Current Happenings

Last week, I got an email from my friend Lacey that she and her family would be in our area over the weekend.  I always get so excited when getting that news, because I LOVE this family!  Their son is also from Ethiopia and was in our original travel group last year.  Taher took the first trip with them, and then the second trip there were mixups in the Embassy, so they ended up bringing their son home two weeks before we did.  But, we still reached out to each other, and they live just one state away, so we vowed we would try to stay in touch.  Nur and their son Bini are the same age (on paper, Nur is about 2 weeks older than Bini) and I believe they even shared a room at their orphanage in Ethiopia. 

Knowing that L and family were coming to town, T and I decided very last minute to throw together a little Halloween party.  So many things out there aren't appropriate for 1 year olds, so it was nice to have a fun celebration come right to our house.  We called a couple more people to see if they could come over for our little party.  Of course some had plans with the very short notice, but in total, we gathered 5 one year olds and an infant. 

Here is Nur with his buddy Bini

We also tried to get a group shot, but TT was being a bit tempermental at the moment, and we were missing a couple kids.  We tried.

Here is TT eating with her cousin C.

These two are two peas in a pod.  I found out my sister was expecting C shortly after my first failed IVF.  I remember my sister calling, and before she could even get the words out of her mouth, I just had a feeling.  My first feeling when my sister told me she was expecting, was happiness for her.  Happiness that I was going to be an aunt again.  But the sadness was there too.  Something that up until that point had been impossible for me, was so easy for my sister, and that was a hard pill to swallow.  But this is just another example that things work out how they are supposed to.  C and TT (I know, I know, their names rhyme) are best friends.  C is 7 months older, and these two LOVE each other.  We have a picture of C on our fridge, and TT points to it daily.  I hope these two are always best friends.

And this is my sister's family.  J, my nephew is only 2 months old, but I have a feeling that next Halloween, he will be Nur's partner in crime.

We had a lot of fun, and a lot of food.  We did make your own sandwiches, we had chips, and halloween cookies and cupcakes.  We had buffalo cheese dip, and witch's hats. We had bags for the kids full of goldfish, fig newtons and animal crackers.  Our last minute party ended up being a lot of fun.

Here is Bini saying goodbye to TT, and TT is wearing Bini's hat. :)

Our children gain so much through adoption. . . but they also lose so much.  I think it is so important to find that Ethiopian connection wherever we are. I am very grateful that we met this family through adoption who feels as strongly about this as we do.  I know so many adoptive parents who get home with their child(ren) and get so busy with life and the friends they already have, that they don't make that extra effort to allow new friends in.  But Nur is and will always be Ethiopian, and I'm so grateful for this family and for Bini.  In so many ways, he feels like Nur's and TT's brother.  We just love him so much and appreciate how many of the same experiences he has with Nur.

On actual Halloween, we went to T's parent's house. 

We got home, and our kids were completely tuckered out.  It was a wonderful Halloween.