The Whole Crew

Easter morning didn't quite go as planned, so I was determined to get a picture of my crew the following Sunday.  Imagine my shock when they all lined up looked at the camera and smiled. Well, almost. But I'll take Sifen looking adoringly at her big sister anytime. (:

My Easter Beauties

I (literally) dusted off my "real" camera a couple of weeks ago to try and get some portraits of the girls in their Easter dresses with our pet bunny, Tuton. I was super disappointed with them at first... but after slapping some Photoshop filters on them, I kind of like them. 

Miss Anita mini photo shoot from the first day home

One Week Home!

Last Friday, February 14th, 2014, we arrived home with our littlest love. The first few days were amazingly smooth, exhausting, but nothing unexpected. Even the 17 hour international flight went as well as we could have hoped.

18 months is such a fun age, and my little girl amazes me. She's beautiful and brilliant! We spent lots of time in Ethiopia singing and playing. Her favorite is Wheels on the Bus and she quickly caught on to the hand movements- especially the baby saying Wa, Wa, Wa! So adorable!

She tries to mimik everything that I say and even my expressions. She has the cutest little Ethiopian baby accent and talks gibberish that I'm sure has some Amharic thrown in that I just don't recognize. She does use several Amharic phrases to communicate including " AYE" for No (: "Nay" for Come and "Ado" meaning give it to me, or I want it. It's amazing how far you can get in life with just those 3 phrases.

 

 She won't have anything to do with any other adult but me. At first she would shake her head No every time Gram would even look at her and cry when Daddy got to close, but she is warming up to both and quickly befriended her big brothers.  Below is her little buddy - we were blessed to travel with them all the way to our departing gate in DC. His Ethiopian nickname was Yabby and she called him "Ah - Be". I think that they were a comfort to each other during the initial transition.

She was such a trooper when traveling and things were going pretty smoothly once home until we ran out of her formula that she had been on in Et. It was her main source of comfort and I had been allowing her to have a bottle whenever she wanted one. She would accept NO substitute and was heartbroken that it was gone. The next 2 days and nights involved a lot of crying when it came time for naps or bedtime.
Intense, angry, grieving cries. It was tough stuff. My baby wanted her comfort object and I couldn't give it to her. She would scream until I thought something in her would burst, and then she would finally collapse in my arms. As I held her she would fight me, pushing my arms away, but if I set her down she would scream to be held. And so I sat in the middle of my bed and held her to my chest and just rocked back and forth until she relaxed into me.

The last couple of days, she has responded well to just laying in my bed with me, curled up against me, with her bottle ( filled with nothing but water ) clutched in her little hand. At night I am able to transfer her into her pack and play beside my bed where she usually sleeps for several hours, eventually making her way back into my bed. Daddy? Yeah, he's in the guest bed (: Big sister Addison? Let's just say that she has some adjusting to do. It's only a season.

Better pictures coming soon!

Merry Christmas to our sweet Sifen Mae!

This is not Sifen's "Baby's First Christmas", but it is her LAST Christmas alone! Your stocking is hung by the chimney with care ( or by your big brothers specifically ) and we can't wait to spend 2014 with you!

Holiday Letter - 2013

Dear friends and family, Happy Holidays !

We are eager to be the first ones to wish you Holiday blessings for several important reasons.

First of all, we want to make sure that everyone knows that we have a new address. In July we moved to Huntsville, Alabama where Chad is loving his position as CEO of Downtown Huntsville, Inc. Receiving all of your Christmas cards every year is one of the absolute highlights of our Holiday season. One positive of experiencing 3 cities, 6 homes and 4 churches in just 15 years is that we have so many amazing friends. Please make a note of our new address so that we can string your card up at our new home. ( I am not posting our address online, please comment below and I will send it to you privately )

Even more importantly, we wanted to introduce you to our newest addition. This month Chad and I traveled to Ethiopia and, on November the 19th, Sifen (sea-fen) Mae officially became an Emerson. We are all in love with our baby daughter and hope to bring her home in the next 2-4 months. This journey has turned out to be longer and more costly than our first adoption, but we are almost there!! To complete our adoption and bring our daughter home will cost just under $5,000. There are airplane tickets, lodging expenses, in-country travel costs and finally a foster care fee to cover the care that Sifen has been receiving in the months that she has been waiting for us.

Would you like to partner with us on our final trip?

We have set up a PayPal donation button on our family blog. No amount is too small! We really appreciate your partnership and covet your prayers.

www.betsyandtheboys.blogspot.com

So, besides moving to a new city and completing our second international adoption, what else is new? 

Well, for starters, we have a middle schooler - Eek! (: Owen turned 12 this year and is attending Huntsville Middle School. The move has been somewhat challenging for him, but we are so proud of the young man that he is becoming. He is kind and responsible and so much help to us!

Dawson and Cullen are attending the same elementary school in the 1st and 4th grades. They have embraced their new school and have lots of neighborhood buddies. 

Addison is 3 years old and enjoying her first year of preschool. We hope that she is ready to share her position as the baby princess!

Thank you to everyone for your heartfelt support! We wish many blessings to you and yours as we enter this season of celebration!

Betsy, Chad

Owen, Dawson, Cullen, Addison and Sifen Emerson

Here we Go!!!!

Our bags are packed and our hearts are bursting - we leave on Thursday morning for Ethiopia! We received news on Tues of last week that we had a court date of Monday, Nov 18th. We are more than ready to meet our girl and only wish that she were coming home with us on this trip. After testifying in the Ethiopian courts that we want to move forward with the adoption, we will return home to wait for the US embassy to clear us. Time frames are all but impossible to predict, but seem to be averaging around 8-10 weeks right now. Boo! That won't keep me from praying for a little Christmas miracle- will you join me?! After all, her name means "for you" and she's all I want for Christmas (: