7 years ago
Wubitu's dedication was this Sunday at church. She had such a great time seeing all of her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us! It means so much to us to have the support of our family and friends!
We brought both the camcorder and camera to the dedication and had friends try to capture the moment but unfortunately this is ONLY picture and video we have. In true Ehrman style: camcorder wouldn't record....well at least my first two kids won't be too jealous because we have absolutely no photos or video of thier dedications.
Wubitu with Grandpa Keith
The boys looked so cute in their Ethiopian clothes. Torrey was a little reluctant to wear the pants but I stood out so much is my emerald dress that he felt okay. The night before we pulled the clothes out of the plastic bag in the attic and the smells of Addis were still in them. I made sure to seal the bag back up so that when we give the other dresses to Wubitu at her birthdays maybe some the smells of her birth country will be preserved.
Noah & Carter, always goofing. Carter asked if all the kids at church were going to wear thier Ethiopia clothes.
Carter is sporting his new "Rock Star" hair. He is really excited that maybe Daddy, Dave and the Jason-s (Gonzales & Lutman) will let him play Rock Band on the X-Box 360 with them if he wears his hair like this. He mentioned that he wants to color it yellow & green (Noah & Carter's favorite colors).
Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for staying to take pictures of us! 
Our first family photo!
We brought both the camcorder and camera to the dedication and had friends try to capture the moment but unfortunately this is ONLY picture and video we have. In true Ehrman style: camcorder wouldn't record....well at least my first two kids won't be too jealous because we have absolutely no photos or video of thier dedications.
Wubitu with Grandpa Keith
The boys looked so cute in their Ethiopian clothes. Torrey was a little reluctant to wear the pants but I stood out so much is my emerald dress that he felt okay. The night before we pulled the clothes out of the plastic bag in the attic and the smells of Addis were still in them. I made sure to seal the bag back up so that when we give the other dresses to Wubitu at her birthdays maybe some the smells of her birth country will be preserved.
Noah & Carter, always goofing. Carter asked if all the kids at church were going to wear thier Ethiopia clothes.
Carter is sporting his new "Rock Star" hair. He is really excited that maybe Daddy, Dave and the Jason-s (Gonzales & Lutman) will let him play Rock Band on the X-Box 360 with them if he wears his hair like this. He mentioned that he wants to color it yellow & green (Noah & Carter's favorite colors). 
Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for staying to take pictures of us! 
Our first family photo!
Happy Valentine's Day!!! (Belated....of course!)
All of the kids took great pride in their Valentine's this year. Carter got tired of righting his full name so several of his Transformer cards say from "Car." Noah picked the "Bee Movie" valentines because they smell like honey.
Wubitu picked Dora cards because she still thinks that Dora the cartoon star is the same person as her aunt Lora.
Last Saturday we had a great time at Wana waves (one of those hotels with an indoor water park) in Shipshawanna celebrating my baby sister's 17th birthday. My dad built a hotel similar to it in Dundee and worked on the Shipshawanna hotel for the first month of construction before changing companies. Wubitu had a WONDERFUL time (Thank you grandpa!) The water park combined her two most favorite things...water and slides. She ran nonstop for 5 hours up the stairs and down the slide. The boys and I took a break for a few hours in the arcade but poor daddy had to endure the endless hours of sliding ...Wubitu was quite persistent that daddy go down beside her all the time.
Carter stuck to this baby slide most of the time but Wubitu loved the bigger slide just as much.
Carter also refused to go up the tower because he was scared of this:
It looks crazy but honestly you only get a little bit wet because you are under an overhang. A huge bucket fills up with water every 3 or 4 minutes and empties on half of the park in a huge tsunami crash.
Daddy and Carter enjoying the Lazy River.
Noah had gotten so big all of a sudden. He had a BLAST the entire time. He used to be the one clinging to my leg like Carter is now.
Carter, the ever sweet, loving brother, used his tickets from the arcade to buy Wubitu these sunglasses (blue is her favorite color)
Here is Carter & Wubitu sitting in this tiny corner of our living room together in front of the heat register munching on some grapes. They have both decided that they like each other this week (except when our SW is watching of course).
Oh yeah, that's why I bought throw pillows! (A masterpiece brought to you by Noah E.)
