ONE YEAR!!!

It is hard to believe that it has been one year since we were in Ethiopia!! Our family is a family of 8 and we are crazy busy most of the time....sometimes because we do alot, sometimes because we have 6 kids and they are always acting busy!!! Lots of noise, lots of laughter, lots of LAUNDRY!!! This year has been a blur for all of us. It seems as though we have tried to fit as many stressful situations into our lives in one year as possible. I graduated from nursing school last May. Then we went to Ethiopia in July and brought Dawit and Muluken home! After a few months of transition and school started, I started working!! That was our biggest adjustment!! I had been home for 11 years for the most part. Big decision, big, big, big difference in our families budget of time etc! After that, we made the decision to get bids to build a new home, which is now about 1/2 way done!! Then Jim felt the need to get his doctoral work finished and subsequently put in some long hours and graduated with his Educational Doctorate in May. I had another knee surgery(#4) and switched to a position that is not good for the summer months but great for when school starts....I have NEVER really worked in the summer!! Very hard adjustment. At the end of June, we lost our family dog, Millie...she was 14 and we got her at 8 weeks...sad times! We have wound up this year with a vacation to both grandparents and it is back to the grind tomorrow.

SOOOOO why this discourse??? The most important part of this last year is seeing our lives change so much in the area of our family and personal lives...The boys have continued to adjust sooo well. We love all our children deeply. We have had chances to talk with each of them at some point about how proud we are of them all for accepting the boys' as part of our family and taking off!! Our lives are so much richer because we went to a place and experienced first hand the reality of poverty and happiness that most Americans have not and never will think about. We have been entrusted with two amazing creations that have already been through so much pain in their short lives and now we are just beginning our lives with them and their journey! Thank all of you that have been so patient with us and prayed for all of us! Here are a few pics of our travels from this past week! "Praise God for his indescribable gift....."