More about our trip...Day 4

Wednesday morning brought another visit with Miles Amanuel- though this day- he was OFFICIALLY our son! Having passed court the day prior, we were now his, and we were so ready to get our hands on him again. There was no fussing this day- all of the kids were outside in the sunshine when we arrived. We scooped him up and began another hour of the getting to know eachother game. He was still a bit sick, and his mouth was bright purple from the medicine he had just been given. We were able to play with the other kids in his room, too- it was so fun seeing all of their personalities! We stayed outside for a while and I managed to capture my favorite picture to date of my two boys.


We headed back inside where the little man proceeded to nod off in his Daddy's lap. One of the things you learn about toddler adoption is that they sometimes sleep to cope with what they feel may be a big change. We weren't sure if Miles was sleeping as a coping mechanism, or as a result of the medicine he was given for his fever, but we knew how unbelieveable grateful we were to be there holding him in our arms. We snuggled him up in his crib when it was time to go, knowing we had just one visit left.

After our visit we headed out for more delicious Ethiopian coffee with another family, this time, at Tomocca. It was crowded and we stood sipping macchiatos watching CNN. I remember we were seeing live footage of the Chilean miners as they were rescued. One of those moments you remember for a long time- especially memorable as a result of where we were that day.

We headed to Alert Hospital after that and were able to see the work of some amazingly talented people who have leprosy. They were hand weaving beautiful fabrics without any fingers...it was truly remarkable. We were glad to bring back many things from the shop there. We had dinner that night at our guesthouse and prepared for the day full of sightseeing that was to follow.

Miles is 3!

Miles Amanuel turned 3 years old on Christmas Day. I'm still not sure how we will handle his birthday in the years to come, but for the past 2 years we've had birthday cake and (more!) presents on Christmas night. We'll have a birthday party with a few friends sometime in the next month. For a little photographic comparison, here is our 2 year old on his birthday last year...

And here is the new 3 year old

He talks a mile a minute, doesn't slow down or sit still much, loves to have dance parties before bedtime and can't get enough wrestling with his Daddy. He makes us laugh a lot and can say the sweetest things out of the blue. We love being his parents.

2012

Is anyone else in utter disbelief that it's 2012? Life is flying by- and I am determined to enjoy the daily sweetness and challenges we're given!

2011 was a year of learning how to be a family of 3. Miles' adjustment has blown us away. He was the sweetest 2 year old. The terrible twos were just not so in this house. But I can tell you, we've had a 3 year old for only 7 days and it looks to be more of a wild ride. Mama's got her game face on.

I usually think resolutions are silly- why wait until a new year to make a change that you're thinking of? But I'm jumping on the bandwagon with a few, and one is to blog more. I have lots of memories from this past year but know that I would remember more if I had documented them here. So here is my public declaration (for the 2 of you that still read this!) to blog hopefully once a week. Maybe that will happen or maybe my next post will be sometime this spring. We'll see.

Happy New Year, friends.