Zoo Day

We made a family trip to the zoo on Brian’s winter break from school. It was a gorgeous 64 degree day! It was such a fun day as a family!

Aven's Dedication

We have had the privilege of dedicating each of our kids to the Lord at the church where Brian’s dad pastors. We dedicated Aven in her beautiful Ethiopian dress that was given to her by her nanny. We never take lightly what dedicating our children means. We are making a promise to the Lord to that we will raise them in a home that loves and honors Him.

Circus

We took the boys to the circus this year! It was Brody’s second time going and Levi’s first. They LOVED it. They were completely mesmerized.  Levi was pretty scared when Brody told him there would be lions and tigers. He was very quiet and nervous until it started and then he realized everything was far enough away that the animals wouldn’t be able to get him!

Behind the scenes....

Oh, so you thought the past 6 weeks have been all sunshines and rainbows?? I guess I did leave out the fact that we have visited some form of medical facility 11 (that's right, ELEVEN) times in the first 6 weeks of Aven being home. Honestly, I have just been so happy to have our daughter home that I guess I didn't even realize all of the less than happy things going on around me:) Let's recap.....

Week 1

 >Avens first doctors visit= double ear infection and antibiotics 

 >Full Blood work-up for Aven at Rex

Week 2

>Boys to urgent care ON CHRISTMAS DAY for pink eye and ear infections (2 sets of eye drops and antibiotics)

>Aven back for round 2 of blood work

Week 3

>Aven to the doctor for ear check and vaccines--round 2 of antibiotics for double ear infection

Week 4

>Levi to the doctor-- left with breathing treatments and oral steroids

>Levi to the doctor for a second time for a breathing check

Week 5-

>Aven to the doctor for ear check and vaccines (ears are clear!!) Levi went to get his breathing checked one last time. (Brody was there too---all 3 at the dr. was so much fun:)

Week 6- 

>Aven went to Rex for one last blood draw

>Brody went to the doctor for headaches and high fever. Ended up having 2 antibiotic shots and a blood culture done  because they could not figure out what in the world he had!

>Brody back to the doctor for a follow up check and 2 more antibiotic shots and was put on Tamiflu in case he had the flu (test was negative) 

I feel like I should sing, "On the 6th week of Aven home my kiddos gave to meeeee....11 doctor visits, 4 rounds of antibiotics, 2 sets of eye drops, 4 full blood work ups, 4 antibiotic shots, 1 week of tamiflu, 1 week of oral steroids,  a lot of breathing treatments, and some vaccines thrown in there toooooo."  
Welcome to the family, Aven!

One Month Home

I dont know if it was right or wrong...but I totally prepared myself for the worst when thinking of Aven's adjustment into our family. I expected to be getting little sleep, helping her adjust to a new bed and a new time zone, fighting for her affection, facing rejection, and be just flat-out exhausted from adding another child to our family. None of those things have happened. She attached to me and treated me like her mommy from day 2 in Ethiopia. She never once was angry or rejected me. She was scared, but looked to me for comfort. And that fear left quickly! She has slept 12-13 hours since her first night at home. She is eating like a champ as well! It took her a couple of weeks to warm up to Brian she knows he is "daddy" now! We have found that she takes to other people much better when I am not around. If I am there, she only wants me. We have left her with my mom for a few hours a couple of times and Aven did great!

Brody and Levi are still completely smitten. They adore her! Aven adores them too, but Levi definitely gets on her nerves:) He has not figured out how to give her any space. In the mornings and after naptime Levi cannot wait to go get her from her bed. The minute she even makes a peep, he says "Mommy! Aven is talling (calling) for me! She's trying (crying) for me! Aven want me! I go get her, mommy!" He is relentless and will not let me wait even a minute to go get her:) I am pretty sure if she wanted anyone to come get her, it would NOT be him. They are working on their relationship. If its possible for him to love her TOO much, he does!

 She has adjusted so well. The transition has been so much easier than I thought it would be. Mainly because her and Levi are so close in age and she came into our home on pretty much the same schedule as him for eating and napping. Its been SO good. We are so thankful for the grace the Lord has given us in this transition for our family!

