Brotherly teamwork

Belachew came up with a plan to get Hudson out of his crib recently...

Water and Coal for Christmas

Water For Christmas well in Gbeivonwea, Liberia. from charity: water (special donors) on Vimeo.

I love Jody. We met a couple years ago at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit. Her heart and vision inspire me. Her efforts to fight poverty issues and to fight for justice are a great reminder that if we worked together and each gave as we were able to, we could take on some of the major issues challenging our world today and impact many lives.

If you are not sure what to give for Christmas this year, consider water or coal.

(picture from The Adventure Project)

Brothers

These two love each other so much. They also love to annoy each other. Typical brothers.

Its been a while since I have posted, but I hope to do some catch-up posts soon.

In the mean time, we had some family photos taken this week by Micah Bell. He offered a special package for adoptive families during the month of November, which is National Adoption Month. We are grateful for his thoughfulness and desire to do something special for adoptive families.

Geremu and Belachew together again- 2010

The weekend following the boys' birthday celebration, some friends invited us to use their lakehouse in Michigan. We were excited for the opportunity to get away as a family. We asked Geremu's family to join us. The took the ferry from Wisconsin across Lake Michigan and joined us for a couple days.

The lakehouse was wonderful and the weather was perfect. It was Hudson's first beach experience and although he was a bit unsure at first, he quickly began to enjoy playing in the sand and water.

Belachew and Geremu were very close friends in Ethiopia. They are from the same part of the country and lived together in the care center for several months. They have a special bond and it is so great to see them together. The boys had a blast together and it is always sad to say good-bye. We look forward to many more opportunities to get these boys together over the years.








(I stole these pictures from Ann Marie, I'll try to post some more later)

More birthday pics

Belachew, my animal loving boy, wanted to have a lion, tiger, cheetah party. Hudson likes animals too, so we went with the theme. Both sets of grandparents were able to join us to celebrate birthdays. We had a party for family and friends. Belachew also had a party at the spray park with some friends. We had some special time as a family and the boys got to blow out candles on their own birthday.

Lion, Tiger, #5, and #2 cupcakes

Hudson blowing out his candle

Belachew at the spray park with friends

Belachew blowing out the candles

August birthday boys

We had two birthdays to celebrate this past week.

Hudson turned 2

and Belachew turned 5

(wearing his Superwhy mask and cape, one of his favorite gifts)

More birthday celebration photos to come...