143,000,000 Orphans

What We've Been Up To

Spending time with Grandpa
A BIG thank you to my Mom for providing so many meals and cleaning my house and doing laundry before I got home. I could never make it without her!

A welcome home gift from Grandpa and Grandma!

Its amazing in a weeks time how much her coordination skills have improved!
So glad she feels safe in her bed.

Balloons all the way from California! THANK YOU G and G Rumble!!! :)


Making supper with Daddy
Brysen enjoying daddys funnel cake

* Its hard to believe its only been a little over a week since Gracie has got home! So much has happened!!! Everybody is adjusting normally I think. It hasn't been all easy but for the most part she is adjusting well.

My first attempt at Yarn Braids

The other morning I was watching youtube videos of how to do yarn braids and Gracie said, " Mommy do Gracie's!" She LOVES anything with long hair and has so much fun playing with mine. I thought I would give it a try. It literally took me ALL day! Like 9 am to 7pm with little breaks for eating and naps in between!
But it was worth it I guess...she LOVES it! She's whippin' her hair back and forth like Willow :)
Hopefully it will last for a month like they say :)

Here are a few extra pictures from Gotcha day that my case manager sent me :)
Finally back in my arms! She wasn't supposed to come to me yet but she spotted me and weaved her way through the people to me :)



These little dolls were the biggest hit! She loves anything with hair.
Here was the coffee ceremony. And before we left they said a prayer in Amharic for the children and their futures.

*Todays agenda?? yarn braids :/ wish me luck! :)

147 million MINUS one

It was bittersweet leaving Ethiopia. I knew what was ahead for her and that we were leaving her birth country. She was SO excited to go to America. I could tell they really played it up to her :) She did great on the plane ride! We flew out of Addis and refuled in Rome and then to Washington DC and then to Dayton. I don't remember ever being so exhausted.
She loved watching this plane get closer to America. I was so thankful for the entertainment this little screen gave.
Her first American meal at Five Guys
FINALLY HOME~ How sweet to see Brysen take her hand

This was so fun to climb in the van and head home with our new daughter! They laughed and laughed in on the way home.
My family
trying out the trampoline. Now every morning as soon as shes awake she says, "Mommy! Jump!"
The sign that Grandma Kay made to welcome her home
Daddy getting some quality time in
Our first meal together as a family
I think I have a picture like this with my boys after they were born. Totally exhausted!
The morning after :) Watching Barney. Everyone is wondering how she is doing. She is doing great! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect fit for our family! Britton and I were talking about how amazing it is that she is no longer an orphan....and you can tell. She loves having a family...Oh if only every fatherless child could be this lucky! We feel so blessed that God chose us to take this path. Scary to think of what we would have missed out on if our eyes wouldn't have been opened. Thank you Jesus for our beautiful gift! The adoption process is really just beginning and there are so many more children that need families...but for now....there is one less :)

A Week In Addis

I had the most wonderful week in my favorite city ever!!! I absolutely LOVE Ethiopia! The people, the atmosphere, the weather, the hospitality...everything!! Looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for our family in the city of Addis Ababa. Gracie and I just spent the whole week bonding. We had Embassy on Tuesday, so Wednesday through Friday we just hung out. What special memories we made.
Gracie loving on one of the little boys that was staying there with his family. The love I saw her show to this little boy was only a taste of her love she would show her brothers.

So these next two pictures didn't turn out so I put them both on here. Our special friend and the guest house manager, Yonatan. He took great care of Gracie and I all week and it was sad to tell him goodbye. Looking forward to seeing him next year Lord willing.
His love for the children was so special.
Gracie loves anything electronic. She took at least 50 pictures on my phone...this was one of them :)
She wanted me to get my hair done...I ended up taking it out in the first couple hours because of the extreme headache it gave me. But it was fun while it lasted. She played and played with my hair. She blow dryed it and flat ironed it...to her I was like a live barbie :)
Here is our good friend Astell. We love her so much! She also took great care of us and taught me so many things about Gracies hair.
We had a wonderful week. We laughed and giggled and played dolls, watched movies, listened to music, went for walks, took baths, slept in, played with play dough, painted our nails, colored and so much more! We will always remember our special week in Addis.




*PSALMS 95: 1-6

"Oh COME! Let us sing unto our Lord: Let us make a JOYFUL noise unto the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with Thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a GREAT God, and a great king above all Gods. In His hands are the deep places of the earth, The strength of the hills are His also. The sea is His, He made it, His hands formed the dry land. Oh COME let us worship and bow down....Let us kneel before the Lord OUR God OUR maker."

Gotcha Day September 19th 2011

This day goes down in our books as "gotcha day". This is the day that I was finally able to sign my daughter out of the orphanage forever. As happy as this day made me, it was also very sobering to take her away from her friends and nanny that have taken care of her for the past year. She did extremely well and they said she was so excited to go. I told the nannies that we would be back but if we did not see them again on this earth we would see them in Heaven. *tears* I gave each one of them long hugs and let them know how thankful I was that they took such good care of my daughter for me. They are the sweetest ladies and the love they have for the children is very obvious. What a blessing for the "waiting" children.
I changed her into some clothes that I had brought....she was thrilled :) Sadness filled my heart when she got her little pillowcase and filled it with her little treasures. So thankful though for the pillowcase and treasures....they will be so special someday.
Here we are at the coffee/goodbye ceremony.
The other couple that were there for Embassy when I was. The Lady beside me is the counselor at the Village...her name is Helen. The man in the back is the directer.
How fun it was to climb in the van and arrive at the guest house. She fell asleep on my lap on the way there so she was a bit disoriented when we arrived. Above is Astell doing her hair after her bath.
She LOVES anything that is electronic! I feared for my phones internal brains but I just cringed and let her have fun :) This was one of the happiest days of my life. Finally my daughter was in my care and I could begin the bonding process.
....more to come :)