Well, we are back from Addis Ababa Ethiopia. We had an amazing time! It is hard because we missed our girls so much and wanted to come back home to them, but it was so hard because we didnt want to leave our son Kenesa.
Ethan and I are both filled with so much joy about our little boy Kenesa. He is so beautiful, full of smiles and we instantly fell in love with him. As soon as I picked him up he was full of smiles. We were both able to feed him, snuggle him tons and he fell asleep on the both of us each day we were at the Thomas Center. He is such a happy boy, and I cannot wait for everyone to see his beautful smile and gorgeous huge brown eyes in person. We are beyond blessed to call him our son and cannot wait until Lucy and Madeline get to see their little brother.
We had a great time in Addis Ababa, we had a great driver and guide that took us everywhere we needed to go. We were able to do some sight seeing, eat some good meals and really enjoy the time we got to have with our boy. The plan was to name our son Isaiah Timothy Kenesa Potts. Kenesa was the name that was given to him by his birthmom. After meeting our boy we have decided to keep his Ethiopian name given to him by his birthmom. So his full name will be Kenesa Timothy Potts.
Court went good. All the documents that the judge needed were there, and we must of answered all the questions right cause after our short 4 minute meeting with the judge she told us that Kenesa is now our son! It was so amazing to hear:) Ethan and I were filled with so much joy.
So now is the really hard part. Waiting again:( We are now in the U.S. Embassy stage. There is more paperwork to be fillled out,notarized and sent off. A bunch on our part and on our Agency's part. Once all the paperwork is in place we will be submitted to the U.S. Embassy and within 3 weeks of submission if they have everything they need then we should be getting our Embassy appointment. From what I understand this can be anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months.
We are praying for the shortest wait possible and ask that you all will be praying alongside of us.
Thank you so much to our family that was such a huge help with our girls while we were away. Alyssa, Alex both Ethan's Parents and My parents, Jenni, Erin, Breeze and everyone else that offered to help and that I know were praying for us. We love you and appreciate you all so much. Lucy and Madeline were beyond spoiled and had sooooo much fun.
Kenesa- It is so hard to be so far away from you . Although I know you are in good hands, I want you home with us. We are so blessed to call you our son and cannot wait to have you in our arms forever. We continue to pray for you each day. Praying that you stay healthy, sleep well, eat well and smile like you were when we were with you . We will be back as soon as we can to bring you home. I wake up at night thinking about you and probably think about you every 5 minutes during the day. Love you to the moon and back!
Here are a few pictures of our boy. He is almost 4 months old.
God is soooooo Good!
Love,
Mom
Sorry not good with the computer . I cant rotate the pics. :)
We arrived in Addis Ababa yesterday at 2:30 after a long 18 total hours of flying. We had a layover in Dubai on Saturday night and then flewn into Addis on Sunday. By the time Ethan and I arrived at or guest house we were exhausted. Our bodies are having a hard time adjusting to the time change and then add all the jet leg onto that. But Praise God! We arrived safely the flights were great. Emirates airline is AWESOME! Our bags arrived in Addis, we didnt have to wait in line in Addis very long to get our visa, and we got right through immigration. The only little hiccup we had was in Dubai when I got stuck in the security machine for like 10 minutes and they couldnt figure out why the doors werent opening to let me out.
We got picked up at the airport and arrived safely at the Guest House. Our room is comfortable and food downstairs that we had for dinner last night was good. We had pizza:)
It is pretty loud were we are staying , and about 5 times a day there is a call to prayer played on a loud speaker right outside our window. The first one being at 5am.
Today we get to go meet our son! We are so excited!! Our guide/driver is picking us up at 9:30 and then we get to spend time with our boy from 10-12. After our visit we are going to explore some more of Ethiopia. Do some shopping, take lots of pics and see what our guide recommends for food today:)
Thank you so much for your prayers. Please pray that we stay healthy, get good rest , enjoy this beautiful country, enjoy the time with our boy, and that everything goes smoothly for court on wednesday.
Son- Dad and I are finally here! I cant believe that in just 3.5 hours I will get to see you and hold you for thd first time. We are so excited to snuggle you , feed you and just enjoy these 2 days that we do get to have with you. We are excited to explore this beautiful country that you are from.
We talked to the girls and they are so excited too! We have brought a few of their toys that they want us to take a picture of you with:) they love you to the moon and back.
See you in a few!
-Mom
Son-
It has been so hard these last two months as we wait to hear when our court date will be. I cannot wait to get off the plane in Addis Ababa and come to the Thomas Center to meet you . We get monthly pictures of you. We should be getting a new one anyday now and I cannot wait to see your beautiful brown eyes. You are growing so much and are a healthy baby boy. Dad and I have decided on your name, we have your room all ready at the new house and I have been sleeping with your blanket that I will give to you when we see you for the first time.
