WOW!

Has it really been 3 months since I wrote on this thing?!?! Holy cow!

Well, I guess lots has happened since that time. Christmas for one. We had a good holiday. Addison knew exactly what to do with those gifts under the tree that were given to her! She even had grandpa wrapped around her finger when it was time to take the toys out of their boxes! :)

We celebrated Ethiopian Christmas January 7th and I made 3 Ethiopian dishes for us and my parents. I was sad that only 1 of them turned out, BUT, it was the one we liked while in Ethiopia, so I couldn't complain! My injera was NOT good....but I would try it again sometime. I've gotta be able to perfect it at some point in my life!! :)

It's hard to believe spring is just around the corner. Trevor has been on spring break this week, so we've had an enjoyable time at home playing with him and doing fun activities inside and out. Him and I were discussing yesterday though, he only has 7 or 8 weeks left of preschool and he'll officially be a kindergartner! TOO CRAZY!! Hard to think he's going to be 5 in just over a week!!

Still working on the potty training with Caleb. Any hints or suggestions?? Throw them my way! He's getting better, but it's also, when he wants to do it, he'll do it. Otherwise, just forget it! I'm still crossing my fingers he's ready by August! He wants to go to "Trevor's school", so I hope he gets it, and SOON!

And Addison has shown us SO much since coming home! A month from Saturday she will have been home with us for 1 entire year already! It's absolutely crazy to think about that! She has grown like a weed and shown us SO much in the past year. Her speech is amazing! Sometimes she'll be playing and talking to herself, Mark thinks she's speaking German! :) But her words (her favorite being SHOES) are so clear! It's fun to sit and have a little conversation with her! She's learned to stand up for herself...well, sometimes. Other times she is the typical "all girl"! But she picks on the boys as much as they pick on her! It's kinda funny to watch sometimes!

Below is a recent picture of us all. This would have been the first weekend in February when we were leaving Phoenix (visiting Mark's mom) to come home.

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!

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!

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!

Black Friday

Oh, isn't Black Friday so fun!! :) I know, some of you are thinking I'm crazy. Yes, we are all crazy! Especially those people who think pushing carts down aisles you can't even walk thru. Total nuts!!

But I got my stocking stuffers this morning. Most of what I walked out of the store with was for my mother. That's alright. My sister and I have good "quality" time together, if nothing else!! :)

Have a fabulous rest of the holiday weekend!

SO EXCITED to be sponsoring!!!

At this point, I really don't even remember for sure how I was informed of what was going on. Right now all that matters is we are a part of it!

The Bottomly's have done much work into getting an orphanage chosen for sponsors and it has been successful. They have twice as many sponsors as they have expected so far, and of course there is room for more!! What is even more fantastic about this and why I cried this morning is....the orphanage we are blessed to be sponsoring children, is one of the orphanages Mark and I were able to visit while picking up Addison. Kebebtsehay Children’s Home. I am absolutely elated to be a part of this...especially being there before and seeing all the beautiful children that are and will be affected by this wonderful group of sponsors!!

If anyone else is interested in sponsoring, PLEASE get ahold of Amy on the link above. Just a small, yet enormous, way to help out!

We have a court date!! It's almost official official!!

We got our call this afternoon regarding Addison's next court date. On December 18th, she will become an official US Citizen and be our official daughter according to the USA! It's a very exciting time right now for us and are happy to finally have that date. Now I need to finish writing my article for my MOPS group!! :-)

As the holidays approach we hope you all out there are blessed this season! Enjoy your moments and time with all your loved ones!