a sweet homecoming.

two weeks ago, we had the great pleasure of welcoming home our dear friends, stacey and evan. after a long journey (literally and figuratively), our friends were able to come home from ethiopia with their beautiful son, ezekiel!

we got to the airport with choi boy dressed proudly in red, white, and blue (actually, just red and blue) to welcome ezekiel home on the eve of our country's birthday. choi boy kept himself (and those around him) entertained with some balloons.



eventually, the balloons got a bit old and we bribed convinced choi boy to enjoy some blueberries while we continued to wait. he wasn't terribly thrilled with the idea, but agreed to it. and contrary to the picture below, only wore a scowl on his face for a few seconds. ;)


soon we began to see passengers from evan and stacey's flight exit through the international arrival doors. we rushed over the divider separating the arriving passengers from the waiting friends and family.

at first, it was super exciting and cb would scream "auntie! uncle!" each time the doors opened.

and then as the waiting continued, one of us got a little tired of it.
i'll let you guess which choi that was.


as we patiently awaited their arrival, it was surreal to think that just under seven months ago, we were on the other side of those doors, ready to begin our lives at home as newly made family of three. i was so emotional thinking about what i was feeling at that time and realizing that our friends were probably feeling very similarly.

so, we gave our boy a grateful and tighter squeeze and continued to wait with eager anticipation.


it was awesome waiting with stacey and evan's loved ones. seeing all the people there early on a sunday morning was such a testament to evan and stacey and how loved they are. we got to wait with friends of theirs that had, just the day before, taken the very same flight home with their two new sons from rwanda!


finally, the doors opened again and out walked our friends with their littlest and newest addition!


by this time, most of their fellow passengers had already exited and joined us in officially welcoming our friends home.

so sweet!



just beautiful.


ezekiel's grandma (evan's mom) kisses her first grandchild for the first time.


we were thrilled to see ezekiel wearing the outfit we bought for him back when evan and stacey first got their referral! :)


poor little ezekiel was so overwhelmed and tired by this point (um, i would be, too after 18 hours on a plane and a crowd of people in my face -- he was such a trooper!), so my favorite moment was when we leaned in to say goodbye and choi boy gave ezekiel a hug and kiss and little ezekiel looked up a stopped crying for moment to look up at his new friend. it was almost as if cb was telling him, "it's okay, buddy, i've been there, too."


i can't wait to see these two grow up together. we already love little ezekiel so much!