Our Newest Christmas Tradition

We started a new Christmas tradition this year. Every year we go to West Tennessee to visit my extended family. Since we don't have an Ethiopian restaraunt here in town, we decided that we're going to eat at the one in Nashville on our yearly Christmas trip. Gabriella went back & forth on whether or not she wanted to go this year. You could tell she wanted to be excited about it but that she had mixed feelings. We didn't push it, and told her it was up to her. When we were a little ways out of Nashville, she decided she wanted to go for it. Gabriella loved showing her brothers "the ropes" of eating food from her homeland. It was so cute. The workers gave her lots of extra attention & tried to get her to talk to them in Amharic, but she wouldn't :-( (we're hoping she will want to next time). She helped us with our ordering & suggested what we each would like the most. She wanted the Doro Wat, and she chowed it down very quickly! Afterwards, she said "Ooo, I want it out of my stomach!". It was adorable--I guess her little belly wasn't used to it anymore. She pulled through & managed to keep it down. Then, wanted the leftovers the next day! We are so excited that she is finally coming around to feeling "ok" with eating Ethiopian food. We truly want her heritage to continue to be an important part of her life. Now, I'm ready to try my hand at the yummy Ethiopian recipes that I've been collecting! We'll have to stop by for more Injera when we go to Nashville to welcome her friend home! She's already eaten all the injera we brought home with us! Yippee!

Woohoo!!!

We are so excited that we can hardly stand it! One of Gabriella's Ethiopian friends is coming home to TENNESSEE!!!!! We stopped through Nashville to meet her new parents on our way to visit my family in West Tennessee. Btw, they are amazing people & sweet R is so blessed! Then, just a couple of days later, they made it through court! Woohoo! A big Congrats to R, Amy, & Mike! We can't wait to welcome you home at the airport! Gabriella is sooooo excited & has her Minnie Mouse shirt ready to go!

UPDATED: THEY GOT THEIR TRAVEL DATES!!!! SOOOO EXCITED FOR THEM & FOR SWEET "R"!!!! AND, THAT MEANS WE'LL BE GOING TO NASHVILLE FOR MORE INJERA QUICKER THAN WE THOUGHT! GOD IS SOOOOO GOOD!

The Princess' First Christmas

We had an absolutley amazing Christmas at our house! It was so good to have Gabriella home to celebrate Christ's birth with us. One of my favorite memories from her first Christmas will always be the prayer she prayed as we sat down to eat dinner after going to our church's Chrismas Eve service. "Thank you God church go, singing good song. Thank you Chrismas week. Thank you Christmas food. I love Jesus! Amen." When the boys prayed, they each prayed that Gabriella would have a great Christmas. They sure love their sister!

Another special moment for me came during the Christmas Eve service when we sang "Away in the Manger". Christmas is such a special time for children, and the reality of the grim life many children face has hit so close to home this year. We are so thankful to have Gabriella in our family, but we always keep her cousins, who haven't been relinquished, close to our hearts. It breaks my heart to know that her cousins are still living in a slum, with no bed, and go to bed hungry on many nights. As we sang "Away in the Manger", some words in the song were such a sweet reminder of who's hands hold these sweet children. "Bless all the dear children in thy tender care." Jesus came, not only for the children who are blessed with so much, but also for the children who have so little. I am so thankful that Jesus is taking care of Gabriella's cousins!

School Progress

I keep meaning to post an update on how Gabriella is doing at school. Just too much to do & not enough time! Anyways, she is doing great. My biggest concern was how it would effect our bonding. Thankfully, I still feel us attaching more & more every day, despite her being at school for half of each weekday. A while back, when I had my RA flare up, there was about a week or so that I felt that our bonding was plateauing. I'm thankful now that I experienced that feeling, so that I would be able to see the difference. She loves her teacher & I am so thankful that we have her for her teacher. She has gone above & beyond in helping us see the areas we need to help her in. Today she sent the sweetest note home to tell us that she started some new testing with her today & she did great on her letters & sounds (knowing all but 1 letter & a few sounds). In her words, "She is making very quick progress". Praise the Lord! Gabriella loves all of her new friends & is very blessed to be in a very diverse class. There is another girl that has very limited English & a boy who was adopted from Guatemala. She talks about her friends a lot & is very proud to have them. She is also going to ESL for 30 minutes each day. Her "English class" teacher is also wonderful. When she tested her English initially, she was very pleased. She tested in the mid-range, but she chose to keep her as a beginner so she could have maximum time in the program. One benefit of her being in the ESL program is that we now have access to Rosetta Stone online. It is GREAT! I am pretty much amazed at all the progress she has made since she started school the week of Thanksgiving. We are praying that she progresses enough to go on to 1st grade next year. At this point, it seems that our family dynamics work more smoothly with her in a seperate grade than Siskel & Ebert. It has been unbelievable to see the difference it has made at home. It is hard to explain, but it just seems right for her not to be in the same grade with them. Three is hard number & who ever wants to be the odd ball...you know what I mean. Anyways, she still has a ways to go, but we are putting our faith in God & know that He will help her get to where she needs to be if it's in His will for her to progress to 1st grade. Ultimately, we know that God knows what is best for our family & for each of our children. If it seems more appropriate for her to have another year in Kindergarten, we are totally fine with that b/c we know that God knows EVERYTHING & has a reason for everything.

Ice Skating

Tonight we decided to take the kids ice skating downtown. After the first lap around, I never thought we'd last very long. However, the kids caught on fast & we ended up having a BLAST! We laughed so hard that now my belly hurts (in addition to every muscle in my body)!