December - 11 months together!

December was an amazing time at our Crazy home.  We had a fun family activity planned for every day of the month and had a time of reading the different scriptures in the story and prophecy surrounding Christ's birth each evening.  We went on hikes in the nature reserve, had late night trips to Starbucks, Marble Slab runs, made special holiday treats, celebrated Christmas with all of our friends and family, and had a wonderful night with many of Bekeh and Caleb's Ethiopian "cousins" in our home.  Bekeh and Caleb thought at first Christmas was just something in our house, and then became overwhelmed and shocked every time they saw Christmas lights, trees, and decorations up in other people's homes and businesses.  They soon caught on that everybody loved Christmas too, and they ate it all up.  They were thrilled with Santa's visit to our house, and are already talking about him visiting next year and what they want.  It was truly a time of peace between all of us.  It's amazing how much these two little precious kisses have been grafted into our family and are just "one of us" now.  We are constantly reminded of how grateful we are that God adopted us into His family through the birth and sacrifice of His precious Son.  We believe, oh how desperately we believe.

November - 10 Months Together!!!!

Bekeh loves wearing her hair in "Ponies."

This is the face of pure preciousness.



Caleb LOVES his Gigi!  We visit her everyday and he always wants to be the first and last to hug her.  On Thanksgiving day he only wanted to sit with her and warm up.  She eats it all up.



These two fight more than any of the other siblings but they are a tight crew.  Bekeh talks about Corban non stop while he's at school each day and everything that happens she says, "I'm going to tell Corban about. . . "  Corban complains non-stop about how annoying Bekeh is, but he's always grabbing her to play games, and goofing around with her the most.  They don't fool this momma!

Let's just call November, BREAKTHROUGH.   Satan had been selling this family a lie and we had been believing it hook line and sinker.  This mom, me, Gina, had agreed with the enemy of our souls that I was a terrible mom incapable of handling Bekeh and Caleb correctly.  I was frequently found huddled in my closet begging God to explain to me why He thought this whole adoption thing was a right fit for ME and my family.  I had allowed well intentioned people to make me doubt God's specific word and plan for our family.  When I stepped outside His will and direction, and followed the advice of others on how to raise my children, it wasn't pretty!  Guilt is an ugly place to parent from and it only leads to walls and destructive patterns.  We were building up walls to our bonding faster than God could nourish the attachment.  It was calm and peaceful on the outside, and painful and lost on the inside.  And then, in a one hour conversation with a dear sister, it all fell.  We were talking about her, and the Lord revealed everything to me.  In an instant it all changed.  The guilt was gone, the walls were in crumbles, and the bond was restored.  God is a God of miracles and what I had battled and prayed for without ceasing, and prayed and cried through for months came to pass in one instant when I let go of the guilt.  God calls us to adoption, and He knows ahead of time all the times we will fail miserably.  He knew every time we would mess things up more than we made them better.  He knew every weed in Jason's heart, every deep weed in my heart, every trauma and pain in Bekeh and Caleb's past that would rear it's ugly head.  He knew it all, and He still called us to it, and He knew it would all turn out beautifully.  I had to hold on to that while we were in the thick of it, I believed it would all come to pass, and it did.  Thank you Jesus for loving us enough to bring us back into your will when we lose track.  Thank you for looking ahead and seeing what's best for us and assuring us when we are blind and incapable in the moment.  Thank you for Bekeh and Caleb.  Thank  you for our crazy family.

October - 9 Months Together!!

These two are amazing together.  Love these sisters.

 

Caleb and Rhett

Caleb kept saying, "We're same!"

A boy and his cars.

Now that's scary!

This boy loves his daddy!

October was tough.  Really tough.  It's our favorite month of the year in the Root house and we made fabulous memories with Caleb and Bekeh.  They loved Halloween, fall, pumpkins, and the cooler weather.  We struggled this month with bonding, attachment, fits, rages, and being a big family.  It was hard, but God was bigger, and looking back, there were a ton more fabulous moments amongst the struggles.  Bekeh and Caleb are delightful joys, their smiles are contagious and we love them to pieces. 

AWAA ET REUNION 2010

We had an amazing road trip over the Labor Day weekend to Nashville, TN. We traveled to be a part of the 2010 Ethiopia Program Reunion for all families in our Agency. It was wonderful to meet many of the families we've come to "know" so well through our online support group.

We started our road trip at 3am on Friday morning.  Everyone, except our fearless leader, slept until we reached Arkadelphia, Arkansas.  We stopped to refuel, get in a couple of caches, and eat breakfast.  Our first cache was at this historic cemetary.  The kids loved looking at all the old headstones and trying to find the oldest ones.

This whole feeding a family of seven thing on our budget is still fairly new to all of us.  It was our first trip of this length to 1. Drive instead of fly, and 2. to pack food and stop at rest stops rather than fast food establishments.  The kids weren't sure at first, but getting to run around outside in the beautiful weather, and play around while they ate quickly made it their favorite new way to dine.   We hit the road for the second leg of the trip and were anxious to make it to Memphis.  The kids were excited about visiting an Apple Orchard.

Turned out, unlike they had promised me on the phone when I called that week, Apples were not ripe for the picking.  Nonetheless, the kids enjoyed running through the orchard and riding on the side of the car through the rows of fruit trees.  Mom enjoyed snapping a gazillion photos.

Caleb enjoyed goofing off in the apple trees more than anything.  It was a miracle he stood still long enough to capture a focused shot.

After the fun in the orchard, and a quick lunch, it was time for mom to drive the last leg of the trip from Memphis to Nashville!  We arrived, settled into our room and headed off to the Welcome BBQ.  It was wonderful to hug all those beautiful necks!

Back in the room for the night Corban was having fun with mom's camera and everyone was hamming it up.  Bekeh especially got caught in a doozy!!!  Mom and Dad look great for surviving the 14 hour drive in the car!

There were five in the bed, and the little one said, Roll Over! Roll Over!  So they all rolled over. . . .  . . .and that's no joke. 

 Seven people in a single two queen hotel room.  The W hotels are nice, thankfully, but we were still like caged rats!

The next two days were filled with great times with our friends.  The kids met up with several friends they had shared their stay in the Transistion Home in Ethiopia with.  When they met up with John and Ryan, who were there the entirety of their stay, they didn't need to be reintroduced or encouraged to play, they just jumped right in to giggling and playing with each other like old times. 

Bekeh especially loved meeting back up with her BFF Winnie.  Winnie lives in Ohio now, but we've been blessed to see her three times since we've been home.   Bekeh was invited to a sleepover in Winnie's room, and she was so excited.  They also went to the mall and bought matching earrings.  Bekeh treasures them like precious gold.

  We went to the waterpark in Nashville.  It was a beautiful day, but the water was freezing.  The kids love the water no matter what, so they didn't seem to mind! 

 We finished the trip off with a fabulous breakfast at the Loveless Cafe.  This carbaholic was in heaven! 

We hadn't found any souvenirs worth buying, and then we found Music City Roots gear at the Loveless Shop.  We were thrilled.  We bought a beer stein, 3 tshirts, a sticker, some earrings, and a hat.  They're perfect! 

It was great just to laugh and hang out as a family.  We have been so busy lately, especially daddy with his work, and we didn't even realize how much we needed just complete decompression time!  Talking with the families, encouraging one another, gathering wisdom from many who had been home longer than us . . . it was an amazing trip!