More Details Coming!!

I apologize for the lack of updates, but family life has been crazy! :) I am planning on a big post detailing our trip to Ethiopia and back...we have plenty of stories to tell about Tarik and Sophie!

God Bless,
Phil

PS - Photos are coming, too!

Back in the US, back in the USA.

Hey everyone! We are officially back in the US with our kids. We are so happy! We love our kids and God definitely matched us with the right children. I am dead tired, so I really can't write too much more. However, we will post one more detailed email with everything that happened near the end of of the trip in the next few days.

Thanks for the support and prayers!

Phil & Amy

The Adventure Continues!

Well, it's been a crazy week! Sophie is an absolute angel and Tariku is a miniature version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! But we love them both already... :)

Tarik is very shy and he is still adjusting...he goes through spells of tantrums and pure joy. Not having ever experienced parenting before, it is definitely challenging at times, but it's just part of loving these little children. The day after we picked up the kids, Tarik's old social worker was present and she was highly involved with him...it was very, very tough. We felt like we lost all of the gains from the first 24 hours...by the time we left, he wanted to be back with her and didn't want us. We know to look ahead and we do, but these things are difficult in the moment. The same social worker was with us today on a trip to Acacia Village (our agency's new foster home here) and she was much better about understanding the need to not encourage too much reattachment (I think after my feedback...).

I am learning how to say many things in Amharic to communicate with Tarik. It seems to help a bit. So far, he has bonded more with me and Sophie more with Amy, but Sophie is really pretty good with everyone, so it's not a big deal. We're just trying to get him acclimated with Amy before I go back to work.

Oh - and we are officially/legally parents now!! We went to the embassy yesterday and there were no problems! They did ask if Sophie was married, though... :) They also said "no givebacks". We both were expecting a 6-month return policy...but we'll make it through this. haha.

Thanks again for all your prayers and we will be flying back home tomorrow!!

Love,
Phil & Amy

Phone Call Today

Disclaimer: Phone connection was hard to hear over, so the events described are to the best of my memory and ability to hear what was being said. Plus I’m not getting any younger you know.

I talked to Amy and Phil today. Terrik had a difficult time leaving the orphanage today. He was actually refusing to leave until he found out they were going to see Sophie. Phil said he cried and screamed for a couple hours, till he wore himself out and fell asleep clutching his prized possessions (blanket a lady had made him, sneakers, and photo album Amy and Phil had sent him). He woke up in the same state. Phil said it was like he started crying before he woke up.

He seems to be bonding with them now and is imitating everything they do. I could hear him laughing in the background while Amy was playing with him. He said hello to us a couple times and goodbye (waterworks started for grandpa). This has been an exciting day!

Phil said Sophie has really taken to Amy. I could hear her in the background as well. Please pray for them that Terrik will continue to bond with them and for a safe trip. It has been a rough go for the little guy, he has been moved a couple time so I’m sure it will take some patience on Phil’s and Amy’s parts. But God is able and your prayers are very much appreciated. I know they will be wonderful parents and in time they will become a family.

Amy’s Dad

It's the big day!! Needless to say, it was a little hard to sleep last night... Amy woke up at least once an hour thinking it was about time to get up :) What a unique adventure this has been so far. I wish we could adequately describe all the sights and sounds. For example, being a partially Muslim country, there are constantly sounds of Muslim chanting and praying outside of our room. All through the night we heard the chants/prayers and the local poultry. :)

We just had some French Toast at the Guest Home and are just waiting at this point! We'll be heading over to the orphanage in about an hour to meet our children in person for the first time. We are ready for whatever happens...we know that Tarik has been through a lot and he is slow to warm up to some people. We have been praying that he responds to us well, but we know that he might not. Please pray for our little guy. We try to imagine what he must be thinking and feeling and we know this will be a scary event for him.

We still can't believe this is really happening! We've been in this process for so long, but it's very different to be here about to have our lives changed dramatically in an instant. We will try to post later today, but please understand that we might be just a little busy with our kids!! :)

Love,
Phil & Amy

FYI: Buy the time I posted this tyey have meet thier childern. I cant wait to meet them.

Amy's Dad

They made it!!

We made it! The flight was long, but, relatively, it went smoothly. We met about 4 other adoptive couples that are also here to pick up their babies this week. Very exciting!

We received our visas and made it through customs without an issue...and all of our bags showed up! The adoption agency bus came to pick us up and we were surprised to see our coordinator (from the US) at the airport to get us! Ben has been helping us through the process the entire way and it was awesome to see him.

The experience here has been what we expected and not what we expected...we knew that poverty was rampant here, but it's different when you see it so deep and widespread everywhere you look. Addis Ababa is such a different place...animals and people are mixed on the streets...there are essentially no stoplights in a city of 5+ million...you can find farms in the middle of the big city. Our cab driver (whose car seemed to be on its last leg, like most cabs) didn't even have windshield wipers for our cab while it was raining! But we made it and we are seeing a different perspective on life over here. Definitely sobering...

The Guest Home is amazing. It's a small compound and there are other adoptive families here. The employees are all locals and they are extremely friendly (most all of the local people we have met have been very friendly, actually). It's very cool - they have our room set up for Sophie and Tarik! Of course, that produced some waterworks from Amy :)

We are picking up Sophie and Tarik in the morning (about 2am US Eastern time on Sunday). As the moment creeps closer, we find ourselves in awe of God and a little nervous!! We are so excited and we know that all those initial kinks and challenges will get worked out, but it's those little things that parents learn that we are nervous about! :) .

One huge blessing to us was the news Ben gave us...we had asked about a week ago if they have introduced Sophie and Tarik yet. Apparently, we are the first couple from our agency to adopt two unrelated children from Ethiopia, because they hadn't thought about introducing them before we asked! They went ahead and started getting the two acquainted and will do that going forward for other children in that situation. The blessing came when Ben told us that the counselor told Tarik that Sophie is his sister and, after a few days, he hugged and kissed her!!! From what we've heard, it takes a while for Tarik to warm up to people, so that is just awesome!

FYI - The Internet connection is extremely slow and we've already experienced the infamous Addis Ababa power outages, so we may not have such luck with emails like this over the next few days. We will try, though! Dad R - please post this today if you can. Pastor Keith and Sandra - you don't have to send these updates out via email, but please pass on the updates if you want to or if anyone asks.

Love you guys and we'll update you as soon as possible!

Amy & Phil

Amy & Phil on their way.

This is Amy's dad, updating their blog while they are away getting my grandbabies. They made it to Washington and last I talked to them they had checked in and were waiting to board the plane. They should arrive in Ethopia @ 9:30 am their time (or 1:30 am ours).

Hopefully they will be able to email letting us know when they get settled.

Dan