Happy Ethiopian New Year-2005!

Yep, that's right, Ethiopia is a few YEARS behind us in the states on their calendar. We kind of like it because it makes us all feel a little younger! We had so much fun celebrating the Ethiopian New Year at a local Ethiopian Church in Grand Rapids. We all got dressed up in our traditional Ethiopian clothes (can you tell they were purchased over a year ago?(-:) Many of our friends came to celebrate and we ended the night with a traditional Ethiopian dinner. Carys LOVED the injera and all the spicy foods. We were so happy that she recognized the taste and liked it.  Here are a few pics of our evening:

Here are a few of the families we get together with. Carys has LOTS of boys to choose from!

Carys and her bff-they came a long ways together.

One year home...how could it be!?

ONE YEAR AGO.........

So many emotions

No words can express the feeling

I've never seen your brothers and sister more elated than the moment they met you

You and your sister had an instant connection...that bond continues to grow deeper each and every day.

So many people excited to meet you and welcome you HOME.

TODAY, AUGUST 19th, 2012....

We celebrated with some of our family & our favorite up north neighbors! They are our family in 5 years...boy, girl, boy, girl , with #4, Maya, adopted from Guatemala. They knew exactly how to celebrate! Maya's comment was "Enjoy it Carys, they will forget about it next year!" Ha!

Dear Carys,  It's hard to believe that one year ago, we stepped off the plane with you in our arms. Everything was so new for you, but you took it all in and were so brave! It has been so amazing to watch how much you have grown over this past year. Not just in size either. You have basically skipped a year (or 2) in age, reciting your ABC's & counting to "11". You know many songs by heart and your bubbly & sassy personality keeps us laughing several times a day. You have brought more joy to our lives than we could have ever imagined. Your brothers and sister are still smitten over you, just like they were the first day they laid eyes on you. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with you, our precious girl." Love you toooo."

Minnie Mouse

Now that C's hair is starting to get long enough, I tried my "white Mamas" hand at an African style....just the simple infamous piggy puffs. She was so funny while I was trying to do her hair and kept repeating the word "Piggies Mommy! Piggies!" Big Brother Becket was observing in and out of running circles through the bathroom/bedrooms. I got finished and said to Becket, "So what do you think of Carys' new hair style?" He starts laughing hysterically and says "MOM! She looks like Minnie Mouse!" She thought it was quite humorous and for the rest of the day he preceded to call her "Minnie". I guess that is what big bratty brothers are for(-: Then older brother came home from school and said "MOM! WHAT did you do to Carys' hair??!!" Aria decides to pipe in and starts yelling at me for cutting just the sides of her hair. Geesh. Apparently it wasn't a hit with her sibs. I thought she looked quite cute myself. What do they know about hair anyway.

Here's Minnie showing off her new "do"

Sniff....sniff

One of the most rewarding things about this adoption (besides the fact that we were blessed with the coolest little girl in Ethiopia) is the heart of her older siblings and how it has changed them. It really has changed them...in more ways than one.

 Today, after school, I had a Mom approach me about our adoption. Her daughter is in Aria's class. Come to find out, they are in the process of an Ethiopian adoption and Aria's friend will soon have a new little sister too! Anyways, we had an impromptu play date. Aria and her friend walk into our house and I overhear this conversation:

E: Aria, I cant wait to see your room!
A: Well, I don't really have my own room. I gave it up for my little sister. She really needed a room. (which she did)
E: Oh! Well, where do you sleep?
A: I sleep in my brothers room in a bunk bed.
E: Bunk beds sound fun.
A: Yeah, it was really worth it. Sometimes I miss my own room, but I was way too excited to give it to my new sister. E, will you give your room to your new sister?
E: Aria, thats a GREAT idea. Maybe I'll do that too.

Oh.my.word. These kids GET it. AH! Just a little melt my heart moment.

No more ba ba's

And just like that we're done with Ba-Ba's at the Nieuwenhuis house. Now, if we could just move toward eliminating diapers, we'll be all set! Carys loved her bottle. It was the one thing that I felt really helped our bonding period when we got home. Before nap and before bed was the time set aside to cuddle and feed. Aria would fight me over who got to do the honors and I would sometimes let her win(-: But our little girl is growing up and started to seem like she could care less when she had a bottle. So one day I handed her a sippy cup at nap with water in it, shut the door and haven't heard a peep about it since. So it seems like we were hanging onto the bottle for "us" and not "her", and I'll take full credit for any rotten teeth that may come out of it, because every minute was worth it!

One year ago today....

we met our sweet baby girl via email. I will never forget this day as long as I live. It was a Friday afternoon. I had just finished making the kids lunch and we all had been quite anxious waiting for our referral. We had prayed for this new little girl for so long and it was getting hard just waiting. I decided we needed to bring it to the Lord.....and we did.....we sat there and prayed that it would be SOON. As I finished up the prayer, the phone rang. And it was our adoption agency. They had some good news for us....they had matched us with a 5 1/2 month old baby girl from Awassa, Ethiopia. I told her we needed to call her back when Luke could be here. To this day, I'm still shocked I was able to wait. But, we were both going to "meet" her together.  It was the longest 2 hrs of my life. We called the agency back that afternoon and received the most bittersweet news. Sweet Tsehaynesh was waiting for her new family to come bring her home. After 45 minutes of hearing all about her short little life and past, we sat there shaking, crying and in awe, that we were chosen to be this little girls earthly Father and Mother.

The agency calling us back!

Our very first glimpse of our new baby girl....I stared at this photo for months.

Photo #2 of our new addition.....stared at this one for months too(-:

Our first family photo....the kids were SO excited to see pictures of her!

Today, I sit here after tucking Carys in and the emotions quickly come rushing back. It's hard to believe that call came ONE year ago already. So much has happened in that year. We met her face to face and best of all brought her home and began life together. On the other hand, its hard to believe that she has ONLY been home with us for 6 months. I can't even describe how well she has fit into our family and how it seems like she has ALWAYS been with us. Tonight she looked up at me and said "Eye-you Mommy" as I tucked her in. She has blossomed into a beautiful, spunky, curious, joyful toddler that completes our family just perfectly. Thank you God for this precious, precious gift. We love you to pieces Carys Tsehay and are so thankful that God chose YOU to be a part of our family.

Our sassy Carys today....one year later.

Her eyes still melt our hearts(-:

Oh, the shoes.....

Carys LOVES shoes. She is obsessive about shoes. In her cute little voice, I will never forget one of her first words...."shooos Mammmeee". Her favorites are Daddy's huge shoes, which I still have yet to get a photo of. Her latest is wearing around her 'five sizes too big' rain boots. She can barely walk in them, but that doesn't stop her! Every time I hear that clomping around the house, it brings a big smile to my face. Love my girl(s)!

Big Sister had to get in on the action and put hers on too.  A little break for a hug. 

Keep on truckin' Carys!

Smooch.

She looks like she is 3 in this picture! AH!