For those of you lovely friends who have me on your blog-roll, please be sure to change my address on your blog! Thanks – Love y’all!!

3 days of posting in a row, wow, let’s hope I can keep this up!…

Some more pictures of the tribe. As I go through our pictures, it’s amazing to think that sometime next year (Lord willing!) I’ll have another little one (or two!) to share pictures of with all of you!

 I thought he looked so handsome in this pic!

 Hi, Mom!!

 I love the expressions on each of their faces in this one.

 Mariah’s curls! Her hair is finally getting longer

 Close-up of Mariah’s curls. She and Ethan are my only 2 w/curly hair like mine.

 “Savannah Smiles”…. those of you who know me really well know that I’m referencing a favorite childhood movie!

 Fresh veggies from my container garden!!

Thanks for visiting!!

We were so excited to get the call late yesterday that there were 2 permanent spots open for Mariah & Ethan! They will start going each Tuesday at 5pm. Praise the Lord!! They are hoping to be able to squeeze Savannah in, as well, but at this time they do not have an opening for her. We need to be able to bring her on the same date as the arena is over an hour away, and diesel is not cheap these days

Anyhow, the kids had a blast! Mariah bonded immediately with the horse. She had no fear at all. She was simply enjoying the ride, well… more like an intense workout for her!! The therapists were GREAT. We were overall very impressed. Ethan was not crazy about the idea of riding the horse, at first, but within about 10 minutes he had warmed up to the horse and his therapists, and he was doing great! Needless to say, M&E were quite exhausted this evening – both fell asleep early. What a great way to end the evening, though!!

Hubby & I enjoyed a swim in the 90 degree pool tonight, which is always a nice way for us to unwind. Now I’m enjoying my pepper jelly on toast and some soy milk. We stopped by the Amish store on our way to hippotherapy today, which is always a fun place to visit. I’m getting ready to try my hand at making some “Thai Mango Sweet Sticky Rice” tomorrow. I just needed some tapioca starch, and Ada’s came to my rescue as always!

Here are some more pictures for your enjoyment: 

Not so sure about this, mom…

Ethan’s white horse (he talked about all the way home and all evening before he fell asleep )

Warming up to the horse…

They started out laying her across the horse

…but discovered that she could do very well side-sitting! As you can see, she really liked this position, and it encouraged her to hold her head up!

This was one HAPPY “cowgirl”

As always… charming everyone! That’s my girl. She may not talk & she may not walk, but she warms the heart of everyone she meets!! 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

So today began our official start in Ethiopian Education. I plan to teach the kids as much as I can, and even some of the language, before our children come home!!

I’m starting with Andrew first, which will mostly be reading books together and then allowing him to narrate on paper what he has learned. I sneaked a few shots of him this morning -
It’s amazing how kids will cooperate when you find things that interest them, outside of the standard stuff; math, language arts, social studies, etc!

Thanks for reading & stay tuned, more to come soon!

And YES… BOYS CAN KNIT, TOO! Some people say it actually started as a man’s “hobby” – back in war times men would knit socks and such…

That might explain why my father-in-law and several other male friends of ours (45 yrs+) recall knitting as children. Regardless, I believe anything that requires a child to be creative, use their math and thinking skills, is a wonderful thing!! I was amazed that Jeremy picked up the needles and learned so quickly. He definitely has the gift! Right now he can only do squares and rectangles, but as he gets older, I’ll encourage him to try out some easy patterns.

Here’s a great website “Knitting With Children” http://anacleta.homestead.com/knittingwithchildren.html – check it out. I encourage everyone I know to give knitting a try, and don’t give up!! There are all different methods of casting on, ways of holding your yarn, etc – so it may take a while to find the one that works best for you, but once you’ve got it down, you’ll be amazed how addictive & fun it is!! Not to mention theraputic. I love to bring my knitting needles and some yarn to the movie theatre or on car rides – makes me feel so productive, LOL!:)

Most of all, when learning to knit, make it fun!! Try to enjoy the learning process and remember that practice makes perfect. In the beginning you’ll have lots of mistakes, and that’s OK – it’s all part of the journey!

I’m happy to report that I’m feeling 100% better. It’s great to be back to myself again! No more pain meds, iron, etc – yay!!

The kids, my little sister Alissa, and I – all took a trip to Florence late Saturday afternoon. I had so much shopping to do after being out of it for a few weeks. We hit Sam’s Club, Books A Million, McD’s, & Big Lots. By the time we were done w/all our shopping it was too late/dark for a trip to Spring Park (my friend Kristy has been telling me we HAVE to go there soon!), but hopefully next time we’ll make it. The kids had a BLAST playing at the “Big McD’s” as they refer to it. It’s one of the newer remodeled ones w/a huge playing area, even video games!!

Mariah loved her fruit parfait, and Ethan had so much fun being taken down the slide by big brother Andrew and Aunt Alissa!

