Welcome

A welcome home? Our little girl is doing fairly well adjusting to her new life(foreign world). We've been told to subtract 6 months (emotionally) for every year she has not lived with us. I(Wendy) think I need to do the same with my expectations. As John stated previously, the flight, and the first few days after we brought Blen into our life, were emotionally and physically challenging. My heart ached for the pain, loss, separation she was feeling, my left arm (only side she wanted) and body (she would only stop crying when I was standing with her head above my shoulder) all ached from the constant desire she had to be held.

I don't know exactly what I was expecting. All we read prior to bringing her into the family stated it would be hard for her to 'attach' & 'bond'. This, unfortunately was true for the relationship between John & Blen, but, physically at least, it wasn't for Blen to have for me. With each increasing moment her little arms insisted I 'assume the pose', I became more exasperated & exhausted. As the frequency and urgency continued, I wondered if it would ever end.

Then, perspective kicked in, she truly should be miserable. And want someone to make her feel like she's not all alone away from all she's every known, and ultimately, needed. Many have said, "it's so wonderful you're giving her an amazing new life & opportunity". I had to stop and realize, who is it amazing for? While many see it as a future filled with opportunity and hope for Blen, she currently may see it as a punishment of sorts. A banishment from all she's ever known and experienced.

So, I remind myself, with every outstreched hand of this little 'infant', I am here to comfort her, not get frustrated if I'm not constantly comfortable. I need to continue to rejoice with each smile, dance, giggle, she gives us because they happen more frequently and demonstrate a healing and bond that can only make us all flourish as a family. I rejoice with each minute she now spends with John, minutes when I can even leave the room and not hear her cries for me. She is adapting to our family. We are all adapting to her.

She is a beautiful strong little girl. I am now her mother. And that is something that will never end.

We've had some amazing victories. We've had some frustrations. But who hasn't with a toddler/infant? It has been one week for us together. I've only known this precious little girl for one week. Amazing. And humbling. I can only hope, I truly am providing, a welcome home.

Sunday Afternoon:
Well that's over. I have worried, fretted, layed awake nights, gnashed my teeth over the last 2 years thinking about the flight home with a toddler who doesn't speak my language and has been in an orphanage much of her life. After the flight, I realized i didn't take it seriously enough. If I had known how it actually would go, would I have still gone ahead and done it? Fair question. She slept most of the threee hours waiting to board the plane, then woke up as we boarded. We thankfully got seats in the middle of the plane but with no seats in front of us, just a psuedo-aisle and video screen on the wall. Blen wasn't too excited to be on the plane and wanted wendy to be walking around with her which she of course could't do during taxi and takeoff. The only person in our row asked to be moved almost immediatley and thankfully was soon after takeoff. The flight from Addis to Amsterdam takes about 8 and a half hours and Blen slept off and on for most of the flight. Wendy and I on the other hand didn't. Wendy couldn't get comfortable enough to fall asleep while holding Blen and I tried to help make her comfortable as much as possible and actually held Blen a couple times while she was asleep. It was a long night watching other people sleep, but not too bad as far as Blen was concerned. Oh, but her ears hurt real bad on the descent, but usually people understand that and have sympathy for the kid in those instances.
We got off the plane in Amsterdam at 7 AM and went directly into the security clearance for our flight to Detroit. Once through, we had a little, oh about 45 minute, til we boarded again. This time it really went poorly. Blen was very irritable at this point, we loaded and she immediately started to cry/moan/squirm/writhe/scream/bawl etc etc as we waited for the plane to finish loading and then of course we waited for the plane to be de-iced. This took probbly another half hour with the engines off and the plane dead quiet except for Blen and her carrying on. It was agony. For everyone. Finally we took off and Wendy was able to calm her down enough to fall asleep. For 30 minutes. then it started all over again. The first 4 or 5 hours were a true test. One of the guys on the trip, Joe, often would say "This wouldn't be happening if God didn't think you could handle it". I thought of that quote often and prayed it was true. It's amazing how slow 700 mph is with a crying toddler. Somehow (only by the grace of God) we made it to Detroit and our 8 hours of torture were over.
Or was it. We then went to customs and waited in one line, then had to wait in another line for close to an hour. We then got our luggage and waited in another line to get that rechecked, then yet another line to have our carry-ons rescreened (for the third time of the day) and finally on to the final flight, a quick zip to GR. And Blen played and giggled the whole flight (all 30 minutes of it).
It was great to see all the support of those who made it to the airport to greet us. What a homecoming. 24 hours after we left Addis airport, we were in GR and finally driving home. Blen fell asleep on the ride home and went straight to bed.

