My name is Mary Ann Ritenauer.  I live in Westwego, New York, with my husband of ten years, Darryl, and our two children, Xaviar Daniel (9) and Emma Grace (5).  I am a housewife; my husband, meanwhile, works as a trial lawyer.

We are in the process of adopting two more into our family: a little boy, aged four, named Zaid, and a two-year-old girl named Teshi.  We have been waiting for them for six months now; hopefully they will be joining us soon.  All we can do is pray about it and trust in the Lord above.

We plan on renaming the children with American names, to make things easier on people.  We are going to call the boy Emmanuel Zaid, and the little girl, America Teshina.  They will still have their original names, excepting this time their given names will serve as their middle names instead of their first.  

Both children are healthy, but Emmanuel may have some learning or developmental delays: he is behind most children his age.  He isn't walking, and he can say only a few words.  They don't know what is going on with him, but we intend on finding out as soon as he is settled in with us.  Hopefully it isn't anything too serious.

Xaviar and Emma are both very excited at the prospect of a little brother and sister.  Needless to say, so are we.  I know they will be happy once they get used to us and their new home (not to mention, a brand new language).  We have been learning very basic Ethiopian, as a way of communicating with our new children once they arrive.  We are just waiting for the adoption agency to let us know that Teshi and Zaid are ready to come to America and join our family.

Sometimes I think the waiting is the hardest part, more so than all the paperwork, the home studies, or the background checks (and those can be tough, too).

It's as if they will never arrive.  Darn, I wish that phone would ring; I hate all this endless waiting!  It's getting to the point to where I'm ready to fly to Ethiopia all by myself and snatch the chlidren up and bring them here!!

Well, the phone is rinigng.  I will have to go and answer it:  Darryl is still at work.  Hopefully it is the adoption agency letting us know that Zaid and Teshi are ready to come to America!  Oh, I truly hope so!!  We have all been waiting for far too long!!

~To be continued.~