Together at last!

We have been home for one week and are doing great! Every day is full of surprises and not all days have been easy but we are so thankful to be on this journey. Here are a few pictures from our first day in Ethiopia.

After sitting on a plane in Chicago for 2 hours, running through the Istanbul airport, almost missing our plane to Addis, we finally arrived around 1 am that Saturday morning. We then found out that two of our four pieces of luggage did not make it (one made it the night we left to come home, one just came to our house today--TWO WEEKS from when it should have arrived in Ethiopia- thanks Turkish Airlines!). Our friend and driver Yoftahe dropped us off at the guesthouse. We unpacked, got everything settled, and finally went to bed around 3:30 am.




Last night with an empty crib in our room

We woke that morning and called Belay about taking placement. He said he would bring her after lunch. We knew that could be 1 pm or 7 pm. Around 2 pm I decided to lay down and take a nap. As soon as I closed my eyes, I heard Russ saying, "They're here!" We both jumped up and ran outside as they pulled up. We could see her in the backseat, drinking a bottle, with a precious bonnet on. We walked around to the passenger side and there she was...just a smiling. As I took her from the caregiver, I was so nervous of how she would react. She was a little cautious but quickly began smiling and laughing.





We spent the afternoon playing. She showed off her tricks and loved showing us how she could walk (just a few steps without our help).





We ended the day by giving her a bath (she was very unsure of this...but has come to LOVE the water) and then bed. Loved having her fall asleep in my arms!






The day began with an empty crib and ended by us putting OUR DAUGHTER to bed in it. We could not believe that after all this time she was with us to stay!

It has been quite a whirlwind since that day two weeks ago. We have so much to share about her, life, adoption, etc. but we are all still adjusting to our new life. I will say there have been difficult parts of the past two weeks (for her and us) but we are so thankful for God's continued faithfulness. We are exhausted but so in love and are truly amazed by this little ball of energy. We are so lucky to get to be a part of her life. Can't wait to share more!

Coming Home

So sorry we have not had a chance to update! We have been busy here with the sweetest, cutest, funniest, MOST ACTIVE 13 month old I know! She has done so well and we cannot wait to get her home. We fly out in 5 hours and land in Memphis Thursday night at 6:50! Can't wait to see friends and family that have loved us and her for so long!

My heart is at peace for the first time since October 2007-- when we knew we were to adopt a baby girl. It has been a wild and crazy journey...one that has taken longer than I would have liked...but being on this side I can say God is good and IT WAS WORTH IT!

She has adjusted well... but pray for our long flight. Hoping she does well! Can't wait to update from home :)

Anna

Submitted

We got an email from our amazing social worker Kristin today! We were submitted to the U.S. embassy this morning! We now wait 3-5 days (or a little longer) to see if they approve us or need more paperwork. Hopefully, they will approve us and then give us a travel date. We hear (not sure if it is true or not) that embassy dates are currently 3 weeks out. So, we shall see. I know one thing....Russ and I will be on the first flight out if they will just give us a date soon!! Can't believe we are one step closer.

Praising God for moving and working. His promises are true and we are clinging to that.

Please pray for all of the families that are still waiting. There are many that are still waiting to pass court...some that traveled before us and some that traveled after us. Others are waiting for referrals. These have become dear friends to us and the waiting and not knowing is hard. Also praying for people to be called to adopt from Ethiopia...adoption is not the final solution to orphans in Ethiopia but it is part of the solution for now.

Thanks for being in this with us.

She is OURS!!!

We got the call this morning! Lucy Samrawit is officially ours!! We now have to wait to get our embassy date...but praying it won't take too long. We will post more later but we are just so excited!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!



We cannot wait to get our hands on her!!!!

January 31, 2011

Our second day in Addis, we met our BABY GIRL!!!!! Here is our last picture before getting in the car to make the 20 minute drive to meet her!



We were so nervous. Several years of dreaming about this sweet girl and we were finally going to see her face in person. As we entered the foster home, there were 15-20 babies laying on a mat in the sun. We walked past...overwhelmed with the fact that we were THERE! Russ whispered that he thought we had just passed her. We looked around and there she was!!! I will never forget the look she had on her face! We both went and just stared at her. She was a little frightened at first....well, most of the time we spent with her. I then picked her up and held her for the first time. She didn't cry at first...but I did. I could not believe that I was actually holding her. She then started to cry so I returned her to the caregiver. After they took her to her room, we went to see her again. She was asleep in her crib so Russ and I just stared, in awe that this was happening. They then fed her and we watched her play. She was so small yet so strong! She crawled and was into EVERYTHING! We noticed that the rug had been torn....and then noticed that she was the one doing it! We stayed about an hour and then it was time to leave. So hard leaving her after finally being in the same room with her after 5 months of only seeing her on a computer screen.

