OUR PLANS MULTIPLIED

In the beginning, JD adamantly only wanted two children. I thought that four would be perfect. Once we caught God's vision of putting orphans into families, our plan was multiplied by God. We are currently blessed with 12 children; five biological, six adopted and one more waiting in Ethiopia. Our first adoption was from the U.S., the next three were from Liberia, West Africa, and our last two were from Ethiopia. We are supporting our 12th child in Ethiopia after her adoption could not pass court.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Field Trip and Hair

Once upon a time, I was part of an all-natural website for African hair care. The reality is that I can't just keep doing this endless braiding of four heads of hair; I am probably getting carpel tunnel! Tori is getting old enough to handle her own hair, given the right tools; and I took seriously when my friend told me that straightening her girls' hair had revolutionized her life. Anything that is a hair revolution at this point? Count me in!  We booked Tori in her kitchen and Tori and I hung out for a few hours (like five...).


Here is her hair chemically straightened, yet not flat ironed.


I like it; this is what it will return to when we wash it.

 
Here is her selfie with it all groomed nice and flat.
 
 
The next day we went on a fun field trip at the local state park to learn about beavers and fire building.
 



We got to make some s'mores once we built the fire.


The park is overlooking the Potomac River; I hope to camp there in the spring.

Elijah and Bella
 
Tori-bug
Selah

                                                                                                  Jenny

Friday, November 18, 2016

Selah's Birthday

We finally hosted a Selah birthday party today; it was a big deal to her as she has never had her own birthday party with friends, that wasn't shared with a sibling. We had James' 16th birthday party a month ago, and it was way colder than today was! The kids were outside playing and eating in short sleeves.

Here are a few shots - we served hot dogs and chili, so chili dogs were most people's choice.


Selah chose a chocolate cake with bright blue frosting.



She got all kinds of exciting gifts, which again was a first for her to receive presents from anyone other than mom and dad.


It was a special day for her and I am so, so thankful for the beautiful weather God blessed us with.


Happy 8th Birthday, Selah - we are thankful you are in our family!



                                                                                                             Jenny

Friday, November 4, 2016

The 31st

I went to the harvest party dressed as a zoo-keeper, and JD as the zoo-keeper's wife; however, the picture is so bad that I am not going to post it. I did have a cute collection of animals, however. Elijah was a snake, Bella a fierce tiger and Selah a darling giraffe that she and Aunt Deb created together the weekend I was out of town.


Nathan was a baby shark. He has been referred to as a baby shark by our swim coach since he was born, because Gabriel and Alayna met on the Shark swim-team at the age of 12! There have been other sharks marry, but he's the first shark baby.


Tori was Waldo - 

James a mime -

 
And Julia a bike riding M&M.
 

 Moriah and Chris dressed up as M&Ms to go to another party the weekend before, but since Chris has school on Monday nights, Moriah turned into a watermelon to accompany Alei the pinapple, and Alayna the kiwi.

Here is their awkward fruit salad pose.
 Alyssa went to work, dressed as normal, other than the fine moustache.


You may think this shouldn't have taken days to post, but it did.

                                                                                                      Jenny