{The Pratt Family}

PINK PIG

2012-02-01T21:25:00.001-06:00

A story my BFF sent me. She lives in FL and we are in TX.
"Wanted to tell you how much my kids talk about Mekele. Today, we were reading a book about a litter of dogs and a pink pig. The mommy dog accepted the pink pig as her own, and the puppies considered the pink pig one of theirs. I related the book to accepting people of other colors. Ainsley immediately said, "Like how much we love Mekele! And you know what, Mommy, I kiss Mekele." We just love that boy, and I am so glad he is on my kids' minds even though we can't see him much. I just think Mekele is someone who makes an impression on people, and I can't wait to see how God uses that.

FOOT SURGERY

2011-10-21T15:46:00.007-05:00

Last Friday morning Aaron had foot surgery.

He has been in pain from his foot for 2 years, and has been seeing a specialist to see whats causing the excruciating pain when he walks, sleeps, and moves his foot. Running and working out have been out of the question. More importantly... we wanted to learn what is going to fix the pain and get him on the road to recovery. We have appreciated prayers from family and friends in our home group. He's done about 5 different treatment options from a walking boot, treating "planters fascitis", using bone stimulators, meds, and now its time for surgery.

Mekele woke up beyond giddy to see our family together and that Aaron wasn't working or coaching soccer. We left for Baylor Hospital of Frisco at 7am, arrived to check in at 7:45, enjoyed muffins and coffee until his pre-op appt

a little "if you give a moose a muffin" time with daddy- a new favorite book

Mekele and I left Aaron in post-op at 8:45am so they could start anesthesia and make sure he was all ready for his 9:15am surgery that instead began at 10am. I am way impressed with how well Mekele did since he woke up happy at 7am and was buckled up in his car seat with pjs on and then at the hospital we played and worked EVERY SINGLE book, puzzle, memory game, matching game, coloring book I brought, crawled around acting like a puppy, and doing another funny routine where he fake falls and lays there all sprawled out. He was very entertaining. He keeps me in stitches (pun intended!) And in true Whitney fashion, I packed what I thought would be WAY too much! haha I feel bad about how much fun we had while his daddy was in surgery!

We got to see Aaron when he woke up from anesthesia in post-op, and Mekele woke him up by lightly rubbing his daddy's shoulder ...sweet. Mekele liked that daddy got crackers too, which he of course shared with Mekele, but not the Coke that daddy got.

A metal H shape is now screwed into his foot to fuse several bones together- so that cartridge between the bones won't rub against each other. His foot is wrapped up from toe to under his knee in a ginormous splint. He has had to stay off his foot completely for 3 days "bed rest" , and now he's on crutches for at least 2 weeks. He's in a lot of pain, so would love extra prayers. He goes to see the dr in 2 weeks, and will probably be wearing a boot or cast for 6 weeks.

I have learned a lot about myself since Friday.
...that I like to be needed. ...that I like to nurture and take care. ...that I like to serve if I am not being taken for granted and requests for help are requests. Aaron has called me the Nurturer, and said he thinks I would make a great nurse- like many, that was one career path I thought about when I was younger... only I am HORRIBLE at science! so that was a no go. Though I did love the time I was volunteered at the hospital in college.

Simply to document these past few days in our home and (certainly not complaints) here are the things that have been my new routine since Friday...

Icing splints every 30 minutes
Getting glasses of water
Bringing meals to the bed
Rearranging back pillows
Restacking pillow towers for his foot to be elevated
Retrieving meds
Driving him to his work early at the high school
Picking up from work in the afternoon
Making all of our lunches (when we have WeeCare the next day)
Making all of the meals (nothing fancy I promise!)
Washing all of the dishes, and trying to stay on top of laundry and the house- and not doing great at any of it :)
Providing all of Mekele's daily care (baths, doing his hair, trying to work on potty training, changing pull-ups, getting him dressed, tucking him in upstairs)

Also new to the family routine...
several meals together on trays in our bedroom
almost a daily movie or time for a show (b/c we are exhausted when I lay down and Mekele just thinks its the coolest!)
and bedtime stories have been in our bed instead of Mekele's bedroom since Aaron can't climb the stairs
and lots more time together than usual in the car and in our bed.

God is good!

EYE ROLL

2011-10-18T20:49:00.004-05:00

So tonight we had a first. And he had me laughing big time. He has me in stitches most days, but this new move was so surprising and clever...

So I said to Mekele, my son who at school tries to eat something of all six of his classmates' lunch... "I see that you like what your friends at school bring in their lunch boxes. Lets think of foods you would like to eat at school in your lunch, ok? and we will write the foods down on paper"

The teacher in me was thinking oh and plus if he sees me write a list in front of him, he will be reminded that print carries meaning... (In hindsight i also could have drawn pictures of it for his sake, too) :)

After I wrote my list, he grabbed the pen, and said, "Mommy, (what do you) want (for) lunch?" As he "wrote" grapes, banana, cheese down on his list, he spelled "eu eu a... banana as he traces his fingers left to right clearly proud of his new spelling abilities. :)

Anyways, his response to my original question about making a list... HE PROCEEDS TO LIFT HIS EYES UP AS HIGH AS THEY WOULD GO IN FULL EYE ROLL AS HE EVER SO SLOWLY SHAKES HIS HEAD FROM LEFT TO RIGHT WITH A SLIGHT GRIN!!

