Tuesday, June 1, 2010

One Year Later..........

I am not sure I will ever get the hang of putting pictures in and having them match what I am writing about!! Oh well-

WE HAVE BEEN A FAMILY OF 9 NOW FOR 1 FULL YEAR! WOW-
This is our first breakfast as a whole family at home. My daughter and her husband and my beautiful grand kids were here to meet us and to have the long weekend at the beach! It was so much fun having them get to see first hand the first few days being home with kids that did not speak a word of English! This was the best! Some of our friends drove in from the beach to pick us up at the airport and take us home- The new kids got to meet the old kids! We were all so tired at this point- I will have to say- the kids did great on the trip home- Little Zoe' was so afraid of the airplanes. Daddy did a lot of holding her.


This is daddy and mom with the kids at the Ethiopian airport. We were there several hours- It looks like a lot of bags to bring home- but you should have seen what we took! So many of our friends helped us "bless" the orphanage in Adis. We took several hundreds of pounds of baby goods- milk, diapers, wipes, toys, meds. It was so much fun seeing the directors face!

We were blessed with several "coffee ceremonies" You start with raw coffee beans, grind them, cook them, and make coffee with them! The coffee is SO GOOD-- Can I go back just for some coffee???

This is the famous museum with the "Lucy bones" I really wanted to see them- and what a disappointment! Really only a few bones- not enough to be any body- or even a part of a body- ???


This is just a view on one of our little trips around the city of Adis.

This is dad and mom getting to meet the kids for the first time- and getting to hug them. See how small they are! The banner picture is form just a few weeks ago- they have all grown so much! They love being here- We do have our issues just like any family- and as ours is so large and so diverse- we have some issues that are only common to international adoption (from a third world nation) We have the kids in counseling. (and mom and dad are too!)
This past year has been a journey....
We feel like Chesapeake will be home for a long time. (we have been here just under a year) All of the kids like the schools they are in and are making friends at school and around the house.
We have found a wonderful church. (finally!!!) We feel so at home at it and love how they have embraced us and our kids!
Blessings, Pamela Dawn

5 comments:

Mamita J said...

Congratulations on one year home!!

Mrs. Madsen said...

Thank you for sharing your journey! I am so glad you'll be staying in the Chesapeake area. I love to keep up with my students--I always miss them when they move up to another school.

Rebecca Meyers said...

They've grown so much over just one year! I just love your pictures. The main one of the whole family at the top of the blog is WONDERFUL! So happy! Hope to see you all over the summer!

Aus said...

A year? WOW - and look at what you've built - ah it just makes my heart sing! All the ups and downs - all the joys and sorrows - all the "issues" you've had to deal with - and all the joy! You've got to love family - so very happy for ya'll!

hugs - aus and co.

Brenda said...

What a year you've had! It's hard to believe how much the "newbies" have grown, especially Zoe. I am so thankful that God has led you to your new church home. The people there will come to love you, as we did (and still do) at NHC. See you soon...