SATURDAY, MARCH 27th

Ready to see the rest of my family.

Daddy hugging Maura for the first time!

It is good to be HOME!

On the shuttle on the way to get the car

LiLi waiting to open her Gotcha Day gift

Happy 4th Gotcha Day Ming Li Strawn Thornley!!

Don't you LOVE my M&M pants??

Beautiful Cake and even more delicious!

Our nightly storytime together as a family!

Maura...you have the BEST Daddy in the world!

We are HOME! I think we made record time going through Immigration, Customs and Baggage Claim after landing. Did it all in about an hour. Maura did have one episode on the plane when she was tearful and crying..very understandable under the circumstances. She knows she is "going to America" but I'm sure she doesn't understand the finality of it all. George, Bella and Anna were waiting for us with 2 big signs...one that LiLi made before leaving for Ethiopia that said "Welcome Home Maura Genet" and one that Anna made for LiLi that said "Happy Gotcha Day". Four years ago today we were in China picking up our beautiful 16 month old baby girl! How time flies~

Maura Genet went right up to George and said, "Daddy". She then started naming the other family members...pointing to them and saying Bella and Anna. It took us about 3 hours to get back to Philly..after stopping for lunch at one of the interstate restaurants. Her first meal in America was from Popeye's Chicken..a fried drumstick and corn on the cob! :) In honor of LiLi's Gotcha Day, we ordered Chinese and had it delivered to us. I had ordered her a cake prior to leaving for Ethiopia. George had picked it up so we celebrated together at home as a family of 6.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

FRIDAY, MARCH 26TH

LiLi and Maura with our driver, Jarod
(LiLi loved him and he was great with the kids)

Hope's House

LOVE LOVE that smile!

Posing with Shimiless

Staff at Faith's Home with Maura

Posing with Samira (LiLi thought she was beautiful)

Lisa and Maura

Love this picture!

Getting ice cream sundaes after checking out the hotel

waiting to go to the airport!

Bye Bye Ethiopia!

Today is our last day in Ethiopia. I am definitely ready to go home..but mostly just to see my family. I'm so glad that LiLi and I made the trip and that I will be able to discuss Bella and Maura's birth country with them having a little more history.

Tooday we went back to Hope's Home to pick up Maura's Ethiopian passport and American visa. I was able to meet Shimeless, the owner of Hope Adoption, while I was there. He answered several of my questions related to adoption and Ethiopian culture. It was good to meet him and see that he truly cares for these children. The kids had a blast playing with tiny soccer balls in the courtyard with Jarod (our driver). It's amazing how simple things can be so much fun! We then went to Faith's Home (Maura's orphanage) for her to say goodbye one last time. I had the workers at the orphange explain to Maura that she was going to get on a huge airplane and travel to America tonight. She seemed to understand..we will see.

We also took a trip too the lion zoo in Addis Ababa. We had to pay a small fee wo get in but then pay a larger one to be able to take pictures. It was a very small zoo but had several lions, deer, monkeys, etc. They also had a small area with rides, such as ferris wheels..but I wouldn't let the kids ride them. :)

Since we brought so many orphanage donations, we have plenty of room and less bags to take back. That is definitely a good thing.

The next time I will post, we will be back in Philadelphia. It will also be LiLi's 4th Gotcha Day!

THURSDAY, MARCH 25TH

Photos of the streets in Addis Ababa

Doing the Hokey Pokey

Today was our BIG day! We had our Visa appointment! We were told that it was at 1215 so we were waiting for our driver at about 11:30. When he didn't come...Lisa called him and he told us that he received a call and that our appt. had been changed till 2. We ended up getting to the US Embassy at about 1:45. We waited in a fairly small room with at least a dozen other families. They had a teeny tiny play area that about 15 kids were using. There was a young couple there that was adopting two teenage kids...i thought that was great. Our agency rep, Samira, met us there. They went over the specifics regarding why Maura Genet was placed for adoption. The US Embassy officials ask you to tell them why your child was placed for adoption. They want to make sure you know the facts. LiLi, Lisa, Maura Genet and myself went up to the window when we were called. They did indeed ask me to tell them the specifics. They then told me that at her US Embassy doctor appt a couple of weeks ago...that the doctor said that there was a good chance she may be a little bit older than 5. They asked me if ,"we were okay with that". I was like seriously..of course it is. Apparently some families have denied keeping a child when they find out that they are older than they were previously told. When we were walking into the US Embassy, we saw about 25 Ethiopians sitting on fold up chairs under a tent waiting to be called in for their appt. I thought it was kind of sad that they were all sitting in the hot air while we walked right in. Since we had to wait quite awhile...LiLi had to go potty. This was the ONE time that I forgot my toiley seat covers. There was no paper and it was not a place for her to potty at all. She took one look and said.."I'll hold it". :) That's my girl~



It was good to hear the lady tell me, "your daughter's visa paperwork has been approved". After the appt., we headed back to the hotel for the pool. It was a great afternoon!



Our driver picked us up at 6:00 to go to dinner at Cara and Jason's house. They are also a Nightlight Christian Adoption family who is actually living in Ethiopia right now as missionaries. They have 2 daughters who are 5 and 7. They have court next week for their two boys, I think they are 1 and3. They are a great family. We had a great dinner with them. The kids loved running around outside, as well as, playing Barbies inside. Cara and Jason had been to the orphanage several times to visit their boys. While there they played games with the children...so we all played a game where you skip around a circle with a stuffed animal under your shirt and then you drop the stuffed animal behind someone and they have to throw it and try to tag you. The kids, and adults, had a blast playing this and the hokey pokey. Don't worry..pictures to follow!



We had a GREAT day.