I didn't get a pic, but this pic from the summer kind of helps set the tone of our little goofball.

He doesn't know that an eye roll isn't something that you should really do to people, isn't very nice, and that it really didn't fit the situation of an eye roll anyhow, but seriously I was flabbergasted.. I never thought my son would be joke eye-rolling me at two years old. I asked him where he came up with that, and after doing it SEVERAL more times he shared the name of his 3 year old buddy. And now I can remember seeing that same joke eye roll on his friend also completely out of context too, thank goodness..

I'm just glad to get the whole eye roll thing out of the way at two... I guess the teen years are going to be a breeze!

MY LIL PUNKIN!

2011-10-18T16:28:00.001-05:00

We headed out to The Big Pumpkin pumpkin patch this morning with our close friends Andi and her "punkins" Evan, and Molly. The weather was perfectly Fall. Adorable pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, colors, and types were in bunches everywhere. I realized that I love the beautiful flat, frosted-looking ones and the Cinderella pumpkins! With our admission, we each got to pick out a nice medium-sized pumpkin to take home. We had fun in the pumpkin patch hunting for the perfect pumpkins while the boys played and had fun together! Oh, and this is our Ee week, so Ee is for Evan!!

lots of fun photo opps

what a cute little goofball!!

Mekele and Evan loved the jumping in the hay bale maze

feeding the longhorns, sheep, and goats. We all liked this cute little baby calf.

the tractor hay ride all around the farm.

It was just a perfect day to enjoy friendship, making sweet memories, and enjoying the beauty of our favorite season!!

Dd is for...

2011-10-18T16:26:00.004-05:00

At WeeCare we are learning...
Letter Dd
Number 2
Color Orange
Shape Triangle

We change letters each week and stay on the other concepts for 3 weeks.

Here are some of the fun, hands-on activities we played:
Letter Dd big book/song
"Every letter makes a sound Dd says" song
playing with DINOS
Coloring a Dd page (from Pinterest!)
walking around like DOGS singing the ABC song
ORANGE big book/song
Coloring with ORANGE crayons on Letter Dd page
Hide and Seek with ORANGE TRIANGLE .
Gluing TRIANGLES on paper
Noah's Ark

We recently let mekele pick out a new book or puzzle, and he chose this farm scene puzzle. He was so happy... he walked around the store confidently singing E, I... E, I, O... OH!!!! (in the cutest high pitched voice). At home, I outlined each puzzle piece with a pin and labeled each space with a letter. I added the same letter to his puzzle piece so while he is visually working a puzzle, he is also getting to match and reinforce his letters! He loves this puzzle... Its definitely worked about 10 times a day.

We started our Letter Dd week on Monday with taking an evening walk with his new wagon being pulled by DADDY- his rubber DUCKIES, stuffed animal DUCK, DINOSAUR, and DONKEY joined in the ride.

He spotted a large pile of DIRT, DOG paw footprints pressed into the road when the concrete was wet. When we got back, we needed to take a quick DRIVE to the DRIVE-THRU pharmacy to get his DADDY's medicine- foot surgery next Friday (that will be in a later post). When we got back our neighbor's DALMATION was out of the yard walking around so we took the DOG to the front door, and got to play a few minutes with the other DALMATION- a puppy named Oreo. I know its a little silly to mention all of these, but truly Mekele was talking about Dd and making the Dd sound :)

Wednesday we watched the movie DINOSAUR while we played DINOSAURS. and relaxed for a 30-minute show of DINOSAUR Train-one of his favorites.

We fed DUCKS at the pond!

Friday we had made plans to take Mekele to his first DENTIST appt, and we were looking forward to it and especially to connect with his learning Dd. But then we realized that we hadn't added Mekele to dental insurance yet, and that it would be $240 to do so, and so thought we would go with the out of pocket rate which certainly would be lower than that. We were quoted $170, which is less, but when we asked around and googled the average rates for pediatric dental visits, it was still very high. usual is between $50 and $150, so we were still on the high end. We opted to cancel (boo for letter Dd "field trip"), but yesterday got a flyer in the mail for exactly the same visit for $39- that's more like it!! :)

We have been working on potty training and moving away from DIAPERS. I was cooking dinner one evening, and all was quiet so I went to see what Mekele was up to... Little man has gotten into the diaper caddy and mainly the wipes box... :)

Have a blessed week!

MY LIL PUNKIN!

2011-10-17T15:23:00.013-05:00

PITTER PATTER ART GIVEAWAY

2011-10-17T14:13:00.002-05:00

Pitter Patter Art has been on the wait list for Ethiopia for 11 months now, and she is celebrating with another great giveaway- an adorable handcrafted canvas!! Check it out
here

YARD SALE-DAY 2

2011-10-11T15:08:00.007-05:00

Day 2 started bright and early again at 5am (more like dark and early!) Friday we started with Emily's stuff, our stuff, and donations from 4 families: my brother-in-laws girlfriend, the Jenkins fam, the Stiles fam, and the Willis crew. For Day 2, we added our friend Jessica's things, sister-in-law Amy's things, and another family the Anderson's things who were donating to the cause.

So my garage, entry, kitchen, and living room were PACKED!!!! But all of the stuff gradually made it out there to be sold!! Our garage sale was not kidding around!

