My 2 Ethiopian Girls: Day 19 of 19 ... Welcome Home Tigist!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Day 19 of 19 ... Welcome Home Tigist!

Our dear friends Jennifer and Daryl took the boys to the airport for us with our van. They made us feel so good with such a sweet and thoughtful welcome ... and these pictures below as well. Now we have these precious memories of the boys meeting Tigist. Thank you, thank you, thank you Daryl and Jennifer and Ethan!! We love you!

As we traveled up the escalator, David, Tigist and I, my heartbeat grew faster. I knew what this moment held and I couldn't help but think about what the boys might be thinking as they wait above the escalators ... This is what we saw coming up ...

Evan, Ethan (our friends son) and Brandon

Our friend Daryl got this shot of her in Daddy's arms

Our first Family Photo! She was so observant.

The boys can't 'believe she's here. I don't want to embarrass Brandon, but I don't think he'd mind me saying that he teared up while she was in front of him. He couldn't contain his love for her. They said they felt like she will disappear ... like it's not real!

She's warming up to her brothers

4 comments:

Leah Reeves said...: It was so great to see the boys reaction to their sister. I realy love the close up picture of Tigist, so beautiful.; August 22, 2008 at 9:34 AM
Shawn said...: She really is just so beautiful, I can't stop looking at the pictures. Let's get together soon!; August 22, 2008 at 1:48 PM
Debbie said...: What a great family picture!!! She is beautiful!!

Debbie; August 22, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Stephanie and Gary said...: so beautiful! heartwarming photos. That photo of Tigist is precious and I'm sure will always remain a favorite. So beautiful to see the whole family together - it's been an honor to follow your journey!
Steph
Brooklyn, NY
PS if you ever get a chance, I'd just love to know a bit about your feelings about choosing to not travel with the boys, and how that worked out. My girls will be 4 and 7 at our time of travel, so young to leave behind but yet they'd be with my mom. So young to travel too. Double edged sword for me. Your insight is appreciated if you ever get a chance.
StephUSA@gmail.com thankyou!; August 25, 2008 at 6:17 AM

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Welcome to our Site ... This is our Journey of our Adoption from Africa and our Life in Denver.

This journal (blog) is about adoption, our change of life from California to Denver and our little girl who we have adopted from Ethiopia. Our daughter came home to us after 9 months of tons of paperwork and she has come home to us on August 18th, 2008.

I highly encourage you to post comments at the end of any post if you'd like. I update every few days, so sign up to be emailed each time I post something new. It's a great way to keep updated.

So far, this has been an amazing journey. The adoption process is more "stuff" than you can imagine leading to what has been an incredible change in our lives. This journal is from my heart to you the reader and to our daughter whom we just recently met. It is also dedicated to the biological parents of our adopted girl who may or may not be alive. I do know that Tigist was placed in a safe place to be found by police, who then took her to an orphanage. In doing so, they saved her life! I applaud her Mother and/or Father's courage in the decision to offer their child a life full of opportunity. They decided to put her up for adoption by relinquishing her in such a way. This is such a touchy subject, yet very personal to both the biological parents and us. We will always honor them in the lives of our daughter...they will never be forgotten! That....I can promise.

Where we are in the adoption process....

We picked Tigist up in Addis Ababa August 9th, 2008. She is home, healthy and very happy!

We passed court on June 23rd 2008, traveled on July 31st, met Tigist on August 9th, and arrived home on August 18th.

What has changed is that we are not adopting two girls, which is what we started out attempting to do, but ended up with one amazing little 2 yr. old. Just another reminder how this process can be so unpredictable.

Why does our blog title says 2 girls...well, we sponsor a very sweet 12 year old girl in Ethiopia and have adopted another. So even though we weren't referred 2 girls as was the plan, the title coincidentally still applies to Our 2 Ethiopian Girls! One here, one there! We eagerly await the letters and pictures Fatuma sends us and we send letters and photos too.

The meaning of the Ethiopian flag

(adapted from a Yahoo group web posting and Unicef-Ethiopia)

Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, and the only African country that has no history of colonization. Upon their independence, many African countries adopted the colors of the Ethiopian flag - green, yellow and red - that became known as the Pan-African colors.

The official flag of Ethiopia consists of three equal and horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and red with a yellow pentagram and single yellow rays emanating from the angles between the points on a light blue disk centered on the three bands.

The significance of the colors on the Ethiopian flag are interpreted to have a connection to the Holy Trinity, as well as the three main provinces of Ethiopia. The red stripe stands for power, faith and blood. The yellow strip symbolizes peace, natural wealth and love. The green stripe represents the land and hope.

The yellow pentagram on the blue disk, also known as the National Coat of Arms, is a symbol of the current government; it is intended to reflect the desire of the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia, as well as of its religious communities, to live together in unity and equality. The star represents unity of the people and the races that make up Ethiopia. The five rays on the outside of the star represent prosperity, and the blue disk represents peace.

My 2 Ethiopian Girls

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Day 19 of 19 ... Welcome Home Tigist!

4 comments:

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