Our Journey of Adoption

Friendly Reminder :-)

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:54:00 +0000

I am posting now on my family blog...

If you have me in your blog roll, please switch the address to
www.theanceletfamily.blogspot.com

Thanks a bunch!

TOGETHER AGAIN!!!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Josh and Julie made it home yesterday!!! We were so excited to go and greet them at the airport. It was so fun to see them walking through those doors with sweet Maya.

Today Abel and I went over to the Beelers for a visit.

First Kiss... On the cheek of course.

We were over so long the kids even took a nap together in Maya's Crib. HOW FUN!

I have a new HERO... his name is Benjamin

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:51:00 +0000

Who is Benjamin? He is the man who works at Children's Hospital in the blood lab. This morning we had to take Abel to have his blood taken (just normal tests). I heard from a friend who also adopted, that it was not an easy thing to draw blood from a baby. Well, I learned that SHE WAS RIGHT! First, a woman came in and tried. Poor Abel, he cried and cried. She then said "I am gonna get someone who is a pro". THANK YOU! In comes Benjamin. He has worked at Children's for 15 years. He looks at Abels arm. Abel was just looking up at his glasses... then in goes the needle and NO CRYING.. AT ALL. And then the blood starts coming out (sorry for the details) and he filled 3 viles. Then he poked Abel's finger and got some more blood (this time.. HE CRIED).

My favorite thing... as he is looking at Abel's arm he said "these veins are so tiny... please pray"... we took him very SERIOUSLY.. I started praying... Ted started praying (not out loud) and when the blood came out... I WAS BEYOND GRATEFUL TO JESUS! and I was so thankful that Benjamin said that!!! THANK YOU LORD!

So... now Abel is so worn out from his morning, he slept through his lunch feeding.

OH... I posted on JULIE and JOSH'S BLOG! MAYA is in her mommy and daddy's arms! ANOTHER PRAISE TO THE LORD

GIGGLE BOY

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Here is our boy's video debut ... Enjoy

Good Bye to my Julie!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:20:00 +0000

So yesterday I went and said Good Bye to Julie. She actually leaves tomorrow but I won't see her before she goes and it's a good thing because I think I have the flu. This morning I woke up with a tickle in my chest which led to a cough... then later a massive head ache then mid afternoon... aches. OH MY! Ted just went to get me some Tamiflu.

(SIDE NOTE... JULIE TOO GOT SOME TAMIFLU just incase we got a little too close the day before I broke out with the flu. She is taking one a day for 10 days as a preventative... how horrible would I feel if she got the flu in ET).

So.. Julie is off tomorrow for the TRIP OF A LIFE TIME. She leaves to get her precious Maya. I can't wait to post pictures of her!

So here's a little dilemma of mine... I have a family blog and I feel like I should be doing my post about Abel on my family blog since our adoption is DONE and he is HOME! Please visit my family blog at http://www.theanceletfamily.blogspot.com/

Pray for Josh and Julie as they travel to Ethiopia!

Yes, we are great big dorks!

and here is a picture of our precious boy!

Saucer FUN!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:36:00 +0000

Just remembered we had the saucer (Thank you Stacy!). Abel loves it.

I took a little video clip of him in it and I can not figure out how to share it... any suggestions?

BLOG LIFT :-)

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:25:00 +0000

So I got a blog lift.. did you notice?

Isn't it amazing?!

A friend gave me a gift certificate to have my blog redesigned. I was having some issues and she gave me this gift that just keeps on giving. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Nikki does these amazing blogs for a cause to raise money for a mission trip and also gives money to a different charity each month. HOW COOL IS THAT? (I keep saying that).

It is really reasonable and your blog look great, she gets to give her life away on the mission field, and a charity gets a donation... HOW COOL IS THAT?

Enat Alam

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:36:00 +0000

Enat Alam is one of the local orphanages in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Abel spent some time at one of the locations of Enat Alam. There are two different locations. On the second day we visited one of the sites and on the last day, we visited the site where Abel was.

These pictures are from the first location.

This little girl grabbed onto my legs and we just swayed and held onto each other. (I showed this picture in an earlier post).

The kids love having their pictures taken. We would take their pictures and then show them the camera so they could see what they looked like.