Flying Home

Saturday Night:
First of all, thank you all for the prayers for us last night. By the time I got back to the room, Blen was asleep (about 6:30) and she slept, pretty much uninterrupted until about 7AM. God is good. It's amazing how much better a child is with 12 hours of sleep. She ran around the room giggling and babbling and playing much of the day, but she still doesn't quite know what to make of me (hold your comments please). Wendy continues to be her source of sole source of comfort, but she is starting to warm to me. We feel much progress has been made today. We went to Salstala today as a special side trip with Alemu. I think he felt sorry for us since everyone else left and we aren't really supposed to go out with Blen in Ethiopia. The government has decided recently that they don't like to see white families with Ethiopian adopted children in public so once we got Blen, we've been pretty locked up. Alemu says that it is just a government thing and there is no ill-will toward westerners by the general public. Anyway he took us to a town about 20 km from town and we had a great lunch of roast goat and some sort of yellow bean dish all with injera. The food is incredible-I will miss, but wendy was fantasizing about T-Bell the last several days.So we were gone for a couple hours, which means we were in the room waiting seemingly all day to checkout at 8 PM for our 2350 flight home. It's never fun sitting in a hotel room all day. We just want to be home and see our boy (and of course everyone else). Thanks again for all the prayers and say a few more as we are about to fly. Please pray for safety and sanity. We'll see you soon.John Wendy and Blen

Please Help

Wendy and I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support over this whole two year process. It's been a long journey with many different emotions and of course lots of waiting. Now that we are at this point in the journey, we are calling on all of you to say a special prayer for us tonight and for the flight. We knew it was going to be difficult to bond with a toddler from an orphanage who didn't speak our language, but the last couple of days have been harder on us than we could have imagined. Blen didn't sleep much last night and neither did we. She has short periods of good cheer but mostly she is cranky or crying. She is only consoled by Wendy so she is worn down and I try to help as best I can but I feel pretty helpless and worthless.

Please pray for peace and trust in Blen's heart and sleep for our little girl. Please pray for wisdom and strength and compassion for Wendy and I as we really need it. We know with your support and God's help things will get better and we will have a wonderful little girl.

Today our agenda was pretty tame compared to every day prior. We hung out at the hotel in the morning and had a traditional lunch and coffee ceremony at Alemu's house. The food was great as usual and coffee ceremony (they roast the beans over coals, smash and grind them in a small jar/pot, boil water over the coals and then serve them in little cups with popcorn, kolo-roasted barley seads, and doba - a huge loaf of delicious bread). The whole ceremony takes about an hour and a half. We then went back to the hotel and all of the other adoptive families left for the airport. We leave tomorrow night at about midnight local time.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. See you soon.

John & Wendy

Blen Brookhouse

Thursday started at about 6:30, twelve hours after we put Blen to sleep, she woke up. She made lots of noise overnight and seemed to be humming simple tunes in her sleep, but she never woke up. It was nice to hear her make noise because, other than crying, she didn't make a sound the day before. Oh yeah, since arriving we've always referred to her as Blen because all the documents have that as the name and then we met the mom and then we met her and slowly we've both decided that her name is Blen and we should keep it Blen. She looks like a Blen - not Addison.

So, back to today. Blen woke up a little happier than yesterday, but she is not a fan of her new dad. I was not able to touch her or get too close without crying. She is stuck to Wendy at all times and once I tried to take her to give Wendy a break while Blen was already crying pretty hard, she just went completely ballistic and I gave her right back. We just pretty much hung out in the room this morning. I went to the store for a couple of things and when I came back Wendy said she smiled and giggled and laughed but once I got back, back to her somber self. She does look at me and make eye contact but sometimes she deliberately blinks at me and she also shrugs her shoulders at me (both of which she doesn't do to mom). We think she means something by it but we don't know for sure.

We went to the US Embassy for our appointment and it turned out to be more like a trip to the secretary of state than anything else and one more thing I was worried about was over.

We came back and had some more bonding time, at least for Wendy. I went to get supper and after an hour and a half for our takeout order to be filled (actually pretty standard time for our orders) I got back and it seemed like a different Blen. She giggled a little and let me touch her on the foot a couple of times. Maybe there is hope for me. Wendy's putting her down now and I'm about wore out. Good night.

Wednesday - Blen!

