A List to Live By...

the greatest joy...Giving

the greatest loss...loss of self respect

the most satisfying work...hleping others

the ugliest personality trait...selfishness

the greatest natural resource...our youth

the greatest "shot in the arm"...encouragement

the worst thing to be without...hope

the deadliest weapon...the tongue

the 2 most powerful words...I can

the greatest asset...Faith

the most prized possession...intergrity

 the most powerful form of communication...prayer

the most contagious trait...enthusiam

your most beautiful possession...your smile

the most powerful force in life...LOVE!!

Swim lessons

Summer is just around the corner and Tess still doesn't know how to swim.  She is not very comfortable in the water yet, inspite of loving it.  I signed her up for swim lessons 4 days a week for the mext 6 weeks.  Hopefully just being in the water and being comfortable with it will be a big help.

Back to short hair...

As you can see...I gave up on growing out Tess's hair.  It was just such an everyday battle.  She hated to comb it and it was getting so long...There were just so many rules on how and when it should be washed...what to sleep with on her head and what kind of pillowcase to use...what to use to wash, condition and then put in it after it was combed out...It looked cute if I braided it overnight and took the braids out in the morning...but braiding it took 2 hours!! and taking the braids out took an hour...it looked cute when I took her to have it braided but that cost $50 and it needs to be braided every 2-3 weeks!  too expensive...SO

with summer coming up and Tess starting swim lessons everyday for 6 weeks...the only logical thing to do was cut it short...which I did myself ...  She was a bit disappointed at first but now she loves how it doesn't hurt to comb it...and with that beautiful face it looks great on her!

Maybe we'll try again to grow it after the summer...

Indoor Soccer

Tess had her first indoor soccer match today...They did lose 7-1, but Tess scored the only goal!!  It's very fast moving and it will take some getting used to...In any case she loves action so she had a great time.

a quiet moment...

I woke up this morning to complete silence (very unusual)  Jeff must have let me sleep in and taken the kids to church !! what a guy!!  So, I have a quiet moment to get some thoughts down...I was thinking about what an amazing year it has been from March 08-March 09.  I start in March because March 11th was the date we found Tess on the "Waiting Children" list from CWA.  That was the day I opened my email and pulled up the pictures of all those beautiful kids that did not have a family to love them...dozens and dozens of sweet smiling faces...we knew we wanted a little girl/no siblings...Tess was the youngest girl on the list with no siblings-and that is how she became ours...kind of strange...And yet so meant to be

...and so the paperwork began to get Tess home...In May...Christine graduated from High School..Jeff's dad passed away....In June we got court approval to adopt Tess and she was then moved from Awassa to Addis Ababa ...Bennett graduated from 8th grade ...We traveled to Africa in July...returned home August 1st...Tess spoke no english!!!...Christine left for college 2 weeks later...In September Bennett started high School...Tess and Cameron started at a new school (1st and 4th grades)...Jeff's mom passes away suddenly in October...a devastating loss for us...and next thing I know it's March 09.  It all feels like a blurr...so much has happened-so many very serious life changes...and yet... 

Tess speaks english! and has the greatest smile and kicks a mean soccer ball- Cameron is the sweetest big brother ever and smart as a whip- Bennett has a darling girlfriend, great grades and is loving Lacrosse and football-Christine is done with her first year of college! and will be home May 13th!!-is a Delta Gamma and loves Dallas!

...Jeff and I are in awe...exhausted, in love and so proud of our family...we have never been so close and talked so much as there is always a lot on our plate...

Our coffee has arrived...

Our coffee has arrived!!  It is fair trade and certified organic...and it helps Ethiopian farmers and the proceeds go to help Orphans!!  And we get to drink great coffee!!  Everyone wins!  Tess is very excited... and after her usual 50 questions I think she understands that we are selling this coffee to help build Acacia Village which will house the children from her "Children's home" that are still living in Addis.  SO...

DRINK COFFEE, HELP ORPHANS!!

coffee for a cause...

Acacia Village has broken ground!!  This is CWF's largest humanitarian project to date.  This new facility will house all the orphans from Tess's children's home.  In addition, they are building a medical center, caretaker housing and family housing for adoptive parents, a school and a pregancy center.  It will be home to 250 orphans.  Jeff and I have hosted a fundraiser and also hosted the director, Louis,  and the founders Bob and Tomilee for dinner.  We are so moved to help with this amazing project that will care for the children who otherwise have no one.  And so...we're now selling coffee...
It is believed that coffee originated in Ethiopia.  They have a coffee ceremony that is practiced daily.  We had some of the best coffee ever in Addis Ababa.  We learned of a family that adopted a little girl from Ethiopia that had been cared for by a 71 year old man named GOBENA that found this little girl on his doorstep.  They were so moved by the sense of love and community in Ethiopia that they began to import Ethiopian coffee to help create sustainable work and also donate all proceeds to supporting orphans.  Jeff and I  are selling their coffee to raise money for Acacia Village (acaciavillage.org) I'm having a house party on April 29th and Tess will be helping to sell Ethiopian coffee to help ethiopian orphans!!  She is excited to be helping the other children still in Ethiopia!

the fisherman in action...

The river is right in our back yard...you can see the side of the ranch house in the photo...the boys are loving every minute of being on the river!!
Bennett bags a brownie!! They would spend hours out in the river!!!  Tess, christine and I kept ourselves busy doing girl stuff...hiking, quading...watching movies!!!

A herd of deer in our back yard...just beyond our hammock.

How great are these fishing outfits!! Too Cute!!  You don't get any better father-son time than this!!

A great vacation...

We were lucky enough to get some great days of skiing in this late in the season.  Tess did go to ski school but we would meet up with the class during their 2:00 hot chocolate break and we would take Tess to ski with us for the rest of the day.  She is doing great and keeps up with us on "blue" runs all over the mountain.

@ the ranch...

At the ranch for Easter break.  It has snowed almost 2 feet since we've been here.  Tess is in ski school and loves it! CHristine arrived yesterday from Dallas so we are now complete!!!  It is so peaceful and glorious here!! Happy holidays to all and I'll post some photos when we are back home.

How does your garden grow??

Cameron and Tess were very excited to start our organic garden.  In one planter we planted little starter plants (squash, potatoes, asparagus, cucumbers, tomatoes).  In the other we are starting from seeds that we are sowing in the house.
Kidus was over on the day we started our seedings so he helped out.
Tess and Cameron getting the plants in the ground.  Tess plants, Cameron waters...

We'll keep you posted on how the garden is growing...shouldn't be long since it's so nice and sunny here!!