A Special Day

Random Cuteness

Just some fun photos from the last few weeks ... and maybe a video clip or two, if I can get them to load. First up, the classic wearing Daddy's shoes photo.

Making friends with the monkey sculpture at Columbian Park Zoo

Waiting for the train ride at Columbian Park


Simon didn't want the train ride to end!

Whenever the cashier at Target gives Simon a sticker, he puts it in the middle of his forehead and will wear it for hours. This photo was taken about 3 hours after our trip to the store and a visit to the pediatrician for immunizations. Just glad he's smiling!

Mamaw introduced Simon to rice krispy treats and he loved them!

He also loves, loves, loves to read right now!

I love this photo of Simon and his Papaw ... nothing like a little family-school rivalry!

While I was doing dishes and cleaning up after dinner, this is what was happening outside:

Simon is finally starting to understand how to ride his tricycle, though he still prefers to push it around because he can go faster.

Indoor fun on a rainy night ... it's kinda like the Sizzler ride at the fair!

Mark and Simon went to Monkey Joe's last week. Simon usually makes friends wherever he goes and this was no exception.

Simon tries to repeat everything we say and some words are just so cute! He has a tiny voice. The hat is from his vet dress-up outfit and the sticker is still from Target. Oh, and for my sister, the outfit he's wearing is a hand-me-down that I think all three of my nephews wore!

Ethiopia Day 6

Our sixth day in Ethiopia was Sunday, April 11. We went to church with Birtukan, Nesibu and their children. It was a lively start to worship followed by a long sermon in Amharic. The benches were very straigh-backed, close together and difficult to sit on. It was a Protestant service and there was a band and ushers -- it looked very much like a service here in the US. The ushers helped people to find seats and there was always room for one, two, or ten more people in a row. It was amazing how they could pack people into the pews!

Simon liked the music but got restless about 50 minutes into the service so Mark took him outside. He 'raised the roof' with his little hands and flirted with some girls who were also sitting outside. The service lasted about 2 hours. It really wasn't much different than a service here in the States except that instead of shouting 'hallelujah' or 'amen,' the women made a loud sound like 'lalalalalalalalalala' -- it was loud and difficult to describe in words. And the electricity went off and on several times throughout the service. But the people just went with the it and it didn't interrupt worship at all!

After church, we returned to Morning Coffee guest house for lunch -- the doro wat and injera that we watched be prepared the day before. It was delicious but very buttery and rich. Here's a photo of Simon using the injera to eat.


After lunch, we worked hard to get Simon to take a nap. And I even actually got to hold him while he slept for about 30 minutes! At this point, he preferred Mark for everything. After naps, we got ready to go to dinner with Birtukan and Nesibu. They wanted to take us back to the Addis golf club for pizza. While waiting to leave, we realized that both Simon and Ashenafi had the same shirts so we dressed the boys alike! Here they are sharing a snack.

And here's a photo of the golf club entrance. The temperature took a dip and it was a cool evening. It eventually rained quite a bit on our way home. But we enjoyed hanging out on the grounds and visiting. The boys enjoyed exploring and playing with other children. We even caught a glimpse of two weddings taking place at the club. They looked very elegant.

Here's a photo of Mark with Simon munching on some crackers while we waited to go inside for dinner. At this point in the trip, Simon was still eating non-stop.

And I just had to include this photo because I love Simon's eyes, though I think he has a "take me to your leader" kind of look. I think he was actually asking for a drink.

From my journal ... "Today, Simon Kebebe let me follow him, hold him and touch him more. He is still very attached to Mark. Tonight he spontaneously played peek-a-boo with us. When he smiles, his whole face lights up! He even grabbed the hand of a little boy about the same age and tried to walk with him at the golf club -- too cute! He also called me 'Mama' for the first time and pointed at me when Nesibu asked him, where's Mama? He is such a sweet, beautiful boy and I can't wait until he trusts me more."

