Forever Family Day.

Yup.  It was a year ago that we finally took custody of our babies.  After being in Ethiopia for a month, not knowing when we would finally pass court, we passed on February 11th, and took custody the next day...today, a year ago.  That day, the nannies all began to cry, as they realized that Alex & Eliana would no longer be living at the orphanage.  Oh how that orphanage, and the people within it, hold such a special place in our hearts.  Not once did they ask us for anything.  Not once did they make us feel like outsiders.  The staff at Enat Alem made us feel like family.  I cherish the sweet moments, like when a couple of the nannies began feeding me injera by hand (a true sign of friendship), or when about 5 of us just laid on the floor in the nursery, and took a nap together, arms around each other in a gesture of sweet friendship and sisterhood...beautiful.  And here we are a year later....that day feels like a hundred years ago.  I watch Alex & Eliana run around and play and be silly, and speak a million words I can't understand (a few I can), and it's hard to believe that once upon a time, they were living in an orphanage, waiting for a family.  But here we are...a family of four...well, five, if you count Blue (our North American Retriever), who is insanely jealous of the twins, and yet lets them crawl all over her without even flinching...We are incredibly blessed.  What we have is miraculous, and yet so normal at the same time.  We are family.

February 12, 2011.  Alex's first bath with us.

February 12, 2011.  Eliana just got her bath, and is hanging out in her crazy shallow crib.

February 12, 2012.  Daddy & Alex.

February 12, 2012.  Eliana and her "photo face".  Serious until the camera is out of her face.