Part of my heart

Last night, we watched the video that we took on Addie's birthday last year.  Oh the memories!  It was a special day that I will never forget.  In addition to video of our time with Addie, there was also footage of Addis as we were driving through the city.  Seeing that just made me long to go back.  Ethiopia will always hold a special place in our hearts and I look forward to returning there someday.

I love the sights, sounds, and even the smells of Addis in the morning

 

Our second day with our girl:

Bubbles!

Still not quite sure about Mama...

...but feeling pretty good about Daddy

 

 

Precious baby girl

 

One of my favorite photos of Daddy and daughter

 

Those who have experienced the court to embassy wait know that it is nothing short of brutal.  Going to Ethiopia, meeting your child, falling in love, and then leaving your child is just hard.  Hard.  HARD!  When I look back at the pictures of our time with Addie, I am reminded of how special our time with her was.  In the back of my mind, I knew we would be loving her and then leaving her.  We had done that once before with her sister and it was anything but easy.  As much as I tried to guard my heart this time around, I just couldn't seem to do it.  I'm pretty certain Addie captured both of our hearts almost immediately and there was no way to keep her at arms' length.  Instead, we snuggled her as much as we possibly could in the few days that we were able to spend with her.  Each day when we returned to the transition home, she recognized us.  When we flew home on January 31, part of our hearts remained with our girl in Ethiopia.  That was hard, but it made the reunion and Addie's homecoming just that much more amazing!