Lee, Amy, Lilia and Kaiser












Our paperwork is in!

      We FINALLY finished all our paperwork and sent it off to our adoption agency today!!  It feels so good to have it out of our hands.  It took about 6 months to complete it all, and now we just wait.   Our dossier (all our paperwork) should go over to Ethiopia some time next week.  Then we should receive a referral hopefully in 6 months or so.  What a relief.
      Lil is great, as always.  We went to the zoo yesterday and she had a blast.  Then to the park today.  I found out she can swing and pump her legs all by herself.  She learned from her friend at school, and I didn't know she could do it until today.   What a big girl.  
      We are ready for spring so we can go outside and play.  We have a vacation planned to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary in June and can't wait for that.  Lil is coming along of course!

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We took a vacation to Ft. Myers Beach, FL and then on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. The weather was sketchy a lot of the time because it was windy and in the 60's but we still had a great time. We played on the beach, collected seashells, ate, swam and went to the park in Florida. On the cruise, we played mini-golf, went to Nassau on the beach, and just relaxed. Lilia is getting to be quite the swimmer. I think we will be spending the summer in the deep end this year!
As far as the adoption, we are waiting for our fingerprint appointment. Hopefully within the next week we will get it and then after we get our fingerprints, we will be waiting for the ever-so-important I171-H form to complete our paperwork. Then the paperwork is off to Ethiopia! We can't wait for the day to just be waiting. We know the Lord has a plan and a child already picked out. We just gotta trust and be patient. Whoever said "Patience is a virtue" wasn't quite right in the head!!
Gymnastics is going great and school is also going great. We are looking forward to spring. We are in the process of planning our 10 year anniversary vacation to Maui, Hawaii. YES, Lil is coming along. Of course!! Then hopefully the next plane we get on will be to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bring home our buddy. We will keep you posted!!

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Lilia and I went skiing in Loveland for the first time. She has no fear at all. The first time we went down, I had her between my legs with one of those edgie wedgies that keep the tips of her skis together. The next time, she wanted me to take it off because she said, "It's messing me up." She wanted to ski next to me and kept trying to let go. She had a hard time with the snowplow concept. One time, she jerked her hand away, put her skis together and started flying down the hill. I couldn't catch up to her and she was picking up speed heading straight for a group of kids in ski school. I was screaming, "Lilia stop, slow down, look out, stop, stop!!" She casually bent her knees and sat back down on the snow and stopped herself. The whole time, she was cracking up laughing. When I got to her in a PANIC, she was laughing and said, "Sorry I let go of your hand." Dare devil. She absolutely loved it and keeps asking when we can go back. She was free for the one lift and 2 green runs. So we will be going a lot!!

She started gymnastics again yesterday since her arm has healed. She was excited and jumped up and down the whole time.

On the adoption front, our homestudy is at the agency for review. We are hoping it will be approved this week so we can send it in to the state. We are also hoping our DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia- meaning all our paperwork is in Ethiopia) will be some time in February.

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Christmas 2009

























Santa brought Lilia the red remote control dinosaur, which she LOVES! She has played with it a lot since Christmas day. She also got Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie. Lots of other toys. She is spoiled! We had a great Christmas week. Her and I went to The North Pole and she loved the rides there. Her little preschool put on a production of The Snowman Revue, which was all the kids in hats and snowman props singing winter songs. It was pretty cute. We have pretty much gotten out all of her new toys the last few days and played with them all. Now it's time to go through her toys and get rid of some!! Adoption process is slow, but progressing. Our homestudy is done, and we are waiting for approval from the agency. Then its off to the state, and we wait for our fingerprint appointment. We are hoping to have all the paperwork to Ethiopia by the middle/end of February. Then the waiting begins.



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We have been busy Christmas shopping and baking already. We went and saw Santa today and Lilia really liked him. She is asking for a dinosaur and a dinosaur movie.

For those of you that don't know, we started the adoption process again! This time for a baby boy from Ethiopia. We are hoping for him by the end of 2010. We don't know who he is, but believe he is specifically being created for us. We love him already. Our paperwork will be in sometime in January hopefully and then the waiting begins. Lilia is excited about a baby brother. She said, "I'm gonna teach him how to eat candy." She thought we were going to get him in Home Depot the other day!

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Boo Hoo! Sad mama :(











My little baby broke her arm :( And broke my heart :(


We were at my cousin's wedding and she fell off the stage and landed on her arm. Broke both bones in her forearm. She was such a trooper. The hardest part was holding her while she was crying and then her saying, "mommy, PLEASE help me, it hurts!" Then later she said, "Mommy, I fell off the stage. And you didn't catch me. Mommy, could you please catch me next time?" She is still in a little pain, and her hand is slightly swollen. But she is running around, clutsy as ever. She is doing nothing to protect it. Jumping off things, falling every second, spinning around in circles 'till she is dizzy. It still breaks my heart to see that little cast on her arm. She is so brave.

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We went to Anderson Farms this past weekend and had a blast. It was freezing, but the kids had fun picking pumpkins and riding the barrel ride. Lilia is doing great in school and has made a good friend already. We are busy with football, and our new news. Paperwork!! We are adopting again! This time a boy from Ethiopia. It will be a while since we are just starting the process. Lilia can't stop talking about her baby brother and the fact that she is going to teach him how to eat candy. A skill every kid needs to learn.

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First day of school










FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PICTURES
Lilia started preschool the last week in August. She loves it and has already made some friends. She says she plays superheros every day at recess with her friends. She can't seem to tell us much of what she does every day except she says, "I learned." It has been hard getting her up early because she is such a late sleeper, but we are getting into a routine.

She is such a funny kid. Today she jumped down from sitting on a pole and said, "I almost knocked my teeth out." We laugh at her all the time. She still loves Star Wars, and sometimes wakes up dreaming about it. The first thing she will talk about is that little droid or the fire and Anakin....etc. So cute!

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Birthday Girl











Lilia had her 4th birthday at the pool. We had such a great weekend with her and our friends/family. She is now officially a "big girl." She got 2 hermit crabs from Grandma and Papa and one already died. Poor Betty. But Grover is alive and well. She won't touch him, but loves to look. It is hard to believe she is so big. 90th percentile for height and 52nd for weight. She is swimming in the deep end by herself, and she LOVES gymnastics. She is always asking, "is it 4 o'clock yet?"

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Mandy and Grace come to town!















One of my bestest friends and her little girl Grace came to visit last week. We had such a great time! The girls are so cute together, when they are sharing and caring. We were on the go the entire time! Garage saling the first day, then to an outdoor market, cute candy store, BBQ, Lilia's pool party for her birthday, the zoo, and a hike. It was such a great time! Can't wait until they move here!! I wish that would happen.

Lilia is still in gymnastics and LOVES it. She has the build for it, and still walks on her toes. She is also starting preschool on the 25th, which I'm happy/sad for. She is bored with me and really will love the learning I think. I will just miss her. It is like the start of her growing up. But she is going to be about 3/10 of a mile from our house and she is only gone 3 hours for 3 days a week. I will live :(

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