Wednesday, June 23, 2010

AND IT'S OFF....



Elijah handed our dossier off to the Fed-Ex lady and now it's on its way to Austin to the Secretary of State for authentication....SO EXCITED!!! We are so close to more WAITING...ha!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

CIS APPROVED!!!!

We received our last piece of paperwork in the mail today....YIPPEE!!!!!! Now our dossier is complete and we gather all the papers together to be authenticated by the Secretary of State and then it's on the wait list we go!!! We're going out of town on Monday for the week so I'm hoping we can get this done before then. Be in prayer that everything moves quickly from here on out...if so, we could be on the wait list within a couple of weeks at the most! One more step closer to our baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*A couple of new posts below this*

Life's a Zoo

Been enjoying our zoo passes with friends lately. Lots of pictures to prove it...



















Sweetness...Annalee and Elijah holding hands.








Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day 2010



WE LOVE YOU DADDY!!! YOU'RE THE BEST!



Giddy...

with EXCITEMENT!!! This video was a good reminder that all of this work and waiting is going to be worth it. I can't wait until it's our turn to board that plane to Ethiopia to bring OUR daughter home. Hopefully in just a few more weeks we'll be on the wait list...bring it!!!! And there are so many more beautiful orphans just like this little girl waiting for a family just like yours...pray that the Lord will open your eyes to the orphans in the world...it will change your life for the better just like it's already changing ours!
*Again, click play and then click on the video again to make it big enough to see all of it*

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Elijah: On Fire for God



This was the theme of our Summer Spectacular this past week at church. It's a hyped up VBS complete with a Broadway-style musical, which was absolutely fabulous this year! Another reason everything was so fabulous this year was because my little Elijah just ate it up and thought it was the coolest thing ever!!! He was so adorable...he loved learning all about his namesake and even told me that since the old Elijah was in heaven, it was his responsibility now to do what God wants him to do since he's the Elijah on earth. So sweet...I want more than anything for him, his brother and future sister to be on fire for God! Elijah also told me at one point during the week that he wanted his job when he grew up to be traveling to different places telling people about Jesus. That just made me tear up...there is nothing more important than that and he just makes my heart swell. I love this kid and the heart that he is developing for the Lord. Here are some pictures of his week of heaven on earth...



Meeting "Elijah" from the musical and getting his autograph..he was so proud to tell him his name was Elijah too. :-)




Meeting the widow and getting her autograph...




There were so many cool signs with his name all over our church building...he is at such a great age to just soak this all in too!


The boys in their matching Elijah t-shirts and new summer haircuts...


We had just cut Judah's hair earlier this same day...it's only the second haircut he's ever had and is definitely the shortest it's ever been. They both look so much older!!


Speaking of getting older, we had the boys' doctor check-ups last week and here are their stats, just for my benefit:
Elijah at 6 years old weighed 43 1/2 lbs (60th%) and was 45" tall (50th%)
Judah at 2 years old (my teeny tiny) weighed 24 lbs (8th% up from 5th% I might add :-) and was 33" tall (15th%)...he is so tiny but such a big boy. He is pretty much completely potty trained except at night...I am so proud of him!

We had a great week learning all there is to know about Elijah!!!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Museum of Science & History

My sweet friend and college roommate, Stephanie, spent the weekend with us this past weekend and brought her precious baby boy, Clint. Isn't he cute??? More to come in another post about why she was in town...now on to another random topic. :-)


-----------------------------
Last week, we went with Lori, Abbie and their kids to the Museum of Science and History. The boys had a blast playing with cars...


driving in cars...


climbing in dinosaur mouths...


grocery shopping...


digging for dinosaur bones...






playing with baby Brynlee...


squirting water guns...




and being with friends, like sweet Ellie.


We can't wait to go back really soon!!!

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

A lot of Firsts...

I don't know why these pictures are so small...oh well. I don't have time to do individual posts on all of these events, so here you go!!!

Elijah lost his first tooth the night of June 3rd...the same day he graduated from kindergarten. He was so brave and so proud when it finally did pop out! The tooth fairy brought him $5 (it is the first tooth you know. the tooth fairy doesn't plan on shelling out that much for every single tooth :-)



It is also the first time that we've ever buzzed Elijah's hair for the summer. He wanted it like daddy's, so daddy took the clippers to it while I was taking a nap on the couch. Shocked me when I woke up, but I think it looks cute and Elijah loves not having to fix his hair!



Also in the last week was Judah's first time to wear underwear, pee-pee and poo-poo on the potty. He is doing GREAT with potty training...I am kind of shocked since he has been more stubborn than Elijah since birth. He rarely has accidents during the day anymore, and has done great out in a public a few times too, and it's only been 1 1/2 weeks...go Judah!


It's also the first time that Jason has turned 29 on his birthday! :-) We went on a date just the two of us last Friday night (saw Robin Hood & ate Caribbean food) - thanks for watching my boys Pam!!! Then we had cake at our small group on Sunday night, and yesterday on his actual birthday he and Elijah went to the Ranger's game. Happy Birthday Jason...you are the best daddy and husband and we love you!




We also got fingerprinted by CIS for the first time this morning. That is the last thing we have to do before going on the wait list. When that comes back from being processed, our dossier is complete, we get it to the Secretary of State to be authenticated and then our agency sends it off to Ethiopia to put us on the wait list. We are so excited to be so close to this big milestone on our journey! We'll keep you updated on our progress.

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Kindergarten Graduate

Here he is on the first day of K compared with the last day...he grew a lot!


Kindergarten program was really cute...they sang two songs and then got their awards. These first couple are a little dark and my camera doesn't zoom in that far, but you get the general idea.






Elijah got a lot of great awards for Art, Music, E conduct, Teamwork, Citizenship & Reading.


Kindergarten graduating class of 2010


Singing songs in his classroom with his friends


With his sweet teacher Ms. Stanley and some of his friends. We were so blessed with a great teacher this year and I am already praying about his teacher next year.


Here is the program & awards on video. The first song was about First Grade Here We Come and the second one was written by the teacher's assistant, Ms Robertson. It's about the school and is so cute! She is the one playing the piano while they are singing.


Got another post coming soon about a couple of important firsts in our house!!!