2.10.2011 - Playing together

B loves when Baby Sister joins in on his daily fun.

2.9.2011 - Three Generations

In my reorganizing of Beniam's room the other day, I came upon a book that had belonged to Chris when he was little. It even had his name written inside in his mother's handwriting. How precious!
Chris was at a meeting, so at bedtime Beniam and I read "The Bear's Vacation," and he loved it. And then, joy of all joys, Dada and Papa (Chris' dad) showed up and Papa read it to him again. Our little boy is so loved...can you tell?

I should also mention that Chris and his dad share a fondness for books and reading. You could say it is their "one weakness" (name that show!)...how fun to see this being passed down to Beniam. We can hopefully assume that his taste in literature will mature ;)

(Forgive the lighting or lack thereof...)

2.7.2011 - Labor of Love

My sister-in-law is due to have her baby girl, Zoie, in about 3 weeks and I am finally starting a baby quilt for her. I am just about novice as you get, learning as I go. I have made quilts for each of my kiddies, and I love them, despite their flaws. You can see Evangeline's in the picture.

Here she is, happily playing with fabric scraps.

2.2.2011 - 2 years ago today...

...we were declared the legal guardians of Christopher Tarik Beniam Reno. Quite a day! Thank you, Lord!

1.31.2011 - My little sickies

Both B & E have colds. Here they are watching Pingu. Aren't they cute?

On a not-so-cute note, I never seen a child launch snot out of her nose the way that E does when she sneezes. Amazing.

1.30.2011 - Korean food...

...yum...spicy pork bulgogi, rice, kimchi, dried seaweed and marinated cucumbers. My handsome chef of a husband is perfecting his recipes. We developed a love for Korean food when we worked with Korean students and now we can make it at home!

1.28.2011 - Happy Birthday to a Sweet Niece

January is a busy birthday month in the Reno/Johnson family. Today our sweet niece, Aaliyah, turns 10. Double digits, baby! If you know Aaliyah, you know what an amazing kid she is. She is so fun, wonderfully kind, patient, helpful, loves her family...I could go on and on about what a wonderful young lady Aaliyah is. It is especially a blessing for me to witness how much she loves our kiddos. When we brought B home, in order to encourage bonding and attachment, we didn't really have anyone else hold him, which was SO hard for Aaliyah. Her first (first) cousin and she had waited for so long with us and he was SO cute and she wasn't able to hold him and cuddle him! But she didn't love him any less. When E was born, I wanted to cry at how excited Aaliyah was to hold her!!

Both Chris and I continually praise God for Aaliyah. She is a blessing to us in so many ways. We love you, Yaya!

1.26.2011 - Siblings

B & E are just starting to "play" with each other. This may entail B being B and making E laugh in the process, holding hands, B making E roll over (he says, "Mama, I make Baby Sister roll like a ball!" - yeah, this requires a little adult supervision), B sharing his "bayntdee" (blanket) with E and so on. Too much fun!

(There were way too many cute pictures from this bunch...I couldn't pick just one!)

1.24.11 - Happy Birthday to the Man of the House

My handsome hubby turns 36 today! As I wrote on his birthday card that we delivered to his classroom along with balloons and some of his favorite treats..."Blessed is the man that fears Jehovah..." and we are so blessed because of his faithfulness, to God and to his family. You can see from these pictures what a great (and fun!) dad and husband he is. We are so thankful for him! Happy Birthday CJR!

6 months old!

This sweet little thing is 6 months old today! We love you Little Girl! You are an unexpected, blessed, challenging, beautiful gift!

First Taste of Sand

January 2011 - 6 months old














May 2009 - 7 months old

In the beginning

Although as the wife of an English teacher, I should know better than to plagiarize, I am going to copy an idea of an adoption friend of mine (who I have never met...but we do have a special connection in the forms of our 3 precious Ethiopian kiddos) and start posting a picture a day. This is only way I can think of to make myself start posting again. Facebook is so much easier, I am wondering if keeping this blog is worth the trouble. So here is my little experiment...let us see if I just manage one picture...

And, let's start at the beginning, 7 years and 1 month ago...this is how our little story began (if you skip me liking Chris for 2 years, the 9 day courtship and the 3 month engagement):

The day I married the love of my life. God is so kind!

Celebrating

We just a little surprise family party/BBQ for my mother-in-law. We usually group birthday celebrations together since the family is growing by leaps and bounds, but we thought Kim deserved a little party of her own. Among many other things (such as raising an amazing man like my husband) she often watches Beniam for when we have appointments, dates or just because. Benam loves, loves, loves going to her house -it is one of his favorite places. So here are some pictures...













Strawberries from Ma's garden




















Our favorite little boy who is almost TWO!




















