It won’t be much longer till we are tucking our little boy in and kissing him goodnight. We got an email from the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia last week and if things go as planned we could be traveling to pick up Bruk by the second week of September. That’s less than a month!
So in preparation for his homecoming we are trying to make his room a little more… fun. We may not have sheets on the bed or books on the shelf yet but at least we have some color!
Yesterday we were submitted to the U.S. Embassy for approval! This is a huge step in our process. It all seems a bit much, but its for good reason that these steps are taken. This starts the final phase of our adoption and we couldn’t be any more thrilled.The U.S. Embassy is going to look through Bruks file and make sure that he fits the requirements and that he is able to travel and be legally adoptable by U.S. standards. This process is to help cut down on the corruption that has been taking place in Ethiopia in regards to adoption. We want Bruk home so bad, but for now we sit tight and rest thankful that there is protection for orphaned children.
This weekend we are in Seattle for a wedding and to see some family. I still can’t believe that we are out of town right now!… Yet, we are both so excited to see some good friends get married in an an awesome city! Drew will be taking some video (as usually) and I am going to help with the girls hair. Its so fun to be a part of the action on wedding days. We’ll be staying with my cousin Hannah who is super prego. We cant wait to celebrate her and their little one on the way! Hannah and Jesse have a sweet love thats contagious. So we’re looking forward to catching some of thier “love germs” while we’re here. We’re looking forward to this trip as a refreshment to our marriage and a time to celebrate with others.
So thankful for new beginnings today!
Cass
speaking of new beginnings… here are the newest pictures of Bruk!
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 🙂
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
We just found out that there is a family from Florida traveling to Ethiopia in about 3 weeks. They’ll be going to the same house where Bruk is staying! Even though we can’t ask them to take pictures we will likely be able to send a “care-package” with them. Can you help us think of some creative ways to show this little guy that we love him without making that family carry a huge box? We don’t really know yet what an almost 1year old boy might like to look at/play with. Of course, we will probably send him at least a picture of “mommy and daddy” but there must be more clever ideas out there. So what do you think?
We Can't Adopt 