A Year As A Family

On April 16th, it will be a year that Mita and Enu came into our lives. Officially our court date was March seventh, but the sixteenth was when I could hold them and hear them say “mom”. I have decided to celebrate our year as a complete family by writing this month about what I have learned, what I’m still learning and what I wish I would have done differently. I’ll be using all four of my blog topics on Adoptionblogs.com to share.

We have decided to call the anniversary “Family Day”, as it is simple and to the point. Other families may call this “Gotcha Day” or “Airplane Day”. Here are my plans for celebrating our Family Day together. All parents know that plans don’t always work out, but I like to think that I have learned a few things over the past year and can create a nice day, that is not overstimulating for the girls.

I plan on making a big breakfast and having a little gift tin at each girls’ seat. The tins I found have map of Ethiopia on them and inside each tin there will be a magnet with their name on it. A larger magnet that says, “Forever Family” will be on the refrigerator and the girls can put all the magnets up. I bought Hubby a paperweight that says “Abat” or father in Amharic. I am eying a necklace that says “Enat” or mom on in but I haven’t splurged just yet!

Mita has asked me to talk to her class about adoption. I printed a handout from AdoptiveFamilies.com to give to her classmates and teacher. The girls have had a great year in school, but there are still a few kids who don’t understand how Mita came here, and she is getting annoyed with their questions. I hope to share with the class on this day and make it a happy celebratory thing (meaning I’ll bring cookies!)

Dinner is going to be Doro Wat, Doro alechia and injera. I bought some Berbere and Ethiopian Niter Qibeh off etsy.com. I bought extra injera on our last trip to the Ethiopian restaurant in case my injera flops again!

After dinner Mita will have her first school production. The theme is “Going Green” and she will have on a green organic shirt with the tree of life on it and say a part that is so ridiculously long that I will be holding my breath the entire time! It is hard to believe that a year ago we were doing mostly sign language and pointing around and now they are in school plays! What changes a year can bring.

I’ll let you know how things turn out and if my plans were well thought out.

Please share how you celebrate your special day! I would love more ideas.

Photo Credit

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