We are proud to present our sons Noah Bahu Charvet
& Colton Ubang Charvet!!!
Home March 11th 2012
Noah is 3 years old. He loves playing with his toy "makinas" (car in Amharic) and also likes to try on his new clothes all the time! He has a very sweet spirit and mostly reserved quiet personality. He enjoys all kinds of food (really not a picky eater) but he LOVES anything spicy and with meat!
Colton is 10 months and is the life of the party! He likes to laugh, squeal, and snuggle with mom and dad! He is starting to crawl but really just prefers to be held or put in his carrier! He LOVES drinking his bottles (and you can tell ;-) and has not been introduced to solids yet but we will slowly work into other foods or we will go broke buying formula for this guy!
I am so sorry I have not been better at keeping this blog updated lately. This post has taken me several days because I have had to write it in segments in between babies wanting to be held and lack of good internet connection in Ethiopia well, it's just taking a while.
Here is our "Gotcha" story in a nutshell...
February 29th was our boy's birth mother interview and we were hoping to hear that our case was cleared and we could go get the boys. However, in our disappointment we heard nothing on the 29th. The next morning at 4am we did receive an email from the embassy. WE WERE CLEARED! OUR SONS ARE FINALLY COMING HOME!
The next turn of events happened very quickly. We received an embassy appointment in Ethiopia for March 8th which meant we needed to leave that weekend! So, we got cleared on a Thursday and we were on a plane to bring home our boys on Saturday. We were so very excited however we really didn't have much time to let it all sink in.
I happened to have signed up for an extra shift at the hospital on Thursday and Andrew was working at the fire station. On our breaks at work we were frantically, and I mean frantically contact our travel agent, banks, adoption pediatrician and family trying to sort out last minute details. Since I ALSO had to work Friday we literally had Saturday morning before we left to pack for the four of us and run last minute errands. I had been preparing for this moment for months and months and thought that I was so organized. HA! Packing for a toddler and infant of children you are new parents to definitely had its challenges to say the least.
How much formula should we take for a week? How many diapers does an average 10 month old go through in a day? After researching the answers to my questions I realized that there are so many opinions out there that contradicted each other..."just bring double of everything" I thought.
After an overnight lay over in Dubai we finally arrived in Addis at 11:30 am on Monday (March 5th).
We were totally gross and exhausted but we were really hoping to go right away to pick up our sons. We arrived at the hotel and called Hannah's Hope. They said they would come pick us up in an hour! ONE HOUR!!! After over 2 1/2 months since we last held them they would be in our arms again and forever this time!
We instantly shifted into mom and dad mode and started preparing our hotel room to accommodate our boys and their needs for the week that we would be staying in the hotel with them. We pulled an extra mattress into the master room for Noah to sleep on and just planned on having Colton sleep in between us every night.
The drive back to Hannah's Hope seemed so surreal at the time. I remember that I couldn't really think of anything other than how desperately I wanted to hold our sons again. It had been over 10 weeks since we last saw them. By the time our 5 minute ride to Hannah's Hope was over we would be instant, ready-made parents to a wonderfully perfect 3 year old and 10 month old. Our life was about to drastically change forever and we couldn't be happier!
We pulled into Hannah's Hope through that famous black gate and were escorted into Almaz's office (the director of HH) for a bit of logistical info but don't ask me what she said. I was so distracted and just wanted to go find our sons.
Almaz and some of the special mother's took us to find Bahu first. He had just got done with his nap and was washing up with a group of other children. One of the special mothers told him that his daddy and mama were standing in the hall way and he came out right away. Both Andrew and I knelt down and embraced our sweet son. It was such a sweet moment to hold him again and know that he is now ours! ALL OURS!!!
We then went to find our little Colton Ubang. He was being snuggled by one of the special mother's in the baby room when we walked in. I tried to hold back the tears as I took him in my arms. Oh how we missed these boys and couldn't wait for this moment. Colton immediately laid his head on my chest as to say "finally you have come back for me".
We took the boys around Hannah's Hope so they could say goodbye to their special mothers and then just moments later our driver was ushering us into the van to head back to the hotel. Our sons left their home for the past 5 months with nothing but the clothes on their backs but seemingly happy hearts!
The rest of our time in Ethiopia with the boys is really a big blur to be honest! The week we spent at the hotel was full of new experiences, joys, hardships, ear infections, sicknesses, sleepless days and sleepless nights, laughter, tears, and most of all LOVE!
The boys are really doing exceptionally well transitioning to their new environments and to new parents. We are daily amazed by both our son's resilience and ability to flex with different situations. They have been through so much in their short lives and have endured more hardships and emotional pain than most of us have gone through in our adult lives.
We left Ethiopia with our sons on March 10th and embarked on our over 35 hour journey home to Seattle! ( dreaded airplane story to follow shortly)
Congratulations! That's so wonderful that they are home.
ReplyDeleteGreat story! They are beautiful. Sibs are THE BEST!! :-)
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