They like to move it, move it

I taped the boys dancing together...they crack me up!

Here is another one: starring LUKE! Have you ever seen moves like that?! Haha!

And one more starring Anteneh! He knows he is cute!

Pictures from our trip

I can't believe I've waited so long to post pictures of our trip to Ethiopia...here are a few:
This is the first time we held him-Gail(the director) said, "Anteneh, this is your mommy and daddy!" and he slowly and shyly walked up to me and I hugged him and put him on my lap. That's Gail in the background...she has the coolest job!


This is Anteneh discovering all the toys we brought for him...






And wearing his new backpack that he LOVED and his brown dog shirt from Aunt Tracey!




Meeting Anteneh's biological mother...she was so much more beautiful in person...








These are Anteneh's old roomates at Sele Enat where he lived for 3 months when his mom turned him over to the orphanage system. In this picture, they are looking through a little window into the baby room that Daryn and I were standing in...when they heard we were there, they ran out and said, "HI! Do you have a son named Luke?!" (they had been looking at the little album we'd sent to Anteneh in December!)
And this shot is of Anteneh's bed at Sele Enat...(the bottom bunk right behind those boys)It makes me so sad to think of him laying there at night crying-wondering where his mommy had gone and wondering why he was there...he cries at night now when he wakes and we aren't there and when he does I just picture him laying there in that bed at Sele Enat crying for his mommy and it just breaks my heart!

Well, I have to go for now but I'll try to post more pics later!

Worn Out

After I long day of playing at Chuck E Cheese then out side with Daddy and Grace this afternoon....

the boys both put on their new Cars jammies and crashed on the couch. It's only 4:30pm! Haha...they were watching cartoons and then both were asleep suddenly. They were so knocked out that I trimmed all their fingernails and toenails and neither one woke up! Haha! (sorry if that was gross to say...)Maybe we shouldn't have skipped naps today!

I am ENCOURAGED

You know, Daryn and I have so much appreciated every one's encouraging words, the meals people brought us, and the supportive emails, calls, and comments on our blog. It always amazes me how there's always SOMEONE who feels the need to discourage and be critical. Someone left me a rude comment on one of my previous blog entries that really got me aggrevated. For anyone who knows us, you know our hearts-our love for our kids, our family, and the Lord-and our genuine desire to make some some sort of positive impact on those around us-and to tell others of the need of AIDS orphans in Ethiopia. You know that we love Anteneh and have a deep desire to see him grow up as a member of our family-loved and cherished and encouraged-these last few weeks have been a challenge and I really am in awe that someone would chose to be discouraging to us by posting a rude comment for everyone to read. It has been deleted and I'd appreciate it if that person would kindly quit visiting this site if all they have to say to us is rude. His or her reprimands aren't welcome here-he obviously doesn't understand us.

Well, enough about that..
Today has been great so far! I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese to play with their friends Ainsley, Lundon, and Moses-they all had a blast-and we had a coupon-$5 for 90 minutes worth of tokens that cashed in for 3 worthless toys!-woohoo! Haha...our biggest thing now is teaching Anteneh to play w/out taking toys. He's learning pretty quickly, considering we've only been teaching him this for 2 weeks, he was an only child, and he was at an orphanage for months where he probably learned to grab toys when he wanted them. The biggest obstacle is still the English-so hard to explain to him what he can and can't do w/out words! BUT we got ahold of an Ethiopian student at University of Evansville named Tesfaye and we are going to get together with him soon! We are very excited about this b/c not only will it be great to meet him and get to know him, he can talk to Anteneh in Amharic! For the first time in 2 weeks someone will understand him! Haha! Anteneh will be excited. I think that it will also help to be able to communicate to him some of the things that we expect of him that right now he doesn't understand when we try to tell him.

Grace is excited b/c in 4 days she gets to go to Florida with my mom to visit my grandma-she is so excited and I really think that it will be fun for her-she now has 2 little brothers and could really use a break-haha! For me, I've been fantasizing about the spring and going camping as a family-we had so much fun last year doing it and Anteneh just seems to love it outside as much as Grace and Luke-I'm ready to get outside more-poor Anteneh came from 75 degree weather to a cold, wet Indiana February-ugh! We also have May to look forward to b/c we are doing a family vacation w/ Daryn's side of the family to Destin, FL...that should be fun...and the 11 hour road trip should be interesting:) Actually, Anteneh does VERY well in his carseat-which surprised us after wrestling him in the taxi to keep him from climbing out the window in Addis! Haha...

Well, gotta go work on dinner...

