Perspective

Since beginning the process of adopting and blogging, I have been obsessed with reading the details, dates, and progress of adoptions all over the world. I have read about God's work for the orphans, seen many types of fundraising, and triumphant unions that seemed hindered by Satan himself. In the end, all of the stories are joyful. In the end God wins. The families are united with their new son or daughter or both. Praise and rejoicing is called for. God has done what seemed impossible.

Today I was a couch potato and through facebook, one thing lead to another and I ended up on a blog much different than my usual suspects, click here if you would like to read about Sarah Jones journey through motherhood. While her journey started seven years ago with her son growing in her own belly, they have had to pray, trust, and fund raise for a different reason. Their son was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and Prune Belly disease. He has spent his life fighting to breathe. If you read their story have tissue nearby. It hits you in the gut and makes you cry. The end of Conner' life is soon. They are fundraising not to start a new life but to commemorate one that is ending. If you would like to donate to Conner's funeral costs please go to their page and donate on the left hand side. They are 84% of the way there and he is in his final moments. These parents are fighters. They are believers. They are dedicated. They are parents preparing to say good by to their 7 year old son. Donate $5, $10, $100 whatever you can to ease there journey.

Today I woke up feeling thankful for our own blessings; after reading their story thankful isn't even close to the word to use.

Summer, Father's Day and 3 months in America

This last week was pretty busy. We are officially on Summer Break. Yahooooo!!!! That means that I get to spend all my time with the boys. I love it. No more leaving them to go to work. Dawit is starting to realize that I will be here in the mornings. He comes running in, anywhere between 3:30 and 7:00 saying "Mommy no work? Daddy go work?" Even though we are loosing sleep; life couldn't be better. And the improvement in behavior and attitudes has been huge. They still get mad; but who doesn't? Consistency is definitely a big deal in their behavior.

We celebrated 3 months home last week. The boys have officially been in our care longer than in CHI's. But unfortunately not their orphanage. (we have 16 more months before that is true) We are getting ready for Dawit's birthday party. He talks about it often. He picked a curious George theme.

My Little Monkey is turning 5

He even prays for a happy George party. It's very cute when he inserts it in the middle of his Amharic prayer. I love it. He usually gets a goofy grin on his face after he changes the prayer. And then will say, "pray like mommy daddy".

HUGE progress with Sintayehu this week. He officially stopped saying he doesn't like America. Again, just jinxed myself but what a great thing. He even said America was on his top 5 list of great things. Below Praying to God, Learning, and family; but it ranked above eating :) Talk about priorities. He has his figured out better than most adults. He is anxiously waiting to do some traveling this summer. Our vacations have to be short/cheap this year due to the traveling to Ethiopia, but we can do some great California trips.

We made our first Ethiopian meal and I got two thumbs up from the boys. Sintayehu wanted to share his food with the families in our Bible study. So we made Kulet (usually beef but we did turkey stew), miser wat (without much pepper), and Amharic. The Miser wat was "perfect" according to Sintayehu, and the others got a "thanks for trying" but in the end they liked them more than the ones they had at the local Ethiopian Restaurants. Sintayehu wants to start taping our meal attempts and put them on You Tube for other adoptive families. So that is our next adventure :)

Father's day went really well. We celebrated with Nick on Saturday. We went to Big Bear to a deserted mining town. Sintayehu was in 7th heaven. With all of the history and explanations of the years and events, he couldn't stop smiling. And Dawit liked climbing on the rocks. On Sunday, we hung out at my parent's house with my family and Bar-b-qued and swam, according to Sintayehu, it was the best day because it was church and family (there are those priorities again). We took some cute pics for presents for father's day

Old Mine in Holcomb Valley

Climbing on Rocks in Holcomb Valley

Compliment or Insult?

So our youngest is fascinated with Kaa-Kaa. He goes several times a day, takes a long time and likes to say goodbye to it when he flushes it down the drain.

Yesterday, after going #2 he stood up to study his Kaa-kaa. He informed me that there were three. He then made me look at the kaa-kaa. "See Mom" he begins to say. "See what?" I ask. "It's Mom, Dawit and Baby(doll) and they are holding hands." Well, sure enough they were decreasing in size and all touching.

He wouldn't let me flush it. So, we let it sit for a few hours till some one else needed to use the toilet. He was very sad to see it go.

I don't know what that means... He identifies me with his kaa-kaa. Oh well!!! I guess that could be a compliment. Kaa-kaa is dependable, relieving, and healthy. If that's how he views me, that's great.

90

Last weekend we celebrated Papa's 90th Birthday. It was a great evening. Our boys were able to meet most of their cousins, aunts and uncles. Many family members flew in from Chicago to be with Papa on his day. Here are some photos from the day.

"The Big Man"

Enjoying the speech

Still in-love

Gammie (You only make it to 90 with the love of a great woman)

A special song from Emily

Uncle Tom and Aunt Buda

Most of the Great-Grandchildren

The Whole Gang

Happy 90th Papa!!!

Love 'em

Parenting

So apparently, becoming a parent no longer means you can go to the bathroom or shower without at least two interuptions. Which include little fingers sticking under the door with a little voice saying "Mommy I miss you!! Please let me in". So cute, but not so cute for the digestive track.

Beautiful Day

We had an awesome day today. After having a difficult week; it was great thoroughly enjoy eachother. We spent the day swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's. The boys seem to be in their element when they are in the water. We did tricks, cannonballs, played with water toys and had a delicious barbeque. And now we are on our way to Papa's 90th birthday party. What a beautiful Saturday

Frozen Yogurt

Why does frozen yogurt make everyone so happy?

3 steps forward... 2 steps back

I should know this is part of life. But it always surprises me. Our family has had five really great days together. And then we had tonight. It was one for the books. It seems as though happiness can only come in short bursts for our kids. If they were happy all day, they have to be miserable at night. Is this true for all children?