Home again, Home again

I'm home!!!! After the 21hr travels I have made it back to the US. I am so happy to be home with Ella. It is bittersweet, Jason and Toufiq are still on the other side of the world, in Addis. The paperwork was not fixed in time and they had to stay behind. The whole situation is so completely ridiculous. I will go into further detail but not now. I am too happy to be home with Ella and too tired to go into it all right now. I will say that hopefully Jason and Toufiq will be home next Wednesday. Thats right, Jason will have been in Addis for 18 days. Not only are we not home as a family after ALL this time, but we are spending a billion just on travel only. Its a blessing that Jason is self employed but at the same time, if he doesn't work, we don't get paid. The stress level is just a bit high! I know that in a year from now it will all have been forgotten but as of now it is tough to have traveled all that way, been in Addis for 10 days and still not be together as a family. Please pray that things move quickly and Jason makes his plane on Tuesday. The flights out of Addis are few and far between, like booked up until Sept. 6th so its very important that he gets on that flight. Oh, and don't worry that flight is only available first class which is about $1400 more than coach. I hate complaining about money in this situation but what the heck? We're kinda over the ol travel budget.
Ok, i'm done complaining on to the most important, TOUFIQ! He is such a doll. It was so amazing to see him grow in such a short time. On day one he was literally a blank stare. He attached to me right away which was such a blessing but only to me. He just sat and stared, wouldnt play, wouldnt walk, it was extremely hard to see. For some reason I hadnt prepared myself for that. On day two we went to the care centers to visit which was hard for him. He had one care taker that was very special to him so it set him back again when we left. Day three was still hard, he wouldnt go to Jason, in fact would slap at him if he got too close. He wouldnt go to either of my parents and still wouldnt play. Finally on day four, the walls began to fall. He started to smile, to interact with me and Jason. Day after day he started to blossom and grow. When I left he was loveing his father and belly laughing. He is such a wonderful blessing and gift. He has the best smile and awesome sense of humor, which if you know us that is important! I promise I will post pics but I havent gotten a chance to download them to this computer yet (my computer is with jason). I have so many things to write about. So many beautiful things, and so many sad things to share. Thank you to everyone that has followed our story thus far and has been praying for us. It has been amazing to see God's hand at work and how he hand picked the children he did for each family. Truly an amazing journey. I promise more to come.