Brothers

I love watching the two boys interact. Justus is 11 now and Kwame is 4, but they still have a great brotherly bond, despite their age difference.

Today, as Justus was running out to go to a soccer carpool, Kwame said, "Wait, I need to give him a hug first." Justus waited for Kwame, gave him a hug, then Kwame said, "Now run, run, run (to the car), ...good job, that's my boy!"

Kwame cracks me up!

Happy Birthday Daron!

I wanted to write a blog post on Daron, but he wants me to spend time with him, so I guess his birthday present is to NOT write a post on him....as long as tomorrow he isn't mad I didn't give him much of an online birthday post.

Notice he only had one candle left signifying one girlfriend!

t.

Happy 10th Birthday Greta!

Today is Greta's birthday, so we continued on with our tradition of breakfast in bed. She chose to have Hills and Humps and the rest of us were happy she chose that too! :) We were also excited because the 'trick' candle finally worked! I bought them for Ella, but they tricked me and didn't work. Greta had fun with it-she has a great sense of humor, and that is one of the many things we love about her!

I had fun today because I found a couple pictures from Greta's 4th birthday. It is neat to remember back and also see how much she has grown up now! We are so lucky to have her in our lives. I love you Greta!

When Greta was born ten years ago, we lived in Chicago and were waiting (not so patiently) for her to come into this world. She was a week late and after being put on bed rest for many weeks because Justus was so early, I was VERY eager to meet her. The moment she was born, we were in love and she has kept us on our toes ever since!

One thing I admire about Greta, is that she has always been full of life and ready to try anything...it might have something to do with traveling to NH at less than a month for Daron to candidate for a new job and then moving there when she was 2months old. Thanks for being flexible, Greta! :) She has also been so creative and full of joy! Many kids love dolls and such, but one thing that Greta has loved since she was little, was paper! Today, she was thrilled to get a very special birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa J. -a Cuttlebug. It is a paper embosser, so she is busy making lots of cards! Keep an eye out for her creations....

We love you Greta! I hope you have a fantastic double digit year!

Happy Halloween!

Happy 8th Birthday EllaBellaGrace!

Happy 8th Birthday Ella! I love you, your smile, your laughter, and your love of life. You are so special to us!

A month or so ago, Ella found this double bagel and said she wanted it for her birthday. So we froze it-haha- and TA-DA!!, she got it for her breakfast in bed this morning. She was thrilled!

After school we gave her a scavenger hunt to find her present-it was a PINK GUITAR! She wants to be a rock star and loves singing and dancing, so we figured, let's do it!

As I speak, she is writing out a song to sing on her new guitar! ;) I love it.

Happy birthday EllaBellaGrace! We LOVE you!

Happy 6th Birthday Fia!!

Can you believe that Fia is already 6? When we got our referral of her, she was only three. I can't believe how fast this has gone already! She is an amazing girl with a serious amount of drive and perseverance. I can't wait to see all that she does with her life. I am so proud of her already and love to see her smile and especially LOVE to hear her laugh! Fia has the best laugh if you haven't heard it before. It's actually got a bit of a snort to it(like her mother)!

Today we woke her up with breakfast in bed. She chose to have Swedish pancakes and loved the attention. The kids then gave her their gifts they bought with their own money and it was so sweet-she loved every minute! Tonight we are having her favorite dinner which is what I made their first full night with us for dinner-just a mixture of rice, chicken, salsa, black beans, and corn. Then they can eat it with a homemade tortilla, cheese, and sour cream! Nothing light, but all I wanted at the beginning was to get some calories in them with many food groups....it worked if you hadn't noticed.

Tomorrow we are having a little birthday party for her with a couple kids from her class and then on Sunday we are having a going away party for some of her friends from Ghana that are moving from WA to Georgia, so it will be party weekend. We can't wait to see a handful of families that have also adopted from our same orphanage in Ghana and reunite the kids. I think we will have people from as far away as California(that happen to be in town), Spokane, and Portland, as well as the Seattle area. We can't wait! If any other 'Ghana Families' happen to be in the area from 2-4pm on Sunday and want to join us, you are MORE than welcome (whether or not you are from AAI).

My dear Fia, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and knows just how much we love YOU. I am so thankful for you and wish you the best birthday! Love you, our little Mefia!

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.

September

Back to school this fall has been great. The kids all love their teachers and are having a great time getting back into the swing of things; seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Life is good....except a wee bit busy(to be honest).

(pictures of their 1st day of school)

(pictures of Kwame's 1st day of preschool)

Besides school, the girls are taking Norwegian dancing and all five are playing soccer- I am even coaching Fia and Kwame. Stop laughing! I guess if I ever had any question before, I am truly a soccer mom now, whether I like it or not(which I do,so it's all good). It is so much fun to watch them play and have fun with their friends.

In the middle of the month, I got a chance to get away with some ladies from church to a Women's Retreat at Cascades Camp. We had such a great time and I am so thankful for these ladies!

One last highlight was when my cousin, Kari, and her family came to visit for a few days. We had fun getting the kids together, hanging out, going for a hike, and showing them around our neck of the woods. The kids all had a blast and there is nothing better than being surrounded by family who know and love you.

Ghana

Click here to view this photo book larger

Our Adoption Agency

I know I have a link on the side of my blog, but in case you were curious and haven't noticed it before, the adoption agency we went with to bring Fia and Kwame home is Adoption Advocates International. You can find them at www.adoptionadvocates.org and they are commonly referred to as AAI. Right now, they are starting up three new programs, called pilot programs, from countries they haven't worked with before. If you are interested in adoption, this might be of interest to you. Check out their blog post (here) about all their new programs.