Blog

  • 18 months!

    My babies are 18 months old today. Unbelievable! Last year on this date we failed court for the second time, oh the heartache, but what a difference a year makes. They fill our lives with such joy!

    They are very busy boys.  They love the outdoors, water, reading, making noise, dancing, music, and playing with mom and dad.

    Currently they are really working on their vocabulary and try so hard to copy us.  Words they are saying:  dadda, momma, kitty (ez says key but I know what he means), door, shoe, bubba, dog, hi, hey, uh-oh.  Noah also says Ezra and has said Grandma, but refuses to now.  They also say nana for banana.

    Noah and his wocket for his pocket.

    Ezra dancing

    Reading

    shhh don’t tell him the book is upside down, he likes it that way

    momma’s headband

    he had to try it too

    mmmm food

    resting by the door

    hockey time!

    Noah has his hockey face on!

    what you said don’t put my foot on the table?

    don’t ask.

  • 60 years!

    Yesterday my grandparents celebrated 60 years of marriage. WOW!!! Congratulations to them. We get to go back and celebrate with them at the end of the month. I can’t wait for them to meet their great-grandsons. 🙂

    Here’s the clip from their local paper, there is another couple on the page married for 73 years!

  • Letting go

    Yesterday I decided to let go of control, the control I had because I still fed the boys their breakfast and lunch. I decided it was time they could feed themselves. They’ve been feeding themselves dinner for a long time and I had been resisting letting them feed themselves the rest of their meals. Today I decided to just rip the band-aid off and let them at it. Well they loved their new independence and did really great, plus ate plenty of food.

    Here they are enjoying breakfast:

    and lunch:

    We were having so much fun with our new independence we decided to try out our booster seats and sit at the table for snack:

    We also ate dinner this way. All four of us at the table, it was nice. 🙂 Plus not having high chairs in the kitchen frees up some space.

  • Never Be


    Never be too busy to stop and take a moment with your child. There will always be dishes to wash and counters to wipe down, but these moments will soon just be memories and he will be grown.

  • happy mothers day to stephanie!

    A Happy first mothers day to Stephanie (and all moms too). Feels odd to say ‘first’—because it feels like the boys have been with us for so much longer.

    She had a good day, and ended it with a mom and sons photo shoot in the park.
    Click for full size

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    This is what she looks like every day. Just as beautiful, and herding two wild boys. I’m a lucky daddy.

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    momma and ezra.

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    momma and noah

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    Noah being super cute.

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    My Amazing wife and mother of our children.

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    Ezra showing off his traditional Ethiopian outfit for the last time, they are too snug 🙁

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    beautiful!

  • Photo Friday – 05.07.2010

    Ez in a basket and Noah’s cheese face

    Reading quietly by himself

    Having fun riding their animals

    Notice anything saved in the collar of his shirt?

    One of these things is not like the others.

    Sleepy Noah, it was 9:15 and his brother was not being quiet, slept for another 10 minutes with the light on

    Taking full advantage of his brother sleeping, two sippies!

  • Photo Sunday – 05.02.2010

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    My little stunt rider
    noah in a hat

    Trying out daddy’s hat
    the boys kicing the kitchen

    Helping daddy fix their oven door

    Starting them young

    First popsicles (don’t let the face fool you, he loved it)

    First splash pad experience

    Thirsty?

    New haircut

    Trying so hard to catch the water

    He’s running so fast he is not even touching the ground!

    Water fun from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

    Short video of Ez enjoying the water

    Dancing at the splash pad from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

    There was music nearby, so Ez just had to dance!

  • Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

    I’ve started reading Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of our Daily Lives. In the introduction she tackles the concept of justice as meant in the Bible vs. our common conception of justice. It is more about freeing the oppressed than punishing the wrong. “Justice: the practical result of loving God and loving others.” She referenced a passage from Isaiah that I just wanted to share.

    Isaiah 58: 9-12 (The Message)

    If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places–firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

  • Officially Done

    Nancy with the boys

    We are done with the adoption process.  As part of the process we were required to have three post placement visits by our social worker.  (Technically we still have to send yearly report to Ethiopia, but I am not counting those as part of the process.)  We had our last visit last Friday and the report and several pictures will be off to Ethiopia shortly.  Post placement visits are easy, they just want to know where the kids are developmentally, what they are eating, what they like to do, and some things they like to play with.  They are also a chance for the parents to obtain any resource information they may need, have any questions answered, and hear from someone else that they haven’t totally screwed up their kids (yet).  We are happy to be done, but I will admit it does feel weird, when you start the process it feels never ending, and then all of the sudden you are done.

  • Dedication

    Yesterday we dedicated the boys at church. They looked super cute in their Ethiopian outfits.

    Dedication

    The Family

    Dedication

    Noah

    Dedication

    Ezra

    As you can see the boys were a “little” interested in the stage behind us and all the instruments up there.

    After church we came back to our house for a lunch and a little fun.

    abby, ezra & ethan

    Ezra and Ethan giggling together.

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    Abby

    michelle & noah

    Michelle attacking Noah

    camera ezra

    Ez with Grandpa’s camera