Melkam Gena! Merry Christmas!

Today is Ethiopia's Christmas Day and is also Dan's birthday! So, Happy Birthday Dan and Melkam Gena to all our Ethiopian friends!

Yesterday, January 6, 2011, we finally re-adopted Esias in the State of Iowa and his name went from Yabetse Daniel Grimes (the name given to him by the Ethiopian courts) to Esias Tesfaye Grimes! You might remember, Tesfaye was his given middle name in Ethiopia, but after our court date (finally) passed over there, they name the child like this: First Name, Father's First Name, Father's Last Name. So now, and forever, he is ESIAS TESFAYE GRIMES! Esias=God is Salvation, Tesfaye=My Hope. Perfect.

The court proceedings were quick and painless. The judge was friendly and warm to us and eased any of my fears (I was nervous). The girls sat in with us and did great. Our friend Craig Nierman represented us and was excellent to work with. We celebrated by going to Village Inn for breakfast and then the Science Station afterwards (because Eden was missing school we thought we should do something halfway educational!).

Apparently my Christmas post disappeared into the Blogger Abyss. I posted it the day after Christmas and it has yet to appear. Not sure what happened but I will repost as soon as I can.

Post-Christmas Madness

The kids were so excited to be home after being gone for several days for Christmas. Esias and Eden had a hayday with the Busy Ball Popper we got for Esias. Wow, that toy is totally worth the 15 bucks! All ages love it, including thirty-somethings!

Esias' hair was SO long! We just got it cut finally.

And, finally, my three precious kiddos! They are adorable if I do say so myself.

Christmas Wrap Up

I have yet to post pics from Christmas! Here they are! We forgot our camera at a few of the events, so this is just a snippet of our adventures.

Esias in front of his first Christmas tree! This was not technically his "first" Christmas since he was alive for Christmas last year in Ethiopia, but it was his first tree, and his first with us! Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, which just happens to be Dan's birthday!

The above pic is the girls' nativity scene. They created this using all horses. The blue baby pony is Jesus, if you couldn't tell :) The small ones in the front are the wise men. Mary is the unicorn and Joseph is the appy, top left.

The girls get bundled up for some outdoor time.

Zi wants to go with them but HATES the snow!

Christmas at the Ponderoosa...

Esias with Papa. Before this visit, Esias really had yet to take a liking to my mom or dad. This trip changed everything when Papa showed him his big picture book of horses! The above pic shows Esias signing- he had just said "more" and then is pointing over to the wall where my dad hid his book. Esias basically crawled on his lap anytime he sat down and signed "more book" to him. It was adorable!

On Christmas Eve, we let the kids open one present. Elly got shoes, Eden got a sketch pad...I can't remember what Marcus got. Esias didn't open one, I think he was already in bed.

Christmas Morn...the kids slept well, oh except for Eden, who ran out to the living room at 12:30am and came back into our room and said, "THERE'S a GIANT present out there! Santa came!" She had a hard time getting back to sleep, but once asleep they all slept until 7:30am! We posed them on the stairs per my dad request. He is a sucker for traditions, and we always used to do this growing up--- except that it was a different house and we slept upstairs. Oh well. We missed Nia and Tiel and Claude who spent Christmas with the Howards in Michigan.

Love Eden's look of frantic energy as she tried to pass out gifts.

The opening begins!

Elly loved her lip gloss (didn't I just throw away the last one that ended up all over?)

Marcus and Brynn. He was also the birthday boy the day after Christmas! He turned three!

Merry Christmas!

Esias first Christmas with us! It's a joyous occasion! Last year on this day, we were waiting for news on our FIRST court date (Christmas Eve 2008). All that seems so far away now and we can't be more in love with our new son! He is simply amazing, strong, and wonderful. I know I say that all the time. It's because it's true!

The girls have made a fantastic transition into big-sisterhood. I knew Eden would be awesome but Elly has really stepped up and become a great big sissy too. Today while Dan and I were in the bedroom at my parents', Elly saved Esias from diving into the toilet--we were totally oblivious to the whole thing! I am proud of her as she shifts from being jealous of the time we spend with E to being excited to see him do new things. Both the girls encourage him in all his new milestones.

The weather here is terrible and I am glad we are in safe and sound. The thought of getting stranded at our house was making me crazy--I am always stranded there, so that did not sound fun to me :) Well, we have two little boys left to go to sleep before we can work out magic!

Merry Christmas to all and to al a goodnight!

Elly's Preschool Program

Elly's class had its annual Christmas program this week. She did great, and so did all the other kids. It was so fun to watch. She loves singing and has been practicing these songs at home daily! My favorite line: "ha-lay-loo-lah Jesus was born today!"

A Very Grimey Christmas...

The Eve of Christmas Eve...

Eden and Elly opened a couple of movies the night before (Barbie and the Christmas Carol and Barbie and the Diamond Castle).



Christmas Eve morning...

We celebrated our Christmas as a family of four (for the last time!) this morning. The kids were hyper...Eden awoke at 3:30am and came in our room...Elly woke up with her grouchy pants on so she kept telling me she "didn't want any presents!" Turns out she just need to go potty...anywho, the gifts were pretty scarce, but they did not seem to care one bit. Dan and I both agreed we'd rather not set a precedent for gifts, so we're trying to keep it smallish. It is hard for me, I love giving gifts and really trying to find what fits our kids' personalities. But ultimately we want them to focus on Christ at CHRISTmas, and not their own wants (or mine!). It was sweet to watch them open gifts. They opened one and then got excited to give Dan his gift...a travel guide for Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti by Lonely Planet. They abandoned their own stack to watch him open it. So cute. Then Elly handed me my gift from the girls and dad, and she said, "Mommy, I am NOT suppose to tell you there are slippers in this box!" Priceless.


Elly got a cute little horse stable with tiny figurines and a little red wagon to carry her special things in.


Love the sleepy-eyed Christmas pics.

Then...the hamster was a complete success!! The video pretty much says it all. We wrapped a hamster ball for Eden to open with her gifts, then Santa's letter said there was another gift in the toy room for her. We went downstairs, and this is what happened...

She named "her" (we think its a her) Pipa. So far, she's been a good little addition to the family. Right now, Pipa is having a ball rolling all around the kitchen floor in her little ball!