Wednesday. D-Day. It's finally here and everyone is freaking. We can't go to the orphange (Enat Alem) until 2:30 so we went to St. George's church and museum and the Holy Trinity church and museum. Ethiopia is a predominately Christian country with their own orthodox church. A lot of it is like Roman Catholicism with some variations. Ethiopians believe that the queen of Sheba visited Jerusalem and got pregnant with Solomon's child, a boy, and he became king of Ethiopia. Anyways, we saw the first church and museum, but before we could go to the second one, a bunch of people wanted to go back to the hotel and "get ready" (??). Joe & I went to the second church & museum (which was probably the best of all the tours of museums).

We got back and milled about for a couple of hours then went to Enat Alem. Everyone was so nervous. Lots of comments about how we could maybe just go to the airport instead or at least take the long way to the orphange. Two years of preparation and waiting and waiting and waiting and wondering if it was going to happen and now here we are at the gate of the orphanage!

We went in and they said "Do you want to meet your kids?" We went into a cramped room third after two other couples - once again chaos, kids crying and people all over and then we saw the nurse holding Blen. This time we both had tears rolling down our cheeks and she was - on cue (like every picture we saw of her) crying. I had to run back and get a toy so Wendy could lure her into her arms, and then Blen was fine. We kept crying. We took her back into the courtyard and Wendy walked around with her while I kept snapping photos of them and all the other families who we've grown so close to. It's strange being overcome with joy for people you met less than a week prior.

Blen had such sad eyes. Too sad for a girl her age, she looks like she has seen so much sorrow in her 19 months. She let Wendy hold her, but she didn't really hold back, just kind of hung there semi-limp, watching everything around her. We had a small coffe ceremony (yes I drank it and kind of liked it), took more pictures and then I was able to hold her for a little while (she didn't allow this earlier). What an amazing thing to hold her. All that it took to get there and there she is in my arms... She soon tired of me and went back to mommy.

We talked with the nannys and got info about her from the last couple of weeks and we asked about the necklace we saw on Blen. They said her mother gave it to her and she would not allow anyone to take it off. Again the floodgates of tears opened, that she would have something that her birthmom gave her. We eventually thanked the nannys and the director - many of whom were also crying saying goodbye to their kids and we were gone. It is amazing to see the love and care the workers at these orphanages have for the kids. It's a great comfort knowing they are so well cared for, even if they don't have the resources.

So we load in the van with our kids on our laps (they don't have car seats in Ethiopia) and take to the chaotic streets of Addis. Safely home, we all go back to our rooms as new families.

Blen remains very withdrawn but stuck to mom's shoulder for the first several hours. No expression except what appears to be sadness. After a while, while Wendy is singing her a song, she starts to get tears in her eyes and soon is wailing, a gut wrenching mournful deeply sad wail. Inconsolable. This keeps us up for what seems like forever and eventually we get her calmed down and a little food in her belly and she's out for the night at 6:30. I guess it was a big day for her too. Seeing her sleeping there in her crib next to our bed, it was really surreal to have her there with us.

And of course, we are exhaustted and fall asleep soon after.

Let's Catch Up! Tuesday's Events...

Tuesday was our last day before we got Blen. It was to be our shopping day. We went to the Merkato first. It is Africa's largest open air market and it is huge. It is criss-crossed by many streets and is an absolute madhouse with traffic and people everywhere. It is also not the safest place - especially for tourists. We hired guards and had them accompany us. Our group was the eight of us, the driver and four guards with billy clubs.

Aubrey & I bought some crazy hot spices in plastic bags. As we were walking away from that spot, some guy came walking past us shouting about us into the air. He then spit at one of the women in our group and the guard nearest him unloaded his billy club into his ribs and the guy was gone (probably with a couple of broken ribs). We then negotiated the maze of alleys and streets and shops and bought some pretty cool stuff. Nothing has a price tag and all the prices are negotiable. I'm pretty sure we all paid twice a merkato veteran would pay for anything. I'm sure the shop owners were all very happy to see Americans come by. I'm an easy mark.

We then went to a smaller market area to shop and buy more trinkets. Wendy was of course out of control, with Birr flying out of her wallet at alarming rates. While she shopped, I was going to get my shoes washed by a boy who washes shoes. There are thousands of boys who do this and because there is a lot of mud, they stay pretty busy. Anyway, as I was about to put my foot on his stool, a lady came over and kicked him in the ribs incredibly hard, I can still hear the sound. The boy took off and I never got a clear story as to why it happened. Crazy. Lots of sore ribs Tuesday night.

