2 Months Home!!

Today marks 2 months that Lucy has been home with us! Some days it feels like she just got here and other days it seems like she has always been with us. She is learning new things each day, attaching more and more (she loves to cuddle now!), and showing us more of her personality! Here are some of our family pics! I just love them so much. We didn't send out a Christmas card this year but sent out Lucy's adoption announcement instead and a couple of these pics are on it. Later this month, Lucy will turn 8 months old and we will get to celebrate our very first Christmas with her! I'm so excited!! 

7 months old!

Little Lucy is 7 months old today!! I can't believe it!  She is learning so many new things each day.  I had forgotten how much and how quickly babies learn at the beginning.  She is such a joy to our family!

A Sweet Surprise

This is going to be a quick post but I really had to share this!  Over the past couple weeks little Lucy has started sitting up all the time.  She can lean back on a pillow and then even pull herself back up!  She can grab toys and do all kinds of things that she wasn't doing when she arrived.  She is rolling over and just last week she figured out how to flip BACK over!  This is important because it means she doesn't have to yell when she wants to be flipped over. :)  So, with all this moving and motor skill development I thought I should get some more toys out.  When we moved we packed stuff in places that I don't entirely remember but I did remember seeing one of our clear Book Fundraising bins in the garage that seemed to have toys.  I wasn't sure if it was one of Isabel's old bins but I grabbed it and brought it upstairs.  When I popped open the lid, this is what I found!!

It was a bin full of all kinds of treasures from the past three years!  In 2010, we contracted with our agency and officially started our journey and we started saving things that were Isabel's and also picking up gifts that we thought a little girl might need one day.  Almost each item has a story!  Isabel remembered soo many things too.  She specifically remembers when we bought the little brown baby doll with the blue dress.  She was only 4 years old but she said, "I remember we went to place that was having an outside sale and Mimi was with us and we got this doll for my sister.  Before that we ate ice cream next door." :)

One of my favorite finds was that beautiful and bright colored zebra!  I remember being in Barnes and Noble and seeing this zebra.  It was while we were working on our dossier and home study.  I saw it and thought, "Our little girl needs that!  It looks so fun and African!"  Isabel got a cat from the same brand and she still has it too.  The zebra was the very first thing that we bought.  Here is the link to the post I actually wrote about buying it back in March of 2010.  And here....is a picture of Lucy holding it for the very first time.  I cried a little taking the picture.

 

 God finishes what He starts!  We are so thankful to have this sweet girl home!

October with Lucy

Even though we have been "cocooning" we still were able to do some fun things during October after bringing Lucy home on the 10th.
We have gone on walks outside.

We celebrated my birthday!  Brian and Isabel decorated the basement and kept it a secret (well, besides the sign on the basement room that said, "DO NOT ENTER.").  They bought me flowers and made a sweet card!  Later they surprised me with basement decorations, a cupcake and a couple of presents, and sang to me!

One of the presents that they gave me was so sweet!  Isabel and I had been in a store and we saw this Willow Tree figurine that said, "Child of my Heart" and had a mom holding her baby with brown skin.  Isabel thought it was so cool because she knew I had another Willow Tree figurine of a pregnant mommy.  Apparently, she told Brian about it and had them go to the store and buy it for my birthday!  Isn't that sweet?  I love it!

 Then, the next day Brian had to go to Richmond for a meeting but while he was there he found a Krispy Kreme! KK started in my hometown and it is my absolute favorite but unfortunately our new town DOESN'T HAVE ONE! What?? I know. Anyway, Brian surprised me and Isabel with this glorious box on the day after my birthday! 

We've spent lots of time together and at night, Isabel has started reading to Lucy. It is the sweetest thing! Lucy actually listens and then looks at the pictures. She loves all of the bright colors!

We ventured out and found a pumpkin patch really close to our house!  AND it was a legit pumpkin patch with vines and everything!  We had never been to a real one before.  Normally the pumpkins are already picked and just sitting on hay bales.  There were definitely some like that but we were able to choose our own and pick it straight from the field!

