Still My Baby

But today he is TWO!!

This evening (the 21st) Davis and I had the house to ourselves for a little while, and all he wanted was for me to hold him and dance with him and sit with him. There might have been some singing involved. He may have been holding his blanket and sucking on his pacifier as well. (I know. I know.)

But he is still my sweet baby. Even though he is so big.

And I had the thought while I was holding him, on the night before his birthday, that it hardly matters that mine were not the first arms that held him. It matters only so much that I hold that thought in wonder for just a moment. A moment of gratitude.

Now he is two. And we are two, dancing in the light of the Christmas tree.

Please. Come.

Reaching Hands Adoption Benefit Auction from Warren Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Live-Blogging Halloween

How's the Pumpkin Carving, Faith?

It's good. Good and yuck. It is really disgusting.

And David just mentioned something about carving Hello Kitty's mouth?

Happy Halloween

Finally, Fall

First Fall Color on the Pear Blossom Tree



And so it goes

The Moment I Knew I Had Lost My Mind

Yesterday, Davis and I were running football plays in the playroom. Davis was Mark Ingram, and I was the rest of the Bama offense and we were in the wildcat formation.

David said, "Maybe Davis could be a quarterback."

I said, "I don't think he has that kind of mobility."(?!)

And David said, "He's not even two."

Some of that jumping up and down I did during the game this weekend must have knocked something loose.

Faith went a little crazy this weekend, too. Or so she says. She attempted to swing on the monkeybars after I told her not to go near them. She was punished by life via gravity with a fall and a very, very minor (thank goodness) injury. Later I was talking to her about how important it is to listen and OBEY us, particularly since many of our commands are meant to keep her safe.

She said, "Mama, right before I did that my mind went very blurry."

An insanity defense is not going to work when witnesses have already testified that the last thing you said before the crime was "Hey, look at me!"

Wow.

Today is Faith's first day of kindergarten!?


We have been talking about this day for a long time. But somehow it was still difficult to part ways at the classroom door. Difficult for me, anyways. Faith was totally fine.

For all of Faith's first days of school I have gone to atlanta bread, so I continued the tradition this year and took my date there. Nothing gets you over my-big-girl-is-not-my-baby-anymore like the current little guy loving all over you. He is always thrilled to have mama to himself, and today he lounged all over my lap and hugged my neck to his little heart's content. It was a little too PDA. But who cares. These days fly.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

We Heart Cow Day

David in Addis - Part One

Here are some photos David took while in Addis. This slideshow contains images of the clinics where doctors, med students, and nurses worked alongside incountry staff.

David in Addis from Leslie Bullington on Vimeo.

The Last Word

Faith started complaining about tonight's entree as soon as I set the kids' plates down. I told her, "You don't need to complain - You need to say thank you very much, Mama, for the delicious meal you prepared for us with love."

And Davis said, "Ah - men."

This Blog is Making Me a Liar

I know I promised good, NEW stuff this past week and did not deliver. It is still coming soon. . and it is good and new. Hang in, please.

There and Back Again

David is back from his two week stay in Ethiopia, and we are all back at home from an unplanned vacation to Mema and Pop-pop's that we took courtesy of our broke down Air Conditioning Unit. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

David's trip went really, really well. He took some wonderful pictures and video of Addis that we will put on the BB soon, along with travel stories from the JOURNAL he kept while there (I am so impressed. Seriously.)

In the meantime, check out our friend Shannon Kennedy's blog. We did a family photo session with her a few weeks ago, and she has posted some lovely photos of Faith and David here and here.

What is Up?

Not much is happening here on the Board right now, except for the sweet blog renovation that is in process. (Thanks, Becky!) But there is a whole bunch happening in our lives. Expect some major news and posts next week, and merci beaucoup for your patience with us.

