One year ago...

...we met Hawi & Misikir at their orphanage and had our court appointment.  We're celebrating by going out to dinner tonight, which we rarely do now that our family is this large (and we're not doing fast food!).  Here is a little peek at that day a year ago... 

getting a tour of the orphanage from M & H (this is H's room/big girl room)

Aaron, M & I playing soccer at the orphanage

P, S, I, M & Aaron playing soccer

M & H looking at a photo album we brought for them

In the News

Today our family was featured on the front page of Lifestyle section of the Wausau Daily Herald.  You can check it out here.

Firsts...

Over the past few months H & M have experienced some "firsts"...

Misikir's 12th Birthday in September

Hawi's 13th Birthday in November

 

 

Hawi's 1st choir concert in November--she intentionally slouched behind the girl in front of her so we couldn't see her!  She did a great job even though we couldn't see her :)

SNOW!

Building a snowman!

Thanksgiving with family & friends

I'm so excited about our first Christmas as a family of 7.  The house is decorated and there are even a few gifts under the tree (all the gift tags are hidden so nobody knows which gifts are for them!--I'm so sneaky!).  I think I may be enjoying these "firsts" as much as H & M are!

Oh, and we completed our re-adoption in the state of Wisconsin, so the kids will be getting Wisconsin birth certificates, their middle names have been changed, and their birth dates have been changed (because the dates on their previous paperwork was off by a couple of years for each of them).  Yay!  Time to relax and enjoy Christmas!