Oh my word, y'all... I can't even believe this picture was taken JUST one year ago today. (And I can't believe it's been 9 months since I blogged?! What!!? Where did that time go?!!!) On this day, one year ago today, we were anxiously awaiting news about Eliyas' waiver. We REALLY thought it could be any day and I could hardly stand the thought of one more hour of uncertainty, or another plate of pasta, tibs, or puffy pancakes. Wow. There are just no words to describe how thankful we are that we are here as a family of 3. I am crying my eyes out just remembering that month... the fear, the worry, the anxiety... the thought of leaving my son for 9 MONTHS?! BUT God. God is faithful. God had a plan far beyond what any doctor or USCIS official could see. God would move mountains and perform miracles and we would find ourselves in the good ol' US of A just 6 short days later. If you're unfamiliar with our fun story, you can read about those miracles in this post and go back from there. :)
And now? 1 year from this picture? Now I can't wait to get back on the next plane to Ethiopia. After Eliyas has an American passport and has no chance of getting stuck again, of course. :) It didn't take long for me to miss it... much shorter than I thought actually. I can almost smell it when I see pictures. We do hope to get back just as soon as we can. Well, really sooner than we "can". As soon as we can afford to I should say.
So what have we been up to? I'll try to fill you in! I've wanted to post before now, but I've struggled with exactly what to share. For one, life isn't near as interesting or suspenseful, (thank goodness!) as it was when we were in Ethiopia. No news is good news, right?! Also, it's hard to know how much to share... E is pretty private, well, he at least doesn't want his pictures and life story going out on Facebook. (So just pretend you never read this really. :) ) We've had some tough days, sure, and at some point maybe I will be able to give a brief synopsis of our first year- if for nothing else so people that are walking down the same path we are can know what to expect. But for now, let me just share the fun stuff. :)
We are celebrating Eliyas' "10 Days of Birthday" this week! Eliyas asked for some bath toys a month or 2 ago and I was SO excited to run to Target and buy some bath toys and fizzy color drops. We missed the years filled with those sorts of things and I was thrilled to be able to get some "little kid" things for him. As I was driving home that day I thought of doing a 10 day birthday celebration to celebrate the years we missed leading up to his 10th birthday on the 10th! His golden birthday! He's never celebrated his birthday before, nor did he even know his birthday in Ethiopia, so we wanted to make this super special for him. So November 1st we celebrated his "1st Birthday" and he received a book of fairy tales to read at bedtime. (He loves Jack & The Giant Beanstalk and Three Billy Goats Gruff!) For his "2nd Day of Birthday" he got Silly Putty, a puzzle, and some laser finger lights. On his 3rd day he got a magnetic toy and glow stars to put on his wall. The best so far was tonight, his "4th Day of Birthday", when he received an over-the-door basketball goal for his room! Tonight as he was getting ready for bed he found the card we gave him on the first day on the floor of his room, it had fallen out of the book, and he picked it up and said, "Mom! Don't throw this away! I am keeping this forever, it is so special to me." I about melted in a puddle on the floor.
We are excited to continue the 10 day birthday marathon with his Nerf wars & obstacle course birthday party this weekend! It is so fun to celebrate him. He is for sure enjoying it, and the way he says, "Thanks Mom & Dad!" every day just melts my heart. Where we are today... compared to where we were a year ago... well, literally and figuratively, I just can't believe it. God has been so good to us.
This last year has brought with it challenges for sure, but more than that we are aware more every day of the wonderful blessing we have received. I still can't believe that God chose us to receive this blessing. At the beginning of this school year, Eliyas had to write an acrostic poem using his name. I was poking around in his desk during parent/teacher night and found this. I couldn't think of truer words to describe this little light of our lives and my heart just about bursted knowing that he could see these things about himself. God has definitely given him some confidence. :) And hello?! He hasn't been speaking English that long, he did this way better than I would have!!!
L - "Loveing" Oh so true. (I mean, he does have his days where this might not be my first word of choice. ;-) We all have those days, of course!) He is quick to give out hugs and kisses, tells us he loves us all the time, tells us what he loves about us, he is caring and compassionate. (All HUGE, HUGE things for us as we were prepared for attachment to be an issue... as with any adopted child you have to worry about that, especially with an older child. We don't take these things for granted for one second.) He loves little kids, especially little girls. He is waiting to have a little sister of his own, he thinks if he has a sister she will listen to him. A brother might not listen to him he says. ;-)
I - "I like to play" Ha! If you ask Eliyas what he misses most about Ethiopia, he will tell you, "playing outside." :) When he first came home, one of his biggest struggles was that we wouldn't let him just go off wherever and whenever he pleased. (Now that we know him better, we know that we can trust him to be careful, responsible, and he's actually probably more street smart that I am, we have loosened up on this A LOT. And life is easier because of it.) He loves playing outside with neighborhood friends, or just riding his bike. He loves to be outside.
Y - "You are going to like me" Oh sweet boy, you nailed it. He is sweet, charming, endearing, and the life of the party. Unless maybe you've caught him on a day where he didn't get enough sleep (he may or may not be like his mama on that one), you can't help but like him. His smile lights up a room, his little shrug of his shoulders and eyebrow moves... let's just say he doesn't have a hard time getting what he wants and he has us wrapped around his finger.
A - "Always smiling" And he seriously has the best smile. Hands down. You really can't stay upset with him when he flashes that million dollar smile! He is going to be breaking hearts all over town, sooner than I would like to think, I am sure! :-/
S - "Silly funny" Ah, yes. He keeps us laughing all the time. He's always joking, hiding behind doors to scare us, and is amazingly witty, for not even being completely fluent in English yet! Chase said something on Sunday with "y'all" in the sentence and Eliyas said, "You talk like you've never seen the city before!" If I could just bottle up his laugh and share it with everyone, I think we could solve all the problems in the world.
To sum it up, our Eliyas is simply amazing. I know, we all say that about our kids, but really. He is. ;-) He fits perfectly into our family and some days I really can't believe that he hasn't been with us for the last 9 years. I can't wait to spend the next 70 years as his mom! What an honor.
So I thought I would fill you in on the last year and tell you about how school has gone, basketball, and soccer, his first Halloween... but it's now midnight so I will try to get back to it another time. As we celebrate Eliyas' "10 Days of Birthday" this week and as we are coming up on our one year homecoming anniversary... I am reminded of ALL of you who prayed, loved, and supported us home... and prayed, loved, and supported us once we got home, of course. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I can't imagine those 32 days in Ethiopia without the support we had both in Ethiopia and across the world. God was with us every step of the way, and He's been right there with us the last 359 days. We are blessed beyond measure.
Ephesians 2:20-21
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
