Finally Continued!

My continued took a bit longer than I hoped. I finally got JD's help tonight in moving Erica's picture folders to my computer and then grabbing some of hers and mine for the next few shots.

This is a really cute picture of Julia, Erica and Tori in my opinion.

I got Julia and Erica lockets that we put pictures of them in.

Because I am such an over-achiever (or ridiculous and crazy), we had Tori's late 13th birthday party while Erica was here; it was an efficient way for her to be able to meet the group of friends. 

They had fun playing outside after our planned inside games. Moriah (on the far right) played like she was 13 also; I haven't seen her have that much fun in a while.
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This cake was pretty consumed that night!

We are hoping to see Erica and her mom sooner than later, as I have a dream to make it across the country this year to Montana and she isn't too many hours across the border! We shall see...

Jenny

The Week with Erica

Adoption holds a lot of unknowns, but Julia has always known that she has a sister, named Erica, that lives in Canada. I have pictures of Erica that I took in Liberia when she was just three. Although Erica was matched to her family at the same time we were matched to Julia (and neither of us were told there was a sister), it took a full year longer for her to make it home to Canada due to the laws. 

It has been very important to both of them to know each other, and they have written letters back and forth for years. This visit gave them the foundation to have a true sister relationship; it was a really great week for both of them. 

This is Julia at the airport last week. The plane was slightly delayed and we both were nervously waiting.

Wednesday was a stay at home day and Thursday we hit DC; just Joanne and Erica with Julia, Tori and I. We did the monuments and three Smithsonians sandwiched into the fine DC rush hour traffic.

The mall between the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial

The Batmobile!

I like this picture. I was getting ready to take it when a nice young man offered to have me join it.

 

Here is a piece of the Berlin Wall - 

Some similarities to each other but not carbon copies or anything.

We did some fun at home activities this week also. This is everyone making tie-dye shirts. I am pretty unimpressed that I didn't get a group picture yesterday of everyone wearing them; they were really cute!

to be continued ...

Last Week, This Week, Next Week

Last week was the final week of the basketball season. Since I never even mentioned it before, I took my camera to the final game. The team was for 8-9 year olds and Elijah and Selah played on it last year. I stuck Bella in there this year as she just turned 8 in January and it makes my life more efficient to have them all in the same place at the same time. She did pretty decently for a new player.

My three in one shot -

Selah is very good at getting the ball down the court, but barely makes baskets because she doesn't practice much. Elijah can get those baskets because he practices every chance he gets. Next sport up is Elijah playing flag football. He wants to play tackle, but he's quite little and I think he'd get broken. Flag it is!

Elijah shooting

So, last week, most of the puppies went to their new homes. The last one just left two days ago and went to my good friend, Wendy. The big boy we kept, Alaska, is enjoying learning the farm dog life, but napping under the kitchen table during breaks.

Yesterday Alaska got acquainted with the bunnies, chickens, goats and barn cats. He enjoyed the whole experience. 
 

Poor Montana can still not have the run of the land, as she takes off. I am seriously hoping that the underground fence that is going in the next few will work wonders to give her freedom and keep her home!

The debate is whether to enclose the entire chicken structure in Montana's zone or cut it short. At this point, she is way too rough to be the chicken's guard; that is Fiona's domain. 

 

Our final two baby goats were born on Friday morning - Banjo and Barley, born to Agnes. I think I'm going to have to keep Barley; she looks like Vinny, the daddy goat I sold. 

This is Anges with Banjo, isn't he darling? She is doing a great job being a first time mother.

Yesterday I hauled the kids out to the barn with me; James installed guinea-proof wiring in the rafters of the barn, Elijah accompanied JD to the big dump (and counted 90 eagles!), and the girls helped me with the goats, while Bella babysat the puppy. We dewormed and trimmed the hooves of 8 adults and the 6 babies, then JD wethered the four little boys. All in all, a good time!

This is Betsy, the papered baby girl that I am going to sell this year.

Alaska is getting just about too big to be lugged around. Amazing how much he has grown!

Our next week adventure is HUGE - Julia's biological sister, that was adopted into a family in Canada, is coming to visit with her mom for the week. They arrive Tuesday - the girls haven't seen each other since Julia was 6 months old!

Jenny