On the Coasts

JD has joined the west coast kids, and today treated them to a tour of the Midway. The Midway is one of the first (maybe the absolute first and I should know this...) ships JD was stationed on, in Japan, and has now been turned into a museum in San Diego. JD likes to visit it (over and over and over), and while none of the rest of us are interested in seeing the same ship multiple times, there are enough of us that he still has new people to tour every now and then.  

Since there are no floating museums in our area of Virginia, we gathered some friends, put on our cow spots and headed to Chick Fil A for some free eating. Dress like a cow day has become part of our summer tradition and contrary to Selah's look, we all had a good time!

                                                                                                                  Jenny

California

I am dependent on my children to send me pictures of the adventures in CA. Tori wins the prize since she sent me a long line of Sea World photos. Tori arrived on Thursday and the group, minus Alayna who couldn't fit in the SUV, headed down to visit Alyssa in Marietta on Friday, since she leaves for Mexico tomorrow.

Here's the Marietta group, minus Chris who I assume took the picture.

Nathan was interested in whatever Alyssa was showing him.

He decided to make himself more comfortable and get a better look. It's quite possible that he wins the prize for most aunts and uncles that are totally infatuated with him.

Tori is having a blast with the big kids in California.

People are continually getting Moriah and Alyssa confused. They work at different places and customers ask them if they work where the other works. I think I have to agree that they look more and more alike the older they get.

Gabriel wins big brother of year award. He took everyone to Sea World yesterday; that's Nathan watching the polar bear.  

Chris has family in San Diego also, and attended the Bible college where Alyssa is now, so he has been able to cover visiting his friends and family as well.

All those animals are fun but the little guy can only go so long before he has to nap.

I love this picture. All the aunts are great, but you can't replace Dad time.

                 

                                                                                     Jenny

                                                                                                                    

The Last Few Days

Last Thursday was the long awaited arrival of Gabriel on the USS George Washington, which pulled into Norfolk, VA. The plan was Alayna, Alei and JD were going to make the trip, while Nathan and I stayed at home and tried out a bottle which he had not had in months. The reality is that he eats everything and would not go hungry, just might not be happy taking a nap. That plan quickly fell apart when Alayna and I ended up in the ER most of the night with a baby with the croup. We made it home with the sick baby in time to wish JD and Alei well on their trip down. Gabriel was delivered home that afternoon and here is a quick picture taken right away. I felt badly for Gabriel arriving to a fussy baby that was so out of character for Nathan.


The lighting looks like Nathan has a red toupee, but it's some weird reflection from the Christmas lights.

Nathan was pretty miserable that day and the next, but was back to his happy self by Saturday. On Friday, we made Christmas cookies and went to our home group fellowship.

On Saturday, JD and Gabriel took most of the crew to Star Wars. Here is the picture I took before they were ready with the good light.

I have one child who chose to freeze over put on a jacket and shoes for the picture.

Here's the one that they posed for with the poor light; posing didn't seem to make a difference for Ben.

While they were all gone to Star Wars, I pulled out and organized Christmas presents while Alayna wrapped them. Nathan enjoyed all the mess.

At one point when Nathan was being a little too helpful, I gifted him with a home-made playpen. He was pretty impressed with it and wanted to go back in when Aunt Deb pulled him out.  

In between all the activity, Gabriel has played countless games of checkers with several children. My favorite was when I walked by a game between Selah and Bella and Selah jumped four checkers with no space between them side to side. She informed me that they were playing by "Bella's rules".

We are thankful to be all under the same roof this Christmas. (Nathan agrees as he applauds.) It is a very special Christmas as we reflect back to last year when Gabriel and Alayna were in CA and Nathan wasn't born yet!

Hunter, the cat, has no respect for my sister's cat allergies.

Merry Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours; we hit the light show at the mall last night before the Christmas Eve service. 

The seven youngest kids

The three littles

The boys

The Mom and Dad

Bella

While Christmas didn't end up in Memphis as we planned, it would have been a rough, rough week since most of us have been sick. Alei is hitting Urgent Care again since she is still very sick after a week on antibiotics for bronchitis and ear infections. Other than that, I have taken four or five of us to the doctor. 

I'm happy to note that Gabriel is back in the country! Alayna didn't expect him until the 28th, but the ship arrived back in San Diego Christmas Eve and he flew the all night flight to Memphis and landed Christmas morning. My mom picked him up at the airport and Gabriel was the Christmas morning surprise - I can speak from experience when I say that six months is a long, long time!

I hope Alayna is ok with this picture - I think it's sweet

 Although we are unhappy that we aren't there with them, I am very happy for them! They will be have some time in Memphis, make a stop in Colorado and then be looking for a new home in San Diego. They should have plenty of time to get settled before the baby comes late February.     

Birthday and Baby News

 So, the new pets are awaiting their post in order to bring much more important news! Yesterday, JD had a major birthday - one of those birthdays that change your decade. I won't say what it is, other than I am in my forties and he isn't anymore. He is blessed to look younger than his years and still doesn't have any grey hair.

