One Year Ago Today!!!

Do you remember where we were?

Here is a hint:

Can you believe it?!

This is a picture from the morning of May 11, 2008! One year ago we welcomed Yonas, Ruby (Selamawit), and Silas (Yomane) into our family! They were small, did not know a bit of English, scared to death, but very ready to have a family!


Although we anticipated their arrival... we were all still strangers!


Now they have grown 2 clothing sizes each, can talk your ear off, and we can not imagine what life would be like without them! They are no longer strangers, but my beloved children whom I love as if I gave birth to them! We became family on Mother's Day last year! What a perfect day to add 3 beautiful children into your life!

I know their smiles, their tears, their voices, their laughs, their habits, their likes, their dislikes, their joys, their fears... I know them because they are my children!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Ethiopia! In the hustle and bustle of settling into family life when they first got home I never shared pictures of our trip to Ethiopia! During the next few days I will share some pictures and some stories of our trip!

Outside the hotel! In the brochure they showed a nice green field that the kids could play in. When we got there the field was gone! They were adding on to the hotel and there was nowhere to play but the parking lot! We had a lot of "game on", "game off" moments as cars came in and out! I love the picture of Ruby with her purse, jacket, shoes, and sunglasses! They were all so proud of their sunglasses! And although it was 80 degrees outside I could not get that jacket off her! It was so dingy by the end of the trip! It never totally came out. That dinginess reminds me of Ethiopia and her love of that jacket!

Here we are at the Hilton! We went there almost daily and played on the same small patch of grass. The kids wanted to run about and there was no place to go in the hotel! It turned out to be a very nice place, especially for soccer games!

Most of our pictures from Ethiopia are taken by the kids! I wish I had more pictures that I took, but they were very taken with the camera and it gave them something to do! So I have a bunch of blurry random pictures taken by 3 fascinated children! It did not take long for them to figure out how to work it! Here is Yonas showing our driver a picture he just took of him! Also, one of the national symbols is the African Lion. There was a stuffed one outside the hotel! It looked like it had seen better days! When the lady removed the glass to clean she let the kids take a close up picture with it!

A view from the 12th floor of the hotel looking down on Addis! I also love this picture of Levi and Ruby! She was a daddy's girl from the beginning!

Every day was so exhausting! Here are the kids all warm and snuggly on the floor! We finally the last few days bought some cheap movies on the street and watched them on Levi's laptop. We finally "figured out" Ethiopia when it was time to leave! And this is them with their nurse from the orphanage! We were looking at pictures yesterday and they all forgot who she was. It was sad how quickly memories fade for kids! I try to talk to them a lot about Ethiopia and their birth families so they never forget!!!

More to come in the next few days....