And we're getting ready to drop rylee off and head to the D to catch our a.m flight tomorrow on to D.C! I have been having a terrible time with putting my emotions aside and just taking it all in, on one side of the world we have an amazing son who Im sure won't even miss a beat while we're gone-he's going to have so much fun with his nammy and grampa his aunt uncle and cousins I am sure that he wont really even be sad. On the other side of the world we have a tiny baby girl that NEEEDS her mommy and daddy to come and bring her home-I cannot wait to do that! I just wish I didn't have such sad emotions about leaving here this time! Please Please continue to keep us in your prayers for safe travels, and amazing week in Ethiopia with our baby girl, an uneventful week here at home while we're away, and everyone stays safe and contines with their health! We love you all-we are so excited to bring Rylee Bona his baby sister he's been talking so much about!!!! PRAY PRAY PRAY!
ALL our Love-
Ryan, Meggan and Rylee Bona!

Through this crazy life, and these crazy times.....

You're my EVERYTHING!

And we're down to one hand.....

Yes. 5 days. 5 more sleeps.4 more nights of putting Rylee B to bed as our only child. 5 more crazy days of packing and organizing.5 more relativly un-interrupted nights of sleep (BUT WHO CARES!) : ) and im sure i can think of a lot more "just fives"-At this point, we are NO where near ready to leave on a plan to africa, however the HUUUUUGE donation bag (thanks tammi) is filled and that's one less bag (though, by the sounds of it we'll be getting more stuff in the next couple of days so we'll make room)!!! Thank you to everyone that has dropped off stuff for the orphanges, for us, prayers and everything! Please continue to pray for the safety of our family while we're gone-and for us.!!!

3rd Birthday Party!!!

This year Rylee's Birthday was on Nov.21-plain and simple. In my mind I am sad about being gone to Ethiopia for his actual birthday, so this year i think I believe myself when i say, "well, this year its on nov 21" hehe...we're good with it.he's good with it. The Dinosaur birthday party with his favorite buddies was a success! This lil' man is just something. His facial expressions, the things that come out of his mouth everyday, and his sweet lil' heart makes me happy every single day! He asked me today if we can take Baby Ezra to blow bubbles when she gets home-"maybe" just maybe he gets it...........

We love you SO much sweet Rylee B! Happy 3rd Birthday Munchkin!!!

Final Countdown......

In 10 short days I will be on a plane to get you my sweet baby E!!

Confirmed Tickets!

Yep, that's right in 11 days we take off for Ethiopia! I am.a.mess. Normally I don't want to act like things bother me, I like to play it off that everything is a-ok! Well, last night after we confirmed out tickets with the travel agent I just sat my computer and had a few breakdowns. It's leaving Rylee that's doing it. I guess this is the first of many emotions I will be feeling and while I can't wait to get my hands on our lil' princess, I will be so sad being away from him too! I am thanking my lucky stars for all that God has given us, and this is something I will get through, it's going to be OK. My very dear friend Tammi has been in my situation before, only she was heading off to Guatemala to pick up their princess while leaving their lil' boy home and she says to me "I know the feeling, it's hard, but let me tell you it's going to be harder on you than it will be on Rylee"....so that's what I keep telling myself now. Is 2 days more really THAT much for me to be in a tizzy about?-YES : )

We would love to see all of your smiling faces at the airport again to welcome us home, as soon our itinerary is mailed to us, I will post it for you!

Until then, please continue to keep us in your prayers!!!!

XOXO

Meggs

Gettin' it ALL done!

Not gonna lie, i like a lil' chaos in my life. Pretty sure the next 14 days will be filled with just that!

Decorating for Christmas:
Ryan and I have started a tradition where normally, I will go shopping on Black Friday-and during the day he will be bringing up all of the Christmas decorations so that day/night we can get the inside of our house done and we have a couple cocktails, listen to music and Rylee has a blast-Im certain this year he will love it even more. YES my friends that is still the plan, and still on my list of "to-do's" It would be next to perfect to walk in the door from EThiopia with our chidren to a decorated home for Christmas!

