Amani's first haircut

I am so late at posting this, but better late than never. I had debeated for a while if I wanted to cut Amani's hair. It was so cute on him, but his curls are so tight, it's almost impossible to keep them from matting up. Jon wanted to be along with when I took him, so on a Saturday in October, we found the local african-american barbershop and stopped in. He did a great job sitting still and being patient. So adorable, with or without hair!

Our boy is 4 today!

I promised myself I would not let the day go by without posting the exciting news that Amani turned 4 today! I already missed the post of him being home for 6 months which took place on Sept. 20th, so I thought, if there is any hope for this blog, I had better not miss writing about his first birthday with us.

Amani is doing so amazingly well. I think that is why I have been reluctant or lax in writing on the blog. He has adapted so well, and really is such a good boy, but I'm afraid to jinx it. Anyway, we spent the day together, as we usually do. I had a Bible Study to attend, so he was able to go play with his friends for a couple hours and then I took him out shopping, out to eat at TGI Friday's for lunch and to Chuckie Cheese (his first time) to play for an hour. Tonight we had a special supper and he got to open the rest of his presents. We had a party for him on Sunday with family and friends. He did so awesome, handing out lots of hugs and thank you's.

I am feeling some sadness today for his birthmother. I wonder how she was feeling today; was she grieving or celebrating for him or both? I don't know if we will ever know, but we are so indebted to her for the sacrifice she made. I pray that one day she will be able to see fruits of her labor in how well she loved him and cared for him during his first three years. May God grant us the opportunity to reunite him with his birthmother someday, maybe on his 18th or 21st birthday?

Where have we been?

Ah.... Summer. Loved it. Miss it. But thankful fall is on it's way. I have been away for so long from my blog, I hardly know where to start again. We had some awesome pictures taken this summer, and the one I just posted on the blog is our favorite. Would love to update weekly, anyone want to hold me accountable?

"Dandy Lions"

Amani's new word of the week is dandelions. Although to him, it's two words - "Dandy Lions". I love how God can use a bunch of useless weeds to bring joy to a small child's face. He loves that he can locate them, pick them and then through them in the air- all without mom telling him no!
Jon and I took him shopping with us on Tuesday and a good part of the 1/2 hour ride he had to point out every time saw one. I always loved this stage with our other kids, when they would learn new words and then want to use them over and over. Amani is coming into it about 2 years later than the others, because of the language barrier, but he is doing fantastic. He has all but given up his Amharic (other than a few words which we are pretty sure are either curse words or just not very nice ones because he says them when he is angry) and therefore speaking in English most of the time. It's truly amazing how much he has learned in just 8 short weeks with us!

One report done, only 16 more to go!

We had our first post-placement visit last week, and it went great. Our social worker was so impressed with Amani's ability to speak English so clearly and with the amount that he already knows, after just six weeks (at the time) of being home.

Some of the cute things he says; "Ox crem" for our Papa's dog- Oscar and also for "Ice Cream", "Garab**ch" for garbage "duce brudish" for tooth brush; "Amani, sleeping, bed" (when it's time to sleep), "Amani's shouish" for Amani's house (that one took me a bit to figure out). Today when he was all done eating he said "All done Amani, Amani belly owie". We took that to mean he was full!
He is such a great helper around the house, pitching in whenever and wherever he can; emptying the garbage, helping my with laundry, sweeping the floors, getting out the napkins for supper. Afterwards, he pats himself on the back with a "Good job Amani!" before mom can even praise him! He truly is a blessing from the Lord and we couldn't be more thrilled with our new son!

Pictures

I know, I need to get better at posting more often. Today is the first day in a long time that I've been able to be on the computer for more than 10 minutes at a time and I am not quick enough to post something in 10 minutes!

Amani is still doing great. He is such a joy to have around. He is so lovable and happy and so darn cute! See for yourself:

Dressing up with big sis Alaina

Learning to ride his Dora (hand-me-down) tricycle
Slowly becoming friends with the dog, Maddie


Hanging out with daddy, eating some lunch!

First two trips to church

We haven't ventured out a lot since Amani has been home, Walmart, Festival Foods, Kohls, that's about it for stores. We have also been over to my parents, my sisters and my friend Shelley's for a play-date. I was most nervous about taking him to church. How would he behave, what would he think of

sitting.

still.

for an hour?

He actually did quite well. We took him on Monday, the 11th (which also happened to be daddy's birthday-:) and other than the summersaults daddy let him do in the narthex, he was pretty good - considering we didn't get out until 7:45pm! Payton and Ava sang in church that night and Payton's class played the chimes- so beautiful, so he had something to listen to/ watch that included our family.

The second time we took him Alaina sang in church with her class- last Saturday night. This time he had a little harder time sitting still, but he still did pretty good. We had snacks and things to write on to keep him busy. But as the 1st graders sang, he sang right along with and it was adorable. Hallelu! Hallelu! "Raise ye da Lor", or something like that.

He doesn't understand completely what is going on, but he does know we talk about Jesus, because when were were leaving - putting coats on he announced to those in our listening area: "All done Jesus". Good to know he was paying attention!