Just the Cutest!!!!!!

Ok, you have got to check this out! It is video of a little boy from Ethiopia that is coming home with his new adoptive family. He cracks me up! It reminds me soooooo much of how Emmanuel was when he first came home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re026MmrDz8

Kelly

Welcome to Our Blog!

A big welcome to all of our family members we invited to our blog today. If you just got here, STOP READING and scroll down to the bottom. Read the very last post at the bottom of the page first and work your way up so you are not totally confused.

If you have already read all the posts up to this point, wonderful! When you get over the shock, we hope that you are as excited as we are. If you would like to see pictures of Teddy, please email us privately and we will send you some (an invite to family and close friends only).

We love you all dearly. We encourage you to pray about Teddy. We know that we are being led by the Lord to this wonderful little boy. And though we cannot always understand His ways, we know that when we follow Him, things always seem to work out wonderful in the end.

Kelly

Happy Kids

Wow! Talk about a good reaction. We video taped telling the kids about Teddy and I am glad we did. They are sooooo excited!! They screamed, jumped up and down and well, it was better then Christmas morning. Zachary even started to cry he was so overwelmed with joy. They have all been on cloud 9 ever since. This means a lot to me since they are going to have to share with yet another child, and yet they are thrilled.

All this morning they individually keep coming up to me and saying, "I am so excited about my new brother!"

I wish the whole world could share their perspective and enthusiasum. It has been so fun to share the good news with them.

Kelly

Out of the mouth of babes!

All the kids keep coming to us and telling us that we are supposed to adopt another brother. They are frustrated with us that we are "not listening to Jesus". We have put off telling them about Teddy because the wait during the adoption process is always so hard on them. We have been very careful to make sure they did not overhear anything or stumble across anything that would make them suspect we were adopting again.

Well this morning, my 8 year old daughter came to me with much earnest and insisted that she had something to say and I needed to listen. She then told me that last night she prayed to Heavenly Father to ask about her new brother. She said that Heavenly Father told her that she would be getting a new brother from Africa around Christmas time. With all seriousness, she looked me in the eyes and said, "I know this is true! You need to pray about this." I warmly told her that I already had and that I would tell her the answer later. She got a big grin and that seemed to satisfy her.

Looks like we need to have a family meeting tonight! Our kids are feeling so much anxiety about this anyway, we might as well bring them into the loop. I love having inspired children!!! I just hope that they keep this innocent obediance to God the rest of their lives.

Once our children know, the whole world is going to know. So I guess it is also time to tell the extended family. I hope that we recieved the title of insanely nuts a long time ago so this won't be too shocking for anyone. I have really been enjoying this adoption without any negativity from family members. I also thought it was good to spare them the rollercoaster ride that can be so hard on everyone. It takes courage to open this pandoras box when I know there are many out there who do not share our values. I completely understand why people would think we are crazy. Frankly, before my family became what it is, I thought families like ours were crazy too. Now I know though that when you follow God's plan for you, you will find true happiness, life fulfillment and purpose. I am happy, I wouldn't trade lives with anyone, and that is good enough for me.

Teddy, I am so grateful that I get to be your mother!! You must be a truly special boy because God obviously has a special plan for you.

Teddy's Measurements

I got Teddy's latest measurements in today. He is a tall super skinny kid!

Weight: 11 km (5%)
Height: 91 cm (75%)
Head Circum: 49 cm (45%)

I am surprised it came back that tall. He must have gone through a growth spurt. I am so happy that he is growing. All my kids have come home way tiny for their age.

Kelly

My Cowpokes!

My family recently went horseback riding together in CO. I just had to share this cute picture of my cowpokes waiting to be put on the horses.

Sad Day :(

Today is a sad day for our family. We found out that we will for sure not make it through the courts before they close for the season. So our court date for our son probably won't be until the end of October. That adds 3 months to our process.
Major, major bummer.

This has only confirmed to me that it was a good idea not to tell our children and our families about the adoption yet. There is no reason to subject them to this emotional rollercoaster that they have no control over.

I wish there was some way for me to adopt without riding the rollercoaster.

Our son has major ear infections with puss draining out. Poor guy. I wish I was there to comfort him.

Sorry buddy, if it was up to me, you would be home yesterday. The world is not an easy place.

Kelly