An update on Ruby Negate and Elizabeth Hmsala!

The adoption coordinator from our agency is in Ethiopia right now bringing home her son. She posted a few quick updates to our agency's forum, and said this about our girls, "Negate and Hmsala- oh goodness, these two are hilarious, and kinda chunky! They love to be tickled and hugged." We also got new pictures from a returning family -- lots of pictures of both girls, and great pictures of Ruby smiling and playing with other kids. Up until now most of the pictures have shown them very solemn and shy, so it was great to see their personality coming out in the pictures! And their hair is finally starting to grow (it was shaved a few months ago), and they have beautiful curls. I can't wait to be able to post pictures of them. As soon as we pass court I can show everyone lots of cute pictures!

Nora calls these her "Nana Clothes."

Doesn't she look cute in the clothes her Nana sent her? What a little ham!

Being a Mom

Nora and are are hanging out at home this morning, and I've been doing laundry and housework. Nora is such a busy girl and always in motion. Right now she's coloring pictures that she wants to send to Uncle D and Ayi (her idea). Anyhow, I walked into my bedroom and saw her little lamb laying in my bed with her pink blanket tucked carefully around it. You can't see it in the picture, but there's also a panda bear under the blanket. How cute! She's always taking care of her babies like that.

So...it made me start thinking about how much Nora is learning about families and what they mean. And that made me start thinking about how it's different being a parent now compared to when I was in my twenties. When I was younger and Derrek was little, there was so much to get done and so little time to do it. I worked outside the home, took care of things at home, paid bills, etc. I wish I could go back to that time and spend just a little bit more of it going for walks, reading him stories, and snuggling with him on the couch. He has grown up to be such a great man and I'm so very proud of him and love him so much.

Now, my career has become my family; my nails are never done, my house is not immaculately clean, sometimes the laundry piles up, and some days I don't get around to putting on makeup until shortly before Tony comes home from work. But Nora and I swing on the rope swing in the tree and laugh while we try to make our toes touch the high branches, she "helps" me in the garden, we go for walks down to Granny and Pa's house, and we sometimes spend an entire hour cutting up magazines with scissors. My car is usually not clean, but it's always filled with the sound of children's music and Nora singing along, and I love listening to her say a prayer before she eats her dinner. "Dear God, thank you for food. Amen." My life has never been so full and happy. I can only dream of what it will be like with Negate and Hmsalu here too.

So, here's my prayer..."Dear God, thank you for this life. Amen."

What a handsome son and beautiful granddaughter!

Nora and Summer played outside most of the day Saturday, and Derrek and Samantha came over later in the day too. I love these pics of Derrek and Summer!

A day of gardening and kids!

We had a great day today! Nora and I started working in the yard at about 7:30 this morning and kept at it until about 10:45. We planted bushes, transplated hostas from John and Darlene's house and pulled weeds! Then we went to pick up Summer and had a great afternoon with her. She's here for the weekend, and the girls have had a great day playing outside, petting the horses, going to Rosco and Janet Staton's and petting a goat, and now they're watching a DVD as they wind down before bed time. I love my job. :-)

Nora's Father's Day Photo Shoot

My first post!

I finally hopped on the blogger bandwagon! I hope that this blog will keep family and friends up to date with our life and our kids.

We are Tony and Rebecca, and we have been blissfully married for four years. It took a long time for us to find one another, but we finally did! We are so happy and have such an amazing life together!

As of today, we have three sons and one daughter: Chris, 21, Derrek, 21, Jonathan, 17, and Nora, 3. On July 11, if we pass court, we will officially be the parents of Ruby Negate and Elizabeth Hmsalu! What an amazing journey the past year has been. God has truly blessed us beyond our wildest dreams.

Chris lives in Florida and is having a great time bartending at Shephard's on Clearwater Beach. He's an amazing guy with a huge heart and a love for life!

Jonathan (aka Jonny) lives in Palm Harbor, Florida with his mother and will be a senior in high school next year. We love Jonny and miss him so much! We're hoping he'll come out and visit for a few weeks this summer.

Derrek lives a few miles from us in Raymore, Missouri and is getting married to Samantha (she's great) on August 30th! He also has a beautiful little daughter, Summer, who is three years old and lives in Belton, Missouri.

Our beautiful Nora was born in China, and is three (almost four) years old. She is an amazing child, and we've been so blessed that God sent her to be ours. She is happy, loving, playful, sweet, and so smart! And most amazing...she is ours!

We're waiting for our July 11th court date when our family will be complete (we think)! We're adopting sisters Negate, age 4 1/2, and Hmsalu, age 2 1/2, from Ethiopia. We pray each day that we will soon be able to bring them safely into our family. We can't post pictures of them on our blog until we make it through court, but hopefully that will be soon.

So, that's us!

Rebecca