Nose to Nose Hugs

Well, we are home! This is my first post to our blog, and I probably shouldn’t be attempting it right now, as I’m still exhausted! However, I’m even more excited than exhausted, so I’ll give it a go. When we left Addis Ababa with Anteneh, we arrived at the airport for our departing flight at 7 PM on Sunday night, which was 10 AM Sunday morning here in Evansville. We flew through the night, refueled in Rome, and watched the onboard flight info screen as we passed over the United Kingdom and headed for the USA. We reluctantly watched Little Miss Sunshine about 13 times. The sun eventually caught us, and soon we landed in Washington-Dulles Airport around 8:30 AM. After two more flights and a couple hours of driving, we pulled into our driveway at 6:30 PM on Monday night, 32 and a half hours after we began. It is so good to be home…it’s true, there is no place like it! We really didn’t sleep much at all, even though Brooke had made sure we took those U-shaped travel pillows for the plane. I’m tempted to go on and on about how frustrating it was to change into the Ethiopian Airlines-provided socks, put on the sleeping mask, insert our earplugs, and try to go to sleep, only to grow more and more uncomfortable and sweaty (why do they let it get so hot on those plane rides?)
Anyway, enough about that stuff. Since we didn’t fly into Evansville, only my parents met us at the airport. When we finally arrived at our house, our families were here anxiously waiting to meet Anteneh in person, but he was asleep! Our entrance was pretty anti-climactic. It did work out really well in that we got to hug Grace and Luke and introduce Anteneh after we’d spent some time with them.
Anteneh woke up and met his cousins, and after spending some time together, the extended family graciously left so we could spend some time together and crash. Brooke was exhausted and not feeling well so she went on to bed. This was the moment that I felt it…What have we done? What have we done to our kids? Anteneh is great, but Luke is such a sensitive boy. Brooke and I are convinced that adopting is the right thing to do, but Luke and Grace didn’t sign up for this. How is this going to affect them?

This day has been such an encouragement to me. I realize that this is just day one, and things can change, but I have such a peace about this new addition to our family. One thing that has surprised me is how affectionate Luke is! Since the moment I carried Anteneh in, Luke hasn’t stopped patting him, hugging him and kissing him. Luke is a lover, but he’s also a daddy’s boy and I wasn’t so sure that he was going to be willing to share his daddy. Luke and Grace have been so loving to Anty, as Luke calls him.
Here are a some more highlights:
· Last night, after meeting, I watched a true display of testosterone. Luke was in character as Superman and Anteneh was playing like a lion. They were showing one another how fierce they each were and finally came chest to chest, Luke blowing his super-breath and Anteneh scowling. Here were two males establishing their territory and pecking order, it seemed. I honestly was gripped by fear because I expected Anteneh to do something unpredictable to Luke – well, he did do something unpredictable…he gave Luke a great big hug. The two of them stood, there, embracing for a long time. I said a prayer of thanks to Jesus.
· This morning, Luke didn’t wake up at 7:30 as usual. I went in to check on him a little before 8, and he wasn’t in his bed. He startled me as he said, “Anty isn’t here!” The first thing he did in the morning was to get up and climb into Anteneh’s bunk to look for him!
· Luke, Anteneh and Grace played so well today! One time Luke and Anteneh came into the kitchen, each wearing safety goggles and their socks on their hands. I think they were getting ready to box. Later they were working on their bunk bed with a plastic hammer.
· Later I heard them laughing in the bathroom. I looked in to find them both standing there, peeing together. Grace just looked at me and shook her head.
· One time Anteneh took the pair of goggles that Luke had had. Luke protested, so I took them from Anteneh, and he cried as I gave them back to Luke. Luke looked at Anty, walked over and gave them back to Anty. Anty immediately quit crying, and looked at Luke’s sad face. He handed the goggles back to Luke and they both smiled and hugged again.
· Anteneh seems like he knows that he is in a safe place, a place where he is going to be loved and cared for.

Like I said before, I’m sure that soon the two will be fighting like brothers, but this time right now has been so encouraging! The Lord is gracious to us and I am thankful!

amazing day!

