Merry Christmas

ugh! i have not been able to post or upload photos lately, here's our christmas card photo, things are still going well, she started pre-school last week and loves it, she can finally kiss and say goodbye to me without screaming, she loves being around other children and BABIES, she is crazy about BABIES, that is all she talks about, can a baby do this or that and when am i having one, very funny i know, she loves the movie charlotte's web and chicken and french fries and does not want injera, and the laundry must be done, no piles left around, our machine broke 6 days ago and she is going crazy telling me i need to wash the clothes, yes i know and no sight ahead of where the broken part is located as far as the repair guys know....and merry christmas we are full with our bundle of joy

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

we are thankful for all of our children from all over the world to little ol kansas, we are blessed!!!!( Mahlet's swim lesson and Harry got dreads in honor of his sis, did not last long)we will be spending the weekend with family and friends, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

caution: overly emotinal woman

i must confess my love for this child, who would have known she would bring so much love and joy to our home, i truly cry at night watching her sleep, thanking God for who she is, her kisses that last for several minutes, how she continually is telling me "good job mommy" and rushes to help me complete anything i am doing with pure joy,happy, happy, happy and how she makes my husband weak in the knees, and how my kids are crazy for her! we are truly blessed to have her in our family!last night i was starting to get out christmas stuff and she saw mary and joseph and baby jesus which led to the christmas story, then the cross, she was in tears, truly understanding what i was saying and she was crying for jesus, i was as overwhelmed as she was, she has a great understanding of birthdays because she has had 2 in the past 2 months, so to say she is excited for jesus birthday is an understatement, we repeated her birthday because she had only been home a week and we had celebrated quietly, this time it was chucke cheese,riding all the rides, her brothers winning her 600 tickets for that "special necklace" in about 45 minutes, pizza, soda, balloons, eating her cake like cookie monster, thanks to her brothers, and dancing, and of course wearing her favorite ehtiopian dresses, it was wonderful!!!!! we are thankful!!!!!

okay, so i'm 41

there i said it on paper, i am into my forties, sure, i'm okay with this, uh hmmmmm, anyway, my kiddos and their girlfriends celebrated with me, i was missing my oldest son in college, we still had fun, Mahlet was VERY upset it was my birthday, even though we celebrated hers already, i think we had been home such a short time she didn't even know what was going on, so i tried to explain everyone has a birthday, she's next! so we will be re-doing her birthday, she is very excited, she is still doing very well, i can't believe it, she is still not ready for me to leave her except with my mom, we are doing little mommy and me classes, hopefully this will help her adjust slowly to being away from me, remember, i'm an older mom, i need little breaks away from my mini me

so she does like candy....

Mahlet has found candy and chocolate and soda to be quite delicious, up until sat night( we were pirates) she wanted nothing to do with sugar, well things have changed!!!!!! woo hoo for her, not me, darn, was hoping she would keep that habit, she still eats very healthy, she is doing great adjusting to all the new things in her life, she even is interested in horses, yea!!! and school, i think she is missing all her little friends from Hannah's Hope, she keeps telling me she wants to go to school like her siblings, but she won't let me out of her sight, so we will see... enjoy the rest of the fall

Our family of 7 and our newly 20 yr old son!

finally a photo of all 7 of us and my oldest who turned 20, who i had 20 years ago, on octber 20th!

JOY

this child continues to amaze me, she is always joyful, unless it's bedtime or that new pink dress in the store i had to say no to, she is truly remarkable, and so resilent, i would never know she has had such a painful past, and her past makes her this incredible person, you can just tell she has experienced so much, when we pick apples or garden she knows what she is doing, she cleans and organizes like crazy and will start setting the table when i start cooking, she has so much pride in her, i marvel at all of this she is just plain fun to be around, now i am not saying i am not exausted, and best of all she loves any kind of food, the food you would never eat with your 4 yr old and of course reminds me to pray before every meal,she is teaching me about JOY, living each day and enjoying the little things, this is her favorite pink scarf that we got in Ethiopia that she loves to wear and sleep with, thanking God for my sweet daughter all the way from Africa

our new red dress

we are all still adjusting, quiet time is getting better, sleep? well she ends up in the hallway on the floor after visiting everyone all night long, english is amazing and she is eating more and more things, she loves lunch out and shopping, and anything sparkly, her attachment to us has been instant, thank you God, and she remains very very joyful!!!!

