Hello!!! Remember me? :) I don't know what I have been doing lately, but obviously not blogging! I haven't even checked blogs in months. Shocking. I know.  This fall has been a fun one with lots of birthdays and soccer.  We have had four birthdays in the house in the last month, five if you count the summer, all five kids played soccer this fall with two on traveling teams, and all are in school(with three different schedules!).

Here are some pictures to help me document what has been going on this fall and catch you up to speed. That is, unless you are on Facebook! ;) Facebook is just so quick and easy!

Kir & I got to go to the store opening of Hot Mama and watch Kristina in action.  

At the end of the summer, Greta and Justus's soccer teams both came in first place in  a soccer tournament.

She just makes me smile, so I had to post this picture. :) This was her trial outfit for back to school(I told her she needed something longer on)

Kristina came to visit and Kwame(as well as the rest of the kids, love her).

This is how you do pre-teen bday parties. Give them airsoft guns and let them go to town. ;) Yeah  right! 

Kristina's protege's :)

Loved this idea that I stole from my friend Anji and Becky and I was so happy the the kids humored me.  If you wonder why Fia's number is so small, it is because I thought I had a 2nd grader and ran out of poster board, so I had to cut the 2 down to a 1. LOL! And yes, I am saving these numbers and just adding on the missing digits.

Our school mascot-an ORCA! 

My mom and I got to road trip down and do some shopping together too at Hot Mama.  Super fun!

Myself and these lovely ladies(plus Joyce  who's taking the picture) got to get away  on a Women's Retreat  for a weekend.  Lots of great times with late night chatting, worship, canoeing, paddleboarding, and maybe some trouble. ;)

Daron took his annual Fall Harvest trip back to the farm in MN and this year it was Greta's turn to go with and help.  She got on the combine a little bit, but I think she mostly helped watch the kids with Grandma, which she thought was fun too!  It's so neat that her Aunt Sarah is doing the farming with Grandpa now.

Fia is the first of the fall birthdays and she turned 7!!! I can't believe when I first saw her picture she was only 3! Time has gone so quickly.

Fia is in 1st grade now and doing a fantastic job.  She seems to get an award every  other day for her hard work and helpful spirit.  She is such a good friend to everyone!

Fia had a birthday party and got to have some of her friends come and play for a couple of hours.  What a blast they had!

Ella was the next birthday and she turned 9!! I can't believe it! Ella is in third grade now and loves music and art.   For her birthday party, she decided to have a cooking party, so we made ice cream, smoothies, and had fondue.  We also went on a hike up to the local park and got to run around for a bit too on a beautiful October day.   

This was the last game of the season for Ella.  She had a great team and alot of fun.  Fia and Kwame had a fun season too with a few of their friends and a great coach(haha-me!) Greta  and Justus are still playing through December. 

Halloween-enough said. 

'Double you pleasure, double your fun' -Randi and I were the  Doublemint Twins for a GNO and we had a good time! She made the shirts and these awesome sparkly skirts for us, but I don't have another picture on my computer now, so this will have to do!

Greta and Daron's birthdays were next and they always go on a date  on the day between their birthdays.  They had a great time and I think Greta felt special on her 11th birthday.

And Daron, well, this was his 40th birthday!!!  Enough said. ;) 

One major downer this winter was that Grandma Bev broke her foot in many places this fall, so she has been  off her foot and healing for a LONG time.  So, one day off of school, we grabbed her and took her on our errands.  Of course, Starbucks was the 1st stop for us. :)

One major highlight this fall was meeting Steven Curtis Chapman again.  We went to his concert and got to volunteer at the www.showhope.org booth.  Show Hope gave us a large grant to help bring Fia and Kwame home and while we were at the concert, they asked if we could go up on stage as an example of where the money they raise for Show Hope goes. Of course we said yes and the kids were nervous and excited at the same time.  SCC is an amazing person, and we had the best time getting to talk to him again and listen to his music.  Josh Wilson and Andrew Peterson were also there too.  Amazing musicians and great storytellers, so we were also thrilled to see them in perform in person and also meet Andrew Peterson after the concert.

SCC performing songs and answering questions at a Q&A before the concert

Up on stage....

I was touched by this...Justus 'dressed up' on Veteran's Day in honor of his Uncle Joel who is currently deployed in the army.

Well, there you have it! There is obviously more that I have left out, but this is already a super long post! We are healthy and with have a lot of thankfulness in our hearts as we come up to Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am so thankful for my family, friends, and good food and football that we get to experience tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Daddy Daughter Dance

 (Do I have posers or WHAT???!!)

 It's that time of year again and the three girls just left on a date with their Dad for the annual Daddy/Daughter dance.  The girls got ready without Daron seeing them and he drove around the block, rang the doorbell, and whisked them off to the dance.  I am sure they are having a great time together now dancing away with all their friends (and their dad) and I can't wait to hear all about it. The girls were so excited and they all looked beautiful! To be honest, the primping part was a little crazy and I can definitely wait to have three teenage girls getting ready for a dance!