How precious is this little girl.

The kids all sang songs in Amharic. It was so sweet to hear.

That is Julie Salwasser in this picture. She's only the best case worker in the WORLD! She loves orphans in a BIG way! Did I mention how amazing I think All God's Children International is? That is the agency we used and I would use them over and over again! I can't recommend them more highly!

These are pictures from the second location (I believe it's an older location). This is the one our Abel was at. The guy on the far left.. his name is Tesfaye. He is the one who taught me how to say it correctly. I was saying "Tes-fI" - with a long i - and he said it is "Tes-fI (long i) - e (short e)"

The orphanage director is amazing! He remembered Tesfaye "Abel". The kids would all run to him when he came into the orphanage. He seems so loved and he seems so loving!

HOW CUTE IS HE?

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:47:00 +0000

Just thought I'd share a few of my favorite pictures.

Oops... I was trying to get him to smile and take the picture at the same time.

This is my all time favorite pic of our little guy!

He rolled over today for the first time. From tummy to back! GO ABEL!

This is Charlotte with Abel. I just think that face is too cute that he is making.

Addison is in love with her little brother!

Trains, Planes and Automobiles...

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 03:05:00 +0000

Ok.. so we didn't ride a train while in Ethiopia. Just seemed like a fun title.

DeeDee asked me how our travel went so I thought I would share. We left on Saturday the 16th of Feb from the Knoxville Airport. The Mazons picked us up and took us to the airport. Charlotte kept our kids here at the house so we said good bye and left in the Mazon's car. Avery stood at the garage door and waved until we were out of sight. OH MY (that was tugging at the heart strings). Charlotte was the one that was a mess. She was crying and very emotional. SO SWEET. (Charlotte is my little sister... not by blood but given to me by God.. she's amazing!).

So we got to the airport a few hours early. It was so simple to get checked in. Tyson McGee airport is small and that was NICE! Ted and I had our bags weighed and we were PUMPED that they weighed (drum roll please).. 49 lbs, 48 lbs, 47 lbs and 46 1/2 lbs. For those of you who don't know, you have to pay if you go over 50 lbs. Our packing was so strategic and I was thrilled that we hit the limit! Ted gave me the title of "Master Packer" and I was wearing it proudly :-)

We arrived in Washington DC on time and had about 4 hours until our Ethiopian Air flight took off. We met Jen and Caleb right away. They too were adopting with All God's Children. We went and grab some dinner together. Then when we came back we met Molly and Aaron (also adopting). We boarded the plane around 8pm and took off for a 15 hour flight. I slept the first 5 hours of that flight. Well, I crashed right after they fed us dinner (which was SO GOOD by the way). Then I stayed awake the last 10 hours. I read, crocheted, talked with Jen for hours, wrote thank you notes. It didn't go by super fast but it wasn't miserable either.

We arrived in Addis at 9-something (we didn't have a watch) and the airport there was a little chaotic. Lots of people trying to get through the same lines which led OUT. I accidentally tipped a luggage guy (who didn't even help with our luggage... he just put our bags on the rolly xray machine table thingy) $10. I didn't know my Burr (which is Ethiopian money) just yet and he said "tip tip" and I looked at my money and he said "100" and I handed it to him. Then I realized I had a sign on my forehead that said "AMERICAN"... haha! I realized after we got out of the craziness that I tipped him $10.00. OOPS... oh well.

NOW... this is where the FUN BEGINS! Those of you who have been to Ethiopia know that the transportation is DIFFERENT. I am not sure how the road rules work. This is what I gathered.... Drive defensively ALWAYS. Make sure your horn works because you will use it about 100 times a day. Praise God that you have a GOOD DRIVER like Danny. Praise GOD AGAIN for Danny. Wear your seat belt.. OH WAIT.. there aren't any. For fun, count how many times the passengers say "oh my" because we again are amazed by our driver's sixth sense! Danny will forever be one of my heroes because of his keeping us safe in Ethiopia :-)

Danny our driver is on the left. He is holding one of the couples who adopted ... their little baby. Yohanis (is that how you spell that) is on the right. He came along as well. These guys were so fun. They went with us every where and took care of us. What a blessing they were! and will be to those of you who will be traveling with All God's Children.

