Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's so much work taking a photo of the four kids together, this was the best we got. I did think you might appreciate the hard work if you saw some of the looks they gave me in the unedited versions. :) Notice who the biggest goofball was.

With one week til Christmas, I wanted to write a little note for all of you who may just be tuning in to this blog. I know, it was lazy of me not to write a Christmas letter but I figured if you really wanted to know what's going on, you'd be willing to come here to find out. :) Nice to see ya!

Also, 4 months ago today we boarded a plane from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bring our new son home to America. It is amazing how quickly time flies! We really have settled into a familiar routine and Spiderman seems to blend into it naturally. The biggest change we've seen in him has been the amazing speed at which he has learned English (and lost his Amharic). To think we struggled to communicate on that long trip home and now he speaks so clearly I forget this is a new language for him (although we have the fun accent). He can even read at a Kindergarten level which still surprises me. The second biggest change is that he will eat most of the things we make with minimal complaining :) My man laughed the other day when I said we were having chicken for dinner and Spiderman said, "I love that". He sure has changed his tune about some things. The third biggest change is that he can sleep on his own comfortably now. For the first 3 months he needed to share his bed with big brother and now they usually alternate every other night. (we did overhear Jaybird telling him one night, "you know for years before you came, I slept alone everynight".) When you think of everything this sweet boy has been through in the past year or two, it is amazing to see God bind his heart to us so seemingly easily. We had really braced ourselves for a long, challenging transition this year and we marvel at how little was really necessary.

OK, as for the rest of the brood, you can read more about them if you look back at Novembers' posts. Jaybird continues to excel in his schooling and really loves to get it done so he can play Legos or chess. Goose still spends her time dreaming of motherhood and taking care of her baby doll or her siblings, whoever will let her. Boo is enjoying drawing and writing her name more and more but still lives in her imagination.

As you can tell, I'm on my third year homeschooling and that takes up most of my "free time" (HA). Whenever I feel overloaded, it's good to remind myself how much more I get to see of them and do with them than if they were gone each day. I'm also looking forward to seeing what develops with a new foundation I get to be a part of. Kinsman Redeemer (link is at the right side of the blog) has been started by some friends who have a heart to financially help families who feel called to adopt children. I have seen God do amazing things at our church this year regarding orphan ministry and I sense He is nowhere near finished working here. I'm thrilled to have a front row seat!

Not to leave out my man of course, he is plugging away working for the Conservation Department. He really is good at his job and it's amusing to watch how excited he can get over hearing quail nesting somewhere they haven't before or complaining about some annoying species of grass choking out the native wildflowers (of course he uses their ridiculously long names when he's doing it). No surprise to anyone who knows him, hunting is still his passion (check out the buck photo from Nov) and working on his parents' hunting farm is icing on the venison cake.


We realize only God knows the future but we are looking forward to a quieter year ahead (quieter than what?) building new family memories. It is sad and sweet at the same time to look through family photos. Sad to see how much of our life has passed without Spiderman "doing things" with us but sweet to hear him say, "when can I do that?" We have lots of things to experience again so that our memories will be shared ones. You are invited to check back in on us here, throughout the year, to see what is going on with our crazy, colorful clan.