Home 3 weeks

The past three weeks have been very busy, light on sleep and the absolute best three weeks of our entire lives. Having Stella and Eva a part of our family has been incredible. Each morning we look at each other in disbelief as to how much they have grown since the previous day, marvel at the strength they are gaining and pinch ourselves to make sure we aren't dreaming. God's blessing as usual has greatly exceeded our expectations. As of this past Thursday Eva weighed 13 pounds 10 ounces and Stella 13 pounds 6 ounces. Up 3.5 pounds for Eva and 3 pounds for Stella in 3.5 weeks. They are very happy, very vocal, very playful babies.

Next Tuesday Stella and Mommie will check into Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for surgery on Wednesday. While it is only a 2 hour surgery they want her there before and after due to her age and size. We feel that we are in very capable hands and know that God has already worked so many miracles in this precious baby's life that he totally has her in is hands. Your prayers are greatly appreciated. For Mommie and Daddy as well as Stella:) Well my time is pretty limited these days so I will post some photos and log off. We'll try to update when we return home from the hospital.

Many blessings,

Vince and Brenda

more photos!

We're Home!!

Hey family and friends thanks so much for checking in. I am so sorry it has been so long since we last posted. Unfortunately while in Ethiopia we were unable to access the blog spot site. Several families had the same issue and one of the Dads suggested that Ethiopia may have the sites blocked. Regardless we were sorry we weren't able to keep everyone up to date as the events unfolded.... but we were so busy I am not sure how much we would have been able to write anyway.

Other than being long our flights were uneventful in both directions. We first met our daughters within hours of arriving in Ethiopia. We were very tired and the meeting was quite surreal - that was Saturday. Early Sunday morning we traveled to Hosanna to meet their birth mother. This was an incredible experience and gave us both so much more peace about the journey we were about to embark on as adopted parents. She was such a sweet young lady and so thankful of the opportunities we were going to be able to afford her daughters. She was most thankful for the fact that her girls would grow up in a Christian home and that Jesus would be the center of their lives. She cried and thanked us over and over for that. As soon as we arrived back in Addis we went straight back to the care center to get to know our little ones a bit better. It didn't take long they really attached to us almost immediately. The love and one on one attention they were craving was there and ready for them. On Monday we had our first outing together - to the Embassy. We raised our hands and swore all the info we had provided was true, signed on the dotted line and they congratulated us and told us we were parents. Tuesday we brought the girls back to the guest house for a half a day. We were able to bottle feed at this time. Since Eva had started to loose weight we were all so thankful when we discovered that Soy would be her friend. After a few failed attempts with milk based formula she latched onto the soy formula and has had 6 ounces every three hours since! We took them into our care for good on Wednesday. Since that time we have become sleep deprived but have fallen more in love than we ever imagined possible. Vince keeps saying to me - "you didn't tell me about how much we were going to love them!"

Praise God for grandma's and aunts. Aunt Vic went to Ethiopia with us and without her help I am not sure we would have made it through Ethiopia or home! We have also had a lot of help this first week home. Please pray for us in the weeks to come as we begin life without extra caregivers:) I will post some photos here and will try to fill in some more details in the days ahead. Thanks again to all of you and your love and support.

blessings - and Happy Mother's Day!

Brenda