(Usually I hide all the pillows behind the recliner unless company is coming over because they become projectiles in an endless battles of imaginary games of good vs. evil)
All of the kids took great pride in their Valentine's this year. Carter got tired of righting his full name so several of his Transformer cards say from "Car." Noah picked the "Bee Movie" valentines because they smell like honey.
Wubitu picked Dora cards because she still thinks that Dora the cartoon star is the same person as her aunt Lora.
Last Saturday we had a great time at Wana waves (one of those hotels with an indoor water park) in Shipshawanna celebrating my baby sister's 17th birthday. My dad built a hotel similar to it in Dundee and worked on the Shipshawanna hotel for the first month of construction before changing companies. Wubitu had a WONDERFUL time (Thank you grandpa!) The water park combined her two most favorite things...water and slides. She ran nonstop for 5 hours up the stairs and down the slide. The boys and I took a break for a few hours in the arcade but poor daddy had to endure the endless hours of sliding ...Wubitu was quite persistent that daddy go down beside her all the time.
Carter stuck to this baby slide most of the time but Wubitu loved the bigger slide just as much.
Carter also refused to go up the tower because he was scared of this:
It looks crazy but honestly you only get a little bit wet because you are under an overhang. A huge bucket fills up with water every 3 or 4 minutes and empties on half of the park in a huge tsunami crash.
Daddy and Carter enjoying the Lazy River.
Noah had gotten so big all of a sudden. He had a BLAST the entire time. He used to be the one clinging to my leg like Carter is now.
Carter, the ever sweet, loving brother, used his tickets from the arcade to buy Wubitu these sunglasses (blue is her favorite color)We had our first Post placement visit this Friday! Everything went really well but Wubitu and Carter were both acting fussy. When the social worker asked the boys if they liked having a little sister Noah said, "Yeah, she makes me laugh... she is a funny baby." Carter said, "No" and gave a grumpy face. I had to then explain that at most times of the day his happy with her but 5 minutes before she came in Wubitu let Noah carry her around and wouldn't let Carter carry her. He was mad at her because he has been calling her his baby and it hurt his feelings that "his baby" wouldn't let him carry her. Then Wubitu started showing off for our SW...very normal for Wubitu if you have spent any time with her...she NEEDS your attention it seems. The SW asked if perhaps she is hyperactive. I said that I wasn't comfortable calling her that yet, especially since she is only 3 and I like to call it "energetic" for now. Overall everything seemed to go well even though I was kind of embarrassed to admit that she eats a poptart with banana and milk very morning on the way out the door when the right answer I think was supposed to be "a variety of foods every morning as we sit together as a family to eat our nutritious breakfast."
Here is Carter & Wubitu sitting in this tiny corner of our living room together in front of the heat register munching on some grapes. They have both decided that they like each other this week (except when our SW is watching of course).
Oh yeah, that's why I bought throw pillows! (A masterpiece brought to you by Noah E.)(Usually I hide all the pillows behind the recliner unless company is coming over because they become projectiles in an endless battles of imaginary games of good vs. evil)
These pictures where taken by Buffalojen at our Indy Ethio Trip last weekend! Thanks! We are praying for a quick referral and a sane wait for you!
Wubitu:
Wubitu: This week marks the end of Wubitu's word "E". She was sliding down the slide (backwards of course) and said "Mommy, look at me!!!" I spun around so fast I thought I might get whip lash! It is bittersweet...yes you may have heard me say "I get so tired of e-ing sometimes" but now that it is gone I am somewhat sad. She is losing her native laguage with each passing day. When she talked to her friend Nita (they shared a bed at the orphanage) on the phone they couldn't communicate anymore...sad. Most people do not realize right away that Wubitu has only been speaking English for 2 months now. She knows ALOT of phrases like "I don't want to talk about it (from Noah & Carter", "I don't like it," "Wubitu wants to go down basement," etc. She has really picked up a lot! She repeats Carter all day long which makes him BONKERS! So she now mimicks him saying "Stop repeating me!" They are getting along very well now...as far as boy-girl siblings go. Noah is very affectionate to her like a big brother and Carter likes to play moon sand with her. I definatley have my hands full with Carter & Wubitu...they are both class clown types and will keep doing ANYTHING as long as someone is laughing....we have a lot of slapstick going on here followed by deep belly laughter from both of the joksters.
