Happy Birthday Nyah Noelle

My sweet baby girl turned 1 today. It isn't hard to believe because she is acting more like a toddler now than a baby. She pretty much walks everywhere! Had her 12 month checkup today and is now 20 lbs. Poor baby, had to get 2 shots too. We'll save the other 2 for in a couple of weeks. Makaylee is making her a birthday cake and wrapped her presents up for her. It is funny, I think Makaylee is having more fun on Nyah's birthday than Nyah is! I so adore this little girl and feel so lucky that God picked me to be her Mommy. My greatest desire for her is that as she grows, I can lead her to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that she will love Him with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then I have succeeded as a parent. Wow, the magnitude of that blows my mind and makes me realize that I need to be working on my heart everyday as well, so that I can be a good example of Christ's love.

Over the river and through the woods

We made the trip to Grandpa and Grandma's house in Tacoma again to meet Zavion.

He had just gotten home from Ethiopia. What an answer to prayer that is! We were praying with Mark and Kelsey when the adoption of abandoned children had been halted earlier this year and didn't know when or if little Zavion would be able to come to his forever family. Praise the Lord!

Happy Mama!

working on a top tooth

heading to the park

Nyah loves the remote :)

Got it at last!

What a ham-she's started an ear piercing scream when she wants attention.

Makaylee takes baking very seriously. She got her hair done for her adoption ceremony in the courthouse coming up this Monday.

Grandma's little shadow in the kitchen

Marquez pretending Nyah's phone is his IPOD. I think he's dropping hints for Christmas. You're not a teenager yet, Marquez!

We discovered Uncle Jeff's 20 year old box of Construx. Will got busy making weapons.

Will gets to move in with us on Halloween! We can't wait to have him join our family, and his sister, Makaylee.

Friends

My friend Becky came over with her beautiful children, Alec and Haven. They are from the same orphanage as Nyah. Our families met when we started the adoption process together at an informational event, except that I had to sit and watch Becky endure a torturous wait for a referral that lasted 6 or 7 months longer than ours. I don't think I could have been that strong if it were me waiting that long. The two months we waited for a referral felt like an eternity. Rough times, so we are just glad her and Naing are home with their sweeties. They were definately worth the wait!

I love Becky!

Marquez was glad to take a break from homeschooling.

exploring

Nyah's future husband

Come again!

Six months ago

The social worker from our agency came out the other day to do our 6 month post adoption report required by the Ethiopian governement. It got us thinking a lot about Ethiopia and the memories that are dear to our hearts. I didn't have very time to take pictures, journaling, or video footage in Ethiopia because Nyah was only happy if she was held! But here are a few...

The babyless crib in our room at the guesthouse. We couldn't meet Nyah until after signing papers with the lawyer the next morning.

Orin unpacking onto the beautiful handmade African quilt that Nyah threw up on countless times that week!

signing paperwork for the Embassy appt.




meeting Nyah for the first time- she took our breath away she was so beautiful- the pictures didn't do her justice

Proud daddy, confused baby

Toukoul "sistas"

Dadi the driver took us to the museum. It was fascinating to me since I love studying history and other cultures. This woven table with built in cup holders was neat.

painting depicting the Queen of Sheba meeting King Solomon

ancient Yatzee

artwork from around the country- a trained eye can tell which part its from by the type of weave pattern

a more modern work of art

Off to the Embassy appointment to get the babies' passports. These slings were great since there are no carseats or even seatbelts if you brought a carseat. The mains roads weren't too bad but the dirt side roads could jostle a baby right out of your lap if you weren't careful! It was sweltering hot in the van but if we opened up the windows, black plumes of diesel fuel wafted in. The rides were an adventure to say the least. It was fun when we went into oncoming traffic to pass someone or narrowly escaped plowing over a pedestrian. And traffic lights and stop signs- who needs those? They just slow you down anyway.

The differences in our two cultures was fascinating, refreshing, interesting, thought provoking. I wish we could've stayed so much longer to take it all in. Isn't there such beauty in variety? We serve a creative God.

We Miss Ethiopia

One of our favorite parts of Ethiopia was getting to know our driver, Dadi. He was such a wealth of information and loved telling about his country as he drove us around Addis to do sightseeing. It was obvious that he loves is country and talked about the history, people and customs with such pride. We learned so much from him that we will be able to pass on to our daughter someday. It was invaluable.

students on break milling around outside their school gates

heading up to Mt. Entoto

young girl carrying eucalyptus branches down the mountain to sell in the city

It was beautiful up there!

You could see all of Addis. Dadi could pick out the Mercato, Embassy and the orphanage from here. Amazing. The smell from the eucalyptus trees was so strong it was as if we were covered in Vic's Vapor Rub.

We gave a soccer ball to this sweet family who lives in the forest. The girl was so excited to show her brother when he got home from school.

a cave in the monastery

passing out our kids' leftover Halloween candy on the way down- maybe we should have passed out toothbrushes, too :)

Back at the guesthouse after a long day. This is the frenchman who started the Toukoul Orphanage after adopting an Ethiopian orphan himself.

Aster, who helped start Toukoul as well.

A gal who worked at the guesthouse. She was so sweet but the language barrier was there so all we could do was smile, hug, and laugh with each other. Wish I had studied Amharic before we came.

Ethiopian barbeque

Giant turtle that Nyah can come back and visit when she is 50 and it will still be alive!

Orin tries on the Sleepy Wrap that doubled as our "carseat"in Ethiopia.

Nyah playing with her friend who had been in the crib next to her at Toukoul.
It was time to head to the airport. I was bawling. I did want to be home again but I didn't want to leave Ethiopia. Orin and Dadi shed tears for each other as well. So many overwhelming emotions when you are there that it is hard to process them all until much later.

Marquez telling about his awesome skateboarding trick he mastered.

We had to give Nyah her own Playstation controller so she doesn't grab Will's while he's playing.

Helping Daddy get the '66 T Bird running

My sweet friend Sheri made this hat for Nyah's baby shower and I was hoping it would fit this winter.

Nyah decided that she doesn't like to lay still while drinking her bottle- she prefers to stand and move around. Too funny!