A Whole Year....

Hard to believe, but its true. A year ago today, we met Mason in the Holt Care Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A year of waiting, paperwork, anticipation, planning, and family adjustments all culminated in the joy of adding a son to our mix. We were jet lagged after about 20 hours of travel but you wouldn't have known it. We walked in with six other families and couldn't wait to get our hands on him. My favorite moment of the entire trip will always be how they brought him down the stairs and set him down. We caught his eye and he put up his sweet hand and waved to us. It took my breath away. We would spend the next couple of days getting to know him and his routine. I can't say enough about the nannies that cared for him. They loved him as their own and were broken hearted to him go. I tear up thinking about their sadness.

It has been a great year and he has blended in without any concern on our part. We tell all our kids that being adopted means they were picked special by God to be in our family and he is no exception. He just fits.

Here are some highlights from that first day.....

We love you Mason and couldn't picture our lives without you!

My baby gets a haircut!

So the day has come. Kenzie got a haircut. I know. You're wondering why not before this. Well, we just loved her hair and I never wanted to cut it. So it is, that she had her first haircut at 5. And we loved the golden highlights at the end of her hair. But she began asking to get her hair cut so because of that, I took her a couple of weeks ago. She was very excited.


The before shot......see those pretty highlights?

Could not have been happier...felt like a big girl.

There is the first cut.

I know. You're thinking "that's it? What's the big deal? Her hair is still long." It is. But she just feels older to me somehow. So that's it. It's done. And she loves it.

Melkam Genna!

Thursday was Christmas or Genna in Ethiopia. We celebrated today with traditional food at the Ethiopian restaurant along with about 40 others from our potluck group. Ethiopian food is served on a large platter to be shared. You do not use utensils but rather pick up the food with injera. Injera is served with every meal and it is thin, and is a bit lemony and sour. It also lines the platter in the above picture. We had a sampling of items including Dora Wat, the bbq looking dish in the middle of the plate, a few other meat dishes, greens, and some other veggies. The Dora Wat is spicy and delicious, my favorite. The girls don't love the food as it tends to be very flavorable and sometimes spicy. Mason liked a few things.....

This is the owner of the Nile, Abby. She is from Ethiopia and is roasting coffee beans to complete our meal with a coffee ceremony.

Goofing around.....

This is the coffee served is these itty bitty cups along with popcorn. The popcorn? I have no idea.

Not much else going on around here. We are settling back into the routine of school mornings and the kids are enjoying their new toys from Christmas. If your not a weather freak like me, you may not know that we have had freezing temps for the last week. It has been a record weeks of temps both during the day and night. On Saturday, many places close to us actually got snow flakes....not kidding. I have loved this weather. The girls....not so much as they don't like wearing pants and fight me every morning. They want to wear skirts when its 29 degrees out...good grief.

So Melkam Genna or Merry Christmas (or something like that translation) again......

Merry Christmas!!

Well, there has been lots of excitement this year. We are in Jacksonville with my parents and brother and sister in law. Not much to say really, seems a bit self explanatory. I'm a bit under the weather but wanted to show you the highlights.........

Sweet moment on Christmas Eve with Daddy.

Our tradition of reading Twas the Night Before Christmas....

Dying to dig in....

Mason loves his dump truck....

She's been asking for Webkinz for a while now....

And Madalyn asked for a cupcake maker and cake bakery

Aunt Jennifer bought Kenzie an American Girl Bitty Baby and matching jammies.

Mason enjoying his first Christmas!

Every year, Matt takes the girls to the dollar store and they pick out gifts for everyone. Tim got a new hat and shades this year........

Madalyn using the cupcake maker....

A lucky mama...

My handsome little dude.....

So from our family to yours, have a Merry Christmas as we welcome the birth of a Baby that changed it all.............

Ho Ho Ho....

I like this particular Santa because he is outside and this night was especially cold so it felt Christmasy for sure. We were at a park area where they do a Christmas tree lighting with fireworks and such. I know, fireworks, weird but whatever. We weren't sure how Mason would do as he doesn't yet like the Disney characters. But he walked right up with the girls as if he knew what he was doing. The girls were very excited, especially Madalyn. She is the one who insists on waiting in line. She asked Matt if they could get in line and being the good dad he is, agreed and waited an hour and a half. He was a good Santa and took time with them.

Discussing lists and wishes.........

OMG, love this. He is so stinkin cute!

Till next year's visit.........and to all a good night.......

Making a List.....

This is Madalyn's Christmas list......anything you can't figure out? Some of her requests cracked us up....uh, no, you're not getting a tv in your room!

Sweet and Seven Part 2....

So the celebrating continued this past weekend. I'm trying to get away from the big parties every year so I went more simple this year. She decided to go bowling as a family and then we just had a couple of friends over later for cake. The kids had never been bowling before and it had been a few years since Matt and I had gone. We all had a great time.

Madalyn was very excited to be seven and I can really see her beginning to mature in a whole new way. She likes to play jokes on you, play games, do "girl time on mama's bed", draw, write stories, and ride her new bike. She is definitely the most thoughtful and sensitive of my kids. She is tender hearted towards others and is a friend to anyone. I just love her heart. And she loves God with all the simplicity and innocence of a child.
So for the highlights of our day.............


Can't remember what precipitated this but I love catching the moment.


This would be Kenzie trying to "lean" her bowling ball towards the desired direction.


Mason helping Pap pa go for a strike.

Matt doing his thing with the bowling ball as any good Polock would....

Tim has done a bit more bowling than us....

Me and my girl

Gigi and Pap pa bought her new boots which she now wants to wear everywhere!

Love this shot. This is her new bike. She learned to ride about 3 weeks ago. It has been fun to watch her confidence grow. She has been on it daily.

Daddy keeping guard.....

The Birthday Girl! By the way, I tried my hand at making fondant and it turned out pretty well. I went simple with making a wrapped present. I made marshmallow fondant which was easy and tasted good. More on this later...........

Another birthday gone, how can it be? We love her so and are grateful for her in our lives. She is hard to resist. Happy Birthday Big Girl.....we love you!