Today was a rough day.

It started off great…Belane woke up happy and singing, singing, singing, which is the MOST adorable thing ever. She sings “If You're Happy and You Know It” in blurred English, and also “This is the Day that the Lord Has Made” and “Deep Down in my Heart”, which are two Christian songs that the kids sing in a lot of the orphanages. They are also in English, and she was very surprised I knew the words.

She was very sweet with Josh this morning…not hanging on him or being completely care free, but she did sit and play with him happily for about half of my shower, she smiled and showed off for him quite a bit, and she didn’t give him the “no shoulder” even... more

So let’s see…what did I forget….

Belane is a copy cat and she is a very girlie girl. When I was getting ready for the day with my one-gal audience, she had to put on moisturizer when I put on moisturizer, she put on lipgloss when I put on lipgloss, she brushes hair when I brush hair, etc. She is darling! She is not overly fond of the crayons, games, dolls or other toys we brought, but she has been sporting the pink sunglasses we brought her almost constantly.

She was a little less standoff-ish with Josh today. She does this “one shoulder shrug” which we have been told means “no” and that is what she does to him if he gets too close and she is not in the mood (mostly when she... more

We got back to the hotel and even though we knew Belane was exhausted and due for a nap, she was starving. She polished off the left over pizza we had in the fridge and some more Chex Mix. I tried my darndest to get her to sleep but she never did. Josh took a nice nap though!

We got ready to head downstairs and meet Selamneh and the other family to go to AHOPE and brought all of our donations. We were worried about bringing Belane… I worried she’d be scared that we were bringing her back, and I was worried she’d be sad when it was time to go because she was hoping we were bringing her back. She fell asleep on the ride over and woke up when the van stopped.

It took her a minute,... more

Today was another great day in Addis.

It is now getting close to 11pm our time, so I am going to post this, send some emails and get to bed. (Josh and Belane are snoring away behind me.)

We got up this morning and ordered some room service. Belane continued her eating streak…downing banana pancakes and oranges, and showing some very mild interest in the oatmeal.

She slept pretty well…she moaned and groaned and rolled around a lot, but never woke up…and a few times she rolled over to me and wrapper her arms around me neck in her sleep and settled right down. To know that my physical closeness is enough to comfort her is awesome beyond words.

We finished breakfast... more

Let’s see, what did I forget…

She does seem to really be potty trained. I have her in PullUps, but she either whines and points to it or whispers something I can’t understand, and then I take her to the potty. I did ask her a few times if she had to go and she shook her head “no”, and she hasn’t had any accidents. We’ll see how she does during the night (and I am not completely convinced yet, as I know the back of her dress was wet when we first got to AHOPE.)

She is a peanut…we had a waitress try to bring her an infant high chair (she wasn’t buying that). Quite a few Ethiopians have asked if she is a boy (I am sure because of her hair). However, short hair or not, you’d think... more

We decided to put her shoes and jacket on (its chilly here!) and go for a walk. We walked all over the Hilton grounds and she was still pretty somber (I am SO glad I brought the hip carrier!!!). We decided to attempt eating in a restaurant, and it was a blast.

She really came to life, and started talking for the first time (she definitely can hear some…better than I expected). She was playing games with both of us and giggling, and of course eating. She ate a big old breadstick and a good amount of lasagna. We definitely do not have a picky eater here.

She laughed and sang little songs and was just a riot. The waiters would come up to her and talk to her in Amharic. One most... more

When we got back to the hotel and got out of the car, she woke up right away. She stayed in my arms and looked a bit out of it. We came up to the room and I sat her on the bed and she looked back and forth at the two of us. I took out a few toys and she started to perk up. She pokes you softly and then points at something when she wants it, and she soon had Josh and I gathering up all of the things we had brought her and then she tucked them safely away into the bright pink and purple backpack that she just seemed to know was for her.

We gave her her first sippy cup, and she quickly discovered how to use that and she is very fond of it. She was too cute. She would take one thing out... more

And there is peace in my heart.

Belane is wonderful. She is here and she is sweet and happy and loving and beautiful!

We waited outside this morning in front of the Hilton, where we were expecting to get picked up at 9:30 a.m. by Gail to be taken to AHOPE to get Belane. We were so jittery sitting outside. The weather is beautiful…sunny but cool in the shade and I couldn’t tell if it was the excitement or the cool breezes that were giving me goosebumps!

We sat for quite a while…today is the end of Ramadan and there were parades and big crowds making the traffic worse than usual (which says a lot).

As we waited we saw two other adoptive families coming and going... more

Hi All, Thanks for all the comments. It is a lot of fun to have so many people reading along. I have to say that for last night and this morning it is very nice to have something to keep me busy.

Just a few quick comments from this morning...

The camera crew is not here. They are planning on being at the airport when we arrive though...they want to capture all of the kids meeting Belane for the first time. Then they will follow us home and get some footage of our first few days.

The pizza was good...the sleep even better. Eight uninterupted hours of laying down...ahhhhhhh....bliss. I am not jetlagged at all...landing in the early evening is perfect because you... more

Greetings from Addis Ababa! How is this for some dedicated blogging??? :)

I was skeptical that this would work, but the Hilton here has high-speed broadband internet access in the hotel rooms. I plugged in my laptop and it worked right away. We figure the $20 US dollars a day charge will more than make up for itself with what we will save on our phone bill.

So, let's see...the flights, as expected, were LONG and exhausting. But everything went smoothly...all of the connections were right on time and our bags made it too (I was really paranoid that the bags would not make it.) I know a lot of people don't like when we compare adoption to being pregnant and giving birth, but... more