june 27

we landed in ethiopia the second time on a beautifully bright tuesday morning.  we gathered our luggage, loaded everything into the driver's van, and he drove us through dusty, rocky, people-filled streets to the gates of acacia village.  the bald, toothless baby that had met us there just three months earlier now had a head full of hair and two darling teeth peeking up from his gums.  but something else had changed, too.  his smiley, go-with-whatever character seemed different.  by this time he had spent more than three months with the nannies at acacia, and he knew them, he loved them, and he wanted them.  

 

the first tears i ever saw my son cry were as the social worker, helen, placed him into my arms.  

 

 

after a couple of meetings with the nurse and a counselor for some here's-what-he-likes-and-doesn't-like training, the gates closed behind us and we left with micah in our arms.  he didn't smile.  he didn't even want to look at us.

 

 

he cried in the bath...

 

and even when we were playing, he sucked his finger continuously for comfort.

 

when we landed back in the states, his sheer exhaustion and the overwhelming excitement of our homecoming proved too much and he fell into tears over and over.   (photos courtesy of my sweet friend and fellow photog, lacey, of LB studios)

 

 

but then we saw it happening.  we saw his expressionless face begin to grin.  the grins turned to smiles.  the smiles turned to laughter.  and after six weeks of having our sweet baby home, he knows the love of a family...

 

he no longer cries in the bath...

 

and his tears have been replaced with belly-laughs of joy.

 

happy first birthday, micah alexander lewis.  we love you, we pursued you, and we thank the lord continually for the gift you are to our family.

"god settles the solitary in a home."
psalm 68:6