Merry Christmas!

more from Ethiopia

Today was a very emotionally draining day! We saw God do amazing things. I know my friends and family are reading to see what I am doing but it has been very difficult to process everything I am experiencing. And it is also 2:19am here in Addis and I need to be up before six. So, here is the short version. Every place we have visited has had one thing in common. When we ask them what is your greatest need they all say food. People are really starving here. And it isn't just in the city or just in the country side. It is everywhere!
Please pray for our team as we seek to listen to the Spirit and follow His plan.

Sorry I haven't had a chance to blog but our schedule has been very busy. We have visited two Orphanages since we have been here in Ethiopia.  Yesterday we traveled 11 hours to a city named Kombolcha.The ride was unbelievable.  The roads were way worse than PA!  And our driver had to dodge people,other vehicles, sheep cpws and camels! But Ethiopia is so beautiful!
  At the orphanage we meet 125 orphans who have very little.  But their love was overflowing.  They have such a strong desire to love and be loved.  Imagine not having a mom and dad to give hugs and kisses and praises.  Thats what we did all morning. Loved on these little ones.  To see a child's whole being light up from a simple," Good job" on an art project.There is so much to right and a line for the dial up internet so I must be brief.
Please contiue to pray for myself and the team. For direction and the ability to love more and more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm testing to see if I remember how to post from my email because I will not have access to blogger in Ethiopia.  But I should still be able to post via email.
I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!  Last year at this time life was very different.  We are so thankful to God to have our Yabby home!  She is learning so many new things and having so many new experiences. Like today when she announced in shock at my sister's house, "Aunt Mandi has a dead turkey in her basement!"

In less than two weeks I will be back in Ethiopia. God has been doing some amazing things in my life and in the lives of the other members of the team I am going with. He is changing us. Along with the good comes the attacks. Sickness, sin and all the distractions that keep us from our one true purpose... to love God!
My back is starting to tighten up from sitting on the floor organizing donated underwear. I've had back problems for years...but it hasn't done this in over a year. Temptations to sin are being whispered in my ear. To go back to the ways of thinking that God has healed and forgiven. They are all distractions to keep me from loving and responding to the Spirit of the Living God. To have faith and listen to His leading. It has been a life long struggle of mine. Do I do what I want or do I do what He wants me to do. I don't know why I insist on taking the lead.
It is like leading in a ballroom dance when your partner is a professional. Taking over the dance and making it look a mess. With my two left feet I pull in this direction and then that direction, then I stumble over my feet then His. But when I relax into His arms and let Him sweep me over the floor it is beautiful. It is His footwork and grace that makes the dance.
My prayer is that we can dance all the days of our lives. To relax in the arms of our Father and coopperate in the dance.

Since Yabsira has been home we have learned so much about Ethiopia and her life there. If it wasn't for our daughter we would still think that the "We are the World" pictures and videos we saw in the 80's just simply COULDN'T be happening NOW. But it is. The details of my daughter's life are her's, and her's to tell. But what I will tell is that it is common to many people, especially children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to live in conditions that are nothing like the ones I live in. Many do not have bathrooms, running water, electricity or even kitchens in their homes.(Over 80% of Addis Ababa is slums) Three meals a day(or even one) and a second set of clothes and shoes that you don't have to share can be a luxury.
When I asked my daughter for ideas of items to bring with me for the children in Ethiopia our conversation went like this.
"So, Yab. Before you went to the Orphanage, if there was one thing you could have that you didn't have what would it be?"
She stopped playing with her happy meal toy and looked right in my eyes.
"A Mommy and Daddy."
Whoa, once again a response I wasn't expecting. I felt tears well up in my eyes. Out of all the things in the world that she could have said the thing that was most important was a Mommy and Daddy.
16.2 million children are orphans in this world. Think about what that means, really think about. If you are a parent start thinking about what you do for your child. Hugs and kisses, reading stories, tucking them in bed at night, being there if they have a bad dream, feeding them, disciplining them the list could go on and on. If you are a child(and we all are)think about what a Mommy and Daddy is. Someone who loves you even if you throw up on them. Someone who lays in bed with you at night listening to all of life's tough questions and the silly ones too.Loving and being loved. The smell of your mother as she puts her arms around you in a hug. You feel relaxed and safe. But 16.2 million children grow up with out that kind of love.
So, what can we do? God has called us all to take care of the orphans and widows but not all the same way. To some He says,"This orphan is no longer an orphan, she is your daughter." To others He says take care of my children by sponsoring a child in Sierra Leone to go to school,have clothes and a meal. And to others He says, "GO!" be my hands and feet in Haiti, love on my little ones. The women of my church are collecting underwear, the Jr. highers, toothbrushes. Nothing is too small or too big. You would not even imagine how something as small as a toothbrush can make such a big difference in the life of a child. For others they are donating directly to Children's Hope chest for our specific trip to meet the immediate needs of the children and Care Centers and Orphanages we will be visiting. If you would like to do this please go to http://www.hopechest.org/ and click on GIVE and please put "Ethiopia Vision Trip" in the notes section to make a tax deductible donation.
Our team leaves in just over a month to answer the call that God has given us. Could you please pray for us so that we may be HIS hands and feet to all that we meet in Ethiopia.

