Love like Crazy!

'Ya gotta have FAITH!'

2019-11-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

On 12.21.16 - this sweet little face named 'FAITH' popped up on my Facebook as a waiting child in an orphanage in Ethiopia. We did not have plans to adopt again - but the God of the Universe had different ideas for us and we were not going to ignore Him. We quickly sent out emails to Children's House International and started the process!! We had FAITH that this little one would have a forever family - and it would be ours. We are SO thankful for God's divine intervention in our lives. We may have said, 'Are you sure? US God?' We may have cried about it and worried about it and even questioned it - we are SO glad that he placed this sweet girl on our hearts and influenced us to passionately help her become a part of our family.... all while the international adoptions were shutting down! We saw GOD move mountains to reach this little one and we saw miracles happen to bring her home.

I have documented Mihret's adoption timeline in this blog - so I wanted to pop back over and give Mela's story into our hearts and family as well. 🖤

Lucky 7!

2019-11-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

New hair for this little beauty. She wanted long braids and we had someone come to the house and hook her up. I LOVE IT - I LOVE HER! Happy BIRTHDAY sweet Mihret.

SIX is pretty SUPER!

2017-01-23T17:31:00.001-08:00

...unfortunately, it looks like I have resorted to a yearly post on the blog. ha! :) Well, this little shortie turned SIX! She is SUPER, SIllY, and SOOOOOOO much FUN!!! It is a BLAST to watch her grow up... she is reading and writing really good, she plays soccer, rides her bike, her scooter and loves arts and crafts. She is the most social kid out of all my kids.... She will walk outside and yell, "HI MILLER!" if she sees a neighbor. She is smart, funny, she is compassionate, considerate, she is helpful... she really is the cooooooolest kid! We celebrate her sweet little life every day!

FIVE!!

2015-07-14T11:22:00.003-07:00

This pretty, bright, silly, compassionate, caring, sweet, energetic, friendly, happy little munchkin is FIVE!! We have been so fortunate to celebrate each birthday with her!! This one was especially fun! She invited all her neighborhood friends (she delivered all the invites herself)! We played water balloon softball and dress up! EVERYONE joined in - it was GREEEEAT and most important she had a BLAST... The second everyone left, she put on her new jammies and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out!

She is such a little blessing!! I cannot imagine our lives without her! She adds so much Spice, Sass, and SERIOUS FUN! I look forward to waking up everyone morning to see her sweet face and her smile that melts my heart!!! Happy 5th BIRTHDAY to our lil shortie!!!

Where did the YEAR go?

2014-11-10T20:12:00.002-08:00

....and POOF - Just like that - She's FOUR (4 months ago)!

As I look through Facebook/Instagram/Blogs and see the AMAZING books created from blogs - I'm inspired to continue sharing the story God is writing for lil Miss Mihret and her big sisters - Madison and Makinzi. It's crazy how time flies and there are SO many memories that we are making that I treasure. So... I am going to try better to update this little blog to someday turn it into a book - and BOTTLE up some of these AMAZING memories that I keep SO close to my heart.

I am blessed.

THREE!

2013-08-02T10:41:00.002-07:00

ONE

TWO

THREE!!!!

Mihret is THREE!

She LOVES birthdays! Loves to eat cake! Loves the excitement she has seen at all of our birthday's this year... she could not wait to celebrate hers! We have been SO fortunate to be able to celebrate THREE birthdays with her! We were in Ethiopia to meet her on her 1st Birthday!

July 12, 2013 - She woke up to balloons all over the house and signs that her sisters and Erik and I made for her (she may not know how to read - but she understood it was all about her!!) :)

She is still pretty cautious and embarresses easily... so we decided to just have a low key family party to WOOOP it up for her. She had a ball! Her cousins came and they played in the kiddy pool and on the trampoline. She opened sooo many FUN toys and blew the candles out (on her multiple requests for a chocolate CHOCOLATE ice cream cake) about 5 times.

One of her VERY, VERY Favorite gifts was from her Grammy (My Mom) - she made about 10 outfits with matching American Girl doll outfits for her and gave her a dolly that looks just like her! (not American Girl yet, she is still tooooo little for such a fancy shmancy doll).

This one was one of my FAVES! Embroidery and Bloomers! LOVE!

If you ask her what is her Baby's name... it is "JUST BABY!" :) Well... Baby comes with us everywhere now. SO FUN! I LOVE IT!

Some of Mihret's 'Terrific THREE' favorite things right now:

We sure LOVE this little Hershey Kiss and are so BLESSED to celebrate her sweet life.

She is a gift.

2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!

2013-06-27T16:11:00.004-07:00

Class of 2013

....we had a GREAT celebration!

for MADISON'S High school GRADUATION!

