348 Days

Last Easter we were getting on a plane for Ethiopia to pick up Sophie.  By the time we picked her up from the orphanage, she was three hundred forty seven days old.  Most of that time spent in an orphange.

This Easter marked her three hundred forty eighth day with us.  She has now been with us longer than she has been away.

How appropriate that this day landed on Easter...

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.   -Romans 8:20-25

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. -Ephesians 1:3-10

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. -Galatians 4:4-7

Catch Up

So after not blogging squat for a month, you get a quick lightning round post of cell phone pictures.

"I heard this is how all the girls are doing their hair dad!"

Levi put on his swim shirt as pants, because he couldn't find pants.  And he was this skinny before he got sick...

Paige went to South Dakota for her Grandpa's funeral.  Which meant Dad was in charge for the weekend.  Which meant fighting your brother with sticks was totally acceptable.

Sophie, just being adorable (wearing two different outfits, her mother points out.)

Luke and Sophie, spectators to the stick fighting.

Noah and Levi chased the dog around.  Right up until about 1 second after this picture, when Noah thought that Banjo was actually attacking him.

Kind of took the fun out of it...

Luke being a desert bull.

That's odd.  A pair of little boy undies.  In the neighbors grass.  And they only have a little girl.  I wonder where those came from?

Ah ha.  Good thing your mother gets back in a few days...

I got my truck back after several months at the shop.  New roll cage, new seats, new bumpers, new exhaust, bedliner on the whole interior, and a new stereo.  It is like a totally different truck.

A little Saturday yardwork in the front yard.  I saw a few neighbors drive by and giggle.  That's just how we roll around here.

Did some rock climbing at the Gilbert Rec Center

And some nice guy let us borrow some raquetball gear.  The boys were thrilled, since they have been asking to play in there for a long time.

I cut my hair.  And Ella wanted to keep some in a bag.  I have no idea what she has planned for it, but that bag is currently taped up on the wall next to her bed.

While Levi was curled up sick at home, I attempted to get the other kids sick with cinamon rolls the size of their head for breakfast.

And finally, Luke being... Luke.  The child with the nonstop imagination.  Seriously, the kid never stops chattering.  Paige took him to tour a preschool today, and she said the kid... didn't say a word the whole time.  Boy will his teacher be surprised about 3 days into the school year.

There you go... all caught up.

The sickness

Our computer has had the sickness for the past several weeks.  Got some nasty malware on it, and it took forever to clean it off.  Ended up with a new hard drive, and after running endless virus scans I think it is finally clean.

That's my excuse for not having posted in over a month.

And the last five days, Levi has had the sickness as well.  Really weird one though.  He threw up every morning, and every evening.  During the day he said he felt better, and would eat, and then it would all come up that night.  And each day he got weaker and weaker.  Poor kid is already a skinny little whip of a thing, and after five days of little food and lots of spewing, he was one sad little puppy when we finally took him to the doc on Monday.

The doc couldn't find anything major wrong... no appendix, no blockage, just weird flu symptoms.  So they gave us an anti-nausea drug and recommended lots of this...

This morning was his first puke free morning since Thursday.

He felt good enough (and somehow had energy left in his scrawny little body) to play in the park while waiting to pick up Ella from Girl Scouts.

Of course, that depleted all 5 calories he had left in his body, and then he was too tired to climb the hill back to the van.

So he just went to sleep on a park bench like a homeless man after Paige carried him up the hill.

He made it to bed tonight with no more puke.  At 5:30.

Tomorrow he gets to try food again.  Lets hope it stays down this time...

These guys look like they are having way too much fun in life

Becoming an Addink

One year ago today we attended court in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the judge declared us the parents of Tufah!

 

Hi, I'm your mom now! Can you see how excited she is?

 

 

 

As you can see from Sophie's face, she was thrilled to become an Addink.

 

That day was filled with great joy, becuase we had passed court and she was "ours" forever. It was also filled with great sadness and trepidation. It was the last time we could be with our daughter until we were allowed to return two months later to bring her home. Happy Adoption Day Sophie! (I'll post new pictures tonight of our celebration.)

Today

Today, February 24, 2012, you are home right where you belong. We love you Sophie Joy Tufah! What an amazing gift you are, orchestrated by a loving Father. We could never have dreamed this big.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tufah

One year ago today we held you in our arms for the very first time.

 

 

 

 

 

One year ago

One year ago today we were flying across the Atlantic to meet you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got my wife nothing for Valentine's Day.

I know, I know... I am a horrible husband.  You can all leave comments about my complete and utter failure as a loving spouse.

Having seen the error of my ways, however, I went to Costco today and got Paige a lovely household appliance.

I know, I know... it conjours up memories of this video...

But she actually wanted this household appliance.

"This is the best blender you'll ever have baby!"

Then we spent the evening with the kids exploring the capabilities of the new blender...

OK, so maybe showing them videos of the thing blending our very model of phone isn't such a good idea.  This is more my speed..

Or even better..."the man your man could blend like!"

Then we figured since they were getting a youtube education anyways, we might as well show them some driving lessons..

City boy?

This is our second year having a garden. A week or so ago, Paige planted it all. And today, I see little sprouts popping up. Dirt, water, sun, seeds... then food. It has amazed me both years. How much of a city boy does that make me?

Of course, it is still a vegetable. Too bad there aren't bacon plants...

Argh! Let's try tomorrow...

Paige was sure I was torturing the kid.  But he kept letting me pull.  Kid freaks out if I try to give him a kiss... but he seriously considered letting me use a pliers on his tooth.  Goofball.

"It only costes one dollar and it tastes THIS good!?!?"

So it costes a little more than the one dollar gift card he got for good penmanship. But he doesn't need to know that...

Waiting patiently...