"This is the best day ever!"

Yabsira has been in love with the fall! The cool weather, the fire pit, pumpkins, "wollyworms", and especially the trees with their bright beautiful colors.
This morning before church we looked out the window and saw the leaves falling off the trees and I made the statement that after lunch we could jump in the leaves. Yabby made a squely girly noise.
It is so much fun because things like this are firsts for Yabsira. And what is really fun is that her firsts she can express with the words of a six year old not a small child that doesn't have the vocabulary yet.
So I was wondering what she thought jumping in the leaves was.
"Mommy, Do we climb in the branches and jump?"
"No, we rake them into a big pile and jump in them."
"Mommy, rake?"
"I'll show you after lunch."
After lunch came. And just like sled riding she got the hang of it quick. After a while she decided the pile of leaves wasn't big enough and made it her mission to hand pick every leave off the tree. She would be still out there working on it now if we didn't spot her new pet, a cute fuzzy wollyworm. The whole afternoon she had the biggest smile on her face and she kept saying "Mommy, this is the best day ever!"

My Buddy is 10!

Today my buddy turns 10!
Happy Birthday, Joel!
Our son has been gifted with the ability to love more, laugh more, notice more then anyone I know. So many times we cannot believe God trusted us with such a blessing!

DIVE!

I have been praying,"Holy Spirit, You are going to have to have to prove it to me that you want me to go to Ethiopia in a BIG way!"
As if my daughter coming from a place where she went long stretches of days without food wasn't enough!! He spoke through children, song, scripture, friends, websites and a very generous family that has given me the exact amount of money needed for the trip! I am so blessed and unworthy of the attention the Spirit has given me.
So, here I go "I'm divin in!!!" I will be going back to Ethiopia at the end of November. The trip will be a way to see how we can get involved in God's plan for loving orphans in Ethiopia.
Off go my water wings and pop goes the baby pool!

"Deep water faith in the shallow end."

When your heart breaks...really breaks, you can never forget. It is actually still in pieces. When we left to bring our daughter home from a third world country I had no idea what I would experience. Even before we got there I knew that God wanted me to do more.
It would seem then that it would be a no brainier that when given the opportunity to go back to Ethiopia that I would jump at the chance! But I haven't. I hate the word "but" it is full of meaning that I hate. For me in this case it means distrust in the God of the universe that isn't short on protection, cash or anything else needed for His will to happen. But(Ahh, I'm using that word again!) I am afraid to dive in, to get out of the boat. At least I think that is why I can't commit to the trip. I'm afraid of how God will change me through it. It is hard when you are a selfish person like I am to let go of that behavior.
I was in the car with our three children last week(before they knew I was considering going back to ET)and I asked them"If we could do anything to help the people in ET what would it be?" Wow, I wasn't ready for their answers. Yabby told them about people living on the streets and as she told them"even babies sleep on the streets." The other two were flabbergasted! The talked about ways they could help,and they dreamed big. Then Isabelle said to me,"Mommy, You should get a team of people and go there and find out what they need and then come back and help them."
I remember thinking, Did she really say that?!
The trip I was asked to go on is exactly that! It is a vision trip through Children's Hope Chest.
"Deep water faith in the shallow end." That is from a song that the Holy Spirit is
using to change me. I need to get out of the boat, dive in without water wings! It is easy to have faith standing on the edge of a blow up baby pool.God is asking me to take off the water wings and dive in, dive in deep. Deep into the unknown and much bigger than a baby pool.
Is God asking you to dive deep? I know I am not alone out here! What is your baby pool. Where is that comfortable place that you feel restless in?

We are FAMILY!

Yes, this is a shirt from 1979!lol Wishful thinking for 2009!

