Oh...Another Airport Homecoming!!!

Today, I had the privilege of welcoming ANOTHER wonderful AGCI family home at the airport!! OH, HOW I LOVE AIRPORT HOMECOMINGS!!!!! They are so AWESOME to witness and I can't get enough of them!! I arrived with my younger three:LL was napping as we arrived and my George wasn't far behind her....I ordered my Hal some chicken fingers (which made the airport worth coming to for him :) and we waited for THE MOMENT when the new family comes into view........ Above, my friend Cris and her 4 kiddos were there too to welcome home the Stiver Family!!

And, here THEY COME!!!! Oh, my favorite part was when their two year old took off running for them....Oh, I just can't help but tear up at these things....It is something about seeing ALL the siblings meeting for the first time....so incredibly sweet!!!

The Stivers adopted a 4 yr. old little boy (in his daddy's arms) from Lucy lane's same orphanage...Oh, he was sooo cute!!!

I loved this above pic...Daddy holding his new son with his daughter SO happy to see them home!!

The Ethiopian airport workers always come out to talk to the children and welcome them to the U.S. They always speak in their native tongue and let them know that they are safe and everything will be ok!!

One of my favorite moments was when Cris's son "T" sees his old buddy from HH for the first time again!! Their eyes just lit up when they saw each other...the moment was priceless!! They remembered each other and were SO happy and excited to see each other!!! They are basically the same age and I'm sure roomed together at HH for months!!!

And, here they are above...this new family of 7!!!! You can read their blog at www.shannonforthisseason.blogspot.com What a beautiful family!!!

And, LL finally did wake up and enjoy the show!!! She kept herself entertained by eating some ice!!!

George was getting a little tired of being there :)

Yummy!!! Airport Ice Is GREAT!!! :)

***Welcome home Stivers Family....I'm so incredibly happy and grateful that another beautiful child has a family to call his own!!! Thank you for following God's calling!!!

Happy Friday to you all, kj

Some Great Shout-Outs!!

I've got some great SHOUT OUTS tonight for some families ALL raising money for their adoptions!!! These are hard working families BELIEVING that through the Lord ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!! They are working hard to come up with the money..and here are a few of the things I've heard about lately:

1. I recently heard about the Young Family's Fundraising going on on their blog: http://www.youngfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/ They have tshirts:
and many other things as well. I hope you'll check out this family of 7 as they add to their family through the miracle of adoption!!!

2. Next....we have some adorable Ethiopian bows from www.texastoethiopia.blogspot.com :

Plus, she has other bows and countries represented as well!!! So cute...I can't wait to get one for LL's hair!!!

3. Next we have some Photography Pendants at http://www.oliveshootsandmuddyboots.blogspot.com/

She can customize these for you too!! Check out this cute family to help support their adoption!!
I also heard that a great tshirt is coming soon from this family...so stay tuned!! :)

4. Next we have an adoption tshirt for a Peru Adoption!!! Yes, Peru!!! I learn something new every day in adoption blog land!! This adopting family would LOVE to sell you one of their adorable tshirts:

Above, we have the back of the shirt pictured....it is really cute!! You can check it out and support this Peru Adoption by visiting http://www.fly2hisheart.blogspot.com/

5. My friend Jody is raising money through her etsy shop for her upcoming mission trip with Ordinary Hero to Ethiopia!! I'm so excited that she has decided to join my big sis on her upcoming trip to ET and I would LOVE to help out in anyway that I can....You can see her stuff at www.etsy.com/shop/themamasheep and her blog is www.talkissheep.blogspot.com !!!! Her Ethiopian daughter is just too adorable!!!

Other news and updates:

***Praises going out for the Curly Headed Brothers that passed court this week!!! These sweet boys were the FIRST waiting children ever laid on my heart that I KNEW I had to advocate for on my blog!!! I LOVED them when I met them in Ethiopia while picking up Lucy lane...and now they officially have a family made final by Ethiopian court this week. The Nelson family will be traveling soon to get their new sons!! I can't wait to hear all about it!!!

***My friends The Bonners found out they did not pass court this first time...I posted about their shower I hosted this past Sunday...Please continue to pray for this family as they head back to court the week after next!!!

