We're Officially Parents! (In Ethiopia, anyway...)

On Monday, July 18^th, we passed court! It was a very quick/surreal experience. We were in front of the judge for all of about 5 minutes. And now, if we could stay in Ethiopia, we could take custody of BBS. Instead, we have to be content with a couple more visits and hope for a quick return. There’s a letter everyone who has passed court is waiting on from the Ministry of Women and Children which is delaying things by about 3 weeks. So – absolute best case scenario would be getting BBS home in 6 weeks. Unless – by some miracle, things speed up! And I do now believe in miracles!

We have now gotten a few smiles, today I even got giggles! It was THE BEST THING EVER! We were working on "turning over", and my ponytail tickled his forehead. He started giggling and dang was that the best thing I've ever seen. We’re awestruck. This is be the most beautiful, sweetest, smartest baby ever. 

BBS has a cough/cold which he has generously passed to me. I want to get him home and get him healthy. I don’t want to miss a second of his life now, and knowing that I will miss things is mind-numbingly hard. He’ll have a few teeth when we come back. He’ll hopefully be better at sitting/crawling. He needs one-on-one attention so badly – and I just know he is gong to absolutely thrive with mama and baba (daddy) loving on him - he already has. For the first time in his life, he’ll have consistent care – the same 2 people feeding him, changing him, putting him down and answering his cries, tickling him and helping him learn. I can’t imagine how we will say goodbye to him on Friday, so, I’m not thinking about it. Anyone want to sponsor me to live in Africa for a few months??

Terry has gone to the North of Ethiopia to see where BBS is from. I was to go too, but with this cold / stomach bug, I am still here in Addis. I got approval for an extra visit with BBS – they’re super strict on how often we see him, which is strange, because we could take custody now if we could stay here.  I miss Terry already – I’m excited for him on his excursion. I can't wait to tell him about my day with BBS and all the giggles, and hear how his trip is going. I miss Jackson, too. 

And finally, there’s a mama dog (woosha) here at the guest house who had 9 puppies the same morning I became a mama – so I’d better go check on the puppies, and give her more beef jerky so she can keep her strength. The drivers for the guest house who hang out in the street watch over her and they made her a make-shift shelter for her and the pups. So I think she’ll be ok. But I think she is going to miss the organic, grass-feed beef jerky when I’m gone.

Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts and good wishes. God has definitely heard!