Gotcha Day!

Today we officially took custody of Melat!   This is a doubly special day for us, as besides being Melat’s Gotcha Day, it also would have been Greg’s mom’s 87^th birthday!

 To back up a bit, we arrived in Ethiopia early Sunday morning and went to the transition foster home Sunday afternoon to visit Melat.  When we arrived she wasn’t her usual cheerful self.  Turns out she has a slight cold and a bit of a fever.  We spent about an hour with her then left her to rest.  We went back to the hotel and did the same as we had been up for nearly 30 hours without much sleep.

On Monday we went back to pick up Melat at 2:00pm Ethiopia time.  She had just woken up from her nap and was still a bit warm, not feeling a 100% yet.  The nurse was there and we were able to ask lots of questions and get her routine, favorite foods and her overall health assessment.  Outside of her cold, she seems to be in pretty good overall health.  The nurse gave her some children’s Motrin and she perked up about an hour later.  We thanked the foster home staff, left them gifts of appreciation then headed back to the hotel.

By the time we returned to the hotel, it seemed Melat was feeling much better.  She started to smile more and devoured a bowl of cheerios, which appear to be a new favorite snack.  So we’ve been playing with toys, coloring, eating cheerios and basically just hanging out.  It will be a long 3 days hold up in the hotel as we wait for her visa and other paperwork Thursday.

Here are a few pictures from Sunday and today, Gotcah Day, as Melat begins her new life with her forever family.  We’ll post more in the days to come and perhaps a short video or two.

Thank you all for the prayers and good wishes while we’re on our journey!

Not feeling so well :(

But Daddy got a smile out of her!

Gotcha Day!



Someone discovered Cherrios!