SPRING FUN






I don't think we have been this excited for spring ever before. WHAT A LONG WINTER!!
Not sure why but wow did it feel long. We just got a tent trailer and can't WAIT to do some camping.

OUR FIRST GOT YA OR GOTTCHA DAY!!











First of all, how do you really spell Gottcha or got ya???? Anyway, we just had our first one. Good friends of ours have the same day as us so we had fun together. We went bowling locally and then for supper and cake at our house. What a blast. It is sooo amazing to see how far Emmy has come since we got her. What a blessing she has been to our family. We love you Emmy.

Emmy's First Christmas in CANADA!

The following post may have many spelling errors. For some reason the spell check did not work and I was in a hurry typing this. Sorry.

What a wonderful Christmas!
Wow! I can't believe our first Christmas with Emmy has come and gone. What wonderful memories we were able to create. Our children were all so excited on Christmas morning. We have a tradition to do a chocolate fruit fondue on Christmas eve and it was as if Emmy had always done this with us. She knew exactly what to do. (Well, the kids had also talked to her about it for weeks ahead of time.) This year was a bit challenging as far as gifts for the older girls because they are growing up and are kinda just going past the Barbies and pollies. They of course did ask for those things again.... but they only have about fifty barbies and 100 pollies. So they ended up getting little pet shop stuff and Hanna Montanna cds/puzzles. Jonah collects Geo Trax trains and got the airplane that goes with that. He had "accidently" ripped the wrapping paper long before Christmas and said he didn't know what was in that box. He was extremily excited about that one though. Ha Ha. I remember trying that one as a kid. Memories!! Emmy got so many fun things. She LOVES anything that makes noise. So she got a tape player with a micraphone, singing books, dressup, pollies, and lots more. The family gatherings were soo much fun. Everyone commented on how well Emmy fit in. It really felt like she had always been there.

We just completed our last post placement report with our Social Worker. She was such a wonderful lady. She never, ever made us feel uncomfortable or nervous. We are actually really sad not to meet with her anymore. We do have to continue to do yearly reports, however; we are able to do those on our own. It will be really neat to look back once she is 18, and see all the reports. I don't really want to think about her being 18 yet though.

Speaking of the kids growing up. I have had soo many mixed emotions with the children lately. On one hand, I'm feeling like time is just flying and they are growing up much to fast. On the other hand, we are going through attitude struggles right now and I just kinda feel like I would rather skip this time. (not really)
I just feel like our children are so spoiled and don't seem to appreciate what they have. Alot of whinning, complaining, and think that life is ALWAYS supposed to be fun and exciting. Bill and I have struggled with routine a little lately. There is SOO many things we would like to teach the children and just feel like there is not enough time in a day. We have said so many times that we want to start doing daily family divotions and we do well for a while and then on a late night we kinda fall off the routine again. Another thing we want to start doing with the older ones is allowence and then teaching them to tith and also save some money. Again, we do it for a while and then seem to get to busy. Life just seems soooo full. How do mothers do it who work full time??? I sometimes feel like I'm a crazy lady trying to do way to many things. Birthday parties, home reading, gymnastics, clubs, girls allowd, helping my grandparents, having guests over,cleaning, shopping, laundry, and on and on. I'm not trying to complain. These are all good things. It just feels like a bit too much sometimes. Anyway, I've been trying to teach Denniel that for every negative thing she says, she has to come up with five good things in her life. Maybe I should start hey? I do love my family and am greatful that the Lord has given them to me to love and take care of. Bill works extremily hard and I love him for that.

Well, I hope to do a little more posting then I have been. We have Emmy's first Gottcha day coming up and we are planning a little party. Keep posted for pictures.












A REFERRAL!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS J AND A!!!!! A referral!! NOT Ours, our very good friends! They just got a referral this morning for TWINS!!!!!!!!!! Outside of our referral, I have never been soooo excited. I'm sure the whole town heard me scream!! They got a referral for a boy and a girl!! I just can't believe it! We stayed at J and A place for night (the night we were leaving for Ethiopia. Our flight left early in the morning so J and A took us to the airport and saw us off!! What an amazing experience that was. We can't wait to take you to the airport and see you off guys! We love you!!!!

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EMMY LOVES CANADA!!!



So the first 8 months with Emmy at home have been soo amazing! We have made so many memories and also had some challenges.
The pictures above, are Emmy's first day home. She was fasinated with the TV. My neices came over to meet her. They just fell in love with her!
Our first week at home was very, very exciting but also hard. Bill and I missed Ethiopia so very much that one day, I fell apart and was determined to move there. (Anyone else go through this?) I can't describe exactly what it was we missed. Just the wonderful people, the smells, the slow pace of life. I loved being able to feel like we made a small difference in someones day. I can't describe my longing the first 3-5months to go back.

Overall, things have gone fairly smooth with Emmy a part of our family. The one thing we noticed almost instantly, was how quickly we could spoil her. She "Americanized extremily fast!" We were so amazed in Addis at how long she could sit and play with a few bottle caps. That certanly is not the case now. She is always on the move!