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!

A Much Delayed Flashback to ET

I am bound & determined to eventually finish sharing about our trip to Ethiopia! I believe I left off at Friday. This was the day when our time had come to leave Ethiopia & begin our long trip home. We woke up & finished up last minute packing, then headed downstairs for breakfast with the one of the other families remaining in our travel group. It was very sad for us to watch OE play with their daughter for the last time--to watch them converse in their native tongue & laugh together--what amazing young girls! The girls played in the workout room while N & I went out front to say good-bye to Danny & Barooke, our two favorite neighborhood kids. These boys stole my heart & it was so hard to hear them ask us if we could take them to America too! We laughed a lot about them through out the week--what smart young men! One of the families in our travel group observed them waiting outside the hotel gate for us to come out, then running up the street only to turn around & seemingly happen to be walking by the hotel as we came out. They didn't want to make their obsession with us too obvious. We jokingly called it the "Barooke Assault"--definately with a positive congnatation--we loved to share our walks to Hannah's Hope with the boys. It seemed like such a little thing to do, but we gave them all the comfort food from home that we had left--really I felt liek an idiot giving it to them. Here's our food--we're going to America & taking our new daughter--see ya! Ugh! They seemed thrilled to receive it--although I know Danny really just wanted my ipod (future travelers--when he asks you if you brought an ipod don't be stupid & say "yes" like I did--then you won't have to try to explain why your ipod would be useless to him as soon as the battery runs out ;-)--I would have totally given mine to him if that wasn't the case--it was very frustrating) . After telling the boys "good-bye", we went back into the hotel for final goodbyes with the other families & then loaded the van for the trip to the airport. Let me say that the drive to the airport was VERY difficult. I cried the entire way! It was so hard to grasp that this was our daughter's last moments on the streets of her birthcountry--watching her as she looked out the window--I just wanted to know what her little head was thinking--did she understand? She truly seemed to...it broke my heart. At that moment, I really didn't want to leave--the guilt of taking her from her birthcountry was enormous. I wish things were different in that country--so much poverty & hopelessness. I truly home that one day we will return & things will be different, but I do not see it happening--the extreme desperation of the situation seems bottomless. However, I know that God is BIG...I believe He is stirring & moving in that country! I find hope in that He can do what no man can see is possible!

More hotel silliness as we pack our suitcases!

Our last view of Hannah's Hope from the back window of the hotel :-(

The girls playing together for the last time :-(

Our "good-bye's" with the neighborhood boys.

Looking back down the road to the hotel as we drove off :-(

OE sweet hands moving to the beat of the music in the van as we drove through Addis for the last time :-(

One of the views from the van on our way to the airport...

Oh to know the thoughts going through our daughter's head as we drove through the city that morning...

The Addis Ababa airport. This is the only picture we were able to take at the airport--the guards armed with machine guns that surround the area are a little intimidating, & I don't think you're really suppose to take any pictures anyways ;-)

Video of our flight as we took-off from Ethiopia. Good-bye Ethiopia :-(

Lifesong for Orphans

I have to share a glimpse into how God helped provide a way for us to bring our daughter home. We were blessed to received a matching grant from "Lifesong for Orphans". Our friends & family rallied behind us & gave more than $3000 which Lifesong matched dollar for dollar up to $3000. When the grand total was calculated, we were given a check that covered our flights to the dollar. Is that amazing or what! We were so blessed to have the large expense covered (August is the most expensive month to travel to Ethiopia) & it was amazing to see how God led each person to give a certain amount that, when added together with the other donations, matched our exact need! God is so good, & we are so thankful for all of our dear friends & family who have been such a huge support through out this process.

My Baby Girl's 1st Lost Tooth!!!

