Cute Pictures from May

I just had to share these adorable May pictures. I am so blessed to have such an incredible family. I do not know what I did to deserve such a special life.

EASTER!

The next day was Easter!! The kids all got presents from the bunny (phew! We were all good). And we went to church in our Easter duds. Aren't they soooo cute?!

Getting loaded to go to church, lupus reared its ugly head again and I subluxated my hip (threw it out) and tumbled out of the van. I was in so much pain, I had to be carried out of church after sacrament meeting and spent the rest of the day high on pain killers. This was really bad timing since I was hosting the family Easter party at my house! I am afraid I was not the best hostess.

I think everyone had a good time despite all of it. We had an egg hunt for the kids and one for the adults as well. The kids eggs had candy as usual but the adults had cards and we played for prizes. I was so out of it, I won nothing though. Oh well!

It was a big and fun weekend overall. Plenty of food, friends and family. What more could one ask for? Ok, maybe joints that stayed where they are supposed to.

Teddy is Ours for Eternity!

Teddy was blessed and sealed to our family Easter weekend. It was the perfect way to celebrate Christ's life.

Teddy was sealed to us in the Bountiful temple. All the kids looked adorable in their new white clothing. We were practically celebrities at the temple with everyone wanting to talk with us and turning to watch the seven angels reverently passing through the halls. We had a wonderful sealer and all the kids behaved perfectly. The spirit was strong and I didn't bawl too much.

There is simply nothing better on this earth then to have a dear family member sealed to you. There is no better place to be with your family then in the temple. I really beleive that us adoptive families are the lucky ones because we get to spend time with our young families in the temple over and over again. What a treat! And Maya and Zachary are now old enough and have been enough times that they will remember for the rest of their lives the feelings of the temple. They already have a strong desire to return. I pray it remains with them.

It was the final peace to Teddy being one with our family. Your ours now buddy, for eternity.

Afterwards, we came back to our home for a reception. Many wonderful family and friends attended, including Kevin's parents and brother from out of town. We blessed Teddy at the reception and he did awsome. One thing that really stuck out to me was that the blessing declared that his life had been spared for a great purpose here on earth. I have no doubt.

Wow!! Long Time No Posts. Sorry!!

Wow, time sure flies when you are having fun. Sorry I haven't updated this in a long time. Lets see . . .

April was a super fun month.

Grandma and Grandpa came and stayed. They got rigged into babysitting while I took Clarissa to therapy everyday for 3 hours for a spring break therapy camp. We saw big progress and she got the harness permanently removed from her walker, yeah! We also got to do fun things, like visit the Hill Air Force Base Museum. I can't believe how many planes they have there! Pretty interesting stuff. I have included pictures of the kiddos taken there.

More April happenings in next post.

New Website

I now officially have a website for the classes I teach!

Check it out at

http://enlighteningadoption.blogspot.com/

I have decided, after three years of my classes being free, to start charging :(. I just get too many no shows without the financial commitment. For example, I had 40 people sign up for my last class and only 12 showed. It is sooooo hard to prepare when I do not know how many will be there. I hope no one stays away because of the small cost of the class!

Adoption Occurs in Nature Too!

Here are some super cute pictures of animal adoptions. There is a Tiger who adopted piglets as her own, a pig who adopted two baby tigers, a gorilla who adopted a kitten, a tortoise who adopted a hippo, and two separate adoptions involving mother dogs and baby tigers. Isn't love grand?

Interested in adoption?

Are you interested in adoption? Not sure where to start? Don't know how to find the children that desperately need homes? Don't think you can afford it?

I am teaching a class on April 19th in Utah that will answer all these questions! Email me to get more information!

Pokes!

Teddy had to go get some more tests done which meant more pokes. He is such a tough little guy!

What was super fun is that we ran into Emmanuel and Naomi's biological sisters at the lab and we all went out to lunch together! We are sooooo blessed to have them so close.

Cousins came to visit!

Mindy brought her kiddos down from WA to visit and meet Teddy! It was so fun having them. We can't wait for their Ethiopian to come home.

All Dressed Up!

Naomi got invited to a fancy Tea Party birthday party. She got all dolled up for the occasion. Isn't she GORGEOUS!

Maya and Zachary are NINE!

Instead of a birthday party this year, Maya decided that she wanted to deliver donations to the Animal Shelter and play with the animals. So her and I went and had a ball! We brought TONS of kitty liter and cat toys, walked the dogs and loved on the cats. She says that when she grows up she wants to be a foster mom to dogs who have behavioral problems so she can teach them how to be good pets and help them find their forever families. Got to love her don't yah?

Afterwards, we celebrated Zachary's birthday by going to the movies as a family (his birthday choice). What a fun filled day!

Disney was a BLAST!