On the way home we arrived at the airport at night. Our flight left at 10pm. We got to the airport at about 6:30pm. We got all checked in and then just waited. When we got there we asked for a bassinet seat and we got it! yay! The lady said that Ted could not sit with me but would have to sit behind me. This totally ended up working out because he got the entire row to himself. So we were able to switch out and sleep. Abel had a bassinet and he slept A LOT! I think he slept for 15 of those 17 hours. He did amazing!!!!

This is our row that we had to ourselves :-)

This is the bassinet on the plane. It was great!

When we were on the flight to America, a couple told us they heard that the weather in Washington DC was bad. Ice and freezing rain. When we got to DC we saw one flight after another being cancelled. Ours was on time. When we asked the guy about it he said "I can't promise you anything". OH MY... by this time, I wanted our family ALL TOGETHER. I was a little anxious during this lay over. Our flight did get delayed 2 hours but then when we arrived in Knoxville, a flight attendant told me they canceled all other flights to Knoxville for the day. THANK YOU JESUS! We had made it home.... and what an amazing HOME COMING it was!

Coffee anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:43:00 +0000

So... I am not a coffee drinker but coffee is a pretty big deal in Ethiopia. We went to the place where they roast the coffee. Ted asked to go in the back to check it out.

We left with A LOT of coffee. We got it as a "thank you" and a souvenir to all those who have cheered us on through this amazing journey! I hear it's GOOD coffee. Ok.. I WILL TRY IT SOON! (Lauri H... are you dying that I have all this coffee?)

We went shopping and to get the coffee on the first full day we were there. Our embassy appointment got moved back a day because of President's Day so plans changed a bit. It was a great day. I loved seeing the sights of Ethiopia.

Here's what Abel was doing while we were waiting for the coffee to be roasted. YES, it was roasted while we were there!

FIRST DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:10:00 +0000

We took Abel to the Doctor today. He was absolutely WONDERFUL! The Doctor and the Nurses all came out to see him. They were saying what a pretty baby he is and how smooth his skin is. It is like silk. SO SWEET! It's all those "spa treatments" he got at Hannah's Hope. They are so good to the babies (and children) there. I will forever be grateful to All God's Children, Hannah's Hope, Almaz, the Special Mothers... all of those who take EXCELLENT CARE of these children!

Abel weighs 14 lbs (even though that scale looks like it's 13-something).

He is 24 inches long.

He is right at average for everything... height, weight and head circumference. But in looks and personality.... ABOVE AVERAGE! (am I a proud momma or what??)

Keeping the baby warm while he waits to for the Doctor.

She said he looks great! Next, we have to go and have test run at Children's Hospital. They have to do all the tests that are normally done when a baby is born. Since Abel didn't have those done, we have to do them all. So, we are going to do that next week. Back to the Dr. in 6 weeks for more shots. Poor guy. He got 3 shots today and he cried so hard. I held him and he immediately calmed down and just let me love on him. I was heart broken hearing him cry over the shots.

This shirt says "Hi, I'm new here."... how cute is that? Thank you to Kay Lusby and her mom for this cute onesie. I actually saw it at Target and wanted it... so I was excited to get it from you guys.

Do you see his mohawk?

Thanks to Aunt Charli who kept Avery, Aidan and Addie. They were so concerned about their baby brother getting shots. Addie sent a stuffed puppy dog for Abel. They all were giving their love to him when we were done. What sweet siblings...

Here is a picture I took of the 4 of them today.

The Ethiopian Scoop

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:59:00 +0000

I LOVE this about the Ethiopian culture. They get the saying "It takes a village". The Ethiopian scoop is when you are just holding your baby and some one comes and scoops him up. Strangers want to hold your baby in Ethiopia. It's so sweet. Of course, we would freak out if that happened in America... but it is just part of the culutre there. I was eating at the hotel (which the food was

so good!) and Abel was a little fussy. Next thing I know, Lilly, who works at the hotel, has him in her arms and is playing with him. The staff from the kitchen comes to the window to get a look at him and he's being passed around.

