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Our Gotcha Day with Genet - July 19th 2010

Gotcha Day with Dawit - July 19th 2010

A LONG time...

Well, it's been a very LONG time since my last post. Almost a year has gone by now. It's crazy how time flies. I have wanted to post so many times and I'm just too busy with four kids around. I hardly have any computer time as it is. And, I'm not a natural at writing anything so this is work for me to post. :)

We are all doing great. Sophia will turn 10 in September, Silas is almost 8, Dawit turned 5 in June and Genet will be 2 in October. They grow too fast. I am still home with the kids and now homeschooling them since August 1st. We are all loving school so far this year. Genet just walks around and makes a mess and is loud. The other kids have learned to tune her out when they are doing their school.

We are a family now. It took longer to bond as a family then I ever thought it would. I went through the post-adoption blues (really depression) for months. At the nine month mark is when things finally started feeling more "normal" for me. So, now I am really enjoying my four children and we are all a close family now. Adoption is so different than having your own. Especially when they come from a different country. They go through their own process of bonding and grieving what they just left. Mine both did very well in their transition. My oldest (biological) and I are the two that struggled most with it. But, I am praising God for my beautiful family and all that God has done in the past year. We are all stronger for going through this process. July 19th was our one year anniversary of our Gotcha Day. I will also post our videos of that day in a later post.

Well, here are some pictures of the family now. Sorry for the year break in blogging. Maybe I can keep my blog more current from now on. But, no promises. ;)

3 Months!!!

Sophia Rose age 9

Silas Jaxon age 7

Dawitt Kassa age 4

And...Sweet little Naomi Genet age 1

This is my favorite new picture of us!

This picture makes me want to sing, "We are Family!" Here is our family of six!

Today is 3 months since we became a family of six. It seems more like a year. We can't imagine our lives without them in it. Genet just had her first birthday last week and is every bit one year old! She is walking/running all over the place now. Dawitt is speaking sentences now in English. This is what his sentence might sound like; "mommy, me eat, bath, teeth, sleep, wake, and stool (school)?" He wants to know EVERYTHING we are doing! We stay at home most days and do our routine of homeschooling. But, if we get off that routine he will let me know about it! He is still learning his boundaries at home and away from home. He wants to touch everything and experience everything. When we go into Walmart or Target all he says is, "mommy, I want" and points to everything. He can't understand why he can't have it, it's right there. So, I guess that would make him just like any other American kid! He also does everything that his big brother, Silas, does. Some of which he is too young to do, but that won't stop him from trying. All in all, they are both doing very well.
I would say that I have had the hardest time adjusting to our new family of six. And having three animals in the house feels more like seven kids. I still have to feed, give baths and clean up potty messes with the three animals. And then you throw in homeschooling with a baby around and it gets crazy around here. Thankfully I have lots of friends that have helped me along the way. And, also a great husband to support and help us all. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it has only been three months. I couldn't imagine being taken away from everything I knew to a new family, new environment, new food, new language, new clothes and toys that they've never seen. So, the days that are hard because Dawitt forgets his boundaries or it just gets crazy around here with four kids, I have to remind myself that God brought us all together just three short months ago. It's ok to have hard days and struggle with communication. Ultimately God is in control and He brought the six of us together in His perfect way and perfect timing. We will let Him lead us and carry us when we need it.

One Month in our arms!

One month in our arms!


Well, it's been one month that our two newest members of our family have been in our arms. I have not had any time to update my blog or work on the "into video". Having four kids around makes it hard to get to the computer at all.

We are all doing great. I will just fill you in a little on our first moments with them. Just a couple hours after arriving in Ethiopia we walked over to the house where Dawit was and met him first because Genet was sleeping. We couldn't believe that this moment was finally here. We walked into his house and he was standing in his room ready to greet us. The bonding happened right away. He greeted us with kisses and hugs! Wow, what a feeling!!! We waited for that for so long! He was even more handsome in person! He was excited to come home with us right away. The caregivers asked him if he wanted to come with us or stay there and he said, "go with them!" So, then we were off with him in our arms to go get his little sister.

We drove to her house right around the corner and walked in and she was waiting for us upstairs. She just looked at us! Then, for the first time, we saw her beautiful smile! Dawit was so excited to see his little sister too! We couldn't believe we now had both of them in our arms. We walked away and headed to our guest house. We get back and realized, wow, we are all of a sudden a family of six! It all seemed so unbelievable! We spent the rest of the day at our guest house just playing and bonding! It was a very sweet day!

There is soooo much to tell about our days in Ethiopia. I wouldn't know where to start. The short version (for now) is We LOVE Ethiopia!!!! We want to go back (if at all possible many times). It is truly an amazing place and the people there are beautiful! It made me a little sad that I was taking these kids out of their culture there. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true.

