Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas

Christmas morning finally arrives but the kids can't open the presents until Grandpa, Grandma, Great Grandma and Auntie Jenae get here.

Orin opens his gift from his buddy-his favorite team on a coat

They're here!

Great grandma is precious as usual.

Marquez gives in to Makaylee begging him to try on her princess stuff. What a good big brother :)

Nyah tries egg nog for the first time

and manages to be completely and utterly charming

Nyah's outfit from Grandma is adorable. Does this come in my size, too?

tries on her Green Bay Packers baby shirt

the boys putting together the Rose Petal Cottage for the girls

its a hit for sure

Nyah keeps her brother and sister in stitches by putting her doll in the washer and oven.

Marquez even plays in it!!

went to the other Grandpa and Grandma's house that night
to have even more fun


Happy Birthday Jesus!

Reflection

Nyah pauses to reflect on the birth of the Christ child...

No, not really, she stayed still like this for about 1 second. But I have been thinking about Jesus' birth a lot lately. Now I know the joy of a baby. Would I have given my only child as a sacrificial gift to redeem the world to myself if I was God? Knowing the pain and suffering my child would have to endure would be great? I can't even watch the "Passion of the Christ" without cringing, tears streaming down my face. I am so sorry that Jesus had to go through that and that my sins were among those that he was paying the price for.

This has become more significant of a sacrifice now that I am a mother. I never really thought about it from God's point of view before. Just that He did it and I was grateful. But now I know whenever my child is in pain it breaks my heart. I would do anything to take their place. I would do anything to make the hurt go away. I would never sign them up for pain for someone else's benefit. What a gift of love! And all we have to do is receive it. It seems too easy. But that is the beauty of the Good News. It is simple. Some miss it because of that.

Surely God must want something more from us. Don't we have to follow a list of do's and don'ts or something like that? Don't we have to spend the rest of our lives trying to be good enough? No. Then it wouldn't be a gift. We would have "earned" it. We follow God out of love and gratitude. We want to go to church and fellowship with other believers! We want to show others love because we feel it in our hearts! We want to live a righteous and holy life before God because we love Him and want to make Him happy. Because we know we will see Him again someday and want to hear the words "Well done thou good and faithful servant." Much the same way I want to please my earthly father and make him proud. I know that he loves me and it would pain him to see me living in sin, hurting myself and those around me.

God doesn't expect us to be perfect. He knows that we are but dust, formed from the dust. He knows our limitations, faults, tendencies toward selfishness, etc. He loved us anyway, and desired to bring us to Him, to not have to spend eternity apart from Him.

"Thanks be unto God for His Unspeakable Gift."

2 Corinthians 9:15

Christmas is coming

big brother and sister dress her as the Virgin Mary

Marquez tries to get her interested in baby Jesus






Makaylee shows her how





Marquez's Lego rendition of the Nativity

baking gingerbread angels to give her kindergarten teacher

Nyah's recent obsession: other people's shoes

She loves "pitching in" when I'm playing Christmas carols! I can't wait to teach her how to play someday. I gave Marquez his first lesson ever today and it ended up lasting about an hour! He didn't want to stop and ended up being able to play Jolly St. Nick by the end of it. I think we've got a natural here! He wants a lesson everyday now that its Christmas break. How cool is that?

Orin's a huge Lego fan so he ordered the kids this Lego Advent Calendar online. They get excited every night to open a new window and see what they get to build. The city is just a cardboard backdrop so they decided to make a real Lego city for all the pieces once the advent calendar is done.

Orin and Marquez tag team on the courthouse and Makaylee is building a red coffee shop. Nyah eats Legos so she watches from the confines of her playpen which she is not too happy about!


We have a new committee date for Makaylee's sister- January 14th! I got to work on a letter to their birth mother asking for a letter in support of our family since I know she would want her two daughters to grow up together. She is out of state and moves a lot so I hope she gets the letter. Praying hard now... but actually feel a real sense of peace I haven't had with our other adoptions. I am actually fine if our family isn't chosen. I will feel disappointed I'm sure but I am happy with the children God has so graciously given us to parent. And I have my hands full with these three so instead of worrying too much like I am prone to do, I am leaving this one up to God. Which is what I'm always supposed to do anyways. Only now I am content. I am happy with our family the way it is. Wow, did I just say that? I can't believe that I've come to this place in my life finally. With adoption journies for three children it is always waiting, waiting, waiting, and we aren't waiting anymore. It is a very nice place to be and I am enjoying it.