It was a gorgeous day. The weather could not have been more perfect!!

Anyhow, that’s my short update for now… Pictures to follow soon!!

Anyhow, enough about me… I just wanted to share the lyrics to a song that was on the radio tonight. They spoke right to the very depth of my heart, and it is my hope that they will touch someone else out there reading this tonight. The song is “There is a reason” by Caedmon’s Call. I’m also uploading the youtube video so you can listen to it yourself. Here are the lyrics:

late at night I wonder why
sometimes I wonder why
sometimes I’m so tired
I don’t even try
seems everything around me fails
but I hold on to the promise
that there is a reason

late at night, the darkness makes it hard to see
the history of the saints who’ve gone in front of me
through famine, plague and disbelief
His hand was still upon them
cause there is a reason
there is a reason

He makes all things good
He makes all things good
there’s a time to live and a time to die
a time for wonder and to wonder why
cause there is a reason
there is a reason

i believe in a God who sent His only son
to walk upon this world and give His life for us
with blood and tears on a long, dark night
we know that He believed
that there is a reason
there is a reason

for the lonely nights
and broken hearts
the widow’s mite
in the rich man’s hand
and the continent
whose blood becomes a traitor

for the child afraid to close their eyes
the prayers that seem unanswered
there is a reason
there is a reason

Be blessed my friends & love like Jesus!

Melanie

Yes friends & family, we are!!

…but not the way most would expect. This time we are following God’s calling and we’re ADOPTING!!!

We always knew we wanted to adopt again in the future, but we thought it would be the same way we added our first blessing (a son!) to our family, through domestic adoption, but God quickly made it very clear to us that He has called us to adopt a child internationally this time. We had originally been looking to adopt from Russia or Kazakhstan, but Ethiopia kept reaching into our hearts.

I’ll admit that all I could think about was children with HIV/AIDS, severe malnutrition/starvation, Malaria, etc- The idea of adopting a child from Africa was very intimidating! -But then I guess you could say the light bulbs went off in our heads. THESE are the very children that NEED US!! These are the children God calls us to care for. The orphans, the outcast, the hungry, and the sick. I realized that those uncomfortable feelings were really just the Lord causing a stirring within me. I knew we had to respond. So we decided to “look into Ethiopia” – to our dismay, we learned that one can adopt *3* children in Africa for what it costs to adopt *1* child in most other countries! That alone was almost enough to convince me.

We also learned that 1 in every 5 children in Ethiopia dies before they reach age 5. Most orphans have lost 1 or sometimes both parents. On a positive note, we learned that Ethiopia is in the “top 5″ countries to adopt from. Ethiopian orphanages are said to be smaller and more loving. Many times children are being cared for by surviving older siblings and/or relatives. They typically have healthy attachments and bonds with others. Children from Ethiopia tend to adjust well to their new families, and the thought behind this is that there are less children with “attachment disorders” and other behavioral problems that are common in children who have been institutionalized. This was very encouraging to us, and we decided to pursue adoption from ETHIOPIA!!

We are specifically requesting a child or sibling group between the ages of 1-5. Our preference has been for a girl, but we’re open to either gender. We would like to adopt a special needs child, and some of the conditions we have told our adoption agency we would consider are: A child with Cerebral Palsy (surprised?), Downs Syndrome, Deafness, Missing Limb, Cleft Palate, Autism, and pretty much any mild to moderate disability. Of course, we have a special place in our hearts for children with CP, but we are simply allowing God to show us the way… We are so excited to see who he decides to bless us with!

Because we are adopting special needs, we are able to save at least $5,000 of adoption expenses. We will still be responsible for all other costs (Homestudy, Travel, Immigration fees, & post-placement lawyer fees) We are going through a special program for “Promise Children” through WACAP, our Adoption Agency: http://wacap.org/.

About 13 weeks ago we signed up for a Dave Ramsey “financial peace university” course (1 more class left!), and I’m happy to say that we are on the road to being debt-free, and we even have our own little “adoption fund” nest egg growing . It feels so good to have control of our finances, really, for the first time in almost a decade of being married! I was never a DR fan prior to this course, and actually couldn’t stand to listen to him on the radio/tv, but now I’d consider myself one of his biggest fans! He truly is a man of God, and his ministry of helping others achieve “financial peace” is full of such wisdom and truth. I can’t help but love the guy

Anyhow, that’s our exciting news for the year… stay tuned for more. I plan to update as much as possible, as I know there are a handful of you dear friends out there praying for us and our future child(ren)!

If this is your first-time visiting my blog and you’d like to know more about adoption, either international or domestic, please feel free to leave me a comment! I’m more than happy to help to the best of my ability, and I can always point you in the right direction if I don’t have the answer you’re looking for!

God’s love & blessings on each of you this weekend ~ Let your light shine.

How will God use you to help care for orphans?