Yes, they're all mine! Yes, I have my hands full! Yes, I know what causes it! Yes, I'm glad it me and not you, too!

Found this online and thought it was cute. Never have used that one. People do often say "You sure have your hands full" We reply but our hearts are fuller. If I forget and Braxton is around he will always give me "the look" to say it :) We love our big family.

They were looking for the way.....
...and when they found Jesus,
they found the Way,
the Truth, and the Life.

May your CHRISTmas celebration be filled with JESUS :)

School

Mari, Brealin and Braxton had perfect attendance for the first 9 weeks. Proud of all of them but especially Mari who had never attended school.

THANKFUL

Thanksgiving with all my little loves.
Adopted...not adopting :)
Baby...not pregnant :)
Wonderful time with family and good food.

Our family is so BLESSED!! Our cup runneth over.....and our dishes and laundry..... :)

Trying to catch up before CHRISTmas....

Halloween was awesome!! We had a fun time. Grammy and Jonathan went trick-or-treating with us. It was Mari, Zyia and Kylen's first time. FYI: If you ever adopt a child from another country where they don't eat that much candy....Halloween is not the time to give them a bunch. Apparently 5 pieces was too much for Zyia, so she got sick afterwards. But we still had a great time. We also celebrated my brother-in-law, Marks birthday with a Halloween party where we played Wii Dance.

We love Halloween. Over the years we have researched "Halloween" and the meaning. As most anything you can find good and bad in it. As for our family, We love it. While there is clearly no place in the Christian home for the "darker side" of Halloween, we've concluded there is a place in our family for some innocent fun. Kids love to dress up and pretend. Over the years, we’ve allowed the kids to get costumes and go trick-or-treating, while supervised, around the community. We enjoy carving pumpkins, decorating cupcakes........Costumes though around our house are a year round thing.

Orphan Sunday Plus 1 day

Couldn't make it to the computer yesterday for Orphan Sunday.

November is Adoption Month. Over the past few days I have read inspirational words about adoption. Seen several great moving videos that could or should soften many hearts. But as I sit here ready to blog about orphans, adoption etc. So many words I could say, but instead I will leave this....

A year and a half later

Homecoming Parade/ It takes a village.

We had a good time at the homecoming parade. Of course it was a "first" for the Mari, Zyia and Kylen. However the second we arrived, even in our small town there were cars everywhere. The kids in the parade throw candy...which ends up in the road, followed by other moving vehicles. Instant note to self: Do not come alone to the parade (alone..thats funny as I'm hardly ever alone), alone meaning the only adult. Lately Chris has been very busy at work. So I have taken the children several places "alone". Thank goodness the village stepped up today. From the time I got out of the car friends were everywhere to help. Which I felt so blessed and thankful.

Our Ethiopian Princesses

Bramari and Brazyia

Our Cup Runneth Over