We Will Extol

Eden knows she’s adorable and it’s not yet trouble but, if unfettered, it could be. When she snuggles into bed her almond-shaped brown eyes just stare into mine and she gives this knowing smile–as if someone taught her how to woo (and possibly manipulate ) her parents by her affection. Last night she whispered [...]

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Life at Home

Can’t wait until I have the time to write about our experience since we’ve been home. In the meantime here are some shots of our little africans in their new home life.
Bath time is definitely a favorite …

Especially with our cool animal towels

Just like many of the Ethiopians we saw, our little girl likes to [...]

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More Trip Photos

We’ve been able to post some other pics from the trip to Nate’s facebook account here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90627&id=711954443&l=6c22d6e25d

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Coming Home…

Some friends met us at the airport to welcome us home (the kind of friends you feel comfortable being around after a 17 hour flight). Then, they put this video together and showed it to our church on Sunday (even without us being there). People in our church have been amazing throughout this process … [...]

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Rubber Ducky

[written last night, but only posted now]
I’m updating our blog with what little time I have because it seems easier at the moment than returning phone calls and emails. Friends please forgive me for being so impersonal. I’m settling down to a cup of tea and about 10 minutes of bandwith before my head needs [...]

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Highlights

We’re back. I’ve blocked the flight and travel from Ethiopia home out of my mind and only have the best of thoughts about our trip and ever-forming adventures with our children. So much to say, but no time to write.
Over the next few days, we’ll post some photo highlights from our trip and maybe someday [...]

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We Are Coming Home … With Children in Tow

For months we have been praying for July 15th …even before we received our court date.
He blessed us with this embassy date. It came and went and we are as official as we can possibly be.
We still haven’t quite mastered the language barrier, but we are now ones whose ears perk up when we hear [...]

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Learning Them

We continue to realize (with some added help from some experienced parents staying in the guest home with us) that we are in survival mode while we’re here. It’s sort of like bootcamp.
Although the guest home (we’d HIGHLY recommend it — Ethiopian Guest Home) is amazing, it’s still a small space for 5 families and [...]

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Embassy Appointment Tomorrow

We have our official embassy appointment tomorrow (tonight for those in the U.S.) at 1pm here. Would love your prayers for this as it is the last step before we bring them home (and have the honor of being indoctrinated into parenthood by a 17 hour flight).
There should be no hitches …we’ve heard all the [...]

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A Little Window Into Our Trip So Far…

Some shots from our first days in Ethiopia
(on Facebook)

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They Are In Bed!

After a day of meltdowns — all around meal time — they are asleep. We had a very good ending to a rough day. Maybe it was bathtime?
This is more like a full contact sport for Eden who scrubs herself furiously and sings little ditties in Amharic while she does. Unfortunately, it hasn’t registered yet [...]

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Day Three

As I type the first floor of our guest home is filled with orphans-no-longer. Eden is walking around playing a plastic flute (the girl loves music, truly) while two of the boys who just met their parents today are playing indoor soccer. One of the moms is holding her new daughter who has just cracked [...]

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Day 1 As a Family

Trying to post something brings me back to early-college dial-up where we knew nothing other than waiting 5 minutes for a page to load. After composing a long email that got lost when we lost our connection I’ve decided I will probably wait on email until we return.
In summary today has been better than we [...]

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We’ve Got ‘Em…

Nate here. Internet is painfully slow over here in Addis, but I wanted to check in and let everyone know: we’re now a family of four.
Many more details to come, when we have more time and faster connection. We’re thrilled beyond words…both Eden and Caleb are doing great (no tears when we left, and Eden [...]

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Children of Our Own

We are overwhelmed by the blessing of God …and simply God Himself.
This little pre-adoption trip to Amalfi has given us the much-needed time and space to process all that has been unfolding in the past few weeks and months. Minus the traumatic thirty minutes I spent today locked in the bathroom of the fitness room [...]

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3 Days

We’re not there yet. I was totally restless on our overnight flight to Rome — trying desperately to sleep as I knew we’d lose time once we arrived (we’re taking advantage of our layover in Italy — staying a few days before we head to Ethiopia). At one point I was sleeping on the floor, [...]

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We Have Takeoff!

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Ethiopia Bound!

Eden’s TB test was negative.
I am sitting the Philadelphia airport as we wait to board our flight to Rome.
I’m carrying my laptop in my diaper bag and we’ve gotten pretty good at maneuvering our umbrella strollers while toting our carry-on luggage. Life is changing.
Our first three interactions on US Airways — checking in, boarding the [...]

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Closing Time

As we’re turning off the lights in our house tonight — possibly, probably the last night these walls will hear peace and quiet for another decade at least — I feel the need to pinch myself.
Is it really here?
In the past 21+ months I’ve discovered the send/receive button on my email — and used it. [...]

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The Eleventh Hour

Please pray that God would make the path to these children straight and clear in the next 24 hours. Sometime between the hours of midnight tonight and 9am tomorrow, Eden will have her Tuberculosis test read.We’d love your prayers that she would have no signs of TB and even that the results would not show [...]

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More Celebratin’

I can’t wait to tell Caleb and Eden about the small army that came together to bring them home. I wonder if one day I’ll get to see what the “prayers of the saints” looked like from heaven on behalf of my children.
Here are a few pics of friends and family who have been helping [...]

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Just Because We Like Adventure…

We got confirmation today that our embassy date will be July 15th … sort of.
All of our paperwork is in line. We have their birth certificates and passports. The only pending piece is Eden’s TB test. They are giving her this test tomorrow and the results will be read on Monday morning (Sunday night, EST).
So…we [...]

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