The Big Reveal...INTRODUCING...

I know y'all have been waiting for a long time, so your patience is finally paying off. I'm sure you're not even reading these few sentences, just scrolling down the page to see pics of our beautiful children. Well, here ya go...pictures first; names last.

OUR FIRST FAMILY PICTURE [none of the dozen pictures are all of us looking at the camera!]:

Brian and I with our SON! He has awesome chiclet teeth. Brian's wearing his "ah-by-ay - dad" t-shirt, and I'm wearing my "eh-my-ay - mama" t-shirt.

OUR DAUGHTER...those lips are irresistible! She LOVED it when I kissed them. Lucky for me :)

Kissing my DAUGHTER for the first time...Daddy with his little man and sleeping beauty. She slept like this for about an hour. It was the sweetest thing! He held on to his little monkey security blanket the whole time!

Brian held him for a couple hours like this. They read this photo book we made for them with the pictures of us, our family, and them. He couldn't stop "reading" the book and "studying" the pictures. I love how he's snuggled up with Brian here.

Our kids have no idea what's going on, but clearly we are happy. [This was right after I had bawled my eyes out after talking with their birth mothers, so I'm not exactly having the prettiest moment]

Ok, now that you've seen their faces, let me properly introduce you to our children: Judah Abebayehu and Addise Aster Tarike Diaz. Both of their names are FILLED with meaning! Names are VERY IMPORTANT in Ethiopia. In a country where there is not financial wealth, there is great pride in their names and where they come from.

JUDAH ABEBAYEHU: Judah is from the Old Testament [Genesis 29]: the tribe of the Lion of Judah, Jesus. His name means "praise". After such a season of grieving and loss for us, "praise" is what we give to God for the gift of our son. The Lion of Judah is also a primary metaphor in Ethiopia - rich in meaning for Ethiopians! We drove past the monument in downtown Addis Ababa. Brian has a tattoo of the Lion of Judah on his left forearm, a reminder of who Christ is to us. For years we've loved this name and had no idea what deep meaning it carried for our Ethiopian son. Abebayehu [ah-beh-BAH-u], Lil' A, is his birth name. In Amharic, his name means "my flower" and has a connection to the capital city of his birth country, Addis Abeba, by some spellings.

ADDISE ASTER TARIKE: Addise [ad-i-say] Aster is a name we've had picked out for over a year. It's Amharic. When we first discovered that name, we knew it would be our daughter's name. It was beautiful and perfect. And then we learned what it meant. Addise means "new life". I have a tattoo on my wrist that says "LIFE" in Greek. It's a daily reminder that Christ has come to bring us new life, to bring life from pain and death, to adopt us into a new life with him. Aster means "flowers" [remember Abebayehu's meaning!?!?!]. My name, April Lei, means "new life" and "flowers". God knew. Tarike [tur-eak-ay] is her birth name and it means "to make peace". What an supernatural meaning for a baby girl in need of a forever home! Someday she will need to make peace with her story. We pray we will be a central part of her healing journey.

Our heart overflows and LONGS to be united forever with Judah and Addise. Their names already speak of their destiny and calling. They will be a daily reminder of God's hand upon their life, even in their mother's womb.

We're so pleased to introduce you to our kiddos. We seriously can't wait for you to meet them!

** In the not so distant future I'll add some videos. The videos are where you see just how gorgeous they are, and how captivating their personalities are!