It is 4:45am here and I can’t sleep anymore. Anteneh just woke up yelling, “Abat!” (Father) because he had to pee. He went back to sleep and I laid there going over in my head the most amazing day we had yesterday. It was one of the hardest, most memorable days of both of our lives. The best way to put it into words is in a letter to Anteneh-

Anteneh,

We met your biological mother yesterday. It was one of the hardest things we have ever done but we know how important it will be to you as you grow up. She traveled 1 ½ days by bus from Harar to meet us. To tell you the truth, I was terrified. What was going through her mind? How would you react, seeing your mother after she gave you up 4 months ago? What would we say? As soon as we walked into the room, both your daddy and I were overcome with emotion. I looked at her and she was so beautiful and tears just started pouring from our eyes. She looked at me crying and began to cry, too. It was amazing but as you saw her again, you smiled so big and stayed at my side. We all stood there and she said, “Anteneh-this is your new mother and your new father.” And she looked at us and said, “I give this child to you in the name of God”. (This is all through a translator). Your daddy said, “We receive this child in the name of God”. We all sat down and you just kept gazing at her. She was incredibly beautiful. Long, confident face with a strong jaw and pretty lips. She was thin and sat gracefully with her hands in her lap and her legs crossed. Her hair was wrapped in a scarf in a way that reminded me of the famous profile of an Ethiopian woman with a long neck, face, and wrapped hair. You look so much like her. I told her she was a beautiful woman and you look so much like her. We asked about your family. She said that your father was a soldier and that he is dead and she is living with ‘the virus’ (which means she is HIV positive). I thought how brave she was to give you to us so early in her disease before her body was ravaged by it, giving you the best chance of being adopted because of your young age. She asked about our family and we told her about your aunts and uncles and how Aunt Megan is going to have a baby and how you have so many cousins on the other side of the family that can’t wait to play with you. And about your grandmas and grandpas that are so eager to meet you and especially about Grace and Luke who are so excited. She had seen all the pictures in the book we sent you and she asked to keep it so she could always see the family you are with. We said, ‘of course!’ We told her that you have a dog at home and you will get to ride horses at one of your grandma’s. She smiled. We told her that we would always help you to embrace your Ethiopian heritage and bring you back to Ethiopia in the future so you could again experience this country, firsthand. We showed her on a map where we live in America and pointed to the beach in Florida where we will take you in a few months. She said she had been told there were beaches there. We took many pictures and when walking back to the little room we were talking in, she saw three little orphaned girls who were from Harar and kissed and hugged them and was so affectionate with them. As we watched that interaction, we could just glimpse the love with which you had lived your first 3 years and were so thankful. She was obviously resisting loving on you like that so as not to confuse you and we are sure to distance herself from you to lessen the pain. As we walked around, you asked me to hold you but I made you walk a little so that I didn’t hold you back from touching her or hugging her or walking with her, if that’s what you might want to do. We sat down with her one more time and told her that we would raise you in a Christian home and she said she was ‘very happy for that.’ Sensing that the time was coming to an end, I started to cry again and so did she. Hers was more of a soft cry and she would dab at her eyes with her shawl. Mine was a wet, rather less controlled cry. Your dad’s cry was like when Grace and Luke were born-where his face looked on the verge of breaking down but wiped his eyes with a bit of control. It felt so special to be going through this life changing time with your Dad-I can only imagine how much it has bonded us in ways we don’t even know now. We gave her 500 birr (about 50 dollars) to cover her travel expenses which she had to pay out of her own pocket. We all stood to go. I held your little hand and hugged your mother for the last time-the way Ethiopians embrace-kiss to the right, to the left, to the right again. But she went further and kissed to the right again-making me feel so close to her. The thing that hit me so hard and that I will always remember about that hug was how good she smelled. She smelled like an incredible perfume and at that moment I wanted to remember that smell. I walked out with you and turned and watched your daddy do the same thing. We picked you up and busted into tears as we walked back to the taxi. We walked by some American volunteers playing with some older Layla House kids and they smiled and said, ‘hi,’ with empathizing smiles. We walked past Gail and she looked at us with a knowing smile like she had seen this same event unfold hundreds of times and asked how we were. I just squeaked, “OK-that was so hard.” And she smiled at us. We climbed into the taxi and rode off, crying-thinking of what it would be like to have to give up Luke at 3 years old, which is what it was like for her. I was just thinking how incredible that experience was and how thankful we were to experience it. It is clear that God is so full of grace and mercy. That room had been full of brave people. Your mother, the bravest-for having the strength to give you to us-what an amazing gift to give to you-a chance at a life in a family who would love you and nurture you-and to spare you the memories of watching her life taken away from her slowly by AIDS. You were so brave, too. You stood there and nodded as your mommy who birthed you and nurtured you and taught you your numbers, your manners-all those things mommies teach-and taught you how to cuddle and love, told you that you were to have a new mommy and daddy now. And I know that we were brave to meet her, knowing that it was for the best for all of us-especially you as you grow and wonder where you came from. Well, we are in somewhat of a dream world right now. We are rocked by emotion and counting the minutes until we can get you home to meet the rest of your new family. We are in awe at what we have experienced and will never forget this amazing trip. You are such a blessing already. You have no problem calling us ‘Abaye’ (Daddy) and ‘Emaye’ (Mommy)…and hug us and kiss us and squeeze us tight and ask permission when you want something (some of the time!). It is evident that this incredibly beautiful, strong woman we met yesterday gave you the best start in this world she could and for that we are SO THANKFUL. The love she gave you is the reason you are so wonderful and attaching so well to us. And we are in awe at how clearly God has shown us how merciful he is. None of us deserve this gift He has given us of awesome you. Thank you, God, for this wonderful experience-we are so humbled.
Love, Mommy

