Our City

Last month we helped our church clean up our city. We do it every year! It was a beautiful day this year and a lot of fun. All the kids got to be involved. We helped plant flowers.






Carter even got interviewed by the news. He did a great job on camera and looked super cute!!

Summer Fun!

Our first week of summer is done. It has been a super fun start so far!! We have kicked off swimming lessons, tennis lessons, junkyard symphony, theater games, soccer, baseball, preschool fun class, and we're only getting started!!! Still more fun classes and sports to start!

Carter at swimming lessons. He's loving it. He's getting so good in the water!

Jackson is LOVING swimming so much!

Ezra is being a good sport and doing some catch up for the years he missed not having swimming lessons. He's doing great!

Jackson is enjoying learning a new sport!

Carter found out that he made the all-star baseball team for this summer!

He was so excited to get this call!!! His dad got a call just like this one when he was about the same age!!

Ezra made 5 goals in his last soccer game!! He loves playing soccer so much!

Ezra's 12th Birthday!!!

Yesterday was Ezra's golden birthday!!!! He's 12!!! This is also the first birthday we have gotten to celebrate with him. It's fun celebrating these first with him, but also moments that are tough as Matt and I remember the 11 birthdays we weren't there for. But we didn't focus on that, instead we focused on making this one full of fun memories!!!

I don't have baby pictures to show, but here are some from the "past"!

This is the first time I met Ezra in June 2008.

This is the first time Carter met Ezra in April of 2009 in Ethiopia.

Opening 1 of the 12 presents he got from his family!

Ezra was so excited to open the present he's been wanting... a rip stick!!!!

He was so excited we all went out in our pajama's to watch him try it out!! He's doing great!

He chose to go eat at China Buffet!

Ezra with his first cake! He wanted a soccer themed party.

Blowing out the candles for the first time!!!

It's been so great to watch Ezra grow into the boy that God created him to be. He's been with us for 10 months now and I have seen such a change in him as he learns to be in a family and be loved by a family.

Happy Birthday Ezra! We love you!

3 years home!

Three years ago today Durant landed in the USA for the first time!! He got to meet his daddy, brother, and sister for the first time.

We've loved watching Durant Natnael grow into the awesome, fun, and beautiful boy that he is!! We can't image life without him. He brings us so much joy!!

We love you so much Durant!! Your smile is amazing!

My Little Graduate!

Durant graduated from 4 year old Kindergarten Tuesday!! Such a big boy!! It's so hard for me to believe that my baby boy is now officially ready for Kindergarten... am I? No!!

Durant did an awesome job singing all the songs he learned!!

He's getting his diploma!

In this video clip you can get a little taste of Durant's awesome moves!!! So cute!

Mrs. Olson

Durant giving Mrs. Olson a hug good bye and telling her thanks for being my teacher!!

Congratulations Durant. You did a great job! We are proud of you!

Mother's Day Program and Family Fun!

Here's a post a little late......

For Mother's Day Durant's 4 year old kindergarten put on a little tea for the moms. It was really cute. Durant and his classmates sang 3 adorable songs about moms. He got right into it.


We got to eat treats made by the kids. Strawberries dipped in chocolate and banana bread. Yummy!

I also got presented the "Golden Juice Box" award. I won for being the best mom to turn off the hall light at night!!!!! I was very proud to win that award!!!!

We had a little family fun with Grandma Darla, Aunt Heather, Uncle Brian, and cousins Alisha and Camden!!!

Grandma Darla with some of her grandsons...... so proud!

Wow, do they look alike or what?

Happy 5th Birthday Ana!!!!

Today my baby turns 5 years old!!! That's a whole hand!!! I can't believe that Ana is already 5. The time has gone by so quickly. Ana is an amazing little girl. She keeps on surprising us with new things that she is learning.

There are still tough days though. The ones where I watch 2 and 3 years old being able to do way more than Ana can or the times I long to hear Ana say "come play babies or tea party with me mom." We aren't there yet, but we're hopeful that some day we will be.

Ana was so excited about her princess cake!! We had a princess themed party.

But watching Ana become more and more who God created her to be is wonderful. The other day Matt and I were watching Ana play in the back yard. She was picking flowers (dandelions). For those of you who don't know Ana well that may not seem like a big deal. But for those of you who have journeyed her life with us know that is huge!!! There was a time that we didn't think Ana would ever be able to stop and find a flower and be able to pull it out of the ground or even care that it was there. Now she's bringing me bunches of flowers from our backyard!

She did such a good job blowing out all of her candles!!!

Ana is so awesome. Somehow she can get all 4 of her brothers to fix her hair!! They actually enjoy it too!!! I don't know any other sister with that kind of power!!!

We love you so much Ana!! Happy 5th Birthday!!