Where We've Been and Where We're Going

Here is a link to a beautiful video highlighting the work of Project ACT - a ministry that serves AIDS survivors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

http://theater.15four.com/ethiopia/

David will be providing non-medical support to the docs on mission there when he visits Ethiopia this summer. I love this video, also, because it depicts daily life in Addis, and it is always great to see Davis' home town.

And Friday and Saturday We Came Home

Friday morning we had our own special, private appointment scheduled at the embassy to try again to get Davis' visa. We took another just-us bus ride over and went through the checkpoints and waiting rooms again before gaining access to the visa processing area. There were a few tense moments for us when our guide, Robel, had to talk one checkpoint monitor into letting us up, since Friday was not the usual day for handling adoption stuff, but aside from that everything went smoothly. We had to wait a little while before our interview, and I remember talking to Robel during that time about how cool it is that he is a part of the story of so many kids all over the U.S. (He also does some wonderful work with children in Addis that you can read more about here.) Then we breezed through our interview and got our treasured papers. So much for all the high drama of earlier in the week. Obviously, I wasted some worry on that one.

Later on in the morning we rejoined our group for a tour of a coffee plant (see photos here) and went to a restaurant called the Lemontree. Then we went back to the guesthouse to pack and get ready for our evening flight. I had some teary moments on our bus ride to the airport, as I did feel sadness over Davis losing his original homeland on top of all the other losses he had experienced in his first few months of life. It is a strange place, this adoption place. Someone at an adoption conference we went to called it the intersection of light and darkness, and I was feeling that very strongly as we were leaving Ethiopia.

We had a long wait for our flight, but we were so very happy that our travel had not been delayed by the paperwork issues that this was no problem at all. And then we boarded our plane. Some families had bassinettes near them for their babies, and we had an empty seat between us that made this long 16-hour flight manageable. Davis slept most of the time, sometimes on the seat between us, and David and I were able to sleep some as well. We had a few hours lay-over in D.C. before boarding our last plane. That flight seemed to take no time at all and finally we were at the airport and so close to home.

At the airport I changed Davis into the outfit I had chosen for his homecoming, and we made the walk down the long wide hallway that led to the baggage claim area. It was at the end of this hallway where we could see our friends and family waiting.

Faith had had a wonderful time at my parents house while we were away, but there were definitely signs that she was missing us. The last few times we called her she refused to talk to one or both of us, and there was no bribe sweet enough to tempt her into a conversation. She told my mom, "I'll talk to them when they get here." I guess this was her way of coping. We had told friends and family to let Faith be the first one to greet us, and I could see her at the front of the pack as we were walking towards those who had gathered to see our son. She began walking towards us, and then I saw her expression kind of freeze and she turned and ran a short distance behind the others. Since she was supposed to be the first to come to us, everyone hung back a few beats before coming closer to us to see our baby boy. We were so proud of our son, and so happy to share this long awaited homecoming with our friends and family.

After a little while, Faith was still hanging out behind everyone and sitting on her own. I went over to speak with her, and she started crying and then yelling, "NO! NO! NO!" when I picked her up. Not exactly how I had envisioned our happy homecoming, but I understood that she was just overwhelmed. I held her tightly for a few moments and took her to an out-of-the-way spot by some vending machines and spoke calmly to her until she quieted down. After that she was her regular happy self again and excited about her brother and about being a big sister.

I was proud of her for having done so well during the long week without us, and I was so glad that we were together again!
A big "Thank You!" to Carrie for taking these photos.

All Shall Be Well - Thursday

We woke up Thursday morning with a renewed sense of peace that I know had its source in all the prayers that had been spoken over us both by the people in our travel group and those who prayed over the whole trip before and during - thank you, friends! Throughout this journey and our whole adoption process I really felt a whole new dimension of God's presence. Emmanuel - God With Us. We prayed for His strength to be great in our weakness, and He fulfilled that promise in a way that was completely life-altering. Not because we were adopting, but because we were resting in Him in a new way.

