Joy's First Week

Exactly one week and three hours ago we landed at Portland International Airport aboard Delta Flight #179. It was a beautiful sunny day and as we started descending from our 11-hour flight, I looked out the window in time to see the Seattle, WA skyline zip by 30,000 feet below. I knew the moment was near, the moment Joy's life would forever be changed, officially with the government that is. Twenty minutes later as the wheels made contact with the runway concrete it was official, Joy was no longer an Ethiopian national. Ethiopia doesn't recognize dual citizenship and as soon as we were on American soil, her status changed from Ethiopian to Resident Immigrant of the United States of America. It was a... no pun intended... joyous time for us, and hopefully for her.

The past week has gone by so fast. Fortunately we have been able to savor every moment since then. As you can tell by the previous two posts, Joy is adapting very well to this American life. We have come back to people wrapped up in health care "crisis" (is it really that bad people?) and still economic uncertainty, but we were calmed in knowing that we had each other.

Besides adapting unbelievably well, here's some highlights of week one:

- She goes to bed around 8:30pm and wakes at 8:00am (sometimes later) the next morning.
- Naptime, again like clockwork, is about 2:00pm where she catches about two hours of sleep.
- Any food is good food, albeit some better than others. She especially likes those carbs.
- Super-Mommy has somehow managed to potty train her. Seriously, she walks over to her "little potty" and starts taking off her pants when she has to go. I'm sure the reward of a chocolate chip helps. But really? Potty trained? Believe it or not she is getting there and has even #2'd a couple times in there. (Shawna says panties by baby time)
- Pediatrician says she is super healthy and is in the 45% for weight and 10% for height. Short and chubby.

Today we had her first check-up at the pediatrician. She had to get four shots, ugh. Luckily Super-Mommy was there while daddy was eating ice cream with the two older kiddos down the street at McDonalds. Shots and poopy diapers are Super-Mommy's specialty this week. Daddy's is "Goochy-goochy-goochy!" She weighed in at 25 pounds which is in the 45% for her age. Her height however was in the 10%. The pediatrician (like the one in Ethiopia) says the markings on her eyelids are most likely tribal (couldn't they just do a secret handshake or something?). It's something that we embrace well and she will carry from her culture.

Super-Mommy is starting to feel a little better, still feeling a little nauseous but hopefully that will pass soon. Daddy had a Malaria scare early in the week but the blood work came back ok, just something viral. Mataya is such a help and enjoys getting Joy into her booster seat at meal time and buckles her in her car seat during outings. Katie is also doing well, we have noticed a marked change in her personality (especially when she's upset) and we will work very hard to figure it out and help her during this time of transition. To go from the little girl of the house to the big girl over a two year old must be something I can't even imagine. She is so sweet nonetheless and all three have equal parts of our hearts.

So I guess that sums it up. I've been playing around with some of the Ethiopian coffee I brought back and found a way to make it almost identical to the way Ethiopians make it (with the help of an old coffee/espresso steamer) but quickly realized that it still tastes different over there... something about the surroundings and environment. Maybe I'll get to have some more if we go back to adopt a second someday...? :)

Here's a few more pictures from this week. It was a good week. Lots of adjustment, lots of laughs, lots of love. So far so good...

What a Girl!

The past couple of days with Joy have been pretty amazing. We have spent a lot of time inside playing and have ventured outside to enjoy some sunny afternoons. We even took our first grocery shopping trip to Fred Meyer. She enjoyed the sights and pointed to just about everything with a huge smile (even the "larger" people on the motorized "disabled" scooters. Oh ma'am, honestly, she points and smiles at everything.) And no people of Klamath Falls, she's not from Haiti... Joy loves the grass and to stand on the scooter while dad pushes it up and down the sidewalk (Joy, get out of the street!). Her bigger sisters absolutely adore her and Matty has really taken on a nurturing "little" mama role and wants to help whenever she can with whatever it is. Katie loves the new role of big sister and loves to play dolls with her. Joy also has a funny way of adding laughter to times when we didn't think we could. Shawna got sick yesterday afternoon and Joy somehow knew Shawna felt bad and came up to her and slowly put her cheek to Shawna's and gave her a hug. And when I was sitting on the couch in front of my laptop computer frustrated at some college stuff, I found a toy bottle being pushed into my mouth and I heard Joy going "Num, num." I looked at her to see a huge smile on her face as she was trying to nurse me back to laughter. It's times like those and about a million other things that make us love her more and more as time goes on. She has the cutest smile and most infectious laugh, and of course, that heart of gold.

