Special K

In the months following our referral, we chose a name for our baby girl. It was a name we'd always liked and had previously considered for our older girls. Upon passing court, we shared that name with all of our friends and family and here on the blog, I started referring to our Ethiopian daughter as Miss V instead of Diamond (the name our older girls came up with for their sister while we waited for a referral). We planned to keep our baby girl's Ethiopian name, "K", as her middle name.

A couple of days before we traveled, our friends S and T explained to us what a special name "K" is. Our Miss K was born in Jimma, which is in the Jimma zone of the Oromo Region of Ethiopia. This area was the birthplace of coffee and coffee production is their leading industry today. Amongst Ethiopians, the Oromo clans around Jimma are generally known as a hard-working, persevering and industrious people. It was pointed out to us that some of Miss K's features, such as her big eyes, are characteristic of people from this region. Miss K's Ethiopian name is an Oromo name that means as "mine" in an affectionate, doting kind of way. Another translation that our friends were more familiar with was "one of our own", indicating that she embodies everything good about the Oromo culture.

We appreciated knowing more about our daughter's Ethiopian name and birthplace. The more we learned, the more the name "K" grew on us. It's easy to pronounce (hint: kee-ya) and, like our older daughters' names, has a sweet, feminine sound to it. Her name came up as a topic of conversation as we were in route to Ethiopia, and we were both having second thoughts about "V".

While in Ethiopia, we learned from Almaz that Miss K's name was given to her by one of her caregivers at the government orphanage where she lived prior to being transferred to Hannah's Hope and matched with our family. Someone at the government orphanage must have connected with our baby girl and seen how special she is to give her such an endearing name.

Once we met Miss K, "V" just didn't seem to fit. "K", on the other hand, suited her personality to a tee! We thought about just calling her by her middle name, but "V" just didn't seem to have meaning significant enough to us to justify all of the trouble she'd go through always clarifying in school, business, etc... that she goes by her middle name (Hus-B has always gone by his middle name and has first-hand experience with that). We also thought of switching the names around so that "V" would be the middle name, but that order just didn't have the right "ring" to it. So, we decided to move "K" to her first name and come up with a new middle name. We tossed around middle name ideas for several days and kept coming back to one. The middle name we chose for her is the first name shared by both of her grandmothers. They love that she's named after them! We love that her first name connects her to Ethiopia, and more particularly, the region where she was born, while her second name connects her to our family.

We cherish all of her picture frames, bibs, blankets and accessories featuring her "old monogram". They will always remind us of this unexpected naming twist in our adoption story.

Miss K is so precious to us! We are in awe of the miracle of adoption that made us family. She is so loved, cherished and adored. She will always be our little African Violet. And she will always be "one of our own".

Here are some pictures from Miss K's first professional photo session. We knew we were going to get some unique shots when Garry and Emily decided to use some of our furniture as props--and proceeded to move it out of my bedroom, onto the front lawn and down the road!

Isn't she lovely?

And . . . here's a sneak peek of our adoption announcements:
Front: Inside Left: Inside Right: