How time flies! I can't believe the Holidays are here! Its been a great fall here in Sandpoint, and we have so enjoyed being home for a while! We did spent some time in Maui with my Dad (check out the pic's below) which was wonderful. The kids love seeing him, as do Mike and I. And there is nothing like water and sand to keep 8 kids happy all day long, then fall into bed asleep nice and early :-) The kids are all doing wonderfully. We are homeschooling this year and the bonding it is creating among the kids is such fun to watch. They are all progressing well academically, and having a great time homeschooling. Its terrific to have them home so much, and to be able to be spontaneous (as in take a 2 week trip to Maui in October :-) and be able to take advantage of having no set school schedule. Freedom!

Mahlia is just thriving, and she is so adored by the whole family. She has gone from not even on the growth charts at 9 months old, to in the 55% at 13th months. She came home wearing a 3-6 month size (at 9 months) and is now in a size 12-18 months at 13 months! Talk about catching up! She is now crawling all over the place at lightning speed, and into EVERYTHING! Good thing I have 7 other sets of eyes on her! She is starting to try to pull up to standing, she'll walk before too long. And she's babbling away, with a few words thrown in now and then as well. Amazing. I can't tell you how head over heals in love we ALL are with her. She is such a blessing!

So as I sit here on National Adoption Day, I feel so grateful that Mike and I have been lucky enough to adopt the 6 children that have joined our family through adoption. What LUCKY parents we are to be blessed by adoption, and by all 10 of our wonderful children.

If there is any part of you considering adoption, please please go for it, you'll be glad you did!

Peace and Love,

Jennifer

Baby Mahlia is finally home! My dear cousin Kim (who accompanied me on the trip to Ethiopia), Mahlia, and I arrived back in the USA on July 11th. We spend a week at my Mom's house in Princeton, NJ, which was great. Mike had flown with our youngest 7 kids from Spokane to NJ (no easy feat!) to meet us there and Lauren and Sean drove from VA and NY to be there as well. It was wonderful to have all 10 kids together! We had such a fun week, and Mahlia was the center of attention!

We got home to Sandpoint on the 18th of July and Mahlia has fit into our family like a glove. The kids dote on her and love her to pieces. She is already a Daddy's girl! Mike and I are loving having a baby again, she is such a delight! Poor baby had Giardia, but we are 1/2 way though the course of meds to clear it up, and she is already feeling so much better. She is such a happy and sweet baby girl, we are so lucky!!!!

The trip to Addis Ababa was amazing. Kim and I so enjoyed the city, and the people were so kind and helpful. I miss it and am already looking forward to a return trip one day! I posted some pic's below of our time in Addis and NJ. More to come soon!

Hugs,

Jennifer

We just got these new pictures of Mahlia that I just have to share. In two weeks I'll be in Addis Ababa, and a few days after that we'll be with the whole family for a week at my Mom's in Princeton. So looking forward to that time :-) For now we are just home from Calgary and head back there again on Sunday, and I take off for Addis from there. Its our whirlwind time of year!

Hope everyone is enjoying the first weeks of summer!

Well its official! We 'passed court' yesterday in Ethiopia and Mahlia is officially our daughter! I am going to Addis Ababa to bring her home from July 6th-11th. My cousin Kim is coming with me which I am very excited about. I'm somewhat dreading leaving Mike and the kids as I have never left them for more then a night or two, but Mike assures me they will have a blast, and I'm sure they will. Ethiopian law says that you cannot post pic's of your child until they pass court and officially become your child, so now I can show off our beautiful baby girl!