Our friend Jessica, an accountant, manned the money box and kept great records of what belonged to who- since there were so many people and then donations no one was very familiar with.

Aaron and I are in awe of the Lord's provision as we celebrate being $700 closer to our goal... That amount will cover our HomeStudy!! Praise God!!!

...so much stuff, your eyes might bug out!

All the boys enjoying a Go-gurt snack! They LOVED seeing all the toys in the yard, and getting in to the "giant toy box" covering the driveway and yard!

YARD SALE- DAY 1

2011-10-07T23:24:00.005-05:00

Signs were out on the corner. Tables were set out. We have stuff, LOTS of stuff - thanks to all the generous donations.. Amy Braddock, Debi Jenkins, Courtney Willis, Claudia Stiles, and Shana Anderson!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Aaron took the day off to join in our yard sale! It was serious(ly) fun business!! and we enjoyed spending the day together as a family! Our friend Emily and her boys brought their stuff over too, and it was a party! Garage sales just shouldn't be this much fun! Mekele clearly having a good time flying..

Our three boys LOVED the toy table! Kept them entertained for HOURS!!

And oh they loved the stuff animals!! Being silly on his changing table..

After small group, our friends (my sister-in-law) Amy, Jessica, and Shana came over to drop off more stuff for Day 2!! I LOVE how my home is bursting at the seams with garage sale goodness!!

Alright to bed I go!! 5am will be here before we know it!

Cc is for...

2011-10-01T18:09:00.012-05:00

At WeeCare we are learning...
Letter Cc
Number 1
Color Red
Shape Circle

We change letters each week and stay on the other concepts for 3 weeks.

Here are some of the fun, hands-on activities we played:
Letter Cc big book/song
"Every letter makes a sound Cc says" song
Driving around like CARS
Coloring a Cc is for CAT page (from Pinterest!)
Playing with CARS
RED big book/song
Coloring with RED crayons on Letter Cc page
Hide and Seek with 1 RED CIRCLE
Stamping CIRCLES with RED paint (using toilet paper rolls, plastic bottles from things before recycling them- process art for sure, and the kids had a BLAST)
Moses as a baby

We CALLED my brother- his uncle CODY in Portland.

...the much anticipated showing of the movie CARS!! So anticipated that we got an early start on it on letter Cc, making it our Saturday Family Movie Night! We built a CAVE to CUDDLE up in! We love our cuddle-up family movie night tradition!

During the afternoon, and while the pizza was cooking, we headed out for a walk. The weather has just been amazing! (The hints of Fall are upon us, and we are LOVING it!! I've already enjoyed my first Pumpkin coffee drink- Iced Frosted Pumpkin Coffee!!) On our walk, we hunted for CRICKETS (& grasshoppers). Mekele loves listening to them at night, when we relax on the patio. "Wistenn..." (listen). Sunday night and Monday, we got lots of time with Mekele's COUSINS- they live 2 minutes away in our neighborhood (definitely our favorite thing about our neighborhood! such a fun blessing! Its the best when family = best of friends!) His Aunt Amy made a quick mac & cheese dinner, but not regular, oh no... CARS mac & cheese! I love that family gets in to our Letter of the Week!! Monday day the COUSINS came back over to play because there was no school but my sister-in-law (teacher) still had in-service. The COUSINS, 4 & 6 years old, were all about Letter Cc! Throughout the day, they kept coming up with me things we should play and I would hear the "ccc" sound. We finished watching the last 20 minutes of CARS,

played CARS, CRASHING them, lining them up, estimating how many, and eventually COUNTING them. Our guessing game lasted all day and they wanted to play several different rounds with several different items :) The one they talked about a lot during the day was for "how many cars", Mekele's guess was "19", and low and behold, there WERE 19!!! Lucky guess, but now they think their little COUSIN is a little smarty! playing CAMERA..

Willfully sharing with his current favorite toy right now... this is huge! Praise God- I think he might be getting it! :)

For breakfast we all shared in COOKING muffins.

Then another little friend came over for a playdate, so we took our ginormous new box of sidewalk chalk (thanks aaron) to play out front while we waited for them to arrive. Mekele was happy to show his buddy where he could find his name in sidewalk chalk. We spent the rest of our pleasant morning until lunch outside under the back patio- playing bubbles, pouring and transfering in the water table, more playing CARS, sitting in the CARS chairs from my parents, and "just catching up on life." :)

Mekele was wiped out come nap time! So the big boys and I worked on our CRAYON project- peeling the paper off, sorting them into muffin tins, and COOKING them to make fun new giant CRAYONS. Most were all colors, but we made 1 Halloween one, 1 Christmas one, and 1 Valentines one for fun- I am still surprised by how much they were in to it!

And thanks to Mason, I finally got around to cleaning under the refrigerator and another big shelf. Several magnets had gone missing this year, and they were found with the help of my sweet nephew! He wanted to make matches!

We didn't get to bake CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES as I had planned and also had really wanted to get my CAR (and his little CARS) to the CAR wash for "CAR wash, Jr"

Bb is for...

2011-09-28T07:34:00.011-05:00

At preschool we are learning...
Letter Bb
Number 1
Color Red
Shape Circle

We change letters each week and stay on the other concepts for 3 weeks.

