Nicole and Asher's Adventures: July 2010

Official MOMMY!

Today Asher became Nicole's son....legally! This has been the day she has been waiting for over 10 months! She can let out a huge sigh of relief now! The only step before they can board the plane home is an Embassy date to get his visa! :)

Nicole and Asher Meet Birthmom

In order for Nicole to pass court, they had to find Asher's birthmom so that she could testify in court and basically sign Asher over to Nicole. Nicole requested to meet her after court. It was a much more emotional experience that she had expected. Nicole said this little 18 year old girl was completely broken and sad. SAD was the only word Nicole said would accurately describe her. They had a translator and Nicole was able to hear the whole story of Ashers beginnings and his birth moms incredible struggles, I will let Nicole get on here and tell the accurate story since I can't do it justice. Asher's birthmom requested to see him one last time, so of course Nicole agreed. When his birthmom was leaving, Nicole rubbed her back and thanked her, she started crying and went on her way. Her life is all about surviving....it breaks my heart. We are all so fortunate here in the U.S. and really have all that we will ever need and more.

It will be great to have these pictures for Asher to see when he starts wondering about his beginnings.

Life At The Orphanage

This is a little 12 year old girl, Helina, that lives at Asher's orphanage who loves Asher and Nicole. Every morning when Nicole arrives at the orphanage she smiles and says "Where's my baby?!?" Helina told Nicole that one day she will tell Asher how much his mommy loves him when he is old enough to understand. Nicole loves her and of course wants to save every child at the orphanage now, that would be so heart breaking to want to help everyone and not be able too...

This is Nicole and Asher on the way to the clinic because Asher has had a bad cold. There are no car seats in Ethiopia, nobody really drives anywhere because they don't have cars. She had to hold Asher on her lap on the way there. A Sheryl Crow song came on and Nicole started humming in his ear, she said he zonked out to the sound of her humming in his ear...what a sweet picture to capture the moment!

She says there aren't words to describe how happy and full of life this little one is! I'm betting that his happiness will triple now that he has Nicole as his mommy!

Ian Arrives

Nicole and Ian Stewart have been dating for a few months and he has been incredibly supportive to her....so much that he bought a plane ticket to go over and meet Asher and stay for 10 days! Nicole says that Asher loves Ian and reaches for him as much as he reaches for her! Ian also brought a HUGE duffel bag full of presents for the other children in the orphanage...soccer balls, hair clips, toys, etc... He is a KEEPER! Team "Stew"!!!

Grammie Tammie's Tattoo

Poor Grammie Tammie has been so patient during this process! When she was venting her frustrations to a good friend, the friend gave her some words of wisdom that she loved so much that she had tattooed on her foot, gotta love that woman!

Her friend told her that even though things don't always happen in our time frame, God does have it all planned out and when He doesn't do something right when we ask for it, it is because He has something better planned for another time. We just need to be patient and know that the delay is for a good reason...we keep praying and He will answer with even better things than we asked for. So the tattoo means "He is in the delay" in Ethiopian language (Ahmeric abd)!

The LONG Awaited Meeting Day.....Mother and Son Unite! FINALLY

It's easy to see by looking at these pictures that these two are a match made in heaven! Nicole was meant to be Asher's mommy. She waited sooo long for the day she could finally hold him. There were so many delays in this process that were absolutely heart-wrenching for Nicole.

So many adoptive parents that started the process long after Nicole, ended up with their babies long before she did. There have been so many bumps in the road delaying her adoption, but the moment she held him all of those months and months of waiting and worrying melted away! Passing court and getting a Embassy date for the visa are the final steps before coming home!