Happy 1 Year Home!!!

The 27th marked our 1 year anniversary as a family of 6!!! I know everyone says this, but I truly can't believe it has already been a year! It seems like just yesterday we were in Ethiopia! I got to talk to my friend Joy who travelled with us this week and it was so great talking to her, just like we talked everyday! And I'm so blessed to have another family close to us, the Sykora's!!! Love it! And I love my travel group!

To celebrate our family went to an Ethiopian restaurant called the Blue Nile Cafe. It was so yummy! It so fun seeing the other members of our family try the food! Ade dug right in. He LOVED it. And it made me really sad because I could smell the spices on his breath and it reminded me so much of Ethiopia! I can't wait to go back. I so wish I could see his family when I return in March.

This year has been such an awesome year. It has been such a blessed year. I can't even imagine our life without Ade. He is so funny and sweet and spunky. It has been awesome to watch little by little and see his personality come out. He really is a silly kid. He adores his family and he fits right in. It is awesome to me that God designed him to be a Freudenthal! He truly is just like us! Only he has beautiful brown skin! He does have my coarse curly hair though!:)

This adoption has been such a journey. I have grown so much in the last year and a half. God has shown me so many things. New ways to love, He has given us a passion and He has given us a focus for the future! And we couldn't be happier!

Ade is just such a bright light wherever we go. People are drawn to him. He is not only absolutely gorgeous, he is also charming. I pray one day he will have a passion for the Lord and get to tell his amazing story all over the world!

Here are a few things/thoughts about the past year:

-Ade is learning to potty on the big potty!
-He says all of his siblings names!
-He loves to dance and sing(Justin Bieber!)
-He is starting to be his silly self around others and not just us.
-He is a very obedient child.
-He is always very repentant when he hurts someone!
-He does NOT like the dr or barber. Not happy at all when we go and yells at them to "Just stop"!!!
-He is starting to say, "I wub you Mom!" I mean melt my heart!
-He loves his Papa.
-He knows how to annoy Joe and does it just to be annoying! Cracks me up! He's just like his mamma!
-Tonight he was outside playing and pulled down his undies and just went potty on his own!
-He eats just about anything.
-He still has his bottle and probably will start kindergarten with it because it is just so dang cute!
-He has us pretty much wrapped around his little finger!
-He talks so much now.
-He knows how to work any and all Apple products!
-He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba and we are seeing them live in November!
-He gets attention everywhere we go!
-He loves being outside.
-He loves to go bye bye!
-He rides a mean scooter!
-He has the most adorable big buns I've ever seen!(Their wheat buns!)
-His lips are the best ever. Big wet and soft!
-I LOVE HIM WITH ALL MY HEART!!!

I could go on and on, but I think I will end it here. Basically Ade has been one of the 4 biggest blessings in Joe and I's life. We have 4 of the greatest kids in the world and we blessed beyond measure. I often wonder how we got so lucky and then I look up to the Lord and thank Him! One line I read in a book and it is the title as well, is "There is no me without you." And that is sooooo true!!!