Here are some of the fun, hands-on activities we played:
Letter Bb big book/song
"Every letter makes a sound Bb says" song
Hopping like BUNNIES
Coloring a Bb is for BUTTERFLY page (from Pinterest!)
Flying around the ABC rug like BIRDS
BARKING like puppies
Playing with BUBBLES and trying to keep in air by BLOWING up in the air.
BUILDING with BLOCKS
Taking care of BABY dolls
Singing BRINGING home a BABY BUMBLEBEE
Singing Wheels on the BUS
RED big book/song
Coloring with RED crayons on Letter Bb page
Hide and Seek with 1 RED CIRCLE
Stamping CIRCLES with RED paint (using toilet paper rolls, plastic bottles from things before recycling them- process art for sure, and the kids had a BLAST)
Teddy BEARS
Jesus is my Friend

Our Letter of the Week "field trip" looks a little different than most will bc Wow, what a BUSY week!! a sick boy, putting the final touches on a marriage conference at our church, helping friends paint #'s on 16 softball tees, and a high school news team coming over to film our house.

Wednesday Aaron's high school news team came over to film our house, "MTV Cribs"-style and that means a whir of cleaning took place at our crib. But guess who was so kind and came to rescue to help me!?! My mom... BEBE!!! So I love, love, loved all the help she gave and that couldn't have worked out better for our BUSY week... BEBE over for a (cleaning) visit.
Mekele got to use BeBe's BROOM, that they named BABY BROOM. Anything small Mekele names "BABY"...

BEBE's little cleaning helper mopping the carpet...

Sweet BOY has been recovering from having a BAD cold (Croup) and doing BREATHING treatments every three hours.

It seems like we have kicked the BUG now.. and he is back to himself. Yay!

At WeeCare, we had a fun and extra special teddy BEAR picnic. The kids brought a favorite BEAR to school to join them in BLANKET activities.. reading BOOKS and BUILDING BLOCKS, and had a picnic. The pics are blurry bc of the low light in the gym. It was just too hot to go outside.

My friend Mrs. Emily BAKED teddy BEAR cookies for all the little BUDDIES!

Aaron and I are attending a marriage conference at our church Friday evening and Saturday morning. Childcare is offered, but Mekele's BEDTIME is 8pm, and he will be so sleepy (and fussy) if he's up until 9:30pm, so again BEBE and Poppy are coming over to spend some time with him and put him to BED. This will be a first time BABYSITTING at our house, and us not putting him to BED. I'm a little BUMMED, but we are both really looking forward to the time to focus on our marriage. And Saturday he will be a part of the childcare at church.

So Bb was for BUSY, BREATHING treatments, BEBE, and BEARS!! Happy weekend!!

28 MONTHS OLD

2011-09-27T16:58:00.009-05:00

Mekele is 28 months old, and here are the latest meke stats...

FAVORITE FOOD: cheese stick

FAVORITE TOY: Animals {he loves all animal toys, especially a collection of animals, like his Africa animals that he lines up looking to be in "charge" position. Recently at the store, while shopping for a bday gift for a little friend's party, he placed 3 rows of dinosaurs at the end of the aisle in what looked like "charge". I laughed every time I saw it.

FAVORITE FRIENDS: cousins Brady, Canon, Mason, friends Evan, Ryan, Jacob, Blake, RJ, Maliki, Luke, David

FAVORITE MOVIES: Lion King, Sesame Street, Word World

FAVORITE THING TO DO: jump onto a stack of pillows he has thrown off the couch, point to and touch each letter everywhere we go, run and play hide & seek with mommy and daddy, line up his collection of animals, ask me to put diapers on his elephant tiger lion and giraffe stuffed animals, play in his water table, watch tv, play with big kids, play with his sea creatures in the bath {my maiden name is Seals, so Aaron has renamed the sea lion "Whitney Seals"- I hear my name so many times while he is in the bath!}, scare us with "boo" and "surprise", help cook and lick the bowl, "drive" the car in the front seat, push the alarm button on mommy's key so he can say "onk, onk, onk..."

FAVORITE WAY TO HELP: cook, get his vitamins down, fill up his cup with water, put laundry in, start washing machine, start dryer, match socks, wash dishes, start dish washer

FAVORITE TREAT: M&Ms {for potty training}, fruit snacks, yogurt raisins, popsicles

FAVORITE PHRASE: Hello hello hello... (commercial) "A-B-C-D-A-B-C!", "church time!", "play time!", "school time!", {surprised sound} listen... (pronounced "wisten"), Here you go (pronounced "here do doe")

FAVORITE BOOK: Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too, Lion King board book, Choco, anything with animals

We love you Mekele and continue to be amazed at the joy you bring us each & everyday. You truly are a gift from God!

MEKELE FUNNIES

2011-09-24T17:35:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share a few of our favorite things mekele has said lately... seriously, he is such a hoot!!

and here goes...

My husbands favorite...
One day Aaron was drinking a bottle of his favorite adult beverage, a shiner, and
mekele: "drink, daddy?" and opening his mouth "ahh" as he reaches for the drink.
Aaron: "not this drink, buddy. Here is your juice.."
Mekele: "Smell it...?" as he sniffs and leans his nose close to the bottle..
and as matter of fact as anything adds "Oh...Poop!!"