he is AWESOME!

from brooke:
We met him this morning along with 15 other toddlers who were clinging to us and holding on like if they held on tight enough, they'd leave with us, too! i already found a sister for grace but i'd better wait a while, i guess-haha
Words of english he speaks and understands: zero
But we are able to communicate using simple amharic
He is so cool-so small, skinny arms and legs and big belly and if you smile at him he gives you a huge shy smile back-just like his picture we had for months in the U.S.
He is so calm-the first half of the day he sat there and stared at us-no speaking...but there are 3 other older adopted kids here at the guest house and they have been a huge help in communicating and helping us-for instance, when we tried to get him in the tub, he was freezing cold and naked and scared and the older girls told him to not be scared just get in the bath and he went right in. he speaks very well to people speaking amharic...
He is opening up a bit and repeating words we say, pointing to balls and dogs and LOVES his toys we brought...his favorite is all the clothes we brought with trucks and cars on them-he was so proud to wear the construction shirt that grandma darlene bought luke for valentine's day (luke said it was ok to take it with us for anteneh to borrow!) he kept pointing to the trucks and saying, 'mekina!' over and over again (that means car)
the funniest part of our day was laying him down for a nap-we laid him on the little pillow i made and covered him with his matching blanket-told him 'goodnight' in amharic and he closed his eyes and fell asleep within 3 minutes! we laid down and laughed ourselves to sleep for a nap of our own-for those of you who know how hard it was for us to get our biological children to sleep well, you will know why we were laughing.
we also took him out to a nice italian place to eat dinner and i've never seen a more well behaved child-his eyes lit up when he drank the orange soda like he'd never had it before and we were the coolest people in the world for letting him drink it...
now, we did have to take him to the doctor today because he has a cold, and a skin infection (we thought it might be an ear infection b/c his ear was oozing and bloody-gross, i know) but he is on antibiotics and ear drops now-his ear is only infected in the canal-not the inner ear and his skin looks very scarred on his arms and cheeks but the doctor says it will go away-it looks like a fungal thing but the doctor says it definately is not and it's not contagious-
right now he is downstairs playing cars with his 'abat' (daddy-daryn)
the sweetest moment today just hours after we met him was when a little girl asked him in amharic if i was his mom and he said 'yes' and she said 'what is her name?' and he said, "i don't know" hahaha-he does understand...he is obviously so happy to be with us...i hear him downstairs right now blowing on the 88 cent flute from superwalmart :)
we love you all!!!!!!!!!!! pray for our continued bonding with anteneh, my stomach issues that won't go away (aagghhh) and for our visits with anteneh's extended family that we are going to try and make in the next few days...

they have arrived!

they are THERE! and in less than 2 hours they meet anteneh!
here is a little of what brooke wrote:
"We are here! We got in last night after many hours on multiple planes and got a good night of rest...we are doing well except I am very short of breath and have a little bit of nervous stomach from excitement and the altitude. We meet Anteneh in less than 2 hours! Our driver said that he knows Anteneh and that he is happy we are coming (we are glad b/c we thought he may be upset to leave his caregivers)...There are other families here at the guest house and one family in particular that is great-a woman picking up her 3 new children and she has already been a great encouragement-her children are calling her 'mother' like they've always been her kids-so cool."
please continue to pray that grace and luke remain healthy during their trip! I will post more as soon as I hear from brooke!
blessings,
tracey

We are leaving tonight, now...

