Happy Birthday, Lucia!

Lucia has been anxiously waiting for her birthday for the past 18 days... or since Isabella turned six. :) Every day we would look at the calendar and talk about how it was coming up. She was so excited!

No doubt about it - the highlight of her day was not the cake, ice cream or presents. It was about everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her! These pics were taken while we sang - she looked at each and every one of us to make sure we were singing! So funny!

Lucky for her she had her family....


and favorite cousins to share the day with!

The group pic was taken using our camera timer and Harold would NOT run into place so we were all screaming for him to hurry and telling the kids to smile and look at the camera because the light was blinking. We took three pics and each time we'd laugh and scream more than before!!

It was a perfect day for a perfect girl.

Happy Birthday, Lucia!

Who Needs A Ball When You Can Have Love? + An Update

Oh, how this process seems to be going so slow... our goal is to send out our second application in the next 2-3 weks! We have come up with our list of references, worked on our bio and are ready to get this show on the road - the road to Ethiopia!!!

In the meantime, I still spend a lot of time watching families grow through adoption. I have given up questioning why I get so emotional and why I can never get enough of these adorable children. It's what God is calling our family and me to do. Simple as that.

Grab a tissue and watch this video, it's a lil long but one that will stay with you.



Welcome home, Yohannes!