One year ago today! (date should be May 21, 2009, I wrote this last night)

One year ago today we got a call from Courtney and Paul telling us that they had accepted a referral for a little 17 month old girl from Ethiopia and so began our journey to becoming grandparents. We knew it would be an exciting adventure but never in our wildest dreams did we imagine how perfect our little Tizita Desta would be!

After hanging up the phone John and I went to our e-mail to check out her picture!
She was a beauty to behold...

We must have stared at that picture for hours just trying to take in her beauty and imagine what she was going to be like and what she was going to bring to our lives. Tizita has surpassed our wildest dreams.
When we look at that very first picture now, it is hard to even see our happy, spunky, rascally little girl in there.

Here is a picture of the little outfit she wore in her good bye ceremony at the care center before leaving Ethiopia to travel home with her mama and papa.
This is more of the Tizita we know now...

Here is a picture of me with Tizita on the first day we met her. At that point she wasn't too keen about touching us or even sitting too close to us, but oh, how that has changed! Now she runs us ragged and gives us countless hugs and kisses. She knows her Grandma and Grandpa!

It is just amazing how one little girl can change so much in our lives.
It is also amazing to me to see how Americanized she has become in such a short time.
She even had her first ear infection which truly makes her an American child.
She loves shopping at Hobby Lobby.
Loves swimming.
Reading,
Playing,
Laughing,
and on and on and on...


Already Tizita has acquired
her Aunt Alissa's sense of humor,
her grandpa's loud laugh,
her Gigi's loving nature,
her Grandma's love of anything chocolate,
her Uncle Chedda's black curly hair, (Okay I know that is stretching it, but they do have the same kind of curls!)
her Cousin Mallory's sense of fashion,
her Grunkle's silliness,
her mama's love of water and swimming,
and
her papa's love of all things outdoors.
Yes, she is a little bit of all of us even though there is not an ounce of our blood running through her veins and that is truly amazing!

So, today, Tizita Desta we celebrate the day we learned your name, your age, and your sex and the first day we laid eyes on your beautiful face!
We love you!

And we take a moment to thank God for picking you out to become a part of our family!
What a blessing,
God is good.