Referral & Waiting for Travel Pics

Just four months ago we saw our daughter's sweet face for the first time. I will never forget that evening when the phone rang. I was upstairs doing laundry or something & N & the boys were downstairs getting ready to head outside to play. It was Kate, our casemanager, she had a little girl that she thought we might want to hear about. She was a little older than our stated parameters, but God had already prepared my heart for that just a few days prior. She told me a little about her & then sent us an email with additional info & phots! Here are few of the pictures we stared at for the next 24 hours while we prayed over her referral.

In those first 24 hours, I was not convinced she was the one for us. What about the parameters we had felt led to? Aspects of her history made me very uncomfortable (the possibility of an older birth brother, the fact that her mother was still very much alive just not able to care for her--I had this picture in my head of a girl with no siblings & dead parents). Isn't it amazing how God stirs in your heart & shows you where your own will needs to be set aside to allow room for His perfect will. Now, I am so thankful that we know so much about her birthfamily. There are still gaps but so much more is known than what I had envisioned--what a blessing for our daughter. I am also thankful that she is older & was able to spend 4 years of her life in her homeland, with her birthfamily (which actually does not include birth siblings...just LOTS of cousins :-) ). Some of these realizations came during those first 24 hours that we knew about her but not all. So much of our decision came based totally on faith. God made it so clear that this was the little girl for our family, & we could feel Him saying, "I know the big picture. I know everything about her & everything about your family. I made this child for you & you for her." This sweet girl turned our world upside down from those moments on. We now have "girl power" in our house & mommy-daughter shopping trips! Life is amazingly good! Here are some other pictures that we were blessed to receive from other traveling families while we waited for court proceedings to finalize so we could travel to be united forever with our daughter!





This weekend the first group of families since we traveled will travel to Ethiopia to pick up their children. My heart & prayers are with these families. Soak it up! I worked so hard to ask all the questions I could think of & learn as much as I could about her history & life in Ethiopia. Still I have regrets...one big regret especially. We had the address of where our birthfamily lived. I wish we had hired a taxi & secretly driven through the area--just so I would know it looked like, so I could pass the memory on to OE. Everytime we drove around the city, I wondered what kind of house she had spent her first years in--an apartment building, a shack. I wish had seen the streets she had played in--the streets that were the backdrop for all the stories she has told us. I still wonder & know that this be very difficult for her later on when her memories are not as clear as they are now. For the families traveling this weekend, we are all praying for you. I am so excited that several of the children I met & fell in love with are meeting their forever families! For the families still waiting to pass court & get news of travel, rest in His peace. God knows the big picture & He is in control!

9 Weeks Home :-)

This week has been Fall Break at our house, & it was a great week despite having the stomach bug floating around between us! We had an overnight trip to the muntains and Dollywood planned & had to cancel. It was a bummer, & OE was especially so sad. She had so been looking forward to staying at the hotel & swimming in the indoor pool. Oh, well! That's how things go with FOUR kids--lots of sicknesses passed around. :-( OE loved having all the boys home from school all week. It was especially good to have L home more. He & OE are SO alike, but they really just have not had tons of time to just relax & play. Last week, OE even told me that she loved C & R but didn't really like L. It made me so sad, but when I thought about it, I realized it was probably b/c she gets more time with the other two boys. However, this week brought LOTS of great bonding time for L & OE. By the time she climbed into bed at the end of the day on Monday, she plopped down by L & said, "I love brother" & gave him a big hug. God is so good to give us just what we need when we need it, and these two needed the special times they had together this week. Also this week, we were excited to get our court date for her readoption set--Nov. 5th--very soon! It will be so good to have that last phase finalized & have her officially become a US citizen (she became a "permanent resident" the day she arrived in the states--green card & all). Overall, OE is still doing very well. We have commented on & off over the past couple weeks about how happy & peacefuly she seems & it's still the case. Tonight one of my friends noted the same thing. It is so good to hear that others are seeing it, as well. Thank you for all of your prayers during our transition. We have overwhelmingly felt God's presence through out this time, & I know it's because so many people have been petioning on our behalf. On days that I hardly have time to utter a quick prayer, I know there are a ton of people already on their knees for us. Please also continue to pray for my health & rheumatoid arthritis. I am still in the middle of this huge flare up. My meds have been changed & both of my knees have had cortisone shots, but we just haven't found the right solution yet (in fact, it keeps progressing further). Please pray that God will move & put a halt to this. Thankfully, OE is handling it much better now than she did when it first started. I think she realizes that I'm okay, not going anywhere, & can still care for her. I really appreciate you praying for me! Here are some pictures from our week! Family picnic at the playground at L's school--fun times! On Wednesday, OE had her cavity filled & got sealants. She was such a big girl--no shot needed or anything! On Thursday, we squeezed in quick, day trip to the mountains. OE loved the Christmas store & was so excited to pick out her first Christmas tree ornament. Christmas is going to be extra special this year! I can't wait! She also got her first caramel apple! Yummy! She loved it!

