Thanksgiving, brotherly love and outtakes.

This Thanksgiving we have a lot to be thankful for...you know, all the typical stuff like family, friends, our church, jobs, house, cars, food on the table...

But this year as we prepare to welcome another into this dysfunctional family of four, I can't help but be thankful for the relationship the boys have as brothers.  They are fiercely protective of each other, but will turn on the other in a heart beat when one doesn't get his way.  Yes, Sam bit Charlie on Monday because he wanted to play with the car Charlie had.  (Side note:  This Mommy promises you that will be last time he ever tries that!)  They take turns and share.  But argue over the dumbest things.  They want to be together all the time.  But jump at the chance to have solo time playing video games. 

I know they love each other.  And I know that the depth of that love comes from only having each other for a season during their lives.  They depended on each other because they had no one else. 

I'm thankful their relationship has been a constant for them.  I already see a love for their little sister, even without knowing what she looks like.  I just pray that the Lord grafts her into our little family perfectly and they grow together as siblings...loving each other, hating each other, picking on each other and protecting each other.  They way sibling love should be.

Changing gears slightly...

I try to get in one good photo shoot each year with the boys.  Since they loathe having their picture taken, it's not easy.  But it's just something they're gonna have to get used to with this camera-happy Mommy. 

This year we went up to Taylorsville Lake State Park.  Nicole drug the girls along too.  I thought it might make it go easier for the boys, but all it really did was make Sam super silly.

As for the good pictures, you'll have to wait until the Christmas cards go out to see those...enjoy the outtakes for now...


Of course the monkies had to come with us.  It's the only way to get them to genuinely smile.

Goofball.
 

Notice Charlie in the bottom left...yeah, he was pinching Sam.
 

Taking pictures of girls is way different than taking pictures of boys.  But clearly in the bottom picture, they were DONE.
 

Pictures with Sam are always an adventure.  The faces this child can make are endless...

 

Who needs to smile for pictures when you can climb on picnic tables??
 

See pic on bottom left.  This is a prime example of how taking pictures with these two goes...
 

Sam COULD NOT make his hiney stay on this fence!  And he was afraid he was going to fall into the water.  Yeah, in the lake that is probably half a mile away in the background.
 

Behind the scenes.  We may not look it, but we're exhausted.  We just spent two hours trying to keep the two little ones somewhat clean, combating attitudes from the two big ones and acting like fools to get all of them to smile.

 

Yeah.  That pretty much wraps up how I feel too, Charlie. 

Hope you were able to spend the day with people you love!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Name calling.

Baby girl does have a name.

Other than baby girl.  We call her by her name around her, so I guess it’s time to share with the rest of the world.

A little background on how we come up with names around here.  Both the boys’ names are family names.  And their middle names are their given Ethiopian names, giving us Charles Nuredin and Samuel Edaso.  Merging their two heritages together.  Yes, their names are fairly traditional.  On purpose.  We are fairly traditional people.  Well, most of the time.  Their names are also shortened to what we actually call them…hence, Charlie and Sam.  Keep that in mind.

Fast forward to discussions about what to name baby girl.  We soon found ourselves agreeing on only one choice.  Really there was no actual discussion.  It was suggested and agreed upon almost in the same breath.

Most of you know that I lost my little sister in a car accident about two and half years ago.  Her name was Katie Elizabeth.  In her honor, our third born will bear Katie’s name as…

Elizabeth Kathryn

AKA Ellie Kate

See…traditional, yet easily shortened and honoring her aunt and the sweet sister that she was to me!  And yes, we will take her given Chinese name into consideration and add it to her name in some fashion.  She just may hate us come standardized testing time when she has to bubble in four names…

The only downside…the last few times someone has asked me about her name, I’ve been unable to actually answer the question because I don’t have full emotional control over myself.

But that's Katie's fault. 

Now you have a name...so join us in praying for Ellie Kate to be safe and happy and healthy and to join her family SOON!

What happens next?

Many of you have asked, so here is a breakdown of what’s going on and what steps are next… 

1.      We are still waiting on our USCIS approval.  Hopefully that will show up in the next month or so.

2.      We went last week for fingerprinting.  It was very different from last time since we had appointments this time around.  We were at the courthouse less than 20 minutes.  And other than a clerk that almost experienced the wrath of Preschool Teacher Jana because he refused to use his words and instead just jerked me around where he needed me to stand to get my fingerprints, it was an uneventful process.  Plus, I scored a lunch date with my husband in the process.  Win-win for all involved.

3.      I am getting our dossier documents together (AKA all the stuff that goes to China on our behalf).  That will all be sent immediately when our USCIS approval comes in (AKA I need to get that done soon so as to not delay that process.  Like tomorrow…).