One Saturday we decided to take a drive on Skyline Drive.  Skyline Drive is part of the Shenandoah National Park and it is BEAUTIFUL!  The leaves are changing colors and everything is so vibrant!  It is not far from where we live so we were able to just stay in the car and Isabel would hop out at different overlooks sometimes with Brian and sometimes with me.  Lucy slept for most of it but woke up a few times to laugh and eat.

Then, for Halloween we dressed up Lucy and Isabel and had them head outside to take some pictures.  Honestly, L was not crazy about her costume but she did it long enough to take some pictures.  Brian stayed with L at home while I walked around the neighborhood with I.  We had a great time.  Our neighborhood is perfect for walking around and meeting people.  It's quiet and calm and everyone was so friendly.  This is new for us because we have always lived in neighborhoods where NO ONE goes trick-or-treating.

We have had a great October and first month with our baby girl! :) 

October: Welcome to the Cocoon

Since today is the last day of October I thought I would share what we have been up to.  Obviously it's been a crazy and amazing month since October 10th is when Lucy officially came home!  Her Gotcha Day is October 5th.  That was the day that we had her in our arms and didn't have to let her go!  When we came home we were so blessed to have my mom, my grandma, and Brian's mom still here with Isabel.  They stayed for an extra day and spent time with us and were able to meet Lucy.  We were thankful that they were able to come up to where we live and be with Isabel while we were gone.  

After they left, we settled into our "cocoon."  Cocooning is an adoptive term that families use to describe an intense season of care that we give our new baby.  It is a time to make sure Lucy knows that Brian and I are her primary caregivers, that we are here to meet all her needs and that we will not leave her.  Normally when a baby attaches to a parent that baby learns to trust that person and depend on them and know they will meet their emotional and physical needs.  This bond continues UNLESS something happens that disrupts the attachment.  Lucy has experienced much loss.  When a child loses the relationship of a biological parent, there is trauma and something happens that must be repaired.  Lucy has also experienced the loss of her special mothers that cared for her and the only home she knew.  Because of adoption and God's plan for Lucy we are her forever family and we intend to do everything we can to recreate attachment and healing.

That is why we are spending so much time at home cocooning and may seem like we have strict rules.  We (our family of 3) will be the only ones to feed, hold, change, rock, touch, soothe, and play with Lucy.  This might seem a bit harsh since normally when you bring a baby home you want to show them off to the world and everyone wants to hold them and kiss their sweet cheeks!  We totally understand that but because of all of the training and research that we have done regarding adoption and attachment, we know that staying in our "cocoon" for a season is what truly is best for Lucy in the long run.  After all, she has spent practically her entire life (5 months) in a transition home.  Hannah's Hope is an AMAZING place but it is not the same as a family with one mom and one dad.  She was used to several special mothers and care takers tending to her and playing with her.  She did not have a specific "mom" there and so she is having to LEARN that Brian and I are her parents.  Many of you might say, "But she is SO young, surely she'll just adjust."  Being young definitely is an advantage and she is adjusting well but it is not something that will JUST HAPPEN.  It is very intentional.  I will tell you though that we have already seen some amazing growth!  Here are some examples:

• When we first came home, I would feed Lucy her bottle but she would not make eye contact with me for very long.  She was quick to look around the room.  As we have been holding her and talking to her and playing games that encourage more eye contact, I have noticed that she will now stare into my eyes while I feed her.  She will just look up and gaze and it is beautiful!  This is a great sign!

• Normally Brian takes and picks Isabel up from school but one day he had to go out of town for a meeting after he dropped Isabel off SO I had to pick her up.  I was worried about taking Lucy into the school and our school does NOT have a car pick-up line.  Well, she did not like it.  She was very anxious and clearly over stimulated.  She cried BUT she turned to ME and looked up at me and relaxed.  I spoke softly to her and she calmed down and put her face on me.  That definitely shows that she trusts me and looks to me for comfort.  Since then I have had to pick Isabel up one other time....and Lucy did amazingly well!  She was calm but stayed snuggled up close to me.  I always carry her if I have to go somewhere either in the Ergo carrier or just holding her.  It helps her to feel safe and close to me.