So as you can tell she is doing fine, better than we could have ever imagined a week ago. She is taking to or "American" food extremely well and loves chicken enchiladas (thank you Murphy family for dinner last night!). This morning it's Daddy's Pancake Espeseeal.

Here's some random pics from the past couple of days.

Oh, and just for notes, if you're adopting a child internationally, you might want to introduce a bubble bath by starting with very few bubbles. Ask Joy about that.

Home At Last

Woohoo! We made it home! After Chris spent all day Saturday in bed with what can only be described as the flu and Shawna still fighting nausea, we loaded up the minivan and headed south to Klamath Falls. We decided not to stop through Medford and potentially share any ailments we had with Gramma and Grampa Fox which was a hard decision as they have been such a blessing during this adoption. But we will see them in less than two weeks for Easter and they are VERY anxious to see their new great granddaughter (lucky number 13 I believe).

We made a quick stop in Salem for gas and Taco Bell and quickly discovered Joy loves those $.99 burritos. A little further down the road a Dairy Queen stop was in order. After being unable to drink some of the awesome slushy drink Katie had ordered because she didn't know how to drink from a straw, Joy carefully watched Katie drink for about a minute. Shawna tried to give Joy some more and with extreme determination, Joy managed to get the hang of the straw within 10 seconds! She was so excited to get to some of that grape slushy nectar!!!

We decided to go over Willamette Pass because the roads appeared dry when Chris checked online earlier that morning but of course a common early spring snow storm was dumping a slushy mix on top by the time we arrived. We made it through that with no problem and didn't stop again until home (and Joy didn't even fuss once the entire trip!).

At home, Joy immediately started walking through the house getting to know her new turf. We ate some dinner that the Morgan's had graciously left in the fridge, then it was more play time. Joy has really come out of her shell, and with the help of some slow introduction to discipline (ie timeouts for unnecessary fussing), she is definitely a happier girl. She loves her big sisters and walks around the house with a permanent smile. She is such a good little girl and as we watched her and the other two girls, we realized that she was the missing piece to our family.

Something else hit us we were watching the kids play. Although their skin was so different, it didn't feel different. I don't know what I'm trying to say exactly, maybe I thought I would initially feel, "Wow, there's a dark skinned child here," but no thoughts of that ever came to be. It's like we were one as a family, there was no difference, only the fact that we had missed her for the first two years of her life. Again, we had no doubt there would be no weird feelings, but to feel an immediate and personal connection was something beyond description (and something we had hoped for since our first meeting over a week ago). We can easily see now why the nurses and nannies at the orphanage love her so much. She has such a contagious and beautiful personality. It's great to have finally left them behind to build the bridge to getting to know each other, and since we left Addis Ababa, the connection and closeness has been tremendous.

She sees us as her caregivers now and shows love without hesitation (especially if she's tired). We are so blessed to have her as part of our family and know God has a special plan for her, us, and her birth family.

So we will relax at home for the next little while and get used to how we each operate, enjoy some sunny days outside, and I'm sure spend a lot of time laughing. This is such an amazing adventure!

Welcome to Jet Lag City, Population 3

Awesome, I just spent the last 30 minutes typing and Explorer decided to shut down. Maybe I should go to one of the other browsers...

Anyway, what I was saying was that although I have spent many a cold nights in the field without sleep back in my Army days, I have NEVER been as tired as I was yesterday afternoon. It is all a blur. Shawna and I layed down around 4:30pm with the kids in the room playing. Of course we were sleeping before our heads touched the pillows. I woke up around 7pm, Shawna was sleeping next to me, Matty and Katie were playing, but Joy... where was Joy? I looked and saw her in the middle of the floor in a ball sleeping soundly. It's like she was playing and mid-game she said, "Yeah, this looks like a good place to sleep..." Shawna got up and put the kiddos to bed (what a Super-Mom, I had no legitimate thought at that point!) She stayed up for a while but Joy and I stayed knocked out. Joy has gotten up a couple times and fussed but fell back asleep everytime. What a good little girl.

So now it's 4am and I've been up for a few hours. I've already shaved and showered, ready for a beautiful Oregon day. It's 2pm in Addis after all. We hope it's nice enough to take Joy to the park down the road and let her run around the acres of grass there.

Here's a few pics:

Minutes after meeting Joy for the first time.














Mommy and Joy playing at the Care Center.













For those that have seen Zoolander, she is perfecting Blue Steel.














