christmas reindeer

just so you can see how big Zipporah has gotten - and beautiful!

Easter Sisters

another day in the life...

Over the weekend, we attended an AGCI gathering at the childrens museum in GR. A family that we traveled with was able to come from Cleveland to attend. It was so good to see them. Yikealo and Zipporah were relinquished by their birth moms around the same time - last March. (I cannot even begin to imagine what Z's birth mom is feeling right now and often wonder how far her disease has progressed. It has been a year since she made the decision to give her child a better life) Anyway, Z knew right away who Yikealo was and really just acted like she had just seen him yesterday. They did end up playing a little and he really got Z laughing her glorious laugh that we all love. Hopefully we will be able to see them again soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

We celebrated Zipporah's 3rd birthday with family last night and then she was baptized today. She is completely worn out. She finally understands the gift thing and of course, chocolate cake!

Christmas 2009

So, Zipporah was not so impressed with our American Christmas. She really couldn't have cared less about the presents. We asked her if she wanted to see what was in the present and she said "no thank you". I guess she is not as Americanized as we thought - that's ok though.

SNOW

Zipporah's first experience with snow was memorable. She just kept saying "it's cold". But of course, then I couldn't get her to come inside!

Pumpkin love

We carved pumpkins last night and Zipporah had the best time. She just screamed with delight! Oh the simple pleasures in life.

September 29, 2009

I can't believe that September is almost over. Zipporah has been here almost 3 months but it seems like a lot longer. School is in full swing for Reese and Kendall but it doesn't seem to faze Z much. She gets to play with her cousin Zeke every day as my sister and I swap out daycare to save money. Her English is improving every day and she amazes me with the things she says and understands. Her hair is growing like crazy too and she has soft curls that are going to be the envy of all.

the 2's

well, Zipporah is in the full force 2's! She is into everything, especially if it involves water. Sometimes it is the dog's water - dipping towels in and dragging them across the floor.... or of course the toilet - the barbies love to swim, and drinking out of it with a spoon works well too. Seeing that her favorite word is yucky, you would think that toilet water would be just that.
But, she is still singing "I have decided to follow Jesus" and her new favorite, "Hey, Jesus loves me!"
2 weeks ago we attended the AGCI picnic and she had a riot. She actually recognized a little girl,Meselech, from Hannah's Hope that left 2 weeks after she did. She had the most puzzled look on her face, like "what are you doing here?" It is always great to see all the happy kids that AGCI has helped bring home!

nothing new

Zipporah went to Michigan Adventure amusement park with us on Wednesday and over all, had a blast. She didn't venture off too much but did do some rides and water slides with Jeff and I.
She is so....TWO. Getting used to having a toddler around has been tough on me...I can't really take my eyes off of her. She is picking up more English every day and is quite the tattle tale - although I usually have no idea what she is saying!
As a wise person once said, "Give me patience with my blessings".

crazy days

I just love naptime. Is that selfish? That middle of the day break is so needed for all of us I think. I am going back to work on Monday - part time for 2 weeks and than back to my 3, 12 hour nights. I am really looking forward to it. I am not meant to be a stay at home mom and my kids know it after a month. Meanwhile, Zipporah is her same silly self, oblivious to it all!

more positives

When we first got Zipporah, I was simply called "engee". In Ethiopia, the locals call white people "ferengees". (I am sure I did not spell that right) Zipporah had obviously been hearing that all her short life so that is what we were. Well, I graduated to Ma-Amaye. Half English and half Amharic. Sometimes she even calls me "mom". Yeah!!!
She is also no longer petrified of the dogs. As seen in the picture, she loves to give our mastiff, Ellie, kisses. We are still working on not being too rough with her though. (Zipporah with Ellie!)

yes, she is still singing. She has an infection in her leg, giardia (an intestinal parasite) and has still "decided to follow Jesus". And she won't let us forget it!

I give up!!

I have now dressed Zipporah 4 times today. Everytime I turn around she has stripped down to her birthday suit...and it is not particularly warm today. I have finally given up and am letting her just run free.

July 16, 2009

Well, we are well into week two at home and you wonder how it is going?....After about a week of spending an hour each night in Zipporah's room rocking her to sleep I had about had it. I have 2 other kids that need me and I felt like I was neglecting them. So, my recovered from jet lag brain had an ingenious moment. She had shared a room with 4 other kids at HH! She is afraid to be alone at night - Duh! So Reese agreed to move her bed into Z's room and WaLa, not another peep. I can lay her down and walk away. No mental facility for me - yet!

She is a very picky eater and I am still working on finding things that she will eat. No fruit but bananas, but loves eggs, oatmeal, nutrigrain bars, and spaghettios. She loves her milk too. I guess I will just continue to experiment and maybe she'll just realize there is no injera here and she should just give it up and eat?

July 11, 2009

some of my favorite memories of Zipporah so far...