Ethiopia Day 5

Our fifth day in Ethiopia was Saturday, April 10. We had the opportunity to visit the Yezelalem Minch ministry offices and their feeding program. Yezelalem Minch means 'everlasting spring' in Amharic. This is the ministry begun by our guest house hostess, Birtukan. She had a vision to help orphans and has been growing this ministry in her local community in Addis Ababa. As a child, she was sponsored through World Vision and was able to go to school and receive her education. She also told us how when she was dating, she looked for a man who shared her vision of helping orphans and when she met Nesibu, now her husband, he could see her passion for helping others. (Birtukan tells the story much better than I just did!)

Yezelalem Minch has grown from helping just a few children to feeding over 720 women and children each week. The feeding program happens in three different locations every Saturday. Programs include finding sponsors for children, training women to help them be able to support their families, providing a medical clinic, helping children without families to be paired with a family or other relatives (family preservation) and in some cases, helping children to find forever families through adoption. It was overwhelming to visit the feeding program. There were so, so many children! The day we visited, lunch was a bowl of soup and chunk of bread that looked like a sub roll. The children were very friendly and many wanted their photos to be taken by us. They shook hands with us and said, "Selam" and wanted to know our names. They may be poor in physical resources but their spirits are lively! I can't even find words to describe how humbling it was to be there. I kept thinking of Simon and what his life might have been like. Many of the children we saw that day are orphans living with extended family or neighbors -- a new way of thinking about "the village" to consider non-family members checking on children living by themselves in a house next door. The poverty was so prevalent yet we experienced so much joy being among the children. One little boy wanted Mark to take his photo over and over again -- I can still see his face as if it was just yesterday. I just can't describe what it was like to be there -- I know that neither Mark nor I will be the same again for what we saw that day.

Birtukan and Nesibu are amazing people. They have a heart for the people of their community and truly invest in the people. They hire people to help them with so many things -- cooking, cleaning, laundry, night security guard, babysitting -- just to provide more jobs. They are helping the poorest of the poor on a daily basis and it is humbling. Our goal is to help Yezelalem Minch with a yearly fundraiser. If you're reading this and are interested in sponsoring a child, please let me know and I can connect you to Yezelalem Minch.

Here are a few photos from our visit to the feeding program. I don't feel right about putting too many photos here of the children so here's just a taste of our visit. This first photo shows Nesibu on the right with the women who roast coffee and sell it to support their families. Believe me, it is FABULOUS coffee! We are savoring the coffee we brought home but if you'd like to try some, just say the word -- we'll share. : )

The little boy on the left is the boy who had Mark take his photo over and over again. He was very friendly and spoke English very well. And I love that the boy on the right is wearing a suit. He was more shy.

This is a photo of the food line. The women prepare and serve the meal, first to the children and then to each other. They were very busy!

We were mobbed like rock stars but it was a joy to shake the hands of so many friendly children. Many wanted to practice their English while we tried out our few Amharic words.

At this point in the trip, Simon only wanted to be held by Mark and he wanted to be held all the time. So Mark took all of his photos with one hand! See the boy on the left? I told you he was photographed a lot!

After visiting the feeding program, we returned to Morning Coffee Guest House for lunch -- traditional Ethiopian food -- delicious as usual! We were amazed to watch Simon eating with injera correctly AND, he hardly spilled anything on himself. He amazed us each day. After lunch, we took a nap with Simon. Then we had the opportunity to watch Birtukan make injera and doro wat. So cool! Here are a few photos of the injera:

And a few photos of Birtukan making doro wat. Mark took notes!

That same evening, we went to a cultural restaurant, Yod Abyssinia, to see dancing and eat from a common table. It was very fun! The dancing was high energy and fast moving. There was a quartet of musicians, too, which was so fun to see. We left Simon with a babysitter that Birtukan hired -- a school teacher from the local community. He cried for Mark, "Ababa," for about 30 minutes. Here are a few photos from the evening. Me and Mark on what turned out to be our last 'date night' -- still haven't been on a date since we're home!

Our guide for the week, Abel, taking part in the traditional hand washing before eating from the common table.

Our dinner! It was so delicious. And Mark was excited because it included a dish we saw on Bizarre Foods -- a kind of bread from the false banana tree.

