He's HOME!!

We're HOME!!!  I've come to the realization that the two trips to Ethiopia are probably going to take months to digest and process in many ways... so I'll share some surface details at this point and you can look forward to "digging deeper" into the experience type blogs over the coming months as things strike me or are brought to me.  We cleared Embassy FAST!! Only 6 days after we were submitted!  And we were pretty tired getting on the plane because due to the 7 hour time difference there were a couple nights of awaiting emails till the wee hours of the morning and being woken up by my phone for every SINGLE email, and not only the one I was actually waiting for LOL.  We landed in Ethiopia at 7:30am on Wednesday June 12 and literally got a few hours to sleep and jetted off to Janes House to spend Noah's last afternoon with him and bring him back with us!  It was so awesome as there were so many adoptive families there to share in his going away coffee ceremony, and he shared it with his friend Tizzie who's family was also picking her up.  It was really cool for them as we stayed at the same hotel so they had opportunities to play with each other and shared in our "going away" dinner at our agency reps house.  Tizzie lives only a few hours away and we are hoping to be able to keep those two in contact as the years go on.  They spent their entire time at Janes House together and were from the same area of Ethiopia.  The flight home.... Ahhh the flight home.  It was, overall, not bad looking back.  It could have been a lot worse.  LOL!  Raving reviews, eh?   Noah slept the first 6 hours and was up the whollleee rest of the time.  Fortunately he didn't fuss too much, but Brian and I got very little sleep.  It was very  exhausting!  To say the least the idea of not seeing a plane again for quite some time sounds amazingly wonderful to both of us!  We were greeted by family and friends at the airport and it was so nice to have so many people there to welcome us.  Seeing our kids running to meet their brother is a moment I wont forget!  And all of the kids are in love with each other!  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  

So we've been home a week... how's it going?  As a mom, I am hoovering between two worlds.  The "I am a mom of five I CAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!" world, and the "I am a mom of five, I want to go hide under a rock while someone else figures this whole thing out and tells me the secret" LOL  Noah is doing really well overall.  He's only had one night so far (God willing it stays that way) where he opted to party for about 3-4 hours in the middle of the night.  All others he has slept thru!  All the kids enjoying pitching in keeping an eye on our curious toddler, and he is really a very joyful and fun kid!  He NO LIKE the dogs LOL  Although a week later, he is already notably better with them than he was (he climbed up Brian's head screaming on day one when I brought them back from the kennel).  He even pet the evil "woo-shahs" last nigth when they were dead asleep and knew not the wiser LOL baby steps.  This kid is a FOOL for water! He LOVES!!!  Whether its from a hose, a pool, a bath, a water table, the sink... no matter, it is all EXTREMELY fun!  He already can follow many simple commands in english.  "Put that in the Garbage", "Put it in the sink" "Put it back" "Give it to ____".  And he def has some Ahmaric words (some we know some we dont)... and is walking around saying "mama" "dada" "no no" "bye bye".   Kids are seriously little sponges!!!  

And I just have to say, there is something SO SO sweet about hearing this tiny little voice all day long  saying "mama!!" and He is actually looking for ME!!  He is already showing attachment to us, and preferring us over other adults.  He's already claiming us as "his" :)  And we are SO happy to be!!!

That's all for now... and I can guarentee much much more will come out as we dive into processing our whole amazing experience in Ethiopia.  Until then, Enjoy Noah's Adoption Video if you haven't had a chance to watch it yet! Link below :)

Noah's Adoption Video

Noah

There's a lot in a name... and we had many names that we had tossed around and threw on potential lists when we were waiting.  I would never commit to one tho.  I wanted to see him, I wanted to feel it was right... and sure enough the day that we were matched with our son all of the names that I had on my list went right out the window and we were back to the drawing board. This sweet little face didn't fit any of the names we had tossed around.

  There were so many things to take into consideration.  He was almost two, so we wanted to find a name at least a little similar sounding to what he was being called now.  And we wanted to keep his given name as his middle name.  Not many American names sound like "yeabsera" so we decided to at least look at names that ended in an "ah" sound. For days a few different names sat on our list and then we decided to go through a list of Ethiopian names and see if anything clicked.  And it just jumped out "Noah".  That was it.  Brian was also almost instantly set that it was "the name".  It was right, it was him.. He would be Noah Yeabsera.

I've been sitting with this name for a couple months now, and I am realizing more and more how exactly perfectly fitting it is.  The story of Noah has so many connections to the adoption journey in general, but even more specifically ours.  Noah was told by God to do something... build an ark for a flood that no one could predict was coming.  Like our own journey, I'm sure there were some people who probably admired his faith, but there were probably also a great many walking by Noah in the town thinking he was a little crazy :)  And then the flood comes, and he does as he is told and floats for 40 days and 40 nights with no land in sight.  In scripture, 40 is the period of testing.... the flood ensued for 40 days, Jesus was in the dessert for 40 days, Moses was in the desert for 40 years etc. etc..   I'm sure, much like adoption, there were times out on his ark that Noah felt he couldn't stand it anymore, wondered if maybe he wouldn't make it and yet kept reminding himself of what God promised.  When reflecting on how I felt this confirmation with the name Noah and the connections with the story... I couldn't help it... I had to count.   And our period of "waiting"... or period of "testing" from the day our dossier papers went to Ethiopia to the day we accepted Noah's referral..... yep, 40 WEEKS!! Can God be any more in the details???  And oh MY was it a period of testing!  But just like Noah and the great flood..... we will walk out with a rainbow of covenant promise, just as He promised :)