December 11th???

Can it all ready be December 11th? Can you believe I have done no shopping at all!! I know what I want to pick up for the boys and the girls but just haven't had the time. I hope to get to it next week. Mazie might be hard though? She wants a hippotumas for Christmas!! HAHA!! Have any of you heard that old Christmas song? It is from 1953. A girl sang it at the concert a couple weeks ago and Mazie loves singing it. She likes the Christmas music and called one of the Santa's "Santa Baby". We are all really enjoying watching the girls as they experience their first Christmas season in the USA.

laundry, oh my!!!

I am sorry again that I have not updated lately!! The days go by so quickly. I have gotten a couple of substitute jobs at 2 different pre-schools. On the days that I work I end up behind on just about everything. I am starting to realize though that even when I do stay on top of everything the dirty clothes return the next day again and the dust bunnies still hang out under my chairs. I hope that I am becoming more tolerant of my own short comings.
We took the girls to a beautiful Ethiopian choir concert on Saturday night. It was good to see friends from our yahoo group there. Deanna sang and I was so touched by her love of the Lord and how it came out in her voice. Evie enjoyed seeing her daughters and we hope to see them again soon.
Mazie got to go to school on Monday. The 1 pre-school that I worked at allowed her to join the 2 year old class for the morning. She had so much fun and now talks about "her school." When I was done I went to get her and I hugged on her and cried. She gave me those special pats on my neck and allowed me to hold her close. You see we prayed and waited so long for our girls and I all of the sudden felt like our time was going to fly by and I may forget all these sweet times. Lord, please let me remember to enjoy the quiet every day things. All too soon the children will be grown.

some more pictures

pictures

Let me see if I can do this again!!

good morning

It is pizza day at our house!! But please don't tell Mazie until after all of our errands are done. She has been known to invite the Walmart greeter to our home for pizza. Just wanted to say a quick hello. Our 2nd update on the girls was approved and sent onto Ethiopia. I had the opportunity to encourage a family thinking about adoption. Like I told her it is not an easy road to walk and sometimes you can feel like you are crawling over rocky dirt roads. When God calls you to do something you better do it. I can say honestly I am not the same person I was 3 years ago when our journey began. The girls have changed each of us. I am praying about writing my honest story. Pray that I can get all the "real" stuff down on paper and encourage others!! God bless you, enjoy your very own pizza day!!! in God alone, Sharry

so sorry

Hi all, Is there anyone actually reading this? It has been a busy time here and my blogging is really lacking. We just finished up the 2nd update for the girls. They are doing remarkably well. Evie is having a good time at school and although she thinks she should be doing better her teacher and esl teacher both say she is doing better than they could imagine. She has come out in so many ways and now does speak about Ethiopia and her life there. We have had some sad moments but she recovers quickly and we move on. Mazie is doing terrific with really no signs of missing the past. One thing we are sure of is that the girls were in a Christian home with praying adults around them. Evie speaks about a friends mom that prayed for her and rejoiced when Evie and Mazie were "picked" and was happy that Evie would go to a loving family. Put yourself in our shoes for just a moment: raising 4 sons, loud, wrestling always, carrying on always, very noisy but FUN!! Now introduce 2 sweet girls. God put just the right ones in our family because Evie (all 63 pounds) can keep right up with the best of them. Mazie just smiles and melts the boys hearts even when she is pestering. Some sweet things she does: calls people "Pooples ", waffles, baffles, worries about her brothers eating. Both girls love football games and cheering. Mazie cheers "go Broughton go!!" go mold, go purple(go gold, go purple)She loves to go chopping and cockcos(Costco), jsut about every day she wants to go to the mull(mall!!) so you can see we adore her and all of her 2 year old ways. Both girls were truly meant to be ours and we are so thankful!!

Tate turns 16 tomorrow!! WOW we are off to Mahaffey for the Applefest and are happy to be able to spend some time with Mom,Chip, Bobbette, Bob and Marlie and possibly Lisa and her 2 girls. Tate has some friends coming to spend time with him and it should be a great week-end.

I am back in the classroom on Monday. I will be subbing in a small pre-school that a friend of a friend works at. I visited the other day and it looks like a nice situation. Like everyone else these are scary financial days and so I thought I needed to try and bring in a bit of extra income. Pray that it all goes well and pray for us as we travel.

Thank you for reading this whoever you are!! The pictures are from the girls dedication done at camp with David leading the service. The girls were beautiful in their Ethiopian dresses.

school started!

Well the kids all started school last week and it was a good week! Kolby and Tate's schedules are all worked out and so the routine begins. Evie's teacher for 3rd grade is a man and although I thought it would be a problem (only because of the cultural stuff) she really likes him. If you remember she went to school for the last 5 weeks after she arrived in the spring and did very well. Two of her friends are in the class and they are very helpful. She enjoys going each day and we are seeing progress. She has finally started to tell us a bit about Ethiopia and sometimes it makes her sad. Last week she had a sad night after I had told her at dinner that she needed to eat all of her food because she was a skinny minny!! Now she usually tells us that she is not skinny but for some reason that night it reminded her of a family friend that was always telling her to eat because she was too skinny. We talked, we cried, and I held her and then we prayed together. She worked her way through and I am sure there will be more episodes as she goes though so many changes living here. On Sunday we went to the mall and I allowed her to pick out lotion at Bath and Body Works. Even though I told her she only needs to use a little bit last night she must have used a ton because I could smell her coming down the steps. So with more instruction she now understands that she only needs a tiny bit and she uses it in the morning before going to school. Mazie was excited to have everyone out the door so that she could "ply" with mommy. She follows me around and loves to help in her own special ways!!! Remember she's 2!! So the school year is off to a good start. Kolby starts a new job next week at Journeys. He is happy about it. I am still trying to figure out how to post pictures now that I am using the lap top. Take care, blessings, Sharry