We made it! The flight was very uneventful…if you count “sleeping” as an event. Both of them fell sleep early on and things were looking to be smooth sailing (err, flying). However, both woke up within a few hours due to reorienting, some bumps, and other annoying plane noises. 🙁 The last 6 hours seemed more like 16…

BUT we survived and are in the van towards Eldoret! Both kids are sleeping and both parents wish they could!

After waking up Andy caught up on some emails…

At the time of our post Eden had not been to see the doctor.  At her appointment she weighed 26 lbs, 2 ounces and was 34 1/2 inches long.  She gained 2 1/2 pounds and grew two inches since her 18 month check-up!

On Sunday we celebrated Eden’s second birthday! She is very grown up these days.  She is talking in complete sentences and does a great job explaining herself when we don’t understand her.  She recently started saying while Ben is watching the Colts play on Sunday: “after Dada’s football done, I want watch Elmo.” And she is understanding more and paying attention to what is going on around her.  Last night Eden asked Ben for more juice and Ben said he needed to check with me.  Eden turned to me right away and said, “Say yes Mama!”

She still loves to climb and sing and takes particular pleasure in accomplishing things by herself.  She recently mastered the skill of pulling her pants up and down which has made potty time much easier on Mommy and Daddy.  🙂  Eden really enjoys playing with Andy now, especially tag.  Eden runs to Andy, hits him, then runs the opposite direction so that Andy crawls after her.  We got some great two year pictures, but this one really captured Eden.

Yesterday Eden turned 23 months. She is learning things so quickly now and loves to repeat everything that we say. Her new obsession is with VeggieTales.  She walks around the house singing the theme song, and we’re not allowed to listen to any other music in the car. She walks up and down the stairs now instead of crawling and has only rolled down them once. 🙂 My favorite new character trait is the ‘tattle-tale’. She must be related to her mother because she constantly tattles on Andy when she catches him doing something he’s not allowed to do. We often hear her saying, “No, no, no Andy!” as she rips something out of his hands.

She was a good “helper” today while we raked the front yard until she discovered how much fun the piles of leaves are and started playing instead of helping.

One year ago today, Eden came home! It seems like a long time ago that we brought that tiny little baby home and now she is so big!  We really appreciate all of the help and support that we’ve been given over the last year.  We are certainly blessed to have so many people that love our kids!

We had a small Gotcha Day Party over the weekend and Eden had a wonderful time. We had several traditional Kenyan dishes and a cake. We put together a scrapbook for Eden of memories and stories from this past year and would love it if any of you would like to share some of your favorite moments with Eden.

Before Eden came home I wrote several letters to her so that if we weren’t able to adopt her she would have some record of what she was like as a baby and where she came from, etc. Below is the letter that I wrote one year ago on the afternoon that she came home.

October 14, 2009

Eden,
YEA!! You came home today!! Whew! It was a long process, but we did it! We went to court on Monday and saw the magistrate. She signed the order granting us custody and guardianship of you. We thought that was it and rushed back to the hospital to bring you home. However, when we got there we were told that the District Children’s Officer had to sign off on us taking you home. It was already after 5 which meant we would have to see him on Tuesday. We went first thing on Tuesday morning and spent a very frustrating 30 minutes with Phillip listening to him talk about how he was too busy to write the letter that day. He said we would have to go back to the magistrate for you to be handed over to us.

So this morning we went to STPC at 8:30. Vivian came in on her day off to get you ready and go to see the magistrate with us. Joyce (the social worker) was also there and Milkah (the attorney) came with us because Ware (our normal attorney) couldn’t attend this morning. You haven’t been feeling well (not too sure what you have but you are on amoxicillin and a cough expectorant) and you haven’t eaten very well recently. And the last couple of days every time you cough really hard you throw up. I hope this sensitive gag reflex is short-lived! You wouldn’t eat anything this morning before we left. I think you were nervous, too. We all piled in the car and went to court. Once we were there we saw the magistrate and moved through things pretty quickly, then she officially handed you over to us and that was it!

On the way home you ate part of a banana and drank a little guava juice. But when we got home I think you knew that this was it and suddenly felt much better! You ate half a piece of bread, then some cerelax with a banana mashed in. Daddy started moving our things across the street (because we aren’t allowed to have you on IU property) and I cleaned up lunch, then brought you upstairs and gave you milk. You fell asleep on my chest before you even finished your milk and then I put you in your pack-n-play for your first nap at home! I’m sitting on the bed watching you sleep and feeling in complete awe that you are finally home and I’m amazed at all the things God has worked out so that you could be here with us. We love you so much and are so glad that you are finally home with us and a part of our family. We can’t imagine our life without you!

Love,
Mommy