Photo Updates - YAY!!

We got new photos today!!  I was/am sooo excited.  It is clear that both kids have grown, even in the six weeks that have elapsed since we saw them.

Despite a very busy day today, all I've wanted to do all day was stare at the photos.  They are beautiful.  I needed to show them off, so when I went to my sister's to pick up my niece for a sleepover, I took my computer along and showed the photos to my sister/brother-in-law.  I then invited my parents for dinner tonight to be able to show them the pictures personally, too...and they were suitably in awe of their grandchildren's beauty and complete wonderfulness!  I think my Mom was almost as eager as I to stare at their pictures and expound on their various features and expressions and every nuance of the photos.  We still have not seen a smile on our boy's face, so when that finally comes, we will rejoice to see what his face looks like transformed.  Though our daughter is not smiling in these photos, we saw her smile repeatedly during our orphanage visit and we know how that smile of hers stretches right up to twinkly eyes.

The kids were moved into Imagine's Transition House (in Addis) on Friday, and have been told now that they are going to be joining a new family.  Though I am glad that they are finally in the Transition House, I feel so badly for the kids, having had to undergo another big change like that; they have lived in the orphanage and been cared for by the same women for the past number of months, and this will be another loss in their young lives.  I am relieved that this is the last change in surroundings for them until the day we are able to bring them home with us.  I also find it comfort that the children have each other as constants in their lives; this is one of the reasons that we had longed for siblings, and as I contemplate the fear and anxiety that they must be experiencing these days, that knowledge is helpful.

When they arrived at the Transition House, the kids were given the gifts that we left there for them, and many of the pictures we received today show them opening their gifts...it was great to see them with the things we had chosen so carefully for them.

Now, without further ado, 'cause I know you're wanting to get to the good stuff, here are a few of the pictures we received of Seth Asrat and Lizzie Senait, taken just four days ago:

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Seth Asrat

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Lizzie Senait

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Digging into their gifts

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I love that Lizzie Senait is looking at her photo album...and a picture of her new big brother!

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Listening to the digital tape recorders that we left for each of them (with stories, songs, 'interviews' I did of Matthew, etc etc).

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What I love about this photo is that Lizzie Senait has her new little doll tucked under her arm and is holding her tape recorder in that hand...this is exactly what she was doing the first time we laid eyes on her at the orphanage - she had a stuffed puppy tucked under that arm, and a toy in the same hand!