Wordless Wednesday - First Veggies

A Visitor & A Visit to Chicago

Last Thursday, a college friend from Virginia flew up to spend the week with us.

Nichole and I went out after the kids went to bed and I finally took the plunge and did this:

after contemplating for a long while. See it? In my nose?

It hurt, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I nearly pass out while cleaning it twice a day, but besides that, I like it. :-)

Hubby led us around downtown Chicago on Saturday. We visited Millennium Park like last year and the kids had just as much fun.

Audrey was particularly fond of the hula-hoops this year. In this picture, she was watching me make a fool of myself trying to demonstrate how to do it. Ha.

I just love her observation expression.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Josh had fun too. He built this masterpiece:

People were walking by, stopping to take pictures and asking if he was an architect.

Nope. A carpenter who enjoys playing as much, if not more, than the kids.

They couldn't believe that he had never built a tower like this before.

Jaedon's masterpiece was the road that surrounded daddy's skyscraper. He loved it.

We also visited the bean again. Here's the view looking up on the inside.

How did I not take a picture of this last year?

And here's our group on the outside and away from the insane crowd

The kids enjoyed splashing around in the water. Though they didn't like it when other kids came running by kicking up water on them. Josh and I were betting on which kid would wipe out first, Jaedon or Audrey? They surprised us both and actually stood their ground.

On our walk, we found a fun little park that the kids enjoyed. It gave them a nice break from continuous walking. And it gave Mommy a chance to sit on a bench in the shade.

Last year, we shared our Cheez-Its with the birds. This year, we found a sociable squirrel who enjoyed our goldfish crackers.

This picture is one of my new favorites [if the people weren't walking by]. I may just print it out and put it in Davis' room with his sailboat stuff. What do you think?

We walked to Navy Pier this year, which we didn't do last year. Once there, everything cost too much. So we just walked around and took in the scenery.

Oh, I take that back. We did buy cinnamon glazed nuts. Mmm. Totally worth the walk!

Audrey found it all very exciting. Can you tell?

My little man people-watching

Josh and Jaedon took a walk over to the edge of the pier to see the water and sail boats.

Love this shot of my boys with the beautiful blue sky behind them.

We had a wonderful day in the big city.

And we can't wait to go back next summer to make new memories with our new little brother.

We're in the Clear

Late last night, I posted about the potential delays that could happen because of MOWA closing for 2 weeks.

Just a few minutes ago, I received an email from our case manager with CWA. We received Davis' BIRTH CERTIFICATE!! This means we are in the clear and MOWA had already sent necessary letters to where they needed to be! We are praising our Father above! Patricia said that we should have a confirmed Embassy Date by the end of the day!! This will set everything in stone that we are for sure traveling to bring him home!! Oh, happy day!!

BUT my heart still breaks for the families still in limbo. Please continue to pray for the families affected by this sudden closure.

What a roller coaster ride this is!!

Overwhelming Delays

We received an email from our case manager with CWA that explained some startling news.

Ethiopia's Ministry of Women's Affairs [MOWA] will be closing for 2 weeks.

This will have major effects on lots of families. and quite possibly us.

MOWA handles lots of things that are necessary in processing Ethiopia's adoptions. Prior to court, they must write a letter of approval. After you pass court, they are responsible for writing letters to secure a new birth certificate to be issued, as well as notify the US Embassy that the court case has been finalized.

Several weeks before our court date, there were numerous families who did not pass court simply because they were missing the letter from MOWA. They were shut down for a week-long training. We I was really worried that our letter wouldn't be written in time for court. But thank God, it was there in time and we passed on the first try.

Now, we have another possibility of being delayed. If they haven't already sent the letter requesting our new birth certificate or if they haven't notified the US Embassy, our trip will be delayed.

Also while MOWA is closed for the next 2 weeks, the court cases that were already scheduled will have to be postponed until after July 22 because they know the needed letters won't be there. If you remember, courts will be closing at the beginning of August. There is already a rush to get in and pass before the closure. Now with this hold-up, hands are tied.

This is a risk with International Adoption. We are at the mercy of the home country and must follow their rules. But our sweet Davis will be worth it. No matter what happens, I keep reminding myself that God is ultimately in control.

It just breaks my heart to know that the children are there waiting. And the families are here longing for their children. just like us. But I have no doubt it breaks God's heart too, so I pray that His Will will be done and His perfect timing will play out. And I will try my hardest to place it at His feet and wait on Him.

Our case manager is supposed to call us when she finds out how it will specifically affect our case. We'll pass on the information as soon as we find out what's going on. We are hoping that MOWA has already processed our necessary post-court paperwork right after we passed court. We shall see...

Please pray for all families that are affected.

Read our update here.

Wordless Wednesday

Zoo

Josh was off work on Friday because of the holiday, so we took advantage of daddy being home! We headed up to Madison, WI for the day to enjoy the FREE zoo. The weather was wonderful and it was a perfect day to be out in the sunshine. Take it from this guy:

Some king of the jungle...