Later that night we went to a restaurant that had traditional Ethiopian music and dancing. Incredible dancing, very strange music with strange instruments and lots of ululations. The food was great again and Alemu got us a round of honey beer called tej. It used to be only for royal banquets but is now available in some places. It came out in an unlabeled bottle and was poured into conical shaped glasses (think high-school science class) with a narrow top. The first draw was like a punch to the face. It tasted like honey mixed with beer and a pasture, kind of like manure. Sweet manure. One woman gagged about 15 times before she could regain her gag reflex. I still found a way to finish the whole thing (you know, you don't want to insult the host) and Wendy tried to finish hers and started to laugh and had a bunch fly out of her nose. I can't imagine smelling that the rest of the night, Wendy said it was not pleasant. The ride home that night was full of bad humor and lots of laughs, that tej is pretty strong.

Coffee, devil magic, baboons & small miracles (John)

Monday was a travel day back to Addis (oh by the way, sorry for the infrequent updates. strangely, internet isn't that reliable around here).

First we went to a market to get fresh (green) coffee beans. So we went down a sidestreet to an open air market with people everywhere. We of course stuck out like sore thumbs in the crowd but everyone was at least cordial. The atmosphere is chaotic and to get anywhere you need to push through people down narrow alleyways and to a small open area with the cofffee. Wendy bought some and as the transaction was taking place, there were some people behind us saying "devil magic" over and over. But nothing came of it and we left without incident.

We started north and stopped at Lake Lagano, a popular (?) tourist spot on another rift valley lake. There were very few people there so maybe it wasn't the busy season. We saw lots of cool colorful birds (for which Ethiopia is famous) and the lake was nice. As we left, someone in the back of the van said saw a monkey. So we stopped and it turned out to be a baboon. We got a bunch of photos and another one showed up. I was so pumped because (other than getting our daughter) all I wanted to see were hippos and monkeys. Incredible!

We then stopped for a quick couple of pictures in Blen's grandfather's hometown of Arsi Negale. We drove the rest of the way without getting killed on the road which feels like a small miracle when you get to your destination.

Sunday's events (continued) - from John

Today we woke up in Awassa, 6 hours south of Addis. It's hot & humid (think yellow fever and malaria) and right on Lake Awassa. We had a breakfast with some western and Ethiopian food - called felfel I think - it's injera bread ripped up with sauce and eaten with, of course, injera bread.

We then went on a hippo tour on the lake and took a rather rickety boat (we had to move people to the back of the boat because the front leaked too much with us up front). It was basically a wooden rowboat that could fit about 10 people with a canopy. After about a 40 minute ride we came upon a family of about 15 hippos in fairly deep water so we could mostly see their nostrils, ears & eyes. We hung out for a bit and a couple were getting mad at us and raised their whole heads up and splashed towards us. The guides got spooked and we took off - pretty amazing.

We got back to the shore and Alemu (our guide) told us we must hurry because we were late and Blen's birth mom was getting impatient and may leave. Here we are sight-seeing and may miss our only chance to ever meet the birth mom! So we hurry out and thankfully get there in time, but now we are now quite stressed and maybe not quite prepared.

We meet Blen's mom in the courtyard and just like so many Ethiopian women we've seen, she is beautiful. She seems very nervous (as are we) and we go into the manager's office and Wendy asks (through Alemu) our questions. Very intense and emotional. It may surprise those reading this that Wendy cried, but she did. Blen's mom was very reserved but she cried as well and she laughed a little too. We decided to keep the discussion between us and Blen at this time, to respect Blen's privacy, but we did take lots of photos & video. It was an amazing, exhausting, wonderful experience that we will always cherish, and I think will be great for Blen when she gets older. We were blessed to have this experience, as others in our group either didn't have the chance to meet the family, or had awful experiences with their families.

We then had an incredible lunch of ethiopian food. I had some kitfo (minced raw beef with spices and a little cheese blended in). It was incredible but may not have turned out so good a couple of hours after the meal.

We then went to a "coffee farm." We drove south out of town into the hills and stopped at a random traditional farm on the side of the road. Alemu (having never met them before) asked the owner of the farm which was basically 30-40 small, about 10-15 feet tall coffee bushes and bunch of false banana plants, which is called enset. The owner said yes and took us out to see it. I'm pretty sure 8 white faces walking around there was pretty rare and within minutes we had a crew of about 100 mostly kids following us around, hamming it up for the camerras. They loved to see themselves on the digital display and on the video display screens. The owner then let us into his house which is a traditional round hut with mud walls and a thatched roof. He let us walk through and take pictures and ask whatever questions we had. What an amazing experience.

