Big Red Ball

Pucker Up

Pee In a Shoe

We have this little ritual at bath time - it's fun. Meron gets stripped down butt-boooty-naked and high-tails it in to the bathroom. She loves it - always smiling huge.

Tonight daddy was running the ship - and he needed just a little longer to get the water temperature right. No problem - Meron stood by cheering on the water.

Then daddy felt something on his foot and thought - "Man - that water is splashing all over the place..."

But it wasn't water. So my question is this - how the heck does a little girl pee with such incredible accuracy? I mean - right in to my shoe. A shoes that was on my foot! There was about a half inch gap (tied loosely) and she found it.

Way to go Meron...

Toes, a Nose and Flowered Clothes

A Meron Workout

Just Lounging

Thank You!

Today was Memorial Day and we decided to go spend some time at a battlefield nearby - it was a gorgeous afternoon between rain drops and we were able to reflect on the freedoms we have and why we have them.

Big huge thanks to everybody out there who has sacrificed so much for us to live the way we do. We are forever grateful!

God's Good Hands...

Meron had a rough day today. She's got a little head cold from her first week of school. She has two molars busting through her gums. And this morning she shut her fingers in our bedroom door - we've been waiting for that one to happen (we have a little door shutter on our hands).

But none of that sent us to the hospital. Nope - it was the nose dive Little Miss Knievel decided to do off of her changing table. A full somersault and a 10.0 landing - on her head.

With the "9-1.." already dialed and our finger hovering over the "1" - we watched our girl to see what was going on. She cried for about 30 seconds. And then she was her goofy self. Running. Playing. Eating. Pooping. Eating. Yelling. Laughing. Did I mention eating?

We opted against 911 - but instead packed up and headed to Children's Healthcare. On a Sunday. On a holiday weekend. 3 hours later we saw a doctor who checked out Miss Knievel and put our minds at ease. She was fine - but he asked us to wake her up every three hours while she slept for the next 24 hours. Just to be safe.

We are a praying bunch here - we do it a lot. As soon as we decided against 911, we huddled as a family in the hall and asked God for protection and everything to be okay. And after our doc visit - we huddled in the car and thanked God for taking care of us. And we believe that is EXACTLY what happened. One inch here or there and this would be a different kind of post.

We fully, 100% believe that God caught Meron and placed her gently on the ground. And we are beyond thankful. God has some good hands - He would definitely be a Yankee if He ever chose to play major league ball.

Meron is doing fine by the way. I am about to go do a "shake and wake" but so far today so good - she has been her normal self. Her parents? That's another story. There's been tears - hugs - more tears. We know that God gave us a precious gift - and we scared ourselves today.

Thanks yet again God for stepping in on our behalf...

A Little Bubbly...

Celebrating Ethiopia (and our kids!)

Last night there was a big get-together of a bunch of families at a local Ethiopian restaurant - all families that were grown in some way or another through Ethiopia.

We LOVE going to these get-togethers. It is so fun to see Meron running around and playing with everybody and it's always encouraging to see the new families coming home with their new larger families.

As usual - we had a blast and it was GREAT to see those of you we hadn't seen in a while!

One Year Ago

One year ago today we were in a much different place. Still hurting from the loss of Brighton - still questioning God on what, where, why - still praying daily, nightly and almost by the hour for Meron's safety and health.

At 9:43 AM on that day a year ago though - things changed forever for our family. A simple email from our agency letting us know we passed court immediately changed the dynamics of our family. We were officially Meron's parents. We were a "party of three!"

As usual - Laura said it so well in an email to me today as she remembered that day and how she felt:

I remember the exact moment when you called me. I was at the Fox Theater, working a conference, way too pumped up on caffeine. I was pacing the lobby - waiting, waiting, waiting... waiting on the news if Meron was ours or not.

Then my cell rang. The sweetest words I had ever heard were spoken. "Hello, Meron's Mommy!" I lost it... she was ours! My empty arms would soon be filled and my heartache over the loss of Brighton was healing... healed by those simple words: "Meron's Mommy."

May 21st, 2008 - the day we officially became a family - the day my life started to make sense.

Thank you God - for wrecking my life then lifting me up.

Why We Need Africa...

It Finally Happened...

I have been on edge ever since Meron became increasingly mobile and likes to move about at full speed all the time. I just knew our time was coming when she was going to be heading down sloped concrete and bite it...

Well - today was that day...

When she got home from school - she noticed her pal Teo out in the yard. She gave out her war cry of "Tato!" and started heading his way - at full sprint. As she navigated between the parked cars it happened - I heard it more than I saw it - I actually heard her little precious head hit the ground.

I think God gave us the built in ability to know when to brush it off and when not to - typically I let her recover from a fall on her own and she hardly ever cries. This time I was on her with zero hesitation and wrapped her in a big fat daddy hug - she cried it out for about 30 seconds - then looked at me with tears streaming down her face and said "Tato?"

She chased Teo around (in the grass!) for the next 20 minutes so we think she is fine - but I'll be sneaking in her room to check on her tonight - just to be safe!

First Day of School

Today was Meron's first day of school... wow! She did awesome - so many thanks to everybody who was praying for her (and us). One of the teachers said "You would have never known it was her first day - she had a blast."

Such a difference from last week - totally ended up where God wanted us. Report cards for the week coming soon!

Blessed By Our Family

We just wrapped up a study on spiritual warfare and protecting our family against spiritual attacks. I fully believe there are forces at work against us as we choose to stand up as Christians and attempt to glorify God in our day to day lives. This study gave some good insight and ideas on ways to protect our family against those attacks.

One of the questions today was "When have you experienced God working miraculously to protect your family?" And at first I thought - "Well, have I?" And that initial response is just indicative of how much we take for granted - because of course I have!

So tonight - I took a second to take a step back and look at my family. How it came to be. Where we all came from. Where we're going. Me, Laura, Brighton, Meron... we're all examples of God working miraculously to not only build - but to protect our family as well.

I feel blessed to have been chosen by God to be part of this family. His will is so much better than anything I could have chosen. I am going to choose to remember that every time I look in the eyes of this little bundle of joy!