play ball....

Any of you who know our family know that spring means the start of soccer and softball seasons.  It is a time I must gear up for miserable weather, muddy cleats and long week-ends of game after game after game.  Not to be left out of this spring frenzy are Mekdes and Margo as they too are playing softball.  Before they had their first practice, Shawn thought he should go over what all the equipment is for the game of softball and how it is used with Mekdes.  After he had this little tutor session, Coach Shawn wanted to test Mekdes' hand-eye coordination by throwing her some pitches.  As you can see on the video...Mekdes has the hand eye coordination thing down!!!!!  Next up...base running...

a big day....

"Today my day special,"  is what Mekdes declared as she rushed down the stairs this morning.  We had our final court appointment for the adoption today and we were all very excited!  Everyone was rushing around trying to get ready and out the door by 8:45am.  It was all going rather smoothly until...

1.  Mekdes got her hand shut in the car door--OUCH!!!

2.  Emme pointed out that I still had my slippers on as we were going through the metal detector!

So, we enter the court house for this glorious day with Mekdes crying and mom in her slippers--ha!  After these initial blips, everything went according to plan and our final adoption ceremony was complete.  Mekdes Hope Geary is now and forever will be a Geary girl and we are so honored to have her as part of our clan!!!!

Here we are with the judge and our friend, Ron, who facilitated this process on our behalf.  We are so grateful to him!
Can you see my slippers????  I think Judge Hull was questioning my mental and emotional stability!

The Geary gals

Judge Hull congratulating Margo on being such a great "big sis".

Our celebratory brunch with our dear friends, Ron and Sarah.  French fries with ranch and ketchup were on the menu...of course!

sweet, sweet, sounds...

I was upstairs doing laundry today and when I came down, I heard this sweet, pure voice emanating from the kitchen.  Our Ethiopian angel had created a "fort" by opening all the drawers and cupboards around the kitchen island.  Her trusty side-kick, Ruby, was with her and she was singing something wonderful while watching her reflection in the oven door.  It was so dear!  I was able to grab the camera and get some of it on video...please excuse the state of my kitchen!

shopping...

We are all very excited about the upcoming marriage of Kevin and Amy!  As one would guess, there is a lot of preparation that goes into getting 5 girls ready for a destination wedding.  In comparison to the preparations the Fitzgerald family has been so beautifully undertaking in the planning of this glorious Sanibel Island event, this is small potatoes, I know.  But finding the right dress for the event and location for 5 gals has left me a bit.....frazzled!  I'm sure Mrs. Fitzgerald, Amy's mom,  can relate to the exhaustion I feel regarding my daughters and clothes as she raised a lovely brew of daughters and....survived!  I will have to pick her brain as to how she was able to navigate these treachurous  waters and end up with such beautiful girls who still talk to her--ha!   With 3 adolescent daughters, I have been in and out of many stores looking for the perfect dress for the moody teen-ager,  the surly pre-teen and the angry tween that has to wear a hand-me-down...WHAT FUN!!!!  What has been fun, however, is bringing along my 2 able bodied assistants.  Every store plays music anymore, so as we enter each establishment Mekdes and Margo will announce..."DANCE PARTY!".  All those who are shopping at said establishment are then treated to a fabulous combination of American urban dance and Ethiopian tribal dance.  The routine begins at the front door and continues on to the left as the 4 and 5 year old dancers circle their unique choreography  all the way around the store ending  the impromptu routine at the front door and thus signaling our shopping time is up.  It has been a delightful addition to our shopping experience and the older girls really LOVE  the added attention it brings to our crew as we enter the store!!!
We are all counting down the days until we take off for the Fitzgerald/Geary wedding.  It will be so wonderful to be with family in such a beautiful setting and celebrate the union of two of my favorite people.  There will be many first for Mekdes on this adventure and I cannot wait to share them with her....the ocean...a huge pool....a fancy hotel....the airplane full of Gearys...the wedding ceremony itself...shelling on the beach...warm weather...palm trees...We continue to be amazed and feel truly blessed to be on this adoption journey!

Here are our two dancers honing their craft....

birthdays...

While at the grocery, Mekdes and I were picking out a cake for Margo's 6th birthday.  I was trying to explain the birthday cake tradition and could see from Mekdes' face that she wasn't following.  She couldn't  fathom why anyone would be given an entire cake for their birthday and eat the entire thing!  It took some dialogue, but I was finally able to convey that the birthday cake is shared by all and that it is just part of the celebration.  The birthday girl does not have to eat the entire cake.  She seemed very relieved after we cleared this up as she wasn't too sure she liked the idea of Margo getting the entire cake for her birthday and not having to share any of it--ha!

Swimming...

Our spring break was spent at home this year.  As we are going to Florida in May for Kevin and Amy's wedding, we chose not to go anywhere for the girls spring break.  So, what does one do with five girls in the dreary Midwest for the last week in March, one might ask.
Well... Emme has needed her tonsils out for years and this seemed like the perfect time to get it done.  The poor thing was miserable all week and made sure the rest of us were feeling her pain as well.  I highly suggest having tonsils removed before the age of 8, so one doesn't have to deal with surly adolescent attitude in conjunction with surgical pain and narcotics!!!!
I tried to do some fun things with the girls before the surgery was scheduled.  Pedicures, individual shopping time,  and swimming were some of the things we were able to accomplish before Emme lost the golf ball sized tonsils that had inhabited her throat for as long as we can remember.  The swimming was the high light as Mekdes has never been in a container of water bigger than our tub.  We got a room at a local hotel and used their pool for the afternoon.  Mekdes has been wearing her swimming suit as her bra and underwear for quite some time now, so the thought of actually wearing her suit to go swimming was thrilling  beyond all imagination!  The first half hour in the pool was spent drinking the water.  It took some doing, but we were finally able to convince Mekdes that we would have other water to drink after we swam and that this water was just for playing in and having fun.  You could see it was hard for her to wrap her brain around the fact that there was all this water collected in one spot and you shouldn't drink as much of it as you possibly could.  As she said to me on a walk one afternoon, "Ethiopia, no water...no cup".  My heart still bleeds for all the orphaned children in Ethiopia.  As for our swimmer, she had a swimmers vest on and clung to a sister the entire time, but she was grinning from ear to ear and loving every minute of it.  Repeatedly, she would declare, "I swim! I swim!  Me love swim!".    Here are some pics from the momentous event.

So this is swimming.

I AM LOVING IT!

Goggles anyone?

My parents were able to come to help with Emme and visit during the week.  The girls enjoyed many walks to Grahams Chocolates for ice cream with Papa and lots of delicious meals made by Mama.  It is always a treat to have my family visit.  My sister and her kids were able to sneak up for a few days giving us some good cousin fun time.  

As I watch both Mekdes and Margo grow and transition into our new reality, it is so amazing to see the small indicators of this healthy growth.  Mekdes smiles for every picture now and isn't afraid to flash her pearly whites to show her happiness.  This is a real change from the timid child that walked into our lives 5 months ago.  Margo will actually ask Mekdes to play dolls with her and we all know what a huge milestone that is from 5 months ago!  Good things are happening and it gives us all hope.  Speaking of "hope"...on April 20 we have our last court date that states Mekdes Hope Geary is officially ours.  Yahoo!