We then went back and had a beer (St. George) on the roof of a building in Awassa with a cool breeze and a view of the sunset over lake Awassa.

Exhausted on all counts

Today we ate Ethiopian breakfast buffet. Our guide is a character-always encouraging us to try new things- raw meat was today's dish- 3 of us tried it (not me). John is now wondering why he may have GI issues. Our guide asks me nutrition questions often incl American favorite of "how can I lose weight?". At every meal I tend to eat ~ 1/2 my food -portions here are larger than in America! He asks us every 2-3 hrs if we're hungry/ready for a drink. How can we say no? But when he notices I am finished eating he says always, "you not eat enough, need more food! You like it? must eat." I have been trying to teach him "Intuitive Eating" even the 'plate method' . He's not buying it.

Next was all 8 of us sharing small fishing boat to travel Lake Awaasa and view hippos. We lingered ~50 ft from 6 hippos for nearly 20 min. We took 1 or 2 pictures. As is our experience in most places so far, the 'guides' were very friendly and joked with us. We have rarely encountered an unpleasant local. Oh, have I mentioned EVERYONE is beautiful? We sit outside in cafe and marvel at the beautiful people. All dressed stylish, hair gorgeous. we've eaten outside for ~ half of our meals. Weather remains gorgeous.

I will not say much about following hours...we drove back to Blen's 1st orphanage (same as yesterday) b/f they transfered her to the city near the courts. The purpose was for John and I to meet birth mother. I had lists of questions to ask her. Made it through 1 before sobbing, but I somehow found strength to continue talking. John wrote down answers. Two of adopted guys we are traveling we took video and pictures. I hugged her at least four times. Best way to describe experience - I thanked her and she then thanked me. Both for completely different reasons.

On return trip to Awassa we stopped at private coffee plantation. Learned about how they make, harvest and prepare beans. The owner was kind man-our guide had never been there before, just stopped car and asked if group of Americans could view his home & business. At least 15 children came to us from the area. They wanted us to take pictures of them, then view result on our digital screen. Always laughter. We spent ~ 30min total each taking pictures of them. The owner of platation lives in large thatch hut, ceiling at least 20 feet high. It was very nice and pleasant, he invited us all inside for tour. That kind of welcoming into home and time to explain his work, another example of the kindness and grace in this country.

Next drinks at cafe on roof of highest building in city. More Ethiopian Lager - "St. George" continues to be our favorite. Then we traveled for ~ 5 minutes to have supper. It was 8:00pm at this point. we were all exhausted. I was served the largest portion of lasagna I'd ever seen -thankfully our guide sat at opposite end of table and could not observe the portion remaining on my plate.

By the way, John had coffee for first time last Friday. Ethiopian coffee is VERY strong and bit bitter. He has since ordered (and drunk) it twice. We are all so blessed we can experience this culture, meet amazing people, laugh for hours at meals with no rush by waitstaff or somewhere we "need" to be. Tomorrow is first of 2 market days. we all have 'burr' burning a hole in our pockets! $1 is 13 birr. We all are so in love with this country we joke we will 'reverse-barter' at the markets.

Time to return to bed. we awoke to watch Superbowl, but it is not available in hotel lobby. John was certain they would have it because, "they always comment how it is being watch in over 100 countries throughout the world". Now, if it was a soccer championship, not only would it be on, the entire city would be awake and cheering.

Driving Adventures

Today (Saturday) we drove to the south to see the area where Blen was born. We went to the lake city of Awassa (on awassa lake incidently). It's about a 5-6 hour drive, but I don't know how long it took us. The drive is surreal. It is difficult to understand and absorb all that you see along the road, but these are the few that jump out at me.

First, the drive itself with negotiating traffic is insane. I (fortunately?) got to ride in the front so I had front row seats. There are really no rules that I could discern. Almost no traffic lights in a city of 2 million people. (I remember seeing 2 or 3). Instead, when you come to an intersection, you stick your nose into traffic and then go. Oh, and no one really bothers with lanes, it's a free-for-all. On top of that, the vast majority (75%?) walk or bike everywhere so you have pedestrians and bikes all over the place. Everywhere there are people walking around. Everywhere.