I friend of mine just recently wrote in her blog that "they didn't feel like a family yet." I want to thank her for saying that. So many times in and out of the adoption community we want things to look like everything is going perfect! But the reality is that we as adoptive families face many challenges that seem like any other challenges that any family would face but what in fact seems to be "typical" isn't always "typical."
Right now we are stuck in the " It is not as tough as it was but it is not as good as it is going to get." We are in between "We are Family!"(sing it Pirate fans!!) to "When are we going to feel like family?" So, I have figured out that family "feels" different in different stages of our family. Every time we have added someone to our family, the idea of what our family feels like has changed. As my friend, Candy has put it, we have a "new normal." So, I think we are on the verge of it(meaning our new normal). But that means giving up the old normal. We cannot put new wine in old wine skins as God says it. But we have been trying to do just that, which has made this transition a lot harder than it needs to be.
Some people have said(even myself at one point) that everything you have been experiencing would have happened if you would have added another biological child. Yes and No! Typical isn't always typical. We added a 6 year old baby to our family. She came with a past and a present and she was living with both. And then we come along and give her a promise of a future in Christ. That is a lot for a family to deal with. That is a lot for a little girl to deal with.
So right now we are singing "We are Family!" It doesn't sound really pretty, But in God's grace we WILL get there.

Family Pictures

All summer we TRIED to have our family picture taken. And every time we tried to get our outside picture taken it rained. So finally we had a partly cloudy day so that we could get it in!
Candace and Lori at Magic Moments Photography have been photographing our family for a long time. http://www.magicmomentsstudio.com We have a tradition that on your 5th birthday the kids have a big solo portrait done. So since Yabsira turned 6 shortly after she arrived home, she had her 6 year old portrait done.

Referral-versary!

One year ago today at 1:00 we saw a picture of our little Yabsira for the first time and today at 1:00 we will be taking her to kindergarten for the first time.

Soooo much has changed in one years time. From a tiny room in an orphange full of children yet very much alone to a home in a far off land where she will never be alone!

Thank you Lord for Yabsira!
Thank you for replacing her sad face
to one full of joy and excitement!
Thank you for giving her "a hope and a future."(Jer 29:11)

I've been thinking...

I had to post a picture.: The girls were flower girls in our friends wedding!

I haven't posted in awhile. I've been thinking about how I would bring all of my thoughts together. And I still don't think I have a grasp on exactly how to communicate what I (and my family)have been going through since the beginning of our adoption process. It would pretty much take at book.
So these are some of my feelings that I will reluctantly gush out on the internet.
Deep breathe...hear I go...
So, from the beginning we ALL knew it was a God thing that we adopt. In the past I have said "There is someone missing from our family." I knew that when we saw the face of OUR child that she was OURS. God made it so. In my mind we were adopting OUR child. God put us together. He would give us a child just like us,right? Wrong. For some reason I thought that when God said here is your little girl that it meant that she would naturally be infused with our families genes or always had a small bit of them tucked away inside of her. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that is what I thought. But the truth is she is "like" another mother and father. That is the genetic truth.
So, how have we been working this out in our family? In the beginning this was tough, really tough. To be completely honest, I cried a lot. Her reactions and mannerisms were completely foreign to us just as much as ours were to her. Not only was there a language difference,cultural difference but also a family difference. What we were able to teach our other children from the beginning of their lives we had to start at 6 years of life with our youngest child. Our family rules, expectations and just the ways we do things. Weather the reactions of our biological children are nature or nurture (I think a little bit of both.), we can kind of predict what their reaction to something is going to be. Our son is a lot like his father and our daughter is a lot like me(yet they are still their own people). While I know that everyone has their own unique personalty despite the number of kids that are in a family(Thanks, Mandi. I've learned that from your precious kiddos:)). I wasn't expecting her to be who she is.
As you read on you will understand that my next statement is not a bad one. It has become clear to us in a much more vivid way that GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED NOT ALWAYS WHAT WE WANT. When we started this process we would have said boldly "We DO NOT have any expectations!"LOL!! But guess what? We had plenty of them. So, we have spent the better part of the last 7 months realizing that. Some of them have been right on and others have been dead wrong! But God has been loudly declaring that HE knows what we need. And we NEED Yabby! She has made us realize things about ourselves and our family that need to change. She has shown us that "Jesus can do anything!" She says it and lives it! She has been a huge testimony of those words to us! Personally, I have realized my flaws in parenting and myself. Wow, that part stinks. In order to become the people God has made us to be, Yabby NEEDS to be apart of our family.
So, it is seven months since our little fire cracker has come home. We are starting to see how she is "like us." In good and bad ways. And she even tells us she looks just like her big sister. So, maybe God did infuse some of our genes in her. Because in the words of Yabby,"Jesus can do any thing!"