Tonight, OE lost her 1st tooth! I'm so thankful that she was home in time for this milestone! For those of you who are calculating & a little confused...yes, she turned four in May, but yes, she just lost her first tooth! :-) Thankfully, we got a heads up that this was coming when we visited the dentist shortly after she arrived home. We realized then that her age may in deed be a little off. This happens frequently with international adoption...other parts of the world do not keep up with birthdays quite as well as us Americans--we could learn something from them---we are very self-centered! Or sometimes out of love for their children, birthfamilies say that their child is younger in hopes that a younger age will give the child a better opportunity to be adopted (as sad as it is, the older a child is, the harder it is to place them in a forever family). Regardless, as is usually the case when this happens, we will keep her age & birthday as it is & respect the dates & age that her birthfamily gave to us. We truly believe that it is probably no more than a year off & since all children develop & grow at different rates it won't make much difference in the long run. Our only real question through out this time of working through this idea was related to when she should start kindergarten. Since our social worker helped us confirm that she is ready to start next school year, we have had a total peace! So, all that said, we had a fun night at our house tonight! It gets better though!!! L lost his 2nd tooth just minutes before she lost hers! So, our "two peas in a pod"--"big brother & baby sister" both lost a tooth on the same night! C & R were not so happy with the events of the night--they will probably be trying to knock each other's teeth out tomorrow! :-) Life is good & the tooth fairy is going to be busy tonight!

Aren't they cute!!!

Fast asleep, in each other's arms, waiting for the toothfairy's visit!!!

Church

This morning OE went to church in America for the first time! Last night when I was trying to explain it to her, she got very excited! Initially she was not happy about having to wear a dress, but she cooperated as long as I promised to take her tennis shoes in the car with us for her to change into immediately afterwards. We took her into big church with us & big brother, L, joined us as well b/c his teachers weren't there. She loved the music & praying. She got a little upset when it was time to read from the Bible & I had forgotten my Bible, but we made do with a booklet she found in the foyer! My favorite moment from the service was when we sang "Mighty to Save"--the song is on my blog & has been a great source of encouragement throughout our journey! God is mighty to save & He does still move mountains! He moved every mountain that popped up on our road to bringing OE home! He moves mountains to bring orphans home to their forever families & He moves the mountain of sin in each of our lives to bring us to Him! He is so good & so big! Thank you, God, for sharing Your daughter, OE, with us! We are so grateful for her!

6 Weeks Home

Here we are at 6 weeks home! Praise God! We have had a wonderful week! OE's English is improving daily, & she is always so proud when she grasps a new concept or learns a new sentence. It is so fun to watch her! The boys are very proud to be helping her along the way (but we're trying to help L understand he doesn't have to talk so loud & say things so slowly & choppy in order to help her understand...she's pretty much past that now & thinks it's really annoying...he's just trying to help :-) ). Midway through the week we hit a streak of temper tantrums. You know it's bad when the neighbor several doors down could hear her! During one fit, R proceeded to say that she was crying so loud they could hear her in Africa & that she had to be the loudest kid from Africa! That has to be my favorite quote from the past six weeks! I've been worrying about how this was affecting the boys & I've felt better about things this week---humor is really helping! Anyways, she seems to be doing better over the past day or so. The boys respond really well to earning fuzzy balls for their ball jars, and this week we made her a ball jar. Earning balls is serving as a good motivation for her to stop throwing fits (at least for now!). Here are some pictures from our week! P.S.--My rheumatologist started me on steriods Monday to combat the flare up. I'm feeling a lot of relief...I'm still not where I was before the flare up, but I'm able to care for the house & my kids & that's all I care about! :-)

OE already knew how to jump rope when she came home...it was very hard for L to understand how his little sis could do something he couldn't do! He worked & worked & now they love to jump rope together!

We are loving the amazing weather we've been blessed with this week! We've been outside ALOT--riding bikes, playing on the fort, swinging, sliding, playing in the sand box, & having picnics!

Friday night we had our first campfire since OE's been home. It was great! She loved roasting the marshmellows & eating the popcorn we popped over the fire! She wasn't quite into the smores, but she ate her share of the chocolate bars! :-)

Saturday my mom & I took the kids to the little pumpkin patch near our house. This girl LOVES pumkins & was so exicted! Fall is such an amazing time of year, & we are so thankful to have OE here with us this year! Happy Fall Ya'll!