Happy 5th Tiziversary!

I can hardly believe that it has been five years since John and I first met our sweet granddaughter Tizita Desta as she walked off a plane that had just arrived from Ethiopia.

 I was so nervous waiting for that plane to land.

I imagine it was the same kind of nerves that a grandma has when her daughter is in labor.

So many  people were deplaning before we finally ask someone, "Was there a little girl on the plane from Ethiopia?'

Their answer was, "Yes, and she is just beautiful."

I started to breathe a bit easier, I knew they had at least made it safely to Appleton.

Then we saw her and oh, my goodness, she was a beauty!

We had no idea if she would be walking or not, she was 21 months old, but progress reports were few and far between from Ethiopia and the last reports said she still was not walking.

We were so excited to see her walking toward us from the plane, holding tightly to her mama's hand.

Can you imagine what it must be like to get on a plane and leave the only place you have ever known with people who you just met?

She held tight to her mama and papa as she looked us up and down with those big beautiful brown eyes.

 It had been a long pregnancy for Courtney and Paul, many, many months from referral to homecoming.

I have posted about this before, but the unknown is so difficult in adoption.

When a woman is pregnant with a biological child, you can bet you will meet that baby in nine months, more or less.

When a woman is "pregnant" with an adoptive child, you really don't know if you will ever meet that child.

Labor and delivery for a biological child involves hours of pain and then the joy of the birth,

Labor and delivery for an adoptive child involves months and even years of painful waiting.

The pain may not be physical, but it is hard all the same and long, very long.

I am guessing that the end joy is the same.

A baby in your arms, no matter how it got there, is a joy.

A mother of a biological child forgets the labor once that child is in their arms..

The mother of an adoptive child forgets the pain of waiting once that child is home and in their arms.

 This is me when I first met Tizita.

She was still not too sure about it all, but she was learning to love us.

I didn't know the first thing about adoption or Ethiopia before Courtney and Paul announced their plans to adopt.

I quickly did online research and devoured all the knowledge that I could.  I made it my mission to learn all I could about Ethiopia and adoption.

I joined a forum for Ethiopian adoptive families.  I met other grandmas of Ethiopian children.

I grew and learned and loved it all.

I became a grandma that night five  years ago for the first time.

Yes, it was not in the usual way, but I could not love any child more than I love my granddaughter, Tizita.

Our journey together started that night as she walked off that plane and it just keeps getting better and better.

Each year we celebrate that meeting with a Tiziversary party.

We always go to the Ethiopian Cottage in Milwaukee to enjoy authentic Ethiopian food together and talk about her homecoming.

Tizita remembers things about her homeland and she knows her birth story.

It is wonderful to hear her talk about those memories.

 Here she is on her first Tiziversary.

She was all about Curious George that year, so our theme was Geogio as she called him.

We had a panda theme at her second Tiziversary since she had just visited the National Zoo and was all about pandas that year.

Her third Tiziversary was all about Princesses.

And, last year, I struggled to create this Barbie cake for her.

That brings us to our celebration this year.

I will not spoil the surprise.

Come back after the weekend and read all about it.

 

So today would you all please say a prayer of thanks for your families because I know that I will be saying many prayers of thanksgiving for our blessing that we call Tizita.

 

Happy Tiziversary to Tizita, the Van Auken family, and the proud grandparents.