Our Sons at Kolfe and a Fundraiser

I really need to fill you all in on our beloved son at Kolfe. There is so much to say, so I will write a separate post about him. My sister and brother in law were able to meet our sons and bring them love and care packages from us. They also brought us back gifts from them and pictures.

Well, Tamara and I are hoping to make a trip to Addis soon to visit and minister to our sons and the other +/-130 boys living at this government orphanage. She is having a garage sale to raise money for the trip. If you have any garage sale items that you can donate, please let me know. You can check out her link and get more info here.

Father/Son trip to Dominican- May (the first of many new posts - I just caught up so scroll down)

It had been 3 years since Javier and I last went to his home country, the Dominican Republic. He was missing family and he had saved up enough frequent flier miles for 2 tickets, so he decided to take Jordan so they could spend some time together and because he wanted to see all of the tons of boy cousins he has over there. Jameson also went along, since his family hasn't met him and he was free as a "lap child". I got to stay home with the other 6 for 10 days :).
Here they are at 5 am ready to take off for the airport.















Junior and Philipe - Tio Mario's sons




















Tio Mario, Javier's oldest brother



















J.J.'s favorite toy - the mop


















Stefanie, "La Negra" Tia Francia's daughter

















Aneudis, Tia Francia's son


















Brian, Tia Francia's son


















Jordan in his element playing baseball in the campo just like his daddy grew up doing.






























Tia Ana, Javier's oldest sister and her husband, Fermin - loving on my boy or should I say he is loving on her?


















Ana is a great mom and cook - look at the size of these pots and how do you like her stove?


















One day they all went on a boat to a private island to enjoy a day on the beach and a buffet.


















Ana told Javi to leave JJ there for her. Maybe he should have because she did a great job with her 3 boys and Jameson is a tornado of trouble and messes :)


















Daryl, Ines' son

















Gabriel, "Chiquilo" -Ines's younger son


















Ana's oldest son, Jose Luis - Javi said it rained EVERY day



































Ines with her son Daryl.




















Ana, Gabriel, and Jorgito



















Ana's other son, Jose Rafael, Daryl, and Javi w/Jameson

































Gotta love those buns!


















See what I mean about tornado of trouble? Here his sister is trying to wash clothes and JJ is putting the dirty broom in the clean water buckets that the clothes are soaking in.

Playa Boca Chica - look at the clean water and calm sea

This is at the house we helped build for Javi's mom and sister. Jameson is going up the stairs where on top of her house, we built 2 small apartments we rent. They rent for very little, but Javi was able to get that rent $ out of the bank once he arrived and use it on the trip and to give to his family, so the trip cost him $0 - nada.

Javi's spunky grandma "Catin"

Jameson happy to be at his Grandma and Tia's house

Saying goodbye to Tia Ines and Abuela at the airport

They were supposed to get home Saturday night, but their flight out of Miami to Dallas was delayed a couple of hours, so they missed the last flight out of Dallas. Thankfully American Airlines put them up in a hotel and gave them $30 for food - thus the little piggy with the pizza
in his hand :)

Welcome home X 2

2 special families in our life brought their children home from Ethiopia in May and it is such a joy to hear the God stories surrounding their adoptions and to see and hear the stories of how the kids are now thriving.



Above you can see all the little cousins after a swim on Mother's day. Biruk, on the far right, is their new 5, almost 6 yr old.






















My friend Andrea also brought her 2 newest kids home, Misrak in the pink and Micah, the little guy in daddy's arms. We have been friends since starting our failed adoption in Zambia, then we both adopted our kids from Ethiopia in 2008 and went through that process together. Her little Micah sounds like a long lost twin of Jeremiah. Their personalities, actions and size are just identical. I even think they look similar, except that Micah is lighter and older. I am so thankful and amazed by this family who has taken on 4 young children with special medical needs, even though they are caring for their adult daughter and their other daughter is off to college. So many people in this stage of life have excuses and are looking forward to some peace and quiet and being "empty nesters". I thank God for families like this that are willing to start over again and trade in the "easier" life, for the more "tiring", but far more rewarding life of following Christ's heart when it is less convenient and much more costly.

It's swim time!

The kids have been swimming since April, so you can see we are all already pretty brown. We are SO thankful for a pool in this AZ heat!
















I just LOVE this picture of my 2 boys!

And look how strong and big Josiah has gotten in the last 1 1/2 years! I mean he came home in a size 6-9 mo pjs!

Here is my flirty boy!
He is not so big. The boy we once called Pudgy, is still only 26 lbs, skinny and short. Little Jameson weighs a few more pounds than him now!

Julia is actually doing a pencil dive/jump, but it looks like she is standing on that floaty thing :)

Look what we saw Saturday morning in our yard!

I looked out the window at 6:30 AM and saw this buck. This is crazy odd in Phoenix, Arizona. We followed him around the neighborhood (yes, some in their pjs and undies). We found out from neighbors that a pair has been around for a couple of months. They escape over and over from a ranch nearby.