Santa is SMART!!

So, if you are wondering about Charlie and his understanding of Santa, here ya go...

Now, the funny part...Charlie requested a "car" (complete with hand motions, which I translate to be a remote control car) in the video, which he has never mentioned before today. And I just happen to know that Santa is bringing Charlie the biggest and best remote control car that he could find at Target! I'm thinking Santa must know Charlie pretty well!

You can also hear Sam and his super sonic voice say, "Sam presents?"...He just wants to make sure that he isn't left out of all the fun! I have answered that very question no less than 47 times today.



I'm going to get back to listening to non-stop Christmas music. (Kenny has threatened to turn it off. He is such a scrooge!)

Merry Christmas Eve to ALL...

CHRISTmas

We have done our best to point the boys back to Christ with all of the conversations we have had about Christmas and although I'm certain they don't understand it all, it's still exciting to see them learn. (The two facts we have nailed down are Baby Jesus' mom and dad's names and that Santa is coming soon...Charlie said in the car yesterday, "Santa Clause me's house 3 days?" Yep, that was a full sentence, folks!)

Sunday we had our Family Christmas Service at church (which ended up not being quite so "family" for us, since Kenny was home with Sam who was running a fever). They served communion at the end of the service and I mentally prepared myself as the plates passed for the onslaught of questions I knew I was about to receive as I partook of the Lord's Supper and Charlie was passed by. I could think of no way to really explain this ceremony to Charlie in words that he would understood, so instead when he looked up at me and the questions came, I answered him as simply as I could and said a quiet prayer over him that he would soon understand the love that Christ had for him. My answer seemed to suffice for the time being (either that, or he just decided the candle he was holding was more interesting), but I find myself having inner arguments about this all the time. It's so hard to look ahead into the future to a time where he will be able to understand the words needed to share Christ with him. Things that a typical 6-year-old understands are just jibberish to him at this point...evident by his scrunched up face as I try to explain things on a daily basis. It brings me to a realization that we have an important task ahead of us. Yes, I would seek to share Christ with him even if he understood my words, but because he doesn't always understand me, it seems to make it more special and even more important.

As we rapidly approach Christmas Day, I pray that each of you have the opportunity to point someone back to Christ...

LOVE these boys to pieces...

Give This Christmas Away...

My mom (well, now Gammie) has done it again.

As I mentioned last year, she always gets an ornament to celebrate life's events from that year. Today we received a package with the perfect ornament in it...

 

Gammie found this year's ornament on another adoptive family's blog...They are raising money to bring home their little Elijah. So not only do I love the ornament, but the purchase of it is helping to bring home another little fella! (Here come the tears...) Check out their website for way better pictures and to order your own.

Also in the package was a nativity set for the boys to play with (Sam said, "Mommy, baby Jesus??"...and my heart just smiles!) and the newest Christmas VeggieTales DVD, Saint Nicholas. We watched the video this afternoon (the boys were really more interested in the talking vegetables than the actual story this time around) and there was also a music video for Operation Christmas Child with the song Give This Christmas Away with Matthew West and Amy Grant........

Okay, so this is my new favorite song!! We watched the music video a couple of times and I was interested to see how Charlie responded. He was glued to the TV and kept asking what was going on and I just have to wonder...Were he and Sam ever recipients of one of those shoe boxes?? (Tears again...)



Wow. This post is jam packed with info. So, go buy an ornament and give this Christmas away...

Oh, and thanks, Mommy. You did good!

English as a 2nd language...

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's important to keep in mind that all things rendered said by the boys, are said with an irresistible Amharic accent, making almost all of the below mentioned events ten times funnier. Also, all things said by Sam are said about 47 octaves higher than your typical 2-year-old. Which adds to the hilarity.

We can't just say "stop". We must say "es stop". It's almost like Spanish, but instead of "el" or "la", we have "es". "Es stop, es stop!" Maybe it happens faster if you say "es" in front of things...

If you have seen some of my previous posts, you know that our word for potty is "shint", brought with us from Ethiopia. So last night while in the bathtub, Charlie called Sam a "shint head".... Oh, my...I think it's time to work on changing our potty language...

They still crack me up when they are trying to tell me something, but they repeat what they have heard me say...Instead of telling me he is cold, Charlie might say, "Are you cold?" or my personal favorite, "Are you full?"...meaning I've had enough!

Yesterday the boys had to go with us to sign some papers on the house, and in my attempts to entertain Charlie, I explained to him what was going on and I asked him to go downstairs and get something to draw on to take with us. "Paper? Colors?", he asked. I responded that was indeed what I wanted him to bring up. He returned a few minutes later with a giant pad of floor paper and fingerpaints. I laughed out loud just thinking about us sitting in this attorney's office with Charlie and his paints. He definintely understood my request, just not the details of it!

