Hello blog friends! I’m sorry I haven’t posted already. We’re in a different part of the hotel this time around, and our internet doesn’t seem to be working as well. I’ve been trying to upload pictures for two days now, and it’s just SUPER slow and gets stuck every time. I just wanted to let everyone know that we made it here safely and that we’re enjoying our time with Yohannes!!! I’ll update more details later when our internet service is better, but he was really glad to see us yesterday. He saw us in the van and came RUNNING! It was amazing! We had a great day yesterday, a little rough time last night at bed time, and we’re having another great day today. He is WONDERFUL and seems to be bonding with us really well. He’s picking up on English faster than we expected and has already learned his brothers’ names. It melts my heart completely to hear him say, “mommy!” We had our Embassy appointment this afternoon, and everything went well. I got a little choked up when the man behind the counter had us raise our right hands and made sure we understood that the adoption is final and that it’s hard to be “undone.” Yohannes has been our son legally since August 4th, but something about today made it really seem official (even though it already was). We love him to pieces and can’t wait to bring him home! I’ll keep trying to post pictures, and I can’t wait to share more about him and our trip when I get a chance and some decent internet!
Category Archives: Family
Click on the title of the blog post to view the entire entry.
two more days
Life is crazy busy around here this week. Brad and I have both been a little under-the-weather, and he just went to the doctor this morning to get medicine for a nasty sinus infection. I’ve been running around purchasing last minute things we’ll need for little man as well as things the grandparents and big boys will need while we’re gone. I’ve been typing out lists for the grandparents and letters for the teachers and packing lists, etc. Our little guy’s bed is covered with suitcases and things to be packed in them. I think I’ll just be glad to get on the plane and sit for a while on Saturday (I’m sure I’ll eat those words when we’re about 15 hours into the trip & I’m sick of sitting on that airplane)! I’ve got so much to do before we leave, but at the same time, I’m so ready!
We’ll arrive in Addis Ababa Sunday evening, and we’ll go to Hannah’s Hope to get him Monday morning. Our Embassy appointment is Tuesday morning, and we’ll leave Ethiopia to come home late Thursday night. We’re not allowed to go out in public much at all with him, so we’ll spend a lot of time at the hotel. I’m sure that we’ll be very ready to start the journey home on Thursday. We’ll arrive in Nashville Friday afternoon, and we’re inviting any friends and family that would like to greet us at the airport to do so (I’ll share all of those details in a later post).
When I think about the number of people involved in helping to bring him home, I’m completely overwhelmed with emotion. There are literally about 300 people who have contributed financially, and so many people have prayed for us over the past eight months. We will never be able to adequately thank you all. Please know that every little donation and every little word of encouragement and support has been SUCH a HUGE blessing to us. Our small group threw a “toddler shower” for us last night, and they gave so generously. Now our little guy has plenty of clothes to wear and new, fun things to play with! We are so grateful for all of you for partnering with us on this crazy journey God has taken our family on.
We know the real journey is just about to begin, so we would truly appreciate your prayers as we transition to being a family of five. We know that there will certainly be tough days ahead as he grieves the loss of everything familiar. There will possibly (if not probably) be times when he shuts down and rejects us, when he gets angry and frustrated, when he cries and we don’t know why or what to do. There will be a language barrier for a while since he doesn’t speak English. In many ways, the hard part is ahead of us as we learn to parent him well.
We’ll be “cocooning” for a couple of months while he transitions to being a part of our family. I’ll do a separate post on that soon describing what that means and what we think it will look like for us. Again, thank you all so much. I CANNOT WAIT to show you his beautiful face and smile. We are incredibly blessed to have the privilege of being his family, and we can’t wait to bring him home!
**THIRTY-TWO**
That’s how old I am today. It’s been a really fun birthday spent with some of my favorite people! I teach ESL at the Nashville International Center for Empowerment every Monday & Wednesday morning. Today my students brought cupcakes and chocolate cookies to celebrate my special day! We also took a break from the hard work we’ve been doing and played our own version of Pictionary to practice vocabulary. It was fun, and we laughed a lot! Here’s my bunch – I LOVE them!
Here I am with Mr. Gatluak Thach, the executive director of the center. He is an amazing man with an incredible story. His home country is Sudan. Also pictured are two of my faithful students, Mrs. Esther (from Sudan) and Samsamone (from Laos).
