Busy Day in Ethiopia

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

The day after we met our son proved to be a busy one! We began the day with a visit to the Gladney Foster Care Centers, which is where Judah lived from the age of three weeks old until the day we met him.  I was really looking forward to this day, as we would get to meet his primary caregivers as well as give lots of love to other Gladney children who were waiting to be united with their forever families.

The morning was a joyous, yet sad one as Judah's "Special Mother," a Gladney employee who took care of him while at the foster center, had to say good-bye. She was beautiful and sweet, and I couldn't hug her tightly enough! This picture was taken when we arrived there with him, and you can already see the tears in her eyes.

While Judah's Special Mother had her last moments with him and dressed him in traditional Ethiopian clothing that she made, Jeff and I had a chance to tour three of the centers and meet the precious children waiting to be adopted. It was such a joy to love these children, take pictures and video for families, and deliver care packages. After the tours, we were invited to join in a traditional coffee ceremony. For those of you who don't know, legend has it that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia...so Ethiopians take pride in this fact hand roast the best coffee I've ever had. These ceremonies are very special, and it is considered an honor to be invited to one. The longer the beans are roasted, the more the host is believed to like you :-)

Overall, it was a great morning and we are so very thankful for the wonderful care that Gladney provides at their Care Centers before the children are united with their families.

After our wonderful morning, we had lunch at a great restaurant called "Top View." And although it was rainy and foggy that day, the view of the city from our table was still beautiful. 

 

Judah enjoyed the outing as well!

 

He looked adorable in his traditional Ethiopian attire!

After lunch, we visited the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, which was absolutely beautiful and full of some amazing history. We were so fortunate to have Gladney's own, Belay Tafesse, to give us a tour of this incredible house of worship. Belay's father was a general who worked for Emperor Haile Selassie, so Belay had such interesting insight and knowledge.

 

 

 

Overall, it was a busy but wonderful day. After the church tour, all we wanted to do was snuggle with our little man...and that we did!

Glimpse of Heaven

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Although Jeff and I slept a combined total of 4 hours the previous night, we have never felt more awake....the adrenaline was flowing! The feelings I felt the morning I met my son were excited yet peaceful. Here I am waiting for the moment to meet precious Judah, looking toward the door...if you look closely you can see the outline of a smile :-) 

Again, I wasn't really nervous until I saw the gate of our guest house open and someone said that our sweet baby was in this car...my heart was pounding! 

For years I've tried to imagine what my reaction would be when I met my child for the first time. Those who know me well might think I would cry a river, but somehow as the moment drew nearer I had a feeling I may not cry. Instead, I was all smiles and just in awe. I love that we have that moment captured...

But don't be fooled, seconds after I held him a few tears began to flow....gentle, happy tears. I honestly can't describe the first moment when I hugged him tightly. It's as if all of my stress, unrest, and worry from the past several years was washed away immediately. It's like the world stopped just for that moment, and the peace I felt was like a glimpse of heaven.  

Judah immediately noticed his daddy and just couldn't stop looking at him. It was the sweetest!

 My heart then melted when Jeff held him for the first time. 

 It's truly amazing how he immediately loved his daddy. This was moments after Jeff first held him...

 Mommy got smiles as well! 

 We will forever celebrate this day, July 20th, the day our family was FINALLY united! 

Faithfulness springs forth from the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven. ~Psalm 85:11

Trip of a Lifetime

Three weeks ago, we departed for the trip of our lives. There are so many wonderful memories from our time in Africa, that I honestly don't know where to begin! I just want to share all of it with you...the sights, the sounds, the smells of Ethiopia...truly indescribable...but I will do my best. It is my hope to chronicle each day with a new post. So, let's start at the very beginning....

Sunday, July 18th - Monday, July 19th

Well, I thought the packing would NEVER end. I started the process at least one week in advance--days and nights-- and almost ran out of time. Packing for a four month-old for a week in a foreign country with totally different weather than summertime in North Carolina (it was "cold" and rainy in Ethiopia...more on that later) is very, very difficult...especially when you've never packed for a baby before! Thanks to all of my friends with babies who answered my phone calls and questions such as, "How many outfits do I need per day?" and "How many bottles do you think I need?", etc. Between packing for Judah, Jeff, myself, and getting all of our humanitarian aid items together, I thought it was an impossible task. But with the help of Gran'ma, Jeff and I got it done and this was the end result.

