Dear Tariku James ~ Happy 3 year GOTCHA!!

Dear Tariku James ~

3 years ago today your life once ago changed forever – you entered your forever family when you were placed in my arms to be your forever mama.  As I look back over the last year here are the things I want you to remember about your 3^rd year in America.

It was the year you turned 8 and stood 4’11

It was the second year you received a gold medal at school

It was the year of Marilyn – you had the most amazing nanny after school – who loves you like crazy and because of you she has now seen Ethiopia

It is the year you raised enough money to build a well for your sisters in Southern Ethiopia

It was the year of your 1^st Disney Cruise (and we went with the ENTIRE family!!)

It was the year you met the Grinch

It was the year you successfully completed 1^st grade and read 100 books in 45 days

It was the year you came into your own with your ASL not only at home but also in public

It was the 1^st year you played travel soccer

It was the 1^st year you played basketball

It was another year you were still OBSESSED with trans formers

It was the year your first best friend moved far away – and not a day goes by that we don’t still talk about Jack and look forward to his coming back

You still love the color yellow

You still eat tibs fir fir like there is no tomorrow (and wish this mama would learn to make injera)

My sweet boy I am blessed to call you my son and honored that God called me to be your mama.  Your heart for Teddy is huge and you make sure he is taken care of all the time.  You love your daddy and nana and papa like no other.  You are an amazing friend and huge help at home.  May you always know how incredibly special you are in the eyes of God and in my heart!

I love you to Ethiopia and back sweet boy

A Letter To Our Marilyn

To our sweet sweet Marilyn ~

We knew the time was coming ~ we knew we would only have you for a year ~ and what a most AMAZING year it has been.  There will never be enough words that this mama could say that would thank you enough for all you did.  You came into our lives and poured your love into the boys every single day. From soccer practice, to basketball, to speech and beyond you were there every step of the way.

Your grace and patience with both of them taught them to be patient

Your smile was something the boys ran to at the end of each school day

Your sign language skills helped me understand my sweet deaf son a bit more every day

Your knowledge as a sibling of a deaf sister helped Tariku understand his place in the world a bit better

Your passion for the LORD gave them a passion to follow

But above all things was and is your LOVE for them and their LOVE for you.  We are so proud of you and your heart for Ethiopia.  We could not of made this past year had you not been a part of it and while my mama heart is sad I know this journey with you does not end just because you move on to UT.  The boys and I will visit often and I am sure we will find a Ethiopian restaurant in Knoxville to share your love of tibs fir fir with Tariku and Teddy.

So as I prepare to fly off to Addis know that I love you and that I cannot wait to see you soon!  I love you to Ethiopia and back sweet girl and remember this quote ~

Joshua 1:9 - “…Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Injera and Missionaries - Otherwise known as July 5th 2013

Greetings -
Well one thing is for sure the 4th of July was a wash out for middle tn!!!  The 5th of July was not looking much better ~ unless you were one of 2 little ethiopians who knew that at 5pm there were gonna be 7 camp counselors knockin on your front door to go for tibs fir fir!!

Every year Tariku begs me to take the missionaries who work as camp counselors for Camp Summer Sign to an Ethiopian dinner.  And every year it doesn't work out.  This year (praise the LORD) July 5th was an open and an available evening and the camp counselors were game enough to give it a try!!  So at 5pm on the dot they all showed up to our house ready to load into cars and head on over to the boys favorite Ethiopian restaurant in town!  2 car loads packed and ready to go we were off to GOJO's

                  Tariku and Teddy in their new Ethiopian Futbol jerseys from Marilyn ready for injera!

Now we have loved this restaurant ever since we were introduced to in by another adoptive family about 4 years ago (WOW hard to believe it was that long ago) and Tariku could not wait to get inside and show his friends his native food!  I will leave the rest of the story to photos!

Many many thanks to the amazing missionaries who gave of their free evening to come and hang with two little boys who think the world of you and wanted so much for you to see a part of who they are.  Thank you for creating a night they will not soon forget!!

We are an ASL family

Greetings -

Teddy has been home 2.5 years and whenever we tell someone he is deaf they naturally say - oh so you guys sign.  I LAUGH at that comment - (cause let me be real here for a minute just like you and I  didn't learn how to speak fully in the first 2.5 years of our lives there is NO WAY NO HOW we sign)  Sure Kenneth, Tariku and I know some signs and possibly to the outside world we may even look like we know what we are doing but deep down we are 2 year olds learning a new language just like Teddy.

But yesterday something happened - something that makes me have to step out of the 2 year old babble and acknowledge we are a family that signs (and dear lord it is sooooo scary for me to say this) - Tariku has a friend that unfortunately broke her foot earlier this week and he really wanted to go check on her and take her something to cheer her up.  I checked with her mom and that was great!  When I asked what we could bring her mom said gum - so off to Publix we went for gum!!  When we were checking out Tariku noticed the cashier was hard of hearing (huge difference between that and Teddy who is deaf but that is for another post on another day!) and that she could probably sign.  So he asked if he could sign to her.  Ummmm heart now stops beating - see we have NEVER signed with anyone we don't know and who doesn't know our story - I'm scared to still sign with the people I know and here he wants to sign with a complete stranger?????

