More FUN!

Just thought this was too cute! AND Abel cut his second tooth... do you see it? He is one happy kid. Maybe we will have a short break until the next tooth comes in.

SO CLOSE TO CRAWLING!

Here is Addie and her buddy Molly at the pool today. TOO CUTE!

Julie and Maya joined us again today at the pool - TWO DAYS IN A ROW!

Maya holding her bottle

Abel holding his bottle.

Julie fed Abel and Maya a jar of baby food....

One bite for you

And one bite for you (Abel would grunt while Maya had her bite). The dude likes to eat!

After his tummy was full... this was the result...

POOL TIME... take 2

Big pool day today...

Avery tried out swim team today. We are doing a one week trial to see if it is something she is really interested in. Not sure that she'll do it but it will be fun this week while she tries it out.

Here is Abel hanging out in his stroller while his sister was doing her swim practice.

We have several friends that joined us at the pool today. Of course, I had my camera there. Julie and Maya were there to join us today. FUN TIMES. I didn't get the best pictures but wanted to share. It was so sunny the kids had a hard time looking up at the camera.

Abel's new thing is to drink out of these sample bottles. He loves them. Thanks to friends who have given them to me! :-)

Also... WE ARE SO CLOSE TO CRAWLING! He is rocking on his hands and knees! He can roll across the room too. He is a MOVER!

Pool time... well, almost

It's still too cool to go into the pool. (not trying to rhyme... I just do it all the time.. there I go again). We went to the pool on Saturday. Thinking it was warm enough to swim. I think the temperature might have been 80 on Sat. Aidan had been begging us to take them swimming. They jumped in... (the oldest three). I put Abel and he DID NOT like it. I wonder why... he is use to warm baths and this was like artic water.

Here are a few picture favs...

Also... just a few pictures from Saturday before we went for a swim.

This is so Addie.. Dirty feet and hair hanging in her face.

Aidan climbing a fort at the park

KIDS!

Serious Kids

Crazy Kids

These two kids are inseparable. They are either the best of friends or they are arch enemies. I laughed when I looked back at these pictures ... too cute not to put on the blog. I really wish I could remember what had them laughing like that.. probably a joke I just told. I am pretty funny. ;-)

Talk to the HAND cause the face don't understand

Just thought this was a cute picture.











and wanted to share that Abel got his first tooth!! Can you see it? It is kind of hard to see but I wanted to share anyway. I am pretty sure he is cutting another one... how do I know? Because he is cranky as ALL GET OUT today :-) or should I say :-(






Here's another tooth picture








He's happy here :-)







Just liked these pictures








I LIVE WITH TWO FELONS.. well, they are innocent until found guilty...
Here's how the conversation went.


A3: Mom, Addie went next door to get her Snuggles (which is a teddy bear).
Mom: Ok


a minutes later... In walk Aidan and Addie (They had been playing in the drive way)


A2&A3 : Hey mom, can we play at the neighbors house
Mom: What are they doing over there?
A2&A3: Oh, they are not home
Mom: What? Didn't you just say that Addie went over there to get her bear?
A2&A3:yes
Mom: Addie... if they aren't home, then how did you get your snuggle?
A2: I just opened their door
Mom: Wait, you went into their house and they aren't home?
A2: Yes.
Mom: Addie, You can't do that. You can't walk into someones house with out them opening the door and asking you to come in.


She went in and saw her bear on the couch. She loaned it to the little girl that lives next door yesterday. I don't think she went over there to get her bear, I just think she saw it when she BROKE INTO THEIR HOUSE.


The thing that gets me is that they wanted to go BACK OVER there to play when no one was even home ... WHAT THE HECK?
I asked them.... Did you shut the door when you left. They said "NO".
So I had to walk back over there. I rang the doorbell (though I could tell because no cars were there that they weren't home). Then I had to open their glass door and shut the door my CHILDREN OPENED!
MY OH MY.

More Pictures

I am out of control with this camera!

AND I am officially a student at UT (signed up for the photography class today)

If you knew me you would know...

I LOVE TO TAKE PICTURES. Even if you don't know me... You probably figured that out. Here are a few pics I took the last few days.

If it looks like there is a boogar in Abel's nose... well, it's not. It's PRUNES... yes, got a little in his nose when I was feeding him (hours before this picture was taken)... OOPS. I did clean it out soon after this picture :-)
That's Abel and his promised bride, Maya.

BURGER KING!

Snuggling with mommy's blankie (YES, I have a blankie ... It's just a favorite blanket)



Ted made the blog! Yes, I do have a husband!!! ... He never makes the blog.

Outside with my camera again :-)

So guess what? I think I am going to take a photography class this summer. How fun is that? I am pretty sure I am gonna do it. So you just thought I took a lot of pictures now... JUST WAIT! It's what I have decided to do with my birthday money. I am so excited!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

....DON'T GET ADDIE DOWN.