My favorite...
We were in Tulsa in a hotel in August, and were enjoying a delicious breakfast and coffee at Embassy Suites. I brought my coffee back with me to our room to finish drinking it before we headed out. It was on the counter in the room, and I forget what long arms my two year old has. He reached up, took a sip of my coffee, exclaims "ughh, yuck!!" and quickly pours it down the sink ...in an effort to save his mommy from consuming such a "yucky" drink.

BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND

2011-09-24T13:00:00.006-05:00

What a beautiful weekend!! the weather, the family time, the refreshing time at home together getting things done...

Friday night I was given an admission bracelet to get in to a large kids consignment sale a day early and to beat the crowds.. thanks, Rena! Mekele's closet thanks you! I loaded up on...

3T clothes- 10 long and short sleeve shirts, 2 cute little Gap jeans, 1 thick OshKosh hoody, 1 adorable little mocha hooded vest, a pair of cute tennis shoes. Prices ranged from $1 for a shirt, $2 for jeans, $4 for a vest hoody, $6 for warm weather hoody, $4 for new shoes. seriously.

Christmas gifts for Mekele- a squishy Tonic big truck, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and a letter/animal puzzle (each piece of the puzzle has part of the pic and a letter to build the word. highest price was $4 for the truck. thank you, yes, I will.

1 nap time cd- Aaron has showed Mekele how to work the (old-school alert..) cd player and take this in and out, which has resulted in a stack of scratched cds. thanks.. $1

Toys for WeeCare- a grocery basket, 2 preschool learning cd, and a bag of play food. $9 total

and {3} Halloween costumes!! 3 is not necessary, but since I couldn't decide and they were so cheap, I bought them all as dress up. 1. FIRST is a cowboy with cow print chaps {which will serve as "Woody"- sure, he looks a lot more like Jesse's outfit... but it is for boys, so we'll go with it bc he looks absolutely adorable in it.
{Every time he sees someone wearing a hat, a cowboy hat, a safari hat, a garden hat, that person gets a mighty "Yeehawww". Making his Poppy proud. This is about the most Texan thing I will ever post here... so obviously we will in Texas, and both of my parents are from West Texas. My dad really took that and ran with it. He always dreamed of being a ...rodeo clown. yes, a RODEO CLOWN. but if you knew my dad, it makes sense. Not that he is particularly western anymore, but just makes sense. He and his personality are just too cute.}
2. SECOND is an adorable green with yellow spots T-Rex costume complete with a big pillowy tail and spikes- the boy also does a TON of roaring like dinos everywhere he goes, so also fitting.
3. THIRD is a striped shirt like I have been for to make him into one of his other favorite Sesame Street characters. (yes, there are other favorites besides Elmo, but shhh don't tell Elmo that. and I have some cute rubber duckies..
decisions, decisions... :)

I just happen to have a Jesse-esque costume that I could wear to go along with the top two for a Toy Story theme. and I have the stuff to make me into a Zoe from Sesame Street. again, decision, decisions :) haha

Friday evening, Mekele was feeling hot and ended up with a low grade fever, so he and Aaron stayed home from our small group Bible Study, and took the night to rest and cuddle on the couch. much needed daddy time.

and I made Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies... DELICIOUS!!!!! I guess we have to keep eating them with next week being on Letter Bb week. Its a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the sake of my son's learning. I'm just that giving.

Saturday has been full of a day of Aaron gone for soccer all day, so another day for me and mekele, little man and I relaxing with cartoons, doing laundry, showing him that he can start making matches with the socks, playing blocks, trying on his costumes, cleaning a new water table I came across- probably for WeeCare, exploring a grasshopper and ginormous spider he found, and I am making a new recipe for dinner crockpot lasagna, and still trying to be low-key with mekele's low-grade fever and his skin being so hot to the touch. We almost had a garage sale today with friends, but it didn't seem like it would come together in time according to garage sale tips posted by Pitter Patter Art, but thankful since Mekele isn't feeling like himself.

Sunday I know we have church, and then nothing on the agenda besides completing an application. It will be a great day of still accomplishing things as we think of it and me making progress on art orders.

Thankful for a weekend like this.

Aa is for...

2011-09-23T14:18:00.009-05:00

I am loving teaching WeeCare-Mothers Day Out in Mekele's two-year-old class just 2 days/week at our church! I love this age! We spent the first two weeks of school (only 4 school days) getting used to school, the schedule, playing together, centers, etc. And this past week (our 5th and 6th days of school), we started our preschool hands-on themed learning:

Letter Aa
Number 1
Color Red
Shape Circle

Here are some of the fun, hands-on activities we played:
Letter Aa big book/song
"Every letter makes a sound Aa says" song
Sneezing ACHOO!
Chomping like ALLIGATORS
Marching like ANTS
RED big book/song
Coloring with RED crayons on Letter Aa page
Rolling play-doh on Letter Aa
Making an APPLE (gluing RED paper on paper plate, add a stem. I used scrapbook paper for a fun scrappy look.)
Hide and Seek with 1 RED CIRCLE

Ever since being a SAHM almost 2 years ago, Mekele and I have headed out once a week to the neighboring bigger town for playdates, preschool open gym, the park, feeding ducks, etc. How much more fun for Mekele for us to now match our outtings with our Letter of the Week! Today we headed to...

