Two Weeks Home

I can hardly believe that we have already been home for 2 weeks! We have definitely gotten into a routine and life is good!! Noah's adjustment has been great. The first week was rough but for the most part he has adjusted so well. It has been so good to have Doug home with us. Next week will be Doug's last full week home with us. We have become very spoiled by having him here with us. It has been great for Noah to have this time to bond with Doug.

We have kept our boundaries very small with him. We have had entire week with no tantrums and very little crying. There was two days when he just has a very sad look in his eyes. It was so hard as his mom to see the sadness and not know what to do for him. After asking him many questions in Amharic, I finally just took him into my lap and prayed and cried out to the Lord for him. Later I came across this article. The grief of adoption is very real. We are believing for the Lord to use all of Noah's pain for His glory!

Noah's english is increasing every day. I can't believe how many new words he uses each day. He is quite the character and loves to make all of us laugh. He is responding very well to correction but we do realize that a time of testing will come. However, we are greatly enjoying this season.

We were able to take Noah to a park one morning this week. It is so fun to experience these things through the eyes of a child. He usually has a look of wonder in his eyes as he sees all the new things. As I am watching him, the Lord continues to speak to me about my adoption in Christ. The question that keeps coming to me is if I still look at the things of God with wonder and excitement. I have been praying for fresh vision as I look deeper into the Word of God. Doug will be taking over the blog to do some posting about our trip.

My Montage 4/20/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

We are having a blast bonding with our boy. Things have gotten so much better here. My abs are sore from laughing so much. He is such a character and loves to make everyone laugh. Last night he serenaded us from his bed for about 2 hours. I finally went up at 10 and told him beka(enough). Here is a taste of what we heard.

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One Week Home

It is so hard to believe that we have already been home a week. I know that I said that I would be blogging about our trip but I am still finding it very hard to put our trip into words. So, I decided I would let you all know how our adjustment is going. Noah did great on the plane ride home. He slept most of the trip and when he wasn't sleeping, he was watching movies. The first few days home with Noah were rough. We did not have much jet lag. Thank God or else it would have been much more difficult. The first night that we put him to bed was horrible. We had decided to go ahead and let him sleep in our room for however long the adjustment would take. He did not want to go to bed and just cried. It was the most gut wrenching cry I have ever heard. We were able to get him settled down and he slept until about 5 am. Doug and I tag teamed the first couple of nights. After a couple of days, we had him nap in his own bedroom. Since that time he has been sleeping both a nap and night time in his own bed. We did have to limit his water in the evening and he now sleeps from about 8:30 pm until 7:30 am with a three hour nap. This alone makes for a happy mommy:)

Every report we got from traveling families was that our boy was so quiet. We have not found this to be the case. He has the greatest laugh and loves to be the clown. His giggle is one of my favorite sounds. The first few days, he really was rejecting me. This was hard. The one helpful thing was that I felt love for him from the moment I saw him. We used different strategies with food for him to begin to warm up to me. On Wednesday, Doug was gone for the day so I was his only option. That seemed to make a difference and we definitely had a breakthrough. We have seen the Ethiopian shrug and have been quickly letting him no that this is not acceptable. We are finding that he is a very good eater. He doesn't like much variety which is good because there is not much variety around here.

Once again we want to thank each of you for the part you played in our journey. Having our boy here is still amazing to us. I regularly say to Doug that we have an African boy in our home. We are humbled and amazed that God would give us the privilege to be the parents to these four kids. Please continue to pray for all of us as we adjust to our new normal. Also please pray as we continue to seek God in regards to what He has put in our hearts concerning Ethiopia and our future.

We are Home

Sorry dear friends for being absent for so long. The absence in the beginning was because it has been near impossible to put our trip into words. I plan on doing that over the next week. We truly felt the prayers of the Saints during our entire trip. When we left on Friday evening, I began to have a panic attack at the airport in New York. I took a Xanax and Doug prayed for me and on the plane we went. We loved flying on Emirates. Our stay in Dubai allowed us to be completely refreshed upon arriving in Ethiopia. Driving through the city to our guest house was surreal. People had told me of the poverty but there really are no words that can prepare you for what you see. This was very overwhelming for both Doug and I. When we arrived at the Yebsabi Guest House, we really began to question what we had done. I was not prepared for this reaction from Doug. We took time to pray and then we got ready to go and meet our boy. As soon as we arrived and saw our boy, our fears immediately dissipated. He was absolutely beautiful. We were only at the care center for about a half an hour before returning to the guest house. We then enjoyed a coffee ceremony. That was our first exposure to Ethiopian coffee and we were hooked:) We then brought Noah to our room and bathed him, played for awhile and then put him to bed for the night. Here are some pictures of our travel and first day with Noah. to be continued.........