Oh Happy Day!!!

We would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family - Ato T! (Nickname) We passed court in Ethiopia today, and are hoping to travel to get him at the end of Jan. - the 22nd or 29th. Hopefully we will know next week. It has been so hard to not post anything about him - but Ethiopia requires no posting of photos, information, etc. until the adoption is final in the eyes of the Ethiopian court. We are so thankful to the government in Ethiopia for expiditing the process for us, as Ato T needs surgery desperately. To our knowledge, Ethiopia has never before expedited the process, and we are truly grateful!

TAto T is 20 months old. Welcome to our family T!!!! We love you!!!!

Sad news

Just before Christmas, we had some sad news. Mike's Grandfather passed away. The funeral was Tuesday before Christmas. We went for visitation on Monday night and stayed in a hotel. We are all sad so see him go, but we are joyful to know that he is with our Heavenly Father in paradise.

Gingerbread house

Mommy and the girls made a gingerbread house!

Family Christmas party

We all had a fun time with daddy's extended family at the annual Christmas party!

Time spent

Miss I spent some time being silly!

Miss O spent some time being sick. :(

Performances

The girls and I attended two Christmas theatre events this year. The first was Stages production of "Peef the Christmas Bear." We also attend The Nutcracker at St. Catherine's the next week. The girls loved both of them, and so did mommy!

Candy

I'm going to attempt to update what has been going on at our house this past season. We'll start with the beginning of Advent. We started off our Christmas preparations with our friends at Horizons, making Christmas candy. Thank you Lori!

Thanksgiving

Yes, I am aware that this post is late - sorry! But here is Thanksgiving in my home town. Here is the kids' table - all the kids are here except one!

Miss O. roller skating at her cousins'.


Miss I. roller skating at her cousins'.



Moss O. holding Tiger.

Miss I. holding Tiger.

Hay ride

We had a fun horse-dwawn hay ride out on a farm with our home school group last Friday! It was cold, but we still had a lot of fun!

Operation Christmas Child

The girls had a lot of fun shopping for and filling their shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. However, they both seem convinced that their shoeboxes are going to our sponser child. We've tried to explain that they won't, but it seems to be going over their heads. Oh well! They're still getting the point of helping others so we can show God's love to them.

Polymer clay

An art teacher at our church held a polymer clay class for us a couple of weeks ago. The girls had a blast making their sculptures, and now they are having even more fun playing with them at home! It's nice when we can learn things from other faithful people. Polymer clay is not something I would have ever ventured to do on my own for the first time - but now I'm completely comfortable with it.

Miss I Day

Having a sibling with special needs is tough. You have to be very patient, and sometimes you don't get as much attention as you would like. So we created Miss I. day! She got to choose the whole day! She chose to go to Underwater Adventures, and then out to eat at Red Lobster. She really loved it! The highlight was definitely Red Lobster! (We'd never been there before.) Her menu was: crab legs dipped in ketchup and orange juice. She loved it!

Fun in the leaves!

Overdue

Yes, I am aware that I'm WAY behind in posting! Here's my attempt to catch up! For starters, my life has become so much easier! Olivia has a new PCA who started with us about a month ago, and she is an angel! She is here 3 mornings a week - and she cleans the house! I can't begin to explain how helpful this is! When you spend 3 afternoons a week at various therapies, the time away from home really adds up. Then when we are at home, and actually not doing "school," I generally want to just play with my kids - and now I can! We are so blessed to have Margaret! Here are some pictures of the girls "helping" her - they have been into making their beds! :)

More orchard fun!

Miss I wanted to go on the pony ride ...

Miss O wanted to do the corn maze a second time.

Family photo after the first time at the corn maze.

More apple orchard pictures

Last year the girls only picked about three apples. This year they picked all but three of them!

Visit from Grandma Bogie

Grandma Bogie came for a visit this weekend! We took her for a fun-filled day at the Apple Orchard!

Here are ther girls getting their faces painted - a fun treat from grandma!

Our girls

Our beautiful girls at the Como Zoo! - They go through stages. For a few days they will be best of friends, as sweet as pie to each other. Then they can turn on a dime and for a few days do everything in their power to make each other miserable! :)

Fun at the park!

In my opinion, fall is the absolute best time of year to play at the park!