3 Weeks!

Almost. We've been home about 2 1/2 weeks. It's gone by so fast. There are so many different things happening and every day is better than the one before. Maybe it's best just to show you.

Nap time. How precious!

Reading time!

She does more bouncing in this exersaucer than anywhere else.

The music comes on and she's bouncing to the beat.

What's for breakfast? Scrambled eggs with cheese and fried hot dogs....yum!

Baby Einstein - World of Colors.....she is just mesmorized by all the colors.

And for dinner? Honey-lemon chicken and green beans. May I have some more please?

Reading her book and waiting for a phone call. Is this indicative of the future?

Less than 3 weeks and she's loving the dogs and the dogs are loving her. Honey just loves to lick on her and doesn't mind that Eva is a bit rough with her. Honey is the hyper one. It takes a lot to get her frazzled.

This is one of my favorite pictures. She loves this show. The singing and dancing are right up her alley!

Welcome Home!

We've actually been home for a few weeks now, but I'm behind on a few posts (what else is new, right?) My goal is to try to post 1-2 times a week so that family and friends can keep up to date with how we're doing.

Here we go!

A teenage girl who lives behind us has been just great with watching our puppies for us while we've been in Ethiopia.....both times.

              

                



  

                            Botti                                                                       Honey

She has been so excited for us to come back home with Eva. She's ready to start babysitting already! Anyway, here is what the house looked like when we walked through the garage door into the house:

I was so moved I started bawling. Poor Eva. She was probably wondering what my deal was. I don't know if it was a combination of jet lag, exhaustion, excitement or what but I cried for about 10 minutes. Fortunately you can't tell it by looking at the picture. The neighbor girl came right over from school to drop off the keys and was the first person to meet Eva. She stayed for a few minutes and then off to bed we all went.

We still have the decorations up. I'm not taking them down until they fall down! :-)

Ethiopia - 2nd Trips - Days 7 & 8

March 3 and March 4, 2011


John got up very early in the morning so he and another dad could go to Ethiopian Arilines HQ to try to get a bassinette. We had no luck. Here's the trick:

• When you're setting up your flight itinerary, ask your travel agent to put a request in at that time.
• Go the Ethiopian Arilines HQ at least 48 HOURS BEFORE your departure in order to ensure a possible seat change. The airlines can not do anything the morning of the flight due to security reasons.

Shortly after John left, he called back up to the room to inform me that we had to change rooms. They were fumigating our whole floor. Well, so much for sleeping in. But thank God I got the majority of the packing done the night before. So, 2 hours later with everything "packed" we moved down 1 floor. After Eva and I had our last breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we were able to get a much-needed 3 hour nap.

We checked out of the hotel at 6:30 pm and had our bags checked just an hour later. At the boarding gate we met some other families that were headed home from their court dates. It's so interesting to talk to other families from other agencies to get their perspective of their adoption experience. Even though we were all on the same flight, once you get on that huge plane, all you want to do is settle in and sleep through the flight.

And speaking of sleep, can I just say that Eva is the best little traveler! She slept for about 6 or 7 hours of the 13 hour flight. She did excellent at takeoff and landing. There was no crying or fussing. She was awesome!

Once we landed in D.C., it took quite a while for us to go through customs and then after we got our luggage, we had to see another customs agent to give her all of Eva's paperwork (the infamous manilla envelope). I thank God for Eva's patience. At this point we had run out of bottled water to mix her formula. There was nothing nearby and once we were in those lines, we were slaves to the "wait". I was so proud of her. After a long layover and cheeseburgers and fries at 10:30 am, we were finally on our way to Columbus.

Ethiopia will always have a very special place in our hearts, but there's nothing like being home. We stopped on the way home to get fast food for dinner.....never ate it. Eva and I were asleep by 4pm, woke up at midnight and went right back to sleep at 2 am.

Good, hard, sound sleep...now that's the way to end an 18-hour travel day!

Ethiopia - 2nd Trip - Day 6

March 2, 2011

Eva: Awake at 3:15 am. Bottle. Back to sleep by 4 am.
Me: Awake at 3:15 am. Give Eva her bottle. Never went back to sleep.

Last night we decided to go to HH one last time today to see Eva's other set of special mothers. Without a doubt Special Mother Bety was the reason why Eva was able to progress with us as much as she did. We wanted to be able to give the special mothers the photo books that we made for them and also to give Bety some closure. We thought that with everything she did for Eva, it just wouldn't be fair to not give her the opportunity to say a proper goodbye.

