Wish You Could See This!

Wow. We got new photos of Sweet Baby. She looks so, so good. Her skin is clear and her eyes are bright and her cheeks are plump and kissable. She even has a tiny smile in one~ it completely melts my heart.

The kids gushed over her photos, then immediately signed up for child care duties. Eldest will be in charge of holding and cheek-kissing. Middle son started working on some jokes for the baby. And youngest son will be in charge of reading to her. I hope they can pencil me in on the schedule somewhere, because I have some loving of my own planned for this baby girl. 

Our court date is December 26th. This court appointment takes place in Ethiopia. We are represented in court by our agency. It is the last hurdle before we are allowed to travel to bring her home forever. Please join us in praying that her case will fly through court on December 26th,  and that we will be heading to Ethiopia in January, the Good Lord Willing. 

Thursday Funnies

We encourage the children to be very specific when they give thanks. So when we have a family chain prayer it can get pretty long as the kids thank God for their eyes, legos, chocolate frosting, chicks, clouds, plain white paper, rocks.... you get the picture. 

Last night middle son was leader of our Family Time. He asked his little brother to close our devotional with a prayer. The six-year-old was rubbing his eyes already and was pretty ready for bed, but he agreed to lead the prayer. We bowed our heads and listened.

"Dear God,

Thank you for our baby sister.

 Thank you for your Son who died for our sins.

 Thank you for your Word in our hearts.

 Thank you for our family.

Thank you for our warm house,

and all those other odds and ends.

 In Jesus name we pray,

 Amen."

Super Sandwich Maker

In line at Subway, I concentrated on the most economical combination for getting 4 subs and drinks. The kids talked among themselves, then went ahead and starting looking through the glass at the veggies while I told the Super Sandwich Maker our order. Eldest had to lift youngest up to see through the glass, and then they all three talked and laughed over some silliness while they waited at the end of the counter by the cashier.

I went through the long list of veggies needed for each child's sub, and Super Sandwich Maker seemed amused that they wanted just about everything but jalapenos.  She piled the toppings high, then smashed the subs down. Then she looked over and grinned at youngest.

"Do you really eat all those veggies?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

Super Sandwich Maker looked over at me and asked, "These aren't your kids, are they?"

"Yes, these are my children," I answered, smiling. I assumed that this was about to become one of those teaching moments where I would have to educate this poor woman about adoption and multicultural families. I got my speech all ready to go. But I didn't need it.

"Wow," she said. "I never would have guessed they are brothers and sister. They're so nice to each other and they're having so much fun." 

I smiled all the way through lunch, and I still smile when I think about it. As a mother, my greatest desire is that my children love their Lord Jesus Christ and live their lives for Him. My second greatest desire is that they love each other and be thankful for each other, because family is the context in which children learn how to treat other people with love and compassion.   Now don't get me wrong. We are a work in progress and the kids get on each other's nerves sometimes. But overall they genuinely like to be together and they know how to enjoy each other. And they really do love each other to pieces. 

So thank you for reminding me how blessed I am, Super Sandwich Maker. You totally made my day. 

Cousins

These are some more pictures from our trip to west Texas last week. We all enjoyed our time together, and the cousins really had a lot of fun. They spent their days digging in the sand, watching for wildlife, and exploring. After the sun went down it was time to roast hot dogs and marshmallows and play some mean hands of Uno. 

Must Read

An adult adoptee wrote a great piece for the Great Wall Gazette. She has a wonderful outlook. It's especially exciting since I've been email buddies for years with the sweet family and handsome little guy featured at the end of her article. 

We adoptive families are so incredibly blessed when our children come into our lives. Kerry's article shares the many ways adoption has blessed her life, as well. Enjoy!

Chopping Wood

After weeks of trouble with everything electronic, we finally have both our camera and our computer working at the same time. Hallelujah! 

We had a great time at our family farm in west Texas last week. The weather was great the first few days, then turned colder and was perfect for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids enjoyed learning how to chop mesquite wood chips for my uncle to take back to use in his smoker. Eldest started out with some instruction from Daddy Don. She kept forgetting to keep the safety glasses on her face, so we ribbed her about them being on top of her head in most of the pictures. 

My nephew got the hang of it really quickly.

Then the little guys helped out. They feel so big when they help Daddy with a job.

If you look at those pictures you'll notice that our kids are NOT wearing the footwear you should be wearing when using a hatchet or an ax. In the past few months they've all outgrown their good work boots. So, the grandparents treated them to a trip to the boot store to get outfitted for another year with sturdy, tough boots. Thanks so much, Gram and Daddy Don!!

Monday Funnies

We've had the pleasure of teaching Bible class to a great group of 3rd and 4th graders for the past few months. They are sweet and eager to learn, and we've enjoyed sharing their excitement while learning right along with them. Now we are taking a break from teaching until we get our Sweet Baby home and settled in. We will miss spending those Sunday mornings with our special students!

To express our love and appreciation for our class, I spent a long Saturday cutting out my special recipe sugar cookies into hearts. Then I lovingly iced and sprinkled each one. They turned out like this:

We printed up notes to remind the kids why we'd drilled them so hard on scripture memory and basic Bible knowledge. I bundled them up carefully, with enough extras for any visitors we might have that Sunday.

 
When the students came into the classroom I had a big, pretty platter of the cookie bundles in the back of the room, ready to pass out at the end of class. The children exclaimed about the pretty tray of treats. Then one burst my bubble.

"Wow! Are these Pop Tarts?"