She's Here!

Mikayla Elizabeth


9# 120z

Pure Sweetness

Aunt Emily and Bella hanging out waiting for the birth.

Cousin Alaiah was there too.

It was a pretty tough birth...she was a big baby...but Mikayla finally made her way out into this world at 7:00pm.
Her family was all there waiting to greet her.

I had a wonderful midwife and I was so happy to be able to have a homebirth again. There really is no better way!

Getting her head measured-

151/4 " and, yes- I definitely noticed!

Meeting daddy and big brother Caleb.

Sisters

We are all so very happy to welcome you, sweet Mikayla!

Thank you, Jesus, for answering our prayers!

adoption and other news

Well, after waiting for so long on an update of our girls we finally got one.
Unfortunately, it was not what we were wanting to hear.

We will no longer be pursing their adoption because the grandma changed her mind and decided to keep them.
I can truly say that I feel this is best- I think that if there is a way for them to stay with their family they should. The grandmother has every right to change her mind and I am happy that she won't be alone now.
What makes me sad is that we had no idea she was having any doubts- and after waiting on these girls for nearly a year, praying for them and dreaming of them, this comes as a bit of a shock.

I still believe that God is in control...I don't know what He has planned and to be honest we are feeling pretty discouraged right now, but we are going to keep trying until it becomes absolutely clear that it's time to stop.

Some people go through this process and have no problems; others, like us, seem to hit one roadblock after another. I have been encouraged by those families' stories and seeing the beautiful children who are now part of their family is what keeps us going.

If you think of us please keep us in your prayers!

In other news...

I am about a week and a half from my due date. Yes, I am HUGE and no, it is NOT all baby, though I can kinda pretend it is right now since the stomach tends to dwarf all other physical attributes ( and, no, I am NOT going to post pictures to attest to this fact), unfortunately, I will have to face the sad truth all too soon.
Oh well, it is worth it, but I definitely think that it's Jerry's turn next time!

I've gone a week late with my last 3 so I am not planning on anything different this time.
The kids are so excited and it's fun to hear their love for this baby.
Isabella is pretty sure she wants to be there for the birth (we are doing it at home)...I wasn't sure about that so last night I found some birthing clips on youtube to watch with her and gauge her reaction.

I am totally reassured: despite some rather gory scenes and noisy sound affects the minute she saw a baby's head emerging that's all she saw. She oohed and ahhed, laughed and went on and on about how cute it was. She did tell me at one point though not to scream...hmmm, I'm not making any promises!

I never did get my post on our trip to MO up, but I think my eldest son did a pretty good job with his. I am going to post some pictures of a birthday that came back in June...



Isaiah is now 5!! He could hardly wait for it to happen and he's already bugging me about his next one.

He's growing up way too fast in my opinion. The sooner someone invents that squisher machine the happier I will be!


We have been doing school full force for the last 4 weeks now. We are doing a different curriculum this year and it's pretty intensive- the first week I was in despair, but it is going better now. We are trying to get as much done before the baby makes it's debut since it'll be quite crazy around here after that. And on that note, I am had better sign off...
the kids know when their mother is distracted and they do not hesitate to take full advantage of it!

2008-Jun-25 - Catch-up

Its been a while.
Believe me-I have not just been sitting around.
Well, o.k....maybe a little, but hey, I am pregnant and it is 110 degrees and if you have not been 6 months pregnant in Phoenix in the summer than you have never been hot.


We've been staying busy as usual-the kids all have swim and dive during the week and the boys have indoor soccer on the weekends. Isaiah is really taking off with his swimming this year and it's all he wants to do. Isabella still isn't feeling too confident on her own , but hopefully she will by the time we are finished.

I missed posting about some birthdays...

Gabe turned 7 back in March and we celebrated it with some cousins and a treasure hunt at the park.

Birthdays are so much fun at this age. All you need are friends, space to run, throw in some cake (candy helps too) and you have a party!
Gabriel is really doing well with his reading and school work and he's started learning how to play guitar also-I think it has something to do with his uncle Keith being the teacher.
We love you Gabe and thank God for you every day!

This guy also celebrated his birthday.

Ouch-the computer almost caught fire down-loading this...he looks pretty good for 4???, no?

Of course his good looks, charisma, charming mannerisms, and general all- around good nature are only a small part of what makes him so incredible-the real clincher is that he's married to me...umm, I mean that I am married to him...umm, o.k. whatever--what I am really trying to say is uh...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JERRY!! You are a incredible! (Did I say that already?)

Some random pictures....

