Adoption #2 Update

We've been told our attorney in ET has 95% of the boys' paperwork. The orphanage director is supposed to be gathering the last bit needed this week and our attorney thinks we will still be able to be submitted before the 7th. Thank you for all your prayers. Keep them coming!

Dance the Day Away

Its pretty rainy and dreary here in Kentucky and I'm fighting a sore throat. So I thought we all needed some dance videos to brighten the day. First we must stretch out...

I swear that we have never shown the girls a Beyonce or Michael Jackson video. These moves are 100% natural.

Springtime fun

My "steal of a deal" Princess bike had some trouble with the training wheels so the girls decided to double up while mommy put new training wheels on the Princess bike.

Today, the girls called me outside to show me their "new, awesome trick". I of course had to grab the camera to document this.

A bike for each of us!

Mommy found another great find at another consignment sale. While it wasn't another $5 deal, I figured I paid so little for that one, I could stretch it a bit for another one. This bike was $12, but well worth it for the girls to be able to ride together.

Essie takes the new bike for a spin.

Chloe

Essie

It's always good when we end the day arm-in-arm.

So anyone that has been to our house, knows there is quite an incline to get in our driveway. I worked and worked to get the girls to keep peddling up the incline so they would not get stuck and have to have me help them up it. Chloe conquered the bump pretty quickly.

Essie took a few more tries

I don't know if you can hear what Essie says in the video below, but the visual should help you know what her issue was on this run.

Essie persevered and finally conquered the bump.

Btw-today, she was riding the entire loop like a pro.

T-shirts from Dubai

Thanks for the T-shirts, Uncle Andy & Aunt Caroline

One year ago today...

We arrived home with our daughters

Ababa & Chloe

Essie & Mommy

Essie listening to some tunes

Chloe enjoying the plane food, except she fell asleep before she finished

Essie cheering for the view

Chloe listening to some tunes

The girls loved to watch the planes at Dulles. Mommy & Ababa did not enjoy the 10 hour layover.

One more flight until we get to KY

Introducing the girls to the grandparents

Chloe with a new toy

Essie getting dressed up for the cold weather

Grandpa Neild & Grandma Kinnell helping with luggage

Essie with Grandpa Kinnell

Thanks to Grandma Neild for taking photos and therefore not being pictured.

Adoption #2 Update

I realize we've been pretty silent lately on news about our adoption of the boys, but that's mainly because we haven't had any news. Our agency was hoping to have our 10 year olds paperwork last month (7 year olds paperwork is already done), but that didn't happen. Since I work in adoptions, I try not to bug our agency for news because I know how high maintenance some parents can be and I don't want to be a burden. I know that our agency will tell us when they have news and they are not trying to hide things from us. But I also know how excruciating the wait is, which of course, just gives me more sympathy for my clients. Anyways, we just found out the Ethiopia has decided that for cases submitted to court after April 6th, they will require the adoptive parents to travel to Ethiopia and appear in court. Now I'd love to take another trip to Ethiopia, but this would cost us at least $5,000 more than we were anticipating and we'd have to make arrangements to leave our girls behind in the States for a week. Then once we pass court, Matt would have to travel back about 2 months later to get the boys. So we are asking everyone we know to please pray that our case is submitted to court before April 6th so that we will not have to make this extra journey. There is going to be a mad rush of families trying to get submitted so please pray for our agency and their in-country workers to be able to process the paperwork as efficiently as possible. We love CCI and all their staff and know that they are truly working on behalf of these beautiful children of Ethiopia to find them forever families. In the end, its about the children and I know that pressure ways heavily on the staff of CCI so please pray for God's strength for them during this very busy time. We'll keep you posted!

Baby Ryan

My cousin Leighann had a baby last year that was born with major heart problems. The doctors said he would never live and encouraged her to terminate the pregnancy. She refused and the family celebrated Ryan's 1st birthday last month. She shares her story in a video from her church's website:

A Living Room Testimony: Leighann from Reston Bible Church on Vimeo.

1st Anniversary Party

Last night we had a party to celebrate the girls' 1 year anniversary with us. We had several families from our adoption support group come as well as good friends and Grandpa & Grandpa Kinnell. Some of our friends from Northern KY brought injera and I made 2 traditional Ethiopian dishes to share with everyone. The biggest compliment for me came from the older kids from Ethiopia who told me my Ethiopian food was good. Chloe didn't like my Mesir Wat (Lentil dish), but the night was a success overall. Now if I could get the smell of Ethiopian food out of my kitchen. =)

We got a bit creative with the cupcakes. Matt drew the star and I did the rest. They represent the Ethiopian flag.

Christine, Stefany, and Jordan

The happiest boy ever-Jacob

Gabriel & Faith

Coloring pictures of life in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian flag

Grandpa Dan with his new best friend John

Our China club-Phoebe & Faith

Sera making a new friend in Aaron

Chloe chillin' after her long night of partying

The whole gang

Children in this picture where born in the US, Ethiopia, Taiwan, Russia, China and Albania. Love it!

Swinging-1 year later

Had to post this video of the girls swinging yesterday after Matt included their first experience on the swing in the video from yesterday's post. Just another "wow" moment on how much has changed in a year. I have no idea what they are singing about but I did hear "dog" and "dalmatian" in there as well as ending with something about "family". Enjoy!

One Year

One year ago today we met Essie & Chloe for the first time at the Celebrate Children International transition home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. What a great year it has been.

Bike girl bike

Last weekend, I found Princess bike at our local consignment sale for $5. Pretty sure its the best $5 I've spent lately. I was trying to hold off the girls trying it out because I don't want them to not ride their trikes anymore but alas all my tries were to no avail. I was amazed how fast the girls learned how to manage the big bike. And now, they are fast asleep (a double blessing).

Chloe giving Essie a push

This video highlights Essie's new found love to sing about whatever she is doing at that moment. She totally made up this song, which cracks me up.

1 year ago today...

We were heading to Ethiopia to pick up our girls!

Cousin Hunter comes to visit

I have been very delinquent in getting the pictures posted from Aunt Jen and Hunter's visit last week. The kids had a great time together and the highlight of the week was going to the Lexington Explorium on Wednesday. The kids loved the different stations and are still talking about it. We started the "kids day" at story time at our library and then went to McDon*ld's with the big indoor play area. The whole day was a surprise to the kids and everything was geared towards them (except the end of the day trip to W*l-Mart, but sometimes you just need to get a few things.)

pile-up on the slide at "Old McDonalds"

one of the few time Hunter let someone else drive the gator

Chloe's pose kills me in this one

The doctor station was the kids' favorite

Essie giving Aunt Jen a shot. Ouch!

Hunter making it all better with a band-aid

Somehow this just reminded me of a film strip from a hospital in Africa

Chloe learning about butterflies (while playing dress up)

The bubble and mirror room is always fun

Chloe's dance moves had us all cracking up

The girls showing off their BIG muscles

Chloe loved the horse area-she's a true KY girl

Essie's turn

On Thursday night, Jen and I went to our local Lil' Angels consignment sale and I found a bag of Mickey dolls that contained 2 black dolls and 1 white, male doll. The kids thought it was great that I found a Mickey doll for each of them. =)