Our garden

 
The kids love the garden. We have a lot of produce growing, which is great until we have to do something with it all :)
Actually it's not too bad just a lot of freezing, canning and baking! We have apples, cherries, peaches, prunes, plums (yes, I didn't know that they were two different trees?)strawberries, grapes,raspberries,watermelon, cantaloupe, onions, peppers, peas, zucchini, carrots, lettuce, rhubarb, potatoes, peppers,cabbage, dill, cucumber and tomatoes

day at the park

 

the kids together, mine and Julies...it all the sudden hit us at the large group of kids we have :)

 

My sister Julie and I gazing in amasement at our children

 

Alemitu took this picture, she loves the camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

home

 

 

getting ready to go

 

 

Jason and kids in Ethiopia

Home!

We are enjoying our kids, just very busy! I have been trying to find the time to write but seems like something is always happening. Yesterday is the first day both Jason and I felt normal -most of the day, we have been dizzy and tired. The plane ride was LOOOONNNNGGG. On the plane the kids wrapped themselves in thier blankets like mummies- even thier head, most of the way, I think it was their way of dealing with the stress of flying. There have been so many new things for them and when they get overwhelmed they just fall asleep. We have enjoyed watching them expierience a lot of firsts! I will post some pictures soon.

We are OUT OF HERE!!

See ya with four more!

 

packed

I've never packed so light, I'm proud of myself, now watch I'll be wishing I had more! I wanted as much room as possible for the shoes(they weight a lot)

 

Savannah's shoe drive

Savannah with her friends at school collected 80 pairs of shoes for the orphanage!

 

this week- oh the things I have to do....

Well I'm thinking the rest of the week is going to go by too fast. We had a good long weekend with to much food (3 BBQ's)! We swam yesterday at my parents, the first time this year for my kids. They were so tired this morning.
I'm excited to be leaving for Ethiopia but also nervous! What a change it is going to be in our life! Right now the power is off in Ethiopia for 18 days a month to conserve power. This will make for an interesting trip. I have heard from other traveling parents to just think of it as camping. Ah- camping with four kids we are getting to know! The major motels will have power but we are staying at a guest house so our kids can stay with us. I keep trying to imaging our first meeting with the kids, how will they respond, how will we respond! It will be so weird, after thinking and planning for them for so long the moment will be here and gone in a flash and life will start and it will just be a memory. I have felt this way about a lot of things in life and try to savor the moment before it is memory!
I will try to update my blog while in Ethiopia but with the power issues this could be difficult.
So off to get last minute stuff done-- I think I save everything for last minute!

Embassy date changed

Our embassy date has changed to the 3rd of June, so we will now leave on the 30th of May. This will be fine I just have to reset my mind and not think about ( they could have been home!) I know that in everything it is Gods plan, and his timing.