And a few photos of the musicians, coffee ceremony and dancing:

When we returned to the guest house, I went in first and while Simon didn't come to me, he didn't cry when I picked him up and played with me a bit more while we were getting ready for bed. Hooray for progress! We laughed at him trying to put on his own shoes. We loved seeing what new trick he would imitate each day. Simon continued to wave hi, honked our noses, gave high-fives and smiled quite a bit for only knowing us five days. We had to keep working with him to not hit or bite -- tough lessons. We really missed him when were out at the cultural dinner and were glad that he seemed to miss us too!

County Fair

Taking a break from re-capping our time in Ethiopia to share some photos of Simon's second trip to the Tippecanoe County Fair. (He went to the fair with day care on Monday.) He loves animals so we knew he'd be excited to return to this 4-H fair. It was very hot and steamy outside so we kept the sippy cup close by.

It was two ride for the price of one night on the midway so we took Simon for his first merry-go-round ride and he LOVED it! When the horse started going up and down and we moved forward, he got the biggest grin on his face. It was truly priceless! I had so much fun riding with him that Mark took a turn, too. Pure joy.

And here's a little video clip of our ride ... Simon is such a sweetheart and didn't even fuss when we said all done. We love being parents, especially in the little moments! Making memories like this is sweeter than we ever could have imagined.

Ethiopia Day 4

This was the day we had been looking forward to -- Embassy Day! Friday, April 9th was our appointment with the US Embassy in Addis Ababa. We had to get up very early because the van was arriving at 7 a.m. to pick us up for our 8:30 a.m. appointment. The families with our agency were the first group to meet with US Immigration that day. We had to wait just a short time at the Embassy before our names were called. The interview took about 3-4 minutes. Simon looked so handsome in his 'dress-up' clothes! While we waited for all of the families in our group to be processed, the room continued to fill up with adoptive families and their children. It became rather noisy and lively! I think that the security guard must go home with the funniest stories of what the children and families did to keep themselves entertained while they wait.

We were really happy to have this step behind us. It really isn't something to worry about but it was nice to have that final stamp of approval. When we left the Embassy, Sisay and Abel took us on a short driving tour of Addis Ababa University. They have a John F. Kennedy library on campus, which was neat to see. The grounds and gardens are so beautiful.

From there, we went to lunch at the Addis Ababa Golf Club. It was a very nice country club with beautiful flowers and walking paths. Simon and Ashenafi had fun running around, exploring and playing. Lunch was very good and we were amazed at how inexpensive the food is.

Here is our family photo after our Embassy appointment.

Playing at the Country Club

A view of some of the flowers at the Country Club

Simon had a blast exploring the many paths -- he loved being outdoors!

After lunch, we returned to our respective guest houses for a nap and to relax. Later in the afternoon, we played outside and I blew lots of bubbles for Simon. He loves bubbles! Birtukan and Mimi made a delicious dinner of lamb wat, greenbeans and carrots, pasta, rolls and papaya for dessert.

After dinner, we gave Simon a bath and he had a huge meltdown. It was very clear that he was growing to love and trust Mark but I could hear grieving in his crying. He becomes inconsolable so we just sit with him and let him cry it out. I cried along with him. I wrote in my journal: "We love you so much, Simon Kebebe and would give you the world. We hope that you will love us, too, someday, and understand your story and our love for you. You are such a beautiful little boy! People are drawn to you. You are loved by so many people -- the Bethany staff, your nannies and people you haven't even met yet. You said your name a lot today. You waved and said "hi." You dance whenever you hear music. Your Daddy taught you to 'honk' our noses. You even started blowing kisses today. It was so hard to listen to you cry tonight. Our hope is that each day will get better."

