WW - Gingerbread House Fun

"Is this a good time?"

Those are best words you want to hear from your social worker when you are waiting for an adoption referral. It means they have very important news and want your full attention. For anyone who has waited (and waited and waited and waited), this is the phrase that makes your heart stop, then start racing. This is when all your basic abilities cease. This is when, for the life of you, you can't remember how to dial a 3-way call on your phone (despite practicing for months and months). You can't find that beautiful notebook you set by the phone to write down all of the important information. Instead, you grab a crayon and the back of an envelope and start to scribble.

Our social worker was very patient and explained that she'd be sending an email with all of the data we were discussing, so we could just listen. Better yet, she was sending a photo - a photo of the little lovely who would forever change our family.

3 years ago, on the morning of January 9, we got, "THE CALL". A beautiful and tiny bundle of joy, not even 3 months old, was waiting for us in Ethiopia. We had a DAUGHTER. B had a sister. We were now a family of four.

~10 weeks

1 year

2 years3 years

WW - Cousin Photo Shoot

Matchy Matchy Twins

I love that my kids are very close in age to their cousins. I love my cousins dearly, but those who I saw more often were so much younger that I still have to remind myself that they are cousins, not nieces and nephews. When we were preparing for Cousin A to bring her parents to visit in December, G helped pick out an outfit so the girls could be "Matchy Matchy Twins". They even added the Princess Shoes to complete the look.

Pajama Day

Though B attends a K-8 school, they still get a few perks as Kinders. One of those perks is that they get to wear actual costumes on Halloween AND Pajamas on the last day before Christmas break. He loved it. Even the teachers dressed in their warm PJs and robes.

School Play

One of the perks of going to Catholic school is that when they have a program in December, they get to call it a Christmas Program. Not only do they get to sing songs about Santa and Christmas, but they also get to sing about shepherds, angels AND baby Jesus! Reminds me of public school when I was a little kid!

My folks, T's folks and Nany were on hand with T & me to see B's class perform their version of the Christmas story. They sang and danced (a bit). There were costumes (mostly just headdresses) and a few kids had lines to memorize. I tried to get some good shots of the group, but since I am a bit height challenged, mostly I got lots of audience back shots and bit of the kids showing behind them. Believe me, it was a hoot. They sang a verse from SO MANY SONGS! Sister Denise, the school music teacher, gets a big thumbs up for teaching 28 kinders so many songs in under 6 weeks (meeting just about 60 minutes per week).

B was part of the shepherd contingent.

Cuddled up with his teacher, Mrs. Davis.

Posing with Mom and Dad

Unfortunately, once T's head wasn't cut off, B's smiles turned all "Chandler Bing"

Twirl Test

G got a new dress for her birthday, but we never had a reason for her to wear it. She did, however, wear it for Thanksgiving. In fact, she tried out the twirling in the living room. Then she showed off the twirling in the aisles at church, too!