Sorry I don't post much. I am just a crazy busy mom. But I had to tell you all about our Disney World vacation. Make A Wish is AWSOME. We got the celebrity treatment the entire time! We were given a 4 bedroom, 4 bath villa to stay in at Give Kids The World which in and of its self is an amazing amusment park. Everything is free. They have 2 restaurants (that will also deliver to your villa), an ice cream parlor, a movie theater, a super fun pool, a merry-go-round, a beauty parlor (for make-overs and sprayed on tatoos), a play area with fun toys, Disney characters that visit daily, shows, an all-free arcade, a train, and miniture golf. Wow! They also loaded up our kids with toys, clothes and CANDY.

Our passes got us to the front of every line at every park and we got free stroller rentals! They even have Wish lounges at the parks for the Wish kids to hang out and take a break in.

We spent 2 days at the Magic Kingdom. We loved seeing the Princesses and watching the fireworks. The rides were awsome and it was truly magical.

We spent 1 day at Hollywood Studios. We watched great live shows and the highlight was meeting Woody and Buzz.

We spent 1 day at SeaWorld. We got to feed the dolphins and the sting rays. We got to see all the shows and went on wild rides.

We spent 1 day at Gatorland. The kids loved holding the baby alligators and the huge snakes. They also loved watching the Gators jump out of the water to eat chickens, yum!

We spent 1 day hanging out at Give Kids the World.

One of the best trips of our lives!!

Some cool things:

All of the parks are INCREDIBLY handicap accessible. I had no idea. Clarissa went on all the rides and we only had to take her out of her wheelchair a couple of times. Most could accomodate the chair. How cool is that??

Clarissa loved seeing all the other kids at Give Kids the World in wheelchairs. It was awsome being in a place where our family was very "normal". Having a child with disabilities was no big deal there. No one talked about their kids disabilities or what issues they were dealing with. For one week, all the families got a break from disability which is soooo refreshing.

We were the biggest familiy Give Kids the World has ever had stay there! There was 10 in our party (including my wonderful mother who joined us).

Our T-shirts were a HUGE hit. Everywhere we went people were telling us how smart it was. Even the people working at Disney kept commenting that they had never seen anyone else do it, but everyone should! We didn't leave anyone in Florida so I guess they worked!

Teddy was a great trooper. He is such an all American kid! He LOVED all the rides, shaking hands with the Disney characters, watching the shows and being in the middle of the action. What a dramatically different life he is living now. What a blessing he is to our family!!

Disney World Here We Come!!!!!!!!

Thanks to the very generous folks at Make A Wish Foundation, our family is going to Disney World!!! We leave Feb 11th and are sooooooo beyond excited! We are getting an all-expense paid, every detail thought of, dream-come-true, trip of a lifetime. This organization is simply INCREDIBLE. My only concern is the all day flight to Florida with 7 kiddos. That is going to be interesting!

All of our kids are just the perfect age for this trip, too. Not that you can ever grow out of Disney World.

Please pray that we don't lose anyone :).

Faith in Education Restored

Well, I had great Parent Teacher Conferences this week and my faith in the public education system is restored. We have great plans in place for each of the kids, I heard all the amazing things that are happening that I didn't even know about and I was told all my children are wonderful. I felt a lot better after discussing all the issues and I hope that we will see some big improvements! Yeah!

Kelly

Special Ed Battles!!

Can I just say that I am soooooo sick and tired of fighting with the schools to get my kids the services they need?! Everytime need kids need anything (even things completely guarenteed in their IEP's) I have to fight tooth and nail to get them.

The latest is that it was agreed by the entire team at the end of 1st term that Zachary should be moved into Resource 3 hours a day. Now 2nd term has completed and it still has not happened. AAAAAHHH. I am having to call ANOTHER IEP meeting for this kid (4th one in 2 years) so it can be added and give me the leverage I need so he can finally get what they already agreed to give him.

I can't get the school to give Clarissa the joy stick practice she needs on the computer (so she can get ready for a power wheelchair) or the correct sippy cup (even though I have supplied them with three), or a proper chair, nor can I get the daily notes home I have requested. I complain, throw fits, get the district involved, but still I have to fight more.

Sorry, I am just way grumpy tonight about the whole thing. Add to that, Zachary got beat up in school today. If I didn't have such a terrible time with homework, I would be homeschooling by now. I just don't have the patience or endurance to pull it off.

On a happy note, my book is coming along! I have someone coming tonight to edit what I have so far. I am scared that she will say, "Give up now lady. You suck." But even if she does, I think I will finish it anyway. I really think it will be a good gift for my children one day. Being a best seller would not hurt my feelings either :).

Lupus victims banned from adopting

In a strange and sad turn of events, a bunch of countries (not the US) have banned international adoption by those diagnosed with Lupus. Good thing my kids cannot be recalled! Lupus has been added to a long list of other requirements adoptive parents have to meet. Breaks my heart when there are so many children without homes. It is hard for me to believe that children are better off in orphanages then with mothers like me (lupus and all).

