Abebech Dangiso Gosie Olivas

After all of the travel issues we had getting here, none of that seemed to matter anymore when we finally arrived at Hannah's Hope to meet Abbe.  Her full name is actually Abebech Dangiso Gosie Olivas.  Abebech is pronounced A (soft u sound as in Umbrella), Be (bay) Bech (soft e sound and a mix between a ch and sh sound at the end), Dangiso Gosie is her deceased father's first and last name, and Olivas is, of course, her new last name.  We are going to keep her name in tact but will call her Abbe (Abby) for short.

We were the first family in the group that got to meet our child since she was the oldest and would be most aware of what was going on.  We had braced ourselves for the possibility that she may not be thrilled about meeting us since we would be taking her away from her friends at Hannah's Hope, but when we first walked in, she ran to me and jumped into my arms giving me the biggest hug.  It was Great!  She also went to Tony without any hesitation and had a perma-grin on her face the entire day.

When the rest of the children found out that we were Abbe's Mommy and Daddy they were jumping up and down and cheering.  These kids were amazing, and we had a great time playing with them during our visit at Hannah's Hope.

Thanks to Kiersten, our AMAZING case manager, for taking those first shots of Abebech meeting Tony and I.  Kiersten: we appreciate your caring heart and generosity in volunteering to capture such a special moment for us!  Not only was Kiersten there for our first meeting, but she led us through most of the prep work and encouraged us the entire way.  We LOVE her!  We will post a picture of her later - I know I have one I just have to find it.

We also want to thank Amy Stavnes for videotaping our first meeting with Abebech.  I haven't posted any video yet because I can't figure out how to edit it properly.  I will someday.... I promise.

Here is a picture of Amy with her beautiful baby boy, Elijah.