1 Month Home..A Few Days Ago

Wow!!!  We have been BUSY!!!  Doctor appointments, Oral surgeon appointment with teeth extractions (Guess how many dentists there are in Ethiopia???...In 2007 there were 48 in the ENTIRE country.  In 2009 the population of Ethiopia was 82,824,732!!!  So that's pretty much like NONE...ZERO.  Thank you dentists who go over to serve these precious people who cannot  get care.  So grateful that my child doesn't have a sore mouth anymore and that they were baby teeth), end of school year hoorahs, and 5 kid schedules.  All good, just busy, and wouldn't want to not be.
  We are all adjusting very well.  Learning in process.  Can't believe how well they are doing.  They are so smart, loving and funny.  They can have their moments too, but that's part of the learning/adjusting.  We really are having fun with them and are SO grateful they are here. If you call you will likely be greeted by a sweet Ethiopian accented voice saying, "Ello, Donasons",
followed by many giggles.  I love it when someone asks Faith her name and she says, "Faith Donason".  Melts my heart!  On the other hand when something has gone awry in her eyes, it does not melt my heart when she proclaims,"No love....(whatever or whoever it is)!", but it does make me laugh..most of the time.  And we will all miss it when she stops referring to everything and everyone she doesn't know the name for as "This one".  Dave will always call her "Faith, This One".

   Thanks for the Zoo Pass:  Nichols, Jacksons, Quades, Hammonds, Hirscheys and Mooibrooks!!! We LOVE it!!!!

  Thanks Aunt Jean, Sally and Walter.  Your gift provided this fun set of wheels!!!

Family Fun!!!!  I LOVE our family!!!!

3 Weeks Home

We are all settling in more everyday and definitely getting a rhythm to our day.
Last week and this week Abey and Faith have been in swim lessons to prepare for a summer around water:

They LOVE swimming, Faith more so than Abey, and have the best teacher!!

Faith definitely has the concept of zero down as she opened up her underwear drawer tonight and said, "Look mom zero!" LOL  Doing laundry for 7 is a load!!!  Sorry Faith they are on their way.

Remembering our heros this Memorial Day.

2 Weeks Home

I am praising God that we feel this good at 2 weeks.  We have our moments...sometimes long moments..meltdown moments, usually when exhaustion sets in, but "sleepy..NO".  Yes, bedtime is a chore at this point, and naps are a joke although I am trying to enforce a quiet playtime in the afternoon, but I PRAISE God that once in bed, they sleep soundly...did I say I am THANKFUL for that???  I am SOO thankful for that because I really feel pretty great throughout the day and I think they do too until maybe they don't get something they want or become jealous of one another.
   We have had fun at the park, and this weekend they swam for the first time...SO fun!!!  They start swim lessons this week and are so excited about it!!  Communication is really going well although there are times when we misunderstand one another.  Little miss is excellent at Charades and uses it to explain many occurrences which leads to much laughter.  "Tom and Jerry" is The Cat and the Rat according to Abey.  We go through more bananas than we ever have before and food in general has not been a big problem.
    So that's 2 weeks home.  We are SO thankful they are here and love them to pieces.  The D's are excellent siblings...so helpful and loving!!

We Had a Great 2nd Trip to Ethiopia

My hubby will soon make a post about our second trip to our children's homeland, but here's a quick synopsis:
For starters, we took our oldest child and it was the BEST decision!!!  We are so glad he desired to go and was willing to miss school.  The bonding between him and the kids was super healthy and great!

We were blessed to spend the week with a local family in the same guest house.  It will be so fun to watch their sweet daughter grow up:

We stayed at EGH again which we LOVE!!!  The staff are all amazing!!!!!

 Thank you God for all of your promises ( a pic from our balcony):

Had fun visiting some new and favorite places:

A trip to Addis wouldn't be complete without visiting our friend Birtukan who has an amazing story and ministry:  Yezelalem Minch (Everlasting Spring:  An orphanage/foster care program caring for 1000 children and single moms, and my source for coffee as the proceeds benefit these women and children.  I just have to share as World Vision sponsors ourselves that this amazing lady was a World Vision sponsor child growing up and has turned around and is returning the gift in a BIG way.  Sponsoring children, by the way, DOES make a life saving difference with a reputable ministry.  You can do it through Yezelalem Minch, World Vision, Compassion International, Wiphan, and Children's Hopechest to name a few. )

Goodbye for now land that we love.  So grateful you impacted the heart of our biggest baby:

We'll be back even though it means going through what seems like ENDLESS lines and a very long flight...You're worth it!!!!

And we brought back some pretty darn great, adorable, precious cargo that we are blessed to call our children.

One Week Home

Well we have been home for one week with our darlings and boy has it been busy!

Loving my full car!!!
We have been to the doctor, the lab and collecting all sorts of specimans.  They were such troopers!

We were told on one of our progress reports that Faith wants to be a doctor and Abel wants to be a pilot.  I wasn't sure how accurate that was, but it turns out that it is accurate at least for now.  Faith came home and played Dr. Feven repeating each step of the lab draw procedure on each of her siblings.  And Abel, desiring to be a pilot, got to sit in the cockpit with the pilot on his first plane ride and received his wings:

We are having fun experiencing all kinds of firsts.  First squirt gun fight:

Yes, Feven decided that wet clothes were not to her liking so she just took them off.  So funny!
Much more to share, but I have littles to get to bed.  We are doing well.  We have highs and some lows, but all in all they are doing amazingly well!!!  We thank God for these kids and are honored to be their parents!!

This Happy Mother's Day....We're HOME!!!

SO much to post and too tired to do it all, so I'll start with a little piece and work backward then forward to fill you in on this past week.
Our surprise homecoming welcome at the Indy airport (we don't even live in Indy) by sweet friends..totally unexpected and so thoughtful!!!

2 anxious siblings eagerly  awaiting the arrival of their new brother and sister..even in the rain:

First time in our car on the trip home from the airport:

 What 30 hours of International travel will do to you:

A tad hard to wake up when we arrived, and more than groggy, but managed to smile some for first family of 7 pics:

Sweet welcome from more friends and family...Thank you Davis's, mom and Aunt Sue!!!

Wonderful first dinner home.  Made with love by Mom D who stayed here to watch our D's who didn't travel with us:

And pic from today of mommy's men:

Thanking God today for our moms..

And for Abel and Feven Faiths birth mom who my heart is very tender for today.

Thank you Jesus for blessing me abundantly.  I am one grateful mama!!!
Happy Mother's Day!!!