Happy 1st Birthday!!

Our beautiful six year old girl!

Today we celebrate Hermela's 6th birthday. She has been counting down the days until her birthday since she came home. We went to a friend's birthday party a few weeks after we were home with them, so she had an idea about birthdays. She also talks about one of the babies that had a birthday with cake in the care center. She told us that on Meron's birthday they had dabo (bread) and her mom's friends came over to celebrate, but on her birthday, "no dabo, no bunny (money)". So we wanted this birthday to be a special day for her. I asked her if she wanted dabo and she said, "No. Cake". Silly mom. Of course she wants cake-who picks bread over cake?

This is a shot of her with her eyeing her gifts (for the second time). She woke up at midnight last night and took a peak at them. I had told her to stay in her bed if it was still dark-knowing how excited she was, I didn't want her to crawl in our bed at 5 am. Well she beat me by 5 hours:). We sent her back to bed and she stayed there until about 6:30. I heard her telling Caroline last night, "I can't wait for tomorrow" which I thought was so cute.

She got a $5 bill from Nick's parents which she promptly put on her head and began chanting "bunny(money), la, la, la, la, la, la..." in true high pitched Ethiopian style. Our friend Heidi asked her what she was going to buy with it and she said, "I give it to mommy and daddy". That's what she saw her older brother in Ethiopia do and I suppose this is the way things work-everyone pitches in whatever money they have for the family. She didn't think once about what she would buy for herself. She is very selfless and almost always shares generously with others.

I love these pajamas because of the saying, "little girl, big dreams". It just fits her character so well.

The big hit was her new bike helmet. She has learned how to ride Caleb's bike and has been using the other kids' helmets since she's been home. She was totally excited to receive a helmet. She never expected that a bike came with it.

When she saw the bike, her eyes got big and she squealed, "for me?". Yes, for you sweet girl. She then dressed up in her new Ethiopian dress that Heidi brought her and went out to breakfast all by herself with my mom. She's been begging to wear this dress for 3 weeks and I keep saying it is for as special day. Last night she asked to wear it for her birthday and said, "my happy birthday special day". Couldn't argue with that. She ordered eggs and bread at the restaurant (even after seeing chocolate chip sprinkle pancakes on the menu). She told my mom, "me eat this with mommy in Ethiopia" (we ate it every morning at the guest house where we stayed).

You are such a kind, thoughtful, intuitive girl. We are amazed by they way you embrace life and how brave and determined you are. We pray you will grow up knowing how much God loves you and how much we love you and how blessed we feel to have you in our family.

Happy Birthday!!!