A family that came to meet their son at the Thomas center a few weeks ago brought a package to you from us and they said you were the happiest little baby. They read you the card from us and showed you the pictures that the girls made for you . Lucy and Madeline are so excited to meet their little brother. Lucy has already decided that she wants to give you her curious george pillow, and she already put it in your crib. Madeline put a Night light in your room for you too:)
Next Wednesday May 8th is your Birthmoms courtdate. If she shows up at court and the judge signs off we will then be assigned our courtdate to come and meet you. If she does not show up then another date will be assigned a few weeks out to see if she can make that date. We are praying for your birthmom and that she is able to make it to court and that all the documents are in order for the judge to be able to assign us our courtdate.
Son, we cannot wait to see you for the first time, to hold you, to sing to you , to rock you , to change your diaper, to pray with you, to feed you and to just have you home with us forever. We think about you all the time, pray for you constantly and are praising God for bringing you into our lives.
Love you to the moon and back!
Love ,
Mom
WE GOT A REFERRAL!!!!
I am sure lots of you already know, but for those of you that havent heard yet we accepted a referral for our little boy on Feburary 25th. On Friday Februrary 22nd I was at home with the girls and got a phone call from Alicia at our agency. I didnt recognize the phone number, because she was at home that day calling from her cell phone. I almost didnt answer because I didnt recognize the number, but am so glad I did. She talked for a bit and I was telling her how I was about to head out to the agency to drop some things off for the Thomas Center. After telling her that I started to wonder why she would be calling me from her house, then she said "Kelli, I have some good news!" my first response was " no way, do we have a referral?" and she said "Yes" then I went on to say " SHUT-UP" ( i know nice response) I was so excited I started crying and pacing the room. The girls were following me around asking what I was doing and what was wrong. " You have a brother!!" I said. We were so excited!!
Alicia went on to tell me about our boy, I was so overjoyed and excited I couldnt control myself. At the end of our conversation she said she had emailed me his pictures. As soon as we hung up I called Ethan of course and told him I was on my way to his office so we could look at our son together for the first time. Once the girls and I got to the office we all sat down together and opened up the email and saw our beautiful son for the first time. " He is perfect" Ethan said. With tears in our eyes we just starred at him and then of course called Nana, Papa, Grandma, Aunts and Uncles and told them that we got our referral:)
So since then we have been submitted to court. We found out 2 weeks ago that the first court date which is the guardian court date is scheduled for May 8th. If court passes that day then we will get assigned our court date. We are praying that we will be traveling by or around the beginning of June to meet our son and go to our first court date. If that passes we are praying we will be bringing him home by the end of August or sooner.
Although this is amazing news, there is still a lot of waiting and paperwork that needs to be done before we bring our boy home. It has been extrememly hard waiting now that we have a picture of our boy. We love him so much already and just want to bring him home now! I know that God has perfect timing and that he will be home in our arms at the right time.
Son- You are beautiful:) As soon as I looked at your picture I fell in love with you . I cannot wait to kiss your big cheeks and rock you to sleep at night. The last month and a half have been extremely hard. I wake up at night thinking about you and praying for you . Praying that you are being cared for well, wondering if you have smiled for the first time yet, wondering what your cry sounds like and just praying that everything speeds up so we can have you home.
We just moved into our new house last weekend. The crib is in your room and Dad is gonna get it all set up. Tons of friends and family have given me the cutest little boy clothes and I cannot wait to see you in them. The girls picked out a special baby blanket for you and they cant wait to hand it to you .
We sent a package to a family that is coming to the Thomas Center in the next couple of weeks to meet their son, and they are gonna get it to you . The girls drew you a picture and wrote your name all by themseleves. We sent you some cute little onesies, and sweats:)
I pray for you everday and think about you constantly. I am so excited to hold you for the first time and to introduce you to our wonderful big family that love you so much already.
Thank you Lord for our little boy:)
We love you to the moon and back son:)
Love,
Mom
No referral yet! But we have moved up on the list. Gone from number 8 to number 5.:) This is very exciting because there was not movement for about 3 months and now 3 little boys got referrals sent out just this week. We are praying, praying, praying for a referral within the next 9 months.
Son- As usual I have been thinking about you and praying for you daily. It has now offically ben about 9 months since our paperwork has ben in Ethiopia and 15 months since we filled out our adoption application. I remember last Christmas thinking about how you would probably be home with us for this Christmas and now I am praying that you will be home for Christmas 2013. I dont know if you are born yet, or if you are 6 months old, but I pray that you are healthy, happy, warm and that Jesus has his arms around you .
Our house is getting close to done and I think we will be in it by February. I will have your room all decorated and ready for you. I already have your bedding, and lots of cute clothes and toys that were given to me by friends and family.
