My baby is 6 today!

I can't believe it. My baby girl is already 6 years old! Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday she wouldn't stop saying "Mom, mama, Mom, mama, mama, mama, MOMMMMMM!" and "UPPY mom, UPPY"! She is such a joy and a lover, silly and funny, I wouldn't trade a thing about her personality. It was very trying for a while, that strong-willed stuff, but she has come a long way. I love how God knew that I would need a challenge in one of my bio kids to prepare me for the challenges to come with our adopted ones. So thank you God for using Alaina to push me to the edge without pushing me over! She is going to be one determined, assertive woman, let me tell you!

Yesterday was our 2nd meeting with Deb, our social worker. She is so awesome, makes us feel so comfortable. She talked with the kids, asking them what they thought about having 2 new brothers. Payton said he was happy to give them love in a family, and a safe place to live and also to have 2 more boys in the house, Ava said she was happy they would have beds to sleep in and that we would try to make them comfortable, and we can't remember what Alaina said (or if she had a chance to answer), but I am guessing she will love to have 2 brothers younger than her to play with! We gave her (Deb) a tour of the house and handed over completed paperwork, talked a bit and that was it! I am so thankful now that I was not nervous or anxious about her coming, it totally would have been for nothing!

Now we work on paperwork, our workbook 'With Eyes Wide Open' and our 10 hours of online courses. We are enjoying the "homework" as it really makes us think things through thoroughly and has us taking notes on our feelings and thoughts. This is good for us as neither of us journals very well. We also have to finish up our autobiographies and make Dr. appts to get in for physicals- ugh- waiting a couple weeks to work off all the holiday goodies!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

A quiet morning and loving it. My kids are doing their own thing, a little TV, giving the dog a bath, making breakfast for each other. I am able to take some time to sit in peace and reflect on my Father's love for me. I am so thankful for his most precious gift to us all, the birth of his son, our Savior. Thank you God!

I know I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated, but I'm working on it. We had our first social worker visit on 12/10. She was wonderful! We were at her office in Elm Grove for over 2 1/2 hours. She made us feel so comfortable, and gave us lots of useful and purposeful information. She will come visit our house on 12/30, to do an inspection, meet and talk to the kids and have further individual discussions with Jon and I. We then went out for our first Ethiopian meal- injera, doro wat, and several other dishes I can't remember. It was a neat experience and I can see that I will need to do lots of practice cooking during the next 9 months to fix something that Payton, Ava and Alaina will eat that our new kiddos will love as well.

We watched Faith Hill's special last night on adoption and Jon and I were both in tears. It breaks our heart to see kids without moms and dads to love and encourage them and tuck them in at night. We pray that God has given our kids in Ethiopia some peace in their hearts, knowing that sometime soon their mommy and daddy will be coming to get them!