31 Parties:
I love my new gig being a consultant for 31-I have made great $$ doing it, and the parties are a blast! Who doesnt want to make money selling great items to great peeps for FUN!? Well, i have 5 of them to do in the next 14 days! Woot Woot

Thanksgiving:
SO much to be thankful for this year, Gonna make sure and work out extra hard the next 14 days so i can take in as much turkey and potatoes I want and maybe even a slice of pumpkin pie! :) Can't wait to spend it with family before we leave!

Working:
Being at the Salon for 3 more days before we leave Im gonna have to get in who I can before take-off, the girls at work will keep me loose! Love them!

Rylee's Birthday Party!!!!
Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this! Our sweet baby boy will be turning 3 while we're in Ethiopia (on Ezzie's Embassy date actually).....A Dino Bash for a sweet lil man is the perfect celebration before we head off to Ethiopia to pick our baby girl up~I keep talking myself through the fact that I will be so far away for the longest I have been without him, and on his birthday nonetheless! I can do this, it will fly by and we'll all be home as a family of 4 before we know it!!

PACKING PACKING PACKING!
I have already started this, her room has got things all laid out and in piles so I know what we have and what we still need to get for her. We have to set a whole suitcase aside for the peeps that will be dropping off donations this week(Thank you ALL by the way)-no one should ever go to ethiopia with an empty suitcase-never ever ever!! We're fillin' it up with goods for the children at the orphanages! This has to be my most favorite trip to pack for for myself, I dont have to worry about what im gonna feel like wearing, or what we'll be doing, Im dressing to go to Africa, to play with children and my baby! WHO CARES!!! : )

There is way more that i'll be doing on this list, but this about sums it up-14 days from now we will be boarding a plane to ETHIOPIA to bring Baby Ezzie home, CAN NOT wait to get my hands on that sweet lil' face!

Who's LEAVING for Ethiopia in a couple weeks?!?!

Our case has been cleared and Baby Ezzie will be HOME for Christmas! We got word yesterday at 5:15 a.m that our case is settled with the US Embassy and we are able to go appear before them on Dec 2 (Rylee's Birthday)!!!

Ryan and I have been talking a lot about how this Christmas with our families is going to go-and just so you all know, it's going to be extremely LIMITED. We are going to make every effort to appear if only for just a bit at the holiday parties, but it's going to be EXTREMELY overwhelming for her, and for all of us involved-so we are making them all short lived. This is going to the time where it's really limited to what we do, etc etc. Please don't be offended if we are not willing to just pass her (or Rylee) off on people-we know the offer is very gracious, but we are going to need to take the time to bond as a family of 4-it's transition enough bringing a new sibling into the home(so we understand) and it's going to be a little bit more of a challenge after being gone from Rylee for 7 days and BAM we show up with a new lil' sister for him!-

Thank you all for your continued thoughts, prayers, donations, etc etc etc-we are so very very thankful!!! We need any items you would like to donate by next weekend as our suitcases are going to begin to get filled!

ALL OUR LOVE
Meggan

Bare with me while I pout....

I don't know how they do it. I don't know how the people that are in the same situation as us turn the "frown upside down" and claim to just turn to prayer and fasting and know that it's all going to happen in God's time and be "ok" with it.....I am envious of them for being able to do that. The other day on Facebook i was really feeling a day where my girlfriend and I had a conversation-she too had gone through IVF and we were talking about that, and she said "IVF isn't for the weak"-she said a mouthful there, but now I can full on tell you-If having my children biologically was what we wanted for our family I would do that over and over and over again if I could just remind myself how this adoption process feels when you're at this point. This frustration is far more intense to me-to have the case of your child completly in someone else's hands and every.single.day you wait and wait and wait on them to keep pushing through your case, to bring your baby home-it's exhausting.....

