10 months old

I can't believe a month has gone by without blogging. Actually, I can. It's not so much the busyness of our new life as a family of 5 that has kept me from it (although that is certainly a factor). It's been more about my loss for words. Or maybe it's my abundance of words. So many posts are brewing in my head and yet I haven't been able to get them down on "paper."

The experience of adopting is so profound that a lighthearted post about Halloween costumes doesn't seem to capture enough but at the same time, verbalizing the depth of our experience can seem too heavy at times. Maybe that sums it all up right there. This experience is full of dichotomies. We make the huge decision to add another family member and yet after we fill out the paperwork, the process is out of our control. We meet our sweet Grace, who is a stranger to us, and she suddenly is entirely our own. Her actual adoption was such a big deal and yet it will be but a small part of her history. She looks very different from us and yet she has the same eyes as her brother and sister (lots of people tell us this). Just 4 months ago she was in an orphanage halfway across the world with no family, last month she wore a poodle skirt and cruised the neighborhood for candy. She is sitting next to me in her highchair eating cheerios as I type. And yet again my mind can't decide between "what a normal baby thing to do" and "there is a little brown person sitting right next to me who was born in Ethiopia...and she's my daughter!" It's hard to make sense of it all sometimes and yet, it makes perfect sense every time I look at her. She is ours.

9 months old!

Grace is 9 months old today. As everyone who has walked the adoption road ahead of us says, it's hard to believe that she has only been home for 3 months. - it's like she's always been a part of our family. Adoption has truly become a past tense verb at our house. A funny thing is happening for me; the farther away from our trip and the day she became ours, the less I am inclined to distinguish her and her unique story. When we first came home, I would tell anyone who noticed her, "This is Grace. She just came home from Ethiopia." I felt like I should explain it all. Now, I'm certainly happy to tell varieties of her amazing story as we really hope the Lord uses it to inspire others to adopt. But I have to say that now I prefer to just introduce her as my daughter, Grace. Adoption is what happened to Grace, not what defines her. She is an Anderson through and through now.

And yesterday, In honor of Grace's 9 month birthday and her Anderson heritage, we had our annual trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard. We have been going every fall for 9 years and, as in just about every other way too, Grace fit right in!

Happy Fall!

8 Months old!

What a difference 2 months makes! In just eight weeks this girl has learned to put weight on her legs, roll over, sit up, wave bye, clap and the best of all, give kisses! She has gained 3 lbs and is now on the American growth charts. The most amazing thing has been to watch the light in her eyes come alive. She is now on the floor trying very hard to get somewhere, anywhere. There is a big world out there and she is ready to go discover it all...and put it in her mouth :).

In addition, today is also the Ethiopian New Year so Melkam Adis Amet! It's now 2002 in Ethiopia. They are on a different calendar and 7 years behind us.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday! We love you, Grace

Ethiopia - Chapter 4 - Ethiopia Guest Home

One of the things I stalked adoption blogs for was information on where to stay while in country. We stayed at the Ethiopia Guest Home and I highly recommend it. We loved our time there. It was very comfortable and we really like the part of town it was in - kind of a residential area so not as busy as main roads. It's about 15 minutes from the airport and 10 minutes from Sele Enat and our agency's care center.

We originally booked the Adoptive Family Suite - which is hu

ge, has it's own bathroom, a queen bed and bunk beds with plenty or room for a crib or two. We ended up switching rooms with this totally amazing family because they had all 5 of them crammed into a much smaller room (due to a last minute booking change they had to do). It worked out just fine. We moved to a room that was smaller but still had a queen bed, bunk beds and room for a crib for Grace. We shared a bathroom just outside our door, but that was no big deal at all. Oh and the fourth floor suite is incredible - two bedrooms and a bathroom, a living room and the most amazing deck with a view. If you are traveling with a crew - it would be perfect. This was our room.

The food was also great and just ea

sy. Breakfast and lunch included and dinner for just $5 per person more. We actually ended up eating dinner there every night. We had planned originally to go out one night but we didn't want to leave Grace and the fellowship with the other families was just too fun!

The lobby has toothbrushes, diapers, formula and some medicines for sale and they let us use the lobby laptop anytime we wanted to. As for internet access, the EGH has wireless, however, its out a lot due to rolling power outages. They have a generator so we were never without power, but that just means that the only internet is dial up from the lobby computer. Oh and you get a cell phone thats yours for the week. It's preloaded with a few minutes - you can get more pretty easily but have your family at home buy a calling card with cheap minutes and they can call you whenever you want! You can get these "calling cards" online. We didn't realize exactly how this would work and so we payed a pretty penny for our family to call us without this cards.

I cannot say enough about the staff at the EGH. Everyone from the sweet girls who do 24 shifts at the front desk to the cooks to the drivers - totally amazing. It was so neat to sit and talk with them. They were willing to help in any way. They showed Scotty where to go buy water and cokes and snacks around the corner. They cared for Grace one morning. One driver took us shopping all over and bargained for us. Another driver took us to Grace's town so we could get some pictures and was an awesome translator and friend that day.

Here are a few shots of the guest house.

Of course, the absolute best part was the friends we made. We hit the jackpot with house mates. Hanging out with them was one of the best parts of our trip. We all left our doors open, loved on each other's children, shared supplies, learned a ton from one another and had some serious laughs. Here's our house bunch. We miss you guys!!!!

Happy 7 months, Grace!

Grace is 7 months old today! In her 6 weeks at home, she has grown and learned so much. Here she is showing you just how proud she is of her ability to sit up - at lease for a few minutes anyway. :)

Ethiopia - Chapter 3 - Sele Enat

Sele Enat is the orphanage where Grace lived from March through May. We spent three days there while in Ethiopia taking pictures, meeting the caregivers and loving on the children waiting to go home and those waiting to be matched with families.

We were very pleased with Sele Enat and I hope to remember everything when we tell Grace all about it. For families with children there right now, take comfort. Yes, it's an orphanage in Ethiopia, but what most impressed us is the love the caregivers have for the children. It's not a home and it's not a family but we were so touched by the nannies with tears in their eyes as they gave us Grace. When we walked in the gate at Sele Enat each day, they snatched Grace up and held her until we wanted her back. I wrote down the names of the ones who were clearly special to Grace. One of them even told me that Grace and I have the same hair :).

Our third day there, the children greeted all the IAN families at the gate dressed in traditional outfits. The staff served us a delicious lunch and then the children sang for us while we were treated to a coffee ceremony.

I so enjoyed our time at the orphanage, but it definitely creates a swirl of emotions. We're so grateful to see that Grace and all the others are well cared for. There are many orphanages with the (limited) resources that Sele Enat has. That being said, an orphanage is not a forever family. These children do not have parents and they need them. Thankfully almost all the children there currently have families. But when they go home, there will be more to fill their beds. The need is so great. My heart just ached when we left for the last time. If you are reading this and at all in a position to adopt. Do it. They need families.