We Arrived

Lots of romanticized blog posts had this momma arriving in Ethiopia with great expectations.

I expected to arrive at the hotel with endless energy. I was tired.

I expected to be staring off my balcony over the care center. I was on the other side of the hotel.

I expected a sleepless night. I'm not sure that happened because of excitement but rather the uncomfortable bed.

I don't need to compare every moment for you, but you get the idea, right?

I think I was crying the moment we walked into the care center. I knew what was coming. When the time came for them to carry Judah down the stairs, I thought it was my son but what if I was wrong? After all, I'd read that you immediately know it's your kid and they know you. But then again, I'm the parent who got a refferal picture and a few months later an update picture and thought they weren't the same child. I was an emotional wreck.

As I took Asfaw from the nanny, I prayed that he wouldn't cry. I feared rejection. He did fine. Problem was I knew he was overwhelmed. I expected that. Have you ever been in a scary new place where you sulk, drop your shoulders and wait until it's over and back to normal? That was our Asfaw. He let us hug and hold him but he didn't reciprocate any emotion. Where I was finally wanting to make that emotional connection now that he was in my arms, he was there. Just there.

The glamour of that first meeting didn't occur with us. It did for other families. I remember Tami running into his parents arms almost knocking his dad over. I remember Mebratu's big eyes as he saw Claire and Michael. It was so cool to see them. Our little Asfaw didn't move much, didn't even make a sound. Maybe that was because they had him in 3 layers of clothes and he was hot. Kidding. He was sweating though. Even so, it didn't stop us from taking a ton of pictures.

It had been a long journey so far. We had finally arrived and were able to touch his face, smell his skin, hug his little body and give him lots of kisses.

Click to read my Journal Excerpt: Meeting our Son

And because the others are linking, I wanna link to... I had a wonderful travel group. Some of them are bloggers and you can read their accounts in the order of my favorite to least favorite.

Kerry hails from Missouri. Her Semi Feral Mama blog is one of my favorites to read. We are so different. I certainly wouldn't have thought she'd be one of my friends. After all, she's not a fan of DVM's and I happen to love one. Check her out if you need a smile on your face. This one is my favorite posts lately from Kerry.

Sarah may be from Oregon but I think the Southern Belle style fits her well. It was great to meet and get to know (a little) Sarah and Jason. I didn't take the time to get to know her well enough. My bad. I'm still learning new things about my friend by reading her blog Petals of Zuzu. I wanna be like Sarah when I grow up. She homeschools, has adorable children, and amazingly independent. Her facebook status updates are sure to make me laugh! I look forward to Sarah passing through this summer, even if we are a little out of the way.

Jamey is a military wife. I had been reading her blog for months before we travelled. We were very close in the paperwork process together and I remember commenting more than once that maybe we'd travel together. Jamey's tell-it-like-it-is personality is much like my own. I knew we'd get along. Lots of people know Jamey because of her Zahlahlum Family blog and/or her soft and cute adoption flag blankies she makes (have you ever made a blankie from Holland or Mexico???). We did travel together of course. One of these days I hope we meet up again! I hear Ms. Lauren travels well... come on over.

And then there's my dear and sweet and wonderful friend, Shonda. Yes, I may be sucking up a tad to try to get her to come see me this summer. I met Shonda at GodWillAdd before she had her own domain name. Yes, she's that cool. She broke my heart and gave me hope when she emailed asking if I was going to be part of Travel Group 8. Shonda is a wonderful hostess, even when she's in bed puking. She's following an amazing journey right now to adopt her 5 year old son. Read about it with her "Call that Changed it All" post.

Of course I was kidding about the favorite thing. Seriously! There are a few others that either don't have blogs so I can't link to them to tell you how cool they are!

More than a Picture

ONE year ago we held him for the first time.

He wouldn't say a word to us!

Now, we can't get him to stop talking!

Even if you talk non-stop, we love you Judah-bugs. You are adorable, talented, funny, and obedient.

(we met him on a Friday so I'm posting this today and a more thorough one tomorrow)

quotable quote

Listening to President GW's book: Decision Points and heard a good quote in reference to those countries struggling for freedom.  He said:
 
"Their plight can look bleak but it is not hopeless."
 