After class, I headed to Hillsboro Village to eat lunch at Fido with my girlfriends, Jenny & Elissa.
Soon after I got home, the doorbell rang and a man was standing on my porch holding these from my mom & sister!
We’re about to head to small group where I’ll get to see some of my other favorite people! All in all, I’d say it’s been a fabulous birthday! I feel extremely blessed!
WOW!
I didn’t know what title to give this post . . . “WOW!” was all I could come up with after sitting in front of my computer screen for several minutes. The “Facebook/Twitter/Blog-a-thon” fundraiser was a huge success this weekend, and we are incredibly grateful for ALL who participated. It is amazing how a lot of people giving a little can add up! There are still a few donations coming in the mail later this week (and some are still coming in online), so I don’t have a grand total just yet. BUT, as of this morning we are up to $4,000. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! Can you believe that?!
We don’t have the words to express our appreciation to everyone who donated and got the word out. We knew going into this adoption that we would have to ask for help financially at some point. It’s often humbling (especially in our society) to have to ask for help, but we know that God wants to use others and doesn’t want us to carry our burdens alone. He hasn’t called all Christians to adopt children, but I DO believe that he calls ALL Christians to love and care for orphans and others in need. So for those of you who contributed last weekend, you did just that – and we thank you.
We received an email yesterday from friends who are in Ethiopia right now picking up their little boy. It read, “We saw [him] again yesterday. I think he is definitely missing you guys. Even Almaz said that he was missing his mom and dad when our group was there. I think he will definitely be ready for you.” As I read it, tears rolled down my cheeks. On one hand, I was glad to hear that he remembers us and love us already and misses us. At the same time, though, my heart broke for him (once again). I’m praying that he really believes we’re coming back for him and that we love him so much. We leave in ELEVEN days, and while there’s still a lot left to be done before we travel, September 4th can’t get here fast enough!
I’ll leave you with this verse because I really do believe it’s true – we’re living proof!
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19
I hope you all are having a great week, and thanks for reading!
getting ready
Who knew it would be so much work getting ready for little man to come home?! It’s worth every single minute of thinking through the details, but my to-do/to-buy list seems to grow a little each day! I really don’t like clutter (and have even been accused on occasion quite often of getting rid of too much stuff) so it’s no surprise that we gave away most of our little boy clothes and toys a while back. So . . . we’re kind of starting over, and I’ve been buying little things here and there for him. A few days ago I bought Toy Story and Cars underwear. Yesterday I ordered his backpack (we’ll pack it full of goodies to help keep him preoccupied on the LONG flight). Today I got pajamas and an outfit for him to wear to our Embassy appointment. We also bought him shoes last week (see previous post). Here are a few of the things on my list . . .
Notice the hair products at the top . . . that’s definitely something new for me! There have been multiple things recommended to me, so we’ll just have to play around and see what works best once he’s here. He has really cute hair, though . . . see??? . . .
I’ve been wanting to blog the past couple of days but haven’t been able to come up with words for how I’m feeling right now. Riley and Cole have started back to school, so I’ve been kind of busy (and somewhat distracted) with that. I’ve really been trying to live in the moment and enjoy Riley and Cole, too. But I miss him. I think about him multiple times everyday. It’s usually a random, fleeting thought, but in those moments my heart aches. I miss his grin and kissing his cheeks. I miss kicking the soccer ball with him and blowing bubbles. I miss holding him and feeling his head rest on my shoulder.
Yesterday I was in the bank and noticed a little boy with his mom. He reminded me of our little boy, and I asked how old he was and what country she’s from (thankfully the part of town we live in is very diverse, and there are people literally from all over the world that live close to us). She said that she is from Ethiopia, and I got to tell her about our son. I asked what area of Ethiopia she’s from, and she said “the Tigray region” (where little man was born!). We talked for a few minutes, and then I went back out to my car with tears in my eyes. Seeing her son made me miss mine terribly. I was thankful, though, for meeting her and having a conversation with her. It’s encouraging to meet Ethiopians in our area.
