7 Months!!

HOME!!

Home feels sooo good! We have learned, seen and

experienced so much that God has done!

We are excited to plan and pray where God

has us in the future.

Mommy and Nyah Characteristics!

We both have these characteristics according to people's comments and our own observations!

1. Big Beautiful Eyes

2. Luscious Lips

3. Dimple in chin

4. Teasing personality

5. Curly hair

2nd Trip Flight plans!

We are leaving Friday night for Ethiopia and hoping to return to the Grand Rapids airport on February 19th at 4:10pm! Anyone is welcome to come to the airport for the excitement of welcoming Nyah Aregash home!

We will be updating if our flights change or are delayed.

1st Trip - January 21- 27 2011

January 21-22 were travel days; we were so much more tired than we thought we would be. We had a really hard time leaving Grant notbecause he wouldn't b

e taken care of well- just us leaving him at 2 1/2 years old. We started to question all this being worth it or not. (We come to a different conclusion by the end!) We got into Addis 9 pm on Saturday which was a blessing because we had the night there to sleep. Got settled in our beautiful room and a very comfortable bed!

Our schedule was told to us based around meal time which is the custom in Ethiopia. Breakfast at 8am, 9am- go see the kids, 12- Lunch 3- 5:30- go see kids, 6pm- dinner.

January 23- at 9 am left in the van with 4 other families to see our kids for the first time in person! We went up stairs to the waiting room and one by one the

kids were brought to us by Harmela (our translator and host). We were the last ones waiting for Aregash to come in- oh that was the best moment though. I knew I was looking for her beautiful lips and cheeks afte

r staring at her referral pictures for the past 3 months! Harmela br

ought in another little gal for us and I told her that wasn't Aregash- I think she thought we were a different couple. But it just proves I know my daughter!! And than she was brought in- I knew those cheeks and lips and than ALL the hair! We just kissed on her and hugged her.

She loved her new blanket and rattle. She fell asleep on us in the morning and afternoon- her nap times. We played on the floor doing tummy time and sitting up. She does need assistan

ce for that. She rolled over which we caught on tape! We knew she was starting to feel comfortable with us once she started grabbing at our faces an

d smiling! She has the cutest smirk- loves sucking her thumb and than laying her cheek on the rattle when she started to get tired. This was our first day with her and we couldn't wait to go back in the am to do it all over

again!

Jan. 24- One more day until Court!! Another day we get to spend with her. Same schedule today- got to feed her a bottle and food- she chowed the food and was not too thrilled about the bottle it seemed. She is so ready to eat solids. Felt in her mouth for teeth- none coming through

yet. I am glad we will get to see her first tooth come through! We were reading a book and she leaned back on me and we just playing back and forth with all her cute smiles!

January 25- Gotcha Day and

Birth family meeting! THE MOST emotional day! This morning we left the HOH around 9 am to head to the courts. The agency got us appointments in the morning which was so nice cause than we didn't have to worry about it all day. We were prepared to answer questions but they ended up bringing 4 couples in at a time to answer yes and no questions and we were done! I cried coming out of the room it was just such a joyful feeling!

All of the wonderful families with us at the House of Hope Transition Home!

We than went back to HOH to meet the birth families. We were all standing around in the court yard wondering who was who. The first two families started with the translators and we were just waiting- I just wanted to say who had Aregash and give the birth mom a BIG hug. It was than our turn and the social worker and Aregashs' birth mom came- oh is she beautiful! We hugged and sat done and started going through the scrapbook. We had two translators with us- and the minute she saw a picture of Aregash she was crying and kissing her. Broke my heart to see a woman having to give up a daughter. We held hands through the

whole meeting. We are so thankful for the meeting and being a part of her life.

After the meeting we left to do a bit of shopping while we wait for the birth families to say good bye to the kids one last time and than we were able to go back around 3:30 pm to see them one last time before we flew out the next day.

The last two nights we were awake so much just talking and praying and aching because we did not want to leave. God gave me a peace and I just kept hearing 3 weeks- thinking just go back to GR get what you need for Nyah and come back. Just like I do with Grant when I forget something at the house- run back and get it! A little different because this is running back to GR from Africa!! But it still helped- slightly!