Let the Summer Birthdays Begin

Hermela celebrated her birthday last week. We now have two 8 year olds in the house.

checking out the birthday table

We started a new birthday breakfast tradition of letting the kids pick out whatever cereal they want on  the cereal isle (we never buy the sugary cereals).  She picked cocoa puffs.  The kids couldn't believe their luck when I told her to pick whatever cereal she wanted.  My mom usually takes the birthday child out to breakfast, but last year Hermela ate so much at her special breakfast, lunch and dinner that by the time she made it to her birthday cake, she was too full to eat it.  So, this year my mom took her out the day before and I only made a special birthday dinner--hot dogs--her choice.

time for some birthday water balloon baseball

I think she missed :-)

batter up

the birthday girl

a new swatting technique Meron has mastered

a birthday trip to the movies

yummy cake

And the only present she requested-a barbie car.

Happy Birthday Hermela!!!

Happy Mother's Day---It's a Boy!!!!

We had a fabulous Mother's Day today.  It was extra special because today we got to tell our kids and our families news we've all been waiting for... 

Our sweet Colton is now officially a big brother.

We got "the call" last Wednesday, May 2nd, that we have a new baby son in Ethiopia.  I have felt like we had a son waiting for months, but on that day, we finally got to see his precious smiley face.  We decided to keep it a secret from our kids so that we could surprise our moms on Mother's Day

--it was a long 11 days :-)

His Ethiopian name means "hope" and he is definitely that to us--we just love him!

Our sweet little baby is already bringing joy to our family with his cute little smile.  We can't post full pictures of him until we pass court, so here's a little glimpse:

love that smile

sweet baby feet

Our kids are delighted and squealed with excitement when we told them.  Their only question was, "why is he wearing girl clothes in all of his pictures?" (clothes are clothes in Ethiopia :-)  They said, "we need to send him some boy clothes."  And Caroline asked if he'd be home for her birthday (unfortunately, not a chance as that's only 2 weeks away).

On that note, we would like to ask for some BIG TIME prayers that we are able to be submitted to the courts in record time (as in we need a miracle from our VERY capable God) so that we can travel for court this summer before courts close in August.

We are trusting God for this and have joined several other families who also have babies waiting for them in prayer every morning at 7:30 to praise God for what He has already done in bringing these amazing gifts into our families and for what He will do in the next few months to bring them home.

We'd love you to pray along side us for these miracle homecomings.

To everyone who has given and helped spread the word for our $7 for our 7th fundraiser, this is the sweet baby boy that you have helped come home to his family---THANK YOU!!! 

Feeling very blessed to be the mother of seven treasures this year!

For this child I prayed; 

and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of him

1 Samuel 1:27

Baseball Loving Boys

Great day of baseball last Saturday.  Colton's team eeked out a tie--leaving them in first place.

This boy lives and breathes baseball.  He wakes up pretty much every morning asking if he can go hit--he plays like he's been doing it for years.  

all ready to run

making it home

playing catcher like his dad and brother (it's more of a title than a position at this age, but he likes the gear--not a whole lot of catching going in quite yet.

Caleb's game was next.

His team was down a player, so to avoid a forfeit, Colton played up on his team.

It was hysterical to watch.  Here Colton is just 4 and most of these boys are 8 and 9 and  he gets out there like a pro-like he knows just what to do.  No nerves, just gets out there and plays hard--so fun.