I can't wait to get Charlie on a roller coaster. Just taking him over a simple hill in the car has him screaming from the back seat, "Stomach, stomach! Slow down, Mommy!" I must admit...I sometimes go faster just to get a laugh out of him!

Not from my own kids, but our best buddies, Grace & Emma, now speak with an Amharic accent almost all the time. Why not? Charlie & Sam do it. So much for that whole exposure to English thing working for us...

We were working on names of body parts the other day. I can't really convey to you in writing just how funny it is to hear a 6-year-old say, with extreme seriousness, that his hiney is also his "buttocks". (I did not teach him that word. He came with it.)

We have been teaching Charlie to use more sentences instead of just the word when he is requesting things. So instead of, "Pancake, please!", we say "May I have more pancakes, please?" Our efforts are working and Sam is picking up, too..."May pancakes PLEASE!" It's really more of a demand than a request, but we'll work on his tone later.

All that being said, our English acquisition is going remarkably well. They are picking up SO fast and honestly, I think Sam picks it up faster than Charlie, although obviously Charlie understands more about what he is saying. Some days I feel like I have two toddlers, other days I'm shocked at what they actually know. And if we don't have a word, we just act it out. My life is one big game of charades these days, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

A camel ate my camera.

We joined the Jolly's for one of their Christmas traditions this year and went to the Kentucky Horse Park's Southern Lights this past week.

The lights totally flipped the boys out...

...Charlie and the girls had a blast at the petting zoo while Sam kept his distance (check out that camel...he almost got Grace and literally almost took my camera out of my hand at one point. But not before I messed myself!)...



...kids and mommies all enjoyed a train ride (Yes, we are ALL in the caboose. You should have seen us before we reorganized ourselves and you should have seen the dads chasing the train trying to get a picture...Grace said, "This is soooo embarrassing!")...



...Charlie, Grace & Emma rode a pony and then Sam decided he would too (he sat and rode, but he was NOT touching the pony with his hands)...



...we checked out the train display and were thrilled to find several Thomas' (we are obsessed)...



...and then proceeded to make them all sit and smile while we attempted to get decent pictures of them (they did good and it actually only took a couple of shots!).



A stunning group of kids, if I must say so myself! And a definite recommend for family holiday fun!

From Ethiopia to Kentucky...

A year ago, these three were in the same orphanage, on the same continent, half a world away. And today...they sit together in their PJ's, in Taylorsville, Kentucky, watching Tom & Jerry and getting ready to go to church together. (No, we didn't sneak and adopt another just yet...We've had Eli for a sleepover this weekend while Mom & Dad enjoyed a night away.)

How awesome is it that our church has such an incredible adoption ministry that kids from the same place are now together again? God has such an amazing plan for these little boys!!

I know they don't remember being together, but I think it's pretty stinkin' sweet!

Smile Sam!

Awww...you let Mommy dress you up...now stand in front of the Christmas tree and smile!



Oh.......you wanted me to smile NOW?


Hold on, I think I left my smile in the bed this morning...


Is that good, Mom? I'm smiling now.


I can only do this for so long, MOM. Are you done yet???

1 year ago today...

December 1, 2008

At 7:40 pm, after an afternoon of swapping phone calls and emails, we FINALLY got the email we had waited 6 months and 12 days for (not that I was keeping count).

Our paperwork approved us for 1 or 2 related or unrelated children under the age of 24 months. But we told our agency that we were open to siblings as well. What did we really know about what God had planned for us?

Our referral was for brothers...thought to be 1 and 4 years old. We spent the evening of December 1st in tears, in prayer, in great conversation. We went to the Jolly's house and showed off grainy, black and white photos of the boys we would soon become obsessed with...


I think this is the first time I've shared these pics on the blog...Charlie saw them today and told me that wasn't him, but that was Sam. I kinda agree with him...looks nothing like him!

We talked and talked, but I think we both knew from the minute that we saw the boys that they were the children God had chosen for us. Two children was totally unexpected. A 4-year-old was totally unexpected. Could we jump into parenting an older child? What would we do about school? Were we really ready for a 1 and 4 year old, when in our minds we had been preparing for a baby?

The next day, we called and formally accepted the referral. We had NO clue what we were getting ourselves into, but were told we should be able to pick up the boys late February, early March at the latest. Ha...!

If you had told me then that we wouldn't pick them up until August 24, 2009, I would have told you that you were nuts (8 months and 24 days later)...but what do I know.

So, 1 year ago today, we saw the faces that we now look upon daily. I still sometimes forget I have kids, not to mention a 2-year-old and 6-year-old!! God has chosen us to be Mommy & Daddy to these precious, silly, challenging, loving, handsome little boys...I can't think of a better thing to be thankful for!