I love summer- no crumbs to sweep up :)

Nyah has such good balance for her age.

When Nyah wants someone to do Ring Around the Rosie with her on the trampoline she'll look at you with a quizzical look and ask "Rosie?" with the cutest munchin voice.

My friend just got her referral from Ethiopia this afternoon! They had been waiting over 5 months to get the good news and I don't know how they did it. Our two month wait seemed too long! We are so happy for her and her family. Just last Friday when she was over we formed a circle on the deck holding hands with our children and prayed for peace during the wait and that God would send a referral soon. Because whenever two or more believers come together to ask something in God's name, great things are accomplished.

We met at an Ethiopian restaurant with my parents, sister and grandma last night before they headed back up north. What a fun evening. I'm afraid they're not as big of fans as Ethiopian food that Orin and I are, though. Maybe its an acquired taste? Grandma was very discrete about her opinion of the food after a few bites and just pulled a banana out of her purse to eat- so funny!

We got to chatting with the two girls at the table next to us who asked if Nyah was adopted. It ends up that they too had been adopted from Ethiopia when they were 9 and 10 years old. They were from friends in their orphanage and had been lucky enough to have been adopted into families in the same city and had remained close. That is so awesome. I'm sure that helped their homesickness. One had a good adoption experience and the other hadn't. After she had talked about it I saw her wipe a tear and my heart went out to her. She said that my 6 year old sister in Ethiopia will have a hard time at first when she comes to the U.S. but as soon as she sees Nyah she will be OK!

Fourth of July at Seaside

Uno

Auntie Leah makes Marquez a friendship bracelet.

Will is so proud of his fort.

Nyah keeps everyone on their toes!

taking great-grandma's walker for a spin

helping Daddy with his puzzle

Ben helps Daddy with his second puzzle.

walking to the parade

the 7 of us

Makaylee loves being at the beach with all her relatives! She even got to stay an extra night longer than the boys but was careful not to tell them so as not to hurt their feelings.

Awww... how cute are they?!

my girls

Marquez on the bumper cars

Grandpa's girl- Nyah kept calling the beach house, "grandpa's house"

football time

Grandpa's still got some moves!

Auntie Jenae pretends she is John Elway

family time- nothing better

great grandma

watching fireworks

Jenae bundles up- brrrr! Too funny!

Summer!

Marquez helps Nyah put together a baby sling for dolly.

shooting around

this is how the girls like to watch cartoons

boys' room

favorite part of Vacation Bible School = face painting time

Marquez plays VBS in the morning before the real VBS. Here he is reading the kids Bible stories. So sweet. Did I mention he would like to be a youth pastor when he grows up?

filling up the moat

Makaylee's been really into playing "beauty shop" lately and Nyah was her victom, I mean, client :)

Ben even cooperates with the game. He asks for a barrette mohawk.
down the middle.

our playdate in Newberg

Makaylee loves her foster brother!

the babies catching some shade

Nyah refuses to eat at her high chair and insists on eating "big girl" she calls it. She loves eating off everyone's plates and especially feeding anyone who is willing. Its all community food to her, just like in Ethiopia!

Mmmm, and playdough is delicious, too! She tries to feed it to Ella, our dog.

loving her new doggie shirt

Marquez's Baptism

This morning when I was at the computer Marquez asked what I was doing. "Blogging about your baptism," I told him. " They should call it 'bragging', not 'blogging'!" was his reply. That cracked me up because it is so true, and so perceptive of him.

Well, if I am charged with bragging about my kids, then I plead guilty! I just can't help it. I am so proud of them and I think they are beautiful and everything they do is so smart and cute and fascinating and funny. I just can't get over it.

They play a game of Catan the night before to calm some of Marquez's nerves. Will is orange and he won! This was Will's first time wanting to play with them and I was so happy. He actually stuck with it even when it was hard and confusing, which is a big step for him. His attention span usually won't hold out that long. And he got a chance to feel successful which is so crucial. He needs to experience mastery to spark his interest to try more new things.

Makaylee gets busy de-pet-hairing the runners for a dollar. Really, we had that much hair on there? Gross! Good thing pets have some endearing qualities as well!

Its the morning of the baptism and we are so proud of Marquez. He has been wanting to do this for a few years now but things kept coming up at the last minute. He got changed into his baptism clothes and Makaylee squeezed him. She still didn't believe that he was going to get dunked under water in the church service :)

Marquez (on the far left) went first to give his testimony. He was so afraid to give the wrong answer that when the pastor asked him why he wanted to get baptized, he paused and answered, "I don't know." He was so nervous, it was cute. But leading up to this baptism service he told us baptism is about making a public announcement of one's desire to follow Christ with their life. And though not necessary for salvation, it is a symbol of dying to himself (going under the water), and raising up with Christ, washed free from his sins. I am glad he has wanted to make his faith his own, and not just that of his parents. Because someday when he arrives at the Pearly gates, he won't get in based on his own merit or his parents'. It will be because he trusted in Christ to forgive his sins and he followed him with his life. He understands this so well, but gets so shy. Who wouldn't with 500 people watching you?!

My camera ran out of batteries so all I got was this picture of him drying off :(

now to celebrate with friends and family afterwards

Nyah makes me so nervous outside. She loves climbing the stairs but I am so afraid she will lose her balance and fall backwards onto the rock. Maybe she should wear her bike helmet.

There is only one word for her- PRECIOUS.

Nyah decides she will eat fruit that doesn't come from a baby food jar for the first time.

She likes it!

loves the accessories

caught with a mouthful of food

Aunt Sacra explains herself

Orin added a board to the bottom of the rope. Soon there won't be grass under there, either!

vroom vroom

getting dirty

playing "500" with cousins

Marquez got it!

Doing the "spider"- Jenae and I used to swing like this on the playground in elementary school with our friends.

sisters- so glad they have each other

Thank you God for my sister

beauty shop time

Nana with her sons

Orin and his brother both accidentally wore their brown shirts and I kept getting those two mixed up.

Auntie Sacra tries out a trampoline for the first time.

Grandpa and Grandma came over yesterday, too! I gave him his Father's Day present a week early. Its a little small, but its not for him; its for my new sister! My parents are adopting a six year old girl from Ethiopia!!!! We are so excited for them and so happy for the little girl to get to have some great parents! I won't be able to post her picture or name for a few more months because of international adoption law but if I could sum her up in a word it would definately be A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E. And she looks pretty spunky, too! She has that sparkle in her eyes ;)

Love it!