Chris doing one of his favorite things - grilling Corralitos sausages




















Mmmmm....burger




















Isaiah's masterpiece


















Sweet girl in her favorite place, in the Baby Bjorn with Mama
















Beautiful blue eyes

Our Good News

So I am sure most of you have heard the news that our "good news" has arrived in a sweet, blue-eyed, 8 lb 6 ounce, 20.5 inch package. Evangeline Rose Reno made her appearance right "on time" at 10:32 pm on July 22nd (my due date). That makes her 3 weeks old today!

This won't a huge, long, thoughtful post, because (1) I am still reeling a little from life with 2 sweet chillins' and (2) there is a pile of laundry or rather a mountain of laundry waiting to be folded. So I will leave with some pictures of our two little olive shoots - praise be to God for them!

Like Father, Like Son

I had never really given the whole idea of nature versus nurture any thought, at least in regards to my own children. Nurture is definitely winning out in our family, at least right now. B is quickly becoming a little Ethiopian version of his dada and with Chris being home during the summer, this is becoming even more obvious. Some of the most recent loves that Chris has been cultivating in our little B include Petra (personally, I'm not a huge fan, but my guys love them), The Karate Kid (just the first one and especially the final scene), fried rice, watermelon juice and ribs (actually meat in almost any form).

Growing Up

Once again, I am woefully overdue in updating our blog. Summer is almost halfway over and baby Reno #2 is due in just 2 weeks. How did that happen? In the midst of our nesting, Beniam had been turning into quite the little boy, climbing bookcases, sleeping in a big boy bed, collecting rocks and change, etc, etc. We just watched the videos from our Ethiopia trip to bring him home. What a blessing to have a video camera! Thank you again to the Baers(x2)! Our little peanut has suddenly morphed into a walking, running, climbing, talking, singing little boy.

My Birthday Sonnet

Every year my sweet husband writes me a birthday sonnet. Can I just say that he really does have a gift with words? Writing a sonnet is no easy task. Anyway, here is this year's (one of my favorites so far...). I love it, love it, love it!

Wifey Birthday Sonnet Number -4-

The Holy Wind to Abyssinia bore
Us on the back of steel eagle's wings
To land us in the orphan's desert for
A royal orphan son from Judah's King.
This fertile continent - heavy with child -
Bore for us our beloved Beniam boy.
Oh, Africa - womb of our son's womb - wild
The Land where Spirit hovered for our joy.
The angel bard once likened childed womb
To sails big-bellied blown by wanton wind.
Your grace-filled fabric taut, a watery room,
Now harbors holy gift, a sacrament.
As Africa once bulged with right hand seed,
Inspired your belly is with 'Vangeline.

It really did happen...

My husband read this poem to his 10th grade English class. It is a poignant reminder that Christ's resurrection was indeed a real, scientific event. He really did die, soul and body, and He really did come back to life. All of this so we could be truly free (in the truest sense of the word - not according to our culture's individualistic definition) and truly reconciled and at peace with our Creator.

As a science-minded person, I love it. I love that we serve a God who can do this.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

By John Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that — pierced — died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

Telephone Poles and Other Poems © 1961 by John Updike. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House Inc.

**A little disclaimer - I have not read Updike's other work, but my husband said he can be a bit odd, as in just beware if you decide to do further reading.

Adventures in Ethiopian Food

I love Ethiopian food. Love it. When it is made by Ethiopian people. But since our little prince is from Ethiopia I thought I should probably try my hand at making Ethiopian food. So I ordered some necessary spices:














And made:

• Niter Kebbeh (spiced clarified butter) - this turned out great! We used it in the Kitfo, greens and the Shiro sauce

• Kitfo - minced beef - yes, we cooked it, it is traditionally served raw but I doubt our weak American stomachs could handle that - this turned out so-so
  
• Shiro sauce - made from powered chickpeas, garlic, onion, berbere, and water - this was also very yummy!
• Greens - kale with onions and peppers
  
• Iab - a white curd cheese - I made a variation from yogurt, cottage cheese, lemon and herbs - turned out pretty good
• Injera - a flatbread made from Teff flour - I normally love injera but mine (as seen below before it sat overnight) was nasty, nasty, nasty. And I don't know why! I followed the directions...if anyone has successfully made injera, please clue me in! For some odd reason, Beniam loved my first try at injera. Sweet boy.
  

Our first homemade Ethiopian meal (with rice instead of injera)...my sweet husband really enjoyed it...and he wasn't just being nice (although he is very considerate like that - he just can't hide not liking something from me) ...

One year ago...

One year ago yesterday B landed on U.S. soil in SF with a very tired Mama and Dada, met family and friends who had been praying for several years for his arrival and slept in his home for the first time.

Yes, these "first times" are a big deal in our house! God desires us to celebrate His goodness and having our little boy home has provided many, many opportunities to look back and remember what He has done.

Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!

Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth...

1 Chronicles 16:11-2

I will remember the works of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.

Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?

Psalm 77:11-13