Wordless Wednesday...My Walking Buddy...

Korah

Ordinary Hero~ A day in the trash dump in Ethiopia from Kelly Putty on Vimeo.
Please take a couple of minutes to watch this video. I am so convicted by it. Grace and I just finished watching it together. Here I am with my adorable little girl...a girl who was just living in Ethiopia. As Grace sat on my lap watching, she saw the same images that I did, but I bet she had a different perspective. I cried tears of sadness for the children living in Korah, and I cried tears of thanks for the little girl that I am holding.

We had heard about Korah before we traveled...we asked about it while we were in country...interestingly, when we brought it up to our Ethiopian friend, he sort of dismissed it...We later learned that some of our travel buddies (that we spent many hours with in the airport) were able to spend some time at the Addis dump area called Korah. What they described was unbelievable. They were so moved by the experience. This is an area that we WILL support and visit in the future. It is unfathomable that this is a reality. Please check out Kelly's organization Ordinary Hero. I began following her blog when she adopted an adorable little boy a couple of years ago, - she has become anything but an ordinary hero...she is incredible and the work she does is amazing (I know...that word is totally overused, but she really does amazing stuff!). Ordinary Hero is partnering with Project 61. I have had people ask us about how they can "help" in Ethiopia. I trust and respect Ordinary Hero and believe that this would be a wonderful group to support if you are called to act.

***Pause the music on the bottom of our blog before watching the video***

"America?"

"America, yes?" I hear this question a lot from Grace. I first realized that she knew how to say America when I showed her a picture of us all that was taken in the airport after we returned from Ethiopia. To my amazement, she looked at the picture and said, "Grace America." Wow! I couldn't believe it. Someone must have told her about going to "America." Perhaps they prepared the kids at the orphanage about their upcoming trips, etc. After a couple of weeks home, we started to hear Grace say, "Mommy America?, Daddy America?, Grace America?" Well, it was all sweet and cute, until now...Grace is asking "America?" each time we get into the van to go somewhere. Clearly, she does not think we have arrived in (or at) "America" yet. When we went to Target the other day, she said "America, yes?"...well, I love Target, but I don't want her to think that it IS America. So, the question is, how do I explain to a three year old that we are IN America? It is tricky. We talk about Ethiopia a lot and we tell her how much we love Ethiopia, we remember the things we did in Ethiopia together, we show her books and pictures, etc. Now, any ideas on how to explain the America thing?

One thing is certain, she is a darn cute Ethiopian American!

Woo hah

I can't count the number of times each day that I hear the Amharic word "woo hah" which means water. Grace LOVES water! If she isn't asking for a drink, she is trying to tell us that she wants to take a bath or go outside and play with water. I have had people ask me if she ever wears clothes, because every time they stop by our house, Grace is in a swim suit. She would play with water all day. I think this is because in Ethiopia, she did not have an opportunity to take many baths (at least not spend much time in the bathtub with bubbles and toys) or play with a hose in the yard...water brings her so much joy!

Gone are our days at the beach of sitting on the sand and watching our kids...Grace requires us to chase her around the water the entire time...

Notice who always seems to be in charge of the hose?

The Slip N Slide has been a lot of fun this summer...ever add a little baby wash to the slide to make it go faster? (The boys think this is an adequate substitution for a shower/bath at night).

Watching Grace enjoy and appreciate water so much makes me even more sure that charities like Living Water, Glimmer of Hope and Charity Water are excellent places to donate money to. We take water so for granted in the U.S. Take a look at these websites, and you will be moved by the increditble work they are doing.

Well, I better run. Grace is ready to get on her swim suit - she doesn't seem to mind that it is a cloudy, rainy day!

Wordless Wednesday...

Happy Birthday Drew!

Happy Birthday Drew, Happy Birthday to Drew, Happy Birthday Dear Drew, Happy Birthday to Drew! Happy 11th Birthday Drew!
What a great big brother...he loves to push his new sister on the swings.

This picture of Drew shows his real personality...he is wild and fun, willing to try new things, has a love of life and will always keep us laughing. Have a wonderful birthday sweetie.

We love you!!!

Gracie...What A Doll!

OK...It's fianlly time to start writing about our little Grace Hiwot and her transition to our family. I feel like I need to pinch myself, because it is hard to believe she is actually here and doing so well. I sat and watched her play in the bathtub last night, and thought to myself...adoption is so cool! Here she is...I can't believe she's really here. I stared at the same face that we had looked at in pictures for so long, and she was actually a real-live person sitting in my bathtub. We did it! We made it through the entire process! I can tell all of you who are considering adoption or struggling with all of the paperwork and waiting, IT IS ALL WORTH IT! So, here is our little firecracker in a shirt that describes her perfectly...She IS kind of a big deal...She is adjusting to our family so well. She is loving, funny, cuddly and she keeps amazing us with all of the things she can do. It is so fun to see what she is capable of. She has this entire knowledge base that we haven't even tapped into yet. It is funny to think that we don't really know what she has experienced and what she knows about. She is such a little peanut (not even on the charts for height), yet she constantly surprises us with her abilities and skills (like being able to twirl a jumprope so well that her 13 year old sister can jump in it...).
The girl could swing with her sister all day long. She loves to be outside.
She is doing a great job of sleeping (thank goodness). Here she is napping with her "babies." She says, "One, two, three babies..." before she will go to sleep she wants all three babies in bed with her. So far, she doesn't play with them during her nap, she just snuggles into bed with them and goes to sleep. She is great at imaginitive play. She will feed and diaper the babies, tell us to "shhh" when the babies are sleeping, etc.
Eating is our one challenge. She likes to eat, but expects her food to be ready right when she wants it. I think this is because when she saw food at the orphanage, it was already prepared and in front of her. She will whine when she sees that food is being prepared and wants to be held (while she fusses) until it is ready - holding her makes the food prep pretty difficult, so we are working on increasing her patience...

It is also fun to watch her try to eat new things. This picture is her first taste of ice cream. She wasn't too sure about it. We picked what we thought would be her favorite flavor - banana cream pie...the girl will eat bananas all day long. Bananas are her number one food of choice. She doesn't seem too interested in sweets. She loves spicy food - hot sauce is a hit with her.

So, all in all, we couldn't be more happy with our transition so far. Grace is a doll and we are so blessed that she is with us!