Hermela is HOME!

What joy has entered our home through this precious little girl. 

What HOPE can be seen in her life.

She was so shy and reserved at the airport - hardly looking up from her new stuffed bear and probably completely overwhelmed by all the new people, balloons, posters and "HI HERMELA!"s. We moved to baggage claim, took our group picture, and loaded into the car.

As we drove, her eyes were glued on the scenery out the window, fascinated by all the snow! I'm sure she was shocked by the quiet freeway, with lacking Ethiopian-like traffic, beeping, and street-side markets.

Grandpa, Grandma, Jill and Terrie came back to our house to make dinner (which probably felt more like a midnight snack for her).

As soon as she walked into her new home, she lit up. Instantly she began laughing and running around! Her reaction to the dog, Bailey, was priceless! She jumped into the arms of whoever was standing closest, wrapped her legs around them, and held on tight, so that the dog couldn't get her! She then laughed and giggled and laughed some more.

 I couldn't believe how much energy she had as she ran around, clutching her balloons,  for hours. One of the highlight moments was when Bekah said, "Hermela are you tired?" and she mimicked back, "Are you tired?!"in a really funny, sarcastic voice! The "parrot" then continued with all different words and phrases - someone would say something, and she would seemingly mock back.

We took more pictures and found more and more games to play with the balloons before it came time to fall asleep. Hermela brushed her teeth and climbed into bed at about 7:30pm. She was so exhausted, fell asleep instantly and slept all the way until 7am! I think she has adjusted to the time change already ;)

I praise God that I could be here for this momentous occasion in our family's lives. The LORD is going to work in our family in such incredible ways through this little girl - my sister.

-Abbey

...Signing off now. Mom will take over the blog again now :)