Happy Birthday Durant!

Today is Durant's 4th birthday!!! We had a lot of fun celebrating him! He woke up to a birthday breakfast of donuts with a candle in it! Then off to McDonald's for lunch (his choice) followed by a nap (something he still really enjoys) and ended with a big party with family and friends!

At the party we had Dora Wat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew), dabo (bread), and sloppy joe's, and a Lightning McQueen cupcake cake!! The whole theme was Lightning McQueen. Durant even started the day in his Lightning McQueen pjs.

Matt makes a pretty great Dora Wat!

Durant likes to take his time opening his presents! He was so cute!

It took him three tries to blow out all the candles!!

Happy Birthday Durant. We love you so much! You bring so much joy to our lives.

Getting closer......

Carter is all set now!! He got all 4 of his shots today. He was very brave. Afterwards we celebrated with a large ice cream treat from Sonic. Now all that's left is for our friends children to pass court (happening in a few hours in Ethiopia). If all goes well we will be boarding a plane in about 6 weeks!!

YAHOO!!!!

Madison Trip

Last week my mom, Carter, Durant, Ana, and I took a two day trip to Madison. Ana had a doctor appointment so we thought why not make it a little more fun and stay overnight.

We stayed at a cool hotel. Carter got to do some swimming and he and I played some cool games in the arcade at the hotel.

Here is Grandma and the kids in front of the State Capital. We got to walk all around inside. It is such a beautiful building.

Grandma even had the opportunity to give a speech about KVI in the State Capital! Okay so it wasn't an official speaking engagement, but we all had fun pretending.... until the security man came around!!!

Passport!

Carter was so excited to see what came in the mail...... his passport!! Now all he needs to get are a couple of shots and he is ready to travel! We're hoping to go in about 6-8 weeks! We are so excited!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

My Valentine is half way across the world. This is the first Valentine's Day that I will not be with Matt since I was 18! Wow, but I'm not sad, I am so grateful to have such a wonderful, sweet, and authentic man who lives his life with holistic integrity! Matt always tells me what I mean to him and I don't have to doubt his love for me. God knew exactly who I needed to spend my life with!

Of course I still have three other little Valentine's to be celebrating the day with!

Fun Night!

While Matt is in Ethiopia, we thought those of us left back here in the U.S. would also experience a little African culture (other than the African culture who wakes up in my house every morning).

We went to the Kenyan Jabali Afrika concert at the University. It was a lot of fun and it really made me miss Ethiopia.


All three of the kids really liked it and Grandma came along too! We also had our friends the Clarks and Schultz there.


I was most excited for Durant to see the show. He really liked it. During the whole thing he kept saying they're from my Africa, those are my friends, my big friends. They are from my Africa. Durant is very proud to be from Africa and loves when he can connect himself with that.

We do our best to try and keep African culture in Durant's life, but living in this part of WI that's pretty tough to do. So this was a great night for him!!!

Here's some other fun news, many of you know I am traveling to Ethiopia with my friend Mary when she goes to bring home her two sweet children. I have had the honor of spending time with these two and I can't wait to see them again. The new exciting news is that Mary will be bringing her son Noah along for the trip and I am bringing Carter along too! I am so excited to see how God works in Carter while he is in Ethiopia. I have wanted to bring him there since the first time I went. We are hoping to travel in April.

The two travelers!!