This would happen at Hannah's Hope too on the days that we came back to visit. The special mothers would scoop him up. They love those babies. They are absolultely gorgeous women (on the inside and out).

So much to blog about!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:05:00 +0000

I have so much to blog about... so I am just putting several things in this one post.

So... here are some FIRSTS

Charlotte and I gave sweet Abel a bath on Saturday morning. He loves his baths. I didn't take pictures of him getting a bath in Ethiopia but he always digs a good bath!

His first time in the car seat was actually on the way home from the hospital.. I mean, airport :-)

But after our first night at home, Charlotte and I took him for his first outting. To Babies R Us... and guess who we ran into...

JULIE BEELER and HER MOM!

Actually we knew they were going to be there. I planned on going at some point and when Julie told me her and her mom were going, we decided to meet them there. Her mom had never seen sweet Abel (only in pictures). I mean, he had only been in the US for like 18 hours.

We didn't take a picture but we went to Moes for lunch and then we went to the Christian book store (where I was asked if I was baby sitting Abel).

Good day of firsts!

So moving on to something else I think is just stinkin' CUTE!

When the Lord led us to adopt from Ethiopia, we went out and got baby dolls for the girls. Of course we got us some beautiful brown babies. Well, Addie went and got the doll and put it right next to Abel. Kinda freaky how much it looks like him huh?

Of course, Abel is MUCH MUCH CUTER than the doll!

This little girl is pretty crazy about her little brother. I was worried about how she would handle it but she can't get enough of him. It could just be the honey moon stage but I will take it! They are delighting SO MUCH in this precious babe! I loved this picture!

ok... until later! This is like scrap booking for me. Can I get this blogger stuff printed in book form? What an incredible thing if Blogger would do that... right?

Amazing Moments

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:21:00 +0000

Ted and I kept asking each other while we were in ET.. "Tell me your top five moments". It was so hard to do. OF COURSE, #! is meeting Abel. I loved sweet smiles he gave to us. We had moments we will forever cherish looking into his eyes and him looking into ours during this trip. He gives the sweetest smiles and is a talker. So of course that is both of our number one!

I wanted to share a few others. There are so many... many I do not even have pictures of but will forever remember in my heart!

So... here are a few that I can share with you...

Right before we left, I got an e-mail that a girl needed PJs, undies and some shoes. I went out and got those things for her. Sweet Savanna had donated some shoes that were the perfect size for her. On our second full day there, we went through our donations and I was able to give them directly to this precious girl. My guess is that she is around 12 years old. She had tears in her eyes as I gave them to her. She hugged my neck with such gratitude. She had tears of joy and she kissed me so sweetly on my neck. My eyes filled with tears during our embrace and we both held on. What a sweet moment.

I absolutely loved the hotel staff. Especially Rosa. They were so warm and I just spent time talking with them each day. I was so sad to tell them good bye. Rosa and I are going to write through e-mails. I had sweet moments with these girls in the hotel lobby.

This is Rosa :-)

(This is kind of a funny story. I found this really cool African shirt at the market place and I thought... how fun! So I wore it the night we went to our Ethiopian traditional meal. When I came back the girls giggled because it's a shirt that you always wear with a skirt. They said "You only have on half the outfit". They were giggling at me. I thought "How stylish ... I'll wear it with jeans" and they were thinking "Silly (american) girl.. she messed up a good outfit"

I enjoyed getting to know the families we traveled with. As we were parting at the airport I said to one couple "We'll always have Ethiopia".. haha. I saw it on a t-shirt on Cafe Press but it is so true. We will be forever connected because of this experience.

Our last night in Ethiopia we went to a traditional dinner and watched traditional dancing. I enjoyed EVERY MOMENT of this time. It was so fun! Ted and I loved the food. The entertainment was amazing! We were able to really visit with Almaz during this time. ... and Julie too. Julie is our case worker... she happen to be on this trip. It was so much fun to just enjoy each other's company. It was a delightful night!

This little girl grabbed onto my legs at Enat Alam (an orphanage is Addis). She held onto my legs and I held onto her. We swayed and giggled. She ministered to my heart as much as I did to hers. The children of Ethiopia are beautiful... the people are beautiful!