We decided to go to Eastern Washington where most of our family live...

My sister and my mom outdid themselves with decorations, food, and planning a FUN filled night!

Grammy and Honey

SO happy to celebrate her! She deserves it! She has worked so hard! She has grown up and matured so much! She wasn't a super fan of high school and didn't want to go throw the line (but, I still wanted her to wear her cap and gown). :) Instead of going to high school her senior year she went to a community college and earned both high school credits and college credits! She is now a sophomore in college... She will finish her AA - specializing in Elementary Education next year and then complete her degree at a 4-year University. REALLY excited for her and her future as a teacher!!! Such a knoble, selfless profession - and I know she will be AMAZING at it!!!

CHEEEEERS!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS HONEY!

I LOVE YOU!

...and I am SO-SO-SO Blessed to be your MOMMY!

...Those Pesky Pronouns

2013-06-25T12:10:00.001-07:00

It really is FUN to hear what new, funny thing is going to come out of Mihret's mouth. She is starting to sound more and more like a teenager (thanks to her older sisters) :) ...a little scary sometimes.

Buuuuuut... one thing we've all noticed is her interesting use of pronouns...

It goes a little like this...

"What HER making?"

"US need to make cookies."

"Where is HER?"

"What's YOURS name?"

"There's cheese on YOURS lips Mommy. :)"

"Does Jesus live in YOURS heart?"

"What did HIM say?"

Soooo... we are casually correcting her (I think it is a little endearing, and it kinda makes me smile sometimes) when we hear it and hoping she will get the hang of it pretty soon, ...I don't remember her sisters experiencing those pesky pronouns the way she does (although, it has been a reeeeeeeeeally long time since they were that little) ;)

Note: Pronouns are wonderful little words that make speaking and writing easier. Imagine if you had to use your name every time you refer to yourself. Instead of saying, "I left my keys in my car," you'd have to say, "Iving Pigwart left Irving Pigwart's keys in Irving Pigwarts's car." And just think how irritating this would be if your name really was Irviing Pigwart! - from blog.writeathome.com

Quinty

2013-05-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Her name is Quinty.

She is Mihret's 'Best Friend'.

She lives in our neighborhood.

When Mihret opens up the front door Quinty runs over to grab her to play... with chalk, water balloons, riding scooters, swinging on our swing, eating popsicles, finding bugs, dancing, skipping.... laughing.

I stay back a little... and watch. ....and my heart is happy to see another little person showing so much kindness to my Mihret.

It's one of those things this Momma will always watch out for. Girls can be so mean, really mean. I honestly think in my 18 years of parenting, besides the 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' books - I had to purchase my share of literature on Mean Girls... And how to help my girls avoid them, deal with them, and never become like them.

Mihret fits our family like a glove. Her personality, her laugh, her facial expressions... Glory to God. She is a Silly Sanders for sure. :) But....

I wonder what struggles she will face as she gets older...
living in a community that is not very diverse....

I wonder if she will be picked on because of the color of her skin

I wonder if people will make fun of her name

I wonder if people will ask her questions about her first momma

I wonder if she'll be uncomfortable

I wonder if she will question her identity

I think right now feels sorta easy, as far as her lil friendships go. I think there will be challenges ahead and I know that I am so ready to show her absolutely all the LOVE and support that I possibly can. I know I will need His guidance to help me say the right things, do the right things....
(I may even need to buy a book or two.) :)

I do know that being a part of this AMAZING adoption community has been SO helpful - from awesome blogging buddies, to our AGCI friends, Facebook groups, our social worker, and the God of the Universe in our corner for encouragement, guidance and support; I feel like we are in GREAT hands.

Graduating...

2013-05-08T18:54:00.001-07:00

...where does the time go...

it felt like just yesterday

she was coloring me little pictures
writing me silly notes
singing her ABC's
learning to ride a bike
playing hide and seek
roller skating
skinning her knee
holding my hand

I ordered these today...
{sigh}

...excited for her to begin a new chapter in her life...

but sad that I am a little less needed.

sad to be seeing her a little less everyday...

she is becoming such a GREAT 'grown up'

independent

responsible

compassionate

she is going to make an AMAZING Elementary Education teacher!

She's already an AWESOME person

fantastic daughter

COOL sister

I love you HONEY! I can't believe you are graduating from HIGH SCHOOL!

I am so blessed to be your Mommy and I thank God everyday for your precious life.

Go.

BE AMAZING.

Change the WORLD - as I know you will.

Learn, make mistakes, laugh, love...

...but always come home

cuz

I miss you already.

XOX

Referraliversary #2

2013-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

2 years ago today, we saw Mihret's sweet lil face for the very first time.

We already loved her way before we saw this precious picture of her...
...She captured our hearts then, and still does.... everyday.

