One Sought Me

After the end of the school year rush of dance recitals, gymnastics show, cub scout honors, baseball, birthdays, summer starting...and all the sudden Father's Day is here and we are celebrating as a family...then it hits me - Tarik's never had a dad before . He's never had a dad to say "Happy Father's Day,"  but this day, he does.  A loving daddy came for him. A daddy who longed for him and started searching for his child, even before the child was born. A daddy who planned, prepared, and promised to find his child no matter what the timeline, costs, or sacrifice.  Would a child actually come home?  Would we wait so long?  Would our family dynamics change?  What about the financial costs?  Would the child love in return?  Yes. This daddy said "yes."  Yes he would go and yes he would love courageously no matter what the risks or blind steps needed to take.   I admire my husband and the father of our children.  His love ...

The firsts that I don't want to share. When we started our adoption process nearly 3 years ago, Christmas was always a mile marker.  We began in December 2012 and Christmas was always the one event that we wished for Tarik to be home. "Maybe next Christmas" turned into "maybe next Christmas."  When asked when we thought that Tarik would be home, we'd say, "hopefully by Christmas." The holidays were hard in the waiting time and just wanting the family to all be together for those holiday moments pulled at our hearts.   Finally, this year, 2015 was our first Christmas home with our new son!  And the reality of Christmas, couldn't have been farther from what I ever imagined of our first Christmas to be together.  It was Tarik's first Christmas home.  A time to celebrate and be joyful!  After all this time of waiting.  But it also turned into the first Christmas without my dad.  Not a 'first' I want to share. My dad is a heal...

Having had said our goodbyes to Saturday morning sleep-ins a long time ago (as soon as our first child arrived to be exact), it wasn't a surprise to us that when bringing our new son home from an orphanage in Ethiopia, that sleep schedules and bedtime routines would be changing. The jet lag from traveling over 18 hours of flight time and layovers lasted nearly one week for Todd and I, but our new son Tarik quickly adjusted to day time and night times.  Ethiopia time is opposite of the time in the Eastern USA.  For example, it is currently 8:46 p.m. on a Thursday here in the states and it is 4:46 a.m. in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on a Friday morning. The first night we had Tarik out of the orphanage he fell asleep in my arms, lying in bed, while he drank his "too-toe" (that means bottle in Amharic language), his bottle of formula.  That was easy! It was peaceful and I was utterly grateful to have him in my arms at last. About an hour later Tarik woke up in a frantic and i...

Thanks for visiting our blog about our journey to adopt our son from Ethiopia!  It's been a long process and we are finally blessed to share the stories from the other side of the earth, in beautiful Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Catch up on previous post to this series by clicking  Part 1  and  Part 2  Meeting Our Son and  Part 3  Warming Up and  Part 4  Company and Culture, and  Part 5  Seeing Growth. Don't miss  Part 6  Taking Custody! And  Part 7 here  and Part 8: Sight Seeing and Play .  The day has come when all signs are a go and we are ready to make the trip home and introduce Tarik to the rest of his family!  A beautiful journey full of prayer, grace, and absolute miracles is taking us to the next step - being home. The Guest House staff have a good-bye coffee ceremony when each family leaves.  We were the last family here and the only ones left because of the court closures and rainy ...

Thanks for visiting our blog about our journey to adopt our son from Ethiopia!  It's been a long process and we are finally blessed to share the stories from the other side of the earth, in beautiful Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Catch up on previous post to this series by clicking  Part 1  and  Part 2  Meeting Our Son and  Part 3  Warming Up and  Part 4  Company and Culture, and  Part 5  Seeing Growth. Don't miss  Part 6  Taking Custody! And Part 7 here !  Sleep Tight His Presence at Night - our first night together with Tarik  is a post explaining the emotions of our first night with Tarik in our custody.  It was a joyful night to finally have him in our arms, but a difficult night of new emotions, new sounds and faces for little Tarik. Sight Seeing: Over our trip to Ethiopia we were blessed to visit a few places in the city.  Just a walk through the city was eye-opening and beautiful.  Bel...