• She is sleeping better.  When we first came home Lucy woke up a lot.  Since she is sleeping in our room in a portable crib we are able to respond to her right away.  We don't let her cry and she has learned that every time we will come to her.  She is now resting and sleeping more deeply and peacefully.  

So we are still not going out of the house often and over all Lucy is adjusting well!  We are so thankful for all of the meals that the sweet people from our church have brought us and for all of the grace and understanding they have given us.  It really has been incredible.  We are so so grateful.  We can't give an exact date when we will be going back to church or going out more but we are just taking our time.  We also know that even after we leave the cocoon, there may be times that we need to go back into that stage again.  Attachment is a long process and not something that we expect to see happen in a short amount of time.  We are praying that Lucy continues to attach and adjust well and that God would heal her heart.

 

Happy 6 months Lucy

This is my first blog entry since we have been home.  I keep meaning to write an update but I forgot what it's like to wake up every 2 hours in the middle of the night!  I am planning on eventually sharing what our last trip to Ethiopia and the US Embassy was like so stay tuned.

Today, however, is a super special day!  Today Lucy is 6 months old!!  I can hardly believe it.  She is such a beautiful bright addition to our family.  She is smiley, cuddly, and lights up the room!  We are so incredibly thankful to have her home forever.  Right now she is working on rolling over and sitting up without help.  She has rolled over once but we can't seem to get her to do it again.  

While I don't have a picture from her first month, I do have a picture from when she was 6 weeks.  That one is in the top right corner.  It was actually one of her referral pictures so it was one of the first we ever saw of her.  The other pictures were sent to me by precious friends that were visiting Hannah's Hope at different times while we were waiting and the one of me with Lucy is from our first visit in August.  I am so thankful to have pictures of her growing all along even though I wasn't with her for all of those milestones.  The big picture is from today!
   

Happy 6 months Lucy Lu!  We love you so much!!

We are going back to Ethiopia!!!!!!

Our case cleared with the US Embassy yesterday!  I went to sleep the night before praying that it would be soon and I woke up and checked my email (which is something you do when you are constantly waiting to hear about your daughter across the ocean).  There was an email from the Embassy and the subject was: CASE CLEARED!!!!!  Now we just go for our last interview with Embassy and that will be it!

I am going to be holding Lucy R in my arms in 4 days.  October 2010 is when we officially submitted our dossier and received our waitlist number and now October 2013 we will officially have our daughter in our arms forever!  Only God could bring all of this together.  Only He can knit stories of loss and redemption, of waiting and persevering, of beauty from ashes.  He is so so good.  We have been so so blessed in this journey.  While this part of the journey is going to come to an end, a brand new journey will begin.  It's hard to imagine that in just a week's time we will be a family of 4.  Isabel will have a sister that she's waited so long for.  We will have a new little person living here with us!

We are amazed and grateful to God for the ways that He has provided for our adoption.  You all came together and answered the call to care for orphans and see children in families!  You all helped bring our daughter home to us.  We are forever grateful and blessed!  God has provided for our last trip and we have the money we need to travel!!!  Only He could do so much!!

I can't stop singing this song today.

 "Who brings our chaos back into order
Who makes the orphan a son and daughter
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

Who rules the nations with truth and justice
Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance
The King of Glory, the King above all kings

This is Amazing Grace"



 

30 Second Sample of Home Soon!

Thank you all SO SO much for supporting our adoption and helping us bring Lucy home soon by donating to download the song that I wrote for her!  You all are incredible and such a blessing to us!!  I have a 30 second clip so I wanted to add that so you can hear a little bit of the song.  Remember, to get the fULL song just click on the link to the RIGHT and make any donation....really ANY amount is helpful ($1, $3, $10, whatever) and then I'll send you the link to download the song!  All money raised is going to help us pay for our flights and ANYTHING extra that is raised will be donated to our daughter's transition home, Hannah's Hope, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

 

"Home Soon" Fundraiser Annoucement

This post has taken me a long time to write because I don't entirely want to do this.  I mean I do, but I don't.  Let me back up a few years....

