2nd Gotcha Day!!

Last week we celebrated 2 years as a family!! It was wonderful getting to spend the day telling the boys about our first time meeting and recalling some wonderful memories over these past two years.  These have been two of the most humbling and rewarding years of our life!  Parenting sure is not an easy task but there is such a joy that comes from raising and watching your children grow and learn what it is to walk in His ways.  We are so thankful to the Lord that we get to be E & N Daddy and Mommy!!

As most of my days recently are spent lying on my side, my time outside is limited, but for this special day I stored up my upright time and requested of my boys that we go outside and take some Gotcha Day pictures.  All three of them were very willing to accommodate!!  We followed with a Mexican fiesta at the request of the boys.  I was certain they would ask for chicken nuggets or pizza but was pleasantly surprised that they asked for the "Mexican Place".  Since we have only been here a few weeks they haven't learned the name of the local Mexican restaurant.:)   After dinner the boys ask if we could go outside and look at the stars and moon; although, we could not find either that night, we did enjoy some yummy cookies and cream ice cream.

what a handsome little man.

Why yes I am three!!

Our last Gotcha day as a family of 4!!

Daddy love

Squeezing my Sugar

Wanting to capture the boys together with their buddy's.

Lulu has been a favorite of our boys since the boys became official US citizens, it was a gift from the court :)

Tigger is a new friend given to them by their best buddy Mason.

26 weeks.
Praising the Lord for each week that passes.



lately.

We are away from home, living in another country and I am currently on bed rest so life for our family of four has been a lot of transition lately.  For the past two weeks, we have all been living in one room and though we enjoy quality time together we are thankful to now be in a very comfortable apartment.  Chris has been doing a fabulous job trying to keep the boys busy although he is having to do a lot of it on his own.  It has been a little more difficult as it is the rainy season around here, so it has meant a lot of indoor time. Here is what the boys have been up to:

Our boys sure do like to travel

Pool time.

I have been impressed by his skills to watch the boys as I could only sit and watch,

wishing I was enjoying some pool time with my boys.

.

Buddy time.

 These are two of the boys new friends.  We have been friends with their parents for five years now.  We just happen to be in the same place waiting for our baby's to be born. I love getting to see our children play together!! We couldn't have planned it better ourselves (except we are missing the Rivers:() to have some of our favorite people here with us during this time. It has been such a joy to spend quality time with them as we haven't had this opportunity in years.

Chill time.



Nehemiah is a little fish these days.

 So fun to see him trying something new.



Below is a series of events that happened within minutes.  This little boy can't get enough of football time with Daddy.  Here is just a taste of some of his mad skills.

Running a pass route

Working his defensive back skills

The Quarterback. 

He just happens to be an incredible QB like his daddy.

Ezekiel often says that Daddy and him are QB's and Nime is a runningback.

Coach Daddy has been working on his follow through

So close.

We immediately commented that he needed to keep his eye on the ball.

I believe he caught the next one!! :)

Snack time.
This little boy keeps us laughing

He has found his nitch in kicking

Cuddle time.

I love how he still will just sit and cuddle with us...our sweet baby boy.

Reading time.
When I saw him sitting him here looking so big I could have cried...

growing up so fast and is truly a three year old in every way.

We are here waiting for Salome to hopefully take her sweet little time to arrive, as well as waiting to hear anyday about going to get Tesfay and Yohannes to bring them "HOME"!! Tomorrow we celebrate two years of being together as a family of four!!  Life is about to change for our family, but we simply can't wait to welcome the next three into our family. 

Praising the Lord for His mighty works...His ways are so much higher and greater than anything we could have ever imagined for ourselves. My heart is resting tonight in the fact that He goes before us and prepares our path for each step in the journey.

i think i will just summarize...

There is quite a bit going on in our life right now and since things are fresh and unknown right now, I have decided to summarize and instead of a long tale of our life, just show some pictures from the past few weeks.

This week we left our home for another Asian country to wait for the arrival of our sweet Salome.  I have been having some complications and we were told that for our baby we needed to leave early. As we were packing up, to prepare to be away from our home for over four months, I felt my baby girl kicking away and thought just how unaware she is of all that we were doing for her sake.  How are Father is the same, working on our behalf even when we are unaware, loving us with His eternal perfect love even during those times of weakness. 

