Today we celebrate Bruk’s first birthday!

We actually celebrated with him while we were there, knowing that we would be in back in NC without him on his birthday, July 30th.

This sweet set up came from one of the guys who works at the guest house, Alex.  We told him we were celebrating Bruk’s 1st birthday and an immediate smile came to his face. He asked us to wait for him in the dinning area and he would be back soon.  A few minutes later he came in with the fruit basket [we brought the candles from home], cookies and a special present for Bruk.

Bruk loved his truck, but he was happy even if we gave him a bottle top.

 

There’s so much more where that came from, but for now we’ll just give you a glimpse of his sweet little personality. We are hoping that our case will be submitted to Embassy this week or next. Until then, you will find us watching his videos and laughing/crying as we remember our time with baby B.

 

Here we are right before leaving for court on Tuesday.  And you know how that went 🙂  We have a son!

 

Bruk’s waking up from a nap face

Bruk loves to eat.  He drinks bottles but can also down little bits of eggs, bread, and his favorite, BANANAS.

He also likes to be outside.

He isn’t shy in front of the camera.

And loves his mom.

 

Showing him off to our mom’s was a so fun.  We followed Bruk with the computer while wandered around the room and played with his stuff.  Naturally, the grandma’s were thrilled.

This picture is for Grammy.  She told us to take him home in our suitcase.  So we tried him for size.

 

If you only like happy endings you might want to stop reading.  These last two photo’s are from the car ride to drop him back off at the transition home before flying back to the States.

We are still recovering from that moment and probably won’t be 100% Drew and Cassie until we bring him home.  It will take another “6 to 8 weeks” to get his documents together [passport, visa, birth-cert, etc..] so please pray for us and our sweet son as we wait.

 

Ok one more so you’ll stop crying 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

We made it safely home yesterday afternoon.  Thank you for praying us through.  Want to see more Bruk pics?  Ok!

 

Meeting him for the first time was surreal.  When we got to his room in the transition home he was standing up in his crib and in the same red striped pajamas from the the referral photos.  The whole scene looked so much like the pictures that we had a hard time accepting reality.  Then we got to hold him.  It still didn’t feel real but it was so wonderful.

On the way back over to our guest house, Bruk sat on Cassie’s lap [no car seat! yikes!] and just stared out the window stretching his neck toward everything that passed by on the road.

We soon found out that the “smiley baby” they described was truly a joy to be with.  He was ticklish, playful and really chatty.  Not to mention…dangerously handsome!

Cassie needed a few minutes to recover from getting sick on the plane, so Bruk and I ventured out into the courtyard.  Then BAM!  Something changed.  Sitting in the grass, just me and him, I felt not only like a dad for the first time but more surprisingly like his dad.   I can’t even express in words how happy that made me.

Momma had her moment too 🙂

Bruk loves a having anything in his hands.  We were so blown away by his curiosity with everything.  He is walking great and can make it almost anywhere without help unless he gets too excited, then down to the ground he goes.  But if he wants to get somewhere quick he does this awesome bear crawl that would put most NFL players to shame.

Bye for now!  We will post another bunch o’ pics from the trip soon.  Love ya!      The Jacksons

 

 

It’s official!  Today at 3pm the judge declared Bruk as our son.  He is such a happy playful little guy and we can’t get enough of him.  Internet access is a bit limited but we will update with more details soon!

Let’s just say the chicken enchilada’s were a little….mushy.  There is only one explanation for this unusual behavior.  Mom mode.  Apparently, taking care of all the details to get to Bruk requires 100%  brain capacity at the sacrifice of less important things, like not cooking toxins into our mexican food.  We still ate half of that gooey goodness though.

In other news… if your reading this post on Saturday morning, we are already on a plane bound for DC then Ethiopia.  If all goes as planned we’ll be hanging out with Bruk by Sunday morning!  Here is the rundown of the trip [keep in mind that Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time]:  

Saturday:

6:05 am – leave for DC

11:15 am – leave for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Sunday:

7:45 am – Arrive in Ethiopia

Meet Bruk!

Monday:

Hang out with Bruk!

Tuesday:

Court!  We don’t know what time exactly but if we pass he will officially be our SON.  Wow.

Wednesday – Friday

More more more time with Bruk and learning about Ethiopian culture.

Friday at 10:15pm we leave for the long trip home [without Bruk 😦 but we’re comin’ back for you little guy!]

Arrive back in NC by 1:30 on Saturday afternoon

Sleep. 

 

We will try to update the blog or facebook or something if we are able but can’t make any promises.

Thank you for praying for us!

 

Drew and Cass