We were supposed to be picked up around 9:30 but in Ethiopian time, it can sometimes mean after 10. At 10:20 our driver Danny came came to get us. When we got to HH, all the babies were ouside getting their "sunning" time. It was perfect for us because we didn't want to take Eva back up to her room. We thought that might be too much.

As we walked through the black gates, I immediately saw Special Mother Bety. As we walked over to her, Eva started stretching her arms out to her. It was so sweet. The whole time we were out there, Eva would crawl between her other Special Mother, Meseret, and Bety. I started giving love to the other babies and then went to see the older kids. John stayed with Eva. He was videotaping the whole time. As I came back to where John was, I saw the most precious thing: my little girl was taking her first steps. She was trying to walk from one special mother to the other. They were just as surprised as we were. The look on Eva's face was priceless. She was surprised and happy at the same time. And although at that moment, I was just a spectator and could take no credit for this wonderful accomplishment, I felt like such a proud mama. This was the 1st major milestone that I was blessed to witness and I could not hold back the tears of joy.

About 15 minutes later, it was time for the babies to go back to their room for a nap. Eva & Bety & Meseret said their goodbyes in the courtyard. Eva did not want to leave her special mother but once I took her out of eyesight of Bety, she was totally fine :-) Another blessing. We got back to our hotel room and I immediately laid down for a nap. John spent the next 3 hours tending to a very active baby. Then it was his turn. Needless to say, Eva slept very good tonight.

Only 1 more day left in Ethiopia!

This is one of our HH drivers', Wass. What a great person and personality. Eva loved him. We will miss him a great deal. We enjoyed seeing his smiling face.

This was our final bus ride from Hannah's Hope. We are on our way back to the hotel.

Ethiopia - 2nd Trip - Day 5

March 1, 2011

I can't believe how significant the month of February has been for us: court date, meeting Eva's birth mother, Eva's birthday, my maternal grandmother's birthday (RIP) for whom Eva is named after, our baby shower, and finally our Embassy date. It's been such a wonderful whirlwind of events.

This morning Eva woke us at 4:30 am. After a bottle of cereal and formula, she was back asleep an hour later. John also fell back asleep and I had the misfortune of staying awake through most of the morning. John & Eva woke up around 9 or so and we decided to go to the restaurant for breakfast. That meant a bath for Eva. Not a happy time for her. We're going to have to work on that once we get home.

I should mention that John and I brought all this baby food with us in an attempt to duplicate the food Eva ate at HH: a mixture of sweet potatoes, carrots and rice. The one thing we didn't want to change, along with everything else in her world changing, was her food. We tried 3 or 4 different times to get the right mixture and she refused every time. So we put the cereal in her formula and also found that she loves sugar water (4 oz of water with 1 packet of Splenda). We knew she needed to get hydrated to help her get over her pneumonia and right-ear infection.

OK...back to breakfast. We headed downstairs and got food from the buffet. John got me a plate of french toast, scalloped potatoes and an omelet. No sooner had my plate been set in front of me when Eva started reaching for a bite of french toast. At first I thought she just wanted to play in my plate, but she really wanted some food............some real food. My girl ate some of everything on my plate....and liked it!! John & I couldn't believe it. We were so excited to see her eating such a wide variety of foods and liking them. Meanwhile, the waiters, waitresses and hotel staff were just loving on her. This one waitress had Eva in her arms and inside of 15 SECONDS made her laugh. We couldn't believe it. We had been trying for 3 days to get an expression other than anger and frustration and nothing worked.

That was the catalyst though. Several hours later, after I awoke from my much-needed nap, John told me how Eva danced, laughed, and smiled. I even heard her saying "da-da" over and over again. That's the first time we heard her speak. What a joy it was to finally hear her voice.

Around 5 pm Almaz came to our hotel and gave us all the rest of our childrens' documents: a SEALED thick manilla envelope and Ethiopian passport. We had an "exit" orientation where Almaz discussed the importance of the documents and getting U.S. documents for our kids.

The 3 of us went downstairs to eat dinner and unbeknownst to us, all the court families and 2 of the embassy families were leaving (1 embassy family left shortly after receiving their documents from Almaz). It was so nice to be able to see them all off and wish them safe travels. One thing is for sure: AGCI families have a wonderful bond, whether we've met each other or not. But getting to actually meet and forge relationships strengthens that bond so much more. It's awesome to see God moving in such a powerful way.

