yes, we are home!
we had a more than amazing time in ethiopia! we fell in love and we fell hard.
lyla is a dream. she is just beyond adorable and fun and smiley and all things lovable.
it still doesn’t feel real that she is with us.

i don’t know how to upload pictures of her to the blog, sorry! maarten will have to do that.
i’ve been thinking about the whole process of what we just went through.
i mean, if we wanted a child…i could have given birth to one…or we could have adopted domestically.
but, both of us felt a call to international adoption.
but, i really couldn’t tell you a reason until now that we have completed the process and gone half way around the world to bring one child to our home. all of that for this one child? why? there are so many children in the u.s. who need homes.
until we went to ethiopia and saw.
international adoption didn’t just change lyla’s life. it changed ours.
the experience of going to ethiopia and seeing life in a distant land is one of a kind. it changes everything. everything! our whole perspective on life is different.
for the better.
and so we are thankful for lyla…and to our God….to give us such a unique and wonderful life changing experience.
people keep asking me if it was “hard” to adopt. the answer is YES. it was the hardest thing i’ve ever waded through…and i would do it over a million times just to see lyla’s sweet smile.
so, if you are thinking about adoption…or international adoption…..especially to ethiopia….then i will ask you if you are ready to have your existence shaken to its core. i hope your answer is yes…it’s completely worth it.

this is it.
if i were to write a book, this is the one that i would have written.
it’s so perfect.
you can read the whole thing online here:
awesome book
we bought it for lyla for christmas. she will know this, and the bible. education complete.
or something.

it was july 13, 1985. i was 10.
on the t.v. were musicians….singing their hearts out…i knew who some of them were, but not many.
it was live aid.
never had i seen anything like it.
i sat glued to the t.v….
because they were playing video of what was going on in ethiopia…the starving.
videos like this one:
and…my eyes were opened. no longer did i belong to a small town. i was a citizen of the world. i knew i would never be able to forget what i saw.
and…so it began…
the thinking about adoption.
and…when reality came to be, i had no idea that i would find myself back to ethiopia 25 years later. we thought it would be china. but, God had other plans.
and, now i know it was His plan all along. to open my eyes. and to open maarten’s eyes as well…to the needs of others.
i think about our sweet girl’s birthmom. was she there in ethiopia during that terrible famine?
and i know…God has been knitting this story together for quite some time.
HE IS so good. because he allows us to know hope. and to open our eyes…

december 4th!
yay!

it was september 15, 2009. a tuesday. 4:45 p.m.
it was our first week of fall classes.
maarten was teaching a class of 6 VERY excited 1st and 2nd graders. miss alma was in the same room with her kindergarten class. and miss holly, it was her FIRST day working at van grow, was in the pottery room with her class. i was in the office returning phone calls.
i had JUST hung up the phone with one mom, when the phone rang again. it was an 817 number, but it wasn’t any of the gladney numbers i had saved on my phone. and it didn’t show up as “unknown” or “withheld”.
myth and legend dismissed.
me: Van Grow, this is Hanna
mary: hi hanna, this is mary
me: [silence]
mary: do you know why i’m calling?
me: [silence]
mary: this is it, we have a referral for you
me: [silence]
mary: are you ok?
me: i think i’m going to faint
mary: you are ok, this is a natural reaction. is maarten there?
me: he’s teaching a class
mary: do you have access to a computer?
me: they are at home. oh wait, maybe one of the moms has a laptop here. (i stand up, poke out of the office and stammer..”do you guys have a laptop?” they answer “no”.)
mary: can you get maarten?

at this point i walked into the classroom where maarten had 6 very excited kids all vying for his attention all at once. i said “maarten” (he didn’t hear me)..so i said it again slightly louder (he still didn’t hear me)…again louder “maarten”…no response. finally…MAARTEN!!!! (this time sobbing)…”MAARTEN, MARY IS ON THE PHONE!!!”

maarten: [blank stare]
me: it’s time
mary: hanna, call me when you get home.
me: ok

this is where the sobbing really got going. the kids were staring at me with there mouths open and quizzical looks on their faces. i kept saying “i’m ok!” “it’s a good cry” “it’s about the baby”
so, maarten and i started running around giving everyone instructions on what to do while we headed home. i think i asked alma five times to please watch the back doors at pick up.

