Changed Pic in Previous Post

I changed the picture of Nebyat in the comparison photos below to a more recent one from January. I was trying to put the pics side by side, however I'm not figuring out how to do this, so if anyone has some insight let me know.

What a difference a Year Makes

Just about one year ago, the girls were placed in institutionalized care and adoption was sought in their best interest. It makes me very sad to think about those times for them. Five months later we would be matched with them and asked whether we accepted the referral of 2 and 4-year-old sisters. Nebyat's age was significantly underestimated (not uncommon in Ethiopia). We were pretty much immediately made aware of this discrepancy as her medical information included a statement from the physician that she was more likely six. We said 'YES!' the next day and well, you know the rest.

The girls have grown a little in the year.

On 2/24/09, their stats were as follows:

Nebyat - 47 inches/42 pounds
Jetu - 35 inches/26 pounds

On 2/20/10 (today):

Nebyat - 49.5 inches/53 pounds (Up 2.5 inches/11 pounds)
Jetu - 39 inches/ 36.5 pounds (Up 4 inches/10.5 pounds)

Nebyat's Referral Picture (from 2/09)




More recently (1/2010)

Jetu's Referral Picture (from 2/09)




Today

The Girls' Names

I am fully aware that some question our decision to not change the girls' first names. They are names that were thoughtfully given to the girls by their first family and names that they cherish at 6 and 3. Nebyat means "Prophet" or "Messenger from God"; Jetu's is a bit more difficult to directly translate, but it means something akin to "wet" associated with soil and crops - I've thought of it as "fertile soil, from which much can grow." Our pronunciation has changed and grown since they've been home, mostly to try to emulate their pronunciation. Nebyat pronounces her name "NEB-E-YOT" with equal emphasis on each syllable, maybe a little lighter on the middle syllable with the YOT sounding much like the nice boat (yacht). Jetu pronounces her name "G-2" like the letter and the number, with perhaps a little less E on the G, something close to the word jitney, but not quite. Clear as mud? We gave both girls Americanized middle names. Nebyat Grace (what better message from God?) and Jetu Mylia - (okay maybe not totally Americanized, but common at least in pronunciation). They'll always have an option to use a more common name; I don't really expect they'll choose to do so. Nebyat is not in love with Grace and I believe I shared before she prefers Nebyat Minnie Mouse. Jetu is not totally opposed to Mylia, however if Nebyat's going to be Minnie, she's going to be Jetu Mickey Mouse.

For fun, I thought I'd share with you the list that was sent home this week for Nebyat to prepare valentines. These are the names of the 14 children in her kindergarten class - I don't think she's really going to feel too out of place because of her name:
Ariana D
Ariana J
Blake
Sean
Donvan
Dominic
Genesis
Kaitlynn
Nebyat
Zaniah
Eric
Debron
Hezekiah
Annie

Poor Annie....what were her parents thinking?

News from Haiti

-----Original Message-----
From: "saurel Deronette"
Sent: Monday, February 8, 2010 12:22pm
To: mike@buttonlok.com
Subject: RE: i dont hear from you my friend

my brother
we're alive but we lost every thing at kapotie. all of the house are broken: maxi's, mine, all. the church building is oke but every body sleep out of house because the rest of house that were'nt brokent are like a danger for going inside. we have a lot of problems here and we worried that we can safe. i'm alive i didnt have the possibility to come to down town. today i come just to write you. if you would likem to help, you can send money by western union, and others things by CAM transfer. so, port au prince is worst but all of my country is broken. i cant explain you because in explainable. i'd like to have your email soon. sincerly your brother saurel. say hello to Terry for me please.


Kapotie is the "town" where we served on our mission trip in 2005 - it's 5-7 hours from Port Au Prince in the back of a truck and then another half-mile hike in to the rainforest. It's not many miles from PAP though. Our friend, Saurel, finally got in touch to tell us that they are alive and give us a status. It's very emotional for me to read this email. Jetu was just wiping my face with the pot holder from the girls' toy kitchen set - saying "It's okay, Mommy; don't cry!" It's hard to explain to her being emotional, other than to say "It's okay, mommy's happy, it justs makes me cry..." She said we can all get on an airplane - I don't know where she thinks we would go or why that would be the answer to an emotional/difficult situation...

Off to pick Nebyat up at school....

Twists

Mommy got brave and tried a new hairstyle with Nebyat. I think I need some practice, but it was fun trying. We'll be heading out tomorrow to pick up some snaps to finish off the ends of her twists. She is so patient about sitting through the couple hours of washing, conditioning, combing out, and styling. She said she was so "eskited" through the first couple twists. Her mood changed and she decided one of her twists was too thick. I'm not sure she loved her final look, we'll see tomorrow, I guess. I was pretty eskited too, until I was unable to meet her expectations.



Jetu got a little do, too. She was happy not to be left out of the fun.

Our girls got some moves!

Winter Break!

The children of Virginia Beach have gotten an unscheduled winter break! We are enjoying both Monday and Tuesday off from school.

We're still having fun in the snow - the girls and mommy took a hike through the woods behind the house - that was fun - we didn't go very far, but still - it was all untouched snow with just enough crispness in the air to be pleasant not bluster-y.

We'll try to get some pics up in the next day or so!
Terri