Tuesday was the day we headed back to see Haben and keep him for good. The visit consisted of his usual crying and not liking us too close. We felt really anxious about what was about to go down as toddlers are known not to transfer to their
new parents well at first. Fortunately, the visit was short because others in our group had other errands to take care of and we knew the best way to move forward with Haben was to just get him and get started with our new lives together.

We made sure he got some lunch not wanting him to leave with an empty stomach. He was served beans and injera, a usual. Afterwards, I let Yeabi (the favorite nanny) know that we would leave soon with him as the driver had arrived. She took
Haben and changed his diaper and dressed him in one of the outfits we sent previously. He cried, we cried, Yeabi and the other Nannies cried. He knew. Yeabi gave Haben an Ethiopian bracelet, gave William and I one and sent a bag full back for family,
specifically named Grandma (my Mom that she met on the previous trip). She also gave a picture of herself and contact information. We left the care center with him screaming as we expected and loaded into the van with the other adoptive parents. After
a few minutes he looked out the window quietly and zonked. We were thankful for the peacefulness of his sleeping as it rested our worried souls. We knew this would be so hard on him; bittersweet to say the least. It was wonderful to hold him and feel
like he was ours for the first time.

The rest of the day went so much smoother than expected. He slept in my arms for a couple of hours and had a few times that he cried and mourned. Specifically, when he saw
his bracelet given to him by Yeabi and then two other times when he came across her picture. (This was by accident, he found it in a bag and then playing on the I-pad…oops.) Other than that, he ate three bananas, he played with toys, had a wonderful
Ethiopian dinner, let us feed him, played games at dinner with William (Peek a boo under the table, a favorite), and even smiled and giggled. He is very clingy to me and even though he won't let William or anyone else hold him, he worries if William
leaves and can tell that he loves to play with him. And by clingy, I mean he will not let me put him down. We gave him a bath, had a little more playtime and then put him to bed which went very smoothly. He did, however, need to sleep with his shoes
on but we felt this wasn't too much to ask. He probably wanted to be prepared in case he needed to get up and go. After that, we kind of stared at him sleeping, processing that we just adopted an adorable Ethiopian toddler. Were there really little
black arms and face snuggling in our bed? He is sooo dreamy and we know everyone is going to just love him.

He was a little sad waking up to find us again Wednesday, but was pretty easily distracted by his
toys. This was a big day for us because we had our Embassy appointment which is the final step to make Haben officially ours and a US citizen to bring home with us. After breakfast, and when Haben ate every crumb of eggs on his plate, we headed out
for our big appointment. After a 30 minute wait or so and chatting with other adoptive parents, we got called up for our window interview. After a few short questions we were congratulated by the US Embassy employee! Yippee! This is such a great day.

Haben is doing so much better than we expected and he is such a brave sole. He is sooo adorable and we can tell he is such a smart boy. God is so good! A cute milestone of the day was when he said, "Dada", (another
word we were unsure of) and then pretended to blow his nose as William was in the bathroom doing so. He's a cutie!

Love to all! We are really missing the kids and hope they are all doing well. We know they
are going to enjoy their little brother so much!!!