What will you do!

I came across this video and it absolutely amazed me. I can not explained the feelings that I had while watching this video. While we were in Ethiopia we saw people with polio and how debilitating this disease is, and maybe that is why it touched by heart so much. I believe that we as Americans need to stop complaining about things that we have and start being grateful for what we have. This is a very heartbreaking video and I pray as you watch it you will pray and seek what God would have you do in the lives of the African people. Please go and watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7ZQUzr0yo

Caleb recieves his first big haircut

Our friends came to spend some time with us from Vancouver and he was able to help us give Caleb his haircut. Tom's dad was able to give Caleb his first hair trim and now he has also had his first cut. Here are some pictures.



Caleb before his haircut!





Caleb after and during the last 10 minutes of his haircut
He wore himself crying but then decided it was so bad after all and fell to sleep.

Shad and Caleb after his nap. Caleb was so proud of his haircut and kept pointing to his hair and say Shad did it with big smiles. He loves looking in the mirror at his new look.

Christmas Celebrations

During all of our snow days we were able to find time to do some baking and decorating sugar cookies together. The girls were a little sad because of the snow days because they missed all of their school parties. But we had our own little fun party together.
All the kids hard at work making the perfect cookie.

All the kids kicking back for their picture

Christmas eve it is our tradition to have a spaghetti dinner (homemade by tom and the kids) and have our friends over to celebrate Jesus birthday

I'm Back

Having some fun in the snow!
What a handsome boy all dressed up


Okay so I have been the worst blogger ever. Life around here has been full of energy and fun. We are becoming adjusted to life with 2 year old. I can't believe that we have been home now for four and half months.

This weekend we received a big snow storm so the schools have been closed and also the clinic that I work at is closed. So we are home wrapping presents, baking and getting caught up on household things. My husband went to work today but said that it was a mess trying to get there.

Caleb is getting into this Christmas, he really enjoyed decorating the tree but still does not understand the present thing. He looks at the presents but has not touched any of them. He also has discovered snow this weekend and absolutely loves it. The only thing he doesn't like about it is wearing gloves, he could do without those.

Now that I am back I will be trying to post updated pictures and reports about every two weeks or so. Here is some pictures for you to enjoy.

We Arrive in Addis Ababa

Well I think that it is about time to write about our trip to Ethiopia. We seen a lot and processed a lot of different things we saw there. So this is to you, Sandy (thanks for the encouragement)

We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 17th at about 10:00pm, 40 hours after leaving our house. Needless to say we were exhausted. We then had to go through customs, exchange money and get our visas, that took about an 1.5 hours. We were then met by one of the staff members Tamirat who took us and the other families to our hotel. When we arrived at the hotel there were men there they helped us carry our luggage (I mean they carried our luggage) up to our room. Yes , they carried it up 2 fights of stairs because there are no elevators. I really did not think that we were going to be able to sleep because of the excitement of meeting Caleb in the morning. But as soon as my head hit that pillow I was asleep and even though the bed was as hard as a rock it didn't seem to bother me to much that first night. We woke up the next morning and prepared to meet our son for the first time.

So this is how our trip started out. Stay tuned and I will be posting each day about a day of our trip, we had a fabulous time and will be sharing some wonderful pictures with you.

He Loves Swimming

Daddy with all the kids :)

Caleb getting in the pool and loving it!

Caleb eating ice-cream for the first time

Melissa "Issa" (my best friend) and Caleb

Ready, Set, Slide

Caleb swinging on the swing

So yesterday we did a lot of firsts with Caleb. The first one being going to the park to play. He loved it. His two favorite parts were swinging and going down the slide. The best part of the park was that my best friend and her kids came with us. Caleb said her name and gave her hugs and kisses, she was so excited. The second thing he did was to eat ice cream. He was very shocked by the coldness at first but then decided that he loved it as long as you gave him very small bits. He ate almost a whole bowl by himself (thanks Nicolle, we love you!)The last thing we did was to should introduce Caleb to our friends and to their swimming pool. He absolutely loves to swim. He has no fear though, so we can never take our eyes off of him. He loves to splash and laughs when he gets water in his face. After we were in the pool about 5 minutes he started shaking and his teeth were chattering. But like any other kid he did not want to get out of the pool and would start crying if we tried to take him out. It was a blast watching him discover something else new. We all are loving this little man that God chose for us, and love watching him grow and discover new things. God is such an awesome God.

We're Home

Us meeting our son for the first time.

Caleb mimicking the dog and playing with their toys

Our beautiful son

Sorry it has taken so long to post this entry, but life has become very busy with a two year old little boy running around. We arrived home on Friday night about midnight and the girls were so excited to meet their new little brother. It was wonderful. The two older girls cried so hard when they first met them I started crying with them. And Alli was just smiling from ear to ear. It was fun having the girls, my parents and my best friend meet us at the airport with welcome home signs and big hugs. We love you guys!!

In Ethiopia we had a fabulous time and the couples that we met over there were great. It was so wonderful being around people that had such passion about adoption. We seen a lot of stuff and are still trying to process everything, so keep checking the blog and I will be posting a summary of our trip for everyone. Yes even with some pictures.

Caleb is adjusting very well with everyone. He loves to wrestle with his sister and playing catch. He now will call Tom and I mommy and daddy and identifies who is who. He also loves to mimic everything we do and say, so I don't think it will be long and he will be speaking English. He is not quite adjusted to the dogs yet but he will try to play with them for a few minutes before he gets scared and runs away. Well I hear someone waking up so I will update more later.