Our Special Family

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Happy New Year!

We did a mock midnight with the kids on New Year's Eve, at 7:00. It was absolutely worth the mess! They all loved it!

Friday, January 15, 2010

As we all continue to pray for those in the midst of the devistation in Haiti, take time to love your family! And continue to pray ... pray without ceasing. Here's a blog of a family living in Haiti, please take time to read it. It drives home what the wonderful people of Haiti are enduring as we sit comfortably in our homes. And please find a reputable aid agency to give to!

www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Our last Christmas for 2009

We did indeed make it through the marathon of Christmas celebrations! I was even able to convince Miss O to wear her Christmas dress to Grandma's church on Sunday morning. After church we had lunch and opened presents. Ato T was tired to say the least!

A picture with all the cousins to end the day.

Saturday

The day after Christmas we traveled to see Heather's parents. That night Miss I had fun learning to play checkers with Grandma!

Christmas night

Mike and I watched a movie (TV is in the basement) and came upstairs at the end of th night to find a little elf who just couldn't bring herself to sleep in her bed. :)

Friday, January 01, 2010

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas day at Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Bob's, along with Auntie Stef, Uncle Jose and cousin Ray. Before we opened gifts, Grandma Lynn read us the Christmas Story.

Miss I's first gift she opened was the family joke: great grandpa Rey's old hairbrush. She wasn't sure what she thought about that! :)

The kids always get warm winter jammies from Grandma and Grandpa!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning began with opening stockings by the fireplace ...

... followed by LOTS of shoveling!

I asked Ato T if he wanted to go play in the snow too, and he said "Uh-uh." So he and I stayed in the nice warm house.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve celebrations began at church, with the Sunday school kids telling the Christmas story. Miss O did a great job in the program! Miss I was still a bit too shy to join the group up front this year, and Ato T is still too little.

My Christmas angels

After church we came home to dinner on Great Grandma's wedding china, by candlelight. Then we opened our gifts to each other. Miss O's favorite gift was a baby doll she has named June.

Ato T enjoyed ripping the paper off his gifts!

Miss I's favorite gift was a hot wheels track with cars. The track has a large bird on it that flys off when the cars zoom by.

Christmas #3

We hosted Mike's extended family Christmas party this year. It's always the Saturday before Christmas, and we do a white elephant gift exchange, which is really fun! Miss I got a pony this year in the exchange.

Miss O got a book of questions for newlyweds, that she loves to play with! She tells me she's going to marry mommy and daddy when she grows up.

The kids had a fun fort made out of their bunk beds for the day

The difference a year makes

Last year on this day...

we were celebrating the fact that Ato T's adoption finalized in Ethiopia.
we were the parents of 3 children, but had not yet met one of them.
we were making plans to go to Ethiopia and pick up our son.
we were nervous about the transition of adding another child with so many disabilities.
we were anxious to meet our son.
we were preparing the girls for their new brother.
we were nervous about what Ato T's surgeries would be like, and if they would help.

Today we are ...

celebrating New Year's Eve as a family!
celebrating all the milestones Ato T has made since coming home to us!
continuing to pray for Ato T's birth mother, who sacrificed so much for her son.
a family that is complete (at least until God decides he wants to change that).
thankful for the blessings God has brought into our lives through these 3 precious children.
praying for friends and family.

I can't wait to learn what God has in store for us this next year! Happy New Year to you all!

Horn Books

We've been studying colonial times in history. Here are the girls making their own horn books.

'Twas the Night before Christmas

We saw this play the week before Christmas at Stages, with our friend James. It was a little too sunny to get them to pose for a good picture. After the play, we went out to a restaurant across the street for lunch. Good times!