Vacation

Over the 4th of July we went with my parents and sister's family on vacation! Yabby experienced a lot of new things! From fireworks to Maryland crabs!

So much to do, so little time!

Little Miss. Sassy at the beach with her big brother!

In the last two weeks...Our princess had a birthday, we had our 6 month post placement visit, went to the beach(of course without swim suits)and had VBS which all three kiddos went to and both Rob and I were counselors! Plus, the same week of VBS, Joel's team was in the baseball play-offs, Dad was coach-they came in third! Some how we fit in cleaning out the garage, which relaxes me. I know, I'm weird that way:)!

A big thank you to everyone who prayed for my sister! She is home after staying 3 nights in the hospital. Her recovery has been going slow, and with five little ones it seems even slower. But praise God her husband is on maternity leave:)

Asking for prayer

I mentioned in my last post that my sister, Mandi had her fifth baby last week. Yesterday she was admitted to the hospital and has two infections in her body and her heart rate isn't what it should be. She thought she would have to stay one night but they haven't been able to get things taken care of. Please pray for her and her husband ,Jason and all five of their children that Jason is on his own with.

two sisters,a baby and a wedding

This week will be one our family will soon not forget!
Early this week my "baby" sister had her fifth child! She now has 1 prince and 4 princesses!(ages 7,6,4,3 and a new born)She is a fantastic Mom! She manages to spend special time with each of her children and make them feel special.
At the end of the week my other sister was married! It was a really fun day! Yabby got her hair done and was thrilled. My entire family was involved in the wedding. I was a brides maid, the kids read scripture(Yes,even Yabby.She memorized "Love is patient." and Rob preformed the ceremony. My sister looked beautiful and now they are relaxing in Hawaii!

PS. Oops! Up until I saw our traveling buddies blogs announcing they have been home for 5 months I thought it had been 6 months. I'm losing track of time! So, ignore the post from a month ago when I said we were home for 5 months...it was actually 4! Which makes Yabsira's progress even more amazing!!

Who would have ever thought?

THEN....



AND NOW....

Can you believe it?! These two pictures are taken in the same place, just 13 years apart!


Today is our 13th Anniversary! In the short time we have been married our life has changed so much! It has been a wild ride with a lot of ups and downs. But there is no one in the whole world that I would rather ride this roller coaster with that my sweet husband. I am so blessed that God has let me live this life with him. Knowing Rob has changed my life and given me confidence to be the person God has made me to be. And if you ask him,that is all God and not him.(I love that about him!)
Our life has taken a lot of twists and turns. Thirteen years ago if you would have asked us we were going to be Youth pastors until we were 80 and then volunteer! Maybe have a few kids.(or not) I love that God has done the unexpected in our lives. That life would have been good but it wasn't the one that our creator has intended for us! Seminary and 3 children later,God has done much more than we could have created in our dreams of the future! We could never has predicted how God has changed us.

"Mommy, I do not want to talk Amharic."

Yesterday we went to a wonderful Ethiopian restaurant! Yabby was so happy! I really had to watch how much she ate because I learned from a previous experience that Yabby plus a lot of Ethiopian food equals puking girly in the car! The smells and food were so familiar. The cook (I'm not sure if he was the owner?) was so sweet, his hospitality made me long for Ethiopia. He sat and talked with us and came out a few times to see if everything was OK. He walked us down the street to our car carrying our left overs!(I can't believe we had left overs!)
Despite our wonderful time,Every time the cook would come out Yabsira would hide under the table. When he would leave she would come back out and she told me "Mommy, I do not want to talk Amharic." I told her that was fine. It was up to her.

Lately she hasn't wanted anyone to know she is Ethiopian. Her sister mentioned it to a waitress at dinner last week. Yabby pulled me aside and asked me to tell her sister not to tell people she is Ethiopian. She isn't crazy about her hair right now either. She wants straight hair like Mommy. And I tell her I want curly hair like Yabby!(I was a teenager in the 80's, It is in my blood to want big hair!) We tease that we should switch hair. So we put my hair on her head and look in the mirror and laugh.

