Can You Say:" conjunctivitis"?

Or otherwise known as "pink eye". So far we have two family members with goopie eyes. Grandpa and Emma. I am praying no one else will join them. Here I am reading Sleeping Beauty with the kids. Jordan was very interested.
Miss Calvin Klein.
With Daddy and Grandpa.
Can you believe she is standing up. When we got her she had no strength in her legs. We have been working on it since we got her and now she will stand up for little bit. (She doesn't like exersaucer by the way). She is improving everyday.
Ready for bed. Good night.

Sunday Reflections

"Speak, O Lord"

Keith Getty / Stuart Townend

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You,

To receive the food of Your holy word.

Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;

Shape and fashion us in Your likeness;

That the light of Christ might be seen today

In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us

All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us Lord, full obedience, Holy reverence, true humility.

Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of Your purity.

Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see

Your majestic love and authority.

Words of power that can never fail;

Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;

Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.

Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,

That will echo down through eternity.

And by grace we'll stand on Your promises;

And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.

Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built,

And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Awana Grand Prix

This Saturday we had a Grand Prix going on at the boy's Awana club. The boys and dad have been looking forward to this for a long time. They all worked hard on their cars this past week. This is Nate's car.

And this is Sam's. Sam drew up his own design. He did a great job.
Here is Sam and his friend Joshua.
Nate and Sarah.
Sam was enjoying the whole race. Even though the boys didn't win anything this year they came very close. They had a great time with dad and grandpa. The girls did some shopping this morning and they joined the boys in the afternoon for the finals.
Emma and grandma.


Jordan and Dad. She is doing better and better everyday. It is amazing to see her making progress everyday.
Few days ago we all went to the mall and grandpa took everybody on the marry go round.

Emma. I love taking pictures of my girls. (and boys as well)
By they way I love my Blended Beauty products for Jordan's hair. It saved my life. She still doesn't like ut when I touch her hair but this makes her hair look so beautiful and I have no problem to combing it.

Quiet

"Quiet" is a word we have been using a lot in our household lately. We are not used to having a little baby around and our kids can get loud. Jordan is doing better and better everyday (getting used to family life). Her doctor appointment on Monday went well and I am so happy we found a doctor who specializes in international adoptions. She knew right away what tests needed to be done. Jordan tested negative for TB which we are so thankful for. We are now waiting for for further tests results (routine tests).

We have our ups and down with our girl. She is now waking up only once at night (she used to wake up 3 to 4 times when we got her so we are making some progress). She is eating very well and everything we offer her.
Grandpa and his girls.
Jordan is a happy girl .... .but....
... . she can cry as well.

New toys to explore.
And silly brothers and a sister to get used to.
Kids having fun with dad ....
... and Jordan did not like all the noise around her. However a hug from her sister fixed that.And here we are happy again.

We Made It Home

We made it home. Our flight to Boston got canceled but we were able to get on another one 2 hours later. We still need to have our luggage show up (because of the canceled flight). It is great to read all your comments since we were not able to from Ethiopia.

Jordan is very tired from all the traveling so are we. Emma is a little mother and she is a big help already. I cannot stop hugging all my kids. It is great to have the grandparent here to help us around the house. We have a dr. appointment for Jordan tomorrow morning that we made before we left. Thank you all for all your prayers. We had a great trip and are very happy to be home with our whole family.

Last Day - Saturday

This is our last blog entry from Ethiopia. I am getting ready for our trip home. Jordan is sleeping in Fil's arms and we are looking forward to seeing our kids tomorrow. We had a great time here in Ethiopia and we wish we could bring the weather with us.

Friday - Mercado

I woke up this morning feeling much better. I even treated myself to a manicure downstairs at the Hilton Hotel for 50birr (about $5). We also got Jordan's passport and visa so we have the green to come home!!! (All the other families got their visas as well).The Mercado is one of the places I wanted to visit. It is the largest open air market in Africa and it is a crazy place. Their are lots of people everywhere but I loved it. Bebi also told us that I do not need a guide in Ethiopia. I got so much stuff there for only 200 birr. Fil just laughs each time when it comes to price. I love to haggle and for some reason I am enjoying it. Jordan's favorite nannies came with us to the market. I know she misses Jordan (Sentayehu) very much. It was great to see her but Jordan wasn't happy to see her. Each time her nanny wanted to hold her Jordan cried and wanted me. Isn't it amazing what few day can do? I felt so bad for the nanny but it made me feel good that Jordan recognized her parents. We have been so blessed with this little girl we can already see she fits in our family. We cannot wait to be together with our kiddos at home. They are getting ready for Easter with grandma and grandpa (save some candy for us).And as you can see I did get "some' coffee. We are leaving tomorrow night.!

Ado(RED) - Friday

Thurday - Lion Zoo

After lunch we visited the Lion Zoo we heard so much about. It was more of a cultural experience. I am sure animal rights people wouldn't be very happy about this place. We did get to see the lions and I am surprised the pictures turned out so well. They also had some monkeys, ducks, and bunnies. There were some rides for kids as well but Jordan was too small for that.About taking pictures many places will not allow you to do so. First you have to ask permission and most of the time when I took pictures of people they asked for money. Bebi told me give them 10 birr and I thought that was a lot (about $1) I did get some nice pictures of people but I had to pay for that. I do have a lot of pictures of flowers.For dinner we went to the New York New York restaurant. I wanted to mentioned because we did not like it. This is not a restaurant for little children or a big group of people. It was too crowded and hot and they had loud music. Food was ok but since it takes a long time to eat anywhere in Ethiopia we were ready to head back to the hotel before the food even arrived. I was looking forward to a good night sleep. Jordan is doing great getting more and more comfortable with us. She smiles each time she sees us. She doesn't like to be left alone in the room. I cannot wait to get her on a normal schedule when we get home. She does great in her baby Bjorn that I love. I wasn't so sure about it since she is much older then we were planning on. However, she doesn't weigh as much as my other kids did at her age. I carry her in the baby Bjorn most of the time. I do not have great back but I have no problems with it. I know most of you love the Ergo carrier but since it was expensive and I could find a used baby Bjorn much cheaper that is what I got and it works great. Sam, Nate and Emma we hope you like the lions. They did try to eat us but we ran very fast back to the hotel :) We miss you and are looking forward seeing you on Sunday.

Thursday - Kids Care

We are alive. After a rough night for me (I spent the night in the bathroom and did not get a good night sleep) we headed to the Kids Care orphanage. That is the orphanage where Jordan is from and Duni's mom runs it. She is the one in the picture with all of us. I felt much better in the morning after my tummy issues. However, I was very tired from lack of sleep. Do not get salads here! They sure do taste good but it was not wort it. Everybody who ordered a salad at the Viewtop restaurant got sick (except one person). Salads will have to wait till we get back to the states.It was great to visit Kids Care. There are currently 48 children. Little babies all the way to older kids. We got to see where Jordan used to sleep. We could tell that this orphanage is run very well and they have most of the stuff they need. They do have a fundraiser so we got some t-shirts from them for the boys. We also had our first coffee ceremony. I was looking forward to this however, since my stomach was empty I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked to.