She was sitting on the kitchen counter looking out the window and said "it is such a beautiful day outside"... haha... It is a YUCKY day! I am thankful for the rain but sunshine always does me good!

In other news... MY BLOG BOOK CAME IN. I am so excited about it. It's a 7 x 7 book and it has all of Abel's story in it (from our adoption blog). I did it through blurb.com. I just ordered two more books from our family blog (this blog). I have been blogging for 2 1/2 years so I have lots to bring into book form. It is so fun though. I am glad my husband is computer savvy because he got me started. I must say though... it really is user friendly. The next books I ordered are going to be 8 x 10 in size. It really is a GOOD DEAL because the total (for the 7 x 7 book) was about $35 (with shipping) for a 120 page book. Which you could not do if you scrapbooked it. The book is kind of small but I still love it. I just thought for my next book, I would try the 8 x 10 (which is just a little more in price). They also have a 12 x 12 book... seemed kind of big but maybe not. I'll take pictures of the 8 x 10 books when they come in.

The front cover. Ted chose the title because Abel's Ethiopian name means HOPE. His name is Tesfaye. So the title of my first book is "Hope's Journey". I am an author... how crazy is that... (haha! - Ted and I were cracking up when we were doing "about the author"... which actually doesn't print in a soft cover book. So we did it for kicks because it's not in the book.

(A peek inside our blog book)

Streams in the Desert

My friend Robin gave me the devotional, Streams in the Desert, when we first met. It over and over again speaks truth to me in a world that is screaming lies. This morning I was reading today's devotion and just loved this poem written by Annie Johnson Flint.
I hope it will bless you as it blessed me.

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile
All sense of nearness, human and divine;
The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,
The hands I clung to lossed themselves from mine;
But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,
The everlasting arms upheld my own.

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds,
The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,
The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,
And all my little candle flames burned out;
But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night,
The face of Christ made all the darkness bright.

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease,
A slumber free from pain, a hushed respose;
Above my head the skies were black with storm,
And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;
But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew,
I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.

I thank You, Lord, You were too wise to heed
My feeble prayers, and answer as I thought,
Since rich gifts your bounty has bestowed
Have brought me more than I asked or thought;
Giver of good, so answer each request
With your own giving, better than my best.

So often when I pray the answer doesn't come in the "human form" I imagine but in a way that is BETTER THAN MY BEST! With God teaching me something so sweet that I could have learned in no other way. He truly loves his children and gives them HIS BEST. Thank you LORD for answering prayers in such precious ways.

Let the pictures do the talking...

I am gonna put a lot of pictures on this entry but I will add some words too... so you won't be confused :-)

Takin' a bath. Too cute... had to share!

I came home the morning of my birthday (from meeting my friend, Becky Crenshaw at Panera) and my yard had been forked. It was fun to see :-) Thanks Patti and Robin for the forking :-)

My birthday was Friday. 33 is a good number :-) right??? I got a digital picture frame as a gift.

Robin came by and gave me this amazing T.. she put pictures from this past year of how the Lord grew our family. She is BEYOND creative.





GUILTY! One of my forker friends.




Broke my toe on my birthday :-) haha! Had to add that to the blog!

This is my mentor/spritual mom... Debbye. Love her!





Little cake and ice cream at the park :-)








Me and my Ted






My friend, Emily made this cake... SHE CAN BAKE A CAKE!



We left the park and headed home... right as we were leaving... it started to rain... Then storm. We got home and the power was out. Only way into our house.. garage door opener. Which the garage door won't open when the electricity is out. WE WERE LOCKED OUT. We don't have a key to our house. (long story). So after spending two hours at Charlotte's (the White house), we made a decision. We broke into our house. Yes, you heard me right.. broke a window to get in. The lights came back on 10 minutes later!

The kids thought it was the coolest thing that we broke into our house. What an adventure!


Here is a picture of the kids with Kristin and her boyfriend Justin (who baby sat for us the next night... THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!)







On Saturday, we had our first Ethiopia East TN picnic. It was so fun to see everyone and to meet some new faces! What a sweet time!

This is my friend, Julie... Who the Lord brought into my life through the adoption of our two babies... Maya and Abel were at Hannah's Hope together in Ethiopia. It is amazing that a year a go we didn't even know one another and now... we will always have Ethiopia (haha).
Hey Stacy H... if you are reading this... YOU NEED A BLOG! Stacy is my friend who INSPIRED us and had a HUGE impact on our family (her and her husband Tom). They were the first family to adopt from All God's Children International in ETHIOPIA! Their daughter, Liyah, is BEAUTIFUL!