Merry Christmas!

Since we didn't get our Christmas Card out to everyone, we wanted to share it with you here!
A HUGE thank you to Gina Root who designed and made the cards for us! As you can see, she does wonderful work and is very talented. I would highly recommend her should you ever need anything like this. You can find her at crazyrootsethiopia.blogspot.com.
Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I will be able to share our first family Christmas with you all. In the meantime we wish you and your family a blessed Christmas!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Like Father Like Son...

(well... he may have had a LITTLE help on this one!)

Blessed Thanksgiving!

I think I can honestly say that I now REALLY understand the meaning of Thanksgiving. Thinking back to just one year ago, we had just failed our 3rd court date, and I wanted absolutley nothing to do with a holiday about giving thanks. This year was a TOTALLY different story.

Obviously, we are so thankful for Yedidiya. While we are now more tired than we have ever been, he brings us so much joy everyday and it was wonderful to have him in our arms and say to him, "I am thankful for you."

He also got to experience some Thanksgiving traditions for the first time with us.

Cutting down the Thayer Christmas tree.

Finding the perfect tree.

His first Thanksgiving meal, and of course... Pumpkin Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

Happy (1st) Halloween!

What has a dimple, a huge smile, and goes rawrrrr? Give up? Yiah the friendly lion for our church's Harvest party. I think the pictures say enough...

Yiah and "Super-Mom"

Out "Trunk-or-Treating"

Playing in the ball pit.

Yiah Goes Hunting!

So, how well does a 16-month old tolerate a 9 hour car ride to South Dakota? Well, when it is to go pheasant hunting, really well! Besides throwing up and opening a rotten packaged meal in the first hour, everything else went suprisingly good. When it comes to traveling, this kid is the champ! And his reward was his first true hunting experience. All though he didn't actually make it into the field, he did get to touch some birds and make his first trip to Cabela's. The first picture was actually taken upon arrival, after the 9 hour car ride. Look and that little trooper!

On one of his favorites... tractor!!!

Last Days of Summer

Due to some unseasonably warm weather here, we got little Y outside yesterday for a day of summer fun. Since we (I) have been so bad at posting lately, we thought some pics of our big guy might be appreciated by some.

Now "US Official"

The last piece of the adoption journey seems to be in place, and our Father has made it so beautiful. Edidia Aaron Schwartz has been in our care for over 180 days now, which means that under U.S. law, we could finally complete the re-adoption process. While he has been ours by Ethiopian standards since December, and ours in our hearts for much longer, he is now "officially" ours according the great U.S. of A. And he is now "officially" Yedidiya Lee Schwartz.


We spent Friday morning at the Scott County Courthouse and appeared before a judge to get the approval and paperwork necassary. We were asked many questions, including: "Do you understand, if the court grants you this request, the relationship formed is one of Father/Mother and Son, and is no different than that of a biological child?" I wanted to answer, 'it already is' but I did my assigned duty and simply said yes. But it makes us feel good to know that the United States now sees it as we always have.

One Year Ago...

One year ago today, for the first time we heard the name Yedidiya and saw the face of the most precious, adoreable, and beautiful baby boy in the world. I still remember the call like it was yesterday, not 365 days ago. Laura was in the shower after working out and getting ready to go to her dentist's appointment. I was poking around waiting to take her when my phone rang. I saw the number and new it was AWAA. The feeling that overcame me was indescribable; I can still feel it a little now just thinking about it! Nicole was on the other end and gave us the wonderful news that we had a beautiful healthy one-month old boy. I remember the way she said his name and then having her spell it for us. I remember the sheer excitement that we shared. And I remember being speechless. Then I remember waiting for the email with his information and pictures. Of course we were at the dentist's office when the email came, but luckily she is a very good friend of ours, so the first time we laid eyes on him was at her desk back in her office! And he was perfect!!!

And since then, how he has grown! We were just commenting the other day how the baby is starting to disappear and he is beginning to look like a little man.

Thank you Father for one year ago bringing your perfect plan together by bringing Yedidiya to us. What a wonderful day!

A Night at the Park

So Laura suggested for something different, I should take Yedidiya to a park. So last night I did. He loved it, and it certainly tired him (and Daddy) out. Even though we have a swing and a slide here at home, it was obvious that this was a whole new entertaining place to him. While he was curious of everything, the slides are by far his favorite. He still enjoys trying to climb up them and doesn't quite understand the concept of the steps yet, but he does enjoy going down them more. That is when he keeps his feet off the slide and he stays on his bum. We had a little difficulty with the grip of his sandals catching the slide and either sending him face first down the slide or when they got caught on the side turning him backwards. He didn't mind though. The few times Daddy went with him all he thought is they don't make slides as slippery as they used to.

Is that safe?

I think he was tired out by the end of it!

Half a Year as a Family!!!

Today is a big day for us. It has been exactly 6 months since Yedidiya left the transition home with us to be our son forever. I can't even describe those six months as it feels like he has always been here, always been with us, part of our family, perfectly planned by our Creator. All I can say is it is awesome being a father, it is awesome having Yedidiya as a son, and I can't believe how much I love him. These six months seem so long and so short all at the same time, but we look forward to and enjoy each coming day with him as a family.

Mama and Dada decided to celebrate a little bit and made Yiah a little present for this exciting day! (Well, Dada made it and Mama went along with it!) He'll get his first deer in no time!

The Fourth of July

Yedidiya got to experience his first Fourth of July. While he wasn't up late enough for any fireworks, he did get to go to his first parade. Other than the one fire truck that blew its horn and ran its siren directly in front of us scaring little Y half to death, he loved the entire parade. Usually, you can't keep this kid still, but at the parade he sat the whole time taking everything in. He probably also enjoyed watching Daddy go after the candy. It has been a while since Dada has had candy thrown his way and he was taking full advantage!

His favorite things in the parade were the tractors, by far! Maybe its because we live in Iowa???

Family Photo!

We are so blessed to live in this great country and to be able to bring home our son from Ethiopia to share it with us!

Summer Fun

Well, obviously we have been busy, but things are great! Yiah fits right in since he loves being outdoors. With the garden, the flowers, the acreage, we just lose track of time and and forget to update all of our friends via the blog. So per some requests, here are some newer pictures and a little update of what we have been doing!

Yiah's new favorite stop on our daily walks is our mulberry tree! Just like Mama, he LOVES to sit and eat mulberries. Anytime we get near the tree he immediately begins doing the "more" sign! As you can see in this picture, sometimes he gets a little over anxious to get those tasty mulberries in his mouth!


Our biggest highlight was celebrating Yedidiya's first birthday. Did we go overboard? Hopefully! Dada admitted that is wasn't for Yiah, since he won't remember much of it, but it was for Dada! And it was so worth it! We celebrated with lots of cake, presents, family, and even a bonfire!

Birthday at home:

Grandpas and Grandmas, Aunts and Uncles, and Cousins get in on the action:

And as we have mentioned, he loves water. We have taken him to the county park where they have a splash pad, but of course he wanted in the big pool. On most days our little kiddie pool does just fine.

Lastly Mommy and Daddy spent their first nights away from Yiah. As difficult as that was, it was nice to have some time together to reconnect while at Devil's Lake State Park. And Grandma did a great job spoiling Yiah in their absence!

More pictures to come!!!