It was a national holiday in Ethiopia - I can't even tell you what it was about since I was preoccupied with my beautiful baby boy. We were scheduled to visit the orphanage where Davis was before he came to the transitional home, but it turned out that the holiday somehow made a visit impossible. At the time, I was fine with missing the orphanage. Davis was in such great shape healthwise that I was a little concerned about taking him there. Also, I don't believe he was there for very long before he came to the transitional home. Now, I wish we had been able to go for several reasons - we know so little about his story that it would have been good to have that piece to share with him as well. Also I wish we had a chance to meet and thank his first caretakers.

So instead we went shopping. While some of the group went to the mall, several families rode to a different shopping area than we had been before. We were able to buy a dress for Faith and a few outfits for Davis. Then we went for a long lunch at Metro Pizza. The food was good and the company delightful, as usual.

Sometime that day we stood on the roof of our guesthouse and took some video of Addis. Some of that footage is contained in the following - our video tribute to Addis Ababa - which means "New Flower":

Addis Ababa from Leslie Bullington on Vimeo.

Back to Africa - Wednesday was the Longest Day

Wednesday was supposed to be a relatively light day. Our whole group had an embassy appointment in the morning to pick up the paperwork we needed to bring our kids back to the U.S. and nothing much going on after that. We met our guide, Robel, and the other families in the lobby and got on the bus for the short ride to the embassy.

When we arrived we made our way through a couple of different check points and waiting areas until we were left in a room with about ten rows of chairs, a TV, and a small play area on the floor. One by one they called out the names of the families in our group to go upstairs to another room for a brief interview and to receive the all-important envelope they needed to present to immigration along with their children's visas. After a while, all of the other families in our group had finished their appointments. Families adopting children through other agencies were arriving, and the room started to fill up. Our guide, Robel, finally told us that there was some problem with our papers and that we would have to wait a little longer. He made plans to send the rest of the group on the bus back to the guesthouse, so he could wait with us. It was hard to watch everyone else leave without us, but we weren't that worried at this point. We gave Robel all of the papers we had with us so that he could discuss things with the embassy officials and clear up the issue.

He took those upstairs and we sat down to wait next to a couple who was adopting twins.

After another half hour or so Robel appeared again and told us that there was no point in waiting, that the problems were not going to be solved within hours as we had hoped.

So we spent the afternoon at the Hilton on the phone with the national visa center in the U.S. and our agency trying to fix the problem. The next day the embassy was going to be closed due to an Ethiopian holiday, so we felt that we were up against the wall trying to get this worked out before Friday, the day we were supposed to be leaving.

On top of the stress of trying to arrange for Davis' papers, Davis had his one horrible, horrible diaper of the trip. It was all over me, all over him, all over. So I had to send David to the gift shop to get a new shirt for me and then changed him on the counter in the bathroom.

The afternoon drained away quickly. By the end of it we had assurance from our agency folks in the states that all would be well and that we would be able to bring our boy home on Friday. But since we did not hold our son's papers and visa in our hands, I wasn't totally convinced and still felt a little defeated as we left the Hilton to return to the guest house. David and I discussed how we would deal with things if we were not able to travel with him - one of us would stay in Ethiopia and come home later after Davis was given clearance. I felt guilty for having any negative feelings at this point since we had only the day before been given our wonderful, beautiful son. Our wonderful, beautiful daughter was so far away and even though I knew if we had to we could manage just fine - I had no fear of traveling alone or staying in Ethiopia with Davis - I was sick over the options. Staying with Davis meant missing Faith for longer, which was impossible, and leaving Davis was impossible, too.

When David and I arrived back at the guest house the Garner family was there in the lobby since they had graciously waited for us to go to dinner. The Bayly's were able to go with us, too, so we all walked to a restaurant down the street called the zebra grill where the food was very fresh. David had a spicy hamburger that was pretty tasty. I can't even remember what I ate, but I do remember feeling very spent. I also remember that we had a fun time trying to figure out everyone's share of the dinner bill, and that our waitress very sweetly offered me use of the restaurant office to change Davis.

Davis settled down very easily for this night, too, and we all got some very much needed rest.

Intermission

We'll be suspending the play-by-play for a few days, but the adventure is far from over so check back next week. In the meantime, you could go back and watch our gotcha day video.

For now I give you Miss Funny Faith -

"Mama, I just now decided that I don't want to be a pilot anymore."

Wow, she's been claiming pilot as her chosen profession for the last two years. What now?

"I just want to be a regular mama. If I get kids," [long pause] "but what if my belly gets big but I don't know and don't go to the hospital?"

What?! Has she been watching TLC?

Gotcha

Tuesday morning we went to the Hilton for our "paperwork party." If you enjoy parties where you scrutinize government forms that must be completed very precisely a paperwork party is for you! It wasn't that bad - the weather was beautiful, and we ate outside in a lovely courtyard while our wonderful AW staff member Duni talked us through all of the forms we needed to complete to finalize visas for our kids. When we started our adoption process Duni was our family coordinator, but while we were waiting she was promoted to basically being in charge of the process in Ethiopia.

When we entered the Hilton David noticed the Rotary club emblem posted outside the building, so he investigated a little and ended up attending the Rotary meeting. Maybe he'll share a little about that if he stops by the BB later.

While we were working on the papers Duni mentioned something to me about the embassy not having our updated fingerprints. I told her I thought that problem had been solved during the last few weeks.

After we finished the forms and eaten lunch we got on the bus and went to the transition home for the big reunion. When they brought Davis out to us this time he was wearing a sweet pink onesie with a poodle on it and the words, "Miss Fluffy's Salon." Ha. We held him for a little while, and then his nanny came in. She had brought gifts for him - a scarf embroidered with "I heart Ethiopia," a wooden cross threaded on a black cord, and a picture of Ethiopian musicians in some kind of silver metal. She had also written a note for him in English telling him how she loved him. I was very surprised by these gifts and overwhelmed by her love and kindness for our son.

We had brought gifts for Davis' caretakers that we were able to give to them, and we'd also brought a few care packages from waiting parents for a few of the other babies in the transition home. We were able to find those children, love on them, and take pictures of them for their families. This was a favor we'd been ready to pay forward for a while, since a few families had made special deliveries like this for us.

We were able to stay for a while in the room where Davis had lived. We saw his bed - a metal crib in the corner with a few blankets in it. In a room full of children and nannies, it looked so lonely. Even though I could see and feel the love in that space, it was, of course, not a home.

The last thing we did before we left was change Davis out of his "Miss Fluffy" outfit and into the blue one piece "tough guy" outfit we had brought for him to wear. His old clothes would be left there, as they belonged to the transition home. Never has getting clothes on a squirmy baby meant so much.

As we were leaving the transitional home we could see Davis' nanny along with some of the other caretakers weeping on the front porch as we rode away. Some of them, including Davis' nanny, were saying goodbye to a few children who had been in their care. I have so much respect for these women, who love these little ones so deeply.

Davis was happy enough on the bus, and, really, happy enough all the time from then on. He was healthy and seemed to have the sweet disposition I had been praying for him all along. The very first thing we were told about Davis - and the thing that first made me think he was his daddy's boy - was that he had a social smile. He did indeed smile and laugh often, and he seemed to attach very easily to us. I don't know if this is because of the great relationship he had with his nanny, the fact that he LOVED his bottle so much that anyone holding it was fine by him, or simply grace. Though we had been told he woke up a few times a night to eat, we put him down for the night around 10, and I woke up before him the next morning. He slept in a little Moses basket right next to our bed, and when we first placed him in it he gently shook his head a few times and went right to sleep. This self-soothing that he did made me a little sad, as I pictured him calming himself this way in that little bed without anyone to comfort him. I was overjoyed to be able to be taking over that job from now on.