Well, I love my husband b/c instead of thinking of me as a worrier, he agreed this was a good idea: We are leaving for Louisville tonight so that we can get to the airport at 4am tomorrow morning and fly stand by for the earlier flights to Chicago and then on to D.C. It is supposed to snow in Louisville and Chicago tomorrow and by doing this, we increase our chances of getting to D.C. ahead of the snow and decrease our chances of missing our overseas flight out of D.C. due to delays...So, we are leaving at 7pm tonight! Thank the Lord for my in-laws who are dropping their plans to drive us tonight and for my sister who is coming to our house straight from work to spend the night with the kiddos!
Keep checking the blog-we will hopefully write from Ethiopia through my great friend Tracey relaying our messages!

We are leaving...

This morning in the living room was another contestant eliminating round of American Idol....Grace's new favorite show. (I catch her often in the rear view mirror singing with all the passion of any stage performer as we drive along in the van.) Today, Daryn was Simon and Luke was Randy...I, Paula, chose to let the boys do the judging as Grace stood in front of them in the living room and belted out, "All God's children singing 'Glory, glory-halleluiah, He reigns! He reigns!". And Daryn said, "Ok, miss-you are going to Hollywood!" and Grace cheered and ran out of the audition room. Someday she might realize that worship songs may not get her very far in American Idol but maybe she can change things in 13 years if she's still interested in trying out:) She is determined, she says, to try out with that song and "Unashamed Love"(both songs from her 'Kids' Worship' CD Grandma got her for Christmas)...

Well, this will be my last post...we leave in the morning. Please pray that we can make our flight out of D.C. to Addis...flights from Louisville and Chicago are just not taking off on time and they are both expecting even more snow-we have to get through these airports on our way to D.C. We are bracing ourselves to possibly have some long delays and missed flights but we are confident that we'll eventually get there! Haha...Anteneh isn't going anywhere-he will be there waiting when we can finally fly away from this snow filled country! Today we are tying up ministry ends for T.R.E.K., cleaning house and finishing packing...bathing kids and (for myself) trying not to be too anxious about possible delays in the airports due to weather. There's no point in worrying about it before it happens.

Please pray for NO DELAYS DUE TO WEATHER and OUR KIDS' HEALTH AS THEY ALWAYS GET SICK WHEN DARYN GOES OUT OF TOWN-EVERY TIME

Thanks for all your prayers, everyone!
See ya!

GRANT APPROVAL!!!

We just found out today that we got a Steven Curtis Chapman grant of $3,000!!! Yahoo! That will put a big dent in our Anteneh debt! Haha...So great...It's strange to be seeing people like my mom for the last time before they meet Anteneh! We had lunch today and we hugged 'goodbye'...so crazy!

WEATHER WOES

Please pray for the current weather situation in the eastern states to not delay our travel...right now Chicago (we connect through there) has been dumped on with snow and D.C. has its airports CLOSED...this is bad b/c we fly from D.C. to Addis Saturday...please pray that the airports reopen and can get us to Addis!!!!! We are very hopeful that everything will be up and running by then but who knows...it's suppossed to snow both places again on our day of travel...

Nelson Mandela

I'm not trying to sound selfrighteous here...in fact, hopefully the opposite...but many people have said to us, "I think what you guys are doing is great but I could never do it." And hearing that from so many people who I know are very generous, giving people reminds me of this AMAZING quote....this is taken from Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural speech:

“It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’
Actually...
WHO ARE YOU NOT TO BE?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t change the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people around you won’t feel insecure.
We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.
As we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others. “

Just a thought but I believe that many of the people who have said to us that they 'couldn't do what we are doing,' really do have it in them but as Nelson Mandela says are in a way 'frightened' to think of themselves making an impact. We know some incredible people that don't realize the impact they already make and the impact they have the potential to make.

