are one of the top three sellers, we would get an aditional $500.  That's $900 towards our new embassy bill!!! 

We are here, humbly asking for help.  I will tell  you that we do have a shirt from Ordinary Hero, as well as Mason does, and they are super soft!  Worth every penny! 

So please, spread the word.  I will be doing a facebook post also.  Please, share the info with your friends as well!  Spread the word on and on and get some Christmas shopping done for a good cause!!!  Make sure if you share the news of the push to sale that you share to choose Dan and Tara Simmons as the Affiliate!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Here are a few cute pictures of Mason in his Ordinary Hero t-shirt!  He loves it, it is super soft!