In 2010, we began the process to adopt our sweet baby girl.  We had NO idea that she would be a baby or that we would be waiting about 3 years to bring her home.  All we knew was that God had called us to adopt and that He was going to orchestrate every detail and remain faithful and true to His Word throughout the process.  

I started writing songs...
In 2009, I started writing songs.  I have always loved music and loved playing the piano.  I was part of a group at our church that would get together and write and share.  I loved it because it was so encouraging to me.  I never really believed I could write music but suddenly the Lord was putting songs and melodies and lyrics into my heart and mind.  There was one particular melody that I kept playing over and over but I never really had the right lyrics to go with it....until 2010 when we began the journey to adopt.  One night I sat with my pink notebook and wrote down a song for our daughter in Ethiopia.  I longed so much to know her and know that she was safe.  I wanted her to know how much we loved her and how much her Heavenly Father loved her and cared for her.  I decided to try it out with the melody that kept repeating in my head and miraculously and beautifully they fit together perfectly.  That is how the song started out.

 Over the next couple years, I would play the song to remind myself of God's faithfulness and that He was going to keep His promise and bring our daughter home.  I played it as a prayer for our daughter and it filled us with hope.  Sometimes I would change the words a little to make it better.  Sometimes I would work to improve the melody.  The song has really been a labor of love that has lasted throughout our entire adoption process.

Could the song be a fundraiser?
Throughout the process when we were fundraising I would think I should do something with the song.  Everyone else was selling cool crafty things they could make like cards and bows and sewing all kinds of fun stuff but well, I almost sewed my finger in a sewing machine once.  I'm not really very crafty.  I would think well, I can write songs but then I would put it off.  I would say, "No one would want to buy this" or things would happen that meant I couldn't record it.  I had all kinds of issues with my voice in 2012.  I even had to see an ENT for them to look at my vocal cords.  They found that I needed vocal therapy because a virus had damaged one of the cords.  I did the therapy and then got another virus.  Every time I would start to do something with the song, something crummy would happen.  

God spoke.
Fast forward to this year.  I had worked on recording the song with the worship leader at our previous church but we never had time to get it all together and then we moved.  I thought, "Ya know, maybe I should just not try.  Maybe this song is just for me and that's it."  But then, I kept hearing the hearts of families adopting through our agency echoing the words that I wrote in the song.  "I just wish I could see her, hold her, know her."  After praying about fundraising one evening, I woke up in the middle of the night really suddenly.  The FIRST THOUGHT that came to my  mind was: "RECORD THE SONG.  THAT'S THE FUNDRAISER."  I smiled and thought, "Oh man, really???"  So, we mentioned it to a friend of ours at our new church and he was eager to help!  He opened up time at their home and he had an amazing mic and keyboard for me to use.  He and his wife (also named Brian and Angela) opened their home and let me record this song.  He sat and edited it and worked on it with me for a couple hours.  I left with a song that I felt good about and though, "Okay, now I have to share it....."

That's the part that I'm not crazy about.  I'm super nervous about playing in front of other people and sharing things that I write and sing and play.  I guess everyone is.  However, I know God wants me to share the song so that's what I'm doing.

SO how is this a fundraiser??
I am just asking for a donation of ANY size to receive the song.  Basically, you will click on the cute little link over there to the side to go to make a donation to our Adoption Paypal Account.  You literally can donate 1 dollar or any amount that you would like!  I would be ever so grateful.  I'm not kidding.  I really want to share the song with you all.  Once you make a donation, you will receive an email with the song file!  From there you can listen to it wherever and whenever you like!  In case you're on your phone and you can't see the link over there, here is the Paypal link here: DONATE & DOWNLOAD

I really pray that the song would be a reminder of God's faithfulness and goodness.  Of His promise to never leave us nor forsake us.  That He will provide all we need.  I love that God has saved this song for the VERY end of this journey.  
And that He is BRINGING HER HOME SOON!