Friday night was the opening night for High School Musical 3. We had a blast--unti the end when everyone cheered & it flipped OE out! She recovered quickly & still keeps talking about how much fun we had.

We found another food she loves--chili! Yummo!
She had her first Halloween party tonight. At first, she wasn't quite sure what to think, but she quickly got into it. We love our amazing princess! Thank you, God, for sharing her with us!

8 Weeks Home, Baby!

It feels so good to have been home 8 weeks!

I've finally gotten all 700 n something pictures into photo albums & have started going through them with OE, trying to get make sure I record all the names & memories she shares with me. I'm not sure the exact underlaying reasons for this, but she does not like for me to write down the info she shares. She also does not like looking through the pictures of her Ethiopian family. It hit me this week, though, that it has only been 4 months since she was taken to Hannah's Hope by her Ethioipan family. This girl has been through A LOT in such a short period of time--if she doesn't want to "go there" with the pictures right now--I honestly don't blame her--so much to digest!

This week, I started working on her preschool workbook with her. She loves to "do school". The first day, I wrote her name & she immediately began working deligently to copy it over & over again. That night, N couldn't believe it when he gave her the pen to sign my birthday card & she immediately began spelling her name out in the most beautiful denelian handwriting you've ever seen.

We are thankful to have OE in our life! She is such an amazing little girl! I still catch myself looking at her & not believing my eyes that she is really here with us! It's such a dream come true! Here are some pictures from our week--enjoy!

Lunch with our favorite UT college student, N's cousin Kate (who happens to be from Vietnam)--what beautiful, special girls!


Candy frenzie at Mast General Store--so many yummy choices, so hard to decide!

Gatorade & popsicle run for C who has been so sick all week! OE was a great little sis & helped Mommy take good care of him!

My yummy birthday treat that the kids helped my mom make! I had a quiet b-day--no parties to overwhelm/interfere with bonding & a sick boy--but that's okay! I am just so thankful I had my daughter home & in my arms! God is good!

East TN is experiencing some very cool, fall weather & OE says it's "Very, Very Cold" (in her sweet Amharic accent with the r's rolled). It's so stinkin' adorable! She loves to sit outside on the deck & lately she's been needing a blanket to cuddle up with during her early morning deck time! Today marks the beginning of L's fall break. I'm so excited that he & OE will have extra time to spend together this week. The both love to do art & sing, so I'm sure our week will be filled with lots of artistic fun--I'm praying for some sweet brother/sister bonding time for them during the break!

Tonight, OE had her first Calhoun's BBQ experience! She LOVED the ribs! She is such a TN girl--I love it! I wasn't too happy that I had to share my ribs with her though! Next time this girl needs her own 1/2 slab--we never expected her to chow like she did! LOL!

Homecoming Celebrations

Brining OE home to our family & friends was an experience I'll never forget! It was so good to be welcomed so warmly by our loved ones! On our return trip we had a short layover in my original hometown, Memphis. We still have family & friends who live there, so we were blessed with an extra welcome home party there. As we stepped off the plane in Memphis, it was so good to be home to Tennessee! I knew we were almost home when we got off the airplane, & I could feel the humidity & smell BBQ--homesweet home! My cousin, Holly, & her husband & their daughter came out to the airport to welcome us home! Don't our girls look precious! I can't wait for these two cousins to play together soon!
My little sister (at heart) & her husband live in Memphis & came to welcome us home, as well! Adonia brought us lots of my favorite treats (pink iced thumbprint cookies, homemade rolls...hmmm...Adonia is the best baker)! It was like a mini-reception! Then it was time for the grand finale--our welcome home to Knoxville! Woohoo! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! There's no place like home!

The boys as they awaited our arrival!

Me running through the revolving doors like a crazy woman with N trailing along behind me...the minute I spotted my boys, I couldn't get to them quick enough! It was so good to have all my kids together at last!

My sweet adoptive mom buddy made a wonderful suggestion for how to do our homecoming. Two of our friends waited with the boys upstairs at the airport & we asked all of the family & friends to wait downstairs in baggage claim. This way, the boys got to meet their sister & reconnect with us wihtout the rest of the crowd looking on. It worked great! Then, we were able to go downstairs together, as a completed family, to celebrate with the others. It was amazing! Plus they took pictures & video of everything, so we were able to soak in the moments & not worry about getting pictures or videos! Here's the sight we saw as we rode down the escalator! This is when it hit me that we were really home with our daughter! What a welcome we were given! I will never forget this moment!

We were welcomed home by tons of our family & friends! I never expected so many folks to come out for such a late night celebration--family drove in from over 3 hours away, old church friends came, neighbors came, other adoptive families came, a collegue from N's work came, & the list goes on & on! We were so humbled & blessed by this! OE did great & seemed to love every minute of it! She greeted everyone with hugs & kisses! The boys were so proud of their little sister & loved showing her off! What an amazing ending to the most amazing trip ever!