Honestly, I knew this was coming. We look different and she is very aware of it. I know she loves Ethiopia, WE love Ethiopia. But that isn't the issue. Our genetics are different. And she wants so badly to look like us. So this is one of the many discussions we have had on the subject. We tell her how beautiful God made her and how creative He is. Yes, in some things we look different but in some ways we look the same. Like you have the same eye color as Daddy, Joel and I, And the shape of your eyes are like mine and Belle's. And I can only imagine how beautiful your Ethiopia Mommy was, I bet you look like her. Both of those things are helping. Bringing together her past and her present.
Our next discussion will be on how our insides are more important than our outsides. But right now the outsides matter to her. I praise God that He always meets us right where we are at.

A little funny story about our Princess!

A few weeks ago Belle came to her Dad looking pretty upset. He asked her what was wrong and she said heart broken,"Daddy, we missed Star Wars day!" Can you imagine if you realized you missed a holiday!(especially if you are a kid!) Of course Rob was a little confused. "What do you mean by "Star Wars Day?" he asked. "You know Daddy! May the 4th be with you!"
I'm just glad we caught that one before she started to explain that bit of American culture to her Ethiopian sister! Yabby already thinks we are a little wacky because a giant rabbit brings her a big basket full of candy!(What will these people think of next!!)

Busy Week

We had a busy week! We were "flocked" by our Youth Group. It was a fundraiser for there mission trip to St.Vincent this summer. Our kids thought it was so cool and I saw quite a few of our neighbors driving very slow in front of our house. "It's OK folks! It is just us,the crazies with Flamingos in our yard! And yes, they will go away very soon:)"
On Saturday we had my sister's bridal shower. It was a lot of fun. All of the nieces are in the wedding,5 including my two. (Plus the 2 nephews should prove to be an interesting wedding day!) The girls were a big help at the shower. They all had a job and did them well. Here are some of my favorite pictures!



And last but not least Mother's Day. We attended our new Family oriented service at church and it was a lot of fun. My heart filled when I saw my new daughter with her eyes closed and arms raised singing "Blessed be the Name" at the top of her voice. And the other two surrounded by the church family discussing who their family was in Christ. And my dear hubby preaching with his heart open wide. It was a great Mom's day! The picture at the top is of my and my girls hands. We got tattoos at church that said "Mom rocks". They where so cool.

PS I almost forgot some really exciting news! Tom Davis raised $12,500 to send formula to our Transitional Home in ET!!! Praise God! Many lives will be saved!

Honor Your Mother and give a child life!

We were wondering this Mother's day, what to get our mothers who have everything! In honor of our Mom's who give so much we are sending formula to Ethiopia. I had mentioned before we went to Ethiopia that there was a formula shortage. On some levels I understood that...but when I saw the results...It cut to the core! I saw babies lying in cribs with tiny little bodies with IVs hooked up to them. Other babies that weighted only 7lbs. and they were 8 or 9 months old! Then since we have been home our little one tells us about times when she had "very,very no food."
This gift will give life!

Just click the blog button of little Zoe on the top right hand of this page to find out how you can donate.

The money raised will go to THE very Transitional Home that Yabby was in! In the article below,our sweet family coordinator,Duni is quoted!



URGENT NEED: Forumla Needed for Malnourished Babies in Ethiopia

UPDATE: You've given $6,110 to send formula as of 10:30am on May 6. We can now send at least 200+ cans of formula! Keep it coming! We've got new blog buttons for you here.

Famine and poverty are increasing the rates of malnourished infant babies in Ethiopia. Children's HopeChest has worked with the America World Adoption Agency (AWAA) on projects in Ethiopia and Russia over the past five years. This request came to us from their transition home where they are receiving severely malnourished babies into their care. This month, in honor of mother's day, I want to raise $12,500 to provide specialized baby formula to this transition home for these malnourished babies.

To kick this off, a friend of Children's HopeChest has offered a matching gift for the first $500 we receive toward this project. [We met the match on day 1!]


Here's a view from the ground from Duni, an Ethiopian woman working for AWAA at their transitional home:

Even though I grew up in Ethiopia, I never knew just how badly babies suffered from malnutrition until I returned to Addis and started working at the AWAA office there. The children at our Transitional Home come from very remote areas. Their families are unable to feed themselves let alone their children and usually relinquish them to their local orphanage when it becomes evident their children will die if they don't.

It is hard to see malnourished babies, so tiny, with just skin and bones. I remember the first one I saw, we will call her Gracie. She looked like an old woman in a baby's body. She had big eyes that seemed so wise and testified to what they have seen in the short months Gracie has been alive.