Our lives were changed FOREVER May 2nd, 2011 - and we cannot imagine our crazy lives without her. We thank God for her sweet little soul. She is such a blessing. She has taught all of us more about compassion, selflessness, patience, kindness...

She reminds us everyday by her sweet little smile that there are millions of orphans still waiting for a family to love them like ours... we pray.

Today, she looks at her picture from two years ago and says,

'That's ME! ...what happened to my hair?' :)

So, we talk about Africa, Ethiopia, where she lived...

and how God chose her especially for our family.

We are SO grateful for her little life!

Happy Referraliversary Mihret! YOU ROCK our crazy WORLD!

XOXOX

Church & Mihret

2012-12-17T16:12:00.001-08:00

There is something about Christmas and all of the songs that bring me to tears to where I can't even sing - because they're just flowing and I'm all choked up... Thank you Holy Spirit for living in me, touching me and making me cry tears of JOY knowing and believing that God came to us as a HUMAN BEING, a baby, our King... to live with us, teach us... to SAVE US! The last couple of weeks at church Mihret has been humming along... and then during one song, she lifted her hands up to her Heavenly Father. Does she know what she is doing? I don't know. But... I neeeeeeeeeded the entire box of Kleenex!! Watching children worship and praise our AWESOME God is just BEAUTIFUL! I feel like it is unclouded, it is more clear, innocent, passionate... the kind of faith and feeling I want to feel for Jesus... but I let too much garbage in and too many things cloud my heart and my mind... I pray for FAITH like a child!!!

Then he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. ~ Matthew 18:3

As much as I looooove sitting with Mihret during church and looking at her and holding her hand - I totally need to help her become comfortable in the nursery. Whether it is an adoption thing, a 2 and half year old thing, or just an 'I loooooove to be with Mommy thing' - it's a BIG deal for me to 'weave' her - but, I know she would totally dig playing with all of her friends too. :) Soooooo.... for now, we get some chocolate milk and our latte's and sit in BIG church. :)

This year will be Mihret's 2nd Christmas with us... she brings all of us SO much JOY - we could never have imagined life without her! We are SO thankful for her sweet spirit, her laughs, her hugs, her health! We are blessed more than we deserve!

Thanksgiving... a little late. :)

2012-12-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving at "HOME" - well, where we grew up. It was FUN to spend lots of time with Erik's family and my Family. ...We were able to capture this picture of our girls and my sisters kiddos!!! I LOVE IT! - With the age differences between my sisters kids and mine - MIHRET like bridges the gap and they are ALL kinda brought together more! ...if that makes any sense. :) Anyway, it works! and... I LOVE IT!

I think we will make this a tradition and head on over the mountains to visit family, spend quality time talking, playing and eating lots of GREAT food...

We have SO much to be THANKFUL for this year, this month, this day... this MOMENT!! :)

ONE YEAR HOME!

2012-08-28T10:44:00.002-07:00

...I can't even begin to tell ya how GOD has touched this lil girl's life in ONE year's time, it truly is AMAZING...

a year ago she was...

cautious
scared

confused

lonely

sad

TODAY she is...

hopeful

happy

secure

confident

LOVED

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

..She is a GIFT we are so GRATEFUL for and look forward to all the wonderful things God has in store for her...

SUMMER LOVIN

2012-08-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

SUMMER happened... and LIFE as we know it got a little more crazy and busier than NORMAL... Now that Summer is starting to wind down and new school/sport/work schedules are being put into place... I am HOPING to spend more time UPDATING our blog... :)

...To do a QUICK lil catch'up - I thought I would share what's been happening lately... through pictures! :)

1. We celebrated Mihret's 2nd BIRTHDAY!!

She's TWO... and TRULY terrific!!!

...such a different little girl from ONE year ago - when we were celebrating her birthday after our court date in Ethiopia at her transition home - Hannah's Hope.

She has got THE best lil personality!!! All of us have just LOVED watching her grow and change and talk and laugh and make her funny faces this past year!!! :) We look forward to each new thing she's going to say... her hugs, her kisses!! WE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE her to pieces!!

2. We watched A LOT of softball!!! :) GO KINZ!!!!!

3. Mihret learned to turn on the light switch with

a comb... ha ha

4. We went to visit family...

Mihret went swimming in my sister's pool, laughed with her cousins, got to see new baby weiner dogs, eat yummy food, and have a slumber party with Grammy.