We’re still waiting to hear that we can purchase our airline tickets for the second trip. We have an Embassy appointment on Tuesday, September 7, so we should travel September 4 – 10. We’re waiting to hear the results of his TB test, and we should know something by the end of the week. Please continue to pray that everything works out for us to travel then. That’s only EIGHTEEN DAYS AWAY!!! I can’t wait to see him again and bring him HOME!
REJOICING!!!
You guys must REALLY be praying for us or something!
The big boys and I were out doing some back-to-school shopping this afternoon when I got a call from our case manager. She said the magic words we love to hear . . . “Well, I have some good news for you . . . ” and proceeded to tell me that we have an Embassy appointment on Tuesday, September 7th!!! She told us to go ahead and start looking into flights for September 4th – 10th. These are tentative travel dates at this point, and there are still a number of things that could slow the process and cause a delay. Please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly and that we indeed get to bring our little boy home very SOON! I just about broke into a dance in the middle of Target, and I’m completely overwhelmed with thankfulness this afternoon. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support! To commemorate the occasion, we decided to buy him these! . . .
In other news, Riley and Cole started back to school today! Riley is a FOURTH grader now & Cole is in SECOND grade . . . yikes! They only went for half of the day, and their first full day is on Monday. They both came home in good spirits and enjoyed their teachers and their classmates. Riley’s excited because they have a hamster, some fish, a frog, a guinea pig, etc. in their classroom. They get to be on “pet patrol” and even take one of the little critters home for the weekend every now and then – whoo hoo! Cole said his teacher is cool because “she has good Legos and good books in her classroom.” I’m praying that it’s a good year for both of them – especially with all of the changes going on at home with little man coming into the family. I’m really proud of Riley and Cole, and they are going to be such great big brothers!
Well, I have to go get ready for 2.5 hours of “Parent Night” at the school. Our sweet friend, Jessie, is coming to hang out with the guys last minute so we can both go . . . thanks, Jessie!!! I just had to share our good news and a school update while I had a minute. I am a lousy mom and didn’t even take pictures today (mostly because Riley would be mortified and completely embarrassed!), but I’ll try to sneak some in on Monday and post them (especially for the grandparents!). Until then . . .
saying goodbye
We made it back to Nashville yesterday afternoon after 30 hours of traveling and about 21 hours on an airplane. While I miss being in Ethiopia, at this point I’m just really glad to be on the ground!
Friday was a tough day emotionally, but we made it and my heart is actually filled with peace. We headed over to Hannah’s Hope at 9:00 and played just like we did the other days. Our little guy was outside and ran to the van when he saw we were inside. Not long after that, however, he started acting very strangely. He was very clingy and didn’t want anything to do with Brad. He wanted me to carry him the whole time and didn’t want to play (which isn’t like him). He cried a little at one point, and Almaz came out and asked him if he wanted some new shoes. He did, so we went into the storage room, and he picked out a pair. He was SO proud of those shoes and strutted back out to the courtyard to show them off! He just kind of crept out there at first, looking down at them as he walked, and waited to see if any of the kids would notice. When they didn’t, he decided to call each child by name and pointed at them. It was so funny! After that, he was all better, and we had a good time.
* (These are his new shoes & his sweet little hand!)
When it was time for lunch, tears welled up in his eyes, and it was ALL I could do to hold mine in. He’s a smart little guy, and he’d figured out early on that we would leave soon after lunch was over. He finally stopped crying, and Brad and I fed him his lunch (injera and shiro wat). In Ethiopian culture, feeding someone shows that you love them, and I had kind of wanted to feed him all week long. He settled down, and we blew LOTS of bubbles and played soccer after lunch.
Because he had figured out that we are his parents earlier in the week, Almaz was honest with him when it was time for us to go. She told him that we were going back to America to get him some new clothes, some toys & some candy and that we would be back to take him home. He instantly looked sad and wouldn’t look us in the eyes. Almaz said that he agreed with the part about us bringing him new things but didn’t agree with us leaving. We loved on him, and I took his little face in my hands and gave him one last kiss. Then we got in the van. I somehow managed to hold it together until we backed out of the gate, and then I sobbed and did the ugly cry. I’ll never forget him turning to look at us as we backed out.