Here are just a few pictures of us in Ethiopia. I will work on our video and more stories of our days there. But, for now, here are a few memories...


That's just a few pictures. I am uploading the rest to a site and when I am done I will put a link to it on here.

We are home from ET!

We are home and doing great as a family of SIX! I will update more in a few days when all the family leaves and things settle down around here. But, just want to say that we LOVE Ethiopia and miss it greatly! We loved Paris too! Had a perfect trip, everyone stayed healthy most of the time (nothing too bad), bonding happened right away with both of them. They are great kids!!! I have a TON of pictures and videos of the trip, including the ones of the new families that wanted pics of their kids. They are ALL so cute!!! Can't wait to tell you ALL about how great Ethiopia is and our trip! Thanks for all your prayers throughout our trip, I felt them the whole time!!! Love you all!

Off we go!!!!!

Here we go... off the the airport! We will see you all on July 28th when we come home as a family of SIX!!!!! I will keep you posted on Facebook as much as possible! Love you all!

Dawit with his care package

Here are some of the pictures of Dawit getting his care package from us. Thanks Janet and Amy for taking it to him and loving on him for us! I love the video too! We can't wait to get our hands on him!!!!!!! 2 more days until we leave! One week from today until we meet them. I can't even put into words how I am feeling right now!!!!!!

Returning the Blessings!!!

Ok, there is so much to fill everyone in on right now. I can't though right now. :) We are just very busy doing lots of fun stuff for our trip.

We leave July 14th and will be back July 28th! We are packing, painting rooms and bunk beds, booking flights and rooms, more paperwork (can you believe that!), organizing more clothes in closets (fun!), shopping for the trip and trying to keep up with daily life! Oh yea, can't forget getting lots of shots!!!

Well, it's our turn to bless others and return the favor. If you want us to bring a care package to your child(ren) when we go to ET we would LOVE to! We have had so much fun sending care packages with others and getting new pictures and updates on the kids. So, we want to return the blessing to you! So, just leave me a message and I will get back to you.

Thank you to all who have hugged on my kiddos and gave them care packages and took pictures! It has been such a blessing and has helped us keep focused on their sweet faces during all this craziness! (not that I need much help thinking of them right now :))

Here is the latest picture we got from Amy when she was there last week picking up her sweet little girl.

Naomi Genet is "kissing" Sophia and Silas! How cute! And look at all that hair!

We also got an update on Dawitt from Janet who is there now in ET. Here is what she said about him...

"BTW your boy was so happy and smiley when I visited him. He's CUTE! He loved his package- put the rubberbands (Zaney Bands) on his wrists, stickers on him and he insisted on carrying the card all around with him. The one that sings. He LOVED it! "
Thanks Janet for the updates!
That's all for now!

Introducing Dawitt and Naomi

We passed court today! It is official!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

WE PASSED COURT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, they are ours officially today! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is hopefully the day! Court!

Well, we wait now until tomorrow and see if we will pass court (3rd try). God has been really teaching me about trusting him with His timing and not my own. Proverbs 3:5-6 is my life verse and it applies now as I have to lean on His understanding and not my own. We will let you know as soon as we know something. Thanks for all your prayers!

Happy 4th Birthday "Little Man D"

Today is our little boy's birthday in Ethiopia. We thought for a short time that we were going to maybe be with him on his birthday. But, our court date was changed again and now it is June 23rd. God knows the plans he has for us and they are way better than the plans I have for myself.

I can't imagine what his birth mother is thinking today. She must be an amazing women to give her son a better life by placing him for adoption. That is the biggest sacrifice ever! I am looking forward to meeting her when we are in Ethiopia. But, scared too. What do I even say to her? How will she be feeling? What will she think of us? Will we just cry the whole time? So many questions and feeling run through me when I think about that day we meet. So, today is the day that she had this sweet little boy 4 years ago and now we are so blessed to be able to raise him in our family. He is a gift from God to us. We can't wait to meet him and his sister.

Happy Birthday Little Man D!!! We love you so much!

Court Date Change AGAIN!

Yes, Natalie called today with the news that our court date got changed AGAIN! It was May 24th the first time. Then got moved to June 16th because MOWA did not form their opinion. Now they had to move it again because June 16th is a holiday in Ethiopia and the courts are closed. So our new court date is June 23rd!

This has been the hardest part of the journey for me. I just cried when I got off the phone with Natalie. I just want to pass court at this point so it is final. Then I can just focus on traveling. I have been more emotional this past month then ever in the process. Our whole adoption process has gone so smoothly. And this is just a little set back. Some of you might just say, "it's only one week difference", but one week seems like a long time when you are waiting to see if these two beautiful babies will be Kingsburys!

Keep praying for us to pass court! We will keep you posted! It's all in HIS timing!!!