One week home

Joseph has been home now for a week and things are going very well. It is amazing how resilient the little guy is after all that he has been through. He seems to be bonding with "momma" and "ababa" and getting used to the new routine. We have been amazed at the English he is already picking up. So far he can say doggy, momma, cat, bye, and monkey. We've also picked up a handful of words in Amharic that he uses often which has been helpful in communicating with him. We've had a blast this week with the warm weather visiting parks and playing outside.

We've discovered this list of likes/dislikes over the last week:

LIKES: "Makenas" (Amharic for cars), eating, baths, reading books, anything that lights up or makes noises (basically anything with batteries), eating, dogs, looking at himself in the mirror, swinging, slides, and did I mention eating?

DISLIKES: vegetables, waiting for mommy to make his meals (he wants it the moment he sees it), any food that is cold, dirty hands

We feel so blessed to have this amazing child as part of our lives!!

For those of you who would like to see more photos of our welcome home celebration at the airport, visit this link.(username: Joseph G password: 11046). My friends Ashley and Lana photo-documented the big event for us. This is something I will forever treasure!! Lana owns Art & Soul Photography which I would highly recommend checking out if you are looking for a photographer for any occasion.

Our friends Stephanie and James, who are also in the process of adopting from Ethiopia were also at the celebration and took video of the event. The video can be viewed here.