This week Grandma Bonnie and Papa Tim took Lucy, Madeline,Kaeden and Kai shopping to buy toys for the Thomas Center in Ethiopia. This is the transition home that you will live in until we can bring you home. They picked out cars, a soccer ball, a doll, a dog , and a puzzle for all the kiddos to play with. Then today we went to the store and got diapers, baby shampoo, toothpaste, and lots of rice cereal. We took it out to childrens house and they will get it mailed to Ethiopia.
We are thinking about you this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are praying for you everyday and cannot wait to lay eyes on you for the first time.
Nana Lisa, Papa Brian, Papa Tim, Grandma Bonnie and all your Aunties and Uncles love you so much already and are praying for you.:)
Praising God for the 3 families that received referrals for their little boys this week:)!
We love you so much!
Love,
Mom, Dad , Lucy and Madeline
This is a picture of Madeline with Alicia at Childrens house international where we brought the toys and diapers to today. Alicia works at CHI and is doing lots of work to help us bring you home:) Lucy was being shy and didnt want to be in the picuture:)
Well, it has almost been 3 months since my last post. We have not been updated that we have moved up any on the waiting list for our Boy. :( The last couple of months have been so busy that I actually didnt have much time to sit and think about it much, but now that everything has slowed down I find myself thinking about our boy everyday. The good news is that things have been moving in Ethiopia and referrals are coming through:)
Son- Lucy and Madeline ask about you all the time:) They are going to have so much fun having a little brother. They are really loving disney princesses right now and pretend most of the day they are a princess. They have tea partys, play wedding, play house, play restaurant, pretend they are at the library or the grocery store checkout. I am sure once you are home they will have you being the prince or the daddy when they play house.
We are moving! Yep!!! We are very excited. We are building a house in Bellingham up off of Barkley and the house should be done around February. We already know where your room will be and I am so excited to get it all set up for you .
Your Auntie Alyssa and Uncle Alex got married the beginning of September.It was such a beautiful , and fun celebration. Your sisters were adorable flower girls and did such a good job:)
These last few days I have been thinking about you often, praying for you , and often times just wondering if you are born? What your little smile looks like? What it will feel like the first time I see a picture or you , or the first time Dad and I hold you in our arms. What it will be like to bring you home to see Lucy and Madeline:) With all theses questions that I have I get so excited, but then also become so anxious and frustrated that you are not home with us. As I write this with tears in my eyes and a big lump in my throat I am reminded that God is in control of everything. He knows who you are , he knows what your smile looks like, he knows how many hairs are on your head, and he knows that exact day that we will lay eyes on you . Today God has told me to " Be still, and know that I am God" (psalm 46:10) He wants me to know that he works all things out for good. He wants me to be still and rest in only the peace that he can give me. He has reminded me today that he is in control of every aspect of this adoption process and that I need to continue to rest in him alone and not in where we are on the referral list or on adoption blogs that I read that may have good or bad news on Ethiopia adoptions. But he wants me to rest in Him alone.
Son, we love you so much already. We pray that you are safe, warm, not hungry, and being well taken care of at this very moment. We cannot wait to meet you :)
If there is anyone that is interested in helping donate to the transition home that the kids live in until they come home please let me know. I am going to try and collect items and trop them off the beginning of November to our adoption agency. Families traveling over there can take them directly to the kids in the trasition home.
Some items needed: Enfamil formula, All sized of disposable diapers, wipes, latex gloves, plastic dolls, crayons, food activity sets, and toy cars.
Thanks!
-Kelli
Son-
Well, it has been a busy couple of months. Your Auntie Alyssa is getting married September 2nd. We are busy with wedding showers, and planning for the big day. Auntie Alyssa is going to look absolutely gorgeous and I can wait to show you pictures of her special day.
For Fathers day this year we had a a BBQ at Grandma Bonnie's and Papa Tim's house:) Your dad watched the US Open golf tournament and we talked about how fun it will be for him to take you to the 2015 US Open in Tacoma.
Your Uncle Curt and Aunt Katie were here from California for a couple of weeks. We had so much fun with them and miss them so much already. They cannot wait to meet you and are praying for you .
This last weekend I ran in a Ragnar Relay race. It was definitely the hardest race I have ever done, but really fun and I got to run in a gorgeous part of the state that I had never seen before.
The biggest news for the last month is that we are moving closer to holding you and having you home. We moved from number 11 on the waiting list to number 8!! Praising God that there are 3 families that are going to have their baby boys home soon and Praising God that you are that much closer to being home with us. Lucy and Madeline talk about you all the time. They talk about where your room will be and how they will help take care of you and play with you . They are soooo excited to have a little brother.
Nana Lisa, Papa Brian, Grandma Bonnie, and Papa Tim are so excited to meet you and have another grandchild. We all love you and cant wait to have you home. We are all praying for you and that you are well taken care of. Love you to the moon and back!
Love,
Mom