5. Mihret had her first tea party...

6. We went to a lot of Parks to swing and swim...

7. We went back to school shopping...

8. I watched these two grow CLOSER...

9. We went to the BEACH!

10. Kinz got her BRACES OFF!! :)

11. We vacationed with FRIENDS - had a BLAST!!!!

12. FIRST Neighborhood BLOCK party! :)

13. We celebrated Mihret's FIRST Gotcha DAY!!

...We had a FUN-filled Summer for sure. I will miss not having ALL my girls HOME with me... Especially as Madison begins her LAST year of HIGH school... focusing her time earning COLLEGE credits and working at Starbucksl!! Kinz will be experiencing life as a Junior Higher at a new, BIG school... and playing select softball on a NEW team this year... Lots of FUN stuff ahead! :) We feel SO thankful and SO blessed with our THREE amazing, BEAUTIFUL, smart, happy GIRLS!!!

ROCK'N ON...

2012-06-26T12:14:00.001-07:00

...10 months HOME with Mihret and this new NORMAL feels like it would never have been normal without her!!! WE ARE BLESSED! BIG TIME!!!! She is a lil ROCK star around here! The neighbors dig her, she is Kinzi's softball teams lil mini mascot, her sisters friends LOOOVE her... She's a popular lil munchkin....Well and, especially at OUR house! :) WE LOVE the SOCKS off this lil chicka!!!! She has got such a FUN loving, silly lil personality - fits RIGHT in with all of our wackiness - It truly is AMAZING how GOD chose HER specifically, intententionally, especially, UNMISTAKABELY for OUR family!!

PSALM 18:30

As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.

ROMANS 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.

DEUTERONOMY 32:4

He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is He.

...It is SO fun that Summer is here and she gets to see her sisters ALL the time - I'm sure hang'n with Mommy gets a little boring sometimes - TOTALLY fun when you've got a couple sisters to spice things up a bit! :)

Mihret has GROWN and changed SO much in these last 10 months.

She is sleeping in a trundle bed now - and LOVES nighty night time! aaaaaah! ;) YAY! :) ...took us a little bit to get to this point... first 2-3 months home she woke up A LOT! Sad and scared. :( ...we got her on a little schedule and she looks forward to it every night. She is eating great, she still takes a 2 or so hour nap a day... but, new places and faces concern her and make her uncomfortable. Normally, she will join in on the fun after about15 minutes or so... once she can see it is a safe place... and I am still there. Won't go to the nursery by herself yet though...

She is totally potty trained and is SO happy with herself that she can do it ALL with no help! She LOOOVES to go potty! She wasn't a fan of the lil potty seats so I got her a stool for each potty in the house so she can climb her lil booty right up there on the big seat! :) ... and just last week she mastered putting on her panties! ha ha! :) WEHOOOOO! (I'm suuuuure this is waaaaaaay more than ya'll wanted to know - but some BIG steps for Miss Mihret) :)

...She has also become a lil TALKER lately!!! YAY!!! I seriously LOVE, LOVE, LOVE - each lil word that comes out of her teeeeny tiny voice. Especially these ones....

...She copies EVERYTHING we say!! It seemed to happen all of a SUDDEN... and we all are getting the BIGGEST kick out of her and the way she says things... A couple lil things she says...

"It's DOOOOTY (dirty) Mommy."

"Wooooook (look) Mommy."

"One more POOOOK (book)"

...just lately she has really taken to her lil baby doll. When she first got home she didn't want to have anything to do with stuffed toys or baby dolls... now she TOTALLY digs them! :) SO SWEEEEEEET!!!

Mihret is taller, more confident, healthier, more affectionate, happier, more vocal and a lil more outgoing... and her hair - OH myyyyyy how it has grooooown - those CURLS - we are all LOVING her pretty locks and all the bows, ribbons, barettes and NOW.... her lil AFRO Puffs (I think that's the term for those cute lil PIGGIE tails) - whatever ya call'em - we LOVE'em... and HER!!

Mihret is signed up for swimming lessons starting next week... and a lil ballet fun in the Fall! I am excited to see how she does both places... will let chya know how it goes. :)

THANK you dear Jesus for this precious little life, she is a BLESSING, an answered PRAYER!!

The Bentley's

2012-04-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

OOOOH Goodness - I have been SO bad about taking the time to BLOG - Buuuuuuut... thanks to the WONDERFULY Awesome Bentley Family - I have a REALLY SUPER DUPER great reason to.... right NOW! :) I TOTALLY - wanna take a sec to give a BIG HUUUUUUUGE shout out to a dear friend - who hugged and loved on our baby girl in Ethiopia - when we were miles and miles away... who sent me pictures and video of her changing, growing... SMILING - YES! SMILING!!!! ...here are just a FEW of the AWESOME pics we received from Brittany and her family...

So.... this Momma's heart was melting a million miles away!!! ...and as I was being blessed by photos in anticipation to see lil Mihret's face for REAL... The Bentley's were in Ethiopia meeting their beautiful daughter, then bringing her HOME - God had placed the burden of orphans and widows on their hearts - but they were soon to find out he had placed even more there than they were aware of...