Monday - We meet our son

As we were watching video of our trip last night, I felt so disconnected from the images on the screen - particularly the ones of the transitional home where Davis was before we went to get him. While the images are real, they fall so short of showing the spirit of that place that it is just a hopeless reduction of the experience of being there. I feel the same way about even telling our travel stories, which may explain why even after a year it is still so hard to put all this into words. Anyway, for the record. . .

On Monday morning we met in the guesthouse lobby with the five other families adopting through our agency and our guide, Robel. We got on the bus and went shopping at the "Post office area." It felt very odd to just be going shopping on the morning of the DAY WE WERE GOING TO MEET OUR CHILD. This was a marketplace with shops set up in stalls. I can't tell you how much I like to blend in, and this was definitely not a place where that was an option for us. The shopkeepers were all very solicitous, and we bought a few wool animals and admired many more items such as some beautiful scarves and dresses. We also bought a few paintings of typical Ethiopian scenes - a woman spinning wool and some Ethiopian musicians. The woman who sold us the artwork tried to teach us something about the pictures, but we could not really understand her. That was the first of many times when I wished I had made more of an effort to learn some amharic.

Then we went to lunch at the Lucy museum restaurant. David and I split our first of several pizzas. It was pretty spicy. Robel had a pizza as well, but first he covered his with hot sauce! This was also the first of several three-hour lunches we had while in Ethiopia. Robel told us that there is a saying in Ethiopia that "Europeans have the clocks but Africans have the time." This definitely seemed to be the case. The free flow of time was one of the biggest cultural differences we experienced, and in many ways it was great to feel completely apart from the strict schedules we normally keep. But I do remember that it seemed like FOREVER before we left this restaurant and started for the transitional home to meet our kids.

Finally we did find ourselves on the bus moving through traffic towards the transitional home. We went from the wide busy city streets, crowded with people, cars, and animals to a more residential area. The homes here were surrounded by walls and gates, and finally we reached a green gate with the America World sign in front. The gate swung open and we all got off of the bus as quickly as we could and stood in a small courtyard in front of the building.

We were told the babies would come out in alphabetical order by the family's last name. First up were the only first time parents of the group, the Baylys. Then it was our turn and out came the nanny carrying the sweetest, most beautiful boy in the world. Our Berhanu - our light. He was perfect. I held him first and he settled right in. It all felt really, really natural. And amazing. And all of the time we waited and all of the paperwork and waiting anxiety seemed so distant and insignificant next to even the first moment we shared with our son.

After a short time David held his son, and we settled down on the grass to enjoy first-time family time. Davis was an absolute dear. I started holding him up and tickling him and his sweet laughter charmed everyone around, particularly his proud parents. We met his nanny, a very kind young woman whose name I kept unfortunately mispronouncing (again, regret about the language thing. Why didn't I study? I had a LONG time to do so.) She had an obvious love for our boy. We asked her a few questions about his habits with Robel translating, and she asked if we had other children. She posed for pictures with Davis and tossed him up and down to make him laugh.

The afternoon went quickly. Soon we were asked to deliver the children back into the hands of the nannies and board the bus. It was hard to kiss Davis goodbye, but it seemed reasonable to wait one more day to take him with us in hopes of having an easier transition for him. The ladies in the group were taken to a spa for massages and manicures while the guys hung out at some kind of cafe. Then we went back to the hotel and were told to get ready to go out for a traditional Ethiopian meal.

Here is something I'm not real proud of - I was exhausted at this point. We had yet to be able to speak with Faith since we had gotten there, and I was really desperate for that. I was missing her so much and so worried that she was not even understanding where we were or what was going on, even though we had tried very hard to tell her. I may have been a little overwrought and I might have told David that he had to find out how we could get in touch with our family, and that I just could not do another thing that day. David and I had also both brought nasty colds with us on this trip, so there was that added yuck as well. So on my account we missed the only traditional meal of the trip and gave up the chance for invaluable memories to share with our son one day. I am still a little bummed about it, in case you couldn't tell. We were able to speak with family, though, and it probably did me good to rest before the next day when we GOT Davis for keeps. More on GOTCHA day tomorrow !!

