Well here we are down in southern California until mid March! We've been here a week and all is groovy. The kids have settled in well, they always do :-) Its fun for us all to see our "horse show friends" after the winter off. We've already been to our favorite zoo (The Living Desert) and we head to Legoland on Monday, wahoo! Sophie had her 7th birthday yesterday and she celebrated with family, friends at the show, and a Princess and the Frog cake, yum! The horses just started competing and the competition year has started well. The Grand Prix horses are just getting going and young Camillo won his first class today which we were very happy with as his owners were there, and they were so proud! I don't think I've ever put pic's of the horses on the blog, so here they are.

More soon.

Peace and Love,

Jennifer

I often try to find words to describe why we choose to adopt again and again. I just read the piece below by Stefani and thought, "that's it"! Somehow she was able to a capture exactly how I feel. Stefani runs China's Waiting Child program for Children's House International and is herself an adoptive mother of 9. Stefani is a role model and inspiration to many, including me, and I am blessed to know her! When people ask me why we adopt again and again, I think I'll just send them the piece below! Thank you Stefani for putting into words what so many adoptive parents (and some non adoptive parents) feel! Luckily I have a spouse, family, and many friends who do understand :-)

Love,

Jennifer

Because We Don’t Fit in Anymore

By Stefani Ellison

There is a reason that we call this an adoption journey. It’s because it is a process and there is actually no end. Yes, the adoption is completed, but its effects last a lifetime. Your mind is changed, your heart is changed, and you are no longer the person you were when you began.

So when you come home and you feel you don’t fit in, you are right. You don’t. No longer can you sit through pointless social gatherings. You become glassy eyed at the long spirited conversations your neighbors have about whose dog upset the trash can, like it really matters. “Things”, and the chasing, collecting, and maintaining of those “things”, lose their glitter when you think of the sparkle that could be put on the face of a child for mere donated pennies or some of your time tying blankets for bitter cold toes.

You lose patience with those who cannot understand the urgency of the task before you – that children are crying, children are dying. And the world keeps on shopping. Spending billions of dollars on things – things that don’t matter.

When you look into the eyes of a child in the orphanage you visit, your own eyes never see the world the same again. Most of the world doesn’t get it. For those who do, we must stick together because otherwise it’s a lonely place. For those of us who continuously hear in the back of our minds the crying of the children left behind, we cannot rest because we cannot forget. There is no silence. Our friends, our spouses, our families may not understand, and we ourselves may not understand why we cannot make the crying stop or make the urgency end. So we do what we can. We give what we can. And often, we join in the crying.

Happy New Year!!!

As usual, the holidays were full of hustle and bustle and excitement around here. I love having such a large family :-) We have so much fun! We spent Christmas at home (our first in Sandpoint) and my mother (Granny O) and my brother Jason flew in to spend Christmas with us. The kids of course enjoyed Christmas but the adults had a tough break (no pun intended) as my poor Mom slipped on the ice helping Santa sneak some presents in from the garage and broke her ankle in 3 places. Ouch! Two surgeries later she and her new best friend her walker are up and about, although she will be moving a bit slower for a few more weeks! This is not easy for her as she is an avid out door adventurer and hiker! We were in Whistler with good friends for New Years (my Mom and bro were supposed to come but spent the week in hospital in Seattle instead......). It was a bummer to be there without Mom and Jason but we did have some fun :-) Mike is a great skiier and enjoyed skiing new terrain, and Hunter had a super snow board instructor and learned how to do "melon's" and "butter 180's" among other cool dude snowboard tricks!

We head down to California to the winter Equestrian Circuit in mid January and will be there for 2 months. Luckily its a great show for the kids, they all have friends there, and the show runs a school which keeps all the kids on track and having fun. Its hard to leave home for so long, but we do enjoy life on the road quite a bit as well! I have a great group of horses this year and Mike and I are very much looking forward to the start of the competition season with them. Here are some pictures of the gang over the holidays.

Best wishes to all our friends and family for health and happiness in 2010!

Love,

Jennifer

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