Maya K's 7th Birthday

The day started with a trip to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. To make it even MORE special, we ate our donuts outside on a table under an umbrella!!!

Once we were home, Maya K got to open one of her presents.

Nathan and Maya K went rollerblading for a while and Maya K worked to get used to her new blades. She was a little shaky at first, but she adjusted pretty quickly!!!

We took a "break" for the rest of the morning and Maya K went up to her bedroom to play with some new fairies that she got from her cousins yesterday :-). Then she got to open a few more presents before lunch.

Maya K chose what foods she wanted for her Bday meal and she chose porcupine meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, and fruit!!!! I didn't know how the corn on the cob was going to work with her missing and loose teeth, but she devoured that corn!!!!!

After lunch, we took Maya K on her first mini-golf adventure!!!! She had a ton of fun!!!!!

We were VERY hot and tired after mini-golfing, so we stopped at McDonalds on our way home for some ice cream!!!!

By the time we got home (around 3:20ish) we were all very worn out. Maya K was looking forward to her quiet time :-). She got to open her last two presents and then she went down for quiet time and I fell asleep on the couch while Nathan did the dishes (I love him!!!).

Dinner was leftovers and then Nathan left for his softball games and Maya K and I snuggled up on the sofa to watch Little House on the Prairie.

Maya K said multiple times today that it was one of her best days ever!!!!!

Happy Birthday, my 7-year-old little girl!!!!

FB Friday

October 26, 2013 ~ A little Ethiopian girl dancing to Jamaican music performed by a group called "The Ethiopians"!!!!

"Mommy, do you want to hear some beautiful, sweet music while I play the piano?" ~ Maya K. Where did she ever hear the expression "sweet music"????? :-)

Here is another one of her dancing this evening. It's got some FUNNY moments!!!

October 27, 2013 ~ Making caramel apples and watching some Sunday football = a great time with friends!!

She is sooooooo excited to get to eat her caramel apple!!!! (But I'm making her wait until tomorrow.)

She has never really seen football before (we are not a "sports" family), so I thought it was hilarious when I went into the living room and saw this!!!!

October 28, 2013 ~ Maya K wanted to talk to her Daddy on the phone during his lunch break today. Here is the end of her side of the conversation. "Goodbye. I love you.....May I talk a little bit more, please??.....What are you eating today?.....I like chili......What are you doing at work?.....Okay.....May I ask just one more question?......Okay......I'll give you back to Mommy.......I love you!!!!!" I think someone is going to be a "phone person" just like her Daddy (NOT like her mommy!!!!!).

October 29, 2013 ~ My parents are visiting this week so my sister and I decided that it was a good time to go visit a free pumpkin patch that we had found out about in our area. It was a lot of fun and we were the only ones there!!!

Maya K loved the baby lamb, but was hesitant about getting very close at first. 

Ben and Maya K with their Grandpa!!!

This girl is a runner!!!

She loves her pumpkins!!!

She's all MINE!!!

I'm looking at this picture and am AMAZED at how BIG Maya K has gotten!! She cannot be this big already!!!

The Box. I went inside with my dad and the kids the first time and this thing was HARD!! Pitch black inside and kids hanging on to all parts of my body!!! They went back inside a second time with Grandpa and finished it!!! The last time the kids all went inside themselves and had a ton of fun!!!

Maya K and Grandpa

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids

Silly picture :-)

Smile, Pretty Girl!!!

Yay!!! She did it!!!

Cousins!!!

Apparently, Maya K loves pigs!! Who knew?!?!

Haha!!!

October 30, 2013 ~ I love it!!! The girls are eating their mixed veggies SUPER fast so that they can have MUSHROOMS!!!! There is so much healthy eating going on right now!!!!

Maya K go to go "Trick or Treating" tonight. We didn't do it last year (she had only been home for a month) so she has been looking forward to it for a while!!! It was VERY funny at the first few houses because she would tell them a joke and then they would tell her to choose a piece of candy from the dish and she would ask "What's this?" about EVERYTHING!!! They all looked at me like "Why doesn't this girl know what a peanut butter cup is????!!!!" We came home, she excitedly looked at the candy she had gotten, chose a sucker for herself, gave candy to her grandparents and daddy and I, and then snuggled in next to her Grandpa for a Bible story :-).

