A MONTH HOME

Girma continues to amaze us with his ability to thrive. It takes a lot of trust to give your heart to two complete strangers; depending on them for food, shelter and love when his situation is not one of his choosing. We admire him for his resiliency to accept us as his new parents with open arms and to move happily forward as a family. There is so much to learn from children.

Since our last blog update, we have taken Girma camping where we introduced him to smores and croquette. He preferred the challenge of the game over the sweets. Girma has been in preschool for 2 weeks now and is doing great. Mrs. Johnson says he does everything the others kids are doing and loves his smile (who doesn’t?). He had his 1st doctor’s appointment that he passed with flying colors, no parasites, no TB, just a healthy boy! Unfortunately, his 2nd doctor’s appointment was the start of his immunization shots. Or I should say re-immunization. Poor thing was immunized in Ethiopia, however, our pediatrician recommended starting all over because they know the quality of the shots here are dependable. So, our little guy yelped when they gave him his 5 shots of the day. He has to go back over 2 months for shots until he is caught up. I think it stresses us out more than it does Girma! After that trauma, we took him to his(and our!) favorite restaurant, Habesha! Habesha means Ethiopia in Amharic. When we told him we were going to Habesha, he said, “No Habesha.” We asked, “don’t you want injera (Ethiopian bread)?” He said, “Yes, injera! No, Habesha.” So we believe he thought we were asking him if he wanted to go to Ethiopia and was adamant about saying no! So, it was nearly impossible to explain to him we wanted to take him to the Habesha restaurant, not Ethiopia so it is now fondly called the Injera restaurant. :0)

Momma took Girma to his Auntie’s place of work, Rocky Mtn. PBS station and Auntie had a ball showing off her new nephew to all. His Uncle Apple turned 50 and we celebrated with him and Auntie at White Fence Farm where we had a carriage ride, checked out the petting zoo, and had a blast going down the big slide! Girma and Steve both got busted for running to take another turn on the slide. Of course, our carnivorous son enjoyed the popular fried chicken there. Believe it or not, we took a family pic with the camera’s timer and it turned out great on the 1st shot! I’m talking Tyler, Taelyn, Girma, Steve, me, Aspen, Elsy and Carly! It’s the little things that Girma does that lets us know we are definitely his parents. Like when Steve comes home from work and Girma goes running to give him a Velcro Hug and when I’m gone doing errands and Girma asks Steve, “Where’s Momma?” and wants to call me (twice in one trip!). And how Girma picks up every little thing we do and say, like “Iloveyousomuch”. These are such sweet moments in our lives right now. From day one, he’s been our son, while still loving and honoring his birth parents and country.

House addition nearing completion! Take a look for yourself!! All that is left is finish painting, complete bathroom tiling, finish plumbing, add light, switches and outlets, carpet in Ty’s room and landscaping. We are planning an open house to celebrate Girma’s Homecoming and the finished home addition. We’ll keep you posted.

Here is the link to videos of Girma, please copy and paste to view:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrMonkeyLivingroom#play/uploads