Happy Easter!!!

We made it back to Johnson City late on Friday afternoon and were able to spend the weekend with Ryan's parents and brother and his family. What a wonderful time celebrating Easter and the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made our adoption into the family of God through his sacrifice on the cross!

Last day...... Court Date!

By the last day, she was warming up to us, playing with us and laughing more. She would even crawl into my lap on her own at times. She is just so precious .......

The center of the city...

How about this bamboo scaffolding?

One of the nannies roasting coffee beans for a traditional coffee ceremony after court.

Day 3 Pictures....

This used to be her room, but now she sleeps on the bottom bunk in the big kids' room...

How would you like to hand wash this laundry every day? That's what the nannies do.....

She really had a fun time with the bubbles....when she wasn't trying to eat them!

Pictures from Day 2

Pictures from Ethiopia

Wow, what an amazing, tiring, exciting, nerve-wracking, emotional and wonderful trip to meet our little girl! We are back in the U.S. But still not home yet..... Only a few more hours. We are still processing our trip through a haze of sleep deprivation and exhaustion, but wanted to post some pictures of our trip while we wait for the last plane ride of this trip to board. Hattie is so precious and has the sweetest little personality. She is definitely attached to her nannies, one in particular and they love her. In fact, I think we made them very nervous when we put her on the merry-go-round at the transition home. Two different nannies came over at different times to readjust the make-shift seatbelt and make sure she did not fall out. We are so thankful that God has blessed our family with her and are so excited to be waiting for the final step in the adoption process.....the embassy interview and visa approval. We are told to expect this part to take about two months, then we can bring her home! Here are pictures from the first day meeting her....

Sneak Peek!

It's Official!

We passed court this morning!!!!!!! Hattie is officially ours forever, or as the judge said to our group of adoptive families, "They are all yours!" We are headed to the airport in just a little while and need to pack. More details and A LOT of pictures coming during our layover in D.C. Still no way to send them from here. We had a fantastic day with Hattie and she was really comfortable with us today, playing games, talking and laughing. Still would appreciate your prayers for our travel home and for the one family still missing an important letter to get their final approval. Much love to you all......stay tuned for pictures!

Day Three.....Court Tomorrow!

I can't believe tomorrow is our last day in Ethiopia. It has been a busy few days. Unfortunately, there are no pictures today......wi-fi is not working, but at least we can give some information. We went to the transition home for the morning. Hattie seemed more comfortable with us today and ate her whole bowl of cereal with Ryan feeding her.... big accomplishment! Apparently we do not do it like the nannies do. She had a fun time with us blowing bubbles and took another nap while I was holding her (love it....I tried to hand her off to Ryan but she did not like us moving her around while she was trying to sleep). I changed her diaper for the first time today (she still wears them some) - she did not seem to mind. We will see her one more time after court tomorrow. Our hearing will be in the morning, which will be about 1 or 2 in the morning at home. Please pray for the judge's favor before you go to bed tonight:) One family with us is still missing an important letter and we are praying hard that it will arrive before court so that they can get their adoption decree tomorrow. We did some shopping this afternoon and have been able to see a lot of the city. We are told there are 7-8 million people living here. It is always exciting when we are traveling around as they do not have traffic lights - Even at an intersection with 3-4 lanes of traffic going in all 4 directions. Everyone just inches their way through the intersections. Horns are used quite often and pedestrians do not have the right of way. Today we saw a herd of oxen walking down the main street and had a herd of donkeys cross through 6 lanes of traffic right in front of us!! Can't wait to show you all some pictures! Hopefully we can post an update after court tomorrow before we fly out tomorrow night!

Day Two with Hattie

We were able to visit Hattie again today at the transition home. Yesterday, she cried on and off but warmed up to us by the end of the day. She even fell asleep while I was holding her, providing plenty of snuggle time. We were back at our room by 6pm, sleeping a good 13-14 hours before heading back to visit Hattie. Today, she waved to us when we arrived, but cried again when the nanny gave her to us. It is obvious that she LOVES her nannies and the other kiddos at the transition home. We were able to feed her lunch today and hold her while she took a nap again...so sweet. When we came back after lunch we got to see her sitting on her little potty - that's right, she has already been potty training and is doing really well for a 17-month old! She is saying a few words, in Amharic of course, so we don't really know what she can say but it is still adorable. We have learned a few words, though. She is waving and walking really well. There are a few kiddos, ages 4 or 5, that call to her, wave to her, love on her and do silly things to make her laugh everytime they see her. It is so sweet to watch. It is comforting to see that she has known love while at this transition home from the other kids and especially her nannies, but it also saddens my heart to think about how she will feel when we can bring her home and she has to say goodbye. They have been so good to her and she is definitely attached to her favorite nannies. After spending the day with her, our group took a cultural outing to eat traditional Ethiopian fare accompanied by music, singing and dancing - what a neat experience! Internet and wi-fi have been hit or miss, but we hope to be able to post more pictures tomorrow. Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Much Love!

We made it to Ethiopia

What a 24 hours it has been. We flew 13.5 hours from DC to Ethiopia. Didn't sleep as much as we needed, so we are now borderline zombies. We are with another adopting couple and an adopting single woman. What a blessing to have others with us. We got settled into our rooms and then we got a phone call that we could go meet our kids. We got to spend several hours with Hattie this morning....lots of tears to begin, she wasn't sure about us. She got more used to us as the time passed. We even got to feed her lunch. He has quite a few teeth and is walking pretty well now. We thank everyone for your prayers. We go back to spend some more time with Hattie in another hour. God is good.

First leg........complete!

We made it to D.C. Late last night, slept for a few hours and are headed to the airport for our 13.5 hour flight to Addis Adaba....looking forward to meeting some other adoptive families who will be traveling with us!