One Year Home

It's crazy hard to believe that one year ago today we were arriving home with Maya K!!!! It has been an amazing year. A hard year. A memorable year. A year of beginnings. A year of changes. A year of adventure. A year of getting to know our little girl.

Here are some of her current favorite things (as I believe them to be).

Favorite Foods: hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, strawberries, corn, chicken, pizza (but doesn't like the sauce), black olives, pepperoni, beef jerky, ice cream, chocolate, yogurt with m&m's, BACON, rice & beans

Favorite TV: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Clifford, Word Girl, Curious George

Favorite Books: The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, Snow White

Favorite Colors: pink, white

Favorite Things to Do: run, color, cut with scissors, watch TV, play with her babies, jump on the trampoline, play on the Ipad at the library, library story time, read books

Things She Wants To Do: play in the snow again, camping, fishing

Dislikes: sauce, sitting still, sleeping, applesauce

Let's see how these compare with what SHE says are her favorite things!!!! (Keep in mind that she often answers questions with things that she can currently see. This is especially evident in the "favorite tv" section of this interview!!!)

FB Friday

September 23, 2013 ~ Happy Gotcha Day, Maya K!!!! (This picture was taken just moments after she ran around the building and jumped into my arms!!! I "think" she was supposed to be waiting inside for us to come get her!!!)

I thought I had today's plans well under control. A slower start to the morning (we are out late on Sunday nights with our college kids), muffins for breakfast, school, craft time, lunch, quiet time, trip to the store for a balloon, outside time, and out for dinner to celebrate "Gotcha Day". Well...............I forgot that it's supposed to be my day to grocery shop :-(. I'm not exactly sure how to work a trip to three stores into my schedule!!!

This is the first video we took of Maya Kisanet Joy Maxwell after we had picked her up and taken her back to the guesthouse we were staying in. She is such a silly little girl!!!

It is so crazy to look through the photos from our Embassy trip (a year ago!!) and see how much our little girl has grown and changed. I also see/understand so many more emotions on her face. Some of her expressions that look so happy are the same look she makes when she is feeling BIG emotions and doesn't know how to express them :-(. Many of the pictures make me feel a little sad now as I see the confusion and sadness in her smile.

September 24, 2013 ~ Maya K prayed that everyone in the whole world has nice dreams tonight. So, YOU have been prayed for by my daughter tonight :-).

Wow!!! A walk down memory lane found me this picture. We look like babies!!!

September 25, 2013 ~ Does patience come in a bottle format??? Oh yeah!!! It's called Mt. Dew!!! And I don't have any today :-(.

Tonight is Maya K's first night of AWANA!! And it's Crazy Hat Night :-). She's "creating" right now!! Stay tuned!!!

Maya K is making her crazy hat for AWANA tonight. I am making spaghetti.
Because of the first, I am having trouble with the second.
Any thoughts as to WHY this is a problem?!?!

September 26, 2013 ~ Boring. Irritating. Imagination. Important. Frustrating. These are all "new" words in Maya K's vocabulary. Sometimes they are used in context. Most of the time they are not.

We had a VERY successful first trip to Toys 'R Us this morning and Maya K is now a very happy little girl!! She has loved Daniel Tiger for quite a while now and they recently released a line of toys :-). She spent her money on the "Transformation Treehouse", so if you have given her money in this year that she has been home, YOU are a part of this happiness!!! Thank you!!!!

I'm giddy excited over a book I found at the book sale tonight!!! I have tried for YEARS to remember a specific line/poem from a book I remember reading to my brother when he was little. But I could never remember more than the first part. I have asked people, google searched, etc. and never found it. Well, I FOUND THE BOOK TONIGHT!!! In case you are wondering, the book is "The Train to Timbuctoo"!!!!

September 27, 2013 ~ Dishes. Need I say more.

A year ago today, we were spending our last day in Ethiopia. This was the last time Maya Kisanet ate her favorite food, injera, in her home country :-(. It's a little sad for me to watch, but I am so thankful I thought to record it. In case you have ever wondered what injera is and how to eat it, enjoy!!!

Maya K: "Mommy, look!!! I'm a God-Mary!!!"
Me: (laughing) "I think you mean a fairy godmother!!!!"

Funny Quotes

Maya K: "Mommy, may I not sleep tonight?"
Me: "No, Maya K. You still have to go to bed and sleep just like you do every night."
Maya K: "But I know that people have LOTS more fun when they don't sleep!!!"

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While watching "Kung Fu Panda".........
Maya K: "He's a really good fighter!!!"
Me: "Yes, he is. But should you ever fight like that, Maya K?"
Maya K: "No!!! Because I am not even a pretend person!!!"