Isn't that the truth with the work that we're (FOVC) doing in Ethiopia.  The work that others are doing in different little pockets of the world.  How are you giving hope to those who's plight looks so bleak?

87 dresses

Isn't that a movie title? Well, today I received a package in the mail of 86 dresses. And a precious note came with it.

Kaight is the mastermind behind the dresses. I wish she blogged. Kaight, you need a blog :P

Kaight emailed me early on in this FOVC trip process. She committed to sponsoring us financially. I didn't know Kaight except for the facts that she was adopting twins through the same agency as me and that I loved how she spelled her name. That's it. But she saw the value in FOVC and supporting people in the area her children were born in. Thanks Kaight.

A few days later I got another email from Kaight. She had been to Ethiopia to meet the twins and was waiting to go back to get them. Waiting stinks. Kaight and some friends at church were wanting to do something while they waited. So, she suggested making the pillow case dresses for FOVC. I told her that I'd be happy to take them to Ethiopia. She thought they could make 20 dresses.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email on the 15th that said she'd mailed 86 dresses. Very cool Kaight and friends. Her note explains (and I hope I repeat this correctly since I'm too lazy to get up and grab the letter out of my purse) that her mom made some of the dresses and then some of the older ladies in church made the rest. How cool is that??!?!

Six months ago when FOVC wasn't on my radar screen, a friend of mine from church suggested we make the dresses. I thought it would be fun. Still haven't managed to make any. This just might be my encouragement to do so... after I return in June.

Thanks Kaight for organizing, sewing and mailing. FOVC recently began work in 2 more communities. My guess is the dresses will end up there. Suh-weet!!!

FOVC Update

Well, we just sent off the check that should take care of the rest of our in-country travel expenses for Ethiopia. Feels so good to have that done and taken care of. Again, thanks so much to those who've donated. One particular family has donated 3 times towards the FOVC seed project. You rock my socks off!

In other news, I'm still not sure what exactly I'll be doing. I read Desalegn's (guy who runs FOVC) Crops for Widows Project proposal the other night. He's an amazing dude and is a gifted visionary. I look forward to sharing more of that with you all. We had a brief FB chat last night and then I followed it with an email of questions to him about the crops. So, hopefully I hear back from him fairly soon on that.

I'm looking forward to meeting up with our team. Lory, Dr. Jo, Denise, and Rick, please don't be suprised if I hug you when I meet you the first time. So excited. And you guys will love Ryan. He's amazingly smart although quiet when he doesn't know people.

Donations are coming in. Although one big one is missing. Kaight and her friends sewed 85 dresses for the girls in Shanto, etc. She mailed them from Vermont on the 14th. They still haven't arrived here. 12 days later. Not sure why. So, if you're the praying type, please pray that those things show up in the next few days. I know, we don't need them to be here much before we travel, but it really would calm Kaight and my nerves if they did. *edited to add that Kaight's dresses showed up today. Whew!

One Year Ago

One year ago today we left for Ethiopia with 2 suitcases of donations, 2 suitcases of our stuff, a binder full of adoption information and a few pictures in my hot hands.

The first picture was of Shonda's family since we were meeting up with them prior to a stop in Amsterdam and I wanted to be able to find them in the airport. They sat right behind us on our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. So fun to get to know them over this past year.

The second, third and fourth photos were of Chrissy's kids. I didn't really know Chrissy but was drawn to her story of fighting for her kids and had been praying for them for months. I was carrying their picture around so that I could maybe see them at the care center in Addis and love on them for Paul and Chrissy. Boy did I ever see them. I think it was the middle one that attached herself to me upstairs when we were helping Judah finish his lunch. And it was Jamey who pointed out it was one of Chrissy's kids. Way to go Jamey. It was so good to pick her up, hug her, tell her that her momma was coming soon and pray over her. Well done.

One year ago was just the start of the journey. We had a few days of holiday in Amsterdam before going on to Ethiopia. But it was one year ago that we said goodbye to our oldest two as we headed off to get our youngest. Wow, how things have changed in that year!

Crops Proposal

Friday night I read Desalegn's Crops for Widows Proposal for FOVC. His desire to love and serve the widows and their families is awesome. Desalegn is a wonderful visionary. I'm so excited to participate with FOVC's crops for widows program!

If you have experience with crops and a heart for serving others, I'd love to hear from you!