FINALLY HOME WITH OUR GIRL

Sorry we were not able to make any more updates while we were gone. We only made it to the internet a couple more times, but blogspot does not do well in Ethiopia (as we know now) so we were not able to login again while we were there.

We had 2 amazing days with our little girl before we went to the airport Thursday afternoon. We checked in and got to our gate when we noticed the KLM flight to Amsterdam was listed as "postponed". Andrea and I (along with 5 of the other families) were luckily on Ethiopian Air flying through Rome and our flight was still on schedule, but 4 of the adopting families that were with us were flying KLM. We then heard about the volcano in Iceland that was causing flight cancelations throughout Europe. Yesterday morning we finally received an email from one of the families flying KLM and they said they were still in Ethiopia and may not get to fly out for another week (hopefully they can get out sooner).

As for Andrea, Abigail and I, it was a very long 17hr flight from Ethiopia to D.C., but we made it. We then had to fly through Atlanta and on to OKC. Things were running behind a little but we still arrived on time. Andrea's sister Adrian had just flown in an hour before us so she was waiting with her camera as we got off the plane. We then made our way back to the lobby to be greeted by about 30 of our friends and family, which was wonderful. Abigail was a little surprised and hesitant by all of the flashes and people, but seemed to enjoy the attention and was smiling and laughing a lot even though I'm sure she was completely overwhelmed. Andrea's family stayed in a hotel that night so they could spend the next day with us. Abigail did very well with so many unfamiliar faces around, including a couple very active cousins. She just sat in the floor and played with her toys and balloons. Andrea's family went home yesterday except for her sister who is visiting old friends and hopefully getting a few family pics of us today.

Abigail's temperment has been very good so far. She doesn't like her diaper changed and definitely let you know if she needs something or something is wrong, but she has done very good so far. She loves to laugh and play with her mommy and daddy, and she knows she's funny and loves to laugh at herself.

It has been a long process to get to this point, but we trusted that God had a special little girl for us and we were absolutely correct. We believe God gave us the name Abigail for our little girl and it fits her perfectly because it means 'joy' or 'father's joy' and that's exactly what she is. I know people have always said it is different when you have your own kids and now I know exactly what they meant. I absolutely love to hold her, play with her, rock her to sleep and feed her, and I changed a pretty bad diaper this morning and 4am and didn't even mind that (which is big for someone who had never changed a diaper before last week).

WE LOVE OUR LITTLE GIRL ABIGAIL and that pretty much sums it up.

MEETING ABIGAIL!!!!

Well, we have finally made it to Ethiopia, and we met our sweet, precious daughter this morning at approximately 9:00 am this morning Ethiopia time! I don't even know how to put into words what that moment was like, and obviously we are still processing it. There are several adoptive families with our agency, who are all awesome and such wonderful people to know. We all went together this morning and waited downstairs at the care center for them to call our names individually. By the way, the care center is amazing! It is so beautiful, and the staff are all wonderful! We were towards the last couples to get called. So, we waited as patiently as we could and celebrated with each family who walked up the stairs and then back down again a few minutes later with their precious child! It has really been one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen watching these families be united forever! So, they called our names and they took us to Abigail's room. We both kind of wondered if we would recognize her immediately because the last picture we had was over a month ago, and we didn't know how much she would have changed. We walked into her room and saw all these little beds lining the walls and all these sweet litte children all huddled up playing on a mat with the nannies. We immediately spotted her as we rounded the corner and of course the tears came flowing. The social worker walked her over to us. She isn't walking on her own but she can take steps with you holding her hands. Abigail was very nervous and kept looking at the social worker to get approval. She held onto my hands for a little bit, and then she finally came to me. She whimpered some, but she did okay. She just hung on and kept her head on our shoulders whenever we were holding her. Later today, we got see her smile, hear her giggle and hear her babble. She is definitely warming up to us. The really hard part was leaving her tonight and she cried when we left. So, today has been wonderful! We can't wait to see her in the morning! We'll update again soon if we can.

