In the Meantime...

Victoria will turn SIX years old (so hard to believe!) on Tuesday. We are celebrating over a couple days - ha ha. Friday was: daddy-daughter date and sibling slumber party in the living room. Today was: cookout, presents & birthday cake. Tuesday will be: family dinner at our new favorite "Kids Eat Free at Seasons" - ha! :)

Happy Birthday Victoria!!!

By the way, we have nicknamed her "Miss Sassy"... Ha...

She was all giggles opening her presents... although, I will say, this morning she walked into the dining room, looked at the presents and asked, "Is that all?" Americanized child.

Thanks Mamaw & Papaw!

Oh, she was a giggling mess at the sight of this gift: lip gloss & all things sparkly...

Wow, a princess pop up tent!

My annual ghettofabulous birthday cake. This year: red velvet.

Victoria got two rounds of blowing out candles since her big sis decided to blow the candles out the first go round... Almost had shut down mode until we asked, "Want to do it again?" She quickly snapped out of it (ha) at the thought to retry. :)

What a joy our children are! God is so gracious to us! Looking forward to bringing our new son home in two weeks!!!

Ethiopia Here We Come!

It appears we fall into the category of "hurry up and get there" when it comes to our adoption travel dates! Ha! No complaint here, keeps life interesting and exciting! I'll never forget the 9 AM phone call on a friday saying we needed to be in Ukraine by Tuesday! This phone call was a little less dramatic, but we need to be in country by the 11th of August! Got the plane tickets squared away and now waiting to get the accommodations taken care of. We covet & deeply appreciate your continued prayers as we work out all the logistics of 4 children at home about to start school and 1 child overseas... :) We're coming to get you, our precious son!!!

Meanwhile, our sweet friends, the Knights (Pam was our Jana's 1st grade teacher whom Jana absolutely adored!), have 3 of our children out bowling AND Victoria is on a daddy-daughter date in honor of her upcoming birthday. She will be six on Tuesday - oh my! :)

Busyness with a hint of fun...

Somebody has a birthday coming up...

Victoria is counting down (and making a list of things she wants - ha) until her birthday, Aug 3rd. We plan to celebrate this weekend as a family her big number six! Meanwhile, as the countdown until school commences, the kids are doing a little school work every day. Victoria wanted to read for papa yesterday evening before we were treated to a (birthday present to me) double date with free babysitting! What a treat that was!

Wednesday, after 2.5 hours of school registration bliss for our oldest three (*insert sarcasm*:), we were able to catch up with friend, Darla, and her soon to be one year old, Owen! We dove into some quesadillas for lunch and then some ice cream cones... the reward for patient (or mostly patient I should say) children...

Such Troopers...

Ok, so these past few nights I've gone to bed with thoughts swirling in my head about all the things I want and need to blog about... however, the time to do so has escaped me... one day... meanwhile, here is a silly picture of my girls from this morning... such troopers! It is war of the worlds with louse bustin!

After running from a meeting Monday evening, I couldn't find any Nix in a couple stores SO we did baby oil with saran wrap for the night... now my girls are a bunch of grease heads.... but, let me tell you, my house is nice & clean with baby dolls in quarantine and the constant smell of laundry! :) So, I'm enjoying that aspect of this craziness. Repeating it all again in 6 days per doctor's orders - woo hoo! Meanwhile, tomorrow begins school registration...

Another Birthday...

My favorite birthday wish was from one of my sisters who wrote, "Happy Birthday, I stopped counting so... happy 29th!" Ha ha... Here's a glimpse:

Victoria, especially, watched with great anticipation... she is counting down to her own birthday in about a week or so... ha... she has and is continuing to make a list of what she wants....

Thank you for all your sweet birthday wishes! Our God is so gracious to us! He has blessed me beyond words...

Cutie Pie...

Like mother like daughter... glasses...

(Thankfully, Angela is nowhere near as blind as me though;)

It is hard to believe school starts in less than 2 weeks! Had to take a picture, before removing to trash, of the leftovers of the last school year...

I'm excited about the public schools going to dress code and almost have everything needed (even for Joshua). As it stands, we will have the following:

Kindergarten - Joshua

1st Grade - Victoria

2nd Grade - Jana

3rd Grade - Angela

4th Grade - James

Makes it easy to remember who is where when you have a stair step - ha ha...

Friends & Haircuts...

Friday was the day for hair cuts. Our friend, Elizabeth, came over to get the girls trimmed up before school starts in two weeks (can you believe it's that time?!.)...

Victoria - BEFORE

Victoria - AFTER

Jana - BEFORE

Jana - AFTER

Angela - AFTER

(I forgot to snap one before... oops... so I'll be posting another after she receives her glasses - yes, a visit to the eye doctor Thursday was evidently long overdue... hoping to help correct some of her farsightedness)

We SO enjoyed a special visit from friends serving in Kiev, Ukraine - Joel & Mary Ellen - the first half of the week. Tony snapped a quick picture as we finished up burgers on Monday evening...

Captured my Heart...

One thing I love about our agency is the fact that they have ongoing humanitarian work and investment within Ethiopia. Sue, the program's executive director, is on another trip there at present. I returned home from church, a wonderful morning serving in the preschool ministry for extended session, to find an email full of current pictures of our son. I cannot look at him without tearing up, longing for the day we get to meet him and bring him home! Our little guy, Joshua Eyasu Livingstone Merida, has captured my heart!

For those who missed it, Eyasu means Joshua... He will probably go by both for awhile...

He is quite the handsome little guy...

Earlier in the year we were told he fell down while playing and chipped his front two teeth... poor baby... Some of his earlier pictures showed him smiling with his mouth shut, trying to hide his broken teeth... glad to see him smile more...

Meanwhile, we are still waiting on immigration to process our paperwork and approval... Praying for productive phone call in the morning with USCIS to see where we're at... once we receive the one sheet of paper we will have a better idea of when we will be able to go pick Joshua up... WE'RE COMING sweet boy!

All Good Things...

Must come to an end... unfortunately...

We've had a wonderful time at the beach this week with family and will be sad to go our separate ways Saturday... what a blessing family is!