Two Year Photos!

Court Hearing

We are so excited to have the final step in completing our adoption done today. The judge was amazing. He commented that he read Adonu's file and was amazed at what he had endured and how far he had come to be here. He then paused and looked at us and said, "Sometimes God just drops a little angel down into your laps!" I had a hard time not crying! It is awesome that he said this as I commented in my last post on how nervous I was to have a toddler put in my lap! I love how God works things out! I also think the court day was important for my older children. It seemed to have given them a real sense of inclusion in the process and provided some closure for them on finalizing Adonu as their forever brother.

Confessions and Court dates

Our family has been tremendously blessed with the addition of Adonu. He is such a sweet little boy. I just can't tell you how much I love him. I have to make a confession that maybe others have felt? I think deep down I'm a little shocked at how easy it has been to love him. Secretly I worried a little that it will be hard to love a toddler just plopped in my lap and that I would favor my biological children. This is so not true. It reminds me of the posts a month or so back where everyone was talking about the love they have for their adopted child/ren and the impact they have had on their lives. I now have a full understanding of the sweet words I read on those blogs and I'm overwhelmed by the capacity to love which God has given us. Sometimes I feel guilty at how easy our transition home has gone and I feel bad posting becuase others have had a difficult time. Know that I'm praying for you all.

October has been busy. We took our second trip to St. Louis. It was much different this time as compared to six months ago. A toddler sure changes the dynamics. We took our 15 year old niece to babysit the little ones while we were at the hospital. This was a smart thing to do! After Emma's appointments were done, we enjoyed going to the top of the arch, visiting the science museum, the zoo, and doing some shopping. Adonu was an incredible traveler even when I took a wrong turn on the way home and added two hours to our six our drive!

We have also been enjoying fall fun carving pumpkins, jumping in leaves and eating too much candy! We moved Adonu's bed into Jason's room and they were both super excited. Now I need to transition him to a big boy bed!

We have our court date on Monday. Please pray that it goes smoothly and that Adonu will officially be an American!

Adonu's Dedication Day

Adonu is doing amazingly well as are the other children. It seems like he has always been here. We can't believe how much he is talking! He says, "Shut the door" and "I lub you." Super cute! He loves to be sung to and to dance. He is a ball of energy who gets into anything but toys! He was scared of the dogs for about a week but will play fetch with them and pet them now. He eats well, but doesn't like vegtables very much. We have decided to keep his given name with a small change in the spelling to aid in pronunciation. We just love the way he says his own name. It is very fitting.

Very excited for the upcoming court season and seeing more of the beautiful children of Ethiopia finding forever families! Praying for God's will in the lives of those older boys at Kolfe. Keep your hearts open!

Orphan Sunday November 8th

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

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More Random Thougths

More random thoughts about our trip. The top picture is of some markets we passed. These were everywhere. Genet told us people come from the country to sell their produce and handmade items in the markets. Some have shops such as these and others lay their items on blankets on the ground. It was neat to walk around the markets our driver took us to. The workers were very kind and enjoyed showing us their things. We bought some traditional clothing for our children, a flag, and other small gift items. There were often beggers or children selling bubble gum at the markets. We learned that one Birr is enough for them to buy some bread so we started carrying around Birr. I believe one Birr is about 12.5 cents in American dollar. People were so appreciative of our gifts. We also brought friendship bracelets and small airplanes for the kids we saw. So fun to watch their faces with these new treasures. One boy we ran into had a homemade toy as seen in the picture above. He told us how he made it and demonstrated it. It seems that children don't really have store bought toys, they make things from the items around them. How crafty! The children loved having their photos taken and we did this often. I took a lot of photos at the Kolfe boys home, which I will talk more about later. If anyone is traveling to Ethiopia soon, I would like to send the photos of the boys with you. They really wanted me to send pictures back of themselves with their friends to hang by their beds. I have printed many and would love for someone to hand them out. I think they would be so excited to get them. Let me know if this is something you would like to do. Those young men were amazing and I'm not yet ready to talk about that experience. Very emotional for us.

I was shocked at the housing in Ethiopia. The tin wall in the second photo above is what we saw a lot of. There were miles of small houses with this tin for walls and dirt floors. We could look down streets and see people outside their houses washing dishes and doing laundry. Laundry was hanging everywhere! Genet told us that people rent these tin houses. On the opposite side of the street though there were often high rise apartments and beautiful government buildings. We weren't allowed to take photos of the government buildings, but the difference between them and many neighborhoods was astounding. Even in the living conditions, the people were truly content and enjoying life! I feel guilty when I think about the enormity of my house compared to what I saw in Ethiopia and I wish there was more I could do. Honestly though, I keep going back to my own obsession with a clean house and nice stuff and I compare this to the contented lifestyle the people of Ethiopia have. I realize they have it right. Their families are their blessings not their things. If only more Americans could regain this mindset!

Lastly for today: Entoto mountain. I was sick the day we took this trip so I don't remember very much of the museum and church tour. My husband loved seeing this church which was the first ever in Ethiopia. He also enjoyed the museum and all the history. I believe it was 30 Birr per person. Again, I was ill so it is foggy. Speaking of ill-if you go anywhere make sure you use the bathroom before you leave the guest house. It seems toilets are rare in Ethiopia. If you like camping in remote areas you will be fine with the bathroom situation. If you are not an avid outdoors person, this might be a little awkward for you. I'm not saying it is bad, just very different than what we are used to. Also, bring a travel pack of kleenex in case you really need to use the facility. I didn't see toilet paper very much. On the way down the mountain, we saw a lot of donkeys, goats and woman carrying firewood, as in the photo above, grain, or water. The woman and children we saw going up and down the mountain are tremendously strong and hardworking. As a side, it smelled very good up there. It was nice having a break from the diesel smell from all the blue vans in the city!

My children are needing to be redirected back to school. More later:)

Home Sweet Home

Life has been full of fun new adventures in the last week at home. I haven't taken the time to blog because I'm just enjoying Adanu and my family. I'm hoping to get some things down over the next few days though. Above is a picture of our first meeting with Adanu. He was a little nervous at first, but warmed right up as you can see in his smiley picture at our guest house. Adanu is a very spirited, active, happy boy. He is such a blessing to us.

We stayed at the Bejoe house. This guest house is beautiful as you can see from the photo. The staff is amazing and I am forever changed by all the things they shared with me. I would recommend anyone staying there. If you are traveling soon, tell Genet hi from us. She is a wonderful addition there and helpful beyond measure! My favorite part of staying at the guest house was watching the staff interact with Adanu. His face just lit up when they spoke Amharic and he interacted so well. I was able to learn some words that we are still using. They taught me dog, open, car, spoon, come, look and many other words. I will be sad when Adanu looses his Amharic but I'm glad I caught his interactions on video for his future! I pray we are able to pass his culture on to him.

I also posted a picture of the church that Belay took us on a tour of. What an emotional tour that was rich with history and faith. Amazing. I am so thankful to Belay for sharing all the historical information about his family and his roots in Ethiopia. The people of Ethiopia are a very loyal and loving group. I am so proud to say that my son is an Ethiopian. Thanks to Belay for giving us this view of his wonderful country.

We went to an Ethiopian restaurant one night. I tried injera for the first time. I actually liked it. Some of the food was a little spicy for my taste, but mostly it was delicious! The dancing was way cool. We ended up buying a CD with traditional music and Adanu loves it. He dances to it and even tries to sing a little.

I'm tired, my spelling is falling apart and I need to prep for school! So more later. Chow!