Translation

Thank you, everyone, for your support and sharing in our excitement over the news that we passed court and the little girl we've been in the process of adopting is now officially a member of our family! We've gotten the message out to many friends and family and have been so blessed and overwhelmed by the response. So many people are excited for this little one to come home, and really it is overwhelmingly wonderful to me that one year ago this precious girl was all alone in Ethiopia and now she has so many pulling for her here in America, people who can't wait to meet her and watch her grow up! And I've seen a lot of evidence that she is changing hearts, too!

We are busy doing all kinds of preparations for her to come home, even though we have no idea when that will be. Recently we got the book Simple Language Amharic for Adoptive Families (from this website), and it is awesome! We have an English to Amharic translation book we bought for our first trip to Ethiopia and it was really useful, but also overwhelming. I love the Simple Language Amharic for Adoptive Families book because it just contains phrases you'd be likely to use with an adopted child, so it helps us focus our learning on the most important stuff! It also comes with a CD which really needs to be playing in our home non-stop until we get to go pick up our sweet girl!

And if I'm being honest, I don't cry easily, but this book got to me. A language translation book? I know! But just listen to some of the phrases from the book and think of getting to say them to your newly adopted 3 year old child:

I am your Mommy.
Eh-Nay eh-NAH-tish negn.

You are my daughter.
Ahn-CHEE lee-JAY nesh.

You are going to live with us.
Ahn-CHEE keh-GNAH gahr nohw yeh-mih-TNOHR-re.

We are so happy to be your family.
Yeh-GNH beh-teh-SEHB ah-BAHL beh-meh-HOH-nesh des bloh-gnal.

We love you so much!
Beht-AHM ehn-wuh-dih-SHAH-lehn!

You are so precious!
AHN-CHEE WUH-deh nesh.

Can I hold you?
Lay-ah-ZESH

We are going to ride on an airplane!
Beh-ah-roh-PlAHN nohw yeh-min-HEH-doh!

This is our house.
Yikh bay-tah-CHIN nohn.

This is your room.
Yikh kih-FLISH nohw.


And then there are the practical things like "Do you have to go potty?", "Stop", "Are you hungry?" and one every parent needs to be able to say to their child, "Please don't do that."