Okay, so that's it.  I'm being brave today y'all!  I know our Lucy R will be home soon so it's time to share this!  Her case was opened at the US Embassy today for review!! 
Go donate & download! :) And share too if you would!

**I'm working on getting a 30 sec. sample for you to hear the song!**

**I forgot to mention. Once you download the song, please remember that this is a fundraiser. That means do not forward the song to everybody you know. I would appreciate if you would direct them to our website here where they can also make a donation and receive the song.** 

"Home Soon"
© 2013 Angela Hunt

Day 3: Trip to Ethiopia

Today is a recap of Day 3 from our trip to Ethiopia back in August.  Today I'm going to type from my journal.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

This morning we woke up and had breakfast with a new family that arrived for their second trip.  Their little boy is from Gambella too and very sweet.  There are just so many special children here at Hannah's Hope.  The older kids all play together and help the younger ones too.  It has been good to have another family here because they have been able to give us some pointers on what to do and where to go since this is their second trip.  For breakfast, Alma makes us whatever we like from a menu.  We had eggs and toast.  Brian put berbere on his eggs and loved it!  We also had coffee.

After breakfast we went shopping with Danny.  Danny works at HH as one of the drivers and he is so nice.  It took a long time to get to the store.  We drove and drove past all kinds of crazy cars and trucks and taxis and people in the streets.  The store was situated on a block with a lot of other stores.  I believe that Danny is friends with the owners so he takes us there knowing that they will give us good prices.  They did!  At the store we bought lots of fun gifts and special things for Lucy R, Isabel, our home, and our family.  We picked out little traditional dresses with scarves, a coffee set, crosses, scarves, some jewelry, a table cloth, some puzzles of Africa and Ethiopia, a miniature injera basket, and some other small items.  The people at the store were so kind and eager to help.

This is a roundabout close to Hannah's Hope.  There are TONS of roundabouts all over the city.  I have no idea how anyone gets through them without crashing into other cars.

The picture above is Jubilee Palace or the National Palace.  We didn't get to stop and take pictures so this is just the front gate.  It belonged to Emperor Haile Selassie

This is a funny little bus that is like a taxi that carries people all over the city.  They can cram a LOT of people into them.  It's called a bajaj.  Brian and I almost got in one one day but then we chickened out because we realized we didn't know how to tell them to get us back to HH!

By the time we finished shopping, we were hungry so Danny took us to eat an Italian restaurant.  The weird thing was that we were the ONLY people eating there.  Danny had to leave to pick up some paperwork and drop some things off.  The workers at HH NEVER STOP!  They are hard workers and always doing everything they can to work on behalf of the children.  Anyway, I ordered a Hawaiian pizza (which was pretty good) and Brian had chicken and spaghetti.  I think it was supposed to be Chicken Parmigiana or something like that.  They also brought us yummy garlic bruschetta.  Before we finished our meal Danny came back and ordered a pizza too.  We were able to sit and talk to him about Ethiopia.  We finished lunch and headed downstairs.  We stopped in a little convenience store to get some Ethiopian candy to take home for Isabel and then we headed back to HH.

 This is Brian at the Italian restaurant/art gallery.  I didn't take a picture of anything else.  

I don't know why!

When we got back to HH Brian started feeling really sick.  I think the Ab-normal burger from the day before did NOT settle well.  He took some Cipro and rested.  While he did that I went over to play with Lucy.   I got to feed her and even weigh and measure her.  She weighed 12.10 pounds and was 23 1/2 -24" long.  Her special mother, Sara, gave her a bath and put lots of baby oil on her hair and body.  She was so happy and smiley all day.

 This is me hanging out with Lucy R in her room!

 This is the little crib that she sleeps in!  So cute!!

 This is just another picture of her room.  It's so pretty!

