More letters!!:)

After just receiving letters from Tarikwa just the other day, what a great surprise to find 2 more letters in the mailbox today! Katie was so happy to find one for her and one for all of us.

Here's Katie's:

"Dear Katie,

Hi. How are you? I am fine. How was school? I pray for you everyday. I asked God for everything. Then you write me! I can't wait to meet you. I think my court date finished soon. God be with you. Jesus is my hope. I am so happy now to have a sister. I have never had a sister before now I have a sister and I have never had a brothers now have brothers. I love you Katie and God love you.

I love you."

Then ours:

"Dear My all family,

Hi. How are you my family? How was everything. I am fine. Merry Christmas my family. Today I got letter from you. I am so happy because I got a letter from you. Yes I have Christmas in Layla (her orphanage). Yes, my pants size is 12. Hope next Christmas together soon. I like your pictures so much. (We sent her a many pictures of us, the house, her room, the snow!). I hope my pass court finished soon. I like my bedroom. When I come to Minnesota I want to change my name. Please my family change my name.

God love you my family.

Love,

Tarikw"

It is so exciting to receive letters from her. It really helps us to get to know her and her hopes and dreams.

We all wondered somewhere in the back of our minds if she would have the desire to change her name when she came home. Her best friend, Letarik wanted her name changed to the middle name that her family had chosen for her. So her new name is Anaya, which has a beautiful meaning. I believe it means 'gift from God.' Both Letarik and Tarikwa's names have the same meaning, 'history.' I think it is absolutely beautiful and we all LOVE her name. But I also understand that Ethiopian's put a much different weight on names than we do in the West, where most of us name our kids because we like the way it sounds, not for the 'meaning' of the name.

I have to admit that I cried when I read of her desire to change her name. After all, her name and her memories is all she will arrive here with, nothing else. Even though we had given the boys American names before we met them, we realized how special their Ethiopian names were and ended up never calling them by American names. So legally and officially, the boys are Micah Mihiretu and Jameson Misganaw. Also special names with wonderful meanings, both American and Ethiopian. Mihiretu means, "God's mercy," and Misganaw means, "Thanksgiving to God."

So Tarikwa wants her name to be history and desires a new name. I will write her and ask her if she has a name in mind. We have come up with a name that we thought would be her middle name but instead, if she likes it, will be her first name.

I fully understand her desire to want to start over, to have a fresh start. And a new name makes sense, I guess. Tears well up in my eyes as I say that because I really don't want her to change her name. I love the name Tarikwa. She's lost so much in her short life and it just seems like a big deal to lose your name, too. But we will honor her wishes and give her a beautiful new name. I will post the name after I get the ok from her. She should hear it first, don't you think? :)

She also sent a couple photos of her. Don't know where she got them but they are so cute!!

Pray this week that both Jill, Medhanit's (Lilly) mom and us get an embassy date. That will determine when we travel to pick up the girls. Remember that we both think it would be wonderful to travel together so the girls can leave the orphanage together forever?? Maybe God thinks that is a good idea, too!

Many blessings,

Laura

Some Christmas pics

Misganaw with homemade "schmushmallow" on his face!

I LOVE this picture! Totally cracks me up. Blaine really loves De but they tease each other endlessly. De tends to be a comedian around the house, as you can probably tell. I don't know how he got so covered in marshmallow! I can only imagine what Blaine is saying to him. I love the snarl on Blaine's face. It's all in good fun, I assure you!!

I didn't even know anyone was behind me. Now you see why De makes me laugh constantly!

Yes, it's true...I celebrated my 44th birthday on Christmas Day, hence the 4 candles on the trifle. It was so wonderful to be home to celebrate it.

We got dumped on with the big Christmas snowstorm. It was the most beautiful Christmas ever!!! Mihiretu enjoying some sledding.

If this picture only had sound! Mihiretu's laugh is hilarious. Misganaw is sitting backward on the sled.

Misganaw and Mommy. I have to admit...it was pretty fun!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebration with our families. My nephew and his wife came from Spokane which made our family complete (except for the one in Ethiopia!). It was the first time our whole family was together for Christmas in 16 years!

We ended up with 20 for dinner but and when we were counting everybody up, I asked Blaine for confirmation on my number. He started out, "Well, we have 7 plus De..." I laughed and reminded him that we still are only 6 and that one of us was still in Africa! He was counting Tarikwa! Sweet, huh?

Blessings,

Laura

"My Family"

I'll try to get the Christmas pictures up sometime today but wanted to share the sweet letters we received yesterday from Tarikwa. It was so sweet. She sent a separate letter to Katie, one to Blake, one to "My Family" and one to Mom and Dad. Receiving them just made our Christmas.

One letter was actually a card in which she wrote in big letters, "HAPPY NEW CHRISMARS." Then inside it says,

"Dear My Family,

How are you my family! How was everything. I am fine. Thank you for your letter to me! I pray every day. I can't wait to meet you. I think you will be here soon. I love you my family. Medhanit say Hi. Have many friend. Their name is Letarik, Eskdar, Eyerus and Beleut. God bless you my family.

I love you My Family."

The other one says,

"Dear Mom and Dad

Hi how are you? How has work? I am fine. I can't wait to meet. I love you mom and dad. I prey everyday. I am hope you be come hare soon. Favorite food is pizza and ice-carem. Jesus is my hope. You are my mom an dad forever. You know Medhanit mom? I love mom dad so much. Jesus love you I love you and God love you. May God bless you mom an dad...

I love you

I love you mom an dad (heart)

Love, Tarikw

How sweet these letters are to us! Blake and Katie's both say, "I am so happy you are my brother. You are my brother forever." "I am so happy you are my sister forever."