The city is such a contrast, there are new buildings surrounded by shacks made of corrugated metal. The butcher shops are open air (obviously) not air-conditioned with goat carcasses hanging in the back of the shop. The flies love it. There are also cars and trucks of all makes and model, many I've never seen before, but also horse-drawn buggies or donkey drawn carts right in the capitol city. Goats and chickens and cattle in the heart of the city. Right outside our hotel window this morning, before we left, there was a goat drive - probably 20-30 goats going from somewhere to somewhere.

Sorry if this gets a little long-winded, as I write, more memories come back and I'm stream of consciousness writing this. Oh, and the smoke from the million diesel trucks and busses that we followed directly behind with our windows open was oppressive.

Then we got out of the city and it was classic African countryside. Mud huts with thatched roofs. Cows and goats and donkeys grazing in parched, yellow fields. Donkeys pulling carts with hay stacked to 8 feet high to the market. But even out of the city there were always hundreds of people on the side of the road walking to or from some town. It didn't matter if the town was 10 miles away, there were people walking to get there (or taking their donkey-pulled carts).

The rules of the road are pretty loose in the country as well. Just pull around someone and pass even going up hills and around corners. On the ride I counted 3 vehicles being towed following head-on collions and 3 trucks overturned in on the side of the road and one bus with front crushed. All had happened recently as there was still people milling around the crash sites. I was glad to read our destination safely.

We finally got to Awassa and were able to visit the orphanage Blen was at originally. We met the workers and played with the kids, it was great to see and we got a little emotional (well Wendy a lot emotional).

I gotta get off the computer, will post later.
John

We're in Africa!

Amazing. Breathtaking. Surreal. Trip of a lifetime, no doubt.

Left GR, MI at 1:40 pm Wednesday. 3 flight changes later, arrived in Addis Abba, Ethiopia at 9:15 pm, African time, on Thursday (actually 1:15 pm Eastern time) - we 'lost' 8 hours of our life!!! ; )

The drive to our Lodge was pleasant weather, flowers lining airport lot, palm trees swaying. Just gorgeous. There are NO stoplights or stop signs on streets...being indoctrinated into Ethiopian driving 'techniques' - including dodging donkeys, dogs, cats, people. We checked into our 2nd floor room with balcony overlooking an Embassy, mountains to SE, palm trees framing our view. After re-packing 6 suitcases that had been intermixed due to weight limits, I opened our room cooler for water bottle. It also contained 2 Ethiopian Lagers. Nice opportunity for a toast, John said it all in one word: "Unbelievable."

Today was breakfast of fruit, omelet, hard roll, beef/tomato/jalapeno mix, papaya juice...all superb. We then met 2 other families with our Agency group - from Indiana and Mississippi. Went to museum and learned about Ethiopian culture, birth through death. I learned so much about Addison's heritage. I was overwhelmed with how deep and beautiful it is. Next stop to National Museum containing "Lucy" - oldest recorded human skeleton, found ~3.2 million years ago in Eastern Ethiopia as well as 1st recorded remains of elephants, crocs, etc from various 'million' years after Lucy. The country is so rich in culture and history. Just an honor to be here and be 'given' a citizen from this world so foreign to all we know.

Tomorrow we head to southern region for boat ride among wild hippos and monkeys. May be priveledged to meet any available members of her birth family. I can't fathom how that experience might be. Sunday is visit to coffee farm...did you know - coffee was named after area of 'Kassa' where coffee was first cultivated.

All of the families in our group are friendly, funny, and don't take things too seriously. We all realize we're going to have to sit back and 'roll with it' over the next 9 days.

En Route!

Six bags packed. Checklists completed. Now over Atlantic, en route to Amsterdam. Flight 2 of 3. It's finally happening!

Brother not forgotten

During this experience there's been 'sign' after sign, moment after moment filled with reassurance and hope that we're meant to take this journey and grow our family through adoption.

One of the latest is learning we will be meeting Addison for the first time on Joel's birthday, Feb. 9. We leave this Wednesday, so will miss that special day with him, yet celebrate the 'present' we are bringing home (among others less life changing for him.). I've attached a few 'highlights' from his 5th birthday party yesterday. Some of you may recognize the uniform he put on at the start in case of 'emergency'. He wanted to be "first on the scene". The birthday cake is also inspired by Joel's passion for all things 'mergency'.

Joel's been excited? over the past months. Two years ago when we began, he'd ask if each plane he'd see was bringing sister home. Then naming his teddy bear 'sister'. Nightly prayers are often dedicated to sister and bringing her home soon. Now, as many begin asking if he's gonna share his toys with his new sibling, I think the reality of the situation is starting to sink in...