By the time we got back to the hotel, I suddenly felt a strange sense of peace and had stopped crying. That morning at Hannah’s Hope, Almaz had given us a disc of pictures of our little guy with his birth mom and little sister. When we got in our room, I popped the disc in my laptop. As we looked through all of the pictures and read the interview that was done with her, I just cried and cried. Honestly it was far more emotional than saying goodbye to him. I believe God allowed me to have perspective in that moment and realize that my goodbye was NOTHING in comparison to her goodbye. She said goodbye for forever, and I was only saying goodbye for a few weeks. Her pain was far more agonizing than the pain I felt. My heart broke again for her and for him. In the pictures, he looks so content and comfortable with her. He looks so happy. There are ones of just him and her and ones of him holding and kissing on his little sister. I just sat there and grieved for all of them and thanked God for her and her sacrifice. She loves him so much that she made the decision to let him go so he could live and thrive. She wasn’t able to provide for him, and so she made the choice to give him life. She most certainly did not abandon him. She made the hardest decision of her life because she loves him more than she loves herself. I’m so thankful that we have the pictures, and we will always treasure them and her.
We left the hotel around 4:30 and headed to the airport. As we drove there, I just couldn’t believe that our time was over. I began to realize how much I would miss being there. Our flight from Addis Ababa to Dubai left late, so we had the joy of sprinting through the Dubai airport trying to make our connecting flight to New York. Thankfully we made the final call and then ended up sitting on the runway for over an hour before flying off into the night sky toward the United States. After 14 hours on that plane, we landed in New York early yesterday morning. We felt soooo rough and were just ready to get home at that point. We made it back to Nashville around 1:30 PM and managed to stay awake until about 9:45 last night. It felt SO good to sleep in our bed and get a full 8 hours of sleep! We got Riley & Cole back this afternoon, and it was really good to be back together! It’s strange to know, though, that we have a son half way across the world, and I cannot wait until we’re all under one roof. I’ve thought about him so many times today and wondered what he was doing and what is going through that little head of his. We believe he really understood that we’re coming back, and I’m hoping he’ll trust that it’s true over the next days and weeks until we can get to him again.
We’re hoping to hear about our Embassy appointment this week, and then we’ll have a better idea about when we’ll travel back to Ethiopia. Stay tuned . . . I’ll keep you posted!
* (Almaz & me . . . she is so wonderful & we are thankful for her! My hair looked crazy all week because I fried my flat iron the second day we were there . . . oops!)
another great day!
Today we woke up, got ready, ate breakfast & headed to Hannah’s Hope. I wasn’t feeling great, so I took some anti-nausea medicine right before we left. Thankfully it worked, and by the time we arrived about 10 minutes later, I felt good (SO thankful we decided to get that prescription filled the morning we left Nashville!).
We didn’t know how our little guy (it’s so hard to not use his name on here – can’t wait until we can!) would react to us, but he was really happy to see us again!!! I spotted him as the gate opened, and he ran up to the van as our driver pulled in with a huge grin on his face! He jumped up in Brad’s arms right away and didn’t want Brad to put him down. Then he came to me, and I sat down and held him for a while. He was facing me with his head on my chest, and he just hugged me and wouldn’t let go. It was an incredible feeling, and one that I’ll never ever forget!
We stayed at Hannah’s Hope for about 2.5 hours and decided to leave earlier than yesterday so he could nap. He seems to do really great until lunch time and then he gets tired and a little more sensitive and emotional. We pushed him in the swing for a while, played soccer (he only wanted to use the soccer ball we brought yesterday and not any of the other ones – sweet!), played with Play-Doh, blew bubbles, ate lunch, and read a book. After lunch he didn’t want to share us with the other kids and got upset and started crying when they interfered with our play time. Almaz came out and invited us to go sit with him and read to him on the porch. She also gave him a piece of candy, which never hurts with kids! His tears soon dried up, but he seemed tired so we decided to leave and let him take a nap (which is part of his typical schedule). Both days we’ve left, Almaz has made the transition by letting him pass out suckers to the kids, and that seems to distract him pretty well.