Later, Brian felt better and was able to come over and hold her, play with her, and rock her to sleep.  It was starting to get dark so he passed her over to one of the special mothers from the nightshift and we kissed her goodnight.  We can't wait to be able to take her home with us!  We love you sweet girl! 

Ethiopia Trip: Day 2 The Day We Met

I told y'all I would get back to the recap of our trip!  I ended our first day with arriving in Ethiopia, getting through the airport, and having Wass pick us up to take us to the guest house.  That was a combination of Day 1 and Day 2 because of the travel (6, 620 miles) and time change.  I'll pick up on Day 2:  the day we MET Lucy R for the very first time!

After we carried out luggage to our room (#4) they gave us a little tour of the guest house where we would be spending the next 5 days.  Our room had a bed, nightstand, crib, and bathroom.  The guest house is soo nice.  There was a kitchen, a dining room,  and large open living area with sofas and chairs as well as a computer ready with Skype and and anything else we needed.  We were the first family there.  (I have more pictures of the guest house but I am looking for my camera cord again...)
  

 After our mini tour they told us that we could rest a little while and then one of the workers there would meet with us to complete some paperwork.  Even though we were SO anxious to meet little Lucy we took their advice and rested for a short while.  After about 30-45 minutes we went back downstairs to meet with the director and one of the workers there.  We exchanged our US dollars for Ethiopian birr (pronounced burr).  We ordered some coffee to bring home.  We completed some visa paperwork and looked over our itinerary.  After that Azeb (one of the workers) said, "Are you ready to meet her?"  We smiled and said, "OF COURSE!!"

She led us out of the guest house and we passed a small courtyard where older kids were out playing.  We waved and smiled and followed Azeb to the transition house.  At the door, we removed our shoes and put on black flip flops to avoid carrying in germs.  We walked under the door that said, "HOPE" and followed her inside to the left.  

 She was in the green room in a monkey bouncy seat ALL wrapped up in blankets.  We could only see her tiny face popping out.  She was much smaller than we thought she would be and even more beautiful.  They let me scoop her right up!  We just stared and cried and couldn't believe it.  At first she cried because of course she had no idea who we were but then after just a few minutes she relaxed and snuggled up.  We both just stood there in awe that the moment we had waited for for over 2 1/2 years was happening.  We were holding our daughter and looking into her beautiful brown eyes.  I will never ever as long as I live forget that moment.  It was so much like the moment that they handed Isabel to me after she was born.  I held her and knew she was our daughter.  That feeling of "She is ours" came over us with Isabel and Lucy.

We asked Azeb to take pictures and video and she did!  I can't share the video or many pictures now but we can share more later.

After we spent time with Lucy R it was time for her to take a nap.  I forgot that babies like to nap A LOT!  We were pretty hungry by then so Wass took us to a restaurant nearby called "New Look."  New Look is inside of a very tall building just up the street from where we were staying.  We didn't realize how tired and jetlagged we were until we had to try and keep up with Wass flying up the stairs to get to the restaurant!  The stairs seemed to keep going and going and going.  We had to stop half way up to catch our breath.  Also, the altitude of Addis Ababa is much higher than what we are used to in North Carolina.  We managed to finally get to the top and Wass introduced us to the owner and left and then we sat down to eat lunch.  I had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries and a Fanta.  Brian had the "normal burger" and fries and a coke.  I should say here that the "normal" burger was not really very normal at all.  I would actually probably call it the ABnormal burger.  It was squishy and I don't know really what was in it.  I'm pretty sure it had berbere in it though.  Berbere is a spice mix that Ethiopians put in everything.  It's really yummy but when you're expecting a "normal" burger, it's not so yummy.  haha.  I let Brian have some of my chicken.  After we finished our lunch, the owner said we should get a macchiato.  People drink macchiatos ALL of the time in Ethiopia and oh.my.word.  I understand why.  They are delicious!  The best coffee EVER!  If you don't know what an Ethiopian macchiato is it is basically super strong espresso with steamed, foamed milk.  Then, you just add sugar to taste.  Yummmm!!!  After our coffee, we went out on the veranda to see the beautiful views of the city.  It is SO big and sprawling in all directions.
  

