Happy Gotcha Day Ade!!!

Tody is Ade's Gotcha Day! I can't 1 year ago today we were at the Embassy making it official! Ade Joseph Tariku Freudenthal, I can't even begin to put into words what you have meant to our family! You have brought so much joy, laughter, sadness and love! You have opened our eyes and our hearts to so many things! You have given us a passion for the lowly, the oppressed, the orphaned and the widowed!!!

I thought I would reflect on some of my thoughts last year at this time. I remember taking him out of the orphanage over to the hotel and just crying! You could tell he hadn't been outside in sooooo long! It was here, I had him, this baby was finally MINE!!!(and Joe's of course!) I could wait to get him out of his too small girl pjs and his pink and green crocs and put him in some brand new GAP jammies!!! And the first thing I did was bathe him and change him! Joe and I laughed the entire time because he just had the funniest little body!!! Totally distended tummy and his eyes just looked so sick and lost!:( I do however remember the smell of their laundry detergent and I LOVE IT!!! I still smell Ade's clothes from the orphanage and it brings me back to that wonderful county, Ethiopia!!!

So the first night went great, he slept awesome and looked stunning in his new jammies! We woke the next morning to go to our embassy appointment and I dressed him up sooooo cute!!! He looked so handsome. He was terrified of the van ride and totally freaked out the entire time. The way back was better though. He was ours, now we were just waiting to go home and let him meet the rest of his family!

In this year Ade has changed so much. He is healthy, he has grown so much, he has had tubes in his ears. He talks, he sings, he dances, he is going potty on the big potty! He is just all together amazing! He loves his family so much it melts my heart!

Adopting Ade has opened up so many doors for Joe and I. God has given us such a clear plan that we can't wait to get started! Thank you Jesus for laying adoption on our hearts and thank you for choosing Ade to be ours!!!