What a "normal" morning routine WAS:
Get up, lolly gag into the living room and hope that at anytime Rylee would be waking up so we could start our day and play-until then I would be excited for the TODAY show and Regis and Kelly,I would throw some laundry in, start to get done around the house what needed to be-my zest for life was at an all time high almost daily-I feel like I am a pretty happy go lucky kinda' girl (MOST DAYS) : ) We'd be gone for the day to the park, walks, playdates, shopping, errands, etc, etc!

My morning routine NOW:
Wake up, throw coffee in the coffee pot, run to the bathroom while that's brewing-because we wouldn't want to "waste" anymore time by not utilizing my time, fill the cup up head upstairs to my "office" and stalk, stalk, and stalk emails, facebook, hit the refresh button 43 times, close out my email stalk some other blogs for a bit, come back to my email-hope that Rylee doesn't wake up for a little while still so I could stalk without feeling guilty for not being down with him and if Rylee is up turn on "Dino Dan" to pacify him for a bit while I get through the first hour of realizing that nope, today isn't the day either....it makes me frustrated, short fused and I hate that-that is not me.

So, while I don't love the person I am during the process when it's nearing the end-the person that I have become since falling in love with our son and daughter and the country they came from FAR OUTWEIGHS anything I am RIGHT NOW. Im trying to keep the faith, keep strong and know that IT WILL HAPPEN....As i have said in the past, God's story for us is far more exciting then anything I could write up myself, so the ink pen is in his hands....I'm just asking that he get's off his coffee break and get's back to what he's best at-

All Our Love
((Hugs))
Meggan

Last T Shirt Order and NEW DESIGN!

Placing a final T Shirt order before the holidays and added a new design! This one is available in long sleeve only, Youth or Adult for $20/shirt! Email me your order, I will be ordering before by Dec 11th, so let me know what you need for that special someone on your christmas list, or just because! I'm pretty excited about this design myself, tied in the pride of the Ethiopian colors! Or let me know if you want the Chosen or Hope design still as well! Thank you for all the support to bring Baby Ezra home and sharing our story with us! Place orders to me at megmckean@yahoo.com

FYI

Ok, so I think this week we've had to have answered the "do you have a date" or "when do you get to go" like 109 times (seriously). I love everyones enthusiasm I do. There's also been some frustrating moments this week, and today happens to be one of them. I am having a day. Could things be worse? Absolutly. Am I frustrated? Yes. We're supposed to be getting submitted on Thursday, and then we don't really know when we'll hear anything after that point. In the past, after passing court we could fully assume to leave about 4 weeks after that for our embassy appointment-the way things stand right now is we are submitted to Embassy, they once again review our "case" (no idea how long this will take) and once they give the green light and approve we are able to go to the next available appointment time for our agency. Having said that, this also means it could be the same type of situation where we only have 4 days notice to book our trip again-it is what it is. We are trying to get our bags packed, arrangements made and really everything in order so it's just ready when it's time! Thank you all for your continued thoughts, prayers and some very very generous donations for the cost of our trip that we have recieved-we are so very blessed and I continue to Thank God every single day for giving us this life-I know how fast things can change-so each day that we make it through in a positive direction I am thankful!

Our lil' "Bonasorous"

Rylee and all his cousins

Rylee and some of his favorite buddies! Mia, Jack and Bray

Our happy family!

Just so we have proof that I was the most ridiculously dressed.....

Halloween gets more fun every year with our lil' B! Each year he "get's it" a lil' more. This year his obsession is Dinosaurs! We did some trick or treating around E.Lansing with friends on Thursday and for Halloween we got together with the cousins at my parents and then met up with The Ballards and Hitchens to go around town. His favorite "treat" is lishorish (licorice)and the orange flavored tootsie rolls.

Ryan dressed up as a gorilla for our halloween party and Rylee didn't so much care for it-actually freaked right out to put it more clearly. I was a Banana. Yes. I thought of that. I hated it after the end of our evening on Saturday! Never again. Hope your Halloween 2010 was as enjoyable as ours!