We are home! We love the USA. We were in Addis Ababa for most of our visit and went down to Awassa (the south) to meet Jonah's mom. Awassa is what you would think of when you think of Africa. Hut houses, herds of animals, African villages and naked people! We loved it there. There was fresh air and Erin had her head out the window like a dog the whole time. Addis is the city. It smells of diesel fuel and fire burning from all the cooking that is taking place outdoors. Erin was nauseous the whole time.
We spent time at the Horizon house and spent time with the other families as all the families came and went on their birth family visit. The plane ride home was made fun with the two other couples we traveled home with. We took up the whole front row of the plane and had bassinets for the babies. The kids all did awesome on the way home. Jonah slept, ate and laughed until we reached Dulles. As soon as we landed Jonah was officially a US citizen. We couldn't have been more happy to be home. Unless you have been to a 3rd world country and to Ethiopia you have no idea how great the US is. Even the poorest person in US is so lucky. Ethiopia is in the top ten of poorest countries in the world. That includes all of Africa. There was a couple on the trip with us who had been to several places in Africa and she still couldn't believe how poor Ethiopia was. The people are wonderful but the surroundings are not.
Estelle, Al, JT, Meredith, Kiara, Taliya, Roney and Alani all met us at the airport. JT was happy to see us and looked at Jonah in confusion. He knew him on paper but there he was in the flesh. He was real. JT stared at him and when we got home we all just hung out. Erin took JT to Panera to enjoy some fresh food and we all enjoyed drinking water and having drinks with ice.
JT has been awesome. We didn't really expect that. I guess we don't give him enough credit! He loves to help out and loves giving Jonah his bottle and taking baths with him. Other times he just ignores him, which is fine too.
Jonah has been adjusting well. Other than the lack of sleep we are all doing great. Jonah went to the doctor. He is using a nebulizer and otherwise in in perfect health. He is wonderful. He is eating well but we know he is missing his injera and Ethiopian spices! He loves to laugh and wants to be held a lot.
We have enjoyed having visitors and we are not being too crazy about who holds him and other stuff. Some say to lay low and not to leave the house but that is not possible for us. Jonah and Erin enjoyed their first outing to the doctor and to Panera on Monday. We decided that the only thing we will be anal about is that we will be the only ones to feed him. We need him to know that we are his parents and even though it seems like he is easy going and we know he will go to anybody that is not good for kids who are being adopted. They need to know who their parents are and realize they are stuck with us forever!
Enjoy the pictures.......
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| Jonah enjoying his first plane ride. |
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| JT meets Jonah and says hello to Daddy. |
2 comments:
Congrats again Erin and Kevin!! Great pictures! So glad Jonah is part of your family now!!
Omigosh! I am so glad that I checked up on you guys! I see the fist part of the journey has ended, but now the adventure really begins! I hope to meet Jonah and see you all when you come to Roch-cha-cha in the fall. All your patience finally paid off.
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