we jumped in the car, holding hands as tightly as we could and me sobbing in that spastic hiccupping sort of way. (fort worthians) we got caught at the light at university!!! (you know the one)
we waited and waited and waited. finally, i hollered and sobbed “it’s…never…going…to…change”.
and then it did.
all the way home, we hit every single red light…all the way through downtown. it was nearly unbearable. i could have ran home faster, and almost did.
maarten and i just kept repeating over and over that we couldn’t believe this was actually happening.
FINALLY we got home and raced inside and up the stairs. grabbed the phone and called mary.
no answer.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
called again.
she answered right away.
so, we checked email and the rest is history…we are in love. she is lovely and precious. we accepted her referral and we are now waiting on a court date.
much discussion went on and on about her name and we officially decided this past sunday.
“lyla james”
lyla because it was just about the prettiest name we could think of…she needed a pretty, delicate, feminine name. and james, for our sweet jim who passed away just 4 days before our call. their lives will be intertwined forever and we are so thrilled for her to have that heritage.
we are thrilled beyond belief. nana, papo, grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncles, niece and nephew and many sweet friends are all totally enamored with her as well.
we can’t wait to get her in our arms!
and that is how it happened….

beautiful baby girl!
7 weeks old!
9.5 pounds and 22 inches long!
cute freckles on her nose!
cute little toes!

more later, i’m sort of delirious!

(this post is in referance to this post)
this is actually not a dream. we did in fact accept a referral to adopt (or rather re-adopt) seven box turtles. a very true turtle referral.
here is the story.
25 years ago or so when i was a young gal i had turtles for pets. in those days it was quite common to find them crossing the semi-rural roads of my hometown in louisiana. of course i “saved” every one of them from certain tragedy of being hit by a car. do you know that some people will go out of their way to actually hit a turtle on the road? tragedy.
i named them and painted their initial on the top of their shell with fingernail polish.
there was mike the turtle (named after my dad), and mr. t of course (it was the 80’s! back away from the shell FOOL!)
and many others.
they lived in our back yard in a crudely constructed structure made from chicken wire. they often escaped their structure and just as often returned for food.
at the end of each fall, we would let them loose to hibernate for the winter…several of them would return after the winter was over or i would collect new ones.
(side story: i was quite obsessed with the glorious idea that two of my turtles might fall in love and make a baby turtle. because that would be adorable! i quite often explored the back yard for signs of nesting. nothing. until one day my dad told me to check under a certain bush. i ran outside and saw a tiny spot of white poking out of the dirt. I WAS OVERCOME WITH JOY!!!! i dug it out, held it, prepared to make a nest for it in a terrarium like i had read to do…i looked at it closely, closer…even closer…IT WAS A CHICKEN EGG!!! faux baby turtle quickly became a propelled weapon towards my dad. STINKIN’ TRICKSTER!)
(there is another good one about the time my dad called me up from work to tell me that donnie from new kids on the block had died but i’ll save that one for another time)
ANYWAY!
after several years we decided the turtles would need a new home and we transported them all over to my dad’s best friends house since he had a fenced in back yard and we did not. for the past 25 years the turtles have lived in that back yard. they trained themselves to come up to the back sliding glass door and tap their shells on the glass for bread.
(I KNOW! YOU ARE TOTALLY DYING FROM THE ADORABLE THOUGHT OF THIS!)
it is now time for the house to be sold and the turtles need a good home. fortunately we have one to offer them now. seven turtles are going to be collected and we will transport them to texas to the bluebird house. that is…if we pass court. hahahaha…inside joke for other adopting families.
i am beyond thrilled for our REAL turtle referral.
hopefully some day soon we will get another kind of referral as well.
turtle kisses,
hanna

(just a special shout out!)
dear sissy,
we will always LARF you. you are the weirdest enchilada maarten and i have ever known. we long for a mexican fiesta so you can teach us your latino ways (mwaha!). you are so ethnic. please don’t forget to love us you cupcake and squid muchaca!
most lovingly with mugs and whistles,
hanna and maarten

to make halloween costumes for our baby girl! i can’t wait for her to tell me what she wants to “be”, so i can start dreaming up a fantastic outfit for her.