Praise God!

She passed court! Its official now!

(I really am dying to post her adorable picture but their agency discourages that until the Visas have been issued and the families are home (December). This is probably for security reasons while the families are in country.)

Thank you for all the words of encouragement and your prayers are cherished by my parents.

No News is Good News?

Marquez gives out zebra rides while Nyah squeals wildly in delight

I heard from my parents when they arrived in Ethiopia and they were planning on going to sleep. Perfect, because it was nighttime over there! Now they won't have jet lag and can switch right to Ethiopian time :)

Now I haven't heard from them in two days... and being the natural worrier that I am... They are usually so good with returning emails right away and I've been emailing during Ethiopia daytime. Hmmm.... we shall see. Power and internet access is sporadic over there so meanwhile Orin, the kids and I wait on pins and needles to see how their first meeting with B went at her orphanage.

birthday balloons providing endless hours of entertainment

Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 7:30am my parents are heading out on the journey of a lifetime to meet their daughter in Ethiopia. I am so excited for them to meet her, to experience her country, her people, the homeland of my daughter, Nyah Noelle. Oh, how I wish I could be there and wrap my arms around my 7 yr. old sister that I have only met in pictures. Words cannot even describe how I feel. God is so cool like that. You can't put Him in a box, because just when you do, He does something else incredible and amazing that you totally weren't expecting.

Pray for them, their travel, their time in Ethiopia. My mom is staying the entire 6+ weeks. My dad has to come home after the first two weeks but will be back for the last two weeks. I miss them already. Nyah asked "Can I go too?"

We wanted to enjoy the last day of nice weather here in Oregon and Nyah was begging for a wagon ride.

Makaylee thought it would be funny to tie Ella up to the wagon and see if she could pull it up the hill. She's not a sled dog, Makaylee!

Nyah got a kick out of it.

Can I ride it down the hill?

Awwwww... my sweet babies.... They are such good kids. But no, your little sister cannot go down the hill with you...

cute

Heavy. Mommy got a workout today. We're talking 90 lbs. around the whole neighborhood.

Happy 2 and 32 to You!

We woke up the morning of Nyah's birthday party to a chilly 61 degree house. Brrrrrrrr! We bundled up the kids until the furnace repair guy could get here.

Nyah wearing her hat my friend crocheted her for her baby shower

some of Nyah's grandparents who came to celebrate her birthday with her

birthday kiss from Daddy
Nyah's not so sure about having over 20 people singing to her

Yay! I'm a big girl now!

Marquez is too full for ice cream cake?!?!?

licking all the frosting off

The next morning the kids used the matching Fall bibs and placemats Great Grandma sewed them.

Great Grandma takes Nyah on a ride in her walker. It was so funny! Nyah does not like riding in the stroller but she loves this.

We celebrated my birthday with Nyah's leftovers :)

The kids surprised me with this photo collage they had made me with my friend Lillian. It was so thougtful of them and really made my day special. On the wall were pictures they had each colored me that I am going to save in the memory box.

Count your blessings,

Name them one by one,

Count your blessings,

See what God has done!

Happy Birthday cousin Alex!

excited party guests



Makaylee reveling in the magic. I don't think there is a single thing she loves more than birthday parties!

under couch Matchbox garage-There must have been a hundred of them under there! Alex adds his new gifts to his collection. Typical guy, they can never have too many cars :)

the sugar kicking in

cuties

The next day the Halloween box comes down out of the attic. Ben can't decide if he wants to be a pirate or Darth Vader...

Can you guess what Nyah is going to be?

Makaylee is going to wear the costume my grandma sewed me when I was her age. It has that musty, cedar box smell. So nostalgic.

Nyah's Mommy and Me swimming class

teacher takes a turn with Nyah

she's glowing the whole lesson

Her favorite thing to do?

1. Jump off the stairs

2. Jump off the wall

She squeals with delight. Priceless.

tea party at a friend's house yesterday

All three of them played so nicely- I was so proud of them.

Can't believe my baby will be 2 years old tomorrow... Maybe time will stand still tonight and she will stay my baby forever...

My brother Jeff (on the left) turned 30 years old! His surprise birthday party was so much fun! We love that guy :)

We went to the Children's Museum with Becky, Alec and Haven. The kids could have spent all day on this waterbed, diving onto it.

Our cracker snack ended up having to double as lunch as the cafe there was out of commission.

There was song time with a guitarist that was neat. Alec especially enjoyed it as he is quite the musical one.

Nyah and Haven grocery shopping

Diego gives the pets a bath in the pretend vet clinic.

looking like Bob the Builder

makeshift drum

A new friend gave our family a double stroller and it really came in handy for a day at Oaks Park! No more chasing kids for me!

Nyah had her her first Mommy and Me swim class. She loved it! Watch out Ariel- there's a new mermaid in town :)

The same friend that gave us the double stroller gave us this convertible crib for Nyah. She had been straddling the top rail but hadn't gone over it yet. The day we brought it home I put Nyah in her old crib for a nap. A couple minutes later she was jiggling the doorknob calling for me. She had climbed out- and hadn't gotten hurt, thank goodness. Orin set this one up right after that. It came just in time! Thank you God (and Julie)! Julie is awesome. Her husband is a military dr. and was just deployed. In two years they are moving their young family of 7 to Soddo, Ethiopia to minister in the hospital and local orphanage there. How neat is that! Talk about a leap of faith.

I did a bunch of little braids on Nyah's hair just for fun. After she had slept on them they looked like a bunch of wiggly worms!