Noah:
Torrey finally pulled Noah's other front tooth that was hanging 1/2 an inch lower than his other teeth. He just has his "pencil tooth" as he calls it left of the crazy tooth trifecta. (The pencil tooth is one that is twisted sideways so that the sharp corner is pointed down like a sharpened pencil). Finally feeling free to leave Wubitu places I got to help out at Noah's school twice this week. At the Valentine's party I was informed by another little boy that Rachel O. is officially Noah's girlfriend...You may remember that one day earlier this year he told me he like Rachel O. because she can read chapter books (oh the standards! How can a girl live up to them!)...well it has blossomed into a full blown 1st grade romance. I think the little boy that told me expected me to react negatively or tease Noah but my cool mom response was a simple "yep, I know" I told Noah later that his friend told me Rachel was his girlfriend and he simply responded.."yep, that's true". End of discussion. I hope we can keep this simple line of communication open into the teenage years....okay, I hear you parents of teens snickering and rolling your eyes at my pie in the sky parenting wishes...oh well a mom can dream...until then I will keep a neutral position with him on boyfriend/girlfriend matters...(easy to say in 1st grade...I know).
Carter:
Okay can you tell he is the middle child....bad mommy! No exciting stories to tell about him except that he broke his "NO KISSING" rule today when he kissed Wubitu on the head because she made him laugh so hard when she pulled her hat over her eyes and kept running into walls on purpose giggling hysterically. It was so sweet!
I am so blessed!!! I get to wake up every morning and snuggle this little cutie!!! My heart melts every morning as she squeezes me so tight and tells me "Wad e shall o, mommy (I love you)"
We had just come home from sledding in this picture on Monday right before the snow melted and the rain came to flood the city. We had so much fun getting completely soaked in the melting snow and sliding down the slides at the park into the super soft sloshy snow. Then at home we all slid into our jammies (and mommy's boots for Wubitu) and drank some hot chocolate...ooh I love winter when you get to slow down and enjoy it.
We had just come home from sledding in this picture on Monday right before the snow melted and the rain came to flood the city. We had so much fun getting completely soaked in the melting snow and sliding down the slides at the park into the super soft sloshy snow. Then at home we all slid into our jammies (and mommy's boots for Wubitu) and drank some hot chocolate...ooh I love winter when you get to slow down and enjoy it.
Noah's teacher at school went on maternity leave right after Christmas break and his new teacher put together a play to intice us parents to come to school to meet her. They did a wonderful job!!! Unfortunately my mommy brain didn't think fast enough to video tape Noah's full solo on my digital camera....DarN. His teacher told me that during thier rehearsals she had him stand up in front of the class to be the example since he did such a wonderful job!!! I was so impressed! Here are some pictures of him being the letter I and what video I could manage.
In an effort to make our trip to the Indy Ethiopian Restaurant worth the 2 1/2 hour car ride (see next post) we decided to visit the Indy Children's Museum. The last time we went was on our way home from our road trip to Texas and back 2 years ago with Noah, Carter, and the cousins Destiny and Nathan. Sometimes I think we were way crazier back then to voluntarily take 2 additional children on a 24 hour each way road trip when they are ages 6,5,4,&2 but then I remember what fun it was to priceline .... okay I will save it for another post...nostalgia taking over again.
Well Wubitu woke up from her nap just in time to dash coatless across the parking lost into the museum. She asked "Wubitu's school?"....she is still a little upset that her estimated birthday was 2 months shy of the preschool cut off and now she has to stay home with mom while Noah & Carter get to do unimaginably awesome things at "school" (at least that is what the drama in her voice suggests when she asks about it every single day)....man I am in a wandering mood.
Wubitu seemed to enjoy a lot of the activities but her favorite was digging in the tire pit with her shovel and wheel barrow. Noah liked the Egyptian mummy exhibit. Carter said he didn't like any of it because we had to drive too far to get there (very Carteresk).
AHHH!!! Noah the shark is going to get me!!!!
My mommy picked up my brother Carter because he hurt his finger....isn't she the meanest mommy ever!!!!
Carter loved making this puppy robot (its all about the puppies and bunnies for this kid).
This was the closest I could get of a group shot...Carter was quite disgruntalled today.
Need I say more!