***Our next African Fellowship Group will be meeting this Sunday, April 25 at 4pm at Owl Creek Park!!!! Check out the Fellowship Blog to read more about it: www.fellowship686.blogspot.com

***And, prayers go up for the Lane Ann Miller Family as they grieve the loss of this beautiful woman of God!!! Her husband has written some beautiful posts about his sweet bride that are sure to put your entire life into perspective!!! You can find them at www.laneannmiller.blogspot.com May God comfort this sweet family during this difficult time!!

And as always, Happy Thursday to you all, kj

Happy Re-Adoption Day LL!!!

Happy Re-adoption Day to our Sweet Lucy Lane!! Yes, in the United States you must RE-ADOPT your internationally adopted child once back in the states!! You can do it right away, or you can procrastinate like we did!! Well, she's been home 10 months, so we thought we better get on it!!! :) So, we checked the older two out of school early AND HEADED TO THE COURT HOUSE!!!! The kids were all excited and couldn't wait to see what it was going to be like!!! I got everyone in their coordinating outfits (which is VERY important for re-adoption days :) LOL.....and above, we took one pic before heading into the building!!!!

Well, our judge was "running behind"....so we waited......

and waited........and waited some more.........No, really it wasn't that bad!! We had a super great attorney that got the judge to squeeze us in during a break since the case before us was going OVER TIME!!! :)

And, we finally made it into the judge's chambers......and he made it ALL OFFICIAL!!!! And, LL slept through the entire thing!!! Our attorney gave George a toy to play with (did I mention that she was great :) and in a few short minutes we were ALL DONE!!! LL is now an official U.S. Citizen!!! yayyyy!! :) She looked really excited about it, don't ya think???!!! :)

And, a pic with our attorney too!!! Her name is Lisa Collins if you live in the area and ever need an adoption attorney for your re-adoption!!! We really liked her!!

Then it was out the door and across the street to celebrate with ice cream!!!! (yes, we bribed them the entire time...hey, it works :)

LL enjoying her ice cream...and I have no idea WHAT KIND of face I was making....I think I was subconsciously copying LL!! :) LOL

****That's it folks!! It was a special time and I'm glad to have that behind us!! And, LL didn't have a clue WHAT was going on....but hey, she'll be glad some day when she can get a drivers license and work, etc. as a U.S. Citizen!!! :)

**So, Happy Re-adoption Day LL!!! We love you more than you could ever know!!! :) And, happy Tuesday to you all, kj

What A Weekend: Softball, B-days, and Showers!!

We kicked the weekend off bright and early Saturday morning by going to 3 back to back softball games...Above, is my biggest girl!! She looks so tough in her "catchers" gear!! I had gotten up at the crack of dawn with LL (which is her new lovely trick to get up SUPER early :) Anyways..I knew we were going to have a CRAZY day, so I spent the morning (the dark morning since the sun wasn't even up yet :) making Home made Chicken Salad for today's shower...which I'll tell ya about in a few minutes :)

After 3 games and a race around town to pick up cake, balloon, more food,etc. for the shower today....We headed to Kentucky for Poppy's 83rd bday dinner on Saturday afternoon (Poppy is my father in law :) Above, LL was chillin with Poppy and BELOW, she had planted herself on Jules (my MIL) and just kind of froze there...it was too funny....She usually cries if anyone else touches her...so this was big for LL!!! Frozen baby is better than screaming baby :)

The kids had fun in Kentucky playing with their Cousin Alec who was in town too for Poppy's bday!! Yes, they have 14 first cousins on my side and 1 on the hubby's side!! This just makes Cousin Alec EXTRA special to us!! :)

Poppy blowing out his candles....and this is too close to George's bday...He decided the cake was for him too!! So cute!!! Happy B-day Poppy and thanks for the great dinner Jules!!

***Ok....so on to the Ethiopian Adoption Shower:

Yes, today I hosted a shower for a WONDERFUL friend that I posted about a while back that also decided to adopt from LL's same orphanage, Hannah's Hope!! They've since gotten their referral for 3 1/2 yr. old "G"!!! He is soooooo cute..and I was soooo excited to celebrate with this family today at our home!!

So, I think my cake turned out well this time!! Publix did it and I think they did a GREAT job!!!