Afterwards, we had lunch and then went to tour the Silk Factory. We loved seeing how the women and men take actual cocoons to get the silk. They unwind the silk and create thread to then make fabric, scarves, purses, hats, etc. Such a neat process!












After touring and buying Lucy the cutest hat from their store, we went to Bilo's for dessert. GREAT ice cream!

Our last stop for the day was visiting the Alert Leprosy Hospital. Men and women receive long-term treatment for HIV and Leprosy here. As you walk around the hospital grounds, you see men and women creating the most beautiful items. You could then purchase these items in the gift shop. We bought Lucy a beautiful crocheted table cloth. Beautiful to see these people with limited physical abilities (no fingers, no hands, etc.) doing such unique and detailed work.





We ended the day with take-out from Cloud 9. We were exhausted...such an emotional but wonderful day!

A long week

What a week!!! Many of you have heard of some recent changes concerning adoption that MIGHT take place in Ethiopia. Essentially, to reduce unethical practices and corruption in Ethiopian adoption, MOWA (a committee in Ethiopia that approves adoptions) has decided to significantly reduce the number of adoptions that take place each day...effective March 10th.

We do not know how this will affect our adoption...most likely it won't affect much except maybe the length of the wait. We shall see. Please pray for the children in Ethiopia. Adoption is in no way the perfect solution to 5 million orphans in that country but it does help. Reducing the number of adoptions will increase the length and number of kids that are in orphanages...which breaks my heart! But I believe the governments heart is for the children and so I am praying they come up with a solution that will ultimately help all the children.

My heart is broken about what all of this means for the children in Ethiopia, for how it will affect our adoption, and for all of the families that are waiting on their children to come home. While my heart is crushed, I am hopeful in God's plan. I believe He is just setting the scene to do something UNBELIEVABLE. I dreamed a couple of nights ago that I was speaking (which is HI-LARIOUS considering I just don't do that) to a group of people and I told bullet-point after bullet-point of disheartening things that happened in our adoption. Investigations, number of adoptions reduced, etc. The list went on and on. But then at the end I said
"BUT THEN GOD..." That's right BUT THEN GOD. I distinctly remember seeing the dot dot dot. I don't know what the dot dot dot is or how God will do it but I know that God is preparing something amazing. Clinging to His promises that He will work ALL for GOOD.

While I have dealt with bitterness, uncertainty, anger, and brokenheartedness, God has met me each time. He knows my desire is for her to come home quickly but I have reached a point that even with all of the uncertainty, I rest that this is the story He planned and if He planned it...I don't even wish to change it. I simply cannot wait to see His plan unfold. I wanted the story to be over when we traveled to Ethiopia to pick her up several weeks ago. As good as that story would have been, God is writing a better story, one that I couldn't have written even if I had tried.

Please take a minute to sign this petition that will go to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Click HERE to link to it :) Thanks for loving us.

***UPDATED- I just read where they hope to have 250,000 signatures to send by Saturday and right now they only have 10,000. Please send this via email, twitter, and facebook to all you know.

Amsterdam

Hey Friends! I am going to try and re-cap our days in Ethiopia. I will do a post a day, sharing pics and entries from my journal for that day....sorry if this is boring...just want to have a record of our time :)

January 29, 2011

We spent a day in Amsterdam on our way to Addis Ababa. In my journal I had written these highlights of Amsterdam.

- Small hotel room- 2 twin beds pushed together

- frites with cheese ( Cheese sauce was NASTY)

-canal tour- being so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open

- Rembrandt museum - prodigal son drawings

- scones and coffee at cafe

- going to lobby for Internet to email to let everyone know we had made it

- being so excited but so nervous about arriving in Ethiopia

- sitting in the oldest pub in Holland- with an overwhelming awareness of being gone- the unknown we were about to experience

CHEESE...... my favorite food!!!

Rembrandt Museum

We had a wonderful day and night in Amsterdam. But the entire time I was so aware of the fact that this was not a normal vacation. Our purpose was different. We would meet our daughter in 2 days. We didn't know how long we would be in Ethiopia. The details of our journey were unknown. We prayed for a miracle...that God would move our case quickly so that we could take placement of our daughter in Ethiopia.

****Happy 8th month anniversary to our sweet daughter. We never dreamed we would be apart from you when you turned this age but we will be together soon. We love you!!!

longing

We have been home almost a week....and we are missing our sweet girl! We will eventually blog about our time in Ethiopia....this week we have been battling jet-lag! Getting on the plane in Ethiopia without her was so hard. But, we know she is in good hands....hoping the day we go back to get her will be very soon.

Giving Birth

I saw this video on Kristy's blog...so touching. Makes me so thankful that our sweet baby girl survived and for her first mom.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I can't wait to be in this country....9 days til we leave!!!!!