Choo Choo's

This used to annoy me:

But now its their favorite part of a car ride.

Jacob and Kaleb get so excited and yell "choo choo choo" the whole time. 

We live in a town that has tons of trains, so they get to see one about everyday. It makes them so happy!

Fun with Gramps and Gram

My Dad, Cathy, and Grandma Pat came for a visit this past Saturday. Isaiah and Gramps were looking forward to playing lots of sports together. We started the day with Isaiah's soccer game. It was neat watching Dad and Cathy so happy watching Isaiah play his favorite sport. Then Isaiah and my Dad played tennis and baseball. Kaleb and Jacob thought they needed to "hit ball" too! Here are a few pictures from the day.

90 Degrees

Last week it was 90 degrees one day when we got home from school. I got out the little blow up pool and all three boys had a blast! All three of them love to be outside as much as possible. I can't wait for all the summer fun!!

Mother's Day

Last year for Mother's Day we were in Ethiopia awaiting our Embassy appointment in 2 days so we could bring Jacob home. This year it was spent chasing my THREE SONS around!! God is so good!!!!
The whole weekend was spent with family visiting us. Friday night Isaiah had a baseball game and 10 family members and 3 friends came to watch him.
On Saturday we loaded up one van and one car and hit the garage sales, then off to Isaiah's soccer game. There were 17 people from our family there. Isaiah and Kaleb got to meet my grandparents who recently got back from AZ. Then we spent the rest of the day together. My mom, sister, grandma, and I left the kids at home and we got coffee and our nails done. So nice to have grown-up time :) Then we took the kids swimming at the hotel where my grandparents were staying. They had a blast! We finished off the night with dinner back at our house.
We had 12 people that needed to get ready for church on Sunday morning. At about 6:45am there was a loud blow, twice, and the transformers by our house blew. Of course I was the only one that had showered yet. So everyone scrambled to get ready before the hot water was gone. We learned it was a squirrel that chewed a wire or something. The guys were all excited to run out and see the fried squirrel that the power company knocked off the wires. I was trying to figure out what I could feed 18 people for brunch without power. I had all the breakfast casseroles ready to throw in the oven when we left for church,but with no power, that wasn't going to happen. We finally decided we were going to get donuts and have the fruit I had ready (not exactly what I was planning, but oh well). Thankfully when we returned from church the power was back on so we were able to cook everything, it just took a little longer that I planned.
We were able to dedicate the boys at church today too! The boys wore their traditional Ethiopian outfits for the special occasion. It was so nice that all of their grandparents and my sister and brother and their families could be there to show the boys how much they love them and want them to love Jesus too.

We ended the day hanging out at home, such a beautiful day!!!

The Truth Pandemic

Yesterday I got to attend a conference that Carolyn Twietmeyer spoke at. She has made it her life mission to fight for the least of these and she has an amazing heart!! Her testimony of adoption and how her family has been built is just awesome. Anyways, she shared this video that she helped make to spread the truth about HIV. I have seen it a few times and I know it has been posted a lot by a bunch of my adoption friends. But my mom and sister were with me at the conference and they hadn't seen this yet, so I thought I would post it if anyone hasn't seen it yet. HIV sounds scary, until you know the facts. Watch this!!

Our Wonderful Busy Life

I have been writing a few posts in my head for sometime now, I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and type them. Life sure if busier than a few months ago! People are always commenting on how busy my life must be, and it is :) But another mama of three kids said "my hands are full, but my heart is fuller" I like to remind myself of that when I am thinking that I don't know how I will do it all. God has gifted us three precious boys to raise to love HIM and love others. I feel like we have have a pretty smooth transition here at home, but it still has been HARD. Adoption is just hard. We are learning how to parent an 11 year old, who often wants to act much younger. He is enjoying new experiences that typically happen at a younger age. While we were in ET he loved the Wiggles and Thomas the Train because his 1 and 2 year old brothers loved them. Since we have been home he is enjoying some different things and thankfully has made some friends that he likes to play with. This gets him away from the toddlers a little bit too! We are so grateful that Isaiah learned so much English in Ethiopia, it has helped him and us communicate tremendously. He is in 4th grade and receives a little extra math and reading help, but overall he is doing really well. He is also playing on a soccer team and a baseball team. He is doing great at soccer. All the kids play soccer in Ethiopia, so he has years of playing experience playing. But this is his first time being on an organized team. He is really enjoying his team and he has a little friendly competition with a teammate about who scores the most goals in a game. Isaiah is also on a baseball team. He has never played baseball before and has a lot to learn, but he is loving it! He has at least two practices each week for each sport, so his nights are spent doing homework and practicing baseball or soccer and riding his bike as much as possible!