Christmas '12

I could not have been more happy to have my entire family all under one roof for Christmas! We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church and brought the whole family including my parents and my grandma. It was Aven's first time at church and it was very emotional for me! I had sat in those same seats for months praying to and praising the Lord during our wait. The Lord has used this journey to make me more like Him and for that I am SO thankful. It was a painful process that the Lord used to mold and shape me. Now we sat as a WHOLE family on the eve of Christmas. Aven was hearing people worship for the first time--- a chance she may have never had if we had not been obedient to the Lord's calling. Brian and I got to hold her in our arms in front of the congregation and light the advent candles and read about the hope we have in Christ. It was such a special time....even if she was trying to grab the microphone:). For the first time in months, my family felt complete. The waiting was hard. But the hardest times for me, was when we would be out at large gatherings or meeting new people. There were so many times I wanted to ask if anyone else realized that my whole family was not together....that we had a daughter in Africa...does anyone notice but me?! There were so many times I felt lost. I guess it was just a feeling like things were not as they should be. But that was not the case this Christmas. I stood and worshipped with my whole family....the way it was supposed to be! It was such a sweet time! God is so good!

We let the boys sleep in the same bed Christmas night...which I am sure will be a tradition from here on out! They both woke up super early and excited of course! We decided to let Aven sleep and enjoyed watching the boys open presents play with their new things. Aven was still in the "I only want to be held" stage, so by letting her sleep I was able to help the boys with all of their new toys:) Once she woke up, the boys enjoyed helping her open her presents and showing her all of her new things!

About 2 hours after the boys woke up, both of their eyes started looking suspiciously pink!  Yep, pink eye...on Christmas morning. We let them enjoy their presents until lunchtime, when we took them to an open urgent care and found out they did have pink eye and ear infections. We were supposed to be going to Virginia to visit Brian's family that day, so we held off for 24 hours to give the antibiotics time to kick in.

We spent our first night away from home with Aven in Virginia and she did great! She did way better than I thought she would. She got to meet some of Brian's family that had not had the chance to yet. And she even got down on the floor and played with her cousins some! The boys absolutely adore their cousins and always look forward to being with them....I am sure Aven will feel the same way:)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our WHOLE family to yours!

Homecoming

Its hard to believe we have only been home one week. Its been a LONG week. In a good way:) Last Saturday we brought Aven home and she is now part of her forever family! She did great on the 18 hour plane ride (supposed to be 17 but we spent an hour on the runway...lovely). She slept probably 12-13 hours of it.....We cant really ask for much better than that. There were some moments I wanted to cry....when she was crying and it was impossible to entertain an almost 1 year old in a 2ft by 2ft space. We did get a bulkhead seat with a bassinet for her to sleep on. SO thankful for that! Aven got us alot of attention and alot of perks while traveling with her. We got to skip to the front of 3 security lines and even got into the first class lounge while we waited to board our flight. Not bad.

We had a 4 hour layover in DC. We set up camp in a quiet corner and let Aven play, eat, and change clothes while we wait for our short flight home. We finally made it to RDU around 1:30 after 23 hours of travel. Aven was a trooper! We were greeted by some dear friends and family! The boys didnt even let us get off the escalator before they were running down the hallway to greet us. They set off the alarms and voices came over the intercom telling them to STOP! It was quite chaotic, but so sweet. They would not let their sister out of their sight. Every time I would try to stand up, Levi would pull on my leg and tell me to sit back on the floor so he could see his sister. Our dear friend Courtney of Always Autumn Studios took pictures at the airport for us! We are so blessed to have these moments captured!

 

  

Our first week at home has been better than I thought. Aven is extremely attached to me, which I am SO thankful for. Brian is slowly winning her over. And she loves the boys as long as they keep their distance. She doesn't love the fact that Levi wants to be in her face all of the time, but she lets him know when he is too close! She is sleeping like a champ! 12 hours at night without a peep and 2 long naps during the day. I am not sure how that all happened....she never even took time to get used to the time difference. She jumped right on a schedule the day she came home. Pretty shocking! But I will take it:) I woke up sick the morning we got home, so between adding another child to the family, jet lag and being sick, I have been extremely thankful for sleep! Aven is not thilled about strangers. She doesn't like anyone but Brian and I to touch her or hardly talk to her.  She's already getting better with that though, and I keep reminding myself that just a week and a half ago she was taken away from everything she has ever known. We could not be more thankful that Aven is home for Christmas! Praising the Lord for this 14 month journey where he taught us so much!