Back in Oregon with her sisters!

We Made It

I am posting this from the comforts of modernized western civilization. We landed in Portland just before 1pm PDT and are now chillin at my parents house. We have been up for about 45 hours now and are feeling the effects of it. We'll call and visit everyone soon. We need to catch up on some sleep and to unwind a bit. We will head to Klamath most likely Sunday, but we will see how Joy is doing. Joy has a perma-smile hanging out with her new big sisters but DOES NOT care much for mom's little dogs! We'll get some pics posted tomorrow for all to see.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers. The Lord has blessed us in two areas we were hoping to have some extra help in, bonding and travelling. Today as we were nearing Portland I reflected on our trip home. Joy was laying next to me looking up at me with her big brown eyes and reached out for me to hold her hand. The past 24 hours have been incredible, we have bonded so much. We had a great time in Amsterdam walking around exploring for several hours and I think that was a big key. She wouldn't want to walk anywhere without holding my hand (or momma's). Then on the plane she snuggled with us the entire trip. In fact, that leads to the second answer to prayer, the travelling part. She was incredible. We had a couple minutes of total fuss time on the entire 11-hour flight. It was absolutely incredible, she was the best two year old I have ever seen for those 11 hours! I'm serious, maybe two or three minutes total, in 11 hours!!! SHE WAS AWESOME!

Well I'm going to close. My words are probably running together and my grammars most likely off. I have a feeling I will read this tomorrow and ask myself, what was I thinking? Thanks again everyone and talk with you all soon!

Awm-Shterdam, Ja!

Me made it to Amsterdam! We ended up not stopping in Sudan because of a sand storm so it made the trip faster. Joy did pretty good. She fussed here and there but managed some decent sleep. Mom and dad who were on "Preventing Joy from falling off the seat" duty however did not. We had four seats in the middle for the four of us (we had only bought Joy a lap ticket), so that was awesome! Thanks Erle from Azamuno Travel! He planned that one just right for us, we got a $1400 seat for only $250! Now for the long leg. 12 hours, ugh. We leave in a few hours and hope Joy does well. We will arrive in Portland approximately 15 hours from now and are more than excited to see our precious Matty and Katie (and the rest of the fam).

Joy is digging all these new sights, sounds, and smells (or lack thereof!). She has been walking all over this airport and shared a fruit cup with me which I believe might have been the first time she has had some fruit (especially the canteloupe and watermelon). We are so excited to get home.

Portland here we come!

Portland Bound

Good morning everybody.  The past couple of days have been pretty busy.  Tuesday morning we took full custody of Joy (YAY!).  Later that afternoon we had her visa appointment at the US Embassy.  That went well and she is officially an Ethiopian/American!  Well, a resident immigrant of America from Ethiopia.  We will pick up her passport and paperwork this afternoon and then it's off to the airport this evening to catch an 11:30pm flight to Amsterdam.  We are there for three hours then we are on a direct flight from Amsterdam to Portland.  We will arrive in Portland, OR on Friday at 1:30pm local time there.  That's about 22 hours of flying (Our Father, Which Art In Heaven...).

Like I mentioned, Joy has been with us since Tuesday and everything is great... when she's sleeping.  When she's awake she wants everything but what she has and fusses consistently.  We can't blame her though.  Although the nannies at the orphanage loved her so much, they gave her everything she wanted whenever she wanted it (a cultural thing too).  She is not taking to not getting what she wants on demand and she LOVES to let us know.  She has been sleeping a lot though, I think she enjoys the quietness without being surrounded by other crying children.  She is definitely catching up on her sleep.

Shawna and I are doing great.  Although our child is definitely the most fussy of the group, we are blessed to have her and are proud she is ours.  She is so beautiful (koncho) and takes our breath away every time we look at her.  We are doing fine with the fact that she doesn't care for us too much and are encouraged to see her starting to trust us more.

We had the official send-off ceremony at the orphanage yesterday which consisted of some Kaldi's Cafe cake (best cake I ever had!) and a coffee ceremony.  We were then able to go downtown and do a little shopping for some trinkets.  I stocked up on Ethiopian coffee and Shawna got some cute Ethiopian made stuff.  The hotel staff will give us a coffee ceremony (another one!) and we will head to the airport early evening.

We will let everyone know of our travel safety when we can (hopefully from Amsterdam).  Thank you so much for joining us and please pray for Joy that she takes to the flight well.  I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of ticked off people on the plane by the time we land.  We love you all so much and will talk to you soon!