Let Us Eat Cake!

Thursday marked one year since we picked Bereket up at the Hilawe Center and officially started our life together. We celebrated Gotcha Day with a family lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. To be honest, Bereket had already had lunch at daycare and was a little restless to have to sit and watch her parents eat. For her, it wasn't a super fun celebration.

We had a proper party at our home on Saturday. We shared a big, beautiful cake and munchies with some special friends who have shown our family lots of love and support during our first year.

 

 

 

Bereket loved the cake (she got more than one piece since it was her special day!). And she had a lot of fun catching up with great friends. So did we!

 

 

As we celebrated over a piece of marble cake with butter creme frosting, I thought of the cake we enjoyed as a family one year ago with the staff at the Hilawe Center and all of Bereket's little friends there. We were saying good-bye to her old life as we started a new one together. Wow, was that a beautiful and emotional gathering!

Jason cutting Bereket's Good-bye cake

Our first dessert as a family!

We were starting a new life together. A life now one year strong!

Saying farewell to all our friends at the Hilawe Center. October 4, 2011

One Year Ago Today.... We Became a Family!

One year ago today, something extraordinary happened. I became a mother.

I write for a living, and yet I have no idea how to put into words what this year has been, what it has meant.

Bereket, the day we picked you up at the Hilawe Center was without a doubt the very best of my life and I know Daddy feels the exact same way!  The days that followed in Ethiopia, our very first as a family, were nothing short of magic.  The first cuddles, the first giggles, the first family walks through the streets of Addis Ababa, the first meals together. It was all such a beautiful adventure.


One of our first cuddles! A bus ride always put you right to sleep in Addis!

First family photo after the U.S. Embassy made our family official one year ago today!

Feeding you your special "Big Cow" milk for the first time.

Reading Dr. Suess on our little balcony in Addis.

Time for a funny story!  I'll never forget the sheer joy you experienced after tasting your first yogurt-covered raisin at our guesthouse. You wanted more and more and more!  As we traveled through three different airports on the long journey home, you always had a little box of  the sweet treats in your hand.  I didn't realize until we were at our destination airport in Minneapolis that you were not eating the raisins, but rather sucking off the yogurt and then spitting out the raisins when no one was looking! My dear, you left a trail of soggy little raisins all over the world!

They taste so good and make noise when you shake them!

You have grown so much this year! Take a look at these pictures, the first is of you being silly in the laundry basket before going out to experience your first Minnesota snow. It was in early December of 2011.

December, 2011

Now, look at a photo of you in that same laundry basket taken just two weeks ago. How you have changed in just 9 months! You are growing into such a beautiful young lady!

September, 2012

We have enjoyed so many incredible "firsts" as a family. To help us all remember how beautiful this time has been, I made a little scrapbook for us.  It's called, "Bereket's First Year with Mommy and Daddy." I love your huge smile on the cover!

                                                   

Bereket, you are the greatest blessing of our lives.  We treasure every sweet second with you and we can't wait to see what wonderful adventures a new year together will bring!