Meeting Allison for the First Time

I am still playing catch up now that we can post pictures and video of Allison. Here are the first moments when I met Alli back in August.

Week 1 Wrap Up

I have so many thoughts running through my mind. And it seems like when there is a ton going on, and lots to blog about, that's when you have the least amount of time to sit and write.

But, we have been home one week. And what a week it has been.

We are totally wrapped up with our sweet baby girl, and already it is hard to remember our lives without her. The sound of her laugh and her babbling fills our days. Megan and Emily are awesome big sisters and love to play with her. We have been blessed with wonderful meals from family and friends and that is a huge load off my shoulders. We are also loving our visits with everyone who has stopped by to meet Allison.

But we are still in transistion, and we are still getting to know each other. Jumping into parenting with a 14 month old is very different than bringing home a newborn, and I don't think I was prepared for just how different it is. She is active, and she has opinions. We don't always know what she wants, but we are trying our best.

We also think that she gets tummy trouble from milk, and we have been giving her a bottle whenever she is fussy (therefore, making the long term problem worse). So, starting at bedtime, we are going to a soy formula and hope that it will help her times of intense unhappyness that just comes on suddenly.

I just wish I knew what she was thinking. What did she think when we drove out of Toukoul? What did she think that first morning when she woke up and we were still there? What did she think when we flew all those long hours on the way home? What did she think when we took her to Wal-Mart? What does she think about still being here with us? Does she understand that this is her home?

Thankfully she sleeps through the night, but I am still so tired. I am thankful that Tony is still home this week, but working from home. Next week will be the real test, and I hope we'll be ready.

Our Homecoming

Since we have just been so busy eating up every little moment with our 3 girls, my friend Korri photographed and has also blogged about our homecoming on her blog, so you can read about it and see pictures there until I get caught up.

Thank you so much Korri and everyone who celebrated with us at the airport.

http://mkjca95.blogspot.com/2010/10/adoption-homecoming.html

Home

I am so overjoyed that Allison is home, but so jet lagged from almost 48 hours of travel that I can hardly function.

I'll catch you up on all the wonderfulness in the days to come.

Our Story

Wednesday morning

Yesterday was another great visit with Allison. I am so in love with that little girl. She is doing well, and she is content to sit with us, but she is still so quiet. But yesterday she was warming us to us more and was smiling and laughing by the end of our visit.

We then spent the evening with our friends at the hotel, and had to say "See you soon" to our dear friends Ryan and Melanie, as they flew home (they were here for their court date and are also friends from home). But we love you R&M and will see you at the airport on Sunday when we come home!

Today we will go up to Entoto Mountain and this afternoon we will check Allison out of Toukoul. Our updates may be fewer after that because we are not supposed to take her out into the city.

Monday and Tuesday

We are having such a wonderful time, but of course, our best time is our time with Allison. We got to visit her yesterday, and she was just content to sit with me, and even fell asleep in my arms. I am even having a hard time sharing her with Tony right now. I am so in love with that little girl.

Since we last came, she now has three teeth. It's sad that I've missed so many milestones, but I am happy for all the milestones yet to come.

We have also loved giving out pens and dresses to the people in the city. I can't wait to share more, including pictures, when we are home.

We're Here

I feel like I'm living a dream. I woke up a few times last night in our hotel, and thought I was dreaming. I've wanted to be back in Ethiopia so much for the past 10 weeks, and especially the last two.

We are so blessed to be here with good friends, and while the orphanage was closed today, Sunday, we still had a great day sightseeing outside of the city of Addis with a van full of our friends.

Thank you to everyone who gave us pens. We had a wonderful time giving them to the children at every place we stopped. I'll have pictures when we get home (we have an internet cafe near our hotel, but the connection speed is slow).

Tomorrow morning we get a visit with Allison, and I can't wait to hold and kiss her. It was amazing to unpack all of her things in our hotel room last night when we arrived, and her crib is all ready in our room for her.

PS-Megan and Emily,
Mommy and Daddy love you so much, and we miss you and can't wait until Sunday when we will finally be the Weber 5!

Good Morning from Amsterdam

It is 8:15 am here in Amsterdam, and we have finished two out of three legs of our journey. Uneventful (which is good) and we will be meeting up with at least two other adopting families for our AMD to ADD flight.

We will arrive in Addis late at night, have dinner at the hotel, then off to sleep so that we can have a full day of sightseeing on Sunday. Then, on Monday, we will have a visit with Allison! Yay!

We love you all!

Here We Go

It feels surreal.

When I was little, I always said that I would have some biological kids, and then I would adopt. And tomorrow we will board a plane to make that dream a reality. In so many ways, Allison is already my daughter. Already Tony's daughter. Already Megan and Emily's sister. And we have missed her so much these 10 weeks.

I am so glad that we followed our hearts last summer. When we knew this was right for us. We could have ignored it, and stayed with things just as they are, but there would have been a piece of our family missing that we would never know.

In 10 days our family will be complete (for now).

Thank you for following us, praying for us, supporting us financially, donating to our garage sales, buying jewelry, and having your pictures taken. Thank you for sweet baby gifts. Thank you in advance for welcoming us home at the airport and celebrating with us. Thank you for the meals that are already lined up so that I will be able to focus on my sweet baby for those all important first weeks home.

I will try to update as often as we can while we are gone, and of course, once we are home.

Loving Ethiopia: Day 37

The grand finale!

I did it! I set out to post 23 pictures of Ethiopia (that ended up being 37 due to our Embassy woes), so that you, and eventually Allison, can know what a beautiful country it is. Ethiopia has become so dear to my heart, and in a matter of hours, I will be back on a plane headed there to bring our sweet girl to our family and her second (and forever) home.

And yes, the landscape of Ethiopia is beautiful, but what makes it such a wonderful country is it's people. So just like the grand finale at the end of the fireworks on the 4th of July, I couldn't choose just one more picture. So here are four examples of the beauty and joy in the people of Ethiopia.

We're So Close

We are so close to leaving to bring Allison home, but my eye started hurting yesterday morning. It started as an annoyance, and got worse through the day. Last night I was in pain. And to make things worse, I wear contacts, and my glasses are my only for back up and the first and last 5 minutes of the day (from the bathroom to my bed).

It also set me behind in our packing last night and today, so we have a lot to still do in less than 40 hours!

So I am heading to the doctor in a little bit and hope that he can work a miracle so I can be at the top of my game for what we have ahead of us.

Whew!

Loving Ethiopia: Day 36

This is the home of Emperor Menelik II up on the top of Mount Entoto, overlooking Addis Ababa. The building on the left is the dining hall, and the building on the right was their living quarters.

Loving Ethiopia: Day 35

Farming.

Most of the families who live outside of Addis do farming. And that farming is done with oxen and hand plowing. When we were there in late July they were planting teff, which is a grain used to make the Ethiopian staple, injera.

baby sister

Many, many years months ago, we bought this shirt for our baby sister for Christmas. (You can read about it here.) We knew she was coming, but we didn't know when or who she was. Just now, I was pulling out her clothes to take with us to Ethiopia, and the time is finally here to take her shirt to our baby sister, who we now know as our sweet Allison.