Well Wubitu woke up from her nap just in time to dash coatless across the parking lost into the museum. She asked "Wubitu's school?"....she is still a little upset that her estimated birthday was 2 months shy of the preschool cut off and now she has to stay home with mom while Noah & Carter get to do unimaginably awesome things at "school" (at least that is what the drama in her voice suggests when she asks about it every single day)....man I am in a wandering mood.
Wubitu seemed to enjoy a lot of the activities but her favorite was digging in the tire pit with her shovel and wheel barrow. Noah liked the Egyptian mummy exhibit. Carter said he didn't like any of it because we had to drive too far to get there (very Carteresk).
AHHH!!! Noah the shark is going to get me!!!!
My mommy picked up my brother Carter because he hurt his finger....isn't she the meanest mommy ever!!!!
Carter loved making this puppy robot (its all about the puppies and bunnies for this kid).
This was the closest I could get of a group shot...Carter was quite disgruntalled today.Need I say more!
Our Yahoo group for Indiana families who have or are in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia met at Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant in Indianapolis. It was so much fun to meet with so many people and connect faces with screen names! I can't wait to see all of you who are still waiting to get referrals and passed court dates with travel dates and finally home with your little ones! I remember the agony of the wait and am praying for each of you! Wubitu was so excited about INJERA!!! She unrolled it like she had never been away and scarffed it down until her round little tummy poked out of the bottom of her shirt! I even liked it this time...much less sourdoughy than I remembered in Africa. The boys couldn't stand the taste of it so we scrounged up some granola bars from the car and stopped at McDonald's on the way home. Wubitu had such a good time with the other little girls that it really solidified our resolve to bring her home a sister ASAP. We are also leaning more and more toward taking Noah with us this time. He has always been a "baby" person. I remember him taking such tender care of Carter when he was little and really took pride in being the big brother who showed his little brother how to ride a skateboard, color, and play video games. At the restaurant he had alot of fun playing with a little 2 year old there as she copied his every move which made him giggle histerically. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera into the restaurant....so please send me some pictures if you took them (I would love to post a few)!!!
This week I finally got all of my Christmas cards mailed!!!! Noah, Carter, Wubitu and I finally put together a Christmas package for Grandma Jenny and Grandpa John in Texas. Included were some wonderful coloring pages...one of which took Noah 3 days to color. Here is a scan of a picture he drew of Spongbob and Patrick dancing. He is so fun!!! 
Anywho we also included in the Christmas package our family pictures calendar that we created before going to get Wubitu. Wubitu and I looked it over together and I was so overcome with emotion as she would point to each person's picture and say thier names and then ask "Where's Wubitu?" We did dedicate the month of November to her and included the only 2 sad pictures of her that we had at that time and left room to glue on more but the question still struck a cord in me.
1) I was so sad that she wasn't in these family pictures. We missed all of that time together...our longing to be with her was so great during the entire year.
1) I was so sad that she wasn't in these family pictures. We missed all of that time together...our longing to be with her was so great during the entire year.
2) I was excited about the possiblities and fun experiences to come in the next year. Each month is filled with a new fun holiday and I intend to do it up this year. Image experiencing the joy of the 4th of July for the first time or Halloween (yes we trick or treat)!
3) After much soul searching I finally came to terms with the fact that I was glad she was not with us this last year because she got to spend very precious time with her Ethiopian family that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Even though she may not remember everything about them when she is older, I know she will remember that she was loved intensely by them.
3) After much soul searching I finally came to terms with the fact that I was glad she was not with us this last year because she got to spend very precious time with her Ethiopian family that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Even though she may not remember everything about them when she is older, I know she will remember that she was loved intensely by them.
So I missed a week of blogging and want to catch up. My denial about my need to work and taking 2 months off the 3 part time jobs hit us hard in the pocketbook. So I started back to work last week at the Y in addition to the hours I started to pick back up in Early Childhood since my friend had her new baby Maggie PTL (I am so happy for her!) It has been good so far but I am very hesitant to take on the full time child care job again. Please be praying for us in the next few weeks as we try to decide what is best for our family in regards to my work schedule.
- Kimberley
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Wife to Torrey, Mom to Noah (10) Carter (7), Keziah Wubitu(6) and Marjorie Sifan (5)
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