4.      I apparently like to use AKA.  And parentheses.

5.      Next, we wait.  For a referral.  Usual timeframe is 3-6 months.  Maybe longer.  Maybe less.  Who knows?  This is the part that I have to completely trust in the Lord for.  Because I’ll get all worried and wonder when it will all happen.  It’s a lot of unknowns and I don’t do unknowns.  I do lists and calendars and planning and preparing.  Not unknowns.  Just ask my husband.  Because he will bear the brunt of my stress over this.

6.      We get a referral.  YAY!  Timeframe from there is roughly 3 months.  Again, this is international adoption.  And while China has a very stable and predictable program unlike how Ethiopia was when we were in process with the boys, you are still dealing with the government of another country.  Things could change, go faster, go slower at any time with little or no notice.  Oh, you’re stressed out by all the uncertainties??  Yeah.  Me too.

7.      Let’s go to China!  When we travel, we will spend a week in her providence and another week in Guangzhou.  If I had to guess/plan/project, I’d say we will travel sometime next summer.  Now, China did not approve this plan or ask my opinion, it’s simply my thoughts on how it should go (AKA I can’t proceed with life without some sort of plan, so I pretend I know what’s going on…).

8.      Come home.   

That’s what our next few months will look like.  Sam asks me on a regular basis if he can see a picture of his baby sister.  Like I’m holding out on him and not letting him see her.  And Charlie is just worried about where he will stay while we are gone.  Clarifying that he wants to stay here.  Not go to China.  My poor child…just like his Mommy needing to know every step of every day…

Sam, on the other hand, asks every other time we pull out of the driveway if we are on our way to China.  He doesn’t quite have that concept of distance and oceans and miles and miles away…

So we continue to gather paperwork.  And wait.  And trust that God has our precious baby sister hand picked and waiting at just the right time for her forever family.

Camping.

For the boy’s Fall Break at the beginning of October, we met my parents near Nashville to go camping.  Only Daddy didn’t get to join us because someone has to work around here to keeping things moving.  Sad.  A lot of fun and a bunch of dirt.  All without him.  

 

I took a million pictures, so instead of talking about it, just look…

Playing in dirt.  The way boys are supposed to be playing.

On our way to our first fishing experience...

Fishing.  This is serious business.
 

He's smiling now.  But that's because no one has made him touch a worm.  And he hasn't yet had any fish dangling from this fancy stick he is holding.

Look at that face.  He is scared to death.  But will bodly tell you all about the fish he caught.  Leaving out the part where he refused to touch it...

 Sam, on the other hand, was thrilled with his catch!  Although truth be told, Papa actually caught the fish and Sam just reeled him in.  Because fishing requires more patience than Sam has in his whole being.

 See?  He was done here.  And this was only 5 minutes in.

 Smiling for camera happy Mommy.

Look closely.  Tristan has Sam tied up on the dog's leash.  This soon led to barking...

Hanging with Aunt Kim.  And waiting on Papa to finish dinner...

Exploring via bicycle.

Being silly...

Everybody but Kenny...

Ninjas. Hiya.

Halloween.

Oh, the joyous time where we spend way too many hours trying to come up a costume to wear for such a short time.

No really.  Joyous.

We went from Batman & Robin, to Power Rangers, back to Batman & Robin, on to Transformers, back to Power Rangers again and finally settled on ninjas.  Believe me, it was not a fun trip to Walmart.  Especially when you factor in Charlie's indecisiveness, my lack of patience due to the indecisiveness and a Sam doped up on benedryl and in bad need of a nap.  Not to mention that we were 24 hours into a Daddy-less weekend.  (He was in Tuscaloosa at the Bama game.)

It wasn't my best mommy moment.

But my little ninjas were happy nonetheless.  Mainly because this choice meant they got new swords.  And that's all that matters.  I'm hoping that's what they remember from Halloween.  Not my exasperation at the plethora of superhero costumes at which to choose from.

It really worked out for the better.  Halloween turned out to be quite a chilly night.  And our ninja costumes allowed for lots of layering underneath.

Puffy ninjas.  That's what they called themselves.

Just for clarification, a true ninja has his face covered.  According to my ninja expert, Charlie.  Of course, this revelation wasn't made until 3:30pm on Halloween afternoon when Ninja Mommy needed to be headed to Main Street to get set up for our church's event.  So ninja eye masks prevailed. 

This was at Trick-or-Treat-on-Main-Street on the day of.  Which is what we do in Spencer County.  My kids have never actually been trick-or-treating...because the whole county is on Main Street. 

Another Halloween under our belts.  I mean, under our swords.