Night of Glory!!

How much better can it get than sitting in front of a wall of windows watching a beautiful lightning show with the house lights off with 5 kids! The lightning was lighting up the valley and hills and trees behind our house. The air was filled with awe and then "ooohh", "oh my gosh!" , "wow, did you see that!" Stories of old were recounted from my illustrius childhood...sitting at home during the day being afraid of a storm when I was little, the explanation of God moving His furniture for thunder, or the angels were bowling! Then when I could sense the time had come to let a good thing end before the natives got too restless.... everyone said what they were thankful for.... I got the answers God, money, friends, and even school!! But the best one was hearing Dawit say food....then adding in family! All the while I got to sit with my arm around Muluken, with Jessica on my lap. We were (are) a family. A quiet, thankful, awestruck family....No tv, no screaming and yelling, just together.

So, guess what I am thankful for.........

Steph

Veteran's Day

Today I got to leave work to go see the 3rd graders in their Veteran's Day program. It was very good...Loran did a great job with a lot of lines. Then Muluken had the very ending line.."Please join us for a reception with cookies and punch." At home, he ended with actually punching someone, but refrained on stage. His face was all smiles and he spoke so clearly!! It was awesome!! Small things in life really do make the biggest difference.

We have Moved!!!

We are finally in our new house! Much more room, but still sooo unorganized. I must admit that I do feel a certain sense of closure and relief. It has been four years of non-stop change and I am ready to settle in to our life and focus again. I feel as if I have been scattered. Not a good thing. God has been drawing my focus back in to the world of adoption thought again. I have started to get back in touch with friends that have adopted and the world of the orphan. No, I do not feel called to adopt again, but God is still working on me about what is next for our lives in continuing to impact other children in need. Have no idea what that means right now.....

AWESOME STUFF!!!

Ok...we have had fun things going on here in the last couple of days!! Muluken had a doctor's appt. We previously had been told that treatment was eminent for his condition...I was not looking forward to that at all. BUT all of his bloodwork was good enough and his ultrasound was perfect...so no treatment. He still has to be monitored, but does not have another appt for a year!! That is a big praise!!!

Then yesterday we got to witness three of our friends families re-adopt their beautiful Ethiopian American children here in Rolla!!! We sort of referred them to our lawyer and they all got to have their court date on the same day!!! One travelled all the way from Ozark, about 2 hours away!! It was great to see them again and by God's grace I got out of work earlier than ever and got to be there for it!!! YEAH GOD!!! I am so excited for them and took pictures, but will not steal their thunder!!

Our annual trip to Six Flags occurred this week too!! Fun times were had by all!!

Our friends the Reddings from Texas sent us word that they were flying in our America World liason, "T", to stay in Texas with them for three weeks!! What I would give to take a trip to Texas for a week while he is there!! The boys love Mr. T and he is such a neat young man making a world of difference for kids in Ethiopia and families in America. The coolest thing about him is his love for Christ! I think there is a picture of him from our posts from last summer...can't remember!

So...cool happenings....hope you all are having cool happenings in your neck of the woods too!!!

ONE YEAR!!!

It is hard to believe that it has been one year since we were in Ethiopia!! Our family is a family of 8 and we are crazy busy most of the time....sometimes because we do alot, sometimes because we have 6 kids and they are always acting busy!!! Lots of noise, lots of laughter, lots of LAUNDRY!!! This year has been a blur for all of us. It seems as though we have tried to fit as many stressful situations into our lives in one year as possible. I graduated from nursing school last May. Then we went to Ethiopia in July and brought Dawit and Muluken home! After a few months of transition and school started, I started working!! That was our biggest adjustment!! I had been home for 11 years for the most part. Big decision, big, big, big difference in our families budget of time etc! After that, we made the decision to get bids to build a new home, which is now about 1/2 way done!! Then Jim felt the need to get his doctoral work finished and subsequently put in some long hours and graduated with his Educational Doctorate in May. I had another knee surgery(#4) and switched to a position that is not good for the summer months but great for when school starts....I have NEVER really worked in the summer!! Very hard adjustment. At the end of June, we lost our family dog, Millie...she was 14 and we got her at 8 weeks...sad times! We have wound up this year with a vacation to both grandparents and it is back to the grind tomorrow.

