Kaleb's 4th Birthday Party

Kaleb has been talking about his birthday for a LONG time. The weekend finally came and we celebrated his birthday for 3 days. His requests were donuts, cars, airplanes, spiderman, pizza, and strawberry cupcakes with Lightning McQueen. He took donuts to the babysitters and cupcakes to school. When someone asked him how old he was or anything about his birthday, his answer was "I have donuts and cupcakes to take to Cindy's and school." The boys LOVE to go to the children's museum in town, so we had Kaleb's birthday party there. There was a lot of snow so not everyone was able to make it, but we had fun with those that could make it. Here are some pictures of his party!

 The party was filled with Cars themed foods!
Oil covered Dip sticks, Mater's Dip Sticks, and Mater's Tow Cables

 checking it all out

 Luigi's Tower of Tires and Maters Favorite Snack Fish

 donut cake and McQueen cupcake

 Refueling Station

 birthday hat from school (he wore it for 3 days) and Aunt Mimi made Kaleb a special shirt

 Kaleb LOVES the birthday song

 he loved it so much he started singing it for himself again with his cupcake, lol

 so happy with his donut cake

 Kaleb's favorite thing to do at the museum was playing with his new McQueen car

 trying to get a picture of all the kids, everyone but Cora was in this one

Jacob's Three Year Referralversary

Three years ago today our lives changed for ever with one phone call! Around 2pm we got our referral call that told us we had a two month old BOY waiting in Ethiopia for us!!! We were both at school and Brad rushed over to my school so we could open the email that contain his pictures and information together. We had planned on telling our family first but I couldn't help but crying and showing his picture to everyone I saw at my school.
Jacob Jafar you made me a mommy! You have brought more JOY to my life than I ever thought possible.  Being a mommy is the BEST job ever and I am so thankful that God chose me to be your mom! I hope you never grow too old for cuddles and hugs! You love to be close to me any chance you get, and I cherish every moment. We love you so much precious son!!

Oldest Pictures of Our Boys

I was looking through some old pictures of the boys. These are the earliest pictures he have of our boys from America World.

This is Jacob when he first came to the orphanage, they think he was only a few days old

Jacob is in the middle of two friends from Harar right before they came to Addis

Baby Jafar

Kaleb on his first day at America World, he was about 11 months old

Isaiah on his first day at America World, he was 9 1/2

Jacob's birth certificate picture, taken at America World when he was about 2 1/2 or 3 months old

 

Isaiah's 9th birthday, his last birthday in Debre Birhan

Isaiah's 5th birthday

the last photo taken of Isaiah in his birth town, he was 9 1/2

These pictures are so precious to us!

My Little Bunna Lovers

All three of my boys LOVE to sneak some coffee when they get the chance. I've learned that if I set my coffee cup down it will be empty when I come back to it. Crazy boys! When Isaiah lived in Ethiopia, one of his jobs with his family was getting the coffee ready and made. I asked him to explain the process to me, this is what he said:
"First we set up all you need. You need some coffee beans. You cook the beans in a pan with some water and oil. You roast them over a fire. Then you put them in a bowl and you crack (grind) them by hand with a  little hammer like thing. While you are chopping the beans, put water in the coffee pot and put it in fire to boil it. When you are done chopping the beans put them in the coffee pot. Then cook it a little bit longer until it turns all the water to black. Pour a little bit out to try it. If it doesn't taste good you might want to put 2 or 3 spoonfuls of sugar."
Isaiah grew up drinking coffee, he doesn't understand why we don't let him drink it now. I think he's had it twice since being in America. He loves it when he gets to have a sip!

Here's an Ethiopian coffee pot