We are also learning how to parent a 2 year old (yikes, two is HARD, adopted or not) that has been raised in an orphanage and learned lots of bad behaviors. We are pretty convinced that he got away with anything he wanted. He throws the biggest fits over the littlest things, then stops immediately if he gets what he wants or finds something better close by. He is teaching Jacob a thing or two too, and not the good things. Bonding has gone slowly with Kaleb. It has been 17 weeks since we passed court and took custody of the boys. But still to this day he could care less if I picked him up or the mailman or anyone else that is close by. This is has been hard on us. We have read so many books and talked to so many other people and the importance on attachment is talked about over and over. As an adoptive parent, you over analyze everything. You wonder if this certain situation is good for your adopted child or is it maybe getting in that way of our attachment. I have heard this called adoption guilt, always thinking more into situations and wondering if this is good or bad for your child. I'm pretty sure that might not ever go away. We have been home with Jacob for one year now and I still think about situations he in sometimes and whether is good hurt our attachment. I tend to be an easy going person/parent but sometimes I find myself second guessing choices with all of our kids and thinking about how it will or won't affect our attachment. 
I'm so thankful for those still praying for us on this journey, it doesn't end when we come home!


*Update- I started writing this almost two weeks ago, pathetic, I know. But since I started this I saw Kaleb want me for the first time. I was inside cooking dinner and Brad took them outside for like 20 mins. When I came out to tell them dinner was ready Kaleb started crying for me and wanted me to pick him up. He is rarely out of my sight, so this 20 mins gave him the opportunity to miss me. It was so nice to see him want to be with me! We are making baby steps here :)

Indoor Park

Kaleb, Jacob, and I went to Champaign last Friday. It was a cold, rainy day so we spent the morning at a church that has an indoor playground. It was so nice. I might have been the only crazy mom with my camera out...haha
in the lego making station

cool Aunt Mimi went down the slide with Jacob

Amy had so much fun she had to go with Kylie too :)

Jacob and Kaleb were driving the firetruck

Taylor got to go down the tiny slide

this is the best we could get of all of them

driving a car together

Fun day!!! I wish we lived a little closer to Champaign, but we are thankful we still get to see each other often!

We Could Have Missed This....

Over the past few weeks I keep thinking about how we could have missed this

or this

or this

or raising these boys as brothers

We could have said no, we could have decided it took too long, cost too much money, or that there were too many unknowns. But thankfully we said YES and God has led us on the most incredible journey of our lives!!

4-18-11

Last year on April 18th we were sitting at the TH anxiously awaiting to hear if we passed court (it was our second court date). Around 10am Yonas came to tell us the great news- WE PASSED COURT!!! Jacob Jafar was legally OUR SON!!! Poor guy had a fever of 103.5 but he was still smiling at the great news!!

Isaiah's Heart for God and Others

As we were running late to church (again) we are yelling at Isaiah to get his shoes on (which takes at least 5 mins) and get in the car. He looks at us like we are crazy for hurrying him and says "I had to get my money for Jesus!" He grabbed a bunch of change from his bank to give to Jesus today. (not something he has done before)

Then at church the message was about living an audacious faith and the pastor challenged us to leave our shoes at the alter and they would be given to people in downtown Peoria that needed shoes. As we were getting in the car Isaiah noticed that Brad and I didn't have shoes on and he asked why. Once we told him, he asked if he could give his shoes too. He had on his favorite shoes but he didn't hesitate in asking to give them away. He walked back into the church and handed them to the pastor. So thankful he is willing to live his faith and help others in need!

God has great plans for this boy. I can't wait to see what God does with his life!!!

Isaiah's First Soccer Game

Isaiah had his first soccer game on Saturday. It started out as a rainy day, but after about 15 mins of the game it stopped! I was thankful that it stopped so Jacob, Kaleb, and I could get out of the car to really cheer for Isaiah. The boys would yell "Go Go Go" or "Isaiah!" It was cute! Isaiah scored 2 goals the first game and three goals the second game.

It was so nice to watch Isaiah do something that he loved and that he was good at. He is enjoying school, but its kind of hard for him sometimes. So it is nice for him to have something that is easy and fun for him!

Isaiah's 11th Birthday

On April 5th Isaiah turned 11 years old!!! We are so thankful that Isaiah is a part of our family. People are constantly commenting on how sweet and loving he is and what a great big brother he is, And its true!! He genuinely loves people and is so caring and helpful. God surely made him to be a big brother and he is so loving and protective of his little brothers.
We got to celebrate Isaiah's birthday with family and friends the weekend before his birthday. He wanted his favorite American foods, hamburgers, french fries, and macaroni and cheese. It was also a spiderman themed party. Thanks to pinterest I found some cute ideas and had fun paying attention to the details to make sure Isaiah knows that he is special to us.











Then on his actual birthday we went to Indianapolis. We spent two days visiting the zoo, meeting up with two friends from the TH in Ethiopia, swimming, eating Ethiopian food, visiting the Children's Museum, and then dinner with some more friends on the way home. It was fun making the day special for Isaiah!