Do you notice a theme in these letters? How many times does she say "my family" in the first letter? How many times does she say "you are mine forever"? It is so obvious what matters to her, isn't it? Having a family forever is what matters to her.

Her letters are so sweet and yet so sad at the same time. The fact that she's so excited to have a family forever points out that there was a time she didn't have a family forever. Actually, quite a long time. No child should ever have to go through life without a family. It's just not right. It's not God's plan. But Jesus is her hope!

We are so honored that God in all of His wisdom chose us to be Tarikwa's family.

Blessings,

Laura

Decorating by Misganaw

Often times people have a difficult time deciding what goes with what. In this case, "What do I put in this vase?"

Or this one?

You know, I would never have thought of a dinosaur but that is one of the benefits of having a 3 year old.

They're also very good at re-decorating the Christmas tree.

It's always good to bunch your ornaments together.

It's even good to hang one from another or even remove a glass icicle from the tree and reinsert it into an upside down hanging baby Jesus' head! It's a neat illusion.

Another example of hanging one ornament from another.

This one has a little of everything. It has a the 'hanging an ornament from another' technique combined with the always popular 'icicle into the horses belly hole' technique. Really lovely.

I overheard Misganaw saying to himself yesterday, "Now, who messed up all these ornaments?"

It was me. I spread them back out and took icicles out of places they didn't belong. Well, I guess he 'fixed' them and added the dinosaurs to the fireplace hearth.

He is available for home consultations on a limited basis. Please comment for an appointment and we'll try to work you in! He's in great demand especially around the holidays because of his expertise with the Christmas tree.

Oh and he'll work for candy.

Blessings,

Laura

More pics *edit* even more pics!

I just can't help myself! More pics! This is Anaya (Letarik) and Tarikwa in Ethiopia.

Anaya and Tarikwa in their room at the orphanage.

How precious is this one? This is Tarikwa, Anaya and Lilly (Medhanit) before Anaya left for home. Remember Lilly passed court last Tuesday? All 3 of these girls have found forever families and will be home all in the period of 6 months. They range from age 10-12.

Here she is in the 'family' shirt we sent her. The women she is next to took was kind enough to send these pics to me.

I LOVE this picture of Tarikwa with her gift bag. This is the moment she found out that she has a family. Can you imagine how that feels? She's just glowing isn't she?

"My Family!" Proud as a peacock, huh?

Blessings,

Laura

A whole lot of SOMETHING!!!

Who is this beautiful girl in the pink shirt?? She's legally our daughter!!! That's right, I got a surprise email from our agency saying that we had court approval.

This is Tarikwa as she is receiving our gift bag. She's holding a photo album with a pic of our family and the t-shirt she is wearing is the one we sent her with the pictures of our family, including her on it.

I can't believe this day is finally here! The Lord has blessed our family with another daughter and we could NOT be happier today. What a wonderful Christmas present!

Last night, I told Blaine that I would not be calling our agency today and that I just needed to give it up and learn to "wait." So what a surprise to hear from her with this miraculous news!

We will be traveling in February...perfect.

I will add more pictures later when my sweet niece gets here to help me.

For now, I will bask in the goodness of our LORD and you can bask in the cuteness of our daughter:)

Blessings,

Laura (mom to 5 blessings!)

A whole lot of nothing

Each and every day, I wake with great expectations of hearing of a new court date for Tarikwa. When I've heard nothing by 2:30, I start to think about emailing our agency. Even though I know that if they had some information for me, they'd let me know, I still check anyway. The answer is always the same, "Sorry, nothing new."

Today, I checked back (way back) on my email to when we were waiting for a travel date for the boys. That was back in the day when the agency didn't tell you when your court date was. They just notified you after you passed court and told you when you could travel to Ethiopia for your embassy date and to meet and pick up your kid(s).

Well, it kind of cracked me up because I was going crazy then, too! I had entitled one email to our adoption specialist, "Having bad dreams!" I then go on to explain to her that we'd had a wonderful Christmas and hoped she had, too. Then I tell her about my bad dream that I had to call her, was at my wits end and was crying and sobbing on the phone to her, asking her if we had a travel date. Keep in mind, I had a really good relationship with this woman! I then asked her if she thought that something was wrong in our paperwork and reminded her that it had been 8 weeks since we'd accepted the referral of the boys. (As if she'd forgotten!)

She had reassured me that everything was fine and we weren't alone and that it was understandable to be stressed...these are your kids, after all!

It made me laugh to remember how stressed I was at this time. There was a family who had received their referral after us, traveled and brought their child home all before we even got a travel date! This is why I was concerned!

I remember calling my sister in law, Pam (a fellow adoptive mom and one who would understand) and I was literally sobbing, telling her that I just cannot do this anymore. I can't wait another minute. And you know what? I no more than got off the phone, checked my email and saw "Travel date...Feb. 1st!" I bawled even more, knowing God had taken me to the very end of myself.

As you know, it all worked out and we do have these two sweet little boys that live in our home and are our sons! So it does all come together!

Why do I stress? I guess just because it's hard. It's hard to wait to hear. It's hard to know she's there and we're here and we want to be together. It's hard to hang in limbo. It's hard to wait.

Keep praying for her and us and this elusive court date and MOWA letter.

I do have to tell you a funny thing that happened to me when I was getting groceries today. After I swiped my card, the cashier said, "Your total is $115. 75."

I looked at the teeny total on the pin pad and said, "I though you said $115.75." She said, "Yes, that is correct." I thought, "Then why does it say $335.75?"

It was then I stood on my tippy toes just far enough away to see that what my eyes were seeing were actually not 3's but indeed 1's. The cashier and I had a good laugh, for you see, she also was over 40.

Lesson for the day...wear your glasses! I wonder what else I'm missing??

Blessings,

Laura