Four Years Old

Sintayehu turned four on Monday. My little boy is growing up so fast! He has really turned a corner behavior-wise during the last few weeks too....he seems much more focused and settled and loving than he had been in quite a while. We still have a bad day every now and then, but we're no longer having rough spots constantly throughout each day. This kiddo is SO much fun when he's happy! He is learning to use his inside voice (a HUGE relief to our exhausted ears!), he is learning to ask nicely when he wants something instead of throwing things or slamming doors, and he is learning to talk through his feelings instead of throwing temper tantrums. His language skills are coming along, although he is still somewhat difficult to understand if you're not used to deciphering his speech! Some of his mis-pronunciations have made their way into our family lexicon:

• "fosa" (sofa)
• "sicky puck" (sippy cup)
• "vay hop-hee" (very happy)
• "Look! It's a chunka-munka!" (said about a squirrel that he thought was a chipmunk)
• "Kank you!" (Thank you)
• "asselpauce" (applesauce)
• "jump-a-leen" (trampoline)
• "pan-panks" (pancakes) The other night, I had mentioned that I was making "pan-panks" for supper, and he was quick to give me orders, "Don't put bwuebways (blueberries) in it, or I be fwustwated wis you!" :-)
• "I 'cared o' sumping." (I'm scared of something. This is the latest excuse to get out of bed, although when pressed, he can never actually come up with anything that he is 'cared of, except maybe a vague-sounding "montuh" (monster.))

A few other Sintay-isms:

• "Oh, blasted mushrooms!" He says this whenever things aren't going his way, usually several times a day. When we were on vacation earlier this summer, he and I had just walked down to the beach one morning when he threw his arms up in disgust and said, "Oh, blasted mushrooms!" "What's wrong?" I asked, to which he replied in an exceedingly whiny voice, "Moooooommmmm, I don' have my supah powahs wif me!" (He couldn't actually articulate what his super powers are....)
• On our last day at the beach, I asked what his favorite part of vacation had been. He said that he liked swimming in the ocean and the pools. I asked if there was anything he hadn't liked. "Ummmmm......(thinking carefully).....yeah! I don' like tigahs eating me." Okay then! I hadn't realized that we'd had any tigers gnawing on my child while on vacation, but there you have it.
• One day I was listening to praise music in my bedroom while folding laundry. Sintay came in and asked, "What dis song?" I told him that it was called Breathe, and he asked why. "Because it's saying that we need God like we need air, sweetie." Sintay: "Like a hump-back whale?" Huh?? But then, that's usually how conversations go with this kiddo.

Then there's the way he insists on walking around our street wearing swim goggles instead of sunglasses....charming, isn't he?

After supper Monday night, we had some cake and ice cream to celebrate his birthday. He was most excited about "blowing fire," but once the candles were extinguished, he immediately dove head-first into the cake. I guess we're just getting to the whole first-birthday-destroy-the-cake thing a few years later than usual!

 

The most amazing part of this birthday celebration, though, really had to do with Chris and Erica's trip to Ethiopia last week. They were able to spend a few days in Gambella, the region where Sintayehu lived. While there, they met his birth mom (A) and were able to give her a photo book that we had made of Sintay's first year with us. A was able to communicate to Erica how thankful she is that he is in America, where he has the chance to be safe and happy, how blessed she feels that he is being raised in a Christian family, and how much she loves him. It felt like such a gift on Sunday evening, to hear Erica's description of that meeting. It was even more beautiful, when on Sintayehu's birthday, Erica forwarded many new photos of his beloved first mama. He was overjoyed to see her again, although he wanted Erica to know in no uncertain terms that A was "MY Mommy A, NOT Ehkah's!" I am grateful beyond words to be able to have ways to keep in touch with our boys' first families.

One Year Home

One year ago today, after approximately 33 hours of travel, we arrived in the USA with Sintayehu!

 

 

 

We've come a long way since then. We still have a long way to go, but we've overcome quite a few obstacles in the last year. So thankful for a God who redeems hard situations and makes something beautiful out of pain!

 

 

Remembering and Reconnecting

One year ago today, we landed in Ethiopia to bring our Sintay home. We spent 3 days stuck in the Riviera Hotel, waiting on his travel visa and getting acquainted with the A family: Michael, Mindy and their new daughter Alaysia. Mindy and I had connected the year before via e-mail after she had met my father-in-law, who was speaking at her church in Illinois. I had also been with her in Atlanta in March of last year at the Created for Care retreat.....as it turns out, on the very day that they received their referral for Miss Alaysia. Their case was a few weeks behind ours, but since our case was delayed at the Embassy level for a couple of weeks, we ended up in Ethiopia to pick up our kiddos at the same time. Really, it was a God thing all the way! We had some great conversations together, and connected on so many levels. Their sweet Alaysia was struggling with the transition, while Sintayehu was doing great, so we were able to spend some time lifting them up in prayer and walking the courtyard with them as they tried to calm their screaming daughter. Miss A seemed happier when Sintay was helping to entertain her, so we definitely logged some hours in that courtyard! Sometimes, some very strong friendships can be forged in the rough places....God is a master at bringing beauty from hard situations.

