We have been through three adoptions now, three unique and special “Gotcha Days,” to use an adoption term.  All of them have been so special and so sweet in their own unique ways. Today  is Mitiku Silas Watson’s Gotcha Day. Today he was united with his forever family and we are definitely the lucky ones. 

It was such an amazing morning, and while Silas naps I will try to share a few of the highlights about the day simply because I don’t want to forget them myself. There is so much hustle and bustle in this process. We woke up early and met the director of Hannah’s Hope downstairs in the lobby.  All the families (8 in all), picking up children today then went down to a ballroom in the hotel to fill out a bunch of paperwork. This isn’t anything really exciting, except to say that the families with whom we have traveled, two in particular, have already become such good friends! It is just amazing the bond that we now share. But sitting at that table today we really just had the best time laughing together like we have known each other for years. It was a special part of the gift of this journey. 

After filling out the load of paperwork we then got ready for Hannah’s Hope. I had a slight momentary melt down b/c as I was getting my stuff I realized for the first time, different from our previous adoptions, my family would not be with me on this first day of being with Silas. Remembering that I had found a cardigan that my sister left at my house, and that I had decided that  the “finders keepers losers weepers,” law applied, I grabbed that cardigan and through it on. It smelled like Shelly and there was a strange comfort that helped me with that emotional moment. 

We then drove to Hannah’s Hope. We turned off of a main road onto a literally crushed up gravel road and turned out of nowhere into a beautifully gardened gate. Hannah’s Hope, Ethiopia is a beautiful place. We all piled out of the two vans and immediately assigned someone to video and to photo our first moments with our kids. Almaz, the director of HH, called us each one by one and introduced us to our children.  Walking to Silas in that little courtyard was such a surreal moment.  I didn’t cry, I was too happy to cry I think. It was more like just plain joy and surprise and I don’t know what else.  After visiting with him for awhile, one of the workers of Hannah’s Hope (they are called Special Mothers), came out and asked if we would bring him Silas up so that they could say good-bye. Nothing could have prepared me for the emotion of this next 20 minutes.  We walked Silas into the room and immediately this tiny little Ethiopian woman takes him and begins feeding him, crying the whole time. She spoke no English, but one of the others did. She explained to me that Silas is one of the most special babies they have ever had at HH. She said that every worker of HH has a photo of him in their phone. In fact one of the male workers came up to me and showed me all his pictures.  At one point, Daniel had gone down to get the baby carrier and there was no one but myself and 4 of the non-English speaking Special Mothers in the room. They started talking to each other in Ahmaric, they each said something and then all simultaneously began to cry. They cried and cried. The male English-speaker came back in and noticed. He then proceeded to further explain to me how attached to Silas they all are. He said he is considered a miracle child, that they are daily reminded of how amazing God is when they are with him. Silas’ life has been a direct witness to each one of them. He said that HH wants to open a medical clinic at some point and they plan to name it The Mitiku Clinic b/c he was such a miracle. Not long after, someone came in and said it is time for us all to go. I kissed and hugged each Special Mother. They all asked me to send pictures. How loved has this sweet boy been? How lucky are we to be his parents? How could someone not believe in the God of the universe after a day like this? He restores us all and he uses the biggest, ugliest and saddest of tragedies to show us how much he loves us and how blessed we are.

And now we have spent the afternoon laughing and snuggling with this big bundle of joy. None of his clothes are gonna fit! He is so laid back and yet so full of personality. He is a total drool box with two teeth and I am assuming a few on the way. He seems in great health considering. He does have some congestion, but from what we understand this is common. He laughs and talks, rolls over and grabs at literally everything. We are SO in love. Atley and Ava are gonna love him. But truly, and I don’t say this lightly, the most odd thing about all this is that it is like he has been with us all along. I am chalking it up to it being just another amazing thing about God’s ability to bring about restoration to those who are seeking it.
Tonight we head to a cultural dinner with all the other families. I am sure there will be many more pics and thoughts to come! Thanks for being a part of this journey with us! God is faithful, he hears our prayers and he answers them with immeasurably more than what we could ask for or imagine.

Enjoy the pics by clicking here!

Well, Jack Bauer’s got nothing on us. After one LONG day (or so), we are finally here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! It is all very surreal and the journey is a bit of a blur, but truly it was one we won’t soon forget.

