First Day of School

Life is a constant moving thing and if you don't watch out you might just miss something. That is how I feel. I can't believe it has been so many months since I sat down to reflect on my journey as a mother. A lot has happen since that Easter day. Both of my boys were baptized and we were able to celebrate that with many of our family and friends. They are in the early stages of their faith but I believe it is sincere and I'm so excited to see where their journey takes them.

Our trip to Disney went amazingly well. It was perfect. We had plenty of time to see everything that we wanted to see and experience all that Disney has to offer and the boys had a blast. They are already talking about going back. Their favorite part was Disney Quest, a five floor, arcade heaven. Nate loved taking pictures with all the characters and Mulatu loved riding Space Mountain. I'm so grateful for the memories that we made as a family and I look back at all the pictures we took and smile every time. The beach was fun too - seeing their faces light up when they jumped in the ocean for the first time is something you can't capture with words.

This summer has been spent mostly pool side, enjoying the sun and the freedom to jump in and swim whenever we want. The boys had a great time at both Centerpointe's Kids Camp and at Scott County's Basketball Camp. For the fourth of July we celebrated at my cousins house with a cardboard boat race. We worked hard constructing our duck boat and I was glad to see that it stayed afloat at least for a time while I tried to keep Mulatu from flipping us out. We will be back at it again next year with some experience under our belt because as in all things I've learned this too was a opportunity to grow.

Being out in the middle of a pond alone with my boys in a somewhat sinking cardboard boat is somewhat symbolic of how I have felt at moments throughout this journey. My kids are great and I love them with everything I have but sometimes life is hard. Sometimes the emotions and stress of what feel like constant battles is a bit overwhelming. Mulatu had written on the side of the boat 'Jesus calms the storm' which looking back was a wonderful foreshadowing of our moment on the pond. I can not do this journey without Him. Jesus is the only one that keeps my boat from going under and at the times when water is creeping in I know that I can count on Him to be taking a bucket and pouring it back out because He is with me and He is for me and this journey is not my journey - it is our journey.

Which brings me to this morning. This morning is unlike any other morning that we have had at the Davis household. This morning was the first day of school and my boys were so excited. Nate came in at 6:14 asking when they could get up and I responded 6:15 so he proceeded to go back to his room until the alarm blaring their favorite music ‘The Wanted’ went off and they jumped out of bed with enthusiasm bursting into my room with their clothes on ready to go. We lay in bed a moment and prayed together before hopping up to begin our day. As we sat at the bus stop we had conversations that ranged from the number of birds in the sky to the various cars passing by. One car that passed by had a child in the front seat which led to Mulatu asking if they weren’t allowed to sit in the front seat to which I replied the law says you must stay in the back until you are older. Nate chimes in with and mama would go to jail if she let us sit in the front seat. Mulatu ends the conversation with ‘...and that would make Mama sad because she wouldn’t be able to see us but I would pray for you Mama if you were in jail.’ And that is the conversation that stands out this morning above the rest. I try to take in each moment of this journey because they all matter but this one is special. There won’t be another first bus stop moment and I’m glad that I was present and I’m glad that I was able to take it in. 

Time Flies

Time sure has a way of getting away from me. Over the last several months I have been trying to teach my sons is to be content with what the have and to be thankful. It seems that no matter how much time that I give them to play wii or something else that they want to do they always want more. I find that the small lessons that I try to teach my sons are often lessons that I need to learn myself. How often have I gone through life with that same mentality - always wanting more. Being a parent continues to give me a new perspective on my relationship with my heavenly Father.

We finished up our basketball season. It was a successful season - they both scored but more importantly they had a great time. Their trophies are now proudly displayed in our living room.

On Martin Luther King Jr day we went to the Cincinnati Museum Center for the African culture festival. The kids had a blast playing in the various areas of the children's museum and seeing the displays. We got to see some African dancers and singers perform and they even had an Ethiopian "passport" stop where they could smell Ethiopian coffee beans.

