Thursday, December 18, 2008

Officialized!!

Is that a word?? Don't know....but it's what I mean!! Addison is official! She is now our daughter according to Nebraska, as of today!! It's been a FANTASTIC day and we are just ecstatic!! She is now a US Citizen....she is our little Ethiopian-American babe!! :) Just a great feeling for us all!!

Now we wait for her new birth certificate and then we'll be able to get her Social Security number after that. Little bit left to go, but now is the easy stuff!!

Merry Christmas to all!

Friday, December 12, 2008

just a rambling...

Wow, I look at my counter and see Christmas is only 13 days away! Is that REALLY possible?? Where did the time go this year?? It seems as if it was just yesterday we were packing to pick up Addison. Or just yesterday when the flood hit over the summer. It was just Halloween! Amazing, just amazing. Again, where does the time go???

All is still going well. Well, not ALL...my external hard drive now decided it was its turn to take a dump, so I have no pictures to post at this time. I am trying my last hope for any survival...it's in the shop being looked at for anything salvagable. Yep, everything from when my computer's hard drive a month ago was on there. Yep, all of my pictures!!! And nope, I didn't have anything backed up! Yep, that was dumb! :) Yes, I've learned my lesson!!

On other (better) news....Addison is a full walker now. She's quite fun to watch "waddle" around. She's got a belly on her, so she tries balancing herself out without falling. Quite fun! She loves to stand up and dance now and she will even walk backwards. That one took me by great surprise a few weeks ago. She proved my point even more when I tell people she's a brilliant child!! :)

I love watching her eyes light up when we go into Walmart. They have their enormous Christmas tree right as you walk in with the HUGE red and green bulbs on it. She looks at me and back at the tree about 10 times before I can walk past it. Unfortunately she wasn't as excited about our's here at home, BUT it's not like 20 feet tall either! I know she's very excited for Christmas to get here. We saw Santa this morning for the first time at the Y (he was there for a school program). Boy, he got a good look from her. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the big man in the red suit with a long white beard. Probably just wondering what we people do here in this strange country! :)

It's been a fun winter, so far, with her also. Loves to watch the snow fall. (good thing, she'll be taking after me on that one!) The funny thing though is, when I go to put her winter coat on, I have to laugh inside....she would definitely NOT be wearing that in Ethiopia!! She has fallen in love with her heavy fleece Pooh hat. If I'd let her, she'd probably wear it all day, everyday. Not quite sure why...it's not Dora.

She's been growing like a weed. When we went in at 16 months (yeah, kinda missed the 15 month mark) she was 70% in height and 55% in weight. That kinda tells you a little on really how big she's getting! Honestly, I think Caleb better watch out. :) He might be passed up if he doesn't hit a good growth spurt pretty soon.

And the boys...better not leave them out. Caleb is constantly asking to go to school. I guess that's a good thing. We gotta get this potty training thing down though. I tell him that everyday, but he's just not getting the concept quite yet, I don't think. Bribes don't seem to help a lot right now either. I trust though, one day soon he'll think wet pants is for the birds...(at least I hope so!)
Trevor is doing fabulous in school! He's learning such a GREAT deal this year! I can tell he's starting to get a bit bored though. His Monday/Tuesday and then Wednesday/Thursday are the same sheets and lessons. And I think just going everyday is wearing him out. I remind him next week he's only got 4 days and then he'll be off for about 3 weeks. I'm hoping that's a good enough break for him. He's just anxious to go to mommy's school next fall.

I suppose it's time to start getting stuff ready for a Christmas party tonite. Again, where does the time go?? Almost 3 in the afternoon. Crazy, just crazy!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Starbucks today!

Starbucks today is supporting World AIDS Day by donating per cup purchased! Go get a cup, or 2, or for some friends or your office mates!!!

Congratulations, also, to all those that have passed court today and in the past weeks. What a blessing to have your children home in time for the beautiful Christmas season! And those who have not yet passed....know we are all praying right along with you that God will bring you to your children VERY soon!!! They need you as much as you are yearning and needing them!