Celebrating Judah, Ethiopian style

This weekend was full of culture for the Nix fam~Ethiopian culture that is.....something we should be doing more of here in our "little Ethiopian city" known to others as DC :-)

Friday evening we headed across town to Dukem~one of DC's most highly recommended Ethiopian restaurants. We had so much fun celebrating Judah there, and walking into the restaurant took me back to Ethiopia immediately~mostly because of the aroma. They sat us right by the bar with no high chair, which we thought was a little weird with a 2 year-old, but we just went with it. Judah didn't seem to mind :-)

My dear friend Amy was in town visiting us this weekend. You may have heard me mention her before ;-)  It was so special that she got to celebrate "Judah Day" with us, as she was among the first to meet him two years ago. This pic of Amy and Jeff was taken by Judah with no editing done by me...not too bad, buddy!

While stuffing ourselves with way too much wot and injera (see below), Judah opened his gift.

As you can see, he was super excited about his new books.

And later, he became even more excited. This is the look on his face when he heard us say, "cupcake time!"

Dig in! (literally :-)

It's safe to say that he liked it!

Coincidentally, when cleaning out some shelves this week I stumbled upon some loose printed pictures from our time in Ethiopia exactly two years ago. So I made a little picture book for Judah. He loved looking through it but got a little upset when he saw just Mommy and Daddy on the plane getting ready to take-off for Ethiopia. He asked, "Where's Judah?" and "Judah go?"

You're right, buddy...hard to imagine life without you in it. Here are some sweet pics of all THREE of us :-)

Two days later, a nearby suburb of DC hosted its Second Annual Ethiopian Festival. We went with our dear friends the Schicks and their sweet Gabriel....more Ethiopian food, friends, and of course music and dancing. I could not believe how many Ethiopians were there. It's as if we were back in Addis...especially when the emcee was speaking only in Amharic, cracking jokes that we could not understand!  Here is a snapshot from my iPhone...you can sort of grasp the magnitude.

As usual, Judah and Gabriel had a ball together. Here they are being silly in front of the Ethiopian food truck .

And topping the night off with a little dancing of course. I know you are jealous of J's mad dancing skills and his air guitar :-)

What a great weekend to be blessed by celebrations with dear friends and sweet reminders of our time in Ethiopia. Two years later, we still can't believe the amazing gift we received there.

Grateful.

Ethiopia is not yet done with us. Whether it is another child or just visiting and serving, we can't wait to see what it has in store for us next. 

Judah Day #2!

If you hadn't figured it out just yet, today is a very special day for our family. There are many important dates documented throughout our adoption journey: the day we received our "referral;" the day we "passed court;" the day we completed paperwork through the US Embassy (which is actually our agency's date for our official "placement day)." However, the day that means the most to us is the day we saw Judah's face for the first time and held our precious little 15 pound miracle. You can read more about it here if you missed it. :-) The day was July 20th, 2010, and we will forever commemorate this day.

Since Judah understands much more language than he did at this time last year, we are revealing more about that special day. We're showing him pictures and talking about what a special time it was for us in Ethiopia to hold him for the first time, and how God orchestrated a miracle that day when he made the three of us a family. I think he's starting to get it. And I just love that he wants to look at this picture all the time, while smiling and pointing~"Mommy." "Daddy." "Judah."

Last July 20th, we filled Judah's day with two of his favorite things....swimming and cookies. Well, it was actually his first taste of a real cookie so they quickly became one of his favorite things :-) So far today this year, we've been to music class with his buddies (a favorite of his) and had a lunch date~just the two of us....at Qdoba....a very happy place for Judah...even happier today because I let him have lemonade as his drink. I know, crazy, right?!

Tonight, we will all celebrate at DC's best Ethiopian restaurant and top it off with his new favorite treat...

Stay tuned for pics of the weekend, as we're also attending a nearby Ethiopian festival on Sunday. Happy Friday everyone, and Happy Judah Day!

All Done Lazy

"All done nap!" (often heard through the monitor when a little someone awakes)
"All done hurt!" (when Judah realized I was feeling better and could pick him up again after my surgery)
"All done work!" (when Jeff walks through the door in the evening)

Judah is applying "all done" to many things now, so when I thought of the title of this post "All Done Lazy" immediately came to mind. Since my lazy summer days post, it seems that we've been anything but. Hopefully, that will explain my lack of posts :-) This post is a sad attempt to catch you up with pics from my iPhone~since I hardly ever remember to take my "real" camera to places anymore.

First of all, DC has been HOT. All of my friends in the South who think I'm always "cooler" way up here~think again.

When I first started the car on this day, it said 109! 

It was during this time that DC experienced a terrible storm and we were without power for three days. We stayed at our place for the first two nights but it quickly became unbearable with no AC and 100 degree temps. We thankfully were invited to stay with dear friends who had power for the final night...such as huge blessing! Oh, and did I mention we haven't had AC in our Jeep (our only car) since May 29th....not that I'm counting the days or anything ;-)  It's currently at the shop getting repaired, but for the past month or so we've been strolling a lot of places because our car has been too hot. Most trips begin like this....

But end like this....

Judah is still loving all things sports. He began a summer soccer series~another with Coach John , but his favorites these days seem to be golf, which he sometimes calls "hockey." Don't worry, this will be corrected :-)

....and baseball (still).

We began a summer music class with Miss Patti again, too. Although he hadn't been to this particular class since December, he totally remembered and is loving it.

We've also been spending lots of time with our "besties."

At the Zoo with Gabriel

Having Marilyn over for dinner

And of course, there was July 4th~when Judah experienced his first ever parade.

...as well as his first fireworks...DC is a great first place for this :-)

And finally, our little man got a haircut. I absolutely love it! He looks adorable and it's so much easier~and definitely better for him in this heat! However, I do miss his curls and he looks soooo much older (sniff, sniff).  These are the only pictures I have post-haircut, but I promise there are much more to come!

Where is my "lazy" summer going?! And better yet, where have the past 2 years gone?! It was this very night exactly two years ago when I couldn't sleep~due to excitement and anticipation~because we were to board a plane to Ethiopia the very next day. Can't wait til Friday when we celebrate the anniversary of the day we became a family. For now, it's night-night time for me. "All done blog!"