Thank You

Thanks to all of you who posted encouraging comments, gave me hugs, gave me a shoulder to cry on and prayed for me over the last few weeks. It has all helped more than any of you can know. Parenting is a tough job, but I am a much better mother thanks to all of the people I have to support me.
This week has been professionally difficult. Thank God the tough family stuff has been better this week. I don't know how I would handle it if they happened at the same time.
This is another short post, but I wanted you all to know that I am doing okay and so are the kids. I will leave you with a couple of photos of my girls with "Crazy Chris" (he and his wife, Emily, brought dinner down to us last night and it was just the therapy I needed.

Random recent photos

Here are a few photos from recent days. We are all still alive and doing well.

You know you are a mom when you get tissue paper flowers for Valentine's Day. Best flowers I have gotten in a long time.

Sunset on Valentine's Day

Meskerem with her "snow baby." There wasn't enough snow for a snowman so she created this.

Snow Baby detail

Kidist showing off the words she knows how to write. If you can't read them, they are: my, me, hi, to and Kidist. She was pretty proud of herself.

So much for New Years' Resolutions

So I was going to try to write at least one post a month this year. I have already missed January. I have lots of pictures to share and a lot of information to share, but I just haven't gotten it up. We have been so busy making memories, that I haven't taken the time to share them with all of you. It also doesn't help that I have been dealing with some depression/stress issues lately. Before you worry, I am doing much better. Quite honestly, medication is making me a better mom right now. I realized that I need to put that out there for some of you. Admitting you have depression and getting help--be it counseling, medication, prayer, exercise, whatever--does not make you a failure. I am so thankful for the good friends that have helped me see that I did/do need help and need to admit it (often). I am also incredibly blessed by the same friends providing the help I need. Having friends who will talk with you and cry with you (and prescribe you medication if needed) is an incredible blessing. So I want to say thank you to all of you, you know who you are, for being there when I needed you most. I hope I can be such a friend to you.
So, now that I am getting back into exercising and sleeping better and overall becoming a healthier person, my plan is to get back to sharing the fun of our lives with all of you. But, for anyone out there thinking about adoption/single-parenting, etc., please be kind to yourself and cut yourself some slack. It's tough, but you don't have to be alone.

Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas this year. Papa and Ayat (my dad and stepmom) were here for all of the festivities. My father contributed significantly to the spoiling of my children. But I can't say much as I did too. Here are a few photos of the days. I have more, I just have to finish editing them.

My best friend from college sent the girls fairy wings and wands and Mr. Sketch scented markers. They were thrilled to pieces and they made good use of the wings and wands immediately.

The big gift this year for the girls was bikes. They have both wanted them since we came home from Ethiopia and this seemed like a good time. We opened all of the presents and then cleaned up the garbage. When we took the garbage out to the garage, Papa and I "found" two more presents. Here is Meskerem realizing just what is inside the big red bag.

Here is Kidist, very thrilled with her new pink bike with streamers. So far they are doing well riding them with the training wheels. Since it is cold and snowy outside, they have been riding in the garage which seems to be about the right size corral for them right now (especially since they don't have helmets yet).
Here they are showing off several of their Christmas presents. My brother got them each Carhartt overalls and my stepmom got them new tutus. Put all that together with fairy wings and bikes and you have Montana fairy princesses. They are ready for anything.
I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas. My dad and stepmom leave tomorrow and then I get to do the "grandparent deprogramming" on the kids. The next week will be fun, but VERY low-key after all of this excitement. Now we get to plan for our trip to California in March (bought the plane tickets today).

Okay, it has been a really long time since I have posted. I started this post about two weeks ago, but life got in the way of me finishing it. However, since I have sent out a Christmas card with a link to my blog, I figured I better get on here and get some things updated. We have had a fantastic Christmas (photos to come in the next few weeks), but here are a few other things we have done so far this winter.

The girls learned how to make a snowman. They loved the snow at first, but they are ready for it to go away now.

On the Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving, my mom and I took the girls to see the Nutcracker ballet. It was a wonderful experience and the girls loved having a reason to get all dressed up in their fancy dresses.
So, there are a few things we have done. I have lots of pictures, but I have to get them out of the camera. I also have lots of video and got some new software for Christmas so I should be getting that sort of stuff posted soon too.
I hope you have all had a very wonderful Christmas and I hope you were as spoiled as we were. Please check back in the next few weeks as I do plan to get more photos and video up here for you.

Halloween

The girls have had a week full of activities, not the least of which was all of the fun Halloween stuff. On Wednesday, we went to the library for story-time and all the kids were dressed up and they all had their pictures taken in front of the pumpkins and giant spider.
This afternoon, they got to draw their own pumpkins that came from the pile at the library. We had one larger pumpkin that had grown in our garden and they helped me carve that one. They thought it was pretty cool to see it all lit up. Here they are with all the pumpkins including their pumpkin candy buckets. As you can see, they are really into the princess thing.
Then we drove up to Billings to spend some time with friends and trick-or-treat in a nice quiet neighborhood that was very friendly and not scary. My girls really don't like anything scary and I can't blame them at all.
Here they are at one of the first houses. It didn't take them long to catch on to what to do.
It started to rain and the wind was blowing so we didn't stay out very long, but they had a blast. After we were done, we went back to my friends' for chili and soup and lots of fun.

This display was at one of the last houses we stopped at before we went back for dinner. I couldn't resist getting a photo of the "pumpkin bear." I wish I was talented enough to come up with something like this.
I hope you all have had a fun and safe Halloween this year. Now, we can get on to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Water babies

Here are a few shots of the girls enjoying the summer tradition of running through the sprinkler. Funny thing is, you don't have to teach kids how to do this. I borrowed one of my mom's sprinklers that shoots up in the air really high and goes back and forth from left to right and the girls loved it. I was hoping Mom still had the clown sprinkler thing that we played with as kids, but somehow it managed to die and get thrown away. Oh well, a plain sprinkler was just as good.

Kidist running full bore toward the water.

Meskerem enjoying the water.

After running through the water for a little while, they lay on their towels to "warm up" and dry off.

Kidist pondering the world from her beach towel.

Meskerem has found the good life.