So Thankful

Another Thanksgiving came and went. My family and I enjoyed a morning at the beach and an afternoon celebrating with very hospitable people here in St. Croix. It was fun making new memories of a totally different Thanksgiving. And then as the evening came to a close...God reminds me of how blessed we really are. As we were driving home we passed a lady who was waving down cars in the dark. After stopping we realized she needed a ride home. I am so ashamed to admit this, but because this is the world we live in, we are driving her home and all of us in the car were secretly saying our silent prayers..."please keep our family safe" The lady came and went...and all she needed WAS a ride home. This poor women who apparently was not having a good Thanksgiving...mentioned her husband was shot and killed a couple years ago...mentioned she was shot as well...she is in shambles.......and then, bam....the guilt set in, "how could we immediately think she would bring harm to us??" And then more set in....we are so blessed. God has cared for our every need and we have been given WAY more than we deserve. Sitting on this gorgeous island in pretty much paradise I am reminded of how blessed I am to even be here. I am so thankful I have a risen Savior that brings hope to my life. I am challenged to be used by Him in every way possible...that I allow Him to work through me for the benefit of His kingdom and that I love unconditionally those who need it most...without reservations...without fear...

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:7-21

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 1 Samuel 1:27

So, this verse has been posted on my blog for a year now! Its so hard to believe that a year ago I was wrestling with God and the purpose of the waiting and the journey in general. And then at 1:30pm my phone rang and caller id said CHI and the rest is history. Yep this is the celebration in our home of "The first time I saw your face" day! And what a face it was!!!Its so crazy to look back and see how small he was and realize how much he has grown. Little dude, I love you so much and wish you the world! Actually, I've been debating all day as to whether or not to post this next thing...but I guess I'm gonna. That's the thing with blogging, you can be as vulnerable as you want to sometime..well today I'm letting it all out there. A couple weeks ago I was sitting at the piano playing through a few chords and for some reason just started singing some random stuff. Well, anyway...this is what I came up with...mind you I am no lyricist, songwriter, singer or whatever...but here are some thoughts what this journey was and what I thought of after finding out who Yonni was and how he was with his mom for 18 months before being taken to the orphanage...anyway....sorry if you think its silly...ok now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't post...better do it before I change my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dca6krEw7tM

Trunk or Treat

So tonight was the first of the Halloween activities in our house. We had a blast at our church's trunk or treat tonight! It was Yonni's first time to dress up and say those magical words, "trick or treat" and had no clue why he would say it...and then noticed that afterwards candy went in the bag. He was a quick learner!! Here are the boys as we were leaving the house. Elijah is Harry Potter and Yonni is Handy Manny. The hat that came with the belt kept falling off so our backup was this angel's visor.Here's big brother showing Y the ropes.

He's figured it out!

So a great amount of thought doesn't go with my van. After lunch today, we finally decided to carve the pumpkins. We went again this year with Nightmare Before Christmas pics, so then I decided to add some Christmas stuff with our halloween stuff and played The Nightmare Before Christmas on our lappy. yep...nothing spectacular.

The pumpkins came out cute though...

So they say I'm 30 now.

Yep, today marks my big 'ol 30th birthday! So what's a girl to do other than...get a nose ring??

Haha, yeah, I've been wanting one for forever, but was always chicken...So, all this year I have been saying for my 30th I was getting it pierced. I think it was just a year long process to get my guts up to it(-: Anyway, last night while Scott was at a soccer game with the boys, I had it done. Even my husband was surprised, he thought I would come back and not gotten it done. hee hee, yep, I finally did it!
Anyway, so now I'm thirty...I thought maybe I would feel depressed or whatever...but so far...nada...nothing. I've known many people who have freaked out about it, but its just another day, right? Took Elijah to school, worked out at the Y, did laundry, baked a cake (gotta have cake pops for my bday!!), had a yummy lunch thanks to Scott and now just chillin while Yonni is napping and waiting for Elijah to come home. Same ol, same ol I guess.
I will say this though, I am way more content with where I am in life than I have ever been. Oh my, last year on this day I was a wreck! Maybe not so much on the outside, but I was struggling so hard on the inside. I wanted so badly for my phone to ring about news on my new child. That was the only thing I wanted for my birthday. It came and went and I just felt like giving up. I feel silly saying that now, but that process was so hard on the emotions. Today, I sit here alone in my quiet living room so thankful for all the blessings God has given me; a man who loves God, me and our boys more than anything...and the boys, the 2 most "perfect" little dudes I know. I guess the only thing I have to say about turning 30 is, "what's next?"

Oh yeah, and I totally look like my mom here!

Country Bumpkin

OK, not quite, but a couple of weeks ago we visited the "World Famous" Bellville Street Fair where little miss Kali Weikle was showing her pig, or hog, or hmmm...I think pig. Well anyway, we were excited because this was going to be Yonni's first "fair experience". Turns out, he was completely terrified of all the animals, from the cute little bunnies to the ginormous cows. When we found Kali and her pig he wanted nothing to do with it, so either Scott or I took turns waiting outside the tent with him. Here are some shots of Kali...

