She's been home...

Ellyana's been home with us longer than she lived in Ethiopia! Our precious baby is growing up so fast! As we passed this milestone, we are so thankful for the beautiful country & people from which she came & we are so thankful that God gave us the perfect girl to be in our family...we love her so very, very much!
The 1st picture is our referral picture of her, Feb 2009...

These are 2 of her in the orphanage & care center before she came home.
Here's mommy picking her up...

Our very HAPPY FAMILY DAY!!!! We have celebrated lots of 1st's...1st teeth... 1st beautiful Michigan fall..1st Halloween...

Celebrating her beautiful Ethiopian heritage...1st birthday...
1st steps...
1st Christmas...
1st Michigan winter...

1st Valentine's Day...1st Easter...
1st vacation...

1st T-ball season (lots of snacks ;)

And here she is our beautiful girl, inside & out as we like to say...and as we see her grow we are reminded of the song that gave us her name...

“Elliana’s Song” by Watermark

Baby woman, tiny in stature now
But your heart is a treasure
Little princess come follow behind me now I am reaching for you
(chorus)
Elliana, God has answered my prayers
Elliana, God will conquer my fears
To mother a daughter, to look you in the eye
To know that I had everything, to walk with you in life
To give you to Jesus that He would impart
The wisdom that I'm longing for to mother your heart
Elliana, God has answered my prayers
There will be others to lead and to guide you girl
But only one you'll call Mother, the honor is all mine
To show you what a woman's like I'm so glad you're mine
(chorus)
Tenderness of God is twirling around In our living room tonight
Lighten up your daddy's eyes
And know that he just wants to freeze you in time
(chorus)

Our update in pictures...

Its been a busy, fun month...no order, just lots of pics ;) Happy 1st Memorial Day Parade!

Another 5 yr old Birthday Celebration for Zach & a wonderful visit from Brian's family this weekend!

Last day of swimming lessons for the summer!

Lots of backyard fun!

They were determined to get 3 people to ride this!

Zach's preschool graduation, what a great year he has had!

These 2 LOVE to zoom around!

More backyard fun!

Grandma K got in a lot of fun at her last visit

Great Children's Museum by Brian's work

Too precious, they had this Rosa Parks display...recognize the darling face ;)

BJ's 1st grade music program

Lots of time spent riding bikes

Life in the fast lane

This t-shirt from Aunt Heidi says it all...ADORABLE...this growing girl(almost 90% tall & 50% for wt. at her 18 month check up this week) is the such a J-O-Y to our family! Her laugh is totally contagious & all the words she is trying to say just makes her cuter by the day

She's still into EVERYTHING, now she can just reach farther onto the counters because she's getting so tall!

She LOVES her Zach & BJ...and we've spent many evenings cheering them on...very special to have them on the same team this year!

The days & nights fly by & with BJ's school going till June 17, summer hasn't started yet...but we have been enjoying the beginning feel of it! So much to be thankful for, Love & Blessings to all!

The Most Beautiful Mother's Prayer...

Heard this song on the radio tonight...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re5EIUIXbhc

A Mother's Prayer, Rachel Aldous, "Transform Me"

Blessings to you & have a blessed Mother's Day!

Zach's Almost Perfect Birthday

Well, yesterday was it the day Zach has been talking about for many, many months...his 5th birthday!

We were able to enjoy cupcakes after breakfast...what do you do with a batch of 24?...eat a lot & share a lot!It happened to be his preschool trip to the Real Life Farm...Zach LOVED his time with the animals, I can not post every picture of him with the animals...feeding a baby cow a bottle, riding the horse, feeding the baby goat, petting the ducks, milking the cow...but this was his FAVORITE part...right in the baby sheep pen, he could have stayed there all day.

And then Zach LOVES bowling, so off to ZapZone we went for a round of mini-bowling & some jump around time & more cupcakes.

Zach is our precious Zach, so very full of life & love. I think he has the "gift of friendship"...kids he hardly knows, their parents tell me that they consider Zach their friend. Everything is more fun with a friend! Thankfully, he has had his best friend as BJ & now another best friend that he plays with so much, Ellyana!And so we never forget Zach at this age...he's the only guy cute enough to pull off wearing his socks hiked up to bed every night...and his most appropriate nickname..."Snack Attack Zach" he is constantly asking for snacks & saying he's hungry!

Zach LOVED his day, the phone calls, the cards, the gifts, the little party, the farm...but as he was trying to get to sleep...he said the thing he had really wanted...was a baby sheep, he said he could start building a pen in the backyard...its just like Zach to dream BIG!!

Tonight started T-ball & tomorrow morning is Kindergarten Round-up for him. Its kinda sad to think of him growing up, but we very are proud of him & the work God has continued to do in his life, and we are oh, so happy to have him in our family!!!

