our cowgirl princess

a big smile from Princess Tiana

Mix it all together and you get total family fun!

Oh, and a TOTAL sugar high!

There are SO many things that I want to tell you about…so many wonderful things…so many funny things…so many heart-tugging things…but the speech teacher is at a loss for words.  

So, I have decided to let some photos speak for me.  Enjoy taking a look at our past two months!  Know that we are all well and having a great time being a family of 6!   

Karson on the MPCC Float at the Fall Festival

a direct throw of candy from Kaden

 

Karson & her friend Josie with Queen Bethany at Little Miss Mt. Pulaski

 

Fikirte & Kaden - finding they have a love of rides in common

 

Konjit preferred the sliiiiiiiiide!

 

riding a bike is now a daily activity

 

jumping on the trampoline must happen every day too!

 

learning how country folk pass the time

 

MPCC had a beautiful welcome home party for our family

 

we enjoyed two fun and delicious cakes!

 

our first attempt at a family photo...

 

a day at the pumpkin patch

 

once upon a time...they all fit in the wagon...

 

taking great strides for CF research in memory of Josh

 

2 miles on a bike? no problem!

 

first youth season - will not be his last

 

our resident fashionistas

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.  We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”          I Thessalonians 1: 2,3

Thankful for your friendships.  Thankful for your prayers.  Thankful for your love.

The Motts

#10  This entry could have been entitled You Gotta Smile or You’ll Cry.  On my first night in Addis, I took pictures of my room to share with Ryan and the kids.  See if you notice the difference between the pictures.   

TDS Hotel bathroom

TDS Hotel bathroom Take 2

If I had paid closer attention, I would have taken a hot shower versus a rather chilly one.  I neglected to plug in my hot water heater!  

#9  Do you think Vidal knows these are still being used?  

the Professional 1600

#8  Being in Ethiopia, where they speak Amharic, and the girls turning on the television to see and hear this in ARABIC!  

#7  That no matter where in the world you are, a child can figure out electronics long before an adult!  

Flip

iPhone

#6  Knowing that your daughters’ Ethiopian friends are just a Skype or a summer vacation trip away.  

Bereket, Konjit, Tenaye, Fikirte & Meheret (Illinois & Pennsylvania)

2 of the Mott 4 & 5 of the Sweeney 9 (Illinois & North Dakota)

#5  The inability to speak one another’s language doesn’t dictate your newest friendship!      

Uno with Fikirte, Mason & Reagan

Konjit & Ellie

a scoop of strawberry ice cream in a cone

#3  A boy turns into a young man waiting for a family, but God’s perfect timing gives him and his new family exactly what they had prayed for.  

the Raymer Family minus a few state-side members

#2  A daughter’s reaction to hearing that she is leaving the transition home to be united with you forever!  

#1  When a father is able to hold his daughters for the first time…  

Ryan and I decided it was time to bring the girls with me to the Guest House.  So, today Fikirte and Konjit left the Transition Home and will now be with me for the rest of our time in Ethiopia!

AHHHH!!  It is wonderful!

The first thing they did upon entering our room was take off their shoes so they could lay on the bed. 

first things first

 I hadn’t been up to the roof yet, so we took the opportunity to check it out.  It has some beautiful views! 

a rooftop view of Addis Ababa

 We sat down to a wonderful meal with wonderful families!  

Chef Dawit making his Lasagna Noodles

Homemade Lasagna for ALL these Families

The girls finished dinner before me, so I gave them our room key.  I found them like this when I came up about 10 minutes later.  They have such a great time!  I cannot wait until these two are united with our entire family!

Snug as a Bug

Once again, my heart is full!  Our paperwork will be submitted to the US Embassy tomorrow.  That will give us a possible Embassy date of August 18th.  Praying that we will be on a plane arriving in the states on August 21st!

We won’t be able to afford this type of ‘smorgasbord’ back in the states, so it will be a lot of fun to take the girls before we leave Ethiopia.

When I first arrived, the girls were excited to show me their beds.  While they were at Kid’s Care Orphanage, Fikirte had shown me her twin-sized top bunk that she shared with two other girls.  It was nice to see that at the transition home each child has his or her own bed.  And I loved to see that Fikirte had spelled out the name Mott with stickers. 