Welcome Friends!

I joined Facebook finally, I am always the last to do anything cool. So I invited a bunch of old friends to my blog. Welcome! A quick catch-up on my life:

I am married to my perfect soul-mate. We have been married for 11 exciting years. He is the most patient, kind, easy-going and loving person I have ever met. He is also the best father I have ever seen! Kevin is the Director of Finance for a software company based out of Isreal and works from the home. Which I love!

I am mom to 7 wonderful children. 6 came to us via adoption (from Haiti, Cambodia and Ethiopia), 1 through birth. All came home to us with special needs, many of which have been overcome, some of which never will. But all my children are the best kids on earth! I have great children who are obediant, talented, sweet, kind and generous. My cup runneth over. My kids ages are 8, 8, 6, 5, 4, 4, 2. I am very fortunate to have been a stay at home mom the last 8 years.

After 11 years of living in WA, we have moved back to my home state. This is something I swore I would never do, but now that I have, I am loving it!

I look forward to catching up with everyone.

Kelly

Christmas Day Madness

We spent Christmas blissfully at home. I love simple Christmas' at home as a family. It was a day spent in PJ's eating candy and romping with new toys. It was a perfect Christmas. Everyone was happy and everything went smoothly. We needed a year like this after last year of spending Christmas at Primary Children's Hospital!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents home. The highlight was the Christmas pagent put on by the kids. Spectacular performance! We really try to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. What an amazing gift Heavenly Father gave us by sending us beloved Son!

Got to love Daddy!

When you have 7 kiddos, Daddy's lap is no longer sufficient. We have moved on to Daddy's body. I am so grateful I married Kevin. He is an awsome, incredible husband and father. I am very, very blessed.

Cute Pictures!

Look at what a cute boy I came home with! Teddy is doing awsome. It is like he has always been here. We are having typical two year old, push your button moments, but we are always having many, many sweet wonderful two year old moments that make it all worth it.

My little athlete

Here is a cute picture of Maya in her rollerblades. If you want to find Maya on any given day she is out front in her rollerblades, playing basketball, on her ripstick or on her skateboard. She is my natural athlete.

Naomi's Field Trip

Same place, different kiddo! This was definitely a hit for everyone.

Field Trip Fun!

I went on the Kindergarteners and the Preschoolers field trips in October. Funny thing is that they all went to the same pumpkin patch. But it was such a fun place I didn't mind going over and over. These are pictures from Allison and Emmanuel's Field Trip.

Halloween Catch-Up!

Can you tell I just downloaded my pictures from the last few months :)? Here are some cute photos from Halloween. We had a busy Halloween with lots of fun things to do. We carved pumpkins (ok I cheated this year and we used the Mr. Potatoe head type stick ins), we went to the school carnival, we went to a Halloween party at a friends and then Trick or Treating. Candy galore!

I love the fall. The best weather, beautiful leaves, great food and the chocolate I steal from the kids.

Playing Catch Up!

I am waaaaaay behind. Sorry! Catch up time.

Here are pictures from Clarissa's 4th birthday. We had a family party with cousins, siblings and grandparents. Everyone had a great time. I think they loved dancing the best. I cannot believe that she is now 4. How time flies.

What can you buy for $1200 these days?

What can you buy for $1200 these days? Well I found out today!

4 root canals
5 caps
4 pulled teeth
tons and tons of sutures

Poor Teddy! We did his oral surgery today and this is what he had done. Our portion of the bill was $1200. The poor kid lost his 4 front top teeth and had tons of work done on the other teeth. The orphanage props bottles to get babies to sleep and it destroyed his teeth. He is only 2 so it will be YEARS until they grow back in.

Kelly

Pictures Added and Adjustments Going Great

The pictures have been added from our trip to Ethiopia. Sorry they are a bit confusing. The blog will only let me put 5 pictures per post and I cannot figure out how to change the order of my posts, so you have to jump around to see them all. I posted as much as I could to the original post then added new posts to fit the rest I wanted to show. If anyone knows how to change the order of posts, let me know and I will clean up the mess!

Teddy and the family are doing awsome!! I definitely get lots of kisses from him now. The children are still totally absorbed by him but he is now getting more space. Kevin and I are in love. It is so fun to have a two year old running around again. We have been blessed by another amazing child. I do not know how I get all the best ones, but I do!

Kelly

More Teddy at the Ritmo Pictures

Here are pictures I could not fit in the post below. They feature Teddy and the Ritmo Guest House.

The tub is full of water because we ran out of water and we were storing it there. Teddy loved flipping the light switch!

Market in Lalibela

These pictures are of the incredible market in Lalibela.

Kelly