closet games

We have a 500 sf playroom. They insist on playing games in our closet. Silly boys.

vocabulary

The kids write a vocabulary sentence each day using one new word we've learned. Audrey's sentence for today cracked me up.

"I don't abhor school. But I don't love it either."

Sweet girl. (And honest too!) Love her!!

grasshopper

This blog post is beautiful - and honest - and I wanted to share. All too often, I feel like a grasshopper in this process. I forget the promised land that awaits.

http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2013/01/postcards-from-canaan.html

africa treasure

I made my first Etsy purchase last month. I found this great ornament of Africa with a heart cut out of Ethiopia. It's made out of metal and I love it even more than I thought I would. Of course, it couldn't be tucked away in the Christmas box. It'll hang on a tree (really a big branch I strung up with white lights) in our dining room all year long.

Such a great reminder of the treasure that awaits us in Africa.

mom of the year

My son, the one with asthma, woke up last night with croup.  I ran downstairs to get his asthma medicine ready. Only to discover that the one he needs most - his "rescue" medication - has expired. A year ago.

Mom of the year. That's me!

homemade holiday

Christmas this year was a bit different. Being smack-dab in the middle of an international adoption changes things. It changes how much money we have to spend on gifts. And it changes our perspective on how much stuff we already have. So we cut back on what we spent on gifts and we made things for each other. Audrey and Patrick get the awards for best hand-made gifts.

Audrey made me a picture of an Ethiopian flag out of yarn. I LOVE this gift.

Patrick made each one of us something special. He spent hours on our gifts and each one means so much to us. For me, he carved our initials in the tree in our backyard and then took a picture of it and framed it.

For Audrey, he was able to get a hold of one of the posters from her spring dance recital. He added a picture of her in her costume and framed it.

For Liam, he worked hours creating a football game. This was the second edition of the game and it's much more complicated now! Liam loves it!

And for Ethan, he made up a firefighter game that the whole family enjoys.

This year was different. But it was special. And it was meaningful. I do believe we'll carry on some of these new traditions.

pray for me, mama

Our sweet little four-year-old has been waking up in the night for the past couple of months and crawling into bed with us. Not every night, but a couple times a week, at least. He never has any specific complaints, just that he woke up and cannot go back to sleep in his own bed. Last night when he crawled into bed he said he'd had a bad dream. I snuggled him close and told him to go back to sleep. "Mama, pray for me."

What a touching thing to realize that he knew exactly what was needed in that moment. So thankful for his tender heart.

And praying we all sleep through the night tonight...

there is nothing more precious...

...in all this world, than to have my husband lay his hands on my shoulders in the morning and pray over my day. He is a good, good man.

goodbye 2012, hello 2013

We finished off 2012 with a bang. Our last week was busy and full of fun! I turned 39 on the 27th. My last year of thirty-something. And I must say, forty seems very young from here. My mom came over for several days and we celebrated my birthday with her. Movie, lunch, shopping. Very fun. Then my brother and his daughter Alice came up and stayed the night. She is adorable and we enjoyed having them very much.

We rang in the new year with our good friends, the Flemings. The kids all do great and are so proud that they can stay up until midnight!

Our new year is off to a great start. So excited to see what 2013 will bring!