See AIRPLANES fly in to the local AIRPORT at AVIATOR Park!

And then we turn to see our AMIGOS Hilary and Jude walking up to play at the park! These are our friends who we love to get together with anyhow, our ADOPTIVE family AGCI pals! And there you have it, our ACCIDENTAL playmate!!

Mekele walked right up to Hilary to give her a sweet leg hug and more hugs at lunch.

Would you look at these ADORABLE AVIATORS?!?! ...in their also ACCIDENTAL matching tees!! Sesame Street love!

Heads up for ANOTHER AIRPLANE!!

Letter Aa was a blast... Stayed tuned for next week for our Letter Bb outing! ...probably somewhere to BOUNCE!!

MOMMYS NIGHT IN

2011-09-23T14:03:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday, Aaron planned a Daddy Date with Mekele.
First stop: Sonic drinks
Second stop: Lion King
Third stop: FC Dallas soccer game

This left me with an evening all my own... awwwww!
As I lover of lists, my first stop was ...Make a LIST of all I wanted to do!

My evening alone was to be filled with...

1. painting
2. pizza
3. snacks
4. my sonic drink they got me at first stop
5. blogging
6. art projects
7. pajamas
8. phone turned off
9. and the worship music turned up!

So in more detail, here is how I spent my evening alone...
1. Painting blocks... why, you ask. At a fantastic yard sale with my friend Denise, I bought a bag of blocks for only $2!! I cannot believe I didn't buy the second bag... Some of the blocks are wooden and some are fun bright cute colors, and then I found a box of Jenga blocks in our game closet that were boring wooden. So I needed to add some more color to my world and pretty much I couldn't get this little paint project out of my head... I love it when mekele opens up the drawer to our coffee table to find it filled with SO MANY "new" colorful blocks! Colors are just more fun!

2. Pizza...baked a yummy pizza at home

6. Watched Gilmore Girls Season 1 while I worked a second project.. a TO DO list frame idea I saw on Pinterest.

Pics coming soon!

AWAKE & ALIVE

2011-09-22T16:00:00.004-05:00

do a write up on your blog about Awake and Alive and link up to us in your post. (You can tell your readers how you know us, what inspires you about the work we are doing, something we have written about that made you think differently or your come up with your own idea about Awake and Alive and write about that.) {if you do this tell me that you have and leave a link to your blog....5 entries}

EMAIL FROM MY BFF

2011-09-19T09:19:00.003-05:00

So a few days ago, my bff Brooke emailed me...

"Wanted to tell you how much my kids talk about Mekele. Today, we were reading a book about a litter of dogs and a pink pig. The mommy dog accepted the pink pig as her own, and the puppies considered the pink pig one of theirs.

I related the book to accepting people of other colors.

Ainsley immediately said, "Like how much we love Mekele! And you know what, Mommy, I kiss Mekele."

We just love that boy, and I am so glad he is on my kids' minds even though we can't see him much. I just think Mekele is someone who makes an impression on people, and I can't wait to see how God uses that.

Love, Brooke"

DADDY DATE & A NIGHT TO MYSELF

2011-09-17T17:21:00.004-05:00

Ahhhh.... So excited!!
My evening alone will be filled with...

1. painting
2. pizza
3. snacks
4. my sonic drink
5. blogging
6. art projects
7. pajamas
8. phone turned off
9. and the worship music turned up!

Pics coming soon!

PITTER PATTER ART GIVEAWAY

2011-09-16T15:11:00.002-05:00

Have you heard about Pitter Patter Art's latest giveaway??! An 11x14 canvas to celebrate the 10 month wait on the waiting list!! Go check it out here, and enter to win, too!!

TIME

2011-09-15T17:53:00.005-05:00

At Mekele's Mothers Day Out program, we sing. like all the time. nearly every instruction and just in general singing. We take basic tunes like Row, Row, Row Your Boat and change it to fit your situation. Line Up, Line Up, Line Up at the door... Line Up at the door, so we can play outside.

for Morning Circle, we sing "Hey, everybody its Circle Time, Circle Time, Circle Time. Hey Everybody its Circle Time. Sit to Come sit on the rug.

Mekele has really caught on to the tune and e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. at home and school is now "Circle Time! Eating Time! Bath Time! Block Time! Slide Time! ...Frog Time", which makes me proud that he's learning and paying attention, and most of all having fun!

Gotta go! Its "Bed Time"!

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

2011-09-15T17:33:00.010-05:00

Introducing the song that makes this little cutie...
go to giddy in 2.1 seconds.

Our "only" child LOVES kids! We met several little friends and their parents (actually other way around) at Saltgrass for dinner.
This get-together was a special one because my best friend was in town from Florida and we had our annual reunion of sorts. Her kids and friends' kids were there, and they all enjoyed playing and dancing together in the room we reserved. Mekele was definitely the youngest of the playing kids, but he kept up with them.

and here is how Ring Around the Rosie giddiness went down.
giddy.

giddier.

giddiest.

I pray that his and our lives are always filled with this much joy... no matter our circumstances, that we can dance, and laugh, and smile and just be giddy in the precious of the Lord. b/c we know that God has not given us more than we can handle in Him and that He has already created a way out to peace if only we are obedient to His callings.

I can't help but smile when I see his smile here and recall his laugh.