Beautiful Day

Today we are celebrating GOTCHA DAY! Hopefully I'll be able to continue our day-by-day Ethiopia travel account this afternoon. It is so sweet to spend time thinking about that wonderful moment when we held our son for the first time - a moment of redemption for us and for him.

Arrival

I just found the notes I made while on the trip last year, so this is what I wrote about last May 23rd-24th. Some of this overlaps yesterday a bit:

We flew from Columbia to Washington with a lot of soldiers. When we were walking through the terminal to our gate I heard a man talking on a phone saying, "Our boy is a man today! He is a soldier! I am so proud!"

The pilot on the flight, (Faith will be happy to hear we had a lady pilot as she wants to be a pilot one day,) did a nice job of recognizing the servicemen and women and encouraging all of us to applaud them.

The flight from D. C. to Addis was full and the group of passengers very diverse. There were ladies in traditional dress and little girls in Hannah Montana and Dora outfits. The announcements and conversations we heard on the flight gave us our first opportunity to hear the amharic language.

When we arrived in Addis we had no trouble collecting our bags, changing money, and getting visas. We met the Garners of Tennessee, also adopting through America World, in the baggage claim area and along with them and the Mullins family we quickly found our guide, T, holding a sign for us in the main terminal area. Many families were reuniting with their relatives in this area, and there were many cheek kisses and hugs for those who were clearly coming home.

Post from David: Looks like Leslie got it all right but I'll add some of my thoughts/memories too. The flight wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. We had taken some DVD's and borrowed a laptop from the Hu's and we didn't even watch them or use the laptop on the flight. I remember being surprised at how many people were on our plane and in the airport. It was nice to see T with his sign for us so quickly among all the people there. While we waited for everyone to arrive I enjoyed a Coke Light from the bottle, it was perfect. What I wasn't prepared for was the air outside. It was very dry and smelled of smoke and dust. We found our way to our Toyota mini-van that would drive us to our quarters for the week. It was amazing to see how they stacked the luggage of 3 families on top of that van. I rode shotgun and immediately discovered a unique trend in Addis. It's very popular to have fur covering the dashboard. This serves to protect it and add a little style to the ride. When we arrived at our room I remember being so tired yet so anxious to meet Davis the next day. We could hardly wait.

Going!

On April 30th of last year we became the legal parents of Davis in the eyes of the Ethiopian courts. For some reason, David and I both were sure we were not going to "pass court" on this, our first attempt, so though we had been given "tentative travel dates" for the end of May we pretty much ignored them. So after the shock wore off that we had indeed passed court and he was indeed our son we began to be in shock about the fact that we had three weeks to get ready to go! Not only did we have to pack, we also had to ensure that one last document - our updated fingerprints - reached the U.S. embassy in Ethiopia before we did so that we would be able to bring Davis home. After a few weeks of phone call after phone call to various government officials, including all of our congressmen and senators, we did receive confirmation that the fingerprints were there and we were good to go.

So last May 23rd - on that Saturday morning - we checked the bags one last time, packed them in the car, and started the longest journey of our lives to get our boy.

We had arranged for my parents to come and get Faith, so she could leave us instead of us having to leave her. They arrived in the morning, and she was really ready to go be with them. We'd done a lot of talking about the trip and even made a paper chain to demonstrate how many days we would be gone, but I still wasn't sure how much she could understand. I was definitely worried about leaving her, though I knew she would be well cared for by Mema and Pop Pop.

It was very strange after all of the frantic preparations of the previous weeks and months to just sit. We flew from Columbia, SC to Washington D. C. and once we found our gate there we met up with the Mullins family who were adopting through the same agency and therefore would be with us for the week. David and I were trying to emphasize the mindset that we were having nice couple time together (as opposed to David's nervous-flying mindset and both of our so-ready-to-see-our-baby mindset) as we tried to fake a date in an airport restaurant. It sort of worked and soon we boarded the plane that would take us halfway around the world to our son's first home, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Closing In

On one year home with Davis!