Well alright child sign away.  And sure enough he did - Hello my name Tariku - what your name?  Nice meet you (please note I did not type this incorrectly that is ASL grammar - see I told you a whole different language!!) The cashier did not miss a step and signed right back to him - my name Corrinne what your name and without missing a beat Tariku spelled his name and introduced me.  She asked me if he was deaf and I said no this is my hearing son but my deaf son was in the car with friends. (Yep I did it - not sure how correct I was) but for the first time Tariku and I both used our new language without Teddy.  I cannot tell you how proud I am of Tariku for feeling comfortable enough to step out and talk to her in that line.  Because at the end of the day we are an ASL family and it's not just to talk to Teddy! AND we are getting better every day!

Marilyn is Home from Ethiopia (Insert wild crazy screams)

Greetings -
If we are friends on facebook or if you were anywhere near me or the boys in the last 7 days than you know our most amazing and incredible nanny Marilyn has been in Ethiopia on a mission trip with the most an organization close to our hearts called Ordinary Hero.  Well RAISE THE ROOF my friends as this evening at 6:30pm our sweet Marilyn came home to Nashville. Honestly you would of thought it was an Ethiopian adoption homecoming at the airport - the boys in their shirts (their choosing!!) and their precious signs made ready to greet their sweet sweet Marilyn.

Here are a few photos from the boys homecoming of their sweet sweet Marilyn!

                                      WELCOME HOME MARILYN WELCOME HOME!

My why for Rodan and Fields -

Greetings -
So a few months ago it hit me - I am closer to 40 than 30 (okay way closer to 40 than 30 but who's counting!) and I have been pretty blessed with great skin - we won't go into the fact that I am allergic to the sun so I really spend most of my time indoors and away from make up most of the time!!! (what can I say in some ways I am low maintence!!!!) Anyways I digress so let's get back to my why - in the past I have done alot of  multi level marketing companies and never really been very good at them.  My parents on the other hand were amazing with one company growing up so I do believe in them.  But I always had my passion for weddings so whenever I joined one of these companies it always took a back seat to my first love - WEDDINGS.  But somehow I kept getting drawn back to them - enter Rodan and Fields.  I was first shown this company a few years ago by a wedding industry colleague and I looked it over and said yep another great company but I don't have time for it and I'm not gonna make that mistake again!!

Fast forward to April 2013 I am now a successful wedding planner, wife and mom. I've lived through a season that has rocked me personally and am now approached by another mom about Rodan and Fields.  This time I stop and take a look - but I look at it differently - you see I still LOVE LOVE LOVE weddings but I also LOVE my boys and my time with them and I see an opportunity with Rodan and Fields to spend quality time with my boys. And so in the middle of wedding season I do the ridiculous I jump into Rodan and Fields and try the product.  WOW!  I have always been the one with sensitive skin who breaks out in hives when the wind changes course so imagine my surprise when these products just allow me to be me!!  I send my mom a photo from a photo shoot I am doing and she asks who is that person and it takes her 3 days to believe it is me.

So finally I think I have found my why and it's ME!  It's my skin and my life.  It's my happiness and my boys as I approach 39 in 2 months.  I cordially invite you to give Rodan and Fields a try - it has done some most amazing things for not only myself but also my friends and I would love to have you join me on this wild ride cause you only get one chance at LIFE so you really should try and live it to the fullest don't you think????

Me and my boys!!

Hammons House Hunting Hyenas!

Greetings -
A fantastic week last week with CAFO in town for the Orphan Summit - which I will be sure to share on super soon.  But today I want to share on hyenas.  Why you ask?  Well don't you know we are hunting hyenas here at the Hammons house!!
Tariku comes from the Kembata region of Ethiopia - located in the southern part of the country and yes there are hyenas there.  Hyenas have ALWAYS been a trigger point for him - a shall we say sticky widget of sorts.  Now our house here in Brentwood backs up to a hillside full of trees and so it took us quite a long time to convince Tariku that hyenas did not live in those trees and that in fact hyenas did not even live in America much less Brentwood Tn!  We do however have foxes and this spring we have a gorgeous red fox that calls our street home.  The boys have seen him almost every morning out the front window and we have talked about him to no end!
BUT Sunday evening as Tariku and I were coming home from His Little Feet concert in Murfreesboro we pulled onto our street and there were 3 men at the base of our street with flashlights and a very large stick.  Now we did not stop to talk to them but I could tell immediately where this was going and I knew it was not about to end well.  Tariku asked where the hyena was - I immediately reminded him there are no hyenas in America but those 3 men triggered a memory and so now for the last 2 days we have been on a mission for hyenas.  I know in his logical mind he knows there are no hyenas but when I look into his eyes I see a scared little ethiopian worried about himself and his brother and the hyena.  So tonight we will again make sure there are no hyenas in our yard and tomorrow morning I will take the boys to the bus via the car to ensure no hyenas.  Some may wonder why?  Well the answer is simple when your children were scared of the the monsters under the bed or had bad dreams you did what you needed to help them overcome their fears in the night and so I - I hunt hyenas in Brentwood.

                                                                    A red fox cub

                                                                 A hyena cub

Clearly not the same but apparently not all that different in the eyes of an Ethiopian child