 

Ready to leave the Riviera for America! June 22, 2012

 



When I met Mindy again at this year's C4C retreat, she invited us to spend a weekend with them. We chose Father's Day weekend....just days away from our one-year anniversary of being together in Ethiopia. We had a wonderful time getting reacquainted and marveling at how much our little ones have changed over the intervening year. It was nice to meet their two sons as well, and we truly enjoyed being together again! Here are some photos from our weekend:

Miss Alaysia today....isn't she gorgeous?

Noah and Levi, Alaysia's big brothers

We took the short walk to a beautiful park right around the corner from Michael and Mindy's. It was a cool, cloudy day with a bit of rain every now and then, but that didn't stop my boys from getting soaking wet as soon as they saw the splash pad.

Mindy's children, clearly less crazy than mine, sat quietly (and warmly) on the sidelines, watching Y and S cavorting about in the water.

 

Saturday evening, we walked uptown to a great ice-cream/coffee shop, where we met another AGCI family, Ryan and Amber. I have known Amber's family since we were both little girls, and today she lives just a couple of miles from Mindy, who happens to be her close friend. It really is a small world sometimes! Alaysia and Sintay held hands all the way there....too cute!

The kids all walked around the fountain area in uptown, and of course my boys were the only ones who got completely soaked once again!

 

Amber, me and Mindy

After church on Sunday, we snapped some Father's Day photos of our men with the little ones.

I feel so blessed to get to parent our boys with David. He is such an awesome Daddy!

Sintayehu LOVED Mindy, and insisted on holding her hand whenever possible.

 

Aren't these two adorable?

We all look a lot more relaxed than in the photo taken a year ago!

 

After we left Michael and Mindy's, we drove to Indiana to stay with Jason and Lori, some more great friends. Lori and I became buddies in Sunday School, when we were four years old, and I still consider her to be one of my very favorite people. We've got lots of memories, good and bad, and I love seeing how God has changed and molded both of us during the last 30-odd years. We enjoyed seeing their new-to-them home, and the boys loved the pool in the backyard. Jason and Lori are expecting a little boy in September of this year, and we can't wait to meet him! Their girls, Lindsey and Elise were awesome with our wild boys....they'll do just great with a little brother!

 

 



 

Our weekend may not have been very restful, between the 16 or so hours of driving and staying up late talking for several nights in a row, but it was definitely a blessing!



Birthday Boy

Yikealo turned 7 on the 12th, and it's looking like this particular birthday is going to stretch out for some time. We don't buy a lot of "things" as birthday presents around here, because we'd prefer to make memories as a family, and quite frankly, our kiddos don't need more stuff! For Yikealo's birthday celebration, we plan to spend some time at Great Wolf Lodge, but we can't fit it into our crazy schedule until a couple of weeks after his birthday, so that part will have to wait a bit.

In the meantime, Mr. Y was extremely excited to have his birthday! On Tuesday, I was cuddling with him on the sofa and bemoaning the fact that he was growing up way too fast. I said something like, "This is the very last day that I can snuggle you while you're still 6!" to which he replied, "But I'll still be little....enough with the moping, Mom!" I'm definitely not getting sympathy from that quarter, that's for sure. That night, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep because he was too excited. I told him that the faster he fell asleep, the sooner his birthday would be here, and he was out in no time. He did, however, wake up at 5:20 the next morning...and came out singing, "I'm seven today!!" He was thrilled to open his gift of a puzzle and two coloring books.

I attempted to get some photos of him on his birthday, and instead ended up with mostly silly pictures of him making faces.

With much effort, I did eventually manage to get a decent one or two!

 

 

 

Later that afternoon, David had an appointment with the naturopathic doctor that he sees in Indiana, so the boys and I hung out at Mom and Dad's place for awhile. Yikealo's cousin and good buddy Zavier came over, and we brought him home with us later that night. We're heading to Illinois this weekend, and figured that this would be a good chance to have Zavi stay with us for a couple of days, since we can easily return him to his family on our trip west. Y and Z always have a great time playing and plotting together. They went to work with me yesterday, and on the way home we stopped at a cupcake shop where the boys each got to pick two cupcakes for our little celebration at home.

Yesterday afternoon, they played with Legos, staged Playmobil battles, painted a model train, and spent quite a bit of time constructing a blanket tent and playing what must be the boy version of "house." Sintay was the Daddy tiger, and Yikealo and Zavi were the baby tigers. Sintay kept telling his charges, "Today, Daddy no sarra!" (Today, Daddy doesn't have to work!) "Now, you say 'Yay!'" Then they'd all wrestle around and growl at each other....lovely!

Sintay is starting to figure out this thing called a birthday, and is asking over and over, "When my birthday be, Mama?" in an extremely whiny voice. We've had lots of pouting and temper tantrums over the last couple of days, and next month can't come soon enough for him! We did let him blow out "fire" on his cupcake, "Just like Kahlo!"

To Mr. Y....we are so proud of you, bud! We thank God every day for bringing you into our lives, and we love the person that you are!