 The one above was when we stopped half way up the flight of stairs and snapped a picture looking out!

 

                              This was the same view but another day that we went back.


Before we left, the owner of New Look INSISTED that we pose with his traditional coffee set up.  In Ethiopia, it is very common to go to someone's house and have coffee served to you in a traditional way.  We obviously did not grind up the coffee and roast it and all but the owner thought it would be fun for us to pretend!  These are the pictures he took. :)

That was pretty much our first day in Addis!  After lunch we went back and took a nap, unpacked donations, sent email to family to let them know we arrived, and played with our sweet Lucy until it was time for her to have her bath and go to bed.  It was a really long day but a really really beautiful day.

Happy 5 Months Baby Girl

Today our baby girl Lucy is 5 months old!  When we received her referral she was only 6 weeks.  She has grown so much and I'm sure she is learning even more things than the last time we saw her at the beginning of August.  I just miss her so much.  I keep checking my email all day hoping to see some news from the US Embassy.  They originally told us that it would be 4-5 weeks in between our trips and then 4-8 weeks and now they are saying 8-10 weeks.  It has been 7 weeks.  So, hopefully not too much longer.

Even though I miss Lucy so much I am incredibly thankful for where she is right now.  She is at the transition home called Hannah's Hope that our agency runs in Ethiopia.  It is not an orphanage.  It is a home with special mothers and workers that are all like family.  It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  The people there give selflessly and love and love and love the children that come there.  They love them and help them to grow and then they tell them goodbye.  While Hannah's Hope is Lucy's home for a season it is not her forever home.  I know that is true but that is one of the things that I am dreading....saying good bye to Hannah's Hope and the special people there for Lucy.  They sing over the children, bounce them, bathe them, feed them, play with them constantly, and just LOVE them.  They are just precious.

So, while I am ACHING to have her in my arms again I have so much peace about where she is.  I do not have to worry about her.  I know that our Heavenly Father is there with her and providing for her and surrounding her with His presence.  And I know that special men and women at HH are doing all they can to love and support the children there.

Happy 5 months baby girl!!  We are coming so soon!!!!  We love you!!!!

Jewelry Fundraiser Update!

Hey y'all!!  I have every intention of sharing more about our trip to Ethiopia!  I got started on Day 1 and haven't made it past that.  We have been busy over here!  I do want to share about the rest of our trip though.  It is coming soon!  For today I want to share about an awesome fundraiser that we just had!

We have been working on ways to raise money for our last trip to Ethiopia for a little while now.  Our first trip cost WAY more than we anticipated.  Apparently, we flew during the "high" season.  So, we knew that God was going to provide the last trip but we weren't sure how! :)  So, I had a thought one day that I actually don't wear a lot of the jewelry that I own.  I love jewelry, I really do but I tend to stick to a couple safe pieces that go with everything.  Then, I thought well, I could sell some things and use it to donate to our last trip fund!  That's pretty much how it started.  Just me staring at my excess and thinking, "I don't need this....I need to get to Ethiopia." 

So, I made some teasers and got some advice about sales and shipping from Ivey's Momma and from Kate from The Adopt Shoppe. 

Then, I made a cute ad for my sale using my Rhonna DESIGNS app!  I posted it and many of you shared it!  So thankful!

I had all of my pictures of items ready and I had priced everything.  Brian made me a spreadsheet (I am completely illiterate at Excel...so much that he posted on facebook about how i called Excel "the place where you make graphs and use math and stuff.").  Anyway, the day of the sale I was ready to go.  At 4:30pm I went to a local neighborhood to help interpret and invite kids for an after school program that our church does.  We were there talking to people and having a great time and I looked and realized it was 6:30pm!!  Somehow we finished everything in time and I came straight home and managed to post everything pretty close to 7:00pm EST.  I was SO amazed at how many people were buying things!  Everything in the store except for maybe 1 or 2 items sold within an hour, maybe even 45 minutes!!!!  I COULD NOT believe it!!!  YOU ALL have helped in a huge way to help us get to our baby girl!  The amount that we made was around $350!  That would pretty much cover our guest house fees for our housing while we are in Ethiopia!  Seriously, y'all are SUCH a blessing to us and our family!  I can't tell you how grateful we are that you would support us and our journey to bring our baby girl home.

