One year ago today, June 29, John and I were waiting anxiously at the Milwaukee Airport for the Van Auken family
They left for Ethiopia as a family of three and when they deplaned and we saw them, they would be a family of four.
They were bringing Soliana home.
Most pregnancies last about nine months, the time usually goes by pretty quickly, and the end result is a newborn baby, pretty predictable.
This "pregnancy" actually only lasted five months from referral to homecoming, but it included complications which included losing Natnael in Jan. 2012.
If you would add all of that time in, this "pregnancy" lasted years.
End result though, is just as much joy as any newborn baby brings.
Our "newborn" was just shy of one year old.
It seemed to take forever waiting for them to land.
I imagine I would not have been any better waiting for word of the birth of a grandchild.
Waiting is always so hard for me.
Finally, the plane was on the ground, but it still takes so long for everyone to deplane.
And, then finally, we saw them.
That is the first time we saw our little Soliana..
Imagine what she must have been feeling.
Here she is, with people she hardly knows, meeting more people she does not know, and in a place far from the only home she has ever known,
she clung to her mama tightly and eyed us up and down not quite sure what to make of all of this.
Welcome to America, little one, Welcome home!
Here is the happy Van Auken family of four!
And, of course, the happy grandparents.
Soliana did seem to enjoy her balloon just as long as mama's hand was close by.
John and I were lucky to be able to have Tizita in the car with us on the way back to Oshkosh.
It was late, after ten by the time we were loaded up and heading north, but we did take time to stop at a gas station for a treat of milk and skittles requested by Tizita.
Apparently those are two items you cannot get in Ethiopia.
What a journey it has been to bring our second baby home.
What a year it has been, watching her learn, grow, and adjust to her new home.
In looking back, we remember those dark, stormy skies after we
heard that Natnael had died in the Care Center, shortly after Courtney and Paul had met him for the first time.
What would the future hold, how long before another child would be available?
But God had a plan and soon we had our sunshine, Soliana (Soliana means sunshine, by the way) and our gray skies were bright again.
God is good, all the time!
And, we know that one day soon, we will be able to meet our little Natnael and until then he is safe in Jesus' arms.
Happy Soliversary sweet Soliana, our Sunshine.
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