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?