The boys spent the month of February in a small group for boys in grades 1-3. It was called Knights of the Round Table and each week their talked about the armor of God. They made a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, a shield of faith and a sword of the Spirit. It was great for them to have this time geared just for them. Throughout the past month we have spent one night a week in a What's a Christian class. Our children's director did a great job in this class presenting the gospel to the kids in ways they could comprehend and I saw their faith and knowledge grow on a weekly basis. Prior to both of these classes they had both expressed interest in being baptized after reading the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch. We sat down this past Friday with the children's director to talk this and we will be planning that in the next couple weeks.

Today is Easter! My sons have a deeper understanding this year of what Easter is all about and it warms my heart. They came home from church singing 'Oh happy day when Jesus washed my sins away...I'll never be the same.' Throughout this whole morning I've been more emotional than normal. During worship this morning there were tears in my eyes as I not only thought about the sacrifice that Jesus made on my behalf but of the sacrifice he made for my children that now have their own personal relationship with him. I am so extremely thankful!

We are headed to Disney world at the end of next month. We started a 30 day countdown a few days ago. Each day we are doing something Disney related. So far we have watched Brave, played Toy Story Yatzee and worked a Cars puzzle. I can hardly wait to have see my kids light up as we get to experience the world of Disney. We will also be spending a few days on the beach which will be another first. Loving life!

December 2012

Our trip to Dollywood after Thanksgiving was nice. We were able to see some good shows and enjoy the lights. Riding rides was a bit less enjoyable since it was wet and cold and the lines were really long. It was a fun day nonetheless and something that will likely become an annual tradition. 

Basketball has been a blast. Nate's team is doing very well. He is a very strong rebounder - fighting for those boards. Mulatu's team is so fun to watch as so many of them are just learning how to dribble if they dribble at all. Mualtu likes to shoot the ball and he had one game where he scored a good eight or so. Although there was a short break for the holidays, Nate's practices and the games will be gearing up again this week. 

The kids looked forward to every day of December as we celebrated Advent where they open up cars on a train. This year each day lead them to a specified location in the house where a gift was hidden. Before they got to open the day's gift this year we spent some time thinking of others and reading scriptures as we did the Lifesong Orphans advent calendar. It was a nice time that helped us focus every day on why we celebrate Christmas. 

We got the opportunity to go Christmas caroling with some students from Georgetown College. This was something that I was excited about since it was something that I had fond memories of as a child. We also went with kids from our church to Sayre Christian Village to sing and play bingo with the residents there. It is fun to make such fun Christmasy memories with the kids.

I found myself at numerous times this year saying that I was done Christmas shopping only to find more stuff that I wanted to buy. We had a great time as a family opening presents with my dad's side of the family on the Sunday before Christmas, at mom and dad's on Christmas Eve and at our house on Christmas morning. It has been great having time off to play with my kids and enjoy all of their gifts. We woke up Saturday to a beautiful blanket of snow. I was so glad I was off so that we could spend the day building a snowman and playing in the snow. We went to Georgetown College to sled down Giddings Circle. We made some great memories and dad was able to capture a lot of it with photographs. We wrapped up Christmas yesterday with mom's family and now the fun of putting all the gifts away begins. I love soaking up these moments with my kids and I'm looking forward to 2013 being a great year with the memories continuing. 