We noticed several things about him today: 1) He’s really observant and takes everything in around him. 2) He did NOT want to “squish” up his Play-Doh and wanted to leave it in the neat little block it was in when we opened it. We eventually “squished” up another color and let him hold both of them. He seems to want to hold onto whatever we give him so the other kids can’t get it! I’m sure we’ll have to work on sharing once he’s home and it’s the appropriate time. 3) He built a little tower with big legos and wanted to make sure we both saw it. He even carefully carried it to the other side of the courtyard to show it to Brad. We made a big deal out of it like we were really proud, and he just lit up! 4) He’s a good eater. Yesterday they had injera and gomen, and today that had pasta that looked kind of like spaghetti. He ate well with his fork and has good coordination. He likes to drink mango juice, too. 6) He’s pretty quiet around us and doesn’t talk much like some of his buddies. There are probably a lot of factors behind that, but he’s pretty good about communicating what he wants non-verbally. The language barrier is definitely tough at times. He does talk every now and then when he gets excited about something (like when we replayed the video we had taken of him – he just chatted away pointing to the screen and telling me all about it!).
We did some sightseeing yesterday so I decided to include a few pictures. It’s so hard to not post pictures of him or of our time at Hannah’s Hope (which is most of our pictures), but we can’t legally.
These were taken in the airport as we traveled over . . .
The first one of these was taken on our sightseeing trip yesterday. The second one is the view from our hotel window . . .
Inside of Sisay’s taxi & a view of the city from the highest point in Addis Ababa. It was really cloudy & rained, but it was still beautiful . . .
We went to a really nice traditional Ethiopian restaurant with Sisay after we toured the city. I think we’ll be going back here Thursday evening, too, with a couple of staff members from Hannah’s Hope. (That’s Sisay with Brad) . . . .
Well, I guess that’s it for today. It’s getting close to 9 PM here, and we have our court appointment tomorrow. Pray that it goes well. We’ve been told what to expect, and it’s not nearly as intimidating as I had imagined. After court, we’ll go out to lunch with a couple of Hannah’s Hope staff & then do some shopping. We’ll be back at Hannah’s Hope on Thursday & I think we might get to go back on Friday – I’m hoping so anyway! Thanks to everyone for your prayers!
WOW! WHAT A DAY!
**Warning: this is an extremely long post . . . sorry!**
Okay, here goes. I’m tired and emotionally drained, but I’m going to try to put into words what today was like. We woke up this morning and started getting ready. I had always imagined that I’d be really nervous and anxious getting ready to meet our son, and I wasn’t. I was just really excited and very calm about the whole thing. I’m guessing that there must have been some prayers going out on our behalf for me to be that way! We ate breakfast downstairs at the hotel and then gathered fun things to take to Hannah’s Hope with us to use when playing with the kids.
At 9:30 Danny came to pick us up and take us to Hannah’s Hope. It’s close to the hotel (probably about 5 minutes away), and you turn off of the main road onto a really bumpy dirt road. Hannah’s Hope is amazing – so nice and very well-kept. We pulled up to the gate, Danny honked the horn, someone opened the gate, and there we were!
Brad spotted our little man right away. He was swinging on the far end of the swing set closest to where we pulled in. I saw him right after Brad did, and tears immediately welled up in my eyes. We didn’t get to meet him right away because we were escorted into the building to meet with Almaz, the director. I didn’t want to be that girl – the one who cries immediately – so I tried very hard to control my emotions!
We sat down in the office, and I spotted Isaac Young’s pictures on a billboard. Isaac just went home to be with his forever family a little over a month ago, and you might remember that we went to high school with his mom. She had taken the pictures (she’s an amazing photographer) and sent them to Hannah’s Hope with another traveling family. I loved seeing his pictures – all smiley – and knowing exactly who he was! Also, on a bookshelf, I spotted the files for all of the referred kids. Their names are written on the spine, and I saw so many familiar names from our AGCI listserve group. And get this – the child’s first name is written and then his/her new last name is on there! That made the tears start to flow again – knowing that those families are waiting to bring their babies home and knowing that those kids DO indeed have families! Almaz came in, and we met with her to discuss court, etc. for about 15 minutes. She’s just as wonderful as everyone always says – love her!
