The Ru is Silly.

Ru meets Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Dawn, and her sweet cousins....

.....cousins who have prayed for her every night, prayed her home.

We love you!

Brother meets the Ru.

Hello! **edited

Alert: This will be a post with ACTUAL WORDS. Repeat: Post contains ACTUAL TEXT.


Hi!

Merry Christmas!

We are doing wonderfully well over here, just relishing our little Ruthie. She is full of personality and spice. We feel fairly sure that these two introverts have adopted an extrovert! Sleeping is SLOWLY getting easier for her (and therefore for us), though we are still up several times a night with her. Same with naps--some days they don't happen at all, some days there are a couple of extremely short ones, and some days there is a more normal one-year-old nap lasting and hour or two. Her sinus/respiratory issues have almost totally disappeared. Ruthie's days are spent dancing, shrieking with delight or protest, , trying to avoid diaper changes, and playing with her favorite toys--stackable/nesting cups, and her xylophone. Busy. Lots to do. Though she initially refused all baby food except formula, she now enthusiastically consumes a number of different things. She is small, but strong and fiesty. It is a genuine joy to watch her settle in and become more comfortable with her surroundings--and with us. I feel like attachment is going really well--it makes me tear up thinking about how our home is becoming her home, too. In short, she's delightful. She wakes up smiling.

Oh, and she's officially walking, as of a couple of days ago. I mean, taking 5-10 steps at once is officially walking, right?? I have mixed feelings. :) Proud. And, 'oh baby, there's no hurry!'

**AND, we are thoroughly. totally. completely. thrilled for our dear friends, Shawn and Jami, who passed court on Friday and will travel soon to meet their oh-so-precious, GORGEOUS twin girls!

Happy First Birthday Ruthie!!!

Ethiopia is beautiful.

Ruthie Dances to Luckenbach

mishmash.

Through a car window, darkly.

A few more each day......

A few from Addis.

Give Tom's Shoes this Christmas

Give Tom's Shoes this Christmas and help children in Ethiopia avoid Podoconiosis. Watch this video to find out more.

At the airport.

She's a pretty good sport after 28 hours of traveling.....

a quick note.

hey guys. we are doing fine and are home safely. i arrived home with some kind of sinus/chest/throat sickness that i developed about 20 hours into our journey home. it's been a long time since i've felt this awful, but i'm on some antibiotics and other things and hopefully will feel better soon. ruthie is also on her own regime of antibiotics, prescribed to her the day before we left ethiopia. she was somewhat sick when picked her up at the baby house, and it got worse right before we left Africa. she is doing better---and i may have gotten whatever she had.....all that to say, i know i owe a lot of you some emails, etc, and hopefully, i'll be back to semi-normal soon!