Neema's first Christmas in America.

What can I say about this Christmas....? It was pretty close to perfect! :) For about 2 weeks leading up to the day, Neema would ask "Is today Jesus' birthday?" So we made a big calendar and marked off the day until we reached Christmas Eve....Oh happy day. The night before our Savior's birth! We must have read the Christmas Story a hundred times. Neema loved hearing about the wise men and how they followed the star. She learned a song at school about them and it lead to some really great conversations about who they were and why they were traveling so far to see baby Jesus. A fun tradition that we are starting is to put the wise men far away from the manger scene and everyday leading up to Christmas morning, move them and let Neema find them!

Unfortuanately, my church did not have a Christmas Eve service, so we went to St. Anne's Church with my parents and my sister. We had to wake Neema up from her nap in order to get there for the 4pm service so i'm not sure she really got to enjoy the sweet little pageant the children put on. We stopped by a friend's house after church and then delivered some Christmas goodies, by the time we left we were all pretty hungry especially Neema Girl so we drove around looking for a place to eat dinner. Is that totally tacky and sad that we were eating in a restaurant on Christmas Eve? We ended up at a yummy Italian restaurant where they put us in a private area with a family-like table so it was like we were home, kinda....Anyway, it was nice, no cooking, no cleaning....don't worry we had a real meal in the dining room with the nice china and silverware on Christmas Day. :)




After church and dinner she has pepped up a little!


On Christmas Eve, Neema was allowed to open ONE present...



It is so fun to start these traditions...she is so innocent and naive and has no idea what is to come...


Can we just talk about for one second how these pajamas are 2T??? They were the last size at Target and i was afraid they wouldn't fit her, but alas they do. She is so itty bitty! Fine by me, just means I can hold her like a baby for longer. :)



Christmas Morning!!! Oh the day we have been waiting for! Christ is Born! Even though Neema was with me when I got most of her presents, she still had no idea they were for her. I was able to hold her off until about 8:30am for the sake of my brother and sister who are not morning people. She was begging me for oatmeal, which she eats every morning, she is obsessed! She didnt know that on Christmas morning we make a big breakfast brunch, open presents, sing Christmas songs, have family over, drink cocoa, etc. Oh the fun of firsts.....We will never have another morning like that morning and I savored it!



I sent Neema to wake them and to each she greeted them with "get up, it's JESUS BIRTHDAY!!!"
Good Morning guys! Notice Will and Sims chugging caffiene.



Not sure what is going on here but I just think this picture is funny!

We gather here on these stairs every Christmas morning to pray and reflect on God's goodness and love. Neema still doesnt know.....



Woah!! A new kitchen?! She's like "this is for me??" :)



Just busy on the phone...



What a fun morning...



Kiki and Jud arrive...and with them more gifts. We are so blessed!! Neema loving her twin dolls. Kathryn made them these Lily dresses...how fantastic!

And if the day wasn't perfect enough, God sent us SNOW! Neema's first Christmas home and it's a WHITE CHRISTMAS!! Amazing!













We finished off the night with an amazing dinner in the dining room filled with family and friends. Neema and I made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang to our King! My heart is so full and thankful. His grace still amazes me! I can't believe that Neema is here with me forever and ever. In the busyness of life sometimes I forget how amazing this God story is! I'm sooooo thankful for Neema and that Jesus was born so that I could love her like I do!

Oh Christmas 2010, you were MAGICAL!


Christmas 2009 - Zanzibar, Tanzania. (Also, not too shabby!) :)

today is the day......

I woke up today with such mixed feelings....i'm so excited to be returning to this land I love.....the famaliar smell as I step off the plane...the friendly airport staff who will greet me with such sincerity...the few minutes I will stand there with held breath hoping my bags made it. I'm looking forward to the long drive into town where I just stare out the window soaking in the vast amounts of land scattered with men on bikes, every once in awhile a gathering place lit by candles of men playing pool and chatting into the night. The stars shining down...ahhh HOME.

But this time, my heart's excitement is hindered because I am leaving behind my baby, my sidekick, my bestie, my world. I know that she is not meant to go. I have a peace about leaving her, but every time I feel the excitement about going arise, the high comes crashing down when i remember it means I have to leave her. Please pray for this week, pray it be a productive week with TAWV things, that I resolve some issues I need to resolve there. For safety and health. And for Neema who is staying here with my parents. I am so thankful that we have a God who can be with both of us all the time even when we are not together. I know that he will watch over us and gaurd us during our time apart. Thanks for your prayers. I will be posting on the TAWV blog, so check in for updates! www.takesawholevillage.blogspot.com

Love and Thanks,
Heath

Neema is FOUR!

