Sunday, January 10, 2010

In Our Arms at Last





We had several flight delays but made it to our flights just in time. We ended up arriving in Addis Ababa at around 9:30 and then waiting in immigration for an hour. Two other families were on flights that landed after ours so we waited an additional 30 minutes for them to get through customs and then took the trip to the hotel.

The hotel is very nice and comfortable and we got to bed around 1:30 in the morning exhausted from our trip.















Today was a very long day beginning at 5 am when the Muslim call to prayer woke us from our 4 hour slumber. John rolled over and went back to sleep, I could not so I just layed there thinking about meeting our baby boy. We went to breakfast and then just killed time in the hotel room until we were ready to eat lunch and meet Almaz the orphanage director to go over paperwork. The paperwork took almost three hours and then we were off to the orphanage.




We opted to walk instead of have the van come pick us back up so we got to see some of the surrounding city on our way.

When we arrived at the orphanage we got to meet him right away. He was very happy and had no problem coming to us. He has so much hair and is adorable. His special mothers kept stealing him back from us to make him giggle and cuddle him. We could tell they were very attached to him and will miss having him as one of the babies in the boys room. The children are taken such good care of and loved on at Hannah's Hope. Almaz knows them all by name and the special mothers love on each child and know their likes and dislikes. You can tell from the minute that you walk in that they are taken good care of.













We were at the orphanage for about an hour and then got in the van to ride back to the hotel. This is when our little man looked around and started screaming. Big crocodile tears streamed down his face as he looked around at his unfamiliar surroundings. We got back to the hotel and tried every trick we knew to get him to stop crying. He cried for about an hour then John finally got him to fall asleep. He slept for 45 minutes and was up for a half hour playing, took a bottle and fell back to sleep pretty easily. He is sleeping very soundly now so we will see how the rest of the night goes.







He is everything we imaged and more! Gotta go get some sleep! Long day at the Embassy tomorrow.......

(The internet works in our room so we are able to email and everything seems to work except for the blog site..Alisa is updating this for me through emails I send her....Thanks Alisa!)

24 comments:

  1. he's PERFECT! so so handsome! i LOVE his hair! oh i can't wait! and man, the hotel is much nicer than i thought!!! hopefully you'll be able to get some good sleep tonight!!!

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  2. Oh, wow. Congratulations! I'm glad things are going well for the most part, and he is just precious!

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  3. Congratulations Pells! We have been watching the blog, and FB, and thinking and praying for you all weekend! He is so adorable- It is unbelievable to finally see him in your arms! So amazing! Praise God!

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  4. Congratulations! So good to see you all together!

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  5. He's such a beautiful little boy! And I'm so, SO glad he's with y'all now!! Congratulations!! I hope the rest of your trip is wonderful!

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  6. Congratulations from the Scellicks! We are excited you finely get to meet him!

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  7. P.S. this brought tears to my eyes (Kamille) and Ben meant to type 'finally.'

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  8. I see his hair takes after his sister's!!

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  9. He's so handsome...love the hair! He looks very healthy and happy:) Totally teared up looking through the pics...so amazing! Praise God!!!!

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  10. Yay! Praise God. So thankful your little man is in your arms. Enjoy these days getting to know him! So much to celebrate!

    Emily V.
    VogeltanzFamily.com

    PS: I got to love on him when we were there a few weeks ago and got some sweet pictures of him that i will send your way for his baby book. He really does has the best hair!!

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  11. Looks wonderful at the HH & hotel! What an adorable little man!!!!! Love the fuzzy hair :) So glad all is going well after your long travels! Blessings!!!

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  12. YAYYYY!!!!! I am so happy. What a blessing. He is beautful.

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  13. AHHHH! He is adorable!!! HOpe the night goes smooth and the hotel looks great!
    I'd love to know if you saw our boy...I guess they keep 9 month olds in the baby room too?! We just got our referral last week - please email me if you get a chance thewalters0285@yahoo.com.

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  14. Just so everyone knows - Im passing on your comments to Sarah via email since she said she can not access this blog while there.

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  15. It is so neat to see the kids at the new orphanage. It was empty just a month and a half ago when we went. Your son is a doll!!!

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  16. This is so wonderful to see! Thank you so much for sharing photos and news so quickly! He is really great, so cute!! Keep up the messages, we moms at home are desperate for info and photos! We just got our referral as well and would love to see/hear any news about our little one at cc@contagiousonline.com our son is 3.5 mos. old and name starts with D.
    Cristie
    www.contagiouscristie.blogspot.com

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  17. Praising God here in Texas that you are all finally together in Ethiopia!!! He is a doll!!! It doesn't feel that long ago that we were standing on the balcony like your hubby was and near the big black gate like you were. Get rested for the Embassy appt- we enjoyed connecting with all the families during the wait.

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  18. Oh gosh, he is way too cute. So crazy to think he's yours and with you all the time now, and you get to bring him home! Yippee! -Biz

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  19. I saw your blog on a friend's post. Congrats! What a blessing you have. Praying you have a good adjustment and a safe trip home.

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  20. He is so precious! Praying for the rest of your time in Ethiopia...soak it in as I am sure you are. So glad you finally have your son in your arms.

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  21. Tears of joy for you!!!! Cant wait to meet Johnny!

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  22. Mekele saw these pics of Johnny and started squealing and laughing. He was pounding on our desk, too. Maybe he remembers Johnny!!

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