Nathaniel Goes To The Courthouse To Get Re-Adopted

This morning at the Jackson County Juvenile Court in Medford, Oregon, Mesfin Paul West became Nathaniel Mesfin Paul West, and is now re-adopted in the State of Oregon.

Here is some pictures from our morning:

Our family in the court room waiting on the judge. Don't we look cute? Even color coordinated (I made my not-so-happy husband go back into the house and change because his 1st outfit didn't match.)

The judge came out and spoke to us for a few minutes.

Then the judge spoke to Nathaniel.

After the judge had signed the official court decree and the pretty certificate of adoption.

The judge was such a good sport and let Nathaniel wear her robe while sitting where she sits.

After the ceremony, we went to the Black Bear Diner to celebrate! Nathaniel was very happy that we were all there to celebrate him...

...no I mean REALLY happy!!!

Thank you to Grandma West, Auntie Shelli and Ms. Mary for celebrating this special day with us!

Nathaniel Goes To The Pumpkin Patch!

Daddy & Nathaniel at the Sunflower Maze

Nathaniel's not too sure what to think of the hay. It's all prickly on his legs.

Daddy hitching up the wheelbarrow to take out to the pumpkin patch.

Nathaniel's not too sure what to think about this new adventure...

...but the wheelbarrow tastes good. Don't judge, we are just building his immune system! :-)

I just love all of his facial expressions when he is in a new place. Nathaniel has such a personality!

Nathaniel is now joined by the pumpkin that daddy picked out. (Mommy couldn't make up her mind. If we would have waited for mommy to make up her mind, we still would be there!)

Nathaniel quickly grew attached to his new friend the pumpkin.

We had such a good time! The weather was a little deceiving...80 degrees in the middle of October.

9 Month Appointment

Today we had Nathaniel's 9 month appointment! I have been excited to see how much he has grown and changed since his last appointment (6 month). Here are his stats:

Weight: 24.6 lbs -- Hello chunky boy! The doctor was very happy to see that he has gained lots of weight and is eating well.

Height: 30 inches -- He is gonna be tall like his daddy!

The doctor seemed very impressed with how active, happy and healthy he was. It really helped us feel like, despite our inexperience, that maybe we are doing good? :-)
The sad part of the appointment was the 4 shots they gave him. :-( It makes me so sad.

Here is a video of Nathaniel enjoying playing with the mirror!

The little trumpet in the picture is Nathaniel's new favorite toy.

Project Impact

This last weekend was incredible! We had the honor and privilege to attend the Project Impact fundraiser in Portland, Oregon, hosted and organized by Ray & Theresa VanWetten.

It was amazing to actually meet families face-to-face that I have chatted with, laughed with and cried with online. We got to meet Jori Armstrong, Kari & Zoie Gibson, Lusse Family, Stager Family, Joner Family, Nunez Family, Gamble Family(who invited us into their home and showed us amazing hospitality) and our wonderful AWAA program director, Duni and her husband & son!

All proceeds from Project Impact will go to supply the AWAA Transition Home and Kid's Care Orphanage with much needed formula, diapers and wipes. The night raised $40,000! What a miracle!!! God truly moved in the hearts of those in attendance.

Here are some of the pictures from our weekend.

Kari, Zoie, Me & Nathaniel. Zoie & Nathaniel are 2 days apart and were in the Transition Home together.

AWAA Africa Program Director, Duni holding Nathaniel. Duni is an amazing women with such a love for the orphan children of Ethiopia. We are so thankful for her!

Friday night's Salmon BBQ at the VanWetten's home.

Nathaniel doing his favorite thing: eating! It is a good thing these bibs really work. BTW where did my son get his love for squash? I can't stand the stuff.

The night of the fundraiser.

Best friends forever.

Happy 9 Month Birthday!

We love you, sweet punkin, and are SOOO incredibly blessed to be your parents!

Nathaniel Goes to Hunting Camp

Every year Paul's family spend deer hunting season (about 2 weeks) over in Eastern Oregon. They have been camping in the same place for years and years and years.




This year, Paul took Nathaniel over to experience his first trip to the outdoors.

Paul had him bundled up tight in an outfit that could fit 2 of him! :-)

Kisses from Grandpa

Pulling Grandpa's hair :-)

My Post of Many Subjects

We are (obviously) back from our mini-vacation! Here are some pictures from our trip:

I am not quite sure what happened for him to make this face, but isn't it adorable??? This was taken at one of our many stops on the way up to Washington. It is so different traveling with our little guy. He was AMAZING on the trip, but we are just used to barely stopping for any reason.

