BiT ~ Early May 2010

We wrapped up another year of Awana with the "Awarnaval" and celebrated the conclusion of the spring semester of our home school co-op with family night.

We also found a skink or something creepy-crawly in our bedroom. He kept getting away and discovered again under pillows -NOT on the bed!



William took Jeremy on a trip that we hope he will always remember. They traveled to Wilmington, NC where the went through the "Passport 2 Purity" materials. (It has object lessons and CD's that cover the birds and bees and addresses staying keeping pure for your future spouse.) They had a great time! They stayed in a Kozy Kabin at the KOA. (You just have to chuckle at that!) In between sessions of the program, they went to the beach and toured the USS North Carolina. To top it off, they went out for a really nice dinner, and Jeremy was presented with a gift to remember the occasion. *sniff*

A Little BIT

So, my last family post was in April!! UGH! So much has happened since then! So, where to begin? One GINORMOUS post with the past 4 months? Or 50,000 smaller posts?

We are going to go BACK IN TIME, "BIT" for short. (The kids love Huey Lewis & The News' song, and Benaiah asks for it in the car!)

So, watch for our BIT posts!

Is Anybody Out There?

I just saw that I haven't posted to this blog since April! Where did the time go? We have been very busy... mostly with summer swimming.

I hope to post photos and short re-caps of things soon!

Now, I need to work on our yearly update for Benaiah. We have to send a report to Ethiopia every year until he reaches 18!

Later!

Into the Streets of Ethiopia -GIVEAWAY!

Did anybody notice the *new* button that I put up last week for Into the Streets of Ethiopia?

A sweet couple with whom we have shared our adoption journey has began a non-profit to help street kids in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They are currently working with Robel, an amazing young man who was our guide while we were in Ethiopian and is also a former street kid. Robel started an Ethiopian organization called Children's Future Ethiopia to feed, clothe, school, and give medical care to kids on the streets of Addis. (Robel's bio is on the site too. Check it out! AMAZING! We LOVE Robel!)

Please, consider helping these kids who don't have families to care for them!


Now for the GIVEAWAY... Remember the necklace that somebody thought looked like TX? LOL! That was made by Tracy at JunkPosse. She sells a lot of beautiful adoption and Africa-related original silver creation on esty.com. After reading about Into the Streets of Ethiopia, she has donated $80 in credit toward a necklace (your choice!) with FREE shipping for Into the Streets of Ethiopia to give away so that they can get people looking at the site and HELPING these kids!

Just check out the Into the Streets of Ethiopia site for details!

Easter at Home!

(click collage to imbiggen)

In addition to the family Easter at Mom's house, we celebrated at home. Some of our family went to Easter services at church on Saturday night while the rest of us stayed home with snot and coughing. We remembered to get the eggs boiled before bedtime Saturday night and were able to enjoy coloring them in between watching "Flywheel."

After we got home from Mom's, we had to put Benaiah down for a very late nap since it was way past his nap time. Then, we gave the big kids their Easter baskets from us. The were ecstatic to find eggs full of AA batteries to put in their Wii remotes! (See Jeremy's photo above!) They also got some new pajamas, some Wii accessories, and some candy.

The family fun continued as we played Wii Sports Resort together.

Then the sugar overdose kicked in, all of the kids turned into total freaks, and we couldn't wait to get them all to bed! LOL!

Happy Birthday to ME!

(click collage to imbiggen)

My birthday was GREAT! It was much better than the last time my birthday was on Easter! (Last time was when I turned 30, and my grandma had died so we were in OH to bury her and left to go home to GA. On the way home, we stopped at a Bob Evans where are server quit his job in the middle of our meal, and we were left with no service. It was just a sucky day.)

Anyway, we started the day with chocolate chip pancakes and little, sweet sausages. YUM! The kids are always anxious to give their gifts, and I love the Webkinz Marshmallow Bunny that they got me this year! She is so cute, and I named her "Fasika," the amharic word for Easter since I got her on my Easter birthday.

We went to mom's to celebrate Easter and my birthday. We had one of my favorite dinners, cubed steak with mashed potatoes, and William got a chocolate raspberry cake from Once in a Blue Moon. YUM!

It was wonderful being surrounded by people I love all day, and I enjoyed all of the cards, calls, and Facebook messages! I did have a very happy birthday! THANK-YOU!

Easter at Mema's

(click to imbiggen)

We spent most of Easter Sunday at my mom's house with her and my sister's family. It was a great time! The kids are at a perfect age for an egg hunt, and with 7 of them, it makes for a lot of excitement!

We all sounded like we gargled with gravel after being out in the pollen! The yellow scunge was pretty bad that day!

Hope you all had a blessed day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!!