Israel.....

Three lovebugs all referred within a week (different years of course). A year ago today we were told we would have a son. His name was Israel and he was just 4 days short of his first birthday.
We were a bit sad we would miss this but so excited to see his pictures. The one above is the first one we received. It was the only one initially and it wasn't the best quality. We strained to see the details of his face. I couldn't wait to see his eyes. Ethiopians tend to have these big eyes. He was so handsome with that cocoa skin. The girls thought it was funny that he had on pink pants. He was in Durame, an area about 6 hours from the capital of Addis Ababa. We had no idea just how well he was being cared. But once we got there 5 months later, we knew he had been well loved on. Unlike for the girls, we learned some about his history including information on his birthmom but those details we will keep private. That is his story so we want to give him the choice of sharing or not. Wow, he just got cuter and cuter and I had no idea how much fun he would be. It's funny because we always wonder what our kids will be like and every time, it just seems God picked the perfect one for us and for our family. The pics below are ones we received along the way as we waited to travel.


There's those big beautiful eyes I spoke about.....

I didn't like this one initially. I thought he looked sad. But it grew on me the more I looked at it and it is now one of my favorites. He was a serious baby when we met him. Not the case now, quite the ham........yummy. Mason Israel..........

His birthday is this weekend so stay tuned for birthday fun...........