 Today we got the exciting news that the grand-baby on the way is.... a sweet little boy. It's really the pattern of JD's family - a baby boy comes first followed by a few girls. We had taken a family tally of who thought what and Elijah was pretty impressed to be on the winning side and find out that it's a boy. He will enjoy having a boy added to the minority in the family. 

Now all we want is for the baby and his parents to move to the east coast!

BIG NEWS

Gabriel pulled in Guam yesterday on his Navy voyage and Alayna is in Tennessee, but the announcement was made in the online world ...

That our first grand-baby is due February 20th -  

WEDDING Pictures!

 Here is the link for the wedding pictures - there are links along the left side for the specific groups of pictures, like family, etc. Enjoy!

Gabriel and Alayna's Wedding Pictures

Big Kid Update - including Brooke

 Yesterday was a bit rough since it was Gabriel and Alayna's last day in Virginia. California is just so far away and three years is just so long. Here's a quick picture right before they walked out the door for the airport.

 JD and I with them -

 We had some sad little people. I wouldn't think that Selah would understand, but she understood enough to cry.

Gabriel and Alayna both rank right near the top with Elijah - I'm afraid it's going to be really hard on him!

We did get news that they landed last night and began the housing hunt today; it's not going to be easy with the size dog that Harley is.

We are also down to the end of the time Alyssa is away - she should be on her final week's work in South Africa. I have heard very little from her, but it's all been super positive.

Alyssa in Ethiopia last year

After a full year of waiting for progress with Brooke's adoption, they finally leveled with me that she isn't progressing. Although it's not good news, I appreciate someone finally explaining what the problem is. The issue is that there are two paths that allow a child to be cleared for adoption in Ethiopia. One is the child is abandoned and there are police reports indicating it; the police then are the responsible party as that child progresses through the court system. The second is that the child has a relative that relinquished them to the orphanage; that relative is then required to appear in a few court sessions and an embassy appointment authorizing them to be adopted. There are also approximately two million children like Brooke - children that are stuck because they don't have a living, or willing, relative to do their paperwork, nor were they abandoned. These children are often the ones who need adoption the worse, yet they are trapped in a system that won't allow it.

Study hut at Brooke's orphanage

The difference between Bella and Brooke is that their mom was alive to appear in local and regional court for Bella's adoption. Bella was then hung up in federal court because her mother was in a coma. The judge said that she had to wake to sign the final order, or pass away and the death certificate could be used. We held on to Bella's referral (we were asked if we wanted to swap for a child without a glitch) and it was only the matter of a month or so that her Mom passed away and the judge finalized the adoption with the submission of her death certificate. At this point, Brooke still lived with her mother and only entered the orphanage after her mom's death. Now we are back at the beginning and the local and regional court will not accept the Mom's death certificate in place of a signature and there is not a single living relative to sign for her. Her packet has been in the the local court system for a full year!



coffee at the orphanage

So, we are in a bit of a difficult position. We are not going to progress like a normal adoption, but neither can we walk away from her knowing that we are her only hope for a family. Bella is her only living relative and her future in Ethiopia would be to age out of the orphanage at 15 and be on her own with no means of support.

I asked the adoption agency what they recommended that we try. They are going to check to see if she is able to represent herself in court in place of a relative, because at her age of 13, she obviously is old enough to verify that her mother passed away and that she has no other family. Our other attempt is to petition MOWA (Ministry of Women and Children) to give her an orphan packet based on the fact that we already have her biological sister.

The plan is that I will be making a trip to Ethiopia in the next few months to see what door may be opened and to just reassure her that we aren't giving up on bringing her home This adoption is going to require extra prayer!

Movers and Chickens

 Today has been on the calender for months as moving day. This last week, everything of Alayna's has been moved to our house, so that the military can move it all to San Diego. This is the Alayna pile that has accumulated in the playroom - yeah, nobody has been playing in there!

This is a packer finishing up Gabriel's room. So, now I will officially have a bare room. I told Gabriel that it was going to be my new Yoga studio; he looked at me funny since I overall dislike anything Yoga due to my balancing challenges. Eventually, someone upstairs is going to have to move downstairs, so that Elijah can separate from Selah and Bella. I was informed that we would not pass our home study update for Brooke with him in the room with them.The problem is that I don't really have anyone upstairs that I want living downstairs at this point; so for now, it's a guest room - without a bed.

From years of moving as military child, I know that packers and movers have to be closely supervised. Today, that's Gabriel's job. I'm not sure what James and Tori are doing, because I just now noticed that they were in my picture after I told them all to stay upstairs!

Of course, on top of the chaos, I got an early morning call from the Post Office that my baby guineas had arrived. I decided that I may have to give up growing melons, but that's better than anyone getting Lyme disease from all the ticks we have. 

These will grow up to be a fierce tick-fighting flock - I got 30 because I learned before that they don't allow outsiders to join their flock once they grow up.

Selah and Bella were pretty impressed with them. They are cute now, but they grow up ugly.

Our chickens that we bought from the Amish are now "teenagers" - they are free in their side of the coop, but still not big enough to go out in the fence without squeezing through.

The Momma hens are the other side are doing an amazing job of laying over a dozen eggs a day; I haven't had to buy any eggs in months and we eat a lot of eggs!