I LOVE this picture! This was taken the morning we went to the Puyallup fair to see the Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman concert. We were, of course, at Starbucks! :-)

One of the most wonderful things about Washington is the rain. I LOVE IT!!! The day of the fair it rained almost all day. It stopped just in time for the concert. Nathaniel looked so cute all bundled up!

We were so excited to visit the church we served at in Oak Harbor. On the way home, we took Nathaniel on his first ferry ride!

He absolutely loved looking at the water!

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We returned from Seattle on late Monday night. We took Tuesday to kind of re-coop and then Wednesday was my first day back from Family Leave. :-( It was hard to go to work, but we were bringing Nathaniel with us. The first 2 days were nightmare-ish as we tried to get him adjusted to another change in his short little life.

If there is one thing I have learned as a mom, naps are mom & baby's lifeline! The first 2 days he struggled sleeping in a new environment...that means we ALL struggled! I caught the tale end of his ultra-short nap.

I just love this mischievous little face!!! :-)

I finally got a great one with Nathaniel and his Great-Grandma.

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OH!! I almost forgot one of the most exciting things that has happened since I last posted. NATHANIEL HAS 2 BOTTOM TEETH!!!! I check his mouth every morning. I checked the morning of the fair, and for some reason, (probably do to excess drooling) I checked that same evening before the concert. I couldn't believe it! I was ecstatic and almost in tears I was so happy. My little boy is growing up!

The very next day, we were celebrating my wonderful sister's birthday, and again, there was buckets of drool pouring out of Nathaniel's mouth. After checking, it was confirmed. Yep, toothy #2 decided to join up with his next door neighbor, toothy #1!

At any moment, Nathaniel will be crawling. He is already inching forward (while trying to reaching the dog crate), and continues to roll all over the entire floor.

I can't believe that one week from today he will be 9 months old. I am looking forward to his 9 month check up on the 17th. We know he has gained some weight (my aching arms tell me that everyday), but he is growing so tall!

As a gift for Nathaniel adoption, a dear church member gave us a gift certificate to have a professional photo shoot. The certificate covers the session and 5x7's. We are so excited!

Thanks for keeping up with us!

(PS, the reason for this delayed post is because we, once again, had problems with our memory card...only now we are pretty sure the problem is the card reader for the computer. We think we have a solution now.)

Goin on a Road Trip

I am SOOOO excited! We leave this Wednesday morning to go visit my family in Washington!!

Nathaniel's so excited to see his Grandparents, Great-Grandparents and his Auntie & Uncle that he (actually we did, but don't tell anyone) packed himself in his backpack!

Guess who is SO close to crawling????

Happy Ethiopian New Year!

Today, September 11th is the beginning of the year 2001 for Ethiopia. To celebrate this very special day, we took some pictures:

Dressed in his Ethiopian soccer jersey

Who can resist this smile???

Wearing one of his traditional Ethiopian outfits.

You may be asking why Ethiopia is celebrating the year 2001. Here is some information about the celebration of the Ethiopian New Year and why they are 7 years behind us:

Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash)

Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days in leap year. The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8.

The Ethiopian New Year falls in September at the end of the big rains. The sun comes out to shine all day long creating an atmosphere of dazzling clarity and fresh clean air. The highlands turn to gold as the Meskel daisies burst out in all their splendour. Ethiopian children clad in brand new clothes dance through the villages giving bouquets of flowers and painted pictures to each household.

September 11th is both New Year's Day and the Feast of St. John the Baptist. The day is called Enkutatash meaning the "gift of jewels." When the famous Queen of Sheba returned from her expensive jaunt to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her back by replenishing her treasury with enku or jewels. The spring festival has been celebrated since these early times and as the rains come to their abrupt end, dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside. After dark on New Year's Eve people light fires outside their houses.

The main religious celebration takes place at the 14th-century Kostete Yohannes church in the city of Gaynt within the Gondar Region. Three days of prayers, psalms, and hymns, sermons, and massive colourful processions mark the advent of the New Year. Closer to Addis Ababa, the Raguel Church, on top of the Entoto Mountain north of the city, has the largest and most spectacular religious celebration. But Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday, and the little girls singing and dancing in pretty new dresses among the flowers in the fields convey the message of springtime and renewed life. Today's Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal New Year greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated in lieu of the traditional bouquet of flowers.