Then she took us out to meet our newest little family member. We were told that he wouldn’t know we were his parents and that we’d probably mostly play with him in a large group setting. However, when we walked out into the courtyard, he came walking out there all by himself. So, Almaz just said we could play with him there alone. It was AMAZING! She told him we were there to play, and he immediately ran to me and put his arms around my legs! I bent down and gave him a big hug. We had a good bit of one-on-one time with him – playing soccer, blowing bubbles, playing with trucks, swinging, etc. I couldn’t even believe we were there with him. It was even better than I had always imagined – totally exceeded my expectations as I had set them pretty low knowing he wouldn’t know exactly who we were.
Well, we think he kind of started figuring it out, and by the end of the day, he knew who we were. We were even being referred to as his “mama” and “papa.” It wasn’t supposed to work out that way, and I don’t know if it’s entirely the best thing, but Almaz said we’d “play it by ear,” and that’s how it played out.
He is just perfect for our family, and we think he’s going to fit right in. He did have a few moments where he seemed to get really sad and tears even flowed down his cheeks a couple of times. My heart completely broke for him. We sat with him while he ate lunch, and he wouldn’t even look at us. It was all I could do not to cry because my heart broke for him. After lunch, though, we went back out with him by ourselves, and he was fine and began to laugh and have fun again. We know that he will certainly have moments of sadness, and he seems to really be a “thinker.” We are just praying that God heals his little heart and gives him peace and joy in the midst of really uncertain times for him.
We stayed for four hours, and he cried when we left. Once again, I had to hold the tears in. I’m curious to see how he responds to us tomorrow. We love him to pieces, and we just couldn’t have asked for a better time with him. He’s so sweet and thoughtful and loving and sensitive. He likes to try to figure out how things work, he’s very observant, and he LOVES to PLAY! He played hard the entire time we were there, and I think he was exhausted when we left. He really enjoyed playing soccer with us, and he loved hitting the beach ball back and forth. He got a little pushy with the other kids when they tried to mess with “his” stuff, but Almaz said that’s completely normal (and I don’t know of any 3.5 year old who doesn’t do that anyway!). We can’t wait to bring him home!
This afternoon we also got a taxi and went out sightseeing for several hours. Our driver was Sisay, and he was very nice. We drove up to the highest point in the city (1000 feet above where we’re staying, which already has a high elevation) and looked out over Addis. We went to a small historic museum and then went to a restaurant and got some traditional Ethiopian food and coffee.
It’s been a busy, overwhelming day, but we’re extremely thankful and feel very blessed! Tomorrow morning we’ll go back to Hannah’s Hope for a few hours, and then we might just relax at the hotel, as the rest of our week is pretty busy. Thanks so much for the prayers and support! It’s getting late here, so we’re off to sleep! More to come tomorrow if we get the chance . . .
{6 days}
I feel like I’m so scatter-brained these days. There are about a hundred little details swirling in my head constantly and a long to-do list on my desk. We leave for Ethiopia in six days. SIX DAYS! I’m super excited about going, but it’s also a little nerve-wracking, too . . . especially the 15-hour plane ride part . . . ugh! (We’ll actually be on a plane for a total of 21 hours each way. Yikes!)
Our case manager called with some news yesterday that was a little disappointing. When we meet our little guy, he won’t be told that we’re his parents as originally planned. While we’re selfishly a little disappointed, we really do believe that it’s best for him. Basically it comes down to the fact that his little heart has been broken a lot recently, and he’s grieving everything (and everyone) he’s lost. The director at Hannah’s Hope made the decision, and we trust her judgment. She’s holding onto the photo album we made for him, and she’ll give it to him after we’ve officially passed court and are already back home. We truly want what’s best for him, so we’ll just go play with him and his little friends and make the most of our time together. Hopefully when we leave, he’ll miss the fun people that came to play with him for a few days and be excited when they tell him we’re his parents and that we’re coming back for him.
I’m going to miss Riley and Cole so much while we’re gone! We’ve traveled overseas without them before, and there’s just something about us both being in another country away from them that makes me a little uneasy. I guess that comes with the territory, though, and I know they’ll have a great time while we’re gone. I’ve made a little something for them to open each day so that they will hopefully feel as connected to us and what we’re up to as possible. We’ll also try to Skype with them while we’re away. Here’s part of what I’ve put together so far . . .
I hope you all are having a great weekend! Thanks to everyone who has sent donations for us to take to Hannah’s Hope! It’s been fun to get packages in the mail all week and add them to the collection!