National Adoption Day

November is National Adoption Month and TODAY is National Adoption Day!

To celebrate this important occasion, Arizona opened its court houses on a Saturday to finalize more than 250 families' adoptions... including ours!

Here we are with the K. family (friends from our local Ethiopian Families' support group) who also readopted their son Tommy today.

Honestly, this day isn't quite as significant for international adopters as it is for domestic adopters. In domestic adoptions, this court appearance legally makes the child a member of his/her family forever. BIG deal, right?

But if you remember back to earlier this year, Dawit already legally became our forever baby at an Ethiopian court hearing in January. So this re-adoption process is only to get him a US birth certificate (which we need to apply for Dawit's American citizenship) and to legally change his name. Still exciting. But not huge.

So may I introduce for the first time since his name has LEGALLY been changed: Dawit Gerard B-P.

Just before 9:00 AM, my aunt Vicki, uncle Roger, Rich's mom Marilyn, and her boyfriend John all joined us for the festivities at the Durango court house. Our tour guide Jennifer escorted us all inside and took us to our assigned room courtroom where our case was heard by Judge Anderson.

15 painless minutes later we were done! We filed our paperwork, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed some frozen yogurt at the festivities set up outside the courthouse. By about 10:00 Dawit was WAY ready for his morning nap so we all called it a day.

Congrats to all of the families finalizing their adoptions today in Arizona and around the country!

Happy Birthday, Rich

Happy 39th Birthday, Rich!

(please ignore the horribly dirty glass door)

Dawit and I love you very much and are so grateful to have you in our lives. May this be your best year yet!

("mmm... daddy's birthday ice cream at Applebee's is GOOD!")

xx oo

Just beet it

Dawit's favorite food of all times is beets. Fortunately, last May, we had dozens of them growing in our own backyard garden so Dawit was getting more than his fill of the purple treat.

But once our spring crop was over, (and I realized how stinking expensive those little things are at the grocery store) Dawit had to expand his palate to enjoy other fresh (and less expensive) goodies like carrots, peas, yams, and butternut squash.

Alas, while shopping at our local farmers market yesterday, I saw a really great price on loose beets (only 88 cents per pound)! So I chose 5 and brought them home.

I washed, peeled, sliced, boiled and roughly mashed the little suckers (along with some soft apple pieces-- just how Dawit likes them) and had them ready in time for my darling boy's mid-afternoon snack.

I swear, if he could talk, he would open up his chubby little arms for a hug and say "thank you, Mama". Mmmmm... that yummy goodness that he has missed for so long.

But no good deed goes unpunished. While at work today, I checked my cell phone between classes and had 5 missed calls from daycare. Uh-oh. Never a good sign.

I quickly called them back and the director said, "We're really concerned about Dawit. We're afraid he has some kind of intestinal issue and needs to go to the hospital. His diaper was full of blood with his first bowel movement this morning."

Um, excuse me???!?!?!?! My heart of course stopped and I panicked for about 8 full seconds when suddenly I remembered... the beets!

It had been so long since Dawit last ate them that I forgot about the (ahem) purplish little surprise that's always waiting for us the next day.

PHEW! Fortunately, the daycare director and I were both able to laugh about the whole thing. I'm super glad they are so attentive, though. And now they'll know what it is when they see it again in the future (which I'm sure they will if Dawit has his way).

side note: Rich had a similar reaction last spring the first time he changed a post-beet diaper. So there I was, my first week back after my maternity leave, receiving a panic-stricken call from home.
silly Rich. just beet it.

Saying goodbye to summer

Goodbye summer. Farewell water.

We'll miss you and can't wait for next year.

Wordless Wednesday

Day at the park

We were lucky enough to have last Wednesday off of work in observance of Veterans' Day. Here's how we spent our afternoon:

Good Hair

On Saturday, 9 members of the Arizona Transracial Adoptive Families group got together for a Mom's Night Out. We met up in Tempe to see Good Hair, Chris Rock's new comedic documentary highlighting the great lengths that black/African American women go through to have "good hair".

Like all of Chris's work, the movie was very funny and highly entertaining. But it was also really informative and interesting. I feel so enlightened!

Like did you know that weaves can cost thousands of dollars and are often made from real human hair? And that the active ingredient in hair "relaxer" is strong enough to eat through an aluminum can after only 4 hours. Who knew?!!?

It will be interesting to see how Dawit reacts to the world of black-hair as he grows up. Especially considering that he isn't being raised in a house where his mama is constantly getting her hair done or spending thousands of dollars at the salon regularly (ahem... or AT ALL).

Anyway, after the movie, the gang all went out for a late dinner and continued chatting about our thoughts on the movie, our adorable kids, and our adoption processes.

I had such a great time. It was amazing to catch up with some old friends as well as make a few new ones.

I am so blessed to have an amazing support group in my life and I always love getting together. I can't wait for the next event!