TRAVEL DATE IS HERE!

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, but we were waiting until we actually had some news. This has been a very long journey, but on March 17 we received some wonderful news. I (Kevin) came home from work, pulled in the garage, and noticed a note taped to the back door that said, "Happy Birthday to Me!". I was really confused at first and really couldn't think of what that meant. Then it hit me; maybe we have a travel date. I walked in the house and the utility room door had a note on it also that said, "We have a travel date". We booked our fights but had to wait till last week for final confirmation of our Embassy date. We got the call that the date was confirmed for April 13 (amazingly, this is also Andrea's birthday). So...we are finally leaving for Ethiopia to meet and bring home our little girl. We will try to keep our blog updated as much as possible while we are in Ethiopia.

Need a Real Estate Agent??!!

We wanted to let everyone know that Kevin's older brother, Gary, is a local real estate agent, so if you are looking to buy or sell a home, you should definitely talk to him! He definitely takes very good care of the people he is working with. He helps each person do what is best for their unique situation. His link is on the right side of the blog page. You will be really glad you talked to him!

Catching Up on the Last UNBELIEVABLE COUPLE OF MONTHS!!!!

Okay, I now know that we are the worst bloggers in blogging history because when you get your ADOPTION REFERRAL!!!!!, but you don't post about it for two months then that definitely means you are not the best blogger!!! Now, we never claimed to be great bloggers before, so I know you have come to expect this from us!! The last two months have been the most unbelievable, amazing months of our lives. We are the proud parents of an absolutely sweet, inquisitive, beautiful 8 1/2 month old little girl, so we want to share that with you!! So, below is a time-table of the last couple of months.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - REFERRAL!!!!! We received the long anticipated phone call this afternoon, and we found out that we had been chosen to be the parents of the most precious little 7 month old girl. Her Ethiopian name means "you are beautiful", and that she truly is. I can't even put into words the emotions we experienced that day, and that we have continued to experience since that day. Our world has been changed forever!!! Kevin and I were both at work, and we were able to conference call with our adoption agency, so we were able to hear the news together. We met at home that evening, so we could see and meet the sweetest little face and little person that we have ever seen. It was the most wonderful moment. We just sat and stared at her forever. The beautiful curls on the top of her sweet head were the first glimpse we had of her. She has beautiful big brown eyes as well! She is doing really well. We will name our daughter, Abigail, and we will keep her Ethiopian name as her middle name.

December 17-December 31- This time was spent sharing the good news with our family and friends. Even with the craziest weather ever known to man occurring on Christmas Day, we still had the awesome privilege of being able to tell all of our family about Abigail. It was the best! They were all so excited and so sweet. This little girl is already so loved. We are so blessed with wonderful family and friends.

January 12- COURT DATE assignment! - We found out today that our court date is set for February 2, 2010. We were pleasantly surprised because we received this information sooner than we expected, and our court date was set earlier than we had anticipated! The other really neat thing is that Feb. 2 is our 8th anniversary. We were so hopeful and prayerful that we would pass court the first time around! The court date must occur in Ethiopia prior to travel being approved, so obviously, we want to travel as soon as they will allow, so we need to pass court quickly.

January 27 - We received updated pictures and a fabulous report on Abigail today! It was so awesome. Abigail is doing so well and continues to remain healthy and meeting her developmental milestones! What a blessing and answer to prayer! It was so fun getting this report and seeing all of her new pictures. She is getting bigger and cuter all the time!

February 2 - PASSED COURT!!!!!! I can't even begin to put into the words the excitment that today brought to us! We are officially Abigail's parents. It is the best feeling ever! She is our daughter!! What a beautiful day!! Now, we should receive her birth certificate in a couple of weeks, and we will hear about a travel date in the next few weeks or month or so.

Well, this is an update of the last couple of months of our lives! We are so excited, and we cannot wait to bring our precious daughter home! We will do better at keeping the blog updated on the developments, and we will post while we are in Ethiopia as much as we are capable of doing. Thank you all for being on this journey with us!