Holiday Season Round 2

Once again a few months has gone by without posting. We finished up soccer season with a bang - Mulatu scored a goal and Nate played goalkeeper for several quarters with a few shutouts. They improved so much throughout the season and I love seeing how they grow as they encounter new experiences. Since I was off on Columbus Day, we took that opportunity to take some fall family pictures. Although they turned out well it was not always happy smiles in between shots (and even some during shots) but I loved it all the same. We had our first camping experience as a family in the backyard of a good friend. It was complete with smores around the campfire (which they both enjoy making but do not enjoy eating).
Halloween began our second year of celebrating holidays as a family. Building off of last year's experiences the boys know what to expect and are excited about it all. Nate decided on Thor as his costume of choice and Mulatu was Hulk. We carved pumpkins (or more like Grandpa carved pumpkins and we watched)...one that held the shape of Africa, one of Hulk, and one of Thor. We went to the fall festival at Grandma and Grandpa's church and enjoyed playing games and winning prizes. The boys came to my work on Halloween for a brief moment before we headed over to the Alltech Arena for a special time of trick or treating among all of the vendors. We followed that round of trick or treating with another round in the neighborhood. I believe they have enough candy to last them well into the future.
They had their doctor's follow up one year exam a couple weeks ago. They had some blood work done just to ensure that everything was good and everything came back great. Dr. Hambrick was very impressed with how much they had grown. As Nate says 'I'm a weed.' While waiting for the Doctor, I also pulled Nate's first tooth (seemed like a perfect way to spend the time waiting).
A couple weekends ago I decided it was time to ditch the training wheels - we had a couple nice days of weather so we capitalized and both of the boys picked up riding their bikes sans training wheels so well. I was so proud of them. We have begun basketball with Upward and practices seem to be going well. They play on different teams. They absolutely love it. The first game is December 1 and should be tons of fun. We put up the Christmas tree this past weekend which is the earliest I have ever put it up but they were so excited and so helpful I couldn't resist. Last night we went with some friends to deliver Thanksgiving baskets. I want them to develop a servant's heart early in life and this is one way of many that I feel helps them do that. We will spend Thanksgiving tomorrow celebrating with Grandma's side of the family. Friday we are headed for a one day trip to Dollywood to see the Christmas celebrations and shows that they have and ride a few rides. We are all looking forward to it.
I aim to have a thankful heart everyday of the year but as we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow as a family I will sit around the table knowing that I am truly blessed. My beautiful sons are thriving and loving life and I couldn't be happier to get to soak up these moments with them.

Davis Day and Much More

I haven't written a post in a while. Time just seems to have a way of flying by these days. We finished out the summer with lots of swimming time and we were sad to take our last dip of the season on Sunday. We started soccer practice in August and kicked off games a couple weeks ago. The boys love it and I'm trying to focus on not being one of those parents that is hoarse after the game from screaming so much. We will follow soccer with upward basketball which they have "evaluations" for on Thursday.

Nate has started first grade at the Davis Academy and is excelling in math. He loves to see how things work and I love seeing how his mind is developing. Mulatu officially started Kindergarten and when I ask him what his favorite thing to do is - he always answers coloring. He has also picked up reading very quickly. I love watching both of my boys figure out new words or recognize words as we are out and about.

Early in August we had our last home study session with the social worker. We sent that off right before we celebrated Davis Day 2012 with some family and friends at our house. We had a little cake and some presents. The boys had been asking for roller skates for a quite some time so I got them both some pretty sweet roller derby skates. I decided that each anniversary I would buy them some Ethiopian stamps and make a digital picture book to chronicle the past year together. I was also able to find some good Ethiopian kids books online that I hadn't bought yet. To continue the celebration we went on a family vacation to Sieverville and Pigeon Forge. We stayed at a hotel that had a small water park with some pretty fun slides and such. The boys had a blast. We also went to Dollywood for a day to ride some fun rides and we checked out all the fish at the aquarium. The boys were able to touch a manta ray for the first time. It was a wonderful celebration of our first year together.

We also have spent some time celebrating Nate's seventh birthday. Mom's family came over on Sunday for some presents and ice cream cake. Yesterday we went to Mammoth Cave for the first time and went on the Frozen Niagara tour and had a lovely picnic in the rain. Today we finished the festivities with some bowling with Grandma Grandma and a trip to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt. The memories we are creating are priceless and I am soaking up all the joy and love that has become my life. I have said it many times before and will probably say it until the day I die but God has truly blessed me with some incredible children and I am so grateful.

American Adoption Day

I received the official adoption decree from the American court today in the mail. I should get their reissued birth certificates in the next few months. I also finally received my adoption tax credit check from the government. That was a woo hoo moment for the mailbox and the cause of a lunch celebration today! I even scheduled our one year home study this week...it seems crazy that this anniversary is fast approaching us.