Ethiopia Day 3

Our second night in Ethiopia with Simon did not go as well as our first night. About 3 to 4 hours after we put Simon down for the night, he woke up screaming. We tried to calm him down by picking him up, hugging him, consoling him ... everything our instincts told us to do. We assumed that he was probably scared because he woke up and didn't recognize where he was. But the more we tried to calm him down, the louder he screamed and the more he tried to get away from us. This went on for about 45 minutes to an hour. What we didn't know at the time was that he has night terrors so he wasn't even really awake and we were doing everything wrong! We learned after we returned to the US and could do some reading online, that with night terrors, you have to just let children cry it out by standing back, making sure they're safe (Simon rolled around, thrashed his arms, kicked his legs and arched his back.) It's a horrible thing to watch! This happened every night we were in Ethiopia and we kept trying to console him, hold him, etc. If only we had known then what we know now! (There's a lot of things we could say that about now that we're parents! It's like a veil has been lifted ... )

So we dealt with night terrors every night we were there, a few times since coming home. They are much shorter now that we know how to avoid them and can help Simon better when he does have one. But enough about that ... let's talk about the more fun parts of our trip.

Mark returned to the orphanage for a third trip with the final family who had arrived to meet their son. I stayed at the guest house with Simon. Mark was able to take photos for the waiting families and also helped with photos for the Else family. Simon was VERY excited to see Mark when he returned! He was becoming a Daddy's boy and loved to have Mark hold him. (still does!)

After they returned from the orphanage, we all went to our agency's Ethiopian headquarters. It was so nice to be able to see the place we had thought about so often. And, to finally put faces with the names we saw on our paperwork. During this visit to Bethany's offices, we paid our visa fee and got to meet with Simon's social worker and nurse. We were surprised to learn that everyone --all of the staff! -- knew Simon's name, Kebebe. It was amazing. I wrote in my journal that day, "Everyone knows your name and loves you! You are quite the charmer. We also realized that you can say your own name and do so often -- we just didn't realize it! You continue to delight us and entertain us. Kebebe, you are so smart and a good problem solver."

We had a nice visit with Simon's social worker and nurse. All of the staff, actually! We learned from your social worker Mahlet that had a nickname among the nannies and social workers: Sumoni, which means "little coin." A sumoni is a 25 cent birr coin. They told us that it is a term of endearment because you are such a tiny, loveable little boy. It was clear to us that Simon is loved by many in Ethiopia!

While at the Bethany offices, we were also able to shop for traditional clothing and other fabric products. Bethany supports a women's training program, helping local women learn how to sew and create the fabric products to sell so that they can help to support their families. We bought several outfits for Simon and a few gifts, too.

Two photos that I like of Simon while we were in the van driving to the Bethany office:

After each of the four families in our travel group had the opportunity to visit with the Bethany staff, we went to the Top View Restaurant for lunch. It has some of the best views of Addis Ababa. We ate lunch on an open air patio and it was lovely. Simon devoured a plate of rice and veggies. We could not believe how much he ate! Simon's eating patterns have improved a lot since we're home -- he had become more picky which is a good sign. This means that he trusts us to keep providing meals for him and he doesn't have to eat now in case there's not anything later. While we were in Ethiopia, he was out-eating me and Mark. We were beginning to think he had a hollow leg!

We spent a lot of time in the van that day ... there were just four families in our group but we were staying at three different guest houses. Not ideal but what we had to do to get around. We later returned to the guest house for the rest of the day/evening and just hung out. Simon really only wanted Mark to hold him on this day ... and that remained the same for the rest of the trip. You can kind of tell in this photo that the clothing we took for Simon was mostly too big. Poor guy! He could walk right out of those shorts.

And I just had to include this cute sunglasses photo. Do you see a pattern yet? Simon loves sunglasses. So far this summer, he has lost a pair and broken a pair and put countless fingerprints on the sunglasses we still have. : )

I wasn't able to be online much on Day 3 but I did get to respond with a short note to my parents.

Today, he wanted Mark only! He said his first word, Hi, and he dances to music. He also is learning eyes, ears, nose, hair, etc. He's doing really well for us. We also learned a few more words in Amharic and he listens to us better, too. He really is a sweetheart and you are going to love him! He sounds like Mason when he laughs. (Mason is our youngest nephew.)

So that's a re-cap of Day 3! I should also note that Mark and I were struggling with jet lag in addition to Simon keeping us awake with his night terrors. We were waking up for 2-3 hours, unable to sleep. It was so frustrating! But we continued to enjoy meeting many wonderful people and soaking up Ethiopia. Stay tuned for more!