Bringing Colton Home (Part Two: Gotcha Day!)

Upon arriving in Addis, our guides drove us to our guest house.  We had 15 minutes to check in and prepare to leave to pick up Colton from the transition house, forever.

Waiting on the porch for Colton to be brought out to us. This time felt so different from 3 months ago. We were just ready to see him!

Here he comes!

The "hand-off"!

Back together again!

So happy to be a family of three!

We spent the morning with Colton on the porch, just like we did every day during our court trip.  We also met with the doctor to talk over Colton’s medical history.  Every one of his nannies wanted a picture with him before we took him back with us to the guest house. He was definitely well loved during his time there and we are so thankful for that!

P.S.  I am planning to post more about our embassy trip.  Much like my “series” from our court trip.  More to come…

Bringing Colton Home (Part One)

On Thursday, August 18th we heard news of Colton’s case clearing with the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and on Saturday morning, August 20th we set out to bring our baby boy home!

Living room turned into Packing Central

 

At the Louisville airport, ready to go! Little did we know we would spend 8 hours waiting here due to severe weather in Chicago before departing for DC.

We made it to DC and Derek is calling our hotel shuttle for our overnight layover.

Sunday morning waiting at our gate to board our 13 hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

We arrived Monday morning! After getting our visa, clearing customs, exchanging our money and meeting up with our guides we were ready to go get Colton!

The Big 3-0!

Yesterday was my 30th birthday!  This year I was blessed by a multi-day and multi-part celebration!   Here is what we did to celebrate…

On Monday, we drove to Holiday World to have fun at the water slide park...

We had a blast! We both love water slides, but had yet to go together.

I have many favorite amusement park foods, one of which is funnel cake! Yum!

Holiday World is in Santa Claus, Indiana (an hour and a half drive west of Louisville)

On Tuesday, Derek got me 30 roses and a cake made of flowers arrived from my parents.

On Wednesday, I awoke to our dining area decorated with a plethora of "30" themed party decorations sent by my mom and displayed by Derek. Then, I blew out the candles on my "birthday cake" before meeting some friends at the zoo for a morning walk.

After our walk, Meghan, Rebekah, baby Abigail and I went to Wild Eggs for breakfast

Later Derek and I had lunch at the Butterfly Garden Cafe where I had a Louisville classic: a benedictine sandwich

After church Wednesday night, Derek arranged for a surprise gathering of friends at the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen.  I thought it was going to be just Derek and I, but was pleasantly surprised by some of our good Louisville friends.

After "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candle.

My 30th birthday was a memorable one!  In all the in between times I was blessed by many phone calls, texts, and Facebook posts from far away friends and family.  I had a fun time celebrating over the course of several days.  Derek did a great job of planning fun things for me on the spur of the moment considering we weren’t sure if we would be in Louisville or Ethiopia for my birthday.   I am thankful for the friends, family, and husband the Lord has blessed me with.  Thank you all for making my day special!

Happy 10 Months, Colton!

On August 10th, we celebrated Colton’s 10 month birthday.  We had hoped to be in Ethiopia or back home with him before this milestone day came, but we are still at home in Louisville without Colton waiting on embassy clearance.  For this birthday we celebrated with some angel food cake, strawberries and cool whip!

Don't worry...we shared this big portion!

New picture that came with the July update from our adoption agency

Encouraging to see him doing well even though we are not with him

We miss our Colton like crazy! It has now been 10 weeks since we last saw him!

• I am coaching middle school girls volleyball again this year.  We began practices in mid-July and we have our first games today.
• Derek continues to be busy working and growing his window cleaning business.
• Derek begins his second year as a PhD student next week.  But, of course he has been getting a head start on his reading throughout the summer.

Finally a Tri!

Derek has been training for a triathalon for months and finally got to participate in a sprint triathalon this past Saturday.  We awoke and departed before the sun rose for an hour and a half drive to Georgetown, KY north of Lexington.  There were approximately 200 people participating in the race and many people there to watch.  It was my first time spectating as the other triathalons Derek has done were before we got married.  It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed our time arriving back home by noon.

Preparing his station at the transition location

Waiting for the pontoon boat to take him to the starting line

Here come the swimmers...

Derek coming out of the water!

Transitioning to the bike...

And he's off!

The course had a lot of hills

Here he comes!

Transitioning to the run...

Go, Derek, Go!

He finished 8 minutes faster than his goal time! So proud of him!

He loved participating and hopes to do another tri before the snow begins to fall in December!