We're All Doing Great!

We've been up to so much. Tigist gets us out and about and we are taking advantage of these beautiful days before Winter hits. I'm actually looking forward to the beautiful snow. When the snow hits, when I drive around the city it is so gorgeous. It is not a common sight for me for all of my life, so I'm really appreciating these 4 Seasons here in Colorado...



Evan and David minutes before we left. I had forgotten to post these pics of our luggage and what we took.



It was so fantastic because when the Super Shuttle driver showed up at the door, we noticed that he had a very familiar accent ... Ethiopian. It turns out he goes to our ET church in Aurora. He was so sweet and we can't wait to see him at church.



Our first Sunday home David was recovering from being sick and I was beginning to get sick with the flu. So the 2nd Sunday we were home, we really wanted Tigist to have her first church experience at our Ethiopian Church. Well, Pastor Endeshaw (pictured above) asked David to sing with his guitar. First Pastor introduced us as having newly adopted one of their beautiful children. Each of us shared something about the adoption and what Tigist meant to us. We told them that we just felt so blessed with the life that we have and Tigist is an incredible extension of what is already in our hearts. Pastor prayed over Tigist with the congregation, which was just beautiful. There were many smiles and tears in the seats as they were just so pleased to have Tigist here too.

I absolutely love it when they talked to her in Amharic after church was over. Her eyes light up and she speaks to them in the few words that she knows. They hug her, kiss her all over her cheeks and she just loves it. You would think that she may feel confused about a room full of 500 Ethiopians, yet she is going home with us. She is just so connected to us and feels so secure that we are her parents and her 2 brothers are her forever family. She knows we are here for good and we will continue to spend loads of time with her to secure that in her. I understand that the first 6 months are very important to her connecting and attaching to us, so we are with her all the time.
David works from home, I work an hour a day at home with David's orders, I am with her all the time and the boys come home from school and spend time with her. She couldn't have more attention, she should feel so loved.



After church Tigist ran around with the boys while we talked to some wonderful people.



This is only 1 of many restaurants where we would place Tigist's picture on the table as we ate and enjoyed Italy. We even did it back home with her picture.



I guess we can say that Tigist went to Italy too ?????



Denver Botanical Gardens. Tigist had a really great time. The day was beautiful and so was she. Her cries have gone from a 10 minute screaming cry to about a minute or 2 now. She has improved greatly and shows signs of strong attachment to us as her Mommy and Daddy.



Breakfast downtown Denver before the Botanical Gardens. She understand what the camera is and that you smile when someone points it at her.



Tiggy ... out and about on Saturday at a great outside mall.



A bench her size



She is happy like this all of the time. Of course she is normal ... she is 2 and does those kind of things that a 2 yr. old will do, but we just feel so blessed at how well she has acclimated to her new life. It is just amazing. She has a really fun and sweet personality.



Oh she loves her brothers!! And you can tell from her belly that she loves her "dabo" too! (bread) ... we're working on that. She does not like the look of any fruit or yogurt or unfamiliar type of food. She's eaten a few bites of banana, she'll drink OJ, but that's all. I've made fruit smoothies, but she won't even get near it. We're working on expanding her taste buds, but she is definitely getting protein because she loves eggs, string cheese and now drinks milk. She cries if David and I won't let her sip our Mocha Frappuccino, so we are not letting her have that anymore.



Evan pushes her on his skateboard and her face lights up. She is a girly girl, but she is rough and tough too. She loves to do lots of things.



Here is her hair wet ... I was waiting for this moment to see what it looked like with some conditioner in it to see what kind of curls are there. I think I have found the right product now so we'll see how it works.



I had just taken the rubber bands out and I really liked how this looked. I'll have to find some dark rubber bands so that it looks more like Nubian knots. But actually when I have the colored rubber bands in her hair, children really love to look at her hair. It just looks fun to look at.



As her hair grows longer, I can still use this style on her. We left her 'fro in all day yesterday after a good wash and condition and the boys loved her hair like that. She looked so cute, I just didn't get picture, I forgot.



Many months before we brought her home, David and I envisioned Tigist walking into church holding the hands of her big brothers. This is what we dreamed of ...



Inside of our church, Tigist met many of our friends for the first time.



She did very well. Both David and I stayed in her class the entire time cause we wanted to make sure she felt okay and she did. She just adapts so well. Next week at church the African Children's Choir will be singing at our church, I can't wait. I'm back in the choir as of tomorrow and can't wait to have Tigist see these beautiful children sing so passionately for God. The choir will also meet Tigist for the first time too ... I know they have been waiting patiently and have prayed with us throughout this entire process.



Tigist in her class at church this past Sunday. She loved her "num-nums".