PLEASE take a minute and read about the Bentley's story - out of obedience for the God of the UNIVERSE they are not ignoring what has been placed on their hearts and they are doing what they were called to do... maybe you have a passion to help the orphans in this world, but don't know how - and don't feel called to adoption... THIS is an AMAZZZZING opportunity to be a little part of something so BIG!

PLEASE READ, WATCH, PRAY, DONATE....

Bentley FAMILY

“LEARN TO DO RIGHT; SEEK JUSTICE. DEFEND THE OPPRESSED. TAKE UP THE CAUSE OF THE FATHERLESS; PLEAD THE CASE OF THE WIDOW. – ISAIAH 1:17

Adoption…what’s your first thought when you hear that word? Overwhelming, expensive, crazy, paperwork, complicated, life changing, emotional…so many other feelings and emotions that can be added to these but for us adoption has become the catalyst leading us back to Ethiopia.

Isaiah 11:6 “…and a little child shall lead them.”

In 2008 our eyes and hearts were opened to the cause of the estimated 163 million orphans in our world today. While we found this statistic overwhelming, it began to ignite the fire in our heart when we started to place a name and face to the “statistic”, even asking the question of what if that was Parker or Clayton, our two biological boys…IF THAT WAS ONE OF OUR CHILDREN! That’s a game changer and fueled the fire already blazing in our hearts for these children.
After bringing Selah home in 2011, our hearts continued to be broken for these precious children we had seen and loved on during our time in Ethiopia. God had deposited something in us during our two trips to Ethiopia. Our expectation of coming home and getting back to “business as usual” wasn’t something that was going to work. We soon realized that this journey God had us on was far from over and in many regards just beginning.

(be sure to turn off the lil ipod of music on my sidebar to watch the videos)

Loving the Least of These - Ethiopia Adoption from Ian Bentley on Vimeo.
In late 2011, we began to seek God for direction and peace over this unsettled heart for Ethiopia. With open hearts to God’s best in our life, we started to pursue a number of opportunities around the world. It was quickly clear that God had placed this fire in our hearts to do something more in Ethiopia.
God has called us to Ethiopia, and we believe even beyond, to serve Him by serving others, specifically the orphans and vulnerable, while working to educated and empower them through sustainable development. As you can imagine, there are a many challenges in moving a family of five to one of the poorest countries in the world…we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities!
Over the past few months God has been knitting us together with Ethiopian and American organizations that are working with the people of Ethiopia.
CHILDRENS HOME. It’s not right for children to be neglected on the streets. God has opened up the opportunity for us to partner with a local organization in Addis Ababa to open a children’s home. The home’s purpose will be to partner with the Ethiopian government by rescuing vulnerable and destitute children who have been orphaned and/or abandoned. A final goal will be to try, if possible, to reconcile and/or reintegrate a child(ren) back into the community by placing them with family members and/or parents if found, or through domestic adoption.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Ethiopia has a strong entrepreneurial pulse but is oftenlacking the right tools to address the opportunity. Our desire is to leverage our gifts, education and entrepreneurial experiences to help with practical and holistic strategies for sustainable development. We are currently working on ideas to take woman off the streets from the commercial sex trade and create sustainable business through vocational job training. Other ideas include simple job and skills training/education with the goal of empowering people with local resources.
We want to make a lasting difference in Ethiopia and are committed to this calling.

WILL YOU STAND WITH US TO GIVE A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS?

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW! :)

To learn more head on over to the link below...

www.steadfastlove.org

FEB. PHOTO a DAY - Instagram Finale!

2012-02-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

....Instagram - has been waaaaay too much FUN!!! I totally dig it right now! My teenie boppers think I'm a little CRAZZZZY... and too OLD to do such things! :) ha! ...It's like I've entered their SUPER COOOOOOL world and I'm just a crazzzzzzy ole Momma!

Well... here it is... the February Finale of the Photo Challenge! :) ...To tell ya the truth - it's kinda FUN to look back and see what LIFE looked like everyday this month...

February 14. HEART - VALENTINE'S DAY

These 3 have got MY heart!!! SISTERS!!!!!

February 15. PHONE

"EWOAH" - How Mihret says Hello! AAAAAAH I love it!! She LOVES to pretend to talk on the phone and take pictures with the phone.... and say, "CHEEESE!"
(she's actually holding the phone case - while I take her picture) :)

FEBRUARY 16. SOMETHING NEW

My sis came up to visit and she ALWAYS makes AWESOME stuff that she sees on Pinterest! (someone who actually PINS and DOES the stuff - Unlike me, I'm just a happy lil pinner - TOTALLY gotta do some of those FUN things) ha! Anyway, she made this adorable soap dispenser with all our pics in it!! ha ha! I LOVE IT! - on the back is a pic of me and Erik - from a LOOOOONG time AGO! FUN STUFF!!! Thanks KRIS! I LOVE YOU!!!