Too make a long story short, our travel started off with a serious bang. We arrived to Knoxville Airport in plenty of time to check our bags and make our flight…or so we thought. One computer open for MANY people checking in on a holiday weekend…and that one person running that one computer being on his first day on the job, does not make for a good situation. So, we missed our first flight! Thankfully, we were scheduled for a 13 hour layover in DC. Sightseeing however went out the window when we found out that every flight that made sense for us to take to DC was completely overbooked. So we ended up taking a 9am flight to Denver only to get off at Denver and have 18 solid minutes to get back on the plane and head back across the country to DC. Yep. That’s what we did. AND THEN we got off the plane in DC and had about 2 hours to then get BACK on for what was a LONG 17 hour journey here to Addis, where we got off the plane and then stood in line for 2 hours to get through immigration. Whoo!

HOWEVER, there were lots of cool parts to the trip. Firstly, I was with my husband the first time he ever rode on a REAL plane. I thought his eyes might pop out of his head when the 747 started its engine for take off. Secondly, we refueled in Rome and spent about an hour there. And although we didn’t get off of the plane, we could still look out and see the ocean. While we were waiting, they opened the doors to the plane and literally the breeze from the ocean rushed through the plane for about 45 minutes. After 8 hrs of stuffy air in a plane crowded with about 275 people, it was pure heaven. I’m thinkin 10 year anniversary = a Roman holiday!  Lastly, we met some really neat people from all over the US and the world on our myriad of flights. I have decided after that final flight that Ethiopian people are just plain beautiful, not to mention so helpful and kind. The woman I sat next to was so completely preoccupied with trying to make sure I was comfortable that I am not sure she slept much for herself.

Thank you all for your prayers as we traveled yesterday (and a little before that), they were very felt, we are so grateful and hope you will continue to pray for us over the next week.

On a final note, and perhaps the most exciting, TODAY is the day that we meet our sweet Silas. Last night I unpacked his little things and put them in the drawers of our room (our hotel is very nice), and was in complete disbelief that he would actually be WEARING this stuff in less than 24 hours! So please, keep reading and following and leave us your comments. We are 7 hours ahead of EST here. I will do my best to post pictures after the big events of today. The internet access is currently limited to one computer in the hotel lobby. This morning we meet Silas, then we will spend the morning at Hannah’s Hope and then the afternoon here at the hotel. Then this evening we are headed out for a cultural dinner with the whole group of 7 other families who are also picking up their children. Already, we have bonded with two of the couples as they were on our flight with us. There are all kinds of strange connections there as well. God is big. To all of you who have been a part of this journey, whether through financial support or prayer, we carry you with us today as we meet our boy. Thank you just isn’t enough.

More to come! Love you all!

In the words of the bad guy magician from Frosty the Snowman, our life right now is, "Messssy, messsy, messsy!" The compartments as listed in our previous post are no longer in nice neat little boxes. Stuff is pretty much everywhere and we are on the final countdown to leaving on Saturday morning. Our dear friends, Greg & Jess are sacrificing good sleep to have us at Tyson by 5:15am. They volunteered! So we are just trying to get all the right stuff in all the right spaces over the next 24 hours or so. I am so thankful that my sister, Shelly is here or i would literally be losing my mind. I have called her from Target this week on a few occasions just to receive the next pep talk on how we can do this, we're gonna make it and everything is gonna be just fine. My friend Meriam kept A&A yesterday afternoon for several hours so that Shelly and I could do a packing run through. Meriam is amazing and my sister, the world traveler could be a personal packer for people! Where would i be without these people in our lives? Not gonna answer that one.

So i know i am rambling, but that is pretty much the state of the homefront as we round the bases. I would ask that if you're the prayin' sort that you keep our whole family in your prayers as we go through the climax of this adventure. Below are some specific things to pray about if you would like.

1. Health. Please keep our health and the kids' health (all three) in your prayers. We need God's protection over us as we travel to Ethiopia, where life is well....different from what we are used to. :)

2. Joy. In the hustle and bustle of this time we do not want to forget to stop and experience the sheer joy of being in this beautiful country, with these beautiful people. What a privilege. I so do not want to miss out on it!

3. Red tape. Please be praying that all the travel, admin stuff that goes along with adoption will go smoothly. Our embassy visit is on Tuesday.

4. Silas. OF COURSE keep our sweet boy in your prayers. This is obviously the biggest transition of his life thus far and we are so praying that it will go well, that attachment and bonding will begin quickly, and that travel will not be too stressful for him.

5. Safety. Please just pray for our family's safety as we travel, that God would protect us and give us wisdom in each and every moment.

