Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Meetcha Day!

We were officially introduced to our newest children on Monday
afternoon here in Ethiopia! It was an amazing afternoon. In this
picture, you cannot really see Kalu, our baby girl but it is the only
picture of the 6 of us. We have lots of pics and video that we will
try to share here on the blog one at a time.

Nate (who goes by Papy for now) is 7 and a kind and fun-loving kid.
He was sweet to give lots of hugs and kisses and wanted to share all
the candy we gave him with his friends at the Transition Home. He
enjoyed playing soccer with Madison and Mike and knows quite a bit of
English words. He understands MUCH of what we say. He 'borrowed'
Madison's camera and took 50+ photos in a short time frame! Madison
was hiding her camera today! :) He can write his name and lots of
numbers. He repeats everything we say in English!

Isaiah (who goes by Kiya) is 4 and has an infectious giggle. Though
he really enjoyed blowing bubbles, playing cars and blowing up
balloons with us, he was careful with his affections yesterday, and
really took to Mike the best. Today he was more open to all of us and
had a blast with Madison back at our Guest House doing 'rocket'
balloons and playing chase.

McKinley (Kalu) was sweet and smiled at us alot. She is very aware of
everything around her and wants to be busy all the time. She is very
content though and only fussed when she was hungry. She has gained
weight and is amazingly strong. She sits very well and crawls fast
when she sees something she wants...like the beach ball.

Tonight we brought the boys home to the Guest House with us. Kalu is
staying at the Transition Home until the US Embassy clears her to get
her Visa. With the boys we have conquered play time, potty time,
meeting new friends, dinner, brushing teeth, pj's and now bedtime.
Pray we have a good night's sleep! Nate refused to take a shower
simply wagging his finger at us like 'no, no, no'.??...we don't have
a bathtub here...so we're not really sure what's up with that. So we
decided to use wipes to get the important places clean and figure that
out later! :)

We are enjoying our time learning about and experiencing the beautiful
and loving people of Ethiopia. And also getting to know the 10 other
families here with us! We also got to see our friends Marla, Jordan,
Mike and Lola today!!! Awesome! We will post pics one at a time with
captions as we have power and internet access. Both are unpredictable
here! :)

We love you and thanks for your prayers. Pray tonight that the judge
will look favorably on Kalu's case tomorrow and let her come home with
us this Friday! It will be a true a miracle if it happens...but we
know if it is His will...nothing can stop it.

And a special note to Matt! We love you and miss you and can't wait
for you to meet your brothers and little sister! the boys love to play
and will think that you are a great big brother! Hugs and Kisses!

Good Night from Addis Ababa!
Beth and Madison (for Mike, Papy and Kiya!)

5 comments:

Julie said...

So glad things are going well and I can't wait to meet your new kiddos. Continued prayes for the court case miracle that will allow McKinley to come home now! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Anonymous said...

Oh my so exciting and you describe it all so well. We love seeing the pictures and hearing. We will pray for things to continue to go well, and for that sweet baby girl to get to come home.
love colliers

dawn said...

So glad to hear that everything is going so well. Pic of your family was awesome. We think & pray for you often. Can't wait to have "all" the Hamilton's back in Knoxville. The Porters

Erica said...

What a wonderful day! I'm praying about the situation with court. I can't wait to see more pics of the kiddos. How funny about the shower - I had to laugh at that as your attitude was just perfect for that moment. I could just picture him wagging his little finger "no, no".

Praying for you,
Erica Reed
AWA YG

Anonymous said...

LOVE the picture! Continuing to pray for all of you - can't wait to get you all back to Knoxville. Love hearing how God is already knitting hearts together. Can't wait to see "Madison's" pictures that she had 'Help' with. Love - the Dennings