Bella and Lily

Keith-turned- vampire. (You had no idea, did you Emily?-though I have to say- I have always had my suspicions)

Isabella again

Luca trying out his new prosthetic arm. We decided to go as cheap as we could...it works, although he does have a little more trouble with his hand-writing.

Well, I am going to wrap this up-I need to do a post from our trip to Missouri, but that will have to wait until next time.

2008-Mar-28 - WOW

Today we got a DVD of our girls.

Watching it and seeing their house, where they sleep, hearing their voices and seeing their reaction to the news that they have a new mom and dad.
I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it is!

They were able to see a picture of us and were told all of the children's names, I wonder what they think about having so many brothers.

The kids were really excited to see their new sisters too, although they were watching their mom out of the corner of their eyes at the same time, not quite sure what to make of all the tears. I assured them that I cried with the birth of each one of them, this is no different.

Still don't know anything as far as how much longer the whole thing will take, but we trust that God will bring them home in his perfect timing.
It's just getting harder to wait!

2008-Mar-21 - birthdays

Happy Birthday Bella!

On March 1st Isabella celebrated her 3rd birthday.

She had a horrible stomach flu the week before , but thankfully she was feeling better by the time her birthday came around because she certainly had been anticipating it.

Bella wanted a princess cake and even though her mom isn't that into princesses, I did my best to give her one, albeit a soccer- playing princess. Thankfully, Bella was totally cool with that concept and proudly showed it off her cake to all her brothers.

O.K. so I know it doesn't really look that much like a princess, but the beautiful thing about 3 year olds is that they except a lot of things without questions. Isabella thought it was wonderful.

Opening presents...

And yes, those are (gulp) princesses...

and another doll...

All in all a great party! We love you Bella, I am so blessed to be your mom! Thank you Jesus for this beautiful little girl and all the joy she brings to our family!

THEN...

Two

Days

Later...

we had another birthday celebration.

My oldest son is now a teenager! I'm still finding that pretty hard to believe, but he assures me that it's true.

No themed birthday cakes for him...he's all about flavor this year; which I must admit was a nice break for a mom who's a bit cake -decorating challenged.

I tried my best to get a decent picture of my son, but he proves to be as elusive as his father when confronted by a camera.

With some cousins, who always make the party a little bit more fun!

Caleb, we are so proud to be your parents and we are excited to see you growing in your walk with God.

May you always follow His path for you and may you grow in Godly wisdom and joy . Many blessings to you as you enter this incredible time of your life and remember that no matter what you will face that God is always with you.

Now go make me some popcorn.

Here's a child who has no qualms when it comes to posing for the camera...

Lunchtime on the hammock

Caleb trying out his new rocket

And I'll finish with a whenwilltheseasoneverend(?) soccer picture...

2008-Mar-14 - We have pictures! (finally)

Today we received new pictures of our girls!
The director of our agency left last month for Ethiopia and said that we would be getting an update on the girls and pictures when she returned. Well, she's been back for a couple of weeks now and since then I have been faithfully checking my email every, oh, 1/2 hour or so only to be disappointed each time.
I was just getting ready to walk out the door to go shopping this afternoon after having JUST checked my inbox 2 seconds before when one of the boys came running to tell me that the pictures were here.
I was sure that they were joking , but they insisted that I come look, so with threats ringing in their ears of what would happen if they were kidding, I returned to the computer.
This time they had been telling the honest truth.
The girls are beautiful! Unfortunately, I can't post the pictures here because Ethiopia has a law against posting pictures until they are legally ours. BUT, if you happen to run into me I will be more than happy to share them with you! (over and over, as a matter of fact!)
The only pictures that we had seen before were their referral pictures and the pictures on their medical charts and in both of those they look scared to death. The new ones show them smiling and happy and like I said before, looking so beautiful!
The girls are sisters and they are around 9 and 5 years old so they will slip right in between our other kid's ages.
We still don't know how long until we get them, but we are making progress. Our dossier is being sent to Ethiopia and from there it has to pass a panel and then we will get a court date. Once we pass court they are legally ours, but we will still have to wait for an embassy date for their visas before we fly over to get them.
So, it's exciting, but we are still going to need a lot of patience...in the meantime we can memorize every tiny detail in the pictures.

2008-Jan-3 - What month is it?

We had a gorgeous day today and after several weeks of below normal temperatures, it was highly appreciated.
Our fig tree has finally decided that it's feeling like fall and has proceeded to shed it's leaves. A few of the kids had fun raking and playing in them.Spring is just around the corner; by next month we should be seeing signs of flowers and the fig tree will once again sprout leaves