Flashback to 42 Hours of Travel

Here's another flashback to our trip of a lifetime! We left the Union Hotel to head for the airport at 9:30 a.m. on Friday Ethiopia time & arrived home to good ole' East Tennesse at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday Eastern Time. That's a grand total of 42 hours--Gulp! That's a long time to be traveling--I don't care who you are! However, our princess took it like a champ & we enjoyed pretty much every second of it. My only negative memory from it was the 30 minutes we spent in the Northwest/KLM lounge at the Nairobi airport. It just plain stunk (literally)!

We left the hotel 5 hours before our flight. We departed Addis Ababa for Kenya on a 2 hour flight. We spent 5 hours in Nairobi before boarding our 8 hour flight to Amsterdam. We spent 9 lovely hours in there! Then it was 10 hours to Memphis. We had a 1.5 hour layover there before departing on our final 1.5 hour flight to Knoville. It was nutso, but we survived & had quite a bit of fun along the way! Here are some pictures from our adventures!

Breaking out the beach ball for a little physical activity in Kenya! It was great! We just worried that OE was going to bust her head open on the sharp corner of the sign on the right side of the picture. At this point, my goal was to make it home to American healthcare without any injuries or illnesses--watching the sweet girl in our travel group who had whooping cough had reminded me of how blessed we are in regards to our medical care--I really didn't want any stitches from Kenya! :-)

More silly faces to help us pass our time! Love my girl--her sense of humor was a real blessing & sanity saver! Our princess falling asleep in the waiting area 5 minutes before it was time to board our Amsterdam flight! Ugh--not quite what we were hoping for, but we rolled with it!:-)

We hit the stores in the Amsterdam airport for our first mother-daughter shopping spree while Daddy waited outside each store with our luggage. It was classic! The best part was when she found what she wanted & would holler out the door to ask Daddy to buy it for her--amazing how girls inately know to ask their Daddy for money! You go, girl!

Her favorite flip-flops that she picked out in Holland! Look at those sweet toes! Daddy loved these flops--the poor value of the American dollar sure showed it ugly face! They cost him $20 USD--only for his princess!

Playtime in the kids' playroom in Amsterdam. Great bonding time with Daddy--these were some of the first moments that she let N help her & play her! He was tickled pink!

OE's first McDonald's experience! She loved Ronald & her Happy Meal!

The balloon that came with the Happy Meal came in very handy. She blew it up & blew it up a million times! More bonding with Daddy. Touch is so important with bonding & most of the time in Ethiopia she wouldn't let N come near her (even the little bonding/touch games didn't fool her--there was no way she was letting him near her). It was amazing to watch her touch his hands as they interacted & traced each other's hands. It really seemed like she just needed to get away from Ethiopia & see that N was not going to leave her before she would let her guard down & connect with him.N busting out the 5 Hour Energy Drink shortly before we landed in Memphis. He needed it to get through all the homecoming fun. As was the case on flights to Ethiopia, he really didn't sleep much during our return flights--he had not one princess to take care of on the way over, but on the way home he had two! He was pretty much delirious--just ask our friend, Jonathan, who drove us home from the airport! ;-)

7 Weeks Home!!!

We had another great week at our house! OE is doing extremely well. She is so happy & loving life! She seems very secure & full of peace! It has been so cool to see God work in her heart & help her to realize that this is her home forever! My favorite moments are when I see her running around while twirling her hands through the air--it truly looks like she is praising Jesus & showing thanksgiving with her every step! Oh, to have that appreciation for life everyday! Kids are amazing, & we can all learn so much for them! Here are some highlights from the week! The kids decortating our Pumpkin House (like a gingerbread house). I think OE ate more of the candy than she put on the house...she had a blast though!

Bathtime for our princess! Is she beautiful or what!

L's school had a fundraiser night at Chuck E. Cheese. Intially, we were going to skip out, but I felt guilty so we ended up trying it (figuring we probably wouldn't last long)! OE did great though! Talk about the most stimulating place on earth & she took it like a pro (I think we're ready for Disney World now..YES!). Friday my baby boys turned 5! OE loved celebrating with them! They had their party at the movies, so OE experienced her first "big movie theatre" movie (as the boys call it)! She loved it & was very impressed by how big it was! She got passed around to several of our friends during all the chaos, & we weren't sure if she was ready for that. We were so thrilled to hear one of them say that everytime she saw something new or cool, she would turn to look for me & say "Mom, look!" or whatever--very good sign of a secure attachement if you ask me! Praise God!

Today we went to the Little Ponderosa Zoo to celebrate a friend's birthday! It was great!

OE was so excited to the see the zebras. She told us in Ethiopia that they are her favorite animal, & I was thrilled b/c they have always been my favorite animal as well. It's been very good for bonding--God is so cool like that to build connections in the smallest things. And, talk about God's amazing sense of humor--an animal with black & white stripes & a mohawk--I think that is so cool!

She also rode the ponies! What a funtime!

I fall more & more in love with this girl everyday! She is my hero!