FEBRUARY 17. TIME

Okay... This is out there a little bit... but, after I took this pic of Mihret - I thought... yaaaaaaaa, it is TIME to wear YELLOW! ha ha! I am ready for SPRING, short sleeves and sunshine!!! :)

FEBRUARY 18. DRINK

LOVE ME SOME STARBUCKS! Okay - after I showed this pic to the girls - they TOTALLY thought I had a screw lose! ha ha! Okay.... I PROBABLY do - cuz I totally look like a spazzzzzzz in these pics... well, it was a TRIPLE! :) hehehe!

FEBRUARY 19. SOMETHING I HATE TO DO

Eeeeeeks hate seems SO HARSH - So I revised it a bit and I'm going with... Something I'm not a FAN of! :) ....and that is trying to fix Mihret's SMUSHED up lil curls from her CARSEAT! ha! :) Guess I need to start carrying around a water bottle to fluff those curls right back up! :)

FEBRUARY 20. HANDWRITING

Soooooo.... I took a picture of an OLD, OLD, OLD little ole LOVE letter I wrote Erik when we were still dating! In 1988!!! EEEEEKS! :) He had just moved to Connecticut to work with his Dad - and I was pretty sad - missing the first boyfriend I ever had...

FEBRUARY 21. A FAVE PHOTO OF ME

....I ADORE these pictures - not because I am in them... but because Mihret is!!! ....and to just see how much she has changed from the MOMENT I saw her and held her in Ethiopia, to today.... seeing her hold ME and seeing that SMILE!!! That's what makes these pics MY FAVE! LOOOOOOVE HER!

FEBRUARY 22. WHERE I WORK

...in the kitchen, office, laundry room, living room, Mihret's room... :)

FEBRUARY 23. MY SHOES

These lil mustard colored Toms were walking all over University Village - getting READY to celebrate my BUDDY Janet and her SWEET 'A's' Shower at a Yummmmmy Mexican Restaurant! :)

Here we are CELEBRATING!!!! It was SUCH a goooood time! We missed a few of our SPECIAL AGCI Momma's :( - But we all could have stayed there all night chatting!! LOVE you gals!!!

FEBRUARY 24. INSIDE MY BATHROOM CABINET

....Okay... TOTALLY had to steal these pics off my PC - They were just TOO perfect for this day! :)

FEBRUARY 25. GREEN

Kinzi's SOFTBALL Uniform is GREEN and orange - LOVE to watch her PLAY!

FEBRUARY 26. NIGHT

After waking up to balloons everywhere, hand made signs, flowers, Starbucks coffee, an AWESOME candy card, two SWEET cards from my big girls, dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant.... we came home and the girls put the COOOOOOOOOLEST firework making, singing, multiple candles spinning thingy on my birthday cake!! ha ha! IT WAS AWESOME!!! ....It was a bit of an INFERNO... but, totally appropriate for my ole age! :) ha!

FEBRUARY 27. WHAT I ATE

This is HEAVENLY CAKE - My Grandma used to make it for me and after she died my Aunt makes one for me every year on my birthday! AAAAH it's the BEST.... well, HEAVENLY really! ...I guess the ONLY thing that could make it better, is if it had ZERO calories... cuz I could REALLY EAT the WHOLE darn thing!!! :) ....usually I just leave the FORK in it - So I can re-visit it frequently!! ha ha ha!!! :) YUM!!!!

FEBRUARY 28. MONEY

...My DAD gave me this FISH BOWL full of PENNIES!

...A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned... :)

FEBRUARY 29. SOMETHING I'M LISTENING TO

My sweet friend left some FUN goooooodies on my DOORSTEP for my birthday... and one of them was a Strawberry Shortcake Video!!! Soooooo.... Today, I put in the little Video in and Me and Mihret LISTENED and watched it together! SO CUTE!

Oooooooh DEAR - It's the LAST day of FEBRUARY - the photo challenge is officially OVER for this month!!! ......It was a BLAST!
I
Think
I
Might
Just
Have
to
do
THIS
ONE
TOOOOOOOO!
:) hehehe! :)

HOME SIX MONTHS!!