Our sweet Abel was at Enat Alam for the first 3 weeks of his life. There are two different locations of Enat Alam. We went to the one where Abel was on the very last day. The director knew him. He said "Tesfaye!" when he saw him. He asked if we wanted to see his bed that he slept in while he was there. He took us back and showed us his crib. I was over come with emotion. I just started crying. I was so grateful. I am still processing through all we saw and how our son came to be with us. What an experience...

Of course, I loved taking pictures of every one's kids. I loved finding Maya's tickle spot. I loved seeing the older kids play in the court yard. I loved passing out the candy that S's mom sent for me to give out. I can't post pictures of those moments in respect for those families for who those precious kids belong to.

Thanks for reading. Abel and I are just sitting here. We are so off right now. I just slept 4 hours (from 6 to 10) and now I am wide awake. So what do you when you are wide awake when you should be fast asleep... YOU BLOG! :-)

BEHIND THIS GATE...

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Our lives were forever changed.

This is the gate of Hannah's Hope. There are gates like this all over Ethiopia. They usually are in front of houses, hotels and orphanages. This is Almaz (such an incredible woman who is the in country director for All God's Children) knocking at the gate. This was our first time walking into Hannah's Hope and behind this door...

We met our Tesfaye Abel for the first time. When we arrived he was napping out in the warm sun. I didn't want to wake him up. I ran over to see my friend, Julie's little girl, Maya. She was getting all lathered up for her daily tanning session (haha).

I then heard Ted say "Trace, he's awake"

So many people asked me what I felt. Did I cry?

It was the most peaceful reality. It was like our dreams of this baby were coming true and we were taking it all in...

We stayed for a while at Hannah's Hope. We met the beautiful kids. We held babies. We played soccer. We experienced LOVE AND JOY! and "HOPE" Tesfaye means HOPE! By the way, it's pronounced Tes-fI-e (short e). We were saying it wrong. We love his name and the meaning behind it. Others would say to us it means "He has a future". How amazing!

Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:50:00 +0000

On day 4 (since I stopped here) this was our schedule...

We ate breakfast at the hotel. This place has GREAT FOOD. We paid our bill (I braced myself but it wasn't that bad). It was sad to say good bye to the staff. Those ladies were precious.
We went over to Hannah's Hope that morning for our paper work to go home meeting.
We left Hannah's Hope and went to Enat Alam. There are two locations for this orphange. I saw were our little Tesfaye 's (that's his first name :-) crib there was. He was only there for 3 weeks. I cried so hard when I saw his crib. I was overwhelmed with the realization of our little guy's story. I kept saying "Thank you Lord". Thanking God for the gift of Tesfaye Abel. People would say to us "He's so lucky" and I would say "no, we are so lucky" God has blessed us by piecing this story together in such a way that we could not have come up with the details of how this dream came true!

We went to this art gallery place for lunch. We bought such a cool piece of art. I will post a picture of it later.

Then we went back to the hotel, packed up and rested, went to Hannah's Hope one last time. Then came back and loaded up for the airport.

So this is what I am going to do about pictures... I am just gonna write posts every day or so and explain pictures and let them tell the story. I've already done the "big points" so I will fill in some little ones with pictures.
Does that sound alright?

I can't tell you the support I have felt from you my blogger friends and to those of you who have loved us through this. Our homecoming was better than I ever dreamed!!! And the love I feel from those in our lives is simply amazing.

Much Love,
Tracie

BROTHERS!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:17:00 +0000

Had to share these sweet pictures! The score is finally evened out over here... 2 boys and 2 girls. We always say "boys rules, girls drool or girls rule, boys drool" or if you are Addie "Girls win boys lose"... she doesn't get that it rhymes.... just as a fun joke between the sides but always the girl's side seemed to win because we out numbered them.. not anymore.

Aidan has on a new Millenium shirt since it is the year 2000 right now in Ethiopia. They celebrated their New Year on Sept 11th this year... OBVIOUSLY, their calendar is different than ours. Abel's shirt says... "Sorry to have kept you all waiting".

Yes, I am posting this at 3am... Little confused on my days and nights!