First Words to Chapter Books

My kindergartner has had a hard time memorizing her letters and beginning to read, but it is fun to see her finally get it and feel proud of herself. At the beginning of the year Fia only knew a few letters and would get SO frustrated if she couldn't remember them. Now, she remembers all the letters and is starting to sound them out. After sitting for over 30 minutes yesterday(tears and all), we finished her homework and I think she really understood what she was doing! It is a huge breakthrough! The smile at the end was priceless. After we finished with the homework, I had her go and show her dad how she was sounding out 8 of the basic first words in kindergarten. She came back and said, "I read them ALL to dad. Should I start reading chapter books now?" :) Gotta love her determination! Soon Fia. Very soon!

I LOVE My Hair

So, if you know me and my kids, you have probably heard me talk about my children's hair. I really want each and every one of them to know that they are perfect just the way they are (except maybe for an occasional tantrum like I had today with one while walking to school).

Anyway, Sesame street just came out with a video celebrating loving your hair from a little girl's perspective with hair just like Fia's. And thankfully, so far with Fia, she LOVES her hair, so she just LOVED this video and can't stop singing it(which at some point soon, I may go a wee bit crazy). She enjoys all the things we can do naturally with her hair and so do my big girls. In fact, they ask me to do theirs like Fia's, but I have to respond that they also have beautiful hair that does other things and it won't curl like Fia's no matter how hard we try! Awww mom!!

Here is a post I wrote last March from the adoption blog I did for the Hot Mama stores (the blogs have since been replaced with twitter feeds, so I have not really kept up on that one much right now or this blog either for that matter ). I am very passionate about my kids and their self-confidence/esteem is a big thing. So...you can imagine how thrilled I was when a friend sent me a link to the video the other day. Very cool. ABC news also did a piece on this video and gave some background to it. The man behind it has adopted a daughter from Ethiopia and he is the head writer at Sesame Street. Check out the segment here.

Pregnant?

Just in case some of you have talked to Fia lately and thought you knew a 'secret' of ours, I am here to tell you that it isn't true. I am not pregnant! And I am not having triplets named Eenie, Meenie, and MineyMoe! Ha! I guess my 5 year old doesn't quite get my humor yet, but for April Fool's Day, we kept making up 'fools' throughout the day and of course the big kids knew we were teasing. The problem though, is that I guess the little kids didn't. Since April 1, a couple people have asked if I was prego after they had been with Fia (and it is not b/c of how I looked-at least that is what I am telling myself). Today a friend called and said, 'Um, Fia said you were pregnant. I told her that maybe she shouldn't be telling me that, so I thought I better ask..." Thank you for asking...but the answer is no, I guess I fooled a little more people than I expected.

Home for a Year!!

Last February 6th, Fia and Kwame arrived in Washington with my mom and I. They left everyone and everything that was familiar to them and came to a brand new place, with brand new everything! Looking through the pictures from a year ago today were such a mixed bag of emotions. Ghana is a beautiful place with beautiful people. I am not sure how much Fia and Kwame remember of it unfortunately, as much as we try. As hard as their lives were, they also had so much love. Just looking at the pictures remind me of that and my heart aches for their loss, even in the midst of all the joy. And the JOY, wow, my heart is full now that they are home with us. Here are a few pics of our last day in Ghana and our first day in America.

Giving hugs and saying goodbye, for now. These four kids are actually ALL now in America!

This beauty, Miss M. stole my mom's heart and she has been in the orphanage longer than anyone else so far. There is a family that is paper chasing for her now, so PLEASE pray with us that it works out-her heart's desire is to have a family that LOVES HER!
Miss L became a fast friend of mine and I SO wish we lived closer to each other. She is a woman of faith and I truly look up to her. I pray I can see her another day soon. Her little guy is just the sweetest, huh?

Saying goodbye to the staff and kids was almost unbearable. I fell in LOVE with everyone there and wished our countries weren't so far apart. I knew they all loved Fia and Kwame and it must have been so hard to watch them go. I think only 6 of the kids in the picture are still there, and 5 are coming to WA soon. Of course, there are many more kids at Eban House that need forever families. Currently, there are a few boys ages 2-8(I think) that are referral ready and just need families to call their own. Of course, they are beautiful! Please let me know if you are interested or email anita@adoptionadvocates.org

My mom took this picture as we left Eban House....

I was SO blessed to have my mom along on the trip-she was amazing and it was so special for the kids!Here we are. Waiting for the plane from Ghana-via Nigeria-to Frankfurt. Relaxed and past all the check points. Ahhhhh.....
They were so happy to see daddy once we came up the escalator.

First family photo of the seven of us in WA.
Lounging around...ready for bed on our first night home together.

February 6th-it will always be a special day to remember!

Happy 5th Birthday Fia!!!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful princess!! We are so blessed to have you in our lives and thank God every day for your smile and your contagious laugh, for your love of life, and your willingness to help others. We pray that you know how much you are loved by all your family and friends and most importantly, by your heavenly Father. WE LOVE YOU!!!