This was actually the first night since we got here that we were able to eat dinner in the hotel restaurant. All the other nights we were getting food brought up to our room. So we sat down and ordered. I got penne pasta. John got an Ethiopian dish. My food came out and once again my girl had her hands all in my plate. She LOVED the pasta. I was so tickled, then John's dish came out and she immediately went for the injera. I fed her a little injera and she spit it out but she kept opening her mouth for more. This was her first time having ALL of these foods and flavors. John said "Maybe she doesn't like injera." I said "She's Ethiopian....how could she not like it? Besides... as much as we'll be eating out Ethiopian, she'll learn to like it." I mean really.....is this child the perfect fit for our family or what? It is truly God's design and plan.

So that was our amazing day. I'm so excited to see a litte bit more of her personality shine through each day. I can only imagine how much she'll blossom in 2 weeks, 2 months, by the summer. I am in awe of this miracle that I am privileged to take care of and raise. She's amazing!!

Ethiopia - 2nd Trip - Day 4

February 28, 2011


Today was the day that we had been waiting for since the day we passed court....Embassy day!! I wasn't nervous but I wasn't excited either because we had been prepped by Almaz of what to expect. My main concern was making sure the 3 of us would all be ready to go by 8 am. We left a little bit after 8...after all, we had to take pictures.

It was so gorgeous to see 5 families all with their little ones load the bus to head to the U.S. Embassy. Our appointment was at 9 am and we got there 10 minutes before our appointed time. Everything went so smoothly. The 1st small building we went into was security. They notated our passports, x-rayed our bags and then we went out the back door through a courtyard and into the main building. In this main building there were about 7 rows of chairs, 20-25 chairs long with about 9 or 10 windows of Embassy reps. We had an AGCI rep as well as a Hannah's Hope rep accompanying us. All 5 families were taken over to Window 15 where our specific Embassy rep interviewed us. Each family was called to the window one at a time. Our passports were checked. We were sworn in. Our interview lasted about 5 minutes each and we all walked out of there with our child's Ethiopian birth certificate, court decree, MOWA letter and Contract of Adoption (with Bethzatha). That's it....we are officially official!! There was no stress, no worries, no glitches.

And on top of that, Eva did beautifully. No fussing. No crying. She was totally content on the bus ride over and during our time in the Embassy. On the ride back to the hotel, she even fell asleep.

On the way back to the hotel I decided that I wanted to do some shopping. Three of the four other moms decided they wanted to go too. We got back early enough to the hotel that we were able to get breakfast and then up to the room where I was able to get a 2 hour nap. I was hoping to able to slip out of the room before Eva woke up from her nap. No chance! She cried and cried when I left but I knew John would cheer her up.

We went to the same shopping markets as on our 1st trip. I was able to get some items that I missed the 1st time around and then bought stuff that wasn't planned on. I was WAY below my budget this time around! We got all of our shopping done in about 90 minutes and headed back to the hotel. It was good to be out with just "the girls" while the Dads stayed and bonded with their kids. This was the first and would be the only time that we would bond like this on our trip. It was very significant to me and I loved the time that we were able to spend together.

When I got up to the room, Miss Eva was not at all happy to see me. Imagine that :-) It was so wonderful to hear from John how they bonded in those hours. I was so happy for him. The rest of the night was spent with the 3 of us hanging out in our room....doing that bonding thing that we do.

Ethiopia - 2nd Trip - Day 3

February 27, 2011


Our day started very early in the morning: 4:30 to be exact. Eva woke up crying. We changed her diaper and gave her a bottle. She still wasn't satisfied so we gave her a few more ounces. Neither of us realized that she took in air because a minute later....vomit....everywhere, all over me and her.


It is an understatement to say our daughter does not like getting baths. She thrashed, screamed and cried the whole time. She also doesn't like getting lotioned or diapered. More thrashing and crying.


Getting the picture of our day at 5 am?

After we got the baby bathed and changed, we started giving her bottles of water to keep her hydrated. We put in one packet of splenda in 4 oz of water. It worked to PERFECTION....she loves it!!

After getting her down for her nap around 9:30 or so and getting our laundry done and room cleaned, we realized that we were going to miss breakfast, so John and I laid down with Eva and took a nap too. We all woke up around 2:30 and John & I soon realized that we would soon miss lunch as well. We all got changed and made it downstairs just in time to eat from the buffet. We saw 2 families that were also here for their court date and were able to have conversation with them.

After lunch, I was finally able to get on the internet (with the help of Kim J. & the hotel staff) and check e-mail, etc. John took Eva around the hotel. They had such a good time. It was so wonderful to see the 2 of them get to bond. It just warms my heart thinking about it even now.