MR. CURLY Q

2011-09-15T17:21:00.007-05:00

I love Mekele's curly-Q's!!

I am by far not an expert at doing his hair. For months I simply washed in the bathtub with the bubble bath solution and worked in some creamy hair lotions, curl activators, and deep shine oils.

At different times, we have used Creamy Hair Lotions...
1. Olive Oil oil moisturizing hair lotion
2. Just For Me! hair milk styling cream
3. Just For Me! oil moisturizing lotion
I think these are all too thick and creamy and all have to be watered down, so his hair doesn't turn white from all the cream.

and at other times, used Curl-Enhancing Gels
1. Right On curl activator moisturizer
2. Castrol Oil curl activator- this one stained his clothes and mine if he leaned against me
These are usually more clear, so like that vs. thick lotions.

All work for the adorable all-over-cute-curly-little-fro. And a little fro it is. I have opted to trim it myself at home and right now, we are at a slightly longer stage. Each curl when stretched is about 6 inches long, but doesn't look that way when coiled up.

But for several months now, I have loved making "Coils" aka "Ethiopian Pencil Curls". I am using
Lock & Twist Gel organic root stimulator.
I love this stuff! Simple, but takes longer than the previous hair routine, but OH SO CUTE! and holds well for days!!

t

MY LITTLE HELPER

2011-09-15T16:12:00.008-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about how much Mekele likes to be my helper, as well as his daddy's, so we are officially implementing some fun age-appropriate toddler chores. And I will be making a fun job chart for him.

(From Stephanie Brown, former About.com Guide)

Free Online Chore Chart
Fun Online Chore Chart For Kids Easy to Use. Fun for All. Try Now!
www.MyJobChart.com

When you're leading such a busy life, it's easy to just do everything yourself sometimes. It's quicker and it gets done just the way you like. But what is that really teaching your toddler? Even allowing just the smallest tasks our toddlers are capable of helps build their self-esteem, teaches self-help skills and encourages their independence. Here are some toddler chores that you can start introducing to your child. Remember, each child develops at his own pace, so some may be ready for many of the things on this list while others will only be able to perform a few of the tasks here.
For every task listed here, remember to start with many examples of how to perform the chore before you allow your child to participate. Don't expect perfection either and resist the urge to scold your child or correct the work that he did. There's plenty of time for that later when your child is more competent at the task and has more confidence. What you want to focus on now is rewarding your child's effort.

Help Set the Table
Start by handing your child napkins (which are soft and unbreakable) and allowing him to place them on the table, one for each person/seat. If plates are in place first they serve as a guide. Later, when your toddler has this task down, you can let him try to put the napkins in place first. Older toddlers can carry one plate at a time to the table (thus increasing the amount of physical activity they get and decreasing the likelihood of a dropped plate) and place silverware. (Save the knives for older siblngs or yourself, however.) Toddlers can also carry bottles of condiments or salt and pepper shakers to the table with supervision.

Little helpers can help cook yummy pizzas!

Help Clear the Table (after eating that yummy pizza)
Clearing the table is a great habit for your toddler to get into. It's also a way to teach about the division of responsibilities in the home if parents are responsible for cooking and children gradually become responsible for clean-up. Even if it takes several trips from the kitchen to the table, that's fine. It's all part of learning. Encourage your toddler to carry just one thing at a time and use both hands to carry to minimize spills.

Help Unload the Dishes
I've always felt that it's not a great idea for toddlers to help load the dishwasher. There's the possibility for contact with things like E. coli and salmonella and it's a bit of a complex skill. I'd liken it to teaching a toddler to play Tetris. (Not to mention sink height being a problem if you like to rinse before loading.)
What toddlers can do, however, is help unload the dishes. First, unload any dangerous or heavy items (like knives or big skillets) and then allow your toddler to individually hand the remaining dishes within his reach to you. As you place them in their proper place describe what the dish is and where it goes.

Little helpers can put themselves away in the cabinet.

Wipe Tables
After the table has been cleared, give your child a wrung-out, soapy washcloth and help him wipe the table down. He'll probably have to stand on a chair or step stool, so be sure you're giving him a hand with this task.

Sort Whites and Colors
Toddlers are beginning to show their love of classification and categorization. Start with just whites and colors and later work up to other variations like dark colors and light colors. You can make it a little easier with laundry baskets that are also white or colored.
Little helpers can try to recycle your clothes. Thanks- message received loud and clear! :)

Fold Washcloths
Laundry is a wonderful proving ground for your toddler's emerging skills. Everything is unbreakable and small mistakes can easily be overlooked or turned into learning opportunities. Folding washcloths is easy and teaches math concepts like geometry and fractions as well. Talk about the washcloths being square (or hand towels being rectangular) and how you fold in half and then in half again.

Run Errands Around the House
I used to think that my parents were being lazy when they'd call me over to take a glass into the kitchen or fetch a book from a shelf. Little did I know they were just teaching me how to follow directions and keeping from becoming a couch potato. So don't feel guilty about sending your toddler around the house to do some errands. Later in life, my mom told me that she regularly invented little tasks for me to do just when I'd been sitting for too long. (Thanks, Mom.)

Sort Clean Socks
Another categorization activity for toddlers is sorting clean socks into pairs. Folding the socks together may not be possible so encourage him to just stack the matching socks or get some fine motor practice by clipping the socks together with clothespins.