Fikirte's top bunk

Konjit's top bunk

We have been told again and again that Fikirte is an artist.  One of the first things she showed me was her art tablet.  She photographed a few of them.  I am hopeful that we will get to keep the tablet.  It was so fun to see that she had drawn everything from butterflies to Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus to Moses and the 10 Commandments to a ballerina.  I cannot wait until she sees the art supplies we have waiting for her at home.  She may never leave the toy room!

Konjit and Karson are going to get along famously.  She loves to wear accessories and dances and twirls whenever possible.  Konjit’s health continues to improve, and she was all smiles today.  This picture is pre-appendicitis.

striking a pose

It now seems like a distant memory that Konjit was in the hospital, because she is doing so well.  On my third trip to visit the girls, Konjit took my hand and led me to the clinic that is part of the transition home.  The doctor informed me that they believed she was experiencing an appendicitis.  It was at that point that I knew exactly why I had come to Ethiopia early.  The hospital experience may receive a post all it’s own, but for now I’ll just share what was handed to the nanny, Muluwork, that was with me the night of Konjit’s surgery.

I have had other adventures outside of the hospital.  I attended the movie Salt last night with the Raymer family and Robel.  As it was in English and in a huge theatre, you almost forgot you were in Ethiopia, except that it was less than $3 to get in and popcorn and a soda cost about a $1 for both!  The Zebra Grill was a good night of food.  They are known for their wings.  I enjoy the Ethiopian spices so much and hope to buy some before I leave to add to our dishes at home.  The Taylors, another adoptive family, have suggested adding berbere to things such as spaghetti and chili.  It will definitely pack some heat.

 

I continue to be humbled by the kindness of the Ethiopian people.  We visited Kid’s Care Orphanage and during our short time there, they honored us by having a coffee ceremony.  The girls saw this picture and said the woman’s name with smiles.  I, unfortunately, didn’t write it down.

I am SO grateful for this time in Ethiopia!  Fikirte and Konjit continue to greet me with hugs and kisses, and we continue to make our best of our Amharic-English language blend!

Kaden turned 9 today!  This was his cupcake cake that he chose for his school birthday party.  He is looking forward to having some of his friends over for a real party once school starts.  The theme is still undecided…

Kaden is 9!

I was also reunited with Fikirte and Konjit today.  I am still having a hard time believing that I am even here.  They have, of course, grown a lot over the past year, but we picked right up where we left off.  They are such beautiful girls.  We giggled and hugged and loved all day (and Ryan checked ~ I did cry as we were driving through the gates of the transition home, as I could see them standing, waiting for me to arrive)!

REUNITED!

And, they had this message to share with Kaden on his special day!

To close out my evening, I had my second Skype visit with Ryan, Kaden and Karson.   After I shared birthday wishes with Kaden, he quickly went back to his video game.  I lost Karson to drawing after about 15 minutes.  I shared with Ryan how crazy it is that our children will never know how amazing it is to be talking and seeing one another while we are half a world apart!

I hope to continue to update but am moving to a different guest house tomorrow.  You can check it out HERE.  The America World parents that are staying there have said that the internet has been poor lately, so I’ll do what I can.  The things I will miss from my current location: my own water heater on my shower and the ability to easily connect with all of you.  The upside to the Yebsabi: other families who are here following the same adoption path that we are on.   

What a big and wonderful day!

We are SO excited to officially introduce you to Konjit Adina and Fikirte Eliana Mott!!

Ethiopian names have great significance within their culture.  Some of you may know that Ryan found the name Kaden in the two-syllable section of a baby book, and I first heard Karson (for a girl) in a movie, but they also have family names.  Robert Kaden was named after multiple generations of Roberts, such as his daddy – Robert Ryan, and Karson Dawn in memory of my sister, Dawn.  We treasure the familial significance that these names have.  So, Ryan and I decided to make a break from the ‘K’ names and honor the Ethiopian tradition of origin significance in the choosing of their middle names.  I began researching, and we decided on the following:

Konjit means ‘beautiful’ in Amharic and Adina means ‘longing’ in Hebrew. 

Fikirte means ‘love’ in Amharic and Eliana means ‘God has answered’ in Hebrew. 

God truly answered our longing today.  To His name be all glory, honor, and praise!

We have been given a new date of June 15th.

We continue to wait…because they are MORE than worth it!

We are hopeful that today will begin a new stage of waiting (the last stage – the we-are-coming-to-get-you stage), but I am confident that strength will continue to rise as we wait.  Our love of the girls has strengthened, as has our love for one another and for our family and friends (the best support system around).  

We are so thankful that He is everlasting!