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Maya K: "The bunny!!! Remember the bunny???? That's the one I'm talking about. The bunny.........the bunny.......bugs!!!!"
(She was talking about Bugs Bunny!!!!!)

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Me: "I love being your mommy!!!"
Maya K: "Me too. I love being your kid!!! That's why I can get you some water when you have a headache and be your little kid."

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There were five strawberries at lunchtime. So I asked Maya K how many we each could have. She very quickly came to the conclusion that we each could have two and I needed to cut the last one and we could share it.
Me: "That was a very good answer, Maya K. You just did some MATH!!!!"
Maya K: "May I tell you what 'maff' is?"
(We work on saying "math" correctly.)
Me: "Yes, you may. What do you think 'math' is?"
Maya K: "Math is when someone has a good idea like cutting the strawberry. A good idea with numbers is called 'math'."

FB Friday

September 14, 2013 ~ "Mommy, it's like this side of me (touches the left side of her chest) wants to obey and be good and this other side of me (touches the right side of her chest) just wants to keep sinning." ~ Maya K. "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." ~ Galatians 5:17

September 15, 2013 ~ To go to church or not :-(. My throat started hurting late last night and Maya K was up for over an hour in the night and is still sleeping. I think we're going to wait and see what time she finally wakes up!!!

I don't feel good :-(.

Me: "I'm going to pop some popcorn for dinner tonight while we watch Little House on the Prairie."
Maya K: (HORRIFIED expression on her face) ".........no??? You are just tricking me, right, Mommy?????"
Me: "No. Since I don't feel good and don't feel like making dinner I thought we would just have popcorn for a special dinner treat."
Maya K: "(still horrified) ".......You wouldn't really do that, right, Mommy?"
Me: "Well, I was going to. Do you want something different for dinner?"
Maya K: "Yes. I thought I could just have some leftovers. Please, Mommy?!?!?"
Me: "Well, maybe I'll just have some popcorn for dinner then."
Maya K: (shaking her finger in my face) "NO!!!!! You need to eat some healthy food!!!!!"

September 16, 2013 ~ I have a cold. I need to buy food. I don't want to leave the house. Oh well. I'm an adult. I'm a mommy who wants/needs to feed her daughter better food than whatever I can find in the cupboards. I'll go shopping. I guess.

Progress is a wonderful thing!!! After being home for almost a year, we are making progress in the food department!!! In the past month, Maya K now likes green bean casserole, soup (!!!), and the new one tonight is Bbq sloppy joes!!!! We have been consistently having her try a small amount of anything that is new to her (or that she didn't like the last time) and then telling her that she HAS to eat the small amount we give her but if she really doesn't like it we'll give her something else (normally something that is only an "okay" food for her). She is learning to like things!!!!

September 17, 2013 ~ Stay tuned!!! Maya K finally got a "yes" answer to the prayer she has been praying for many weeks. She got to play in the rain!!!! Video is loading to YouTube right now.

September 18, 2013 ~ I'm such a "mean" mommy!!! I made Maya K do school today (she's not feeling well). But, she is done and now it's time to cuddle up on the sofa with a movie :-).

Lunch today is chicken noodle soup, crackers, and hot chocolate. Yummy!!!

Her fever has been climbing today and is up to 101.7*. I know that isn't too crazy high, but she has only had a fever once since coming home a year ago and that was 99.5*ish one time after her shots. My first instinct is to not give her anything for the fever but let the fever run its course because it is a sign of the body fighting something. But it sure is hard to see her so droopy and not feeling well :-(.

September 19, 2013 ~ Maya K's fever left in the night and she is fever free this morning and as active and full of question as ever!!!!!

Let's try a schedule change today. Normally, we do school in the morning and then run any needed errands in the afternoon. But the forecast is calling for rain, so we are going to run our errands this morning and do school (hopefully) this afternoon. Here's hoping!!!!

September 20, 2013 ~ Maya K and I get to take a mini day-trip to visit Erin and her family!!! Lots of FUN is expected to be had!!!!

FB Friday

September 7, 2013 ~ "I'm super, snooper, duper, luper, SOOOOOOOOOO tired tonight!!!!" ~ Maya K

September 8, 2013 ~ I'm not sure what is going on with Maya K today. She slept hard all night (even slept in about 15 minutes later than normal) and has been EXHAUSTED all morning!!! She even almost fell asleep on my lap during the singing at church. She has not been her normal energetic self. She went down easily and quickly for her Sunday afternoon nap and I am hoping that she sleeps longer than normal!!!

