Christmas Vacation

I am officially on Christmas Vacation! The relaxation mode is hitting hard and I am loving it! Lilly has been going through a particularly rough patch - not wanting to leave my side at any time... it is wonderful to be able to be home with her! I am also getting a couple of things done, or will get them done in the next few days! I can't wait! We have been anxiously waiting for new pictures of the kids. I am hoping they will come in the next day or two.

One of Ben's friends from work gave us 6 snowmen ornaments that have a spot for each child's name. We will wait until next year so that the decisions of what name they will use and the correct spelling can be made by the kids and us together.

Names are such a personal thing... some families feel very strongly that you keep the child's Ethiopian name, regardless. Others feel that with a new family, comes a new name. Ben and I are somewhere in the middle of those two camps. With the age of our kids, that makes keeping their names even more of an issue. We just found out that Adissu is really pronounced AddySue. Hmmm... that sure would make things interesting in our house. Our plan is to talk with them while we are still in Ethiopia and let him, and the other two, know that they can choose their name. We do have a couple picked out - but will offer those only as an option. If they do decide they want American first names, we will surely keep their Ethiopian name as a middle name... Decisions, decisions....