What was really funny was when I finally got back to the room, Eva was so comfortable with John that when it was my turn to take her, she screamed, cried and clawed for John. Boy, was she mad at me for being away!! :-) But she eventually got over it and before long I was giving her a bottle and she was falling asleep in my arms.

Today has been so surreal. It's so hard to believe that she's ours. We can remember the day we filled out the AGCI application like it was yesterday, and now she's sleeping in between us at night. I feel so honored and blessed to be given this opportunity. I know that this little girl will bless our lives in ways that we can't even imagine. And for that He deserves all the praise.

Ethiopia - 2nd Trip - Days 1 & 2

Wow! It's been so hectic since we got back with little Eva. My poor husband has been sick since the day after we returned. Undoubtedly he caught something from one of the 450-something passengers on the plane. Who knows what's in his system after flying 16 hours. I'm so glad that he was able to bond with Eva as much as he did while we were in Ethiopia. I know that he hates not being able to spend time with her while he's home because of being so ill.


So...having said all that, let's get to learning about our second trip!


February 25 & February 26, 2011


I've decided to combine these 2 days into 1 blog because, really, it felt like one long day.

At 2:30 am we awoke to our 3 alarm clocks after having gotten about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. The car was already packed, so we just got up, showered, dressed, and headed for the airport.


It took us awhile to get checked in at Columbus. We had a letter from our adoption agency explaining about our donation bins. That didn't matter. All I heard was $200 each. That's $600!! WHAT!! I lost my breath. I had only figured $100 each, at the most. However, John reminded me that God is taking care of it and everything will be alright. Thank God all 3 bins were underweight. The good news was that it was a one-time fee; no extra charges at Ethiopian Airlines.

I didn't take a sleep aid this flight and only slept for half the flight. And fortunately John slept just as long, if not longer than me. By the time I woke up, we had just finished crossing the Atlantic Oceam. That's a pretty big ocean!! I tried to go back to sleep by watching movies, playing solitaire....nothing worked. I just wanted to be there already and every hour felt like an eternity.


I was so excited to finally see the sunrise. not long after that sunrise, we touched ground. It took us awhile to obtain our entrance visa and get through customs. Thank God all 4 pieces of luggage and 3 donation bins made the trip totally intact.

We made it to out hotel around 9:45 and saw one of our HH drivers who told us that he would be back at 1 pm to take us to Hannah's Hope. I unpacked all of our stuff while John caught a nap, then I laid down at 11, hoping to get a nap as well. I woke up at noon, took a long hot shower and was ready to go by 1. We weren't sure if we were going to bring Eva back to the hotel. Our case manager said we were scheduled for Sunday, but also Eva has been on medication and her last dosage was also on Sunday. We didn't know if we needed to change her clothes out or what, so we brought a diaper bag full of stuff with us to HH.

Once we got to HH, we saw Almaz, HH director. There were 5 families on this trip that were picking up kiddos for Embassy. All 5 of us had a meeting with Almaz to discuss our Embassy interview, what to expect, what to bring, etc. That lasted about 10-15 minutes and then she sent us off to get our kids.

One of the families had been in Ethiopia since Thursday with their little boy, so they followed the other families around with camera and/or camcorder to record our moment. When we got to Eva's room, she was being held (of course :-)) by one of her special mothers. I said hello, gave her a kiss, then took her from the arms of the special mother and headed right for outside. A little bit of fussiness at first, but then she settled right down.

I don't know how long we got reacquainted with each other, 30 or 40 minutes maybe, and then it was time to head back to the hotel....WITH OUR DAUGHTER!! We went back upstairs to say our goodbyes to the special mothers and the special mothers to Eva. We gave them their photo books (Thank you Molly!!) and said about a hundred thank yous and headed out. My poor baby - she cried, she screamed, she clawed me to try to get to her special mothers. Once we got back outside she was able to calm down. When we rode off on the bus, she was totally quiet, looking out the window - she is a total people watcher!

When we got up to our room, Eva was very fussy, crying a lot. The first thing I did was change her clothes and give her a bottle. It took quite a while but around 4:00, all 3 of us laid down and fell asleep. Eva woke us up around 7:30, so we changed her diaper and gave her another bottle. She was asleep again by 9 o'clock and slept for the rest of the night.

What an emotional and traumatic day for our little one. In less than 4 months she's gone from being with her birthmother to 4 very amazing special mothers to her adoptive mother and father. I pray that God is comforting her spiritually as we try to comfort her physically and emotionally.