Happy Birthday Nathnael

Happy 5th Birthday to Nate!

And Happy Halloween to all. I'm not sure I love that Nate's birthday is on Halloween, and I might just have to fix that. In Ethiopia birthdays aren't a big deal or even celebrated, which would be really great after about age 30, but not when you're 5. In fact, they don't even really remember the exact date of their birthday, but more or less the season it was and an event in history it might have happened around. Ethiopia also has 13 months, 12 of which have 30 days and the 13th month has 6 days. So really, according to Ethiopian calendars he wasn't born on Oct. 31st, there is no such day. So what do you think... is it cool to have your birthday on Halloween or a drag because it's never really all about you? I'm thinking we might just have to celebrate it on October 30th, or November 1st from here on out. But for today,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHNAEL, WE LOVE YOUR GUTS AND CAN'T WAIT TO GIVE YOU YOUR BIRTHDAY HUGS AND KISSES!

Happy Day!

We passed through the Ethiopian courts today, and it is official, Nate and Dag are ours. I am the mom of these two adorable boys and I can hardly wait to hold them in my arms. We are so excited, and I honestly feel like I am 20 pounds lighter today. The emotions I experienced the last week in anticipation for this day were like no other. More to come, but I just had to shout with joy and put a few pictures of these darlings back up on the blog...because I can now.

Grandpa...This is For You

So this post is for my dad and Garth (father in law), who might get a kick out of watching this video Spencer put together of himself playing football this season. It's a little lengthy, much better in high definition on the big screen, and doesn't even quite do his season justice. I'm not usually a bragging parent (at least I try not to be), but Spencer was pretty dang good at football this season, if I do say so myself. I think he had 12 or more touchdowns and many amazing defensive plays as well. His games were really fun to watch. We tried to video tape all of them, but that is super hard to do. Sam and I would both give it a try and than you would get all excited watching some amazing play he was doing and we would forget we had a video camera in hand. Finally, we enlisted our fabulous friend Makita, and thanks to her we have some good footage.

Spencer is really into Michael Jackson right now as well, hence the music that goes with it. I think I have listened to more MJ music the last month than I have in my lifetime. My kids do think I am pretty cool though, because I can do the moonwalk. This poster hung in my yellow and orange animal room when I was 10 or so, and I still think it is the best he ever looked...I loved him then.

THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND

It is so beautiful in Boise right now. The leaves are changing and thanks to a wet summer the colors are amazing. Today it was 75 degrees and just fabulous. I'm not usually an autumn lover, it means the end of summer and the precursor to winter, which I really struggle with. But, I just might have a had a change of heart this year. I have quite enjoyed fall.

Today is also Dagim's 3rd birthday. I hate that he is getting older without us. Oh, how I wish he were here to celebrate. He has a really cute bike sitting in his room and my other children would probably talk him into going to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and ordering fried macaroni and cheese, because that is what they love. I wish I could put a big giant picture of him on this blog too, but as you may or may not have noticed there are no more pictures of the boys on our blog. Earlier this week we found out from some new found friends, also waiting for children from our same orphanage, that until we pass through court, we aren't allowed to have pictures of the children on the internet. Truthfully, I don't know why I didn't know that until 5 months later. I have read all my papers our agency sent us about 20 times, but maybe it's selective reading, because I never saw that...oops. So you will know when we pass through court because pictures will be back. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAG!...10/28/2009 Pictures are back.

And if these aren't three of the cutest girls around showcasing the fall foilage, I don't know who is. Sicily had a fun play date with her friends Kerrie and Susanna yesterday, who were recently adopted by our friends, the Dildines, from Ghana. I just want to eat them up every time I see them. They are Nate and Dag's exact ages...could we prearrange some marriages right now?

It's Fall

Fall at our house means lots and lots of football. Sam has season tickets to the Boise State games and BYU games and more importantly our season tickets to Spencer and Carter's games. They practice daily with games on Saturday. Mix in a visit here and there to the chiropractor to correct the hard tackles from the week before, and we hardly have time to to think, let alone blog. The boys have both had great seasons. Their games are super fun to watch, and until yesterday the weather has been ideal. Yesterday... was miserably cold, but luckily the games were good. The girls are troopers and great cheerleaders at the games, as long as I take a picture of them once in a while.

ETHIOPIA BOYS UPDATE: I know I mentioned in the last post that we had a court date of October 9th, well last week it got pushed back to October 26th. UGGG! They said something more pressing had to go through the courts before adoption cases could start up...Seriously, what could be more pressing than getting these boys home, nothing in our minds and stomped on twisted up hearts. So don't pray for us on the 9th, save it for the 26th, and hopefully we can travel before Christmas.

Carter is the one with the ball. He plays something called a "two back", and is on the "D Line". (I don't know my football positions too well.)

Spencer is #82 on the blue team. He plays tight end, and defensive end, and whatever position it is that gets him to score at least two touchdowns a game. It helps to hit puberty before anyone else when it comes to football.

Our pretty little Sissy.

Elle is miss photogenic. I have never seen her look bad in a picture, even when she tries to.