Keep praying for the US Embassy to process her case quickly.  It has been 7 weeks since we passed court in Ethiopia and 3 weeks since our case was submitted to the Embassy.  Our agency told us that almost all the agencies are seeing a SLOW DOWN right now because of new paperwork that was instituted on Sept. 1st.  Thankfully we don't have to complete that paperwork because we were submitted before that but since they are now processing new stuff plus the old style everything is slowing.  :(  We were really hoping to get to Ethiopia this month.  There is definitely still a chance so I'm still hoping!  

OH, AND I have one more amazing fundraiser coming up to finish this whole adoption journey out!  God has been working on this one for 3 years, seriously, 3 years!!!   That's the same amount of time we've been waiting to bring Lucy home!  I am SO excited!  STAY TUNED!!

 

Ethiopia Trip - Day 1

For the next few days I'm going to write a series of posts about our trip to Ethiopia.  I took a journal with me and documented each day but I would still like to post about it here too with some pictures.  Speaking of pictures Brian found my camera cord!!!!  I was SO excited!  So, today we will start out with the first day of our trip! :)

We woke up super early on Thursday, August 1st and headed to Charlotte.  Our flight left at 5:45am.  My dad was nice enough to pick us up from our house around 3:00 AM and drive us to the airport.  We had all of our bags and everything ready to begin our journey!

The benefit of your flight leaving at 5:45am is that you get to see the sun rising up through the clouds.  It was breathtaking.  This picture definitely doesn't do it justice.  After a quick hour and a half we landed at Dulles near Washington DC.  That little plane is the one we flew in.  It landed and they let us out on the tarmac.  We headed inside of the airport and made it through customs and everything pretty quickly.  We found our gate which was conveniently located near this beauty!  We had breakfast, bought some magazines to read on the plane, and walked around before boarding our plane.

 
Our flight to Ethiopia was VERY crowded.  I didn't see an empty seat.  The flight that we took to Ethiopia is a direct flight on Ethiopian Airlines.  There were no other stops!  13 1/2 hours was the estimated time for the flight.  The tail of the plane has the flag colors and you can see the Lion of Judah on the front there!  

 Once we boarded the flight we got settled in for the long haul.  There was a really nice Ethiopian lady that sat beside me.  She was friends with one of the stewardesses so she would get special snacks occasionally and she always shared with us.  So nice!  One thing I will say is that Ethiopian Air makes sure you never go hungry...thirsty maybe...hungry no.  They fed us so much.  They would wake us up early to eat meals.  The food was actually pretty good.  Some things were not but most everything we ate on the plane was good.  There were screens on the seats in front of us, headphones, blankets, pillows, and eye masks for everyone.  They had several different movies and lots of music to listen to and a fun map screen to show us exactly where we were at all times!  We slept a little bit but not a lot.

We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia early Friday morning.  We passed through immigration again, showed our visas, and then headed to pick up our luggage.  We waited and waited and didn't see our luggage anywhere but we took comfort in the fact that there were lots of other people from our flight that were still waiting on their luggage too.  After a long time, all of it arrived and we grabbed our bags quickly and headed outside.  Well, we TRIED to head outside but someone that really really wanted to help us grabbed our bags and insisted on pushing them.  We said, "No, thank you, we are fine."  He didn't take no for an answer.  We let him push our bags to the door, tipped him, and saw our driver and soon to be friend, Wass.  He was holding a sign that had our agency's name on it.  He took us to his van and we hopped in!  He drove us through the city, up and down hills, around people and animals, and telling us all about the city the whole while.

 We FINALLY made it to the guest house!  This is a picture of us in our room before we met our baby girl.  Tomorrow's post will be all about the first moment that we met her!