Christmas Pictures

Only 11 more days, Mommy!

The elf had to take Nyah off Santa's lap the second she got on. She wasn't having any of that!
Marquez thought it was pretty funny...

...until Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and then he got embarrassed! Too funny! Makaylee wouldn't even come close enough to Santa to get in the picture Orin took.

Readoption

Orin and I completed Nyah's readoption paperwork yesterday.
It is such a relief to have that done and over with. I
have been putting it off for 7 months now because it
seemed too complicated and I just didn't want to deal with
it. But I am glad we decided to try to do it on our own
instead of using an attorney b/c it really wasn't that bad
(and I had tons of help from a friend). Now we'll have to
wait and see if I filled out the paperwork right. An
Oregon birth certificate should come in the mail in 1-2
months if I did!



Nyah has been so persistent lately in trying out motor
skills tasks. She doesn't give up at a task even when
she isn't successful. She tried to put on Orin's shoes
for 10 minutes the other day! Putting the key in the
gear of her trike was hard but she stayed at it. She
likes a challenge and sure knows how to celebrate when
she masters something!

How Can I Thank You Enough?

The church was neat. The worship is so uninhibited it really is beautiful to experience. I especially love the "call" that they do that is a rapid tongue vibration against the top of the mouth. I was expecting it to be Ethiopian Orthodox because

Ethiopian Protestants aren't as common I was told. At least not in Ethiopia.

But the pastor spoke a beautiful sermon on how it does not matter what church

you attend, but that you believe in God and that He sent his son Jesus Christ to

pay the penalty for our sin.

Our friends bring their 1 yr. old son to be dedicated to God.

Children are a gift from God, the auntie informs me. He gives

them to us and we give them back to Him because they are His.

Yes, I needed to be reminded of this. Sometimes I feel the responsibility of raising

them right and feel all the pressure for how they will turn out. But I can only lead

them down the path of truth and God will keep their hearts.

The pastor takes Dawit (David) in his arms and the congregation

stretches forth their arms toward the boy and pray with him.

Next the pastor invites all the children to the front to pray
a special blessing on them. Marquez and Makaylee were
shy but eventually went to the front. The entire service was in
Amharic so my kids couldn't understand any of it but they knew
it was important because the pastor was speaking the Word of God
so they were quiet and still and made their mommy so proud. I love
how in the Ethiopian culture there is no hurry and the service went
for three hours. Reminds me of how Jesus would speak so long on the
hillsides his disciples would get concerned that the people would get
hungry. And in turn everyone did and went into the church basement for
bread and tea at the end to fellowship with one another.

We get invited back to the house for an Ethiopian feast to celebrate the little man.

And Nyah gets loved on by all who meet her.




Thank you for inviting us to worship with you in your warm and loving church.
Thank you for bringing us into your home and treating us as your honored guests
on your special day with your family.

Family Day

cutie patootie

Nyah loves taking a bath! She never wants to get out, even when the water gets cold.
Her favorite things to do in the bath are poop and drink the water (not in that order).

Makaylee's not so excited about taking a bath with her anymore.

Perfecting the skill of talking on the phone and driving already!

Nyah with Auntie Erica at Hometown Buffet after the funeral. They should have charged us for Nyah...this girl can eat!


Orin's grandfather's funeral was today. It was nice to hear all the stories of how he loved to help others. Also I liked how family commented that they never heard him say anything negative about anyone else- never. Listened to a whistle solo of "Great is Thy Faithfulness" by one of his buddies and a recording of Grandpa singing "Beulah Land". He left such a Godly heritage for his children and grandchildren. I didn't think I was going to cry until Makaylee did. Then she gently stroked my arm, "Don't cry, Mommy, we are going to see him in heaven."

Tomorrow we are going to an Ethiopian church and the service is in Amharic. The Ethiopian family we met in Costco invited us to see their son Dawit (David in English) get dedicated to God. Then we are coming home to have a Leave it To Beaver marathon with Marquez and Makaylee. They love this show! And I love how it models good values for the kids like respecting your parents and telling the truth.