2012-02-21T11:55:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe it has been SIX months since Mihret has been HOME!! ....WOW! How ALL of our lives have CHANGED! She really is AMAZZING! AWESOME! ...and from our very first meeting - I thought it would be soooooo hard to bond and attach with this little one. We definitely were not her favorite people - we were greeted with a lot of tears and resistance. We were strangers. She was scared. We were nervous and wanted to do and say all the right things... for our new, beautiful DAUGHTER!! I had absolutely no idea... the day I grabbed her from HH and went back to our hotel room - that she would LIKE me! She cuddled and LOVED me! - and it just continued to get better and better from that point forward. ...an answer to prayer! ...as much as she NEEDED to be LOVED - I wanted her LOVE toooo! ...and it happened! Thanks be to GOD for this sweet little GIRL - He definitely knew what He was doing when He put her in our family! She is a FANTASTICALLY goooooofy, silly, happy, joyful babe that fits right in with all the rest of us!!

We LOVED her far before we ever met her!
WE ARE BLESSED!

We couldn't imagine our lives without her! I look forward to EVERY morning when I get to wake up and see this sweet lil face!

I thank God for choosing her to be a part of our FAMILY!

We LOVE YOU Mihret!

My LIL Ethiopian Valentine

2012-02-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

My day started out with my FAVE latte and breakfast sandwich from Starbucks from my HONEY POOOOO! It was SO SWEET and the BEST Valentine's day breakfast evaaah! :) Mmm Mmm! ...That's LOVE! :)

So, this is the FIRST year - that it was not necessary to make Valentine's for the girls classes - Madison had outgrown it a while ago - but now that Kinz is out of elementary - they were both like, 'uuuuh no Mommy, we DON'T take Valentine's to school anymore'... It was kind of sad actually! They are getting tooooo grown up... I guess I will just have to look forward to when Miss Mihret is in school and I can help her make Valentine's for her classmates! :) Instead today, we made a lot of cupcakes and ate a lot of cupcakes!!! :) ...oh ya and had a lil mini Valentine photo shooot! hehe! :)

FEB. PHOTO a DAY - Instagram!

2012-02-13T12:30:00.000-08:00

I've never done a PHOTO challenge before and I always thought they sounded like FUN... Soooooo, I decided to give this one a shot...

....thought I'd share here since I am having so much FUN with it on Instagram! :)

February 1. YOUR VIEW TODAY!
Mihret and I walking to the mailbox and painting our tootsies

February 2. WORDS
WONDERFUL, beautiful WORDS to live by WORDS...

February 3. HANDS

February 4. A STRANGER

Loooook, there is one behind Mihret - at cold stone! hehehe :)

Febraury 5. 10 am

Getting ready to go on a HIKE

... at the top of the MOUNTAIN - lil Si

February 6. DINNER

I FORGOT about DINNER!! ha ha! I don't know how that happened!

I LOOOOOVE DINER! :) ...Oh well... onto the next day! ;)

February 7. BUTTON

A lil Chai Latte to start out with... LOVE that BREW button! :)

Then Mihret and I went to the park with Janet and Tarah - PUSHED this BUTTON to cross the street! :)

February 8. SUN

Unfortunately, there was not a lot of SUN that day - so I posted a pic from the day before. :)

It was such a GREAT day! I had to SUPER SIZE this pic!!! :)

February 9. FRONT DOOR

Mihret got her BOW OF THE MONTH for February today! :)

February 10. SELF PORTRAIT

AAAAAAGH!

Was happy to turn this B&W to hide a few of those pesky SMILEY LINES! :)

February 11. MAKES ME HAPPY

Oooooooh GOSH - this was a hard ONE - cuz SO many things make me HAPPY - but... we were at KINZI's Softball game and I LOOOOOOOOOOVE....

...had fun teaching Mihret how to jump in RAIN PUDDLES with her NEW boooots too! :)

Februray 12. INSIDE MY CLOSET

a lil PROJECT HOPEFUL necklace and a few of my other necklaces from Kenya and ET! :)

February 13. BLUE

Grabbed a few of Mihret's blue bows and BLING! hehehe! :)

...and remembered these TWO (when they were little) with their BIG BLUE EYE glasses! ha ha!

It really has been FUN - and it's COOL to see other people's PHOTOS of the day too! - TOTALLY digging Instagram right now! :) Well, there are MORE days left in February, so this post is...

....TO BE CONTINUED... :)

IT'S GOOOOOOD!

2012-02-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

Today Mihret and I went to BIBLE STUDY - it was AWESOME!!! I JUST LOOOOVE it!!!! The book of James is AMAZZZZING - learning from Beth Moore - makes me want MORE! :) ...and the group of WOMEN are SERIOUSLY AWESOME!!!

LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!!!!