Yesterday. Chris Grandpa Tom unexpectedly passed away.  Our hearts are hurting and resting on our God who truly fills our hearts with a peace that can not be understood, but boy will we miss him.  This is our 3 grandparent that we have lost since living overseas...it is so difficult being away from our loved ones at this time and not having the privilege to say those final goodbyes. 

Ezekiel Biniyam is the big 3!!
He has such a tender heart, is a worshipper, loves to serve others, a hard worker and an incredible hugger.
We love our Sugar Dumpling!

Keeping up the tradition
Since I was little, and even to the present, whenever I am at my parents house my Mom will
always call me over when the mashed potatoes, (the best i have ever tasted) are ready to be tasted.  Even now that
we are overseas, she says she still does that in my absence...I am loved.



A trip to the pandas when Grammy was in town
My growing belly at 22 weeks



The three of us were wiped out.
It was about the only activity I have done in weeks so I used up a lot of energy that day.



Saying goodbye for the summer. 
Oh, how we miss these guys



A benefit to being in a big city...a very nice pool we could go to on the 4th!

Happy 8th Anniversary to us.
Thanks to Grammy we enjoyed a night away.
How refreshing and special to enjoy some quality time with my hubs.
My love. My best friend. My partner. My co-worker.

I could stare at these faces all day



Male bonding time



Enjoying some Mexican food with Grammy
We miss her so much already!!



Choosing not to worry...

These days I can tend to feel a little overwhelmed at life.  Life is changing very quickly for our family of four.  We love our life in EA and are completely confident that this is where we are to be, even as our family adds three more, but at times, stress and busyness of life and difference of culture, can really challenge me to keep my flesh from spilling out. In the middle of the night last night I was reminded by my Father to stay in constant communion with Him...to satisfy my craving for His Word and to communicate all through the day.

As I was washing dishes today some unknowns came to mind:

• Where/When I will deliver?
• When we will get to bring home our Tesfay and Yohannes?
• Where we will live after we come home from the birth of the baby?
• Will my placenta previa change in the next few weeks? C-section/natural?
• Will I be done with full time language study in the next few months?
• What will it be like when we add 3 children to our family within a matter of weeks.
• How will I home school 5 children?

_______________________________________________

Instead of the unknowns my heart chose TODAY, to think on these things and cast my worry on the Lord, who is constantly at work.  Trusting His ways and timing and not looking at my failures and inadequacies.  He is able to overcome and overwhelm us with His grace. I can rest my thoughts today on these things...

• Our water heater is now fixed and doesn't make the exploding noise every time we turn on our hot water, leaving me with fear that we might cause the whole apartment complex to be set on fire. 
• We are home from South Asia and things with sweet Salome are good.
• My boys had a good potty training day
• Seeing my boys having a blast together (and peacefully playing:) building a train track.
• The Lord is faithful and is fully capable to calm all of our storms
• Enjoying a yummy Korean dinner with dear friends.. Though it did make me miss all our Korean friends in TX!!
• A husband that I am passionately in love with after 8 years (celebrating our anniversary in only 3 days) of marriage and who has been taking care of us with such a loving, patient heart as I was on bed rest last week and still needing to take things a little slower.
• Loving family and friends who prayed and cared for us over the miles last week when I was having pregnancy issues.
• The joy of having a little life grow within me, 
• Tesfay and Yohannes will come home soon.
• Grammy is coming TOMORROW!! We can't wait to see her and enjoy some much needed quality time with her.
• Enjoying a family walk tonight
• Sitting on the couch and chatting with my hubs about random things while we ate ice cream bars.
• Smiles, hugs and giggles from my two boys.

I am so thankful...He is my peace...I just must choose that path rather than the path of doubt and fear!!

Couldn't have a post without pictures of all my boys.  Salome will be featured in the next post :)

Our boys sure love their Dad!!

All 7 of us

WE PASSED!

Meet our Sons. 

Yohannes and Tesfay

I just love this picture of our boy's that was taken last September. 

It was quite amazing that we passed court.  I believe about half of cases now don't pass the first time, also we were missing a document that we thought was needed for court.  Even with our small faith the Father was gracious and gave us favor with the judge.

 The first picture with Daddy.

They had a blast getting to know each other...

Much more to share about that later on.

The other four.