This time last year we were frantically packing and getting ready to go pick up our beautiful boy.

I didn't post many details of our trip last year. We didn't have much internet access when we were there, and we were pretty overwhelmed when we got home. There was a lot about our time in Ethiopia and having a new little one that I just needed to live in for a while before I could make some sense of it.

So here we go - one year later I'm going to try to go day-by-day through our journey. The Bullington Board leaves for Africa tomorrow! I'm starting to feel like I'm writing for Lost. Because here comes some real time stuff:

We went to the beach last weekend and had a wonderful time. Faith and Davis had a blast playing in the sand, and jumping in the surf. Well, Faith loved jumping in the surf. Davis liked pointing at the waves and grunting in an affronted kind of way, as in why-is-there-water-coming-into-my-beautiful-sandbox? He came around to sticking his toes in, but that was about all. In other news he learned to say "No" and shake his head at the same time so he could forcefully object every time I asked him if he wanted to go swimming.

Here's a few Faith funnies from the trip:

When David did a handstand in the pool Faith got very stern with him. "You can't do that here, Daddy, I saw signs with a man doing that with a line through it!" [no diving]

She told me one morning, "I had a bad dream last night!" When I asked her what happened she sadly shook her head and said "Mama, you don't even want to hear it." And she spoke no more.

My Boys

Could they be any sweeter?

Only on Vacation

Mama

For years I prayed to be given children, to become a mother. And it didn't happen. For years.

And then we decided to adopt. And then we were THAT couple, who everyone knows, who got pregnant while we were waiting to adopt.

And now the little girl who made us THAT couple asks me a million questions everyday. Because I know everything.

And now we have our sweet baby boy who gives me a thousand new reasons an hour to love being "Ma - Ma" again.

I'm thanking God for this happy mother's day.

Oh, Dear

This week I was grocery shopping with both my kids and the lady working at the deli was making a big, big deal about Davis.

"He is just the cutest, most adorable thing there is!!"

Then she looked over at Faith.

"And she looks just like you."

One Year Ago Today

We passed court! Davis' face appeared on the BB for the first time in the video we posted that day, and Faith's reaction to legally becoming his sister - so sweet!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Robel

One of the great things about having some paperwork complications in Ethiopia (well, the only great thing) was getting some extra quality time with our awesome guide, Robel. He has a ministry that serves children living on the streets in Addis Ababa, and you can read more of his story on My Crazy Adoption .

Don't Touch the Bullington Board

because right now it is covered in yuck germs from our repeated rounds with various illnesses. Hopefully we will be back again soon with some decent posts. I have some more adoption stuff coming up soon including notes from the seminar we went to in February and some big anniversaries - we're celebrating Court Day next week, the day Davis legally became a Bullington. The really big ones - Metya Day and Gotcha day - are coming up next month!! Wow!!!

EGG-stra EGG-citing EGG-stravaganza

If you ever think that it is wisely frugal to purchase egg dying kits after Easter to use the following year - think again. For you too may be cursed with indissoluble color pellets and, consequently, eggs with unsightly speckles and/or the evil eye.



I love Easter eggs! Hate the bunny (don't get me started,) but love, love, love the eggs. I also love dressing the kids up and posing them for charming photos like the following. Behold the love:

There are more photos like this on our dropshots page where you can witness more Bullington family fun (as long as you know where we live.)

And this deserves a separate post (or at least a decent transition,) but you three will forgive me for tacking it on here: Andrew Peterson posted a beautiful Easter song to the Rabbit Room blog yesterday. Take a look and listen here.

Zoo Day

I took the kids to the zoo last week, and, boy, was it ever awesome. Here's one of our favorite moments:

And the only thing cuter than the baby giraffe

was Davis when I said, "Say 'cheese!'"