A funny thing happened...

WELL....we have just started to settle down from the whirlwind that has been the past four weeks. God has a way of answering prayers, and definitely has a sense of humor as well. The morning after our last post hit the web and Facebook, we got the call we had been waiting for! We had a July 6th courth date! That's right, we had a little over a week to book flights, choose travel options in Ethiopia, choose a hotel, plan and pack for a life changing trip around the world! Chaotic and overwhelming are the best ways to describe life after that phone call!

This court date proved to be comical as well because more than six months ago, we had purchased tickets to see "The Wall" in concert performed by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd on July 3rd. Mike has been dying to see this concert and was so looking forward to it. Although, as our adoption progressed, he began to tell everyone that he had a feeling we weren't going to make it to that concert. Well, when we got the court date, we assumed that he was right. A family must meet their child before they attend the court hearing, and it takes roughly 16 hours of flight time to make it to Ethiopia from Pittsburgh. That being said, we figured we would leave on either July 2 or 3rd, arrive in Ethiopia on the 3rd or 4th, get adjusted to the time change, meet Terefe on the 4th or 5th and appear in court on the 6th. As luck would have it, there were no flights available on the 3rd, and it was more expensive to fly on the 2nd than it was to fly in the wee hours of Wednesday, July 4th. SO...the crazy people that we are, we both worked our full work day on Tuesday, July 3rd, attended the Roger Waters concert that evening, got home around 12:30ish and slept for 2 1/2 hours to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight from Pittsburgh to D.C. from there it was a straight shot into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

NOW, because we passed court while there (jumping ahead, I know) I am FINALLY able to share with you, his sweet, sweet referral pictures that we received weeks and weeks ago!! THESE are what got us through that seemingly never-ending plane ride!

We landed in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia and where our little man is currently residing in a transition house, the morning (local time) of July 5th and would meet our son in a matter of hours. Our hotel had a driver waiting for us. We arrived at the hotel and were told that our agency's employees there in Addis would have our driver for the week pick us and another family from Michigan up at 2 p.m. to take us to the transition house. I managed to contract a head cold and was dealing with congestion along with jet lag and neither of us had slept well on the plane. We opted to shower and take naps until our appointed time.

Neither of us really had any expectations, but the other family had been in Addis a few days already and had met their child earlier, plus this was their second adoption from Ethiopia, so we talked a lot on our way to see the babies. I had already spoken with this couple on the phone the week before, so we knew that our babies were born only a few weeks apart and that they were from the same village. We quickly became friends on the car ride there, and before I knew it, we were stopped outside a high brick wall with a big green and gold metal gate and the driver honked his horn. The gate door creaked open and revealed a few older children and some smiling caregivers who had been out playing in the courtyard. We then went into the home, and were told by the head caregiver (whom I have come to develop sincere admiration, respect and love for) that the babies were asleep. I didn't really know what that meant for us, and the other family said that was fine, let them sleep, so I assumed we would just wait in the sitting area until they woke. Instead, the head caregiver escorted us through a door and down a hallway, passing plenty of eager toddlers, and into a room with three cribs along the left wall and two along the right. The very first crib held little Terefe, fast asleep, and with significantly less hair than in those pictures. This actually threw me off and Mike had to say, yes that's him. I was looking for a full head of hair! She reached down and gently started to coax him awake. He did not want to wake up. He even batted at her at one point! But ever so slowly, she got him to open his eyes. She picked him up and pointed to us and said "Momma" and "Dadda." At least I think she did. My head was trying to process it all so quickly and I was so excited, and wanted to just tell him right then and there how much we love him. Then the caregiver said, go to your momma, and she handed him over to me!

(We have video of the whole thing, but the video will have to make it into a future post, as we are having some technical issues getting it onto our computer)

First Family Photo!

And of course, as Pittsburgh parents, we knew there was a basic necessity we had to bring for our new son:

We were thrilled to see how strong and healthy he seems (barring a little congestion...but I was in the same boat!) The head caregiver told us there were still some spots on his head where his hair hadn't come in, but where it had come in was getting really long and he was looking silly, so they gave him a hair cut! We just fell in love, hair or no hair! 

So without further ado, we'd like to introduce you to Knox Michael Terefe Pillitteri! 

We got to spend a few hours with him that first day in Addis Ababa, and I know we will never forget them! We spent seven days in Ethiopia and there is no way we can squeeze it all into one post, so I will leave you with our best family photo which was taken on July 6th, right after we passed court and our adoption was finalized, making him legally ours! And that's where we'll pick up the next post!

The Pillitteri Family