The boys have thoroughly enjoyed the pool and have picked up swimming so well the last few weeks. They are diving to the bottom of the pool and swimming laps like champs. I'm so proud of them. I'm so glad we were able to put a pool in so we could create so many great memories with family and friends around the pool. One of the things that has made me laugh recently in regards to the pool - we watched the first Harry Potter a week or so ago and started readying some of the first book. A day or two after that mom was outside working with the boys on our giant pile of dirt that we still have where the pool was dug out. Mulatu told me later that he was trying to be like Harry and saying to his shovel 'up' but there was not magic in his hands because the shovel didn't move. They have also started to play Star Wars Lego on the playstation. It cracks me up everytime Nate calls R2D2 - Rtootie. They absorb so much of what they watch and constantly crack me up with their one liners from various movies.

I continued to be amazed at how much being a parent has taught me about my relationship with God. I am continually humbled. I have learned so much about myself, some of which is not easy to digest but is helpful in becoming who I believe God has called me to be. The other day I was casually saying something to my boys about my dislike for birds. My reasoning was that they poop on stuff and are loud. Mulatu tells me God  made them loud and God made them poop. In his eyes, all birds are beautiful. I love the simplicity of looking at the world through this lens - a lens that sees beauty in all people and things because 'God said it was good.'

Be The Tree God Made You To Be

The laughs and the smiles continue in our household as we experience daily life together. This past weekend was a series of firsts for the boys, beginning on Saturday with a ride in my friend's convertible followed by a Sunday filled with fishing and paddle boating with some friends. My first attempt to teach them to cast ended with a hook in my arm. Despite a rough start, it was a great day of fishing and they caught their first fish and enjoyed throwing them back in. We loved being able to make such great memories with such great friends! Today I signed them up to play soccer in the fall. Since they are close in age they will be able to play on the same team which will make it nice for practices and game times. The other major development this summer is that my parent's are putting an above ground pool that will be installed this week. We spent most of yesterday hauling 5 tons of sand into the backyard to prepare for this moment. Mulatu tells us that his stomach feels funny because he is so excited.

We celebrated Mulatu's sixth birthday with a pool party at grandma grandma's house complete with a fantastic spiderman cake made by my cousin. This was followed by a trip to the Cincinnati zoo on his actual birthday. His first choice was Chuck E Cheese but after discovering that all they had to eat was pizza he quickly changed his mind. 

We have had some pretty in depth conversations lately and I love being able to freely communicate with one another without any language barrier. I have started the process of readopting them. Although this is not required for Ethiopia adoptions, it is highly recommended. Children of all Nations has a partner law firm that they work with that will do this for me so my boys will end up with a Texas birth certificate. So far the paperwork has been minimal. Meanwhile I am still waiting on the wonderful Internal Revenue Service to get their ducks in a row in regards to my tax return. I will feel a lot better when this has been resolved.

One of the things that I have realized over the past few months is that as life has gotten busy it has been easier for me push spending time with God down on my list of priorities. However, in order to be the best mom I can be to my children I have to make sure that my relationship with God is number one. It has been my prayer to have that passion renewed within me and He has answered that prayer. I can tell that as I've spent more time in prayer and in His word that it is paying off in other ways as well. One of my favorite songs recently is Like an Avalanche:

And I find myself here on my knees again
Caught up in grace like an avalanche
Nothing compares to this love
Burning in my heart

Take my life
Take all that I am
With all that I am I will love You
Take my heart
Take all that I have
Jesus how I adore You

The other night before bed we were reading a new story called 'The Oak Inside the Acorn' by Max Lucado (I would highly recommend it for everyone). My favorite line was when the acorn was talking to the mama oak and she told him, "Be the tree God made you to be." One of the great things about this world is the diversity within each person. Although my path may have not been the conventional one, I believe these two boys that I have the honor of raising are the direct result of me listening to God's call on my life and being the tree He made me to be.