Harar

I was wrong...Harar is not as close to Addis as we thought and we probably won't be able to go there-I was getting it confused with Nazret...here is a link to some info on Harar that is pretty interesting...this says that Harar is considered the 4th holiest Muslim city in the world-right after Jerusalem. The city has a long history of violence and Muslim 'jihad' against the Christian community. It feels good to know that Anteneh won't be raised in a place like that.

Birth Certificate!!!

We received a copy of Anteneh's birth certificate today WITH OUR NAMES AS HIS PARENTS!!! That means there should be no more delays! Yahoo! This is a really bad scan of it-maybe it's just my imagination but he even looks cute as the dark blob as he appears here-haha! His name is Anteneh Daryn West, legally, until we change it to what we want it to be. They use the father's name until the child gets here and we file for citizenship in the U.S.. We also found out his birth date is October 24, 2003...He will turn 4 in the fall. We are not sure if that's an actual date or if it's a guessed date but our pediatrician will make sure it's accurate by doing some tests..we also found out he is from Harar, I think it's about an hour southeast of Addis, the capital...close enough that hopefully we will be able to visit the place he is from...we will have to see once we get there, I guess...It's another good day!!!!

Saved some money

Well, we rebought our plane tickets today and I'm so excited-the price actually dropped $200 for each adult ticket...so we saved money-even though we had to pay $150 to change them...plus, the flights we got are awesome! We don't have to get up super early anymore and the kids will still be awake when we get home...very cool-maybe I already mentioned this....we are really noticing that God is smarter than us-(is this a big 'duh', or what?) Daryn has a cold now that Luke and I gave him...and feels miserable. So, it's a blessing that he doesn't have to travel and try to get over jet lag while being sick... if we wouldn't have been delayed, he would have been sick on the plane...but now we have a few days for him to get over it! Our travel agent (Susan Parr Travel is awesome!!!) is overnighting our new tickets...man, paper tickets are just more fun than e-tickets! And the BEST thing of all that happened today that really means it's getting close is: DARYN ACTUALLY PACKED TODAY!!!!! When my husband packs, that means leaving is close! Haha...I have been packed for (literally) 5 weeks...my clothes are going to be SO wrinkled. Oh, well....it's more fun to have packed suitcases laying around...I am sick of planning and replanning and did I mention I had to replan a 3rd time? I'm ready to leave and let our fully accredited babysitters worry about the details I forgot! Haha! 4 full days left. I can make it that long, I think. At this point, though, I wouldn't be surprised if they called with another delay. We've come to expect it!

Countdown

Well, in 7 days we will be trying our best to fall asleep so we can wake up and go to the airport. The final babysitting schedule is done. Again. I've spent $22 in copies just to print instructions for our 12 sets of babysitters. It all added up b/c I had to reprint it all with the date changes and redone schedule twice due to delays. I wonder if Anteneh is wondering when in the world we are getting there. Actually, I bet they don't tell him until the day before. I bet he feels how we felt when we were waiting for our referral. He just doesn't know when we are coming and all of the sudden someone will say, "Your Daddy and Mommy are here!" hmmm...

Flight Dates

Now our travel dates are: February 17-26...that's actually 10 full day instead of 8, BUT-they have no flights available to come home any earlier...plus, it will be nice for us to have extra time to visit possible contacts for T.R.E.K. and maybe even do some things we weren't sure we'd have time to do, like meet the awesome woman who has the orphanage my fav book is about...and meet Anteneh's biological mother. I know that there must be a reason that God is doing this. Maybe it will be good to have 2 extra days in Anteneh's country to let him warm up to us before we take him to America..there are a few nice things about it...like, I'll be over my cold I have right now. Hmmm...just trying to be positive. We do have to find more babysitters, though, and be away from our kids for 10 FULL DAYS! AHHH! I don't know if I can make it that long! My max is 3 days and it was SO HARD!

DELAYED AGAIN

Are we EVER going to get there? AAI called today and said that the Ethiopian government is delayed in getting the necessary paperwork through in order to obtain Anteneh's birth certificate so we need to delay travel by 1 week. GGGRRRR....I feel like we are NEVER going to GET THERE! OK, it's only 1 week but we've already gone through this multiple times and it's beginning to feel like it's never going to happen!!! I have to call all the babysitters and see if they can now come 1 week later AND pay to change our plane tickets. GRRR. We were supposed to leave in 4 days! Oh, well...here we go again.