SOOOOO why this discourse??? The most important part of this last year is seeing our lives change so much in the area of our family and personal lives...The boys have continued to adjust sooo well. We love all our children deeply. We have had chances to talk with each of them at some point about how proud we are of them all for accepting the boys' as part of our family and taking off!! Our lives are so much richer because we went to a place and experienced first hand the reality of poverty and happiness that most Americans have not and never will think about. We have been entrusted with two amazing creations that have already been through so much pain in their short lives and now we are just beginning our lives with them and their journey! Thank all of you that have been so patient with us and prayed for all of us! Here are a few pics of our travels from this past week! "Praise God for his indescribable gift....."

Big Spring of Firsts!!!

First Easter Egg coloring!!!!

Best Day!!! First Easter together!!!!!!

First fish!!!!!!!!!

First fish!!!!!!

First Easter Egg Hunt! More like a race!

March 28, 2010 Dawit's Birthday!!!!

March 11, 2010. Muluken's Birthday

I am still soooo not good at knowing how to put the blog together, but at least there are pictures and a short story!!!

As you can tell by the pics, we have had a busy spring of fun, fun, fun!! Both boys celebrated birthdays in March complete with cake and skating parties. The rink loved us in March!! Then on the weekend of Easter, we had egg coloring, egg hunting, fishing and our first Easter at church. It has been so much for our whole family to celebrate all of these things together.
It is crazy to think that we have had the boys for 9 months and counting. I am still perfecting the hair cuts and maneuvering the accents at times!!

All the kids have really gotten in to playing cards and games lately. GO FISH is the game of choice right now. Last night, Muluken, Dawit, and Dad were playing. It was comical. Each time Muluken would pick up a card he would lick his lips and act as if it was the card he had been waiting for. Then Dad would ask for that very card!!! He would turn his face inside out and act like he was boohooing and say with his thick Ethiopian accent, "That is what I was about to ask you for?" (BOO HOO BOO HOO) What an actor!! Dawit would grin from ear to ear and laugh as would all of us in the room. Then there would be a dang it! (with emphasis on the g) All the kids have been playing and Hannah got a lesson in Rummy! These are the really fun times!

The boys did play Upward basketball and now they are in soccer. Josh played winter basketball and then trained for a 4 mile run! Hannah played some Upward and volleyball. Loran played Upward. Now the kids are ending with swimming lessons and looking forward to baseball and softball this summer. All the boys got on the same team!!! Yea for mom and dad!!! Jessica has been in gymnastics. It is unbelievable how much better Dawit and Muluken have become in swimming lessons. Dawit was like a rock the first week, now he can actually swim!!!! Muluken could swim ok to begin with and now is just better!!

I love my kids! They are fun to watch and see them grow and their personalities expand. It is fun to explain even elemetary things to them. What has been most fun is Bible stories. We have gone through some of them and it's fun to see what they understand and what they question. Keep us in prayer as we deal with some medical issues in the coming months with Luke. He is doing great, but bloodwork keeps coming back crazy which may force us to do some intervention. It makes me even more thankful that he is here with the family that God chose for him in a country that could make the ultimate difference in the outcome of his life!! Isn't God Awesome!!!

Love all!!!

Steph

Another fun day of life!!

A big day yesterday...We went to St. Louis to a new doctor for Luke and really liked him....We went to a store to look at bathroom fixtures for our upcoming build... and Jessica lost her first tooth in the doctors office!!! Fun with the family!!! Gotta love it!

Just a quick update...Luke has gained 15 pounds since coming home!! The boy can eat!