Vanessa (G's soon to be new momma) had a HUGE turn out...not surprising...She's a wonderful person and this is a wonderful family!!! So super excited for them.......

Lots of AGCI'ers came out to support!!! It was a lot of fun!!! Amy and Rachel above...Amy is http://www.filledwithpraise.blogspot.com/ and Rachel has a private blog!!

Above, Vanessa, got so many cute boy things!! Isn't she just glowing with Adoption Pregnancy!! :) They will call their new son "Sam"!! Looks like he has a back pack all ready for Mom and Dad to come and get him!!

I always serve my coffee punch!!! Everyone always loves it (it is almost all gone above)....So here is the recipe off the top of my head:

*Brew 12 cups reg. coffee

*Add about a cup of sugar into hot coffee and let it dissolve

*Add a little Vanilla

*Pour into pitcher and add chocolate milk to the top of your pitcher and refrigerate over night or until cold...

*Then, put a full container of coffee ice cream in bottom of punch bowl (i think Breyers has the flavor)...pour pitcher of coffee mixture over it, add rest of chocolate milk (Ok, so I used half gallon size of choc. milk)

*Stir and break up ice cream a little....then plop some cool whip or Ready Whip on top to make pretty :) Sooo super yummy!!

I also served my Ethiopian Coffee!!! So good!!!

I was so excited when LL's new little friend arrived...Baby "T"!!

Me posing with Vanessa, and LL still not sure she was ready to wake up yet!!!

LL and Baby "T" got in some play time!! These two together just melt my heart!! He is a little older than LL and just came home from Ethiopia!! Isn't he just gorgeous with those big beautiful eyes!!! He is from the same orphanage as LL.... They were so cute together!!

Yes, they were having quite the fun with my collection of walking sticks!! And, I do believe LL jabbed him once in the belly, but hey, he'll love her some day playing "hard to get"!!! :)

***That was our weekend and I'm still not cleaned up...but oh well...there's always tomorrow!!! :) Thanks for stopping in and PLEASE pray for Vanessa and the rest of the Bonner family as they go to court Tuesday night!!! PLEASE say a prayer that they PASS the first time for Little Sam "G"!!! I know they can't wait to make this cutie their official son!! Happy Sunday to you all, kj

Ps...just read this on my sister's Ordinary Hero blog....Please visit and pray for Lane Ann at www.laneannmiller.blogspot.com She is 'family' to a friend of ours here in TN, but lives in Kentucky where I'm from!! Be changed!!!

Happy 17 Months LL...and Happy 10 Months Home!!!!

Yes, another month has passed...time is just flying by right before my eyes!!!! Before I know it, we'll be celebrating LL's First One Year Gotcha Day!!! Crazy how fast this past year is going!!! LL still keeps us laughing every day!!! She is an amazing little person AND we're SO VERY thankful for her presence in our life!!! We decided to try out George's new sprinkler he got for his bday this week...Well, George and Hal quickly got distracted and ran off in the yard to play with something else.....which left LL having a LOVE/HATE relationship with the sprinkler!!!! This was her FIRST ever sprinkler day...and.....well....she decided it was ONLY good for drinking water!!! She seriously tried to drink from the thing for about 45 minutes getting frustrated then happy with it!!! It was hilarious to watch:

At times, it looked like she was giving it mouth to mouth!!! :)

above: This was the, "Come help me Momma...I can't make it work like I want it to"

above: "If I look all cute.....will you come and help me??"

OH, THE FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!

ABOVE: One of my favorites with the foot propped up!!!

Oh, I LOVE those lips!!!!

And, we finally ended in frustration and tears and decided to put the sprinkler away and opt for a sippy cup of ice cold water :) !!!! Crazy girl!!!! :)

****Happy 17 Months LL!!! And, there are about 5 million more LL's waiting in Ethiopia right now...waiting to be adopted!!! Some are younger, some are older...some are just her age....all waiting for their chance to have someone celebrating EVERY month they are home.....and to allow them to feel their first cold water from a sprinkler on a 88 degree day in April!!!! What a blessing these children are!!!! :)

Happy Thursday to you all...and happy 10 months home LL!!! We love you so much, kj