Some inner thoughts

Well, it's a funny thing that is happening to me...I actually feel less stressed the closer our date of travel is. In 5 days we will be crossing the Atlantic Ocean to meet our son. Wow. I am very excited, though...I usually tear the chain off the paperchain each day before the kids can even get to it! Haha-that's sad. It's such a blessing to hear so many people tell us they will be praying for us-and have so many people step up to care for Grace and Luke while we will be gone-we have some very good friends.

It has also been so cool to watch our kids through the months and how they are just as excited as us to meet their new brother. We are confident that having Anteneh for a brother will enrich their lives beyond measure. Grace is such a learner-she asks lots of questions about everything and seems to really understand the answers we give her-one of our favorite things to talk about is history. She loves it. I have tried to explain to her how great America is-and how our country was started...and today we were talking about slavery-and how many, many years ago mean men stole people from Africa and brought them to America and many other places to be slaves. She is at the age where she wonders so many things, like why most everyone from Africa is black but there are also black people in America-but here, not everyone is...she asks, "so is our friend, LaToya (who is from Indiana) African or American? And what about Emmanuella (who is actually from Haiti)?"...But as I explain these things to her, I feel some shame-that I know many white Americans do-because of what my ancestors did. And I start to feel ashamed to be American because of that-even though at the same time I love my country. And then that feeling turns into embarrassment and I think, 'what in world are we doing to him? We are taking him from what he has had all his life and taking him to our little, not very diverse, city-where there and so few people that look like him-and NO Ethiopians!" But then I read something like this: (this is an excerpt from "There Is No Me Without You", by Melissa Fay Greene-remember, Haregewoin is the Ethiopian lady that runs an orphanage in Addis Ababa)

[[In the adoption world, Haregewoin learned, even a three year old was an 'older child,' declined by most prospective parents as possibly too damaged or traumatized by early experiences.
"But won't someone adopt the older children?" Haregewoin sighed as a Canadian-agency person prepared to depart with a baby.
"Try the Americans."
"What? Really?"
"The Americans will adopt anyone."
..."Boys?"
"Yes, boys! They adopt boys, they adopt siblings."
"But big boys? School-age boys?"
"Yes, I'm telling you!"
Haregewoin was off like a shot. She sprinted to her house to start making phone calls to find the Americans.
She found Merrily Ripley, director (with her husband, Ted) of Adoption Advocates International (AAI), of Port Angeles, Washington.]]

And then I feel proud of my country. Almost every child adopted out of Ethopia is adopted by American families. We are a country full of mistakes but we are also a country filled with compassionate people. People want to come to America because it is a great country. And we do make a difference in the world. We can't make up for the mistakes of our ancesters but we can know that by God's grace we have learned so many things and don't have to repeat the mistakes they made. And then I remember that Anteneh was without parents-he was an orphan. We are NOT horrible people for taking him away from what he knows. Because one thing he DOESN'T know is having a mommy and daddy and a home and brothers and sisters! And that outweighs everything. Sadly, he will forget his Amharic...he will forget Ethiopia to a degree, because of his age. But he will gain something that is most important-a loving family and a home. From what I understand, the Ethopian people are not adopting the over 4 million children without parents in their country-why in the world would I feel guilty for a second to be an American family giving him that most important thing? Well, these are my inner thoughts...I've never for a moment doubted that we are suppossed to do this. I really am confident that God has called us to this amazing adventure and I am excited beyond explaination! The best thing is that Anteneh is NOT an orphan, anymore! He is our son, now! Yeah! One week from today he will meet us and start learning for himself what it's like to have a mommy and daddy that love him!

Did I marry Pa Ingles?

With the patience and skill of Charles Ingles, Daryn has finished the bunk bed for the boys...it looks PERFECT! Luke is taking a nap on the top bunk as I write. What a cool memory for the kids-that their dad built their first bunk bed. (Actually, he built Grace's loft, too). The smell of the wood, the power tools, and the stain reminds me of my own dad working on things when I was Grace's age...I'm sure someday they will remember that smell, too! Daryn teases me b/c I am so keen on smells, but
they do produce powerful memories! Here are some pictures...notice, Luke is going through a stage where he closes his eyes when he smiles...ahh, 2 year olds. Also, Uncle Levon is bringing us the other mattress in a few days so it's not in yet. Luke will actually sleep on the top bunk and Anteneh on bottom. 9 days until we leave! Yahoo!!!