The kids had never been to a zoo before, so they really enjoyed seeing all the animals.

The seals were particularly fun because they kept swimming around and around their tank. [Most of the other animals were sleeping.]

Audrey was especially excited about seeing the giraffe. Not sure why, but she was.

The zoo also had a cool playground to play on/in. The kids loved it!
This momma kangaroo was part of the playground too.

Don't ask who the girl on top is. We don't know her; she wasn't listening to her momma to get down. So I snapped the photo anyway. Little kids can only stand still for so long in a place like this.

Audrey really enjoyed hugging this turtle too. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't real.

We were so happy to spend the day with daddy and the animals! And for FREE!

Ohio

Still playing catch-up

Back in June, [Father's Day weekend again - it was a crazy, busy weekend!] my family met in OH to go camping. My brother Josh, his wife Ashley, their son Noah, my mom & dad, my sister Chas, her husband Timmy, and their girls Sydnee and Ava all met us in Ohio on Thursday to set up camp and have some family time for the weekend. The weather was interesting, to say the least. There were strong storms that sent us to Hardee's for a couple of hours one morning. And at one point, there were tornado sirens going off.

But the storms were short lived and the daytime hours cleared up beautifully! We swam in the pool a lot. All four of us [Josh, me, Jaedon & Audrey] got haircuts from Gram. We enjoyed delicious ice cream multiple times. I got roasted and drank way too much Coke!

Jaedon's yummy Superman ice cream

Audrey loved playing in the pack-n-play with Ava.

Ava doesn't look too enthused though.

The girls early on Friday morning before the crazy storm came

Noah [in the yellow float] Jaedon [in the turtle float] and Sydnee [with the pink nose plugs]

Here's Audrey jumping in for the 400th time

Jaedon borrowed one of Noah's water guns and this was the view we saw for the rest of the weekend.

Playing mini-golf on Saturday evening

Packing up camp, I got one more snuggle from my sweet Sydnee.

Our Newest Nephew

Remember a couple of weeks back? Our court date was on June 22nd. Everything was a total blur around that day and I got totally backed up with posting current events. So I'm playing catch up - finally!

Announcing George AndersonThis sweet boy was born on Father's Day.

June 21, 2009

10:40 pm [in Israel]

6lb. 14oz.

He is the 3rd child to Jason & Winona. [Josh's sister]

He is the 7th grandchild of the family. [narrowly beating Davis into the family by a few hours]

We cannot wait to meet you, George!

One month from today,

We will be on our way to Washington, DC. And one month from tomorrow, we will be on a never-ending flight to Addis Ababa, ET!

Soon, baby boy, we will be there!!

Our 4th Celebrations

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating our country's birthday with lots of family fun!

Saturday morning, we walked to the end of our street for our neighborhood parade. Jaedon and Audrey were mesmerized.
In the afternoon, we headed over to Papa's house for some family playtime and dinner.

Meet our train conductors:

Papa, Uncle Jon and the kids took a splash in the hot tub:
And then we headed out on the boat to wait for the fireworks.
Welcome to Papa's Popcorn Party:

The boys were brave enough to jump in the cold water. And Uncle Jon was sport enough to entertain their bright idea.

Waiting for the fireworks: The sunset was beautiful.

Audrey thought the fireworks were "pretty", but didn't like the loud noise. I covered her ears with my hands and anytime I moved my hands, she asked me to put them back. Halfway through, she looked up at me and said that she wanted to go to sleep. I told her to close her eyes and two minutes later [fireworks popping!], her head was getting heavy in my hands and she was out!

Jaedon was a big boy and sat half the time up in the front of the boat watching the show:

Then he went back and decided snuggling with Papa would be better. :-)

Notice Caleb holding the blow horn? He was ready and waiting for the opportunity! :-)

Yesterday, the weather was perfect and we decided to make the most of it!

We actually managed to persuade Audrey to go out on the tube! All the other kids had taken a turn except for her. She wasn't too into the boat thing to begin with. Because of the wind and other boats, the lake was quite choppy. She kept telling me "I don't like the waves!" and "Go slow". But she went out in the tube with daddy and actually liked it. We were only idling practically and still got the 'thumbs down' sign to go slower. But she went. And we were proud of her. :-)

She was all smiles when she got back on the boat!

Shortly after, she crashed.

Jaedon and Caleb went on the tube alone -without an adult- for the first time. We kept getting the 'thumbs up' sign to go faster. They never looked so small and so big at the same time.

All the kids bundled up

And here you can witness a miracle to end the weekend:

I was finally able to get up on the knee-board. After watching Josh, Jon, Melissa and Ralph do it, I finally got up the guts to try. And to think I nearly gave up before going for the last try. I would've missed this. But my arms and abs are paying for it today!