Deliver Laundry to Bedrooms
Once laundry is folded, toddlers are capable of taking small stacks to bedrooms and placing them on beds for household members to put away. Older toddlers are also capable of putting away their own clothes in drawers.
little helpers can deliver to bathtubs!

Pick up Toys
Every toddler should be taking responsibility for cleaning up their own toys. A good rule, too, is that before playing with a toy, the other toys he was playing with must be put away. This keeps clutter under control and can help you and your toddler avoid being overwhelmed by a huge mess. Toddlers are notorious for their love of dumping buckets of toys and it's perfectly normal. That doesn't mean you have to put up with an untidy environment, though. Limit the amount of toys on shelves to minimize dumping and remind your toddler constantly that the consequence of getting toys out is having to put them away.

Dust
While large-scale dusting is probably something you want to do yourself (especially if you're using a spray of any type or have breakables around) you can pick out a few low tables or shelves and reserve those for your toddler to dust when you do your own regular dusting.

Little helpers can help vacuum.

Get Trash from the Bathroom or Other Rooms
Since trash cans in bedrooms and bathrooms are usually small, let your toddler go around the house and bring these to you on trash day.

Little helpers can help mow with daddy

or collect all the Fall leaves with Poppy!

Little helpers can help daddy take apart the twin bed!

or help their uncle put together the bunk beds!

Hang Clothes Once They're on the Hanger
If you don't have a low bar in your toddler's closet, I highly recommend installing one. Not only can your toddler start handing up his own clothes once they're on the hanger but he can start taking responsibility for making choices and getting dressed himself when all his clothes are accessible to him.

Little helpers can learn to dress themselves. A sense of style would be a sad thing to waste!

and some other helpful links
Toddler Behavior Chart
Free Toddler Behavior Chart, get the Best Results for your Toddler
www.ToddlerABC.com

How To Stop Tantrums
Simple tips to get your child to listen, pay attention and behave.
www.ParentLearningClub.com

NOT A MUFFIN

2011-09-14T11:15:00.004-05:00

This morning we made muffins which reminds me of a funny muffin story for you.

We traveled to Sea World this summer, and each morning we had breakfast in the hotel lobby. Mekele was beside himself when he saw they were serving "cake" (aka chocolate muffins).
Mekele: "Mmmm, Mommy I want cake!!"
Me: "You can have a muffin. Mommy doesn't give you cake for breakfast."
Mekele: "Want cake."
Me: "Here you go. Here is your MUFFIN." He of course had fruit and yogurt to make it a more complete meal. :)

So we head on to Sea World, which has Sesame Street Bay of Play with all of his favorite Sesame Street characters. This was his "DisneyWorld". We played and have a fantastically fun time!

Back at the hotel the next day, he is pretending to be Cookie Monster, and "eating" things.
Mekele is making the Cookie Monster sounds, "nom, nom, nom... Mmm! Cake!!"
Then looks at me, and in all seriousness, says "not a MUFFIN"....

PLAY SCHOOL

2011-09-09T16:09:00.008-05:00

The weather has been beautiful. Windows opened up with pleasant fresh breezes blowing through. Such a nice change front he record heat we've been having.

We have been spending so much time outside. Mekele has been busy exploring and had some "play school" out in the backyard and under the patio.

writing with sidewalk chalk,

while his cousins were over, sidewalk chalk was a hit.

"walking the ABCs" that were written on the back patio, then he started spraying each letter saying "goodbye F. ffffff (sound).... goodbye H. hhhhh (sound) hippo" & then just water bottle-sprayed everything in sight,

"painted" the fence with water,

and taking that bucket of water for a spin.

and painting "Rocko" from Sesame Street with water.

and inside to built a Mac & Cheese train.

FIRST DAY OF (WEE) SCHOOL

2011-09-06T16:52:00.007-05:00

Today was Mekele's first day of preschool... WeeSchool actually. Our church decided to embark into the exciting world of Mother's Day Out. He goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9-1:15pm. I have my first day of school signs ready for pre-k - 12th (thanks to the ladies at HowDoesShe!), but oddly enough, they didn't have signs for a 2-day/week, half-day program! haha. Instead of holding my quickly-made sign, he wanted to color on it. Oh well!

Enjoying some puzzles at center time

Oh did I mention that yours truly is his teacher!!? :) If I get out to the store soon, little mr. will be bringing his mommy/teacher an apple.

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN...

2011-08-23T16:50:00.003-05:00

I'd say this is how things go these days in our house! I did not write this, but laughed out loud at so many parts that it needed to be passed on.

If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want some coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her two year old year.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find some dirty socks.
She'll remember that she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over some shoes and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her that she has to plan a supper for tonight.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook (101 Things with Hamburger)
The cookbook is under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill that is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook
The checkbook is in her purse that is getting dumped out by her two year old.
Mom will smell something funny.
While she is changing the two year old, the phone will ring.
Her five year old will pick up and hang up the phone.
She will remember that she wants to phone a friend to come over for coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some more.
And chances are,
if she has a cup of coffee,
her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

ANNUAL POOL PARTY

2011-08-17T16:11:00.004-05:00

On a Saturday in July, we headed back to the Alexander's house for an Ethiopian get-together! Pool party, yummy chