2010

It's hard to believe that one year could bring so much heartache and so much joy all in the same year and all through adoption! This year was a roller coaster of emotions from going to court so many times to traveling to Ethiopia to get our son! This has been one of the hardest yet best years of our lives! I am so thankful for the journey that 2010 brought our family through. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, he has taught me so many things and walked with me through many personal storms! He is my rock and I am so thankful for him. I am so thankful for Ella, she is such a good helper and a smart and beautiful girl with a tender heart for others and a heart for Jesus! She is a fun kid! I am also thankful for Max who can make me laugh ALL the time. He is so stinkin' cute and sooooo funny! He is such a little firecracker but really strives to obey, I have really enjoyed watching his heart for Jesus grow this year and watching him accept the Lord as his personal Savior and be baptized! I am also thankful for Maya Jane!!! She is such a precious little sister sassy sizzle! She has so much spunk and sass, but she is also very tender hearted as well. She makes me laugh really hard as well and she is a MOMMY"S GIRL!!! I am so very thankful that she gave her life to the Lord this year as well! And last but not least Ade Joseph, he is such a blessing, way beyond what I ever imagined! I am so thankful that the Lord's timing is perfect! He has blessed our family more than you could ever imagine! He is so cute and loving and funny! I love the way he loves music and loves to dance! But my favorite is his love for his daddy! It is so awesome to see a baby that was fatherless, have and LOVE a daddy the way he does! And his daddy loves him a lot too! I love my family and my Jesus!!! Happy New Year!!!

HIghlights of 2010

2010 was a very interesting year! I can't believe it is coming to an end so quickly! I am ready for 2011 and what it may bring.

Things I remember most about 2010......

-Adoption paperwork
-Getting our shots
-Getting our referral
-Seeing Ade for the first time
-The looks on my kids' faces when they saw their brother's picture.
-Going to Ethiopia
-Meeting some really great friends through my travel group!!! #16 You rock!!!
-Making some really great friends in my hometown!
-Walking off of the plane in KC to my family and friends showing off our son!!!
-Realizing that people will let you down and most of the time they won't live up to your expectations!(Just like I'm sure I don't meet their expectations)
-Realizing what is important in life!
-God breaking my heart for the poor, oppressed, orphaned and widowed!
-Becoming a little less selfish. Thinking of other before myself.(Still have a lot of work to do)
-Expanding the business and Joe being so happy!
-Great Wolf Lodge with Joey and Kris and all the kiddos!
-Baby Vivian being born.
-Having Christmas Eve with my awesome family.
-Having a connect group at our house.
-Max and Ella getting character awards at school.
-Missing my kids' first day of school.
-Many friends getting referrals.
-Talking with others about adoption.
-All the people who blessed us when we came home from Ethiopia and who supported us!
-The way Ade LOVES his daddy!!!
-My kids growing up!
-I'm sure there are many more things that my mind is not recalling right now, these were just off of the top of my head!

Happy New Year!

Our New Friends!!!

So today we traveled to Gardner Kansas to meet some new friends! They adopted a little boy about a week younger than Ade from Ethiopia as well, through Holt! I had stumbled across her blog when I was in the process and have kept up with it and realized we weren't too far from each other! So we finally got to meet today!

It was so great chatting with another adoptive mom! And she has 4 kids as well! So the kids played great. It was an awesome time. And Joseph is such a little doll! He and Ade resemble each other. They have the same profile only Ade has a gigantious head!!! Love that big head!

It was pretty interesting to watch them because they barely acknowledged each other. It was kind of funny. I thought Ade would have more of a reaction, but he didn't! It could be their age as well. They sure did look cute running around that house though!

Isn't it awesome how God works and how He puts people in our paths who share the same experiences that we do? I love how He does that! Now I have another new friend who is pretty darn awesome! Tomorrow we FINALLY get to meet little Desi from Ethiopia as well! I CAN"T WAIT!!! And I haven't seen Shan in a really long time so it will be so nice to catch up!

10 Things I Never Thought I Would........

1) Never thought I would be in the ethnic hair care section of stores debating over "Pink Luster or Olive Oil" products!
2) Never thought I would be taking in random poop samples to the pediatrician!
3) Never thought I would be so excited to see a SOLID poop!
4) Never thought I could love someone and their family SOOOO MUCH whom I had never met! ie... Ade and his birth family! Before we met him!
5) Never thought I would ever want to go back to another country!!!(I am not a traveler)
6) Never ever EVER thought I could handle 4 kids!
7) Never ever thought I could talk my husband into adopting!
8) Never thought I would get so many crazy looks when I was out with all my kids!
9) Never thought I could imagine having more than 4 kids.
10) Never ever ever in a million years could have imagined I would have a life as great as I have!!!

The Bugs First Christmas!!!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given! This has never meant more to me than now! I am so thankful for our blessing! Ade is awesome. I remember last year not even knowing if we were getting a boy or a girl. And one year later, he is here with us! Celebrating the birth of Jesus!!!

Although, the bug was not impressed much with Christmas! He barely unwrapped the presents and could have cared less what he got! He was also a little Christmas cranky!!! Boy oh boy! I think he was overwhelmed a bit. He stayed up really late last night and got up really early. I'm pretty sure his siblings woke him up! Nonetheless, it was awesome to have him here with us! Crank or not!

Last night we went to Christmas Eve service with live animals. He LOVED that! So cute and then we had family over and had a blast! I mean really a blast! This morning we opened gifts here and then headed to my parents! It was a very fun day.

The best part of the day was one of my Christmas gifts from Joe, he made my blog into a book! So now Ade will have something to read before he was with us! It is amazing! I have the best husband ever!

Of course we had our matching jammies! I'll attach pics and I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Check out how cute my Ade is!

A Day With My Boys!

Every year Joe takes the girls to see The Nutcracker, this was the day! Ella had to sing at church and they headed out from there. She sang great by the way! Maya was sooooo excited it was making me want to cry. It seems everything is making me want to cry lately! I don't know why, but every year at Christmas I get sad. I get sad that it is almost over! My heart hurts! This year is no different! I have no reason to be sad. I have the best husband and the most beautiful children in the world! I have an awesome house which I love and never want to leave and a great family! So why be sad? It is frustrating to me that I get like that! One thing that sort of makes me sad is knowing that I get this precious little chocolate chip to love on and share Christmas with this year and his family is left wondering. It breaks my heart thinking about what they have given up. OK, that was a bit of a rant! Sorry!

So while Daddy and the girls went to the Nutcracker, my sons and I got to spend the day together at my mom and dad's house! It was so nice, we haven't done that in so long. Just went over, ate lunch, watched the chiefs and hung out! It was great. It was also great just being with my boys! They are both just adorable and so much fun! After the game, Max got to go to the MWSU game with Papa! He loved that!

Dad and the girls came home and they had an awesome time! So much so that Maya put on the music to the Nutcracker and danced around the playroom all night in her dance outfits! So precious that girl! I am super blessed that I have a husband that is an awesome husband and daddy! That he enjoys spending time with his family! Thank you Jesus for him!

A Horrible Dream and Some Other Stuff!!!

Last night I had an awful dream. I dreamed that someone adopted Ade out from under us and I went to hold him and he would NOT go to me! I ran off in hysterics crying! I can't imagine someone taking my baby boy or any of my babies away from me for that matter! I know he has only been home for 4 months, but he is MINE all MINE!!! I am his Mamma! Joe is his DADDY!!! I wonder if it is just me or if other adoptive parents have a hidden fear that they will be taken away. It was a strange frightening dream!

Onto more cheerful news! The kids had their school program last week and it was wonderful! Ella had a solo and she nailed it! She amazes me sometimes, she was so confident and she sang clearly and loud! It was awesome! I was a proud Mamma! And Maya did a great job singing and dancing! Max had to miss it!:( The girls looked beautiful!

We did however find out why Max has been so sick and not recovering, he has mono! Lovely huh? He is doing better now though! Please pray for him!

OK, off to a date with my man! Have a wonderful weekend! One more week til Christmas!!!

Some more firsts!

We've had some more firsts around here! We took Ade through the holiday park! He LOVED it! We all put on our jammies and went through the park. The kids all got unbuckled and had a BLAST looking at all the fun lights! We sang carols and just had fun! It was super fun having the bug here with us this year to do all of this fun stuff.

We also had some friends over and made gingerbread houses! Ade was more interested in eating all of the "treasures" that fell on the floor! He even managed to get a gum ball in his mouth! Crazy baby! He was so cute just observing everyone!

I have also attached a picture of my adorable family! Sometimes I have to take a step back and just look at them and what a blessing each and every one of them are to me! I am blessed indeed!

Ade has really been talking a lot lately! He is purposely saying Momma now! And I LOVE IT!!! He is saying, "I stinky"! It is precious and he says thank you! His vocabulary is growing every day! He is so happy and comfortable being home! His little personality is really starting to shine through. He fits in great with this chaotic crazy family!

He has his appointment to get his tubes in his ears on the 20th and we are thrilled. It is starting to affect his hearing. So we are ready to get him in tip top shape! He won't know what to do without having an ear infection!!! He has another double right now!

I wrapped some presents to test them under the tree and so far he hasn't noticed them. I'm sure it won't be long being as though he is into EVERYTHING!!! I can't wait to watch him unwrap on Christmas!

Please be praying for us because Max is sick yet again!:( He has to miss his Christmas program tonight! Where Ella has a SOLO!!! He also had to miss his Thanksgiving feast!:( I feel bad for him! Have a great day!

Ade's First Play day!!!

Ade has his first play day today! He had 2 really cute girls over to play! And they were older women!!! He did really well. And I had a lot of fun chatting with the moms! It is good to have times like these where the kids can play and the moms can chat! It's good for the mom and the child!:)

After we pick the kids up from school we are having some friends over to make gingerbread houses! We are all so excited! I can't believe it is already December and we are already doing these things! Before we know it, it will all be over! Every year I get sad because I know it will be over real soon! This year I'm going to try and enjoy it! Ade is so precious with the Christmas tree, but he does like to pull every ball off of the tree! Not so precious!

That's about all I have to say right now.