Our flight departed on a Sunday afternoon, and I just remember feeling giddy when I woke up that Sunday morning. I get terribly sentimental when leaving something behind or when saying good-bye. Although I knew we were coming back to our house, I also knew that it would be totally different with a new little member of the family moving in (in a good way, of course). Still, I closed the door with a tear especially when I said good-bye to Allie (our sweet little dog) because I knew my relationship with her wouldn't be quite the same when I returned. (Side note for all who are wondering: Allie is doing great with Judah now, but she totally ignored him for the first three days...very interesting, but we are thankful she came around. She even gives him kisses now!) Here is the moment I said good-bye to Allie.

 And obviously, the sentimental moment didn't last too long because look how happy we were to be heading out the door to the airport!

The feelings I had at the airport were an unfamiliar mix of excitement and peace....never really anxious or worried, which is totally unlike me! This is a testament to all of you who were praying for us. I love this picture (not staged, by the way) of me smiling and looking out the window at Dulles at our gigantic Ethiopian Airlines flight...that took us all the way to Addis Ababa nonstop.

Once on the plane, the excitement continued. I just couldn't believe that we would be meeting our son in one day...ahhh!!!

Jeff and I were fortunate enough to sleep many hours on the loonggggg flight from DC to Addis, but when we arrived over Africa I was awake enough to catch moments like this....

And I seriously thought I would jump out of my seat when I saw on the screen in front of us that the plane was over Addis and we were getting ready to land!

Welcome to Ethiopia!

This was taken right when we stepped off the plane at the airport in Addis. At this point, it was Monday evening (in Ethiopia). Crazy to think we started this trip Sunday morning, but we made it! We arrived at our guesthouse around midnight and between the two of us, we got very little sleep knowing that we would FINALLY meet our sweet angel the very next morning....

Blessed

Hello again everyone! Our new family of three has been home for five days and things are going great! Thank you, thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers during this time. We could have never imagined what a perfect angel Judah would be, and we could have never imagined the love we have for our little one. The transition back home has been surprisingly smooth. We are all getting great sleep (thanks to Jeff and I taking shifts), and it has been a tremendous joy to have this time with just the three of us. We've had a week filled with bath time, spit up, Moby wraps, poopie diapers, first visit to the doctor, washing bottles and boiling nipples, rocking to sleep, morning tummy time, evening strolls, few tears, and LOTS of smiles.

We are blessed.

Coming to America

It's Gran'ma again.  The time is here! The family of three is on the plane and headed to America.  Everything is ready here... Well, we do have a few balloons to fill with helium.  Tomorrow we will celebrate.  We are praying for a safe, easy flight. We can't wait for them to arrive tomorrow, July 27.  "What a day that will be!!" Mom and Dad are so excited to be bringing Judah home!  And the rest of us are somewhat "giddy" at this point. 

Our Hearts are Singing!

Gran'ma is posting today for Mom and Dad who are still in Ethiopia with our grandson.  The joy I could hear in the voices of Jeff and Virginia was only surpassed by my first conversation with Baby Judah. I could never have imagined that I would get to hear him gleefully laughing and babbling so soon.  He is, by all accounts, such a good baby. He eats and sleeps well and enjoys interacting with Mom and Dad.  Jeff and Virginia have visited the children at the Gladney Houses (and will be sending photos soon). In addition, they visited the state-run orphanages where the needs are great.  They have Judah's visa and passport. "All things are ready" for the journey home next week. We are so blessed to have Judah join our family. One of our favorite songs is a song of praise to God that expresses our inability to describe the great love and adoration we have for our heavenly father. It has a line that paraphrased says, "Words cannot express...so listen to our hearts." That describes our love for this child and for the God who has led us to this point in our journey.  Mom and Dad sent these pictures of our precious Judah Wells Nix.  "Judah, listen to our hearts and feel the love!"

Destination Ethiopia

We left our North Carolina home and our little Westie Allie shortly after 10:00 a.m. on July 18.  We are now working our way through customs in Ethiopia.  We are safe after the long flight.  We know that God will continue to be with us as we await our introduction to our beautiful baby boy.  We are half-way around this wonderful world ready for our "big dream" to be real.