Snow has come ... Merry Christmas Tigist!

Well, too much time has passed since I last wrote about what we've been up to. It is simply because my time restraints have changed ... and we all know why.

Tigist is still doing very well. Her challenges still lie with simple 2 year old things, like getting frustrated by not feeling understood and not having the words to tell us exactly what she wants. She turns to naughtiness if she doesn't get what she wants sometimes, but I can see clearly that she is trying so hard to learn as many words as she can to use to communicate better. It's interesting ... when I first saw a couple of pictures of her, I had concluded that she was going to be a very bright young girl. There was something about looking into her eyes that I could see a certain maturity about her. Now that she's been home for 3 1/2 months (Wow! It seems longer than that) I can see that this was all correct. She is so bright and listens to every word people say to her and repeats it.

Tigist's favorite things right now are:

• She loves, LOVES the snow, yet at first was terribly frightened by these white things falling from the sky. She sits by the kitchen sliding door with a big bowl and big spoon scooping this crazy white stuff into her bowl, tasting it, smashing it, throwing it out the door ... she yells, "Snow!" the first thing in the morning when she realizes it is still out there. The first time I held her and walked on the snow, she frantically repeated, "I gotcha! I gotcha! I gotcha!" as that is what we say to her when she feel frightened and needs reassurance. It was so cute.
• She loves scrambled eggs with melted cheese in it. She likes sitting at the kitchen island watching me make her eggs. Her patience is better about not being able to eat them immediately cause they are "hot, hot!".
  
• We watch some cooking shows together and we talk about the ingredients, especially "eggs" and "stirring". Then when I'm cooking in the kitchen, we turn on some Renee Olstead and cook and dance and sing. Fun memories for us.
• She loves to ride on Brandon's "Momo" ... his new electric "motor-bike". He takes her around into the cul-de-sac and up the street.
• She has grown to love Elmo in Sesame Street. Thomas the Train comes in second.
• She loves for us to read to her. The stories have to be short and lots of pictures, but it is one of her favorite things to do.
• And she loooOOOOves to go "Ciao". Putting on her shoes means we are going somewhere and that to her is very exciting, because she gets to find the "Moooooona" in the sky.
• She loves to hang out with Evan in the basement. Evan is so patient with her and loves it when she comes to his school and she blows kisses to all of the kids.
  

We had a recent Ethiopian teen girls fundraiser at an art gallery in Denver where I roasted, grinded and brewed fresh Ethiopian coffee for the guests. There were about 6 women who've adopted from Ethiopia who fell in love with Hanna Fanta just like David and I did, and ended up raising about $15,000 for her shelter for the girls back in Addis Ababa who have no place to go. So I'm a pro now and love making it at home.



Tigist is ready to step into the snow for the very first time.



Still unsure ... but clearly excited.






The boys would pull her in this mini-sled all over the back yard.







Once she falls, she can't get back up because she's dressed like a big marshmellow in these snow clothes.



Her hands got cold.



So beautiful the foilage looks when it is blanketed with so much white.







The Momo in the snow.







We went to Evan's school for the DARE graduation. I always knew where Tigist was by looking for a group of kids bending down. She makes friends very easily.



The big Momo! Lunch at Fatburger.







A trip to the mall while Daddy is shooting video at home. He needs the house quiet, so we get out and about.



These boots were made for walkin' ... so that's just what we did.






Tigist hiding between columns at the mall.












We were graciously invited again to enjoy Thanksgiving at our friends Kyle and Leah in Parker. She made this beautiful Pavlova and I made the Pumpkin Mouse Tart next to it. What a fun time we had with 10 adults and 13 children. Kyle and Leah themselves have 4 small kids.



Pavlova dessert made by Leah.



Our backyard.



backyard



Out front.



Looking out the front door.



The deck. We love making snowcones from the snow and pouring cherry or lime juice on it. The are unlimited and we have as much as we want. How cool is that?