James 1:27

I have followed Katie's blog for some time now - found her when I first began our research on Ethiopian adoption. Her story is so amazing - she is such a testimony to truly living the Bible and living God's dream for us - not our own.

Follow her blog here.

Blessed...

All I ever wanted was to be a mom. Really. I didn't really care about career or travel or fancy cars or glamour. I just wanted to be a mom.

I have to smile and fall to my knees in wonder and awe of how the almighty God saw fit to let me be a mom - not just to my one, then two, then three and then, four biological children - but to two little girls from across the globe.

I was not a young mom. I went thru many years of being a bridesmaid, visiting friends with their new babies, and hearing about others who were hearing little ones call them "mommy." It wasn't always easy.

In 1990, I met the most amazing man (he will deserve his own blogpost!) and in 1994 the sweetest and most beautiful little baby was born to us - my Drew. Although he's Andrew, I'm not sure I ever have called him that!

He is handsome and smart and funny. He is athletic and musically talented and clever. He has gorgeous green eyes and an adorable, shy smile. Most importantly, he is becoming a man who is following Jesus. I couldn't love him more or be more grateful that he is my son.

I love you, my Drew.

Cousins...

It was a summer of cousins. Sadly, I wasn't as great with a camera as I would like as there were 7 cousins who didn't get into my photos this year - we got to see all but one this summer. My children are so blessed - they have 15 first cousins. We spent the week at the beach with my family's cousins - plus a weekend with Janie's family with us and almost a week at Jill's house. We spent the weekend of the 4th of July with John's family's cousins, plus a week of art camp at Sue's house and a visit from Kathy and kids here at home. We got to visit with Anne and kids for a while at the beach (my step-brother's wife and kids whom we haven't seen in a few years).

Growing up I had 4 cousins. My mom was an only child and my dad's siblings lived far away from us. We saw them a number of times while growing up but didn't share the relationships with them that my kids have with their cousins. My cousins were older and my kids' cousins are all around the same age.

Thank you God for our family - for John's sisters and my sisters and their families. Thank you for the blessing of cousins - for summer fun and growing up together!

Doro WHAT?

So all week I have been saying that I wanted to do something ALL together this Saturday. With kids ranging from 5 to nearly 17, it is hard to find a time when all are present, and willing to do an activity. Well, Saturday morning came and we still had no idea what to do. It started raining then and then our choices became very few .... so what did we do?? We took a drive to Harrisonburg, VA (about an hour away) and had lunch at the Ethiopian restaurant there - The Blue Nile. We have been talking about going there for two years now (since the girls came home) and this was our first time actually going. Cute place, with many Ethiopian baskets and art. Sadly, there were no Ethiopian folks there (we had hoped there would be for the girls' sakes).

The yummy Ethiopian lunch buffet looked great to half of us...I have a picky crew. John, Drew, Ben, Jemila and I enjoyed the Doro wat (a spicy chicken meal) and the injera (the "spongy" rolled bread used as your utensil to scoop the food), and the spicy peanut soup and a few other things that I am not sure what they were - but they were yummy. Kulate tried a bit of everything but in the end, turned up her nose and decided she didn't like anything but the American fare that Kate and Jack ordered. (Ben also ended up not really liking the food and mooched off the American food plates). Oh well...we tried. I think the girls enjoyed seeing the Ethiopian things and we spent the day driving around James Madison University and through the city of Staunton. Not exactly my vision for the day, but still ALL together and having an adventure.

Until the next time - Julie

Where to begin??

So here I am starting my FIFTH blog. "I didn't know you blogged??" you say? Well, I never told you - or even allowed my blogs to be public because quite frankly, they never had much on them!! (note: I have also tried journaling too many times to count only to quit the second or third day...). So the odds are against me here but I have been such a blog follower since we began our adoption journey that I just can't help but try again to keep a journal of our daily escapades here as we do this thing called life together.

We are a loud and busy bunch, trying our best to be a family that follows after Jesus. John and I have four biological children (Drew, Kate, Jack, and Ben), and we adopted two little sisters from Ethiopia in 2009 (Jemila and Kulate). The picture here is our first family picture as a family of 8 - taken on the steps of our Ethiopian guest house only a couple of days after meeting our girls and becoming the family we are now. We had finally completed the year long angst-ridden process of adoption and we were about to embark on a whole new life - one full of blessings but also challenges. We have just passed the 2 year mark of having our girls with us.

I am not much of a writer but I will make an effort to keep this, my FINAL blog, up to date! It is my prayer that this blog will be a way to share my thoughts about life, family, homeschooling, adoption, knitting, and sewing, as well as journal and remember events in our life - and in every way, glorify God. Until next time - Blessings - Julie