Life continues to be busy as we wait for T and Y to come home and Baby J to arrive.  At this point we are hoping the boys will be home in August but we won't know for certain until about a week before we are able to travel. I am at 19 weeks so next week we head to the doctor to see if Baby J is a girl or boy.  We had intended not to find out, but at this point one less surprise seems very comforting to this heart.  Either way we are blessed!

On his way...

He has only been gone a few hours and I already miss him MUCHO!! 

Chris is on his way right now to Ethiopia to meet our boys!  The plan was for me to be his travel companion so we could meet our big boys together, this is not how things have worked out.  You see, it was really important for us to meet them together as they are older and sure can understand a whole so much.  Also, when we adopted Ezekiel and Nehemiah almost two years ago, we were not able to meet them at the same time, it was pretty disappointing.    I am already beginning to pray that he will be there when baby #5 is born.  There is a chance he could be back in Ethiopia picking up our boys at that time. I have chosen not to worry about this and place this request at the feet of my gracious Father.

I am not traveling this time due to the recommendation from our doctors because I am only barely in my second trimester and my placenta is in the wrong place  Honestly, it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but as a mother there are many times when the protection and good of your child must come before your plans.  I had big plans.  I was going to visit all four of our boys hometowns and make any connections possible...I was going to spend a significant amount of time loving on some orphans and seeing with my own eyes Ethiopia and a ministry that is so dear to our hearts.  Of course the most meaningful aspect of the trip would have been meeting our sons  after ELEVEN months of hard waiting.  The Lord's ways are sovereign and good...so in this we must trust as we walk through this stretching season.

So this week it will be my little boys and me enjoying some quality time...and waiting for an email from Chris, hopefully with pictures, telling us about his first moments with T & Y.  I am so excited! Yes, I am jumping for joy...praying earnestly for my husband who will be meeting his 7 and 5 year old sons for the first time. His suitcase was packed with balls and lots of other activities that should help begin the bonding process.  I am also praying for T & Y who have been through so so much these past few years.  How thankful I am that the Lord is the one who heals the brokenhearted and pours out His unfailing love on all His children.

Yesterday, we found out that my family's hometown was devastated by a horrible tornado.  I want to be there helping...serving those who are living with such grief and loss.  Instead, I am here in Asia with my prayers and a heart of sadness for so many.  My heart is so overwhelmed with thankfulness that my granddad and many other loved ones are safe. 

I am pretty sure our little Avocado (that's the baby's size this week :) knows this is an important week as I have experienced a wide range of emotions.  I went to the doctor last week and the doctor checked the heartbeat and said our little one is a mover. We are so blessed!!

We would so appreciate your prayers this week especially for Chris and T & Y. 

I love being the Momma of boys.  Our days are never dull.  Their brotherly bond is deep and they enjoy doing everything together. Most mornings I wake up to hearing their sweet voices singing one of their favorite songs ("Jesus Loves Me", Blessed be the Name of the Lord or Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus) or going through their long list of memory verses. Somedays I will just stand outside their room and listen to their converstations.  i walked into their room a few weeks back to see them having their own little praise and worship time,  Zeke was playing the guitar and Nime was reading from his little Bible. Our baby boys are growing up so quickly.

This is a blog in pictures about the many things we might do in a week...those things that are supervised and those that are not :)

Visiting the Panda's was a favortie for Nime. 
He wants to take Bamboo everywhere!

the boys trying to help Bamboo climb a tree



Some kind of new stretching exercise!



On this day, they got in their closet and decided to
 wear their Ethiopian outfits. Seeing them dance
 around to Ethiopian music is just the most
precious sight. I love that they are beginning
 to appreciate their heritage.



A bowl of rice with a few objects to search for is all
my boys need for entertainment.



On this morning I helped the boys make a tent, they really enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed getting to see some of the Debate.  By the end of it, the boys knew
which ones to cheer for...although I believe they were rooting for
Herman by the end of it.



They got to enjoy some brother time while Daddy and Mommy
enjoyed a date just a few feet away.



He is getting into everything these days.
I tried to explain to him on this day that Lil Buddy
does not need to use Carol's Daughterr that just the cheap
stuff will work for him :)



Nime getting into the Carol's daughter again!

I think its a little hard for a two year old

to understand that Carol's Daughter does not deliver

to our house here in Asia. So thankful Mimi

keeps us supplied.