September 9, 2013 ~ I'm having one of "those" mornings. The kitchen looks like it threw up over the weekend, the bathrooms need to be cleaned, I haven't finished making the menu for September, I need to make a grocery shopping trip to two stores, breakfast needs to be made, homeschooling needs to be done, laundry is waiting to be put away, and on the list goes. I'm not really "feeling" like doing any of it :-(. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." :-)

If you see Maya K and I at the store today, please just ignore the fact that she is wearing a hat because I haven't done her hair today!!!!

I'm so mean. Dinner tonight is something that Maya K DOES NOT like (green bean casserole) so I'm letting her choose between the casserole (after she eats a little of it) and a ham and cheese sandwich (another meal that is NOT her favorite). Poor girl :-(. Life is HARD!!!!

Maya K has a tiny  hangnail and I have chosen to NOT put a band-aid on it. She just wrapped a large piece of toilet paper around her finger and taped it :-).

September 11, 2013 ~ Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...............To do school or to have a lazy day with movies and popcorn???? (We were going to go to the zoo today, but the weather is telling us "no".) I think that we are going to have a lazy day. We have already done 17 days of school, so I don't feel too bad :-).

Melkem Addis Amet ~ Happy Ethiopian New Year 2006!!!!

We're watching "Pippi Longstocking."

September 13, 2013 ~ I just found Maya K upstairs cleaning the bathroom!!! She had swept the floor and was wiping down the back of the toilet with a wet piece of TOILET PAPER!!! She told me that she wanted to surprise me :-). I suggested that she use a washcloth and that I did NOT want her to wash INSIDE the toilet!!! "This was just for your treat, Mommy. Not every time, but maybe I do it again next time for your second treat. Maybe four days and then I do it again. Just for your treat."

I've started the process of going through the containers of clothes that were given to us last year when Maya K came home and  pulling out the fall/winter clothes that she has grown into. It's going to take a few days to get everything sorted!!! And then I can see what "gaps" need to be filled in.

FB Friday

August 31, 2013 ~ One of Maya K's current FAVORITE things to do (along with her FAVORITE word - "favorite") is to cut with her scissors. Today she is cutting up pipe cleaners.

Maya K got to ask a million and one questions at the veterinary clinic today (for our cat's apt.). How many of you think I should be able to count this as a school field trip???? :-)

September 2, 2013 ~ Context: Maya K has a "cow clock" that has a dancing cow that lights up at 7 a.m. This lets her know when she can get out of bed. We were up late last night and Maya K was still sleeping at 7:30 a.m. She woke up around 7:40ish and came downstairs right away (normally she stays in her room for a while playing while she wakes up). She was VERY sleepy and confused!!!! "Mommy, why did the cow wake up so FAST?!?! I was still tired!!!!" ~ Maya K

Our morning was spent taking everything out of our garage, cleaning the garage, sorting/tossing some of the things that had been in our garage, and then putting everything back in the garage. I'm GLAD it's all DONE!!!!

September 4, 2013 ~ I am desiring chocolate and Mt. Dew right now. Just sayin'. In case anyone cares.

We got to spend some time with some adoptive friends at the park on Monday :-). Carmen and I became friends early in our adoption journey and it was fun to get to introduce our kids to each other!!! They got along well right from the beginning and had fun playing together!!!

I just threw away my very first Barbie :-(. The head broke off many years ago, but I had kept the body because I would use it as a store mannequin. But it was discolored and very sticky and it was time for her to go :-(. We have chosen to not buy Barbies for Maya K, but I brought in the container of my old Barbies and let Maya K and K play with them today :-).

September 6, 2013 ~ It's gonna be a busy day!!! School this morning, hopefully a quick trip to WalMart before lunch, early afternoon attorney apt (to start the readoption process), home to get a couple chores done and eat dinner, and then Nathan and I get to go out for a movie date tonight!!!

Some days I just feel amazed!!!

September 17, 2012

August 21, 2013

I've got all of Maya K's important documents in my purse. You'd better believe that I'm going to be hanging on to my purse like my life depends on it this afternoon!!!!

Have I mentioned how little Maya K and I have been apart since she came home? Yes. I know. I have mentioned it several times. You are all probably tired of reading this AGAIN. I am going to the State Ladies' Retreat tomorrow and I have to leave before Maya K will be awake. This is the first time in over 11 months that Maya K will wake up and I will not be right there with her. She was feeling a little emotional about it tonight :-(. I'm feeling a little emotional about it tonight :-(. Please pray that she will wake up feeling okay about me being gone and that she and Nathan will have a good morning together. I chose to not go to the retreat today and be gone overnight because we haven't done THAT on yet either!!! One of these days I will be brave enough to leave her for a night. One day.