* sitting at the tables at the Union, waiting for Almaz to start our "meeting". Zipporah yelling, while all else was quiet, "Almaz, Almaz, Almaz", and didn't stop until Almaz acknowledged her and blew her a kiss.

* Zipporah belting out " I have decided to follow Jesus" just about anywhere and at anytime.

* Zipporah and Yikealo singing out the window of the shuttle bus at the airport

* the kisses she gives when she knows she is in trouble

* her utter shock at an ice cube and her screams of disbelief at a water fountain.

* The hour long fun a gum wrapper can give

July 2, 2009

Thursday, our final day in Ethiopia...it was bittersweet. No real plans for this day. We made our way over to Hannah's Hope for a final goodbye to Almaz and the special mothers. It was quite confusing for Zipporah so we didn't stay long. Almaz explained to Zipporah what was going to happen. She responded with a slight nod and "shh", which means "ok". We made sure that we snapped a lot more pictures today and ate an early dinner since we were leaving for the airport at 6 and they don't cook real fast - especially since we had no power that day. I took a quick cool shower since I would not get another until Friday night in the good ol' USA.
the flight home was agonizing as we probably went thru security 6 plus times between the 2 airports. I do not recommend Ethiopian airlines either. We boarded our plane at 10 p.m. and within 2 hours they thought, as everyone was falling asleep, that we needed dinner. So, on all the lights went and all the kids were awake! Then, after at least 1 and a half hours, the lights went off again. And then, we land in Rome and the cleaning crew gets on and we are not to get out of our seats until they are done...of course all the lights are on again. Finally, we are off again, lights off for maybe an hour and then we need to eat breakfast??? The staff was rude and we were very glad to see D.C. Unfortunetely we had a 9 hour layover - ouch. We made it home about 9 p.m. Friday night and were excited to shower and sleep. Needless to say, I slept on Zipporah's floor but at the time I did not care. It was not an airplane seat! And now, here we are...

July 1, 2009

Wednesday in Addis Ababa...today we met Zipporah's birth mom. It was a difficult day for all. Our meeting was set up for 10:40 a.m. Zipporah's mom, aunt, brother (10 yrs old) and sister (17 yrs old) showed up in Almaz's office. Her mom told us, thru translation, that she wasn't planning on getting pregnant, was sick (HIV) and didn't know what to do. She gave Zipporah up out of sheer desperation. She also said that her oldest daughter doesn't know that she is sick. Zipporah sat on her mom and sister's lap during the meeting but never smiled. She had a very confused look on her face the whole time - and who could blame her. I asked why she named her Kenean? The reason brought us all to tears. She said it was because,in the Bible, when Moses was taking the Israelites to the land of Canaan, it was known as the land of healing - of milk and honey. She was hoping by naming her Kenean (Canaan in English), it would bring her healing from HIV. So, why the tears? We named her Zipporah because in the Bible, she is Moses's wife. Is this child meant to be our's or what? If you are not convinced yet...her brother is deaf!
The aunt and sister hugged us with tears after our meeting..her birth mom could not control her sobbing and could not approach us anymore. My heart broke for her.
So, after an emotional afternoon for all, our group went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant for dinner and took along the kids. There was wonderful dancing, singing, music and food - injera and shiro of course. It was a late night but a wonderful experience.

June 30, 2009

Tuesday in Ethiopia...today was shopping day. After breakfast we brought the kiddos back to HH since the locals do not like to see frengies (white people) with Ethiopian kids. Zipporah was not so thrilled about going back after being with us for the night. She would not look at me and acted very mad. So, off we went, to return after their naps. After a rough and treacherous ride thru the streets of Ethiopia, we arrived at the market. We had an hour and a half to do our shopping. Talk about crazy. It was a marathon shop and we still wish we would have gotten a few more things - we left with 6 bags of stuff. It was fun though. We all loaded on the bus and went to an Italian restaurant with some incredible paintings for sale - too pricey for us. Ethiopian time is not our time...the food took over 2 hours to get - and not everyone got it at the same time. Oh well! We took the bus back to the Union, deposited our loot and went back to HH to get our kiddos. As soon as Zipporah saw me she ran to me with open arms - no longer mad I guess. We relaxed the rest of the day and let the kids play together while we had dinner at the Union again. Jeff snapped a lot of pictures today of what the poverty is really like..devastating.

July 7, 2009

Zipporah is still doing great. All the new things in her life are amazing her...ice makes her giggle, a drinking fountain takes her breath away, and what can I say about the refrigerator? She just keeps opening it and staring, like she cannot believe what she is seeing. Her first lake experience proved that she has no fear - within an hour she was putting her face under. I am going to have to get her a good life jacket! And she is still unfazed by the car seat. Such a contrast to Reese.

I miss Ethiopia and the joy of all the children. As much as the plane ride was awful, I would travel it again. If not simply to experience the contrast to my own life. The extreme poverty is such an eye opener. But the people are absolutely beautiful!