A Slice of Life: January

I am still trying to catch up on my blogging. So, January... the new year brought Daniel's parents out for a visit. Melkamu was delighted to spend so much time with adoring grandparents, and Melke's nanny was probably happy to have a week off. This visit with Melkamu's grandparents included his first trip to the snow, which I posted about here.

Also in January, Melkamu's "re-adoption" in the state of Oregon was finalized!! Yippe! He received his Oregon birth certificate and his social security number and card. Mostly, this makes me jump for joy, because it's one more step closer to being done with annoying and redundant paperwork and expensive fees. But don't get too excited, we are not finished, there is still the certificate of citizenship. (Maybe I'll put this on the to do list for next month. I found the previously mentioned processes traumatic enough I needed to take a break.)

(If you notice duct tape on our child, just know it was medically recommended...
we're still battling mulluscum.)

Perhaps our son's biggest day in January was his baptism. I was quite nervous about this event for a multitude of reasons, but everything seemed to go smoothly. It was nice to celebrate our little guy with family and friends, and it was the first time I "officially" heard Melkamu's full name. We ended up not doing a court ceremony for Melke's re-adoption, so his baptism felt like a debut of his "final" name. He had his birth name - Melkamu B---, and then the name that was used after his adoption was official in Ethiopia. Which was his first name and then his daddies first and last name, as his middle and last name - Melkamu Daniel ---. I realize all this is very confusing if you haven't adopted from Ethiopia, but alas we have, Melkamu Essien ---. All of this to say, it was special to hear our son's name spoken out in an official manner for all to hear... Melkamu Essien ---.