update on OUR children

I have to say, I am so grateful for this sweet love and desire for our children. We have an official update on them today. This is actually our first set of measurements and info...so exciting.
We have a birthday for our little boy...yay! July 1, 2008. He is 7.5 kg. He is rolling over, crawling, and holding objects in his hands. Sounds like he might be a go-getter like his brother. I hope we see his first steps!
Our little girl is 11 kg, so around 24 lbs, I think? And talking a lot. JH is 30 lbs, I think. Though he is gaining weight a ton thanks to the Chesneys. When I saw and held her, I thought she was very solid and healthy, round looking. I don't think she will put on a ton of weight when she gets home. Wish I had her height!
Wow, can't wait to get my hands on them.

Yep, more pictures!

Through the reeds

This past Sunday John Harvey brought home a lesson about Bartimaeus, but he brought home this picture of Moses he had colored "for mama"
The story of Moses has been on my mind constantly for weeks now. I praise God for this encouragement and renewed affirmation- The One who was able to guide Moses past the crocodiles, the hippos, the reeds, and the churning water will also safely guide our children through courts and to the family He has planned.
*Praying JH will continually know the joy of listening to that still small voice...

Ben brought these home to me on Friday. I am sorry for the blurry photo...we were laughing too hard to get any good ones. These flowers are perfectly representative of Ben's sweetness. He called and asked for a simple, modern arrangement with no roses. Of course when he went to pick them up, they presented him with this monstrosity of a million flowers....a HUGE heart vase, pearls, beaded hearts and 8 long stemmed red roses. How could he say no? :) We spent Sunday pulling the arrangement apart and putting groups of flowers all over the house. Breathtaking! Can't wait to upload the pics

Happy Valentines day

Thank you for John Harvey's sweet valentine cards. We made a v-day box and he had fun saving them up and opening them Saturday morning! Ben made us a yummy Mediterranean meal: lentil soup, falafel, Shish-tawook grilled chicken, and jerusalem salad. The jerusalem salad and chicken were perfect! We recommend less salt for the falafel and we also substituted 2 cups of canned chickpeas, but amazing recipe! We are still on the hunt for a different lentil soup recipe-feel free to share!

We each picked out a yummy bakery dessert...so wonderful! John Harvey chose some kind of death by chocolate..you are only seeing a quarter of it in the picture! Ben had a peanut butter stack and I had key lime cheesecake. A sweet, restful weekend.

Time Out

Good spot on the time out picture. The pictures of John Harvey on time out are my favorite. I liked watching him ponder his predicament of sitting on the sideline when he longs to be in the sand. Then he suddenly scoots really close to Papa and chooses his own little fun and play-just rolling around. And before you know it- time out is over!!! These pictures are in my mind calling out to me...Rejoice! Know Joy! In every circumstance, choose joy!

And park pics from the SAME week!

Can you spot the "time out" pic?

here are our snow pics from last week

john harvey loved the snow...especially playing in the "sand box from the man great grandpa, you know, in wisconsin" Yes, we know:)
He also really enjoyed all the spots where the snow had already melted. :) So, we spent a lot of time that day bringing the snow inside to the sink. we even made yummy snow cream.

Waiting in Confident anticipation...

currently reading

I am currently reading this book about the life of David.
Well...this and 3 or 4 other books. This is the first time I can remember reading more than 1 book at a time and being engrossed in all of them. (Okay, one of them is not really that engrossing-yet. I am just persevering with it)
Even though I really do want to give equal time to all of these amazing books- time and again this one just draws me in. I am fascinated by what it looks like to be a person after God's own heart.
The Jesus storybook Bible has become Harvey's go-to book. And E's bed is our favorite new reading spot! I am finding great delight in discovering these heros of the Bible in a new way. Harvey's favorite 2 stories right now are Daniel in the lions den and David and Goliath. Every time we read about Daniel Harvey says "oh no, the lions are going to eat him" and almost each time we turn the page "oh, God shut the lions mouth". David and Goliath is my current favorite though. I know Harvey looks at that story and loves the awe and action. He just can't believe there is a giant bigger than his Papa. I look at the story and love the assurance that I am not big enough to fight the Goliaths in my life, but God is.

Things in common?

Ok...What do all of these events have in common?

1. The New York Yankees don pinstripes for the first time
2. Johnny Carson announces retirement
3. The first human eye transplant is performed
4. The first earth day takes place internationally
5. Babe Ruth has his first professional game as a pitcher
6. Ben and Amanda legally(God willing) become the parents of 3.






Give up? Okay. All of these events will be remembered in history as occuring on April 22nd.
WE HAVE OUR COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!
Pam called today and our case is scheduled to go through court on April 22. Please pray with us that we will go through court this first time. There have been a majority of cases not passing on the first go through, but we are praying that our agency will be able to do everything within their power to make this happen. Quite a bit is NOT within their power and we are trusting God and His perfect time. He has held us up so often and we know His grace will be sufficient if we do not pass. This court date is later than we all hoped, but with this lateness comes good news. We truly believe this is now a longer process because the court system is becoming more diligent in verifying each individual orphan's case.
Ben and I will have a legal representative in court for us in April. We hope to travel sometime mid-May.
May is a sweet month for our family, indeed.

Just heard this news out of Ethiopia.
I don't know what is going on here, if anything. I feel so much unrest as we wait on any word out of Ethiopia. I am hearing April 23-26 court dates right now, so it looks like we are into a May court day, June travel...

Favorite party pic

Happy Birthday to my girl

Today is our little E's birthday. She is "2"...
And she shares this special day with her Great Grandpa Harvey. He turns 57 today. Oh, I mean 75 ;) Happy Birthday Grandpa!
We loved being with everyone this weekend celebrating Grandpa and hearing his stories about his mother and father. Though I believe E's story is her own to tell I do think so much about her first family today because her story has become our story. We celebrate today and God's goodness in blessing us with E. We pray she will grow into a woman who knows God intimitely and desires His wisdom. I can't wait to have her home to love on!
Our agency handling the paperwork thinks we will have a court date before the end of March. Ben and I are praying for Wisdom as we make decisions regarding travel and really hoping this is the week we hear our date!
Until then-here are some pics from our trip to the park yesterday! And my favorite pic of JH with his grandpa.

Sweet community

We are so excited to be a part of the ethiopian-american community here. We had a sweet time at the get together on Saturday meeting all of the families. I hope next time we have a big get together we will have all of our kids with us!