Catching You Up

I'm too tired to write. Literally falling asleep typing this sentence. So I am just going to post some pictures. Then you will be able to see our life. :)



                                                                Easter 2014

                                We pulled over at a gas station just to shoot a photo with this sunset. :)

                                I sewed Z a freaking WIG. Myself. With no directions or help.
                                Just a skull cap and hair.

                               We pulled over at an apartment complex for this shot. #photographyfamily

                                    This boy. #iadorehim

                                      Z's birthday. Levi bought her the fashion glasses that she was dying for. :)

                                           This is my lawn-mower man. 

                                 Apartment complex again. What can I say? We got a killer photo.
                                 And a lot of weird looks haha!

            

                               My favorite hairstyle ever. And it's versatile. Wedding updo or casual ponytail.

                                      Visiting Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpappy. 

                                 Gymnastics practice. #dreams

                                         We are so cool. :)

                                      Grandpappy's hat. 

                                        This is my life. That face. AND that hair. 

                                       She begged me to wear red lips. 

                               She's a born big sister. 

                                     I spent an hour painting leopard nails and she smeared them 1 min later. 

The Moments That Kill Me

 Sometimes in life, we have moments that touch us so deeply we can barely breathe. These pictures represent three such moments for me. Zahria randomly wrote this letter (and a song on the back), glued my picture to it and gave it to me. I collaged pictures from when we met the kids to today. And someone sent me a picture of Natalie's hand....and the #100 on it, representing how long it has been since I had to leave her. And all three pictures crushed me, made my heart burst with love, and filled me with wonder. These kids choose me as their mom. They choose to love me. And they are my best friends.

This is Zahria and Levi 21 months ago, and today. Whattttttt............????????????

And Natalie hasn't been counting the days since I left or anything.........

Mother's Day 2014

This Mother's Day was the BEST. Better than last year, even. My kids gave me permission to share their cards and notes. There aren't even words to describe them. These kids are the most incredible people. Abe had warned me that I was going to be crying. He was right.



                                                    Zahria (it's transcribed below)

Dear Mom,

   I love you so much. Wow you work hard to take care of me and I thank you so much. You are my blessing mom from God. God give me you and I thank God. Sometime I'm wrong that I say I want a real mom. I can see from you that you are my real mom. I'm lucky that you are my mom. You are the best mom. I love you so much. I love you all the time.





                                                                   Levi

                                                                   Levi

                                                                 Zahria

                                            Abe (notice all the baby birds, which = our children)....
                                            LOVE haha!

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to honor Levi, Z, and Nat's birth mothers this Mother's Day. What could I do to show the kids that I love and honor their first moms?

I ended up buying a dozen red roses and some beautiful poster-board. In the middle, I wrote the Amharic word for "Mother" (Enat). I wrote their moms' names in large, beautiful scripts and then wrote every memory or fact about them that I could remember. I'd take a picture, but for the privacy of the kids, and the fact that Natalie's adoption is not complete, I couldn't post it anyway. Oh well. :) It turned out beautiful. The kids were THRILLED. And they had me add my name in there too (I was so honored), and then they wrote all around my name. They wrote things like, "Wonderful Mom." "Hard worker." "Strongest." "Protective." "Beautiful." "Loves children." "Good braider." "Loves coffee." "Brave."

I cried.

I don't deserve them. They are so incredible.