Today was the VERY first time I tried to put Mihret in the nursery... The drop off went really well!!! She got on a little rocking horse and looked happy... When I left the room, I could hear, "MOMMA! MOMMA!" She was just kind of TALKING it - so I felt goooood to go! Grabbed my buddy Shan - and we headed to our lil study room! ....I kept looking at the pager - thinking, hmmmm... any minute... probably any minute. Our leader asks, "ANY PRAYER REQUESTS?" ...I asked for a lil prayer that the buzzer wouldn't go off and I have a happy lil camper in the nursery... Guess what happened RIGHT BEFORE we were about ready to pray!? YEP! The BEEPER, BEEPED and my heart sunk a little! I RAN to the nursery and found a crying lil boooogery nosed baby girl! ....It's funny, she got sad when someone showed her kindness and said, HI and gave her a big ole hug... probably made her miss her MOMMA!!! :)

Soooooo... I grabbed the lil squirt - wiped up her BOOGS and headed back to participate in a lesson on JAMES... part of our homework was on JAMES 1:27!!!! ...Sooooo I had a lil show and tell! :) hehehe! She was GREAT! She sat REALLY quiet... ate a few smarties and a few bites of a donut - then we went to watch the video of Beth Moore and she would CRACK up laughing when everyone else did... My bud Shannon gave her a lil book to read and kept her occupied - and she was QUIET and SUPER DUPER goooooooood! SO.... on the way home - I decided to take my bible study buddy, Mihret out to Mexican food!!!

OOOOOH Golly - this lil girl CRACKS me up!!!! I LOVE HER and her CRAZY FUN PERSONALITY! ....I have to say... she still just TOTALLY AMAZES me!!!!

...It was a FUN day - and we will give the Nursery another shot next week! :) Maybe she will last a lil longer than 15 minutes. (baby steps) :)

...Just a lil about what I took HOME from the study today:

JAMES 2:1-5

¹ My brothers and sisters, believers in our GLORIOUS Lord Jesus Christ must NOT show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

CONCLUDING THOUGHT: Faith and Favoritism DO NOT mix.

going to make a conscious effort not to judge
going to make sure that I continue to change because of the WORD of GOD
gonna try NOT to be a FORGETFUL listener...

a lil HIDE and SEEEEEEK! :)

2012-02-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

HIDE and SEEEEEEEK!

..has never been more FUN, than with this LITTLE ONE! :)

I think Mihret was SHOCKED to see BIG SIS able to squeeeeeeeze her bod under the sink cabinet too!!! ha ha ha!!!

Bowling, SNOW and a visit to the Doc...

2012-02-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging lately.... Sooooo, I thought I'd share a lil of what our crazy fam has been up to with a few PICS... mostly of a lil someone! :)

Mihret did a lil bowling, showed off her belly (I think she is prettttty darn proud of it, - and that belly button thingy is prettttty coooool), and was her silly lil self - trying to get the ball to make it to the pins! :) ha! LOVE it! She is a character! ...gets me laughing all the time!!!

...This January we had some SERIOUS snow... keeping Erik home from work and the girls home from school for like 7 whopping days!! It was soooooo crazzzzzzzzy!! It was nice to have everyone home for a little while - but I have to say, I was relieved when the snow was gone, and we could all get out of the house and back into our regular schedules... :)

...Mihret had her 18 month check up!!! She is doing gooooood! GROWING great and SUPER DUPER Smart! hehehe! .....okay I'm a lil biased! :) ...When she got HOME her Iron levels were low - so they had me give her an Iron Supplement - and wanted to retest her blood today to see how her levels looked now... It was a looooooooooong wait sitting in the doctors office... we got a lil bored - so I took a few pics! :) ....Turns out her iron levels were still low - so we made a trip to Children's... and still really have no clear understanding of why they are low or what we should do now... kinda frustrating. But, they ruled out some major stuff... so, this Momma was relieved. :)

I loooooove taking pictures of this sweeeeet girl!!! She is a JOY and a BLESSING to our family!!! I sooooooo look forward to waking up every morning to see her happy lil face! OOOOH Boy, I LOVE her!!!

18 MONTHS old TODAY!!!

2012-01-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Miss Mihret is a YEAR and a HALF today!!!

She woke up feeling really HOT! EEEKS! I haven't had little toddlers in the house for so long - we didn't even have a thermometer!! AAAH! So after Mihret and I snuggled for about an hour or so... I decided I better skip on over to Bartell's and get a thermometer and some acetaminophen for kiddos and some pedialyte!!

I came home and checked her temp - it was 100.9... gave her some kiddo Tylenol, and a sippy cup full of pedialyte and she went back to sleep again... I called my buddy Megs and she gave me some good ole guidance on how to monitor her termperature.... and just to be able to talk to another Momma of a little one - made me feel better! THANKS MEGS!!!! XOX

HAPPPY Half Birthday Mihret!!! :)

WE LOOOOVE YOU little one! MUAH!