Zahria: 4 months <3

Z is our little bundle of joy and the light of our house. She run-dances everywhere (it's hysterical to watch) and is constantly jumping out from behind doors or impossibly small spaces, giving us heart failure. She still gets excited when it snows (although she has stopped kissing the snow and icicles.....I miss that!). She is always trying to do big chores around the house to help me out. Example: she tries to wash the kitchen floor by herself (constantly) and I don't have the heart to tell her to wait for me cause she's SO proud of being such a good helper. I usually try to do it again/sop up the excess water when she runs upstairs. Of course, as soon as she finishes one chore she moves on to another. If she's upstairs, it means she's making my bed or trying to clean the bathroom. I basically have to drag her away. She is SUCH a hard worker with a huge heart. Chores have never been so fun--she is happiest just being alongside me wherever I am and I love it. She can do a load of laundry, wash dishes, sweep and wash floors, take out the garbage, clean the bathroom and tidy the bedrooms. I have never seen a kid so excited to do housework. It amazes me, blesses me, sometimes makes me worry haha. :)

She thinks Abe and I are beautiful and she told me that when she saw our picture for the first time in Ethiopia, that was the first thing she thought. She said other kids were jealous and would say they wanted her parents and she was so proud that we were HER family. She also told me that when we left after court, she was sad. And when three weeks later, some of our court group when back for embassy and we weren't there, she was really upset. And then every family EXCEPT us went back (we were eleven weeks between court and embassy) and she didn't understand why we hadn't come back for HER. Every time a family arrived she would go put on her jacket that we had given her, cross her arms and sit on a rock and refuse to speak to anyone. (Yes, I cried a little when she told me this. It broke my heart.) Now she refuses to leave my side. We call her my 60lb appendage because she rarely even lets go of me. She told me she's afraid to lose me. If she isn't holding my hand, then she is holding my shirt or has her hand in my sweatshirt pocket. But her minimum is visual contact. She HAS to be within sight of me. If she's in the living room and I go into the kitchen, I'll immediately hear, "Mom? MOM!" and then she will run out, glom onto me, and stay on my leg/arm/hip until I pry her (yes, literally) off.

She is obsessed with chocolate and Rapunzel. I am always giving her waist or knee length extensions, which she LOVES. In fact, any time I take them OUT, I have to make sure to not try a new style or she automatically dislikes it, since nothing can follow up Rapunzel hair. I shingled her hair after I took out her rainbow extensions and she despised it---and it was SOOOO cute! Now I just wait till she's had a few days to get used to her short hair again and then I do a different style.

She's also been spoiled by me doing her hair so much; now she wants a new style every 5 or 6 days. I tell her, "Most little girls get a new style every 5-6 WEEKS!!!" And she'll go, "Oh NO, Mama!!! Mommy, before, in E-tee-o-p-ia, braids, me no like. Ah-no like dem. But now, me love. Me want new one!"

Back to the chocolate obsession: every morning around 9am she asks, "Mommy, choc-co-late?" and I say, "No Z, we don't even have any," and she replies, "Is okay Mom! Let's go a-Weg-a-mons! Come on!" And then she will tug me towards the door. :) A couple months ago for Christmas, Grandma and Grandpappy gave her some chocolate coins, and when I have her a Connect Four game a week or so later, she immediately picked up a yellow game piece and bit down hard. Bye bye $2,000 of dental work (j/k, her teeth were not hurt).

She still has the cutest accent (although she's starting to lose it a little bit..... some words that she usually twists are sounding normal, which makes me sad). She is using a lot of slang recently says random words the cutest ways:

Bubbles: Bubbalos

Ohhhhh, I gotcha

Whatever: Wad-everrrrrrrrrr

Just one minute: Jus one meen-nut

Wegmans: Weg-a-mons

Icicles: Isicks

Chemical: Callackano

Gatorade: Gatacade

Goldfish: Gone-fishing

Currently the most dreaded phrase in our house is, "Come on, I show you some-teen!!!" She uses this 6,587,251 times a day. She also loves to announce things with a line from "Tangled", and she does this for EVERYTHING: a clean table, a finished school assignment, a blanket and pillow on the couch for snuggling. She'll run in, throw back her arms and announce: "Look! You're fav-o-wit SUP-PWISE!!!!!!!!!"


Some of my favorite Z quotes:

"Mommy dis one no cold. Jacket a-no, dis one me love. Dis one me favorite." (Referring to a warm 40 degree day.)

"Mommy, no dis one! Me want YOU music. You music me favorite." (She wanted to listen to Callanach, NOT her kid music.)

"Happy Valen-eyes day!!!!" (She yelled this to at least six people in a parking lot. I had told her Valentine's Day was a day to show love.)

"I love you! You're beautiful! I love you!!!! I stay with you! Me no in house. Me stay with him." (To her first real snowman, Baruch. He melted a day later and she sobbed.)

I love you.....I love you so much Weg-a-mons!!!" (I had been hoping she would say, "I love you so much," to ME. Instead, her first and only time using it was in reference to our grocery store.)

She hates money. She is upset that Abe and I have to work for money and I told her, "If Daddy and I don't work, we don't eat." She replied, "Dat's okay. I drink water!"

Whenever I pay her for her extra chores (she and Levi are saving for bikes), she will say, "Mommy, I don't like dis one!" And shy away from the money. For tithing, she wants to give all of it to God, every time.

She hates when I get up for work at 3am everyday and she tells me all the time of her plan when she gets big. When she is big, SHE will go to work and I will sleep (she is not ever getting married; she is living with us forever). When she gets home from work she will make breakfast for me while I watch movies. Then we will have cake and ice cream for breakfast. Then she will clean up while I watch movies and then we will watch movies all day. I am fully amenable to this plan. :)

Besides being my personal care taker, Zahria also wants to be a pastor when she grows up. An Ethiopian style pastor (who sings). She sings all the time around the house, and knows half the Callanach song choruses. She's gained 3lb and 1" since coming home, as well as probably close to two inches in hair length. She loves Bible stories and chewing her fingernails. (Banana pepper juiceeeeeeeeeeeeee, holla!) She is an absolute joy to have, and I love hearing her giggle as she plays around the house. She is the most amazing and precious daughter I could have ever asked for and I don't deserve her. I love you Z!!!!! I asked God for a daughter when we started the adoption process, never dreaming I would be given the most beautiful and amazing girl in the whole world. Zahria, you are my miracle.