1st days home!

Who would have thought these first few days would have been this joyful?!? What an amazing, care-free, FUNNY, darling boy he is! He has jumped into our family with two feet and is ready for anything. :) I know we will be dealing with "stuff" as the days, weeks, months, years..... pass by. But in this little moment, I'm soaking in the smiles, hugs, and a few sweet kisses on the cheek. :) He has gone from calling me momma, to "mommy-yeah" (obviously, not the correct spelling), but my Ethiopian friend told me it means "my mommy". I'll take him claiming me. :)

HOME!!!!!

Papa and his boy!

Mike arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday night, and by Sunday afternoon he had Marshet!!! The first moments were a little rough, but Mike said he quickly warmed up and was soon calling him Papa and talking a mile a minute in Amharic!! :) They've been playing together ever since.... outside at the guesthouse, playing cars and blocks inside, and I think they're heading to the pool together tomorrow. :) They have a King size bed, but sometime in the night, Marshet wiggles and squirms until he's snuggled right up next to his papa!!! The updates have been melting my heart. It's hard not being there, but I know we made the right decision for me to stay home with our other two kiddos. Plus, the bonding that Mike and Marshet are getting is truly priceless.

their first meeting! (Mike is thrilled, but Marshet looks a little scared)

a little play time to break the ice

picked out his own outfit for his Embassy appointment. He said, "Bat-a-man!!"

post-Embassy lunch out.

Mike said he's a good eater. LOVES his veggies!!!

Playtime at the guest house with his buddy.

cleared for take-off!!

FINALLY!!! This has been a crazy journey, but we have officially been cleared through embassy and it looks like we might be traveling at the end of July to bring our son HOME!

2 Years!

Two years ago today, we started the adoption process to bring home our son! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think our boy would still be in Ethiopia..... but we'll continue to fight this battle until he is home!

We have this sweet face to keep our spirits up!

And we still wait....

We should be really good at this by now, but... it's still hard. Especially when we are SO CLOSE to the end! I thought it was near, but then it slipped away again. I thought court and getting our MOWA letter would be the trickiest part, but it looks like getting cleared through Embassy is proving itself tough. After Hillary Clinton left Ethiopia, and the Embassy opened back up, our "new" documents were going to be submitted today (instead of Monday like we had thought), and I truly thought we'd have our Embassy date by the end of the week. But... they now want a new document, which really doesn't exist, so I'm praying, praying, praying, that a good 'ol "clarifying things" conversation will be had very soon and we will get the green light. Because really, if an explanation of the "issue" doesn't work, I'm not sure what Plan B would be.

Until then........

(after re-reading this post, I realized that I used the words "I thought...." a lot. There's my problem. Assuming things during an adoption!!! I should know better by now!!!)

Submitted!!

I received an email today from our case worker, and the subject line said, "submitted"!!! We were officially submitted to embassy today!!! 4 weeks wasn't too long, but considering there was a typo on the original court decree-- that had to be fixed, and then the embassy decided that they needed new information on all court decrees from this point on.... we got a bit delayed. But, we're on the final stretch of bringing Marshet home!!!!!! I'm praying that our file is totally complete and that the embassy will pass us straight through..... and he'll be coming home SOON!!!!

The next decision to be made is who's traveling next. The original plan.... even before we started the adoption process (2 years ago this June 21st!!!!), was that Mike, Jacob, and I would travel. Then the two travel rule happened. We decided that I would travel for court, and then the three of us would pick him up. After 24 hours of flying.... we're all dragging our feet about bringing Jacob-- even he is. :) And.... for me, the transition home after the first trip was tough. Jake was fine, but Grace seemed to really struggle once I got home. She was really clingy and needy, and seemed even stressed out when I left her room after tucking her in, etc.... I got a lot of, "don't leave me". So..... is it really the best idea to leave again, and this time come home with her new brother?!?! Or.... do I stay home, keep the house and family routine as intact as possible, and be fresh and excited to welcome Mike and Marshet home?!? Ughhh... tough decision. I know the pick up trip can be a quick one, and we won't be really touring around-- and I already did that a month ago. But, will I feel like I missed out on something big if I don't go this time? I've been praying about it a ton, and I know we need to decide soon. But, in all honesty, we are all just ready to have Marshet home and to start the summer and our life together as a family of 5!

All I know is that I'm packing this weekend, because no matter what we decide on the travel bit.... I want to be ready to hop on a plane at a moments notice to bring home our boy!!!