Brothers Gotta Hug

Wow-what a day-it was 72 degrees here and beautiful...the kids and I got happymeals and went to the church to play on the playground. For those of you who don't know, our church, New Beginnings, owns the old Kramer's Lake property (an old pay lake that was really popular around here years ago)...during our services, we can look out the windows of the sanctuary at a big, beautiful lake filled with paddleboats, slides, and trapezes. There's also a little playground and sand volleyball court. It's a great place to camp (that's were we usually go w/ the kids to camp) and the church has a lot of concerts and services outdoors on a stage that overlooks the water-so fun! ANYWAY...we had a great day there playing and letting our dog, Shadow, run and splash in the lake. Anteneh was a little scared when 12 huge cows and their 5 calves came right over to us at the fence (their pasture comes right up to the edge of the church property) and mooed at us like we were driving them crazy...they were so loud! Of course, animal lover Grace wanted to feed them but I had to restrain her-she's fearless with animals and I've never been around cows-would they bite? Hmmm...

Well, it was a great day of bonding for the kids-they swang in unison, and slid on the slide-the best was watching the boys help eachother up the little rock wall. Over and over again they pulled eachother up and every time they'd say, "Mommy! Mommy!" Until I looked at both of them at the top grinning...the boys, especially, had a great day together. They wrestled eachother on the living room floor, and in the grass in the front yard. They wore blankie capes and attacked the vacuum as I cleaned the floors. They played cars, jumped off the couches, and worked on the toolbench...they are bonding so well...of course, they also bicker and argue but the other half of the time they are acting like best friends. I guess that's pretty normal for brothers. We hadn't intended to do it, really, but we basically have twins now-they wear the same size clothes, and love the same things.

It was a great day. Praise God.

Getting Easier

Ahh...going to the bathroom with all three kids in the room...that is life right now. Oh-and did I mention the dog has to be in there, too? But, it's OK-as long as nobody is crying...things are already getting a little easier. Anteneh is learning the rules and has finally stopped getting into drawers and cabinets. He is also playing with the toys more and entertaining himself a little more-for the first week he was too insecure to let himself sit and play-he just wanted to follow us around. He is also eating more and has stopped asking for bananas and oranges 20 times a day-he's down to about 5 times-which is much easier to put up with. I actually was brave Sunday and took Grace and Anteneh to the grocery for a big shopping trip...he did great driving the car that's attached to the cart-the checkout was another story but it was an encouraging trip. Now, adding Luke to the mix might be another story! Haha...but then we ran in Blockbuster to get a movie for family movie night-someone tell me how, after 5 days in America, the child has already started throwing a fit for candy at the checkout? He kept bringing me different candy boxes and I kept saying, "No, Anteneh." and he'd stomp around for a minute and try another box. The employee smiled and I said, "Would you believe this child throwing a fit for candy was an orphan 5 days ago and owned NOTHING?" Of course, he laughed at the scene. I wish you all could have seen it. It made my day just to laugh at the irony. Well, I have to go-we are visiting a preschool today-the boys are going to be in the same grade, it looks like...we twinned them :) haha...Anteneh's birthday puts him right into Luke's school class-which in a way we didn't want-but I think it would be a stretch to put Anteneh in pre-K....so, they are both 2 years behind Grace in school...since I'm homeschooling Grace this fall for kindergarten, it will be nice for us girls to have a few hours a week while the boys are at preschool...well, gotta go-wish me luck getting all three squirmy kids in the van...

Settling In

OK...our days are stressful right now! Imagine if you will, all of a sudden having a 3 year old who speaks not a lick of English and has no concept of objects being 'off limits' or that you can't grab things out of people's hands on impulse. Not only that, but we already had a clingy, sometimes whiney, 2 year old and a 4 year old! Haha...life is crazy. It is a sacrifice right now. We remind ourselves: we didn't adopt a 3 year old because we wanted to make life easier on ourselves, or b/c we had thousands of dollars laying around waiting to be spent, or b/c we felt we couldn't live without more stress in our lives. We did it b/c God showed us His heart for the orphan and because we knew that while it wouldn't be easy, it was RIGHT and so we prayed, "God, give us the child who will fit perfectly into our family..." Well, wouldn't you know-He did it...BUT He didn't make it easy...isn't that just like God? Answers our prayers but grows us and refines us in the process-making us more like Him...Anteneh obviously will fit in perfectly-but needs to be molded slightly-isn't that what parents are for? Good thing he has us to do it! These little hills we are navigating should be our joy to explore-the hills of getting up at 3 am and making eggs b/c Anteneh's body clock is still off, the hill of training him to share when he can't understnad the reasoning in English...the hill of having another little rear end to wipe...(haha) or another young child following you crying for something...But, that spiritual reasoning is too easily forgotten and I find myself a little stressed-and in need of reminding myself of these things...I look at Anteneh's little face and wonder what would have happened to him had we not adopted him and it makes the hills much easier to climb :)