Random Post

Ellyana & I were able to fly to help celebrate Grandma K's 60th birthday...such a happy time to be together as a family!

Learning how to ride the little motorized 4 wheeler in her new Poppy Dip Dress, that coordinates with her cousins...

I was able to help with a little radio interview with Loving Shepherd Ministries...click on WPEO, Straight Talk with Janet Hall...it was aired on Saturday. Always, such a blessing to get to share about awesomeness of adoption!

Lots of other stuff going on too, but all we are all counting the days till Zach's 5th birthday on Wednesday (pictures to come ;)

Sharing in Women's Bible Study is a blessing, our current book "Calm my Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow...has been super! Related to our Bible Study, I found these quotes from Roy Lessin of DaySpring...entitled Fret Busters...I'll post some now & may some later...

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. -Corrie Ten Boom

Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.-Corrie Ten Boom

There is one thing that God says to every believer, regardless of his circumstances—“Trust Me.”“Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” Psalm 37:3

Confidence is not based on you having all the resources needed to take care of yourself; confidence is based upon the truth that God is faithful.

We need sanctified imaginations. It is easy for any of us to fret and have our imaginations run wild. In reality, most things don’t happen the way we imagined them. The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” It doesn’t say, “The just shall live by their imaginations.” The Word of God builds your faith; your imagination can be a fast track to worry. Worry says, “What will happen to me, things seem out of control.” Faith says, “My life is in God’s hands and He is in control.”

Worrying about a circumstance won’t change the circumstance, but worry will change you.

God is in control. Things won’t always be the way they are right now. God knows how and when to bring about change. Trust His timing, He doesn’t make mistakes.

If you don’t have peace about what you are doing, stop doing it.

When a thought of anxiety comes knocking on the door of your mind you must refuse it entrance. If you invite it in, it will have dinner with you, and if it has dinner with you it will quickly move in and want to spend the night.

If you find that you are anxious about something ask yourself if you have prayed about it, and fully committed it to the Lord. If you have prayed about it, committed it to the Lord, and are still anxious, begin to thank God in your heart and in your prayers for being in control of the situation. Prayer, commitment, and thanksgiving open the door to peace.

The best and only policy we should have toward anxiety in our lives is “zero tolerance”.

Vacation Pics

We had a great time at Hilton Head Island last week, beautiful weather, beautiful beach, lots of swimming & fun...
There was a lot of wildlife around (starfish, jellyfish, sand crabs, turtles, dolphins...) We went on a dolphin watch boat and on our last morning we saw 2 dolphins right off the beach right in front of us

Thought this shot was cute of both boys standing the same way on the boat.

Ellyana loved vacation like her brothers (and parents ;)

Lots of digging for the boys & climbing for the girl (and it was all safe climbing so Mommy could relax)This was one of Zach's highlights.Where did it go? The brothers thought it was so cool that the mini-golf place supplied "nets" to fish out the balls.
Last night on the beach.
They could have kept digging all night.
Brian had a conference in Atlanta, so we were there for a few days after Hilton Head. The kids & I had a wonderful day visiting dear friends near Atlanta & we were thankful for a fun stop visiting great friends near Cincinnati on the way home. A 13 hour drive home, didn't go too bad...but boy, it felt good to be home at the end! I would be a beach bum if I could...thankfully I'm not...but we sure enjoyed our time!!!!

Easter...the most wonderful time of the year!

There have been sightings of Easter around our house... Ellyana's costume from her cousins didn't fit at Halloween, but it is fun to wear now! Her brother likes to "monkey around", most mornings he's "suited up" by 7:15 AM :)

Each year we try to make Resurrection Cookies, the "tomb" is sealed for tonight...we'll hope they are empty by morning (I didn't do the directions in order this year, too many distractions ;)...not sure of the results for this year) http://www.annieshomepage.com/resurrectioncookies.html (lots of Scripture to go with each step)

Coloring Easter eggs, we are going to be gone over Easter...that's why this stuff is getting done a little early this year
The kids before our Sunday School Easter program...the boys did very well reciting their pieces & Ellyana is pictured with her new Poppy Dip Twirl, we love Poppy Dips & we love the "cause" of bringing another orphan home http://itspoppydip.blogspot.com/

"Silly Baby" is what her brothers love to say! It is so special to get to celebrate our 1st Easter with Ellyana!

In college I heard the story of Edith Easter http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/e/edith-burns.htm, and it brought alive the amazing truth that "Easter" can be anyday...and the most important question we can answer is "do you believe in Easter?" We love the bunnies & the eggs (and the candy ;)...but what we really, really LOVE are the reminders of NEW life because Christ actually conquered the power of death...and the tomb was EMPTY!!!! Happy & Blessed Easter!