November 1, 2013 ~ "She knows she is a princess, but she is just being a ballerina....one of those ballerinas who throw the pom-poms (a cheerleader)." ~ Maya K (showing me one of her My Little Ponies who she has put hair ties in the tail and mane). What do you think??? Is she a girly-girl???!!!!

FB Friday

September 28, 2013 ~ A year ago right now we had landed in D.C. (or almost landed; can't quite remember what time) and I had a very scared and upset little girl in my arms. I couldn't put her down because she would run away (and she was FAST), but she fought me and didn't want me to be holding her. She was crying and moaning like her heart was breaking :-(. This lasted for a couple hours as we worked our way through customs and getting our luggage. Finally, Nathan had the fantastic idea to put the food we were trying to fee her in her hands and she clutched on for dear life. With her hands full of food (that she wouldn't eat) she finally calmed down!!!! How FAR we have come since that emotional and exhausting day!!!

September 28, 2012 - I finally had my little girl HOME!!!

"God, I believe in You. Thank you for dying for my sins. And thank you for the food. Jesus' name, Amen." ~ Maya K's prayer at bedtime tonight. Is this head knowledge or heart belief? Only God knows, but I am so thankful and grateful for the way HE is working in her heart!!!

September 30, 2013 ~ At the grocery store today I was told - "She looks like you. Definitely looks like you. Almost exactly like you." And he was dead serious!!! Love it!!!

Wish I had taken my camera with me tonight!!! It was a beautiful evening eating Arby's by the pond, watching the ducks and geese, walking around the pond with my  hubby while Maya K rollerbladed, and played on the playground while the sun was setting. The chance for these evenings is fading as fall arrives so I'm glad we were able to enjoy it tonight!!!

October 1, 2013 ~ Me: "Maya K, what kind of muffins do you want for breakfast today?"
Maya K: "It's your deeshishun."
(While her pronunciation still needs work, her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds!!!)

Maya K is learning how to READ!!!!

October 3, 2013 ~ Lesson plans. Need to do them. That is all. :-)

Nathan and I decided to watch a Tim Hawkins DVD tonight. Maya K wanted to watch it with us and we told her that she wouldn't understand most of what the man would talk about, but he would be telling jokes and saying funny things. After snuggling with us on the couch and watching it for about 10 minutes.....
Maya K: (very confused/disappointed voice) "When is that man going to tell the knock-knock jokes?!?!"
I laughed sooooooooooooooo hard I cried!!!!!

Look what I found a picture of!!!! My first car!!! Wasn't she a beauty?!? We called her my banana :-). A 1981 Buick Skylark. (picture taken in 2005)

October 4, 2013 ~ Maya K went out to the garage to take a box to the trash can. (Panicked voice) "Mommy!!!!! There is a parobobly...blem!!!!" ("problem") I went out to see that there was an empty box on top of the trash can lid :-). BIG problem!!!!

I have an audiologist apt. this afternoon and I was telling Maya K that she gets to go to her Aunt Debbi's house this afternoon while I have my apt. I then tried to explain to her how the doctor is going to see what I can and cannot hear. Here is what she got from our conversation - "Like seeing if you can hear a mouse squeak. Because I know that you probably can't hear a mouse squeak because it is MUCH quieter than I am. But I know that I can hear a mouse squeak because God give me much better ears than you."

Maya K: "When Adam and Eve did not sin yet, did other people sin already? How did it happen when Adam and Eve sinned that everyone started sinning? Did God want that to happen? So everyone sins now because Adam and Eve sinned and then had a consequence? We have the same consequence?"
I guess our Bible lesson today is on...."Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." - Romans 5:12

Maya K got to go see her very first movie in a theater tonight!!! Monsters University was so much fun!!!!
Side Note: Maya K gets very protective of me when she is tired!!! I was getting a drink from our water bottle in the car on the way home and I handed it to Nathan when I was done. "Daddy!!! Why did you take that away from Mommy?!?! Give it back!!!!" Nathan was reading Maya K her bedtime story in the car and I kept glancing over to see the pictures. Nathan told me to keep my eyes on the road and not look at the pictures :-). "Daddy. That was very rude to talk to Mommy like that!!!" There were a couple others, but you get the picture!!!!

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!!!!"

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!!!!

Maya K's Storytelling

Maya K's First Time SWIMMING!!!!!