WE ARE HOME!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:39:00 +0000

We are so jet lagged but we are home. I could harly read e-mails but I tried to go through them. If you've e-mailed me something of importance in the last week, you might want to resend it. I couldn't hardly see and I had so many e-mails.. a lot of them junk but I know I deleted some good ones on accident.

We made it home a little later but we got here. We had the most amazing home coming! I still can not believe it. We were welcomed at the Tyson McGee airport with signs and balloons. Lots of loved ones coming to meet the boy they all felt like they knew from hearing so much about these last months. He melted their hearts. He was such a trooper. Smiles and looked around. He was held by several and just loved it!

I hit the wall about 7pm. Went to bed at 8pm and now I'm up to feed. Charlotte is here with me and we are letting Ted get a full night's rest.

Here's the Family

(thanks Angela for these amazing pictures)

More to come!

Leaving on a JET PLANE

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:50:00 +0000

Ok here goes..

DAY 3

Here's what we did yesterday

-had breakfast - SO GOOD IN THE UNION HOTEL

-Ted went to sisters of mercy orphange and played with the kids who are mentally and physically challenged. he said it was amazing to be there with them and that a touch to them is like the best gift ever. he played with them and loved on them.

-I went to hannah's hope. that place is so full of life. i honestly have never seen anything like it. for those of you that have kids there... know that they are in the BEST, LOVING care. i get goose bumps thinking about hannah's hope. I LOVE IT THERE. I watched the kids play. I played soccer with some of the kids. I have taken picture for everyone that asked. The sizes of clothes are hard to get because they sometimes wear things that are too small. and flip flops... it is hard to tell what size with those and crocs as well. But i have pictures. LOTS OF PICTURES.

-we had lunch at the Kaldie Cafe (just like a starbucks)

- we went shopping again... SO FUN.

-we got showered and went to a traditional ethiopian meal and saw the most amazing dancing. I love this culture. they are beautiful ... both inside and out. ted and i had a BLAST last night at dinner. one of our favorite moments of LIFE. we just delighted in those around us and enjoyed our son's heritage food. it was our first time to eat it (i know, i am a slacker) all i can say is YUMMY!!!!!

-we came home and packed up our room

-i found a soul mate friend here... her name is Rosa. she works here at the hotel and i absolutely love her. we hit it off. i am gonna send pictures and a gift back with julie for her. i told her i wanted her to come to the US for a visit but she said it is so hard. she has pretty good english. we are going to e-mail. LOVE ME SOME ROSA.

We went to sleep and we had a power outage... JULIE... bring light sticks... you can get them at wal-mart for 88cents. it is pretty common and i couldn't e-mail last night either.

So we are leaving on a jet plane tonight. i am so excited so see our other 3 but I will miss ethiopia with all my heart

------
BLOG THAT :)

How thankful are WE for the love our kids are getting all the way in Ethiopia! Its amazing to me! How AMAZING hearing what Tracie did every day, how she loved on our kids and what she and Ted felt! I want to hear more and more and more! Okay enjoy this post guys as i KNOW u will be taking in every single word!!!

HE HAS A MOHAWK!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:23:00 +0000

HERE IS A POST FROM TRACIE! WE GOT TO TALK THRU EMAIL FOR A FEW MINUTES! SHE SOUNDS GREAT! ENJOY READING! LOVE, JULIE!

I wish I could post a picture but the way that Abel's hair just naturally has grown in is just like a mohawk... HE IS PRECIOUS!

We are wiped out today. Here are bullet points of what we've done

Yesterday
-paper work
-Hannah's Hope to meet Abel
-lunch at the hotel
-shopping
-ate dinner at the Gold Club (very interesting food :-)

Today
-Breakfast
-Hannah's Hope to see the kids (got tons of pictures and Julie, I FOUND MAYA'S TICKLE SPOT). Gave our donations to Almaz... it was so fun to go through all of them. I had the most touching moment with a 12 year old girl... one that will be in my heart forever!
-Lunch
-Embassy appointment (WENT WELL - WE ARE APPROVED TO GO BACK TO THE STATES)
-Enat Alam orphanage... WOW! I fell in love with some children there!
-NOW... back at the hotel. We were suppose to go out to Ethiopian dinner but are gonna do it tomorrow night.. too much in one day.

