ethiopia {meeting evangeline}

We left for Ethiopia on Friday, March 1st. Our friends, the Tuckers, took us to the airport. Here we go with all of our luggage!

 

Waiting at our gate at D/FW about to board our first plane.

We had an overnight layover in Dubai on the way there. This is proof that we were in Dubai. :-)

On Sunday, March 3rd we boarded a 4 hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And then, after 3+ years of waiting, we were there!!! It was very surreal.

Ethiopia is a beautiful country. This is the view from our guest house.

We had no power the first couple nights we were there and so we met Evie without having showered that morning. NOT exactly what I had imagined but we didn't care! :-)

We woke up on Monday, March 4th knowing that today was THE DAY. The day we were going to meet our daughter for the first time. We were SO EXCITED!!! Our wonderful driver and now friend, Yoftahe, picked us up with one of the Gladney social workers, Rosa, and we drove the 10 mins to Hilawe Children's Home where our sweet girl now lives. It is the tall beige building with orange-ish trim.

I was so impressed with the facility. It is beautiful and clean and everyone that works there is so sweet and friendly. They take very good care of the children there.

We waited in the foyer for a few minutes while they got our girl ready for us. It felt so good when they said "Meaza's family is here". :-) We were delighted to hear them affectionately call her "Mazi" as a nickname. It stuck and we were calling her that too.

We kept looking up the stairs anxiously waiting.

And then they told us we could come up. Her room was on the third floor in the corner. When we walked in, one of her nannies was holding her in her lap. THERE SHE WAS. It was the most amazing feeling...almost an out of body experience. We captured all of this on video and I remember I just kept saying how BEAUTIFUL and TINY she was! I asked if I could hold her...this is my first moment holding my daughter...

 

And then I had to let Jason have a turn!

She was so sweet and just kept looking up at his face and his beard.

I can honestly say it was love at first sight. She was just so AMAZING.

Then they told us they had a private room for us to spend some time with her so we carried her downstairs and just couldn't quit staring at her!

Elijah's first time holding his sister.

Our first partial family photo. We told her all about her other brother, Judah!

She was starting to get a little overwhelmed with all the new faces...

so we tried the little toy that we brought her.

And then we sat her down to see if she wanted a little space. That face...oh my word.

 After a few minutes of this she started wailing so Daddy picked her up to calm her down. I know all of this had to be so overwhelming and scary for her. Over all, she did so wonderfully.

I just love my baby girl!

She loved her Daddy. Just look at those eyes. Jason is already wrapped around that tiny little finger right there.

We tried holding her up in the air to play and got some tiny little smiles.

Elijah was SO PROUD! He is in love with her!

A nanny brought some milk in for us to feed her. She is a big girl and already drinking from a cup. She gulped it down!

 I just love the milk running down her chin!

I think the milk did it. After that she started to slowly come alive and show us a little bit of her adorable personality, toward the end of our visit.

Oh yes, there's that beautiful smile! We had no idea she had four teeth until we got there. That was a sweet surprise! I love baby teeth!

Evangeline/Evie/Meaza/Mazi/Baby Girl - You are so loved that you already have a plethora of names that we call you. Our first visit with you was everything we had dreamed it would be and more. You are adorable and beautiful and sweet and happy and amazingly wonderful. We feel beyond blessed to be your family. You are beyond anything we could have imagined or dreamed and we are so honored to have you. We will always remember March 4, 2013. The day our dream became a reality and we held you in our arms for the first time and kissed you and told you that we love you. We cannot WAIT to have you home! We love you all the way to the moon and back!

p.s. I am going to go back through some of my old posts (referral, monthly updates, etc) and add the pictures of her that I couldn't then because she wasn't legally ours. You are welcome to go back through and look at them!