Thanks in advance to those of you who read this and pray. We are so grateful and consider this the most important part of supporting us on this journey!

Lastly, please continue to check back here for pics & updates while we are traveling. We are hoping to have the ability to keep posting along the way.

Compartmentalist extraordinaire. That is my current status in this whole process. If you haven't heard, our travel dates are confirmed and we even have a flight schedule! We are flyin' out at 6am on 5/29 and will be back in Knoxville on 6/4 around 6:15pm. Yep. That's soon. And that is why i am choosing to compartmentalize. B/c traveling at the end of May also means that there is a lot of other stuff going on!

1. Ava & Atley end of school year stuff. Next week i have something with their school literally every day of the week. Now, i am a PreK parent so that means that I insist on attending everything. Yes, i know it is not necessary and the world will not come to an end if i am not there. However, it is important to me, time is fleeting, and i will be there for every little thing as often as i can!

2. Employment. Well, it's done (at least officially). Trained the new girl this week. She is officially sitting at what was my desk in what was my chair across from the guy who still is my husband. ;) She is gonna be great and i am so thankful for her. However, as much i am relieved to be done, the tranisition is still to take place. I am now officially doing something else on my Never List. And i cannot deny that i saw a hint of sadness in my husband's eyes when we did our last presentation together yesterday.

3. Daniel already mentioned this one previously but, The Pure Joy Project. Our friend Kayla Joy Hurst is generously offering her incredible talent for photography to help us raise one final bit of funds before Silas comes home. She is offering an incredible deal on a photography package for our friends and family in Knoxville. $100 of every package purchase goes directly toward our adoption! If you're reading this, please take the time to visit http://www.adoptiontees.org/ to learn more about the project and what role you might play. Even if you just help us get the word out we would be thrilled. A little marketing goes a long way!

4. Travel prep. Well. At least my sister is coming. That's all i can say. I got nothin. Nothin is together and honestly, not real sure where to start. And that is why my world travelin' sister is comng to my aid and relief. B/c this will require thought and organization...something i am quite short on currently.

So there are my current compartments. At least they are labeled right? But underneath all this stuff that is so prevalent right now is this slight rumble. And no matter how hard i try to keep it under control, i am so full of mixed emotions (in a not so compartmentalized fashion), that i am not even sure what to do with it all. I am so incredibly excited to go to Ethiopia, to meet Silas, to hold him, to smell his skin, to kiss my favorite spot on the side of his warm little forehead. And then i am scared to death. Scared of the transition, scared of what we might experience medically with him when we get home, scared of failing to help Ava and Atley transition well. And really, what i am holding on to in all this inner chaos is that the same God who brought Atley to us is the same God who deliverd Ava from her scary circumstances as an infant, is the same God who is bringing Silas home to us. We are his family. He lives in Ethiopia right now, but WE are his family. So, "peace, be still," are the words i am trying to choose to cling to in the midst of all this noise.

I should probably go back and read this about once a day.

This is getting long, but one more exciting bit of news. We learnded last week that we WILL have internet in our hotel room in Ethiopia, something we were previously told would not be. So please plan on following our journey. We will keep everyone updated. How can we not? Our friends and family have been SO amazingly supportive that i have run out of words to describe my gratitude.

Okay, now go visit http://www.adoptiontees.org/ and check out the Pure Joy Project!

We are thrilled to offer a special photography package from Kayla Joy Hurst of Pure Joy Photography. Kayla is a fantastic photographer with an eye for both unusual and simplistic details. Kayla's intuitive ability allows her to beautifully capture the essence of her subjects. Whether she is photographing your whole family, new baby, bridal portraits or just everyday life, we can offer assurance that you will be beyond pleased with the results! Witness Kayla's excellent work for yourself by visiting her website; Pure Joy Photography and on Facebook.

With great generosity, Kayla is offering a special mini session package for only $150. With $100 of every purchase going directly toward our adoption, Kayla will spend 20-25 minutes shooting your photos on June 5th (rain date is June 12th), in Knoxville's Market Square/downtown area and/or Krutch Park.Each session will become available online in a password-protected gallery within 7 days. of your session. You will then have 2 weeks from that date to pick out your favorite 5 images to receive on CD with printing rights. Additionally, you will receive those same images printed as 5x7 proofs. Of course, you will have the option to purchase more prints, products, or digital images through your online gallery as well.

To help us bring Silas home by becoming part of The Pure Joy Project, sign up for your photo session by clicking here. Then make your payment here.Time slots are limited.

For questions, email Kayla  here .