That was a few months ago, since then we have admitted many more babies in such condition. And looking at Gracie today, I can't believe she is the same baby. I knew she was a beauty but it really came out once those cheeks filled up. She is still tiny but the pound she has gained in the past week has made a world of difference in her appearance.

I look at the others and feel the same way I first felt with Gracie, dejection and fear that she may never make it. The right type of formula for such babies is hard to come by. In fact any kind of formula is expensive and hard to come by. We have babies who need this today so we work tirelessly to get the best formula possible for malnourished babies shipped from the US.

It is not fair for a baby to have sad eyes like Gracie's or for a baby to cry out of hunger and not have that need met.

Worse yet, it is not fair for a baby to die because of malnutrition. And yet, that is what happens daily in Ethiopia. Today, I am praying for the babies lying still in their cribs. I am praying I will see them feed soon (they are now on feeding tubes). I am praying that their tiny lifeless legs will slowly fill with flesh and will wiggle and play like normal babies do.

Here's what we can do to help. CHC will raise $12,500 to purchase what is known in the U.S. as "Nutramigen" formula. This type of formula is necessary because traditional formula cannot be digested by malnourished infants.


You can participate by making a gift of any size. A gift of $30 will buy and ship one can of formula to the chidlren in need. Right now if you give $30 it will be doubled to $60! The first $500 we raise will be matched dollar-for-dollar. If we hit our goal, we can send 400 cans of formula to starving infants in Ethiopia.

Five months

We have been home with Yabby for 5 months now! Just about every medical problem is gone! For the first four months I think we were at one of the four doctor's office at least twice a week!
We are all amazed at Yabby's English! Her preschool teacher reported to us a couple of weeks ago that she loves to talk. Considering her big sister loves to talk too...our house is never quiet! Add in a loud big brother and a Dad with a big voice and well, you get the picture. Can you imagine dinner time at our house?
I think we are starting to get into the groove of the new normal. Everyone one has adjusted pretty well. Considering Yabby was pretty much an only child and Isabelle was the baby. We have had to help them find their new places. We are still working on it but things have seemed to calm down. So the adventure continues...

New Life

My mother-in-law looked over at Yabby sitting on her Daddy's lap at church and she looked like a princess. The drastic contrast from the first picture we have of her has not been forgotten. Her sad little face and receding hair line. It is amazing how a lot of love and good nutrition can change things.
On Good Friday as I was putting her to bed she started with a long list of "Why" questions.(We are in the "why" stage right now) "Mommy, Why Adam and Eve eat apple? It yucky and dirty?" "Mommy, Why Jesus die on cross? I die instead of Jesus!" That was just the beginning! Just then God spoke to my heart. This is part of why you are her Mommy-You are to help her with these questions. This is why she is in your family. I often struggle with why our family and not another. I'm not sure if I have the insight or knowledge to be her mother. God gives me those moments and reassures me that it WILL be OK and that HE will give me what I need to be her Mommy. She is a very complicated little girl with a complicated past.But I have learned so much from her. If only we could have the compassion of Christ that we would feel so passionately like Yabsira that it would make us so sad that we would want to take His place because we love Him so much. Of course I explained to her why Jesus had to die in her place- But I love the way she loves Him.




This last picture is Yabby sitting with her Grandma and Papa at church. It is such a blessing that after many years of being away that Rob can serve in the church he grew up in. The kids go running when they see grandma and papa at church!

Our first family trip

We went on our first little family trip since Yabsira has been home. We went to a friends wedding in Virginia that Rob was preforming and we stopped at some old friends home on the way.
We had a great time visiting our old friends. Our children are around the same age and Joel and their oldest daughter were each others first friends. The kids got along great and it was fun to catch up on each others lives.
Even though we had a long trip in the car the kids got along crammed in the back seat. The only thing we didn't expect is that Yabby gets car sick! It is only by God's grace that I had a couple of Ziploc bags that were easy to get to. Poor little girl didn't understand why she didn't feel well...she kept blaming the granola bar she ate.
Our friends wedding was beautiful. The bride was gorgeous and the groom was beaming. The girls loved getting all dressed up. Yabby now refers to her dress as the married dress. It was also good to visit with more old friends at the wedding. Isabelle and her "first friend" won a dance contest and got a giant lollipop as a prize.
We started to get used to the warm weather of the south so it was shock to our system when it stared snowing when we got home!