Feels like we have been on a rollercoaster...and I HATE rollercoasters!

Well, our little guy was welcomed into Music City USA by tons of family and friends Sunday evening! He LOVES his new house..he was running from room to room and throwing himself, while laughing hysterically on every bed and couch in our home! He LOVES all the mirrors too-- which makes sense, because at the Orphanage they LOVE to have their photo taken and then to see a glimpse of themselves since we are digital now! He mostly LOVED his Robby and his Caitlin-lin-lin! They all INSTANTLY fell in LOVE with each other! He is such a happy child and so sweet! He is going to fit right in with us and all of our family and friends! Our prayer is for him to adjust well and be happy. We are all so blessed that God joined him into our family and he into ours! There is no LUCK here...he is not a "lucky" boy; he has lost so much at such a young age and has had to learn to be a survivor. That is something we don't wish upon ANY child or any human being. So we like to say we aren't lucky, he isn't lucky but that we are all richly blessed to have found each other. No doubt about it...it was God's will for us all to be together!

The ONLY thing that Daniel Mamo didn't like was our doggies! He absoultely LOST it ( Fullout tears and screaming) when he saw them on Monday when they arrived home from the doggie jail... and he wouldn't come downstairs for two hours... thanks to my friend Beth's advice he is now petting them and letting them lick his hand. He is still cautious but for the most part he is walking along side of them and bossing them around. LOL. Copper had sat by his bed when he was sick just watching over him... he loves him so much too! Yesterday morning Copper jumped in the bed with him and Mamo just laughed and let him lick his hand! That is progress my friends, that is progress! Thanks so much Beth! ( BTW, Ethiopian children are TERRIFIED of dogs because they are taught as children to stay away from dogs-- dogs are NOT pets in ET- think hyenas and African wild dogs-- they eat small children... this fear is the eqivalent of us swimming in the gulf with sharks and someone telling us it's ok and that they won't hurt you!) Huge progess here--our dogs are inside small dogs so we had to quickly get him to understand they are ok and that they would NOT hurt him!)

Ok, how did he do on the plane ride??? Well, amazing-- that is all I can say! He couldn't get on that plane fast enough! We had given him a toy airplane the day we were to leave and he played with it ALL day! It had a string on it you could pull and the airplane would run across the floor. The manager at the guest home told us he kept saying that "he hoped the plane would make it all the way to America!!!" :) He was so happy to be going to America! He was of course fasicnated with the REAL airplane...Lots of buttons to push, lights to turn on, headsets to put on, movies to watch, yummy food to eat and cokes to drink! He slept the first 12 hours of the 17 hour plane ride, so Philip and I were also able to get a little sleep! We had an "emergency kit" of toys, but we only had to pull out 2 toys to keep him entertained! That was a blessing! We landed in Washington and then flew off to Atlanta and then to Nashville! He is fascinated with Aeroplanes! He loved to watch them on the runway and show off his counting skills as he counted all the planes!

We were welcomed home by so many family members and friends!!


It was as if the papparzzi showed up! Good thing for him that he loves to flash that cutie patootie smile at everyone! He loved it! :)


Thanks everyone for giving us all such a BIG warm welcome! When we landed in Nashville we all clapped on the plane and said "We are Home!" Keep in mind he doesn't speak English, so we then said "Robby and Caitlin are here" and -- HE LIT UP! He has seen thier pictures since November and he just couldn't wait to see them! I think that is how he understood we were home! Robby and Caitlin were allowed special permission to come up to our gate (Thanks Kurtis and Alicia) and he smiled so BIG when he saw them, passed out BIG hugs to his brother and sister and then immediately grabbed his sister's hand to walk up to meet everyone awaiting our arrival! So sweet! :)

Then the roller coaster ride begins! We were tucking him into bed after we finally convinced him he HAD to go to sleep (he was running on an overdrive of Adrenalin!) and Caitlin said wow, he is HOT! and she wasn't kidding! He had been running a temperature and we didn't even know it! He had been having the time of his life playing in our home all evening, so we didn't even suspect it.... my neighbor Susan hooked us up with some Children's Tylenol and we all crashed! We contined to check on him through the night and he was just burning up... so little sleep was had and we began to worry for the little guy! What a tough re-entry to the US! He woke up still with a low grade fever and played all morning as if nothing was wrong. We had a sick child appointment that afternoon and his fever was off the charts by the time we got there ( we were still dosing his meds to bring it down). They did chest Xrays (which are awful for kids by the way- Philip nealy lost it) and we ruled out Pneumonia and TB. He had a terrible cough while we were in Ethiopia, and we had been giving him some medicine from their local pharmacy while we were there... so we knew he had some type of upper rsepirtory something! Our doctor ruled it as Bronchitis, which is what he had when Robby and I met him in July on the mission trip. (I had remembered that on his medical report that they had treated him with cough syrup...) So I felt very happy that he at least got sick here and that we could TREAT him here with an antibiotic and lots of cuddling. By that night, he was WIPED out and crashed out for 12 hours. We were up all night giving him meds (American med's dont taste so great!) He ran crazy temps all night and by morning he sprung out of bed ready to play! We thought his fever must have broken! He played and ate everything in site the next 8 hours and then the fever came back... 98 to 103..just like that! Poor baby! So we were up all night again, praying that the antibiotic would soon begin to work in his body and then he slept the next 14hours! Repeat again -- woke up with no fever, in the best mood, and wanting to play and eat everything in site. By now we were so perplexed... we receieved an email from our agency director that we might need to rule out Malaria, since it is common that fevers spike and go away quickly. We called out doctors office and he thought that was also a good idea... We pulled him off all meds for fever and just waited and watched... again we went from 98 to 102 in a matter of hours so off to Vanderbilt we went. Bless his heart-- we did a whole battery of blood tests and we are still awaiting the results. We were praying to have heard something last night, but we never did. My mom says that must be a good thing. There must not have been anything alarming for my doctor to say-- GO back to Vanderbilt. After his blood test we pumped him back up with Ibuprofen and by the time we got home his fever was coming down fast!

Philip had went earlier in the day to get him some food from ABAY (Our Ethiopian Resturant) and he devoured it when we got home from the hospital! :) I think a little taste from something from home also helped a lot!

Oh yeah, my parents came up while we went to Vandy to be with our other two kiddos and we also had plans to have Christmas with them that evening. We weren't sure how Mamo would do- we were expecting him to crash out again, but once again his fever went away VERY quickly and he was ALL over this house playing and feeling good! So glad that my parents were able to see his sweet personality and have the chance to spend some time with their newest grandson! We opened presents (he didnt get this AT ALL!!) At the end my parents wheeled in a Mac Daddy Trike and let me tell you...He GOT THAT! Equipped with a bell and all and he was on his ride the rest of the night! :)


Back to bed again and his fever was back...it's lower than it has been since Sunday so we are hoping that is a good thing! Waiting for test results this am! We receieved so many prayers for him over the past few days! Thanks to everyone-- he is LOVED so much! I know many of you are dying to meet him.... we just have to get him better first!!!

Love to all and we will keep continue to keep everyone updated!!!