My Beautiful Birthday Girl!

This was a big weekend at our house. Lots of planning for the Princess' Party....Only Neema has 2 parties at 4 four years old. On Saturday we had over all of her friends from her class and then our good friends from church, play dates, etc. It was a wonderful day - a little chilly but the sun was shining and children were running and laughing. To be honest, I have been dreading this birthday a little because 4 just seems so much older than 3 and everyday she exemplifies new independence and new abilities just reminding me of how she is growing farther and farther from my little baby and into this little girl. But on the other hand I have to thank God for bringing her into His marvelous light and guiding her to become all that He created her to be!

Preparing with lots of cupcake making and decorating...



Neema and my aunt Kathryn (Neema calls her Kiki or Kiks)



Weekend full of cupcakes....


Neema's party favors



This was Neema's first birthday at home and ahhhh presents!! :)











Henry and Mary Taylor were a little late but they got there just in time for present opening.



Neema loved her sticker dolls.....



Birthday Girl with Bibi



Sunday morning Birthday Breakfast.



Love her little heart.



"I'm FOUR!!"



Second Party. Sunday afternoon gathering to continue the celebrating...sweet friends who Love Neema!! We thank yall for coming!!!! :)



(Below) Tara got Neema this super smooth leather jacket so they could be twins. Looking good!!!

Happy Halloween!

Neema's first Halloween was so great! We met up with our cute friends Dee, Melissa, Henry, and Mary Taylor! We were not sure if they would be here to trick or treat with us because they are waiting to get the call from Uganda that will lead them to their 2 year old little boy that is there waiting for them! Here are photos of my ladybug!! Oh im just so obsessed with her!!!

Bachelorette Weekend

My sweet friend Christin is getting married in January and we had such a blast celebrating her engagement with a wonderful "Big Girl" weekend in South Georgia at Joni's cabin......I have to say that it was wonderful sleeping until 9am, sitting in rocking chairs, porch swings, down by the lake (no paranoid child alert) and just sharing life. We rode four wheelers, drank coffee, ate brownies, just lounged and loved. We went to dinner Saturday night and then of course had a little lingerie shower complete with interview from the groom.....such a great weekend. I am very grateful for these friends and for the awesome example of Christ's love in the future marriage of Sandor and Christin! Can't wait Bunny!!!!!!

Reality is setting in...

I would say we have definitely settled back in...I am in grad school a few afternoons a week and I have just taken a new job assistant teaching every morning until noon. I am LOVING it. I am in a classroom with 3 and 4 year olds and they are precious! It is so fun working with the same age as Neema is. But this has really shaken my days. I can no longer take Neema to school in the mornings and some days dont even pick her up. I really miss this. I miss our mornings of coffee and oatmeal where we kind of lazily got ready for the day over the Today Show and then more coffee. I miss dropping her off at her cute little school and greeting her teachers and saying Hi to the other moms.

But this is reality. We couldn't be together all day forever. She has to go to school and I have to go to work. It's life. But i am adjusting to this new life with so much time apart from her. It's just hard because i feel like I am losing some influence on her life....does anyone know what I mean? She is in the care of so many different people now, her teacher, my mom, her babysitter...That is a lot of different standards of behavior and random amounts of accountability, etc. So this is just something I am really praying through and asking God to help guide me through.

On a lighter note, this is Neema's FIRST 'real' Halloween!!! She was with me last year during Halloween http://babyneema.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html and we dressed up but there were no pumpkins, trick or treating, or CANDY!!! So she is in for a thrill! With my brother, we went and picked out pumpkins last weekend. She was quite obsessed with the little ones. I told her she could get her very own little one and then told her to come help me choose between the fat and round one versus the skinny and tall ones...she only cared about the little one. HA! She doesn't even know you need a big one so can cut off the top and dig out all the gooey orange stuff.....she doesnt know that you carve out a face and put a candle inside that makes it light up the night....She doesn't know that you can cover the pumpkin seeds in salt, brown sugar, or garlic and place them in the oven to eat with warm apple cider. She doesn't know she is about to get HOOKED UP with a basket full of every sugary sweet that no amount of toothpaste will be able to remove! She doesn't know! It's all so exciting!!

There is this really awesome group of people in Atlanta who have all either adopted or are in the process of adopting, some of them for the second time, and about once a month we get together for family fellowship and for our little ones to get to grow up together. It is really beautiful to see all of the littles running around and hearing all the God stories that brought each one home. This Friday we had a "screen on the green" with popcorn and smores....AMAZING! :) What a wonderful club we belong to!