Elijah was scared at first but then decided to climb in the pen to get a closer view...He was, after all, sporting his cowboy boots(-:

After spending some time at the pig tent, we ventured to the tractors...this was something Yonni could wrap his head around. He thought they were so cool and wanted to climb on every one...which I don't think you are allowed to do... Here is Elijah and Yonatan checking out Mr. Hamilton's tractor...


On our way back to the car, we ran into an Upward family and while talking to them, the clogging, or whatever you call them, people started their "show". Yonni was immediately mesmerized. I was laughing so hard because he loved them so much. He's on daddy's shoulder's getting a better view.

Explaining to mommy how cool these "dancers" are(-:

So I wouldn't quite call us country folk yet, but we had a good time!

a mad mommy here...

Part of the adoption process had us taking classes or watching videos on how to adapt in being a multi-racial family. There were all kinds of scenarios of what "might" happen, and then the question..."what would you do?" Well, up to this point I haven't really encountered rude, inconsiderate people. Everyone seems curious and accepting and are definitely drawn by my son's adorable smile. Well, that was until today. I found myself heartbroken. Scott, Yonni, and I were eating lunch today at a chick-fil-a and while Scott was getting our food I took Yonni into the play area. There were no other adults in there and quite a few kids, so I kept an eye on Yonni and watched as he started to climb the tree thing that would eventually lead to the slide. Then out of nowhere, a little kid who was maybe 4 or 5 started yelling at Y...saying, "I DON'T LIKE YOU, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED ON HERE, I DON'T LIKE YOU!!" He continued to yell this over and over at Y and I immediately told him that was not a very nice thing to say and Y was infact allowed to play on that, just like the rest of the kids. Then he stuck his tongue out at me and kept yelling at Yonni. Then he tried to block off one of the stairs. At this point I'm trying to explain to this kid that anyone is allowed to play here, just wishing that this kids mom would show up so I could tell her a word or two. He left to play on something else and Yonni made it to the slide and thought it was awesome and seemed clueless that this kid was even yelling at him. So we go sit with Scott and eat lunch and told Scott what happened and then I just felt stinging tears swim to my eyes. I was so mad that anyone would treat MY precious child like that, especially when there were many other children playing in there. It made me wonder, was it really because my sweet little Yonni was brown that made this child react that way??? I know that I'll never know if that's why, but still...my heart was breaking. After we got done eating, we noticed who this kids mom was. She actually was sitting right outside of the play area, right next to where I was talking to this kid. At no point did she come over to see if everything was ok or not. That made me more mad. Wouldn't you wonder what was going on if some strange woman was talking pretty sternly to your son?? Anyway, at that point I said nothing to her. Now I'm regretting that. Ugh, I don't really even know where I'm going with this...my brain isn't really forming full thoughts at the moment...so I guess that's that. It just made me so mad!

~Ciao

Melkam Addis Amet

Today was an exciting day! We celebrated week 2 of kindergarten being done and also the Ethiopian New Year. We had a blast going up to Cleveland to Empress Taytu (an Ethiopian Restaurant) and meeting up with other North East Ohioans who either are in the process of adopting or have already adopted from Ethiopia. Here are some pics of from the evening.

It was so nice to see the Williamsons and their little Mesfin! We started our first leg of our trip on the same plane with them and didn't realize it until we arrived in Addis. It was amazing to see how much Mesfin had grown!!

Little adorable Sammy

The Popa girls

Yonni and Maya

Yonni, Ellie, and ElijahSuper Cute EllieAnother super cutie...MayaMaya and her Mommy, Annie
And then comes my guilt trip story. So we've been back from Ethiopia for, um lets see...7 months. Living in little Lexington, we do not have the opportunity to frequent Ethiopian cuisine. So, this is Yonni's first time eating REAL Ethiopian food since we've been back (mommy sticking Berber in the Spaghetti doesn't count(-: ) I know, I know...I feel awful!!! Especially seeing how he totally dug in and ate half the plate that was to feed all 4 of us! I'm a bad mommy and either need to figure these recipes out, or find a way to get here more often!
ok, my beating myself up is over. So here is Yonni's reaction after asking him if he liked it?
This is him showing me HOW ITS DONE...
First peel off the injera
Second, dip it in whatever looks yummy to you (for him it was all 4 items on the tray)Third, throw it in your mouth and enjoy!I must say, after eating in Ethiopia for 11 days, my palate wasn't too excited about eating it again. Bad Brain, Bad Brain!! Tonight's cuisine was soooo yummy! Can't wait for next weekend...a possible Ethiopian festival in Columbus! ok, I'm tired, going to bed.
~Ciao