new updates

yes happy fall to everyone, and hello to all of you bloggy friends i have neglected, blogging is sloooowwww these days,did i say i have a four yr old!! our daughter continues to thrive, loving her brothers and sister, especially daddy!!! she is bonding with me too much, she screams bloody murder when i leave and won't sleep unless it's in my bed, so we are still adjusting, some time in her bed some in mine, she is the best helper, loves to cook and clean, set the table and eat as much spicy food as she can, she is trying most food these days, if we eat it she will try it, still no dairy or sweets, wish i could develop that habit, and she is funny, and happy happy, sings all the time and tries to teach me amharic as i teach her english, oh and very bossy, we are so blessed to have her and love reading every one's stories when we can, enjoy the fall!

aerobics anyone????

aerobics -
Aerobics, [Gr.,=with oxygen], system of endurance exercises that promote cardiovascular fitness by producing and sustaining an elevated heart rate for a prolonged period of time, thereby pumping an increased amount of oxygen-rich blood to the muscles...more
this is how i would describe my day, all day, until about 7pm, i don't encourage a nap or it would go on until 10pm, and they said she was shy, she is wonderful, happy, ACTIVE, and very funny, God was right JOY JOY JOY!!!!!!

Here's what we have been up too!!!!!!!! BUSY!

Leaving on a jet plane...

well are bags are packed and the day is almost here, a day i've dreamed about for many years, we leave tomorrow for Africa! i just love even typing that word, i am certain of one thing, that God is in control, i haven't liked all His choices but i do know He has a plan and we are in His perfect timing, and that Mahlet was chosen by Him to be in our family and we are so thankful, and soon i will be a momma again! so yes we are finally leaving on a jet plane.......................to be continued

SHE'S TB FREE!!!!!!!!

After waiting 10 weeks for a TB culture she's coming home!!!!! She's TB free and we can't wait to get our hands on her! We leave Saturday, it doesn't seem real, I just thought I would wait forever..... thank you faithful friends who have encouraged me and cheered me on, God is faithful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring on the JOY!!!

TB? will we ever know?

so it's been 9 weeks of waiting and our agency has informed us that maybe next week we will know, sure why not let's keep waiting, clearly we are their first case with this problem , i don't know what to say except i guess i will cry some more, and then later cry again, will this ever end?

we are in colorado!!!

yay, we made it to breckenridge, colorado, it's beautiful! my mom's at home with 2 campers home sick, they are feeling better,and fever free, it was a quick flu, at least my youngest son stayed at camp,we went on a 6 mile hike yesterday, at about 12,000 feet, we were really feeling old, our bodies were talking to us bigtime! thanks again for all your prayers and support, we still have not heard a thing about Mahlet, it's been 8 weeks, and it will be 9 thursday august 13th, what i understand is that is the final time they have to report to us, so i guess we will wait until the last minute, we have tickets to leave aug 22, yes we are hopeful, we will post hopefully good news next week, thanks again my bloggy friends

swine flu?

well we were off to colorado tomorrow morning to relax a minute while our older son watched everything, when we got a call from kanakuk, our daughter has the flu, i assume the swine flu, so tomorrow instead of flying to denver we will be driving to branson, mo, we have 2 other teenagers there, hope fully the will not get sick, i was sooooooooo looking forward towards the mountains, darn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no news on Mahlet.....boooooooooooooooooo!

senior boys and football

well my second son is a senior in high school, i can't believe it!!! he has been working out all summer for football and got his official team shirt the other day, oh to have a senior boy, they think they are the kings of the world!!! it's only august 2nd, it feels like summer....yet it seems to be ending way too soon, i want to hold on to these lazy days, yet in 2 weeks school begins, schedules become crazy, my oldest leaves again for college, the good news? well hopefully we WILL get good news on Mahlet, thanks again for all the prayers for our family, esp Mahlet

7 weeks waiting and feeling ill

today marks 7 weeks of Mahlet's TB sputum culture, we passed court may 15th, to say this has been stressful is an understatement, i'm really thinking i have an ulcer at this point! hopefully we will know her results soon, at the latest i believe it will be aug 13th, and then traveling the week of aug 24th, we are just hoping and praying she is well, on a good note my youngest 3 are going to kanakuk kamp, yay and we are going to try and relax a bit before school starts up again, enjoy the rest of your summer, i'll post when we hear our news, thanks again for praying her home, this is my daughter patiently waiting for good news of her sister