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. =)