Ted is going to the Mother Teresa house tomorrow. I am going to stay with Abel at the hotel. I also plan on going back to Hannah's Hope... I want to spend at much time there as I can.

MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF YOU.
We are blown away by this BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. Ted and I so many times have just had to stop to take in the beauty with a tear in our eye. The people are so warm and so GORGEOUS!

Maybe I will blog again tomorrow :-)

WE ARE HERE

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:20:00 +0000

We made it safe and sound to Ethiopia. I can't believe I am actually blogging because last night I was just sure that I would not have internet access the entire time. WRONG... it's working.

We GOT ABEL THIS MORNING!

HE IS PRECIOUS. We are in LOVE (have been for a while). He is just a sweet baby. He is smiling and TALKING A TON! He has even giggled. We have enjoyed every minute with him. we even just gave him his first bath!

Last night was got to ET at 10pm... our plane was late. No big deal... the airport was a little crazy but we made it.

This morning we did paper work and went to Hannah's Hope. THAT PLACE IS SIMPLY AMAZING.

Abel was napping when I got there and so I let him rest and went to MAYA (Julie B's baby). OH MY ... IS SHE A SWEET THING. She is as little as all get out. I checked her out fit... it was a NEW BORN! but I think she is in 0 to 3months. EVERYONE talked about how beautiful she was.

THEN MY ABEL BOY WOKE UP. I held him. He slept in my arms. I held him in his sling. He took a passie (YES!)

HE IS SO PRECIOUS! He is handsome !!! MY OH MY is he handsome!!!!!

He is all smiles too!

OK... signing off for now... maybe back later!

FINAL COUNTDOWN

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:53:00 +0000

Yes, we will be leaving in 2 hours. But it's just the beginning of a 24 hour journey. Today we go to the airport (2 hours early), then we fly to DC and then tonight at 8pm we board ET Air and head to Africa!

Tomorrow (Sunday) at noon East Coast Time we will be arriving in ET. It will be 8pm their time. We have visas to get and then after packing up we'll head to our hotel (union) and go to sleep. When you wake up on Monday WE WILL HAVE ALREADY MET OUR SON. We will meet him at 1am East Coast Time... 9am ET time.

We'll be heading back at 10pm on Thursday ET time (2pm EST) and be back on Friday at 2pm at Typson McGee airport here in KNOXVILLE :-)

Thank you guys so much for your love and support! I so dig my blog friends and can't believe I am going to get to meet several of you at the blog union this August in CALIFORNIA (I have never been before). (julie... book your ticket). To all of my Knoxville friends, I am BLOWN AWAY by your excitement and love for this little boy. To all of my out of town friends, you guys have been so sweet... the calls, the texts, the e-mails!

We reached our final goal with Life International and we were also given money and have every bit of debt paid for.

"The Lord has done great things for us... and we are FILLED WITH JOY!" Psalm 126:3

Here's a little sneak peek

Ask and You Shall Receive

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:18:00 +0000

All I can say is THANK YOU!

We had a donation drive at church the last two Sundays for donations for Hannah's Hope... the transition home where our baby Abel is.

Today Charlotte and I packed, packed and packed some more! The majority of our luggage.. pretty much all of it is DONATIONS!

I want to give a shout out of THANKS to the SALVADORS who had the littlest members of the A-Team over today while I ran errands and packed. You have no idea what a gift you gave me today!

We are just about packed!!!

OH ... WHAT A GIRL!

noreply@blogger.com (A Team) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:36:00 +0000

My daughter, Avery... she warms my soul! She has the sweetest heart! In the girl's room, there is an incredible mural on the wall (my friend, Melissa blessed us with it) and there are little blue birds that represent each one of our family members. Well, when these were painted 4 years ago we didn't know about baby Abel. Melissa (my friend from Texas), painted this mural when I was in the hospital having Addison. So, yesterday Avery came down to the basement and said "Mom, what will Abel think when he sees we don't have a blue bird for him. I said "well, we will explain to him when it was painted... and we have other things in our house that totally represent him. The next thing I know, she is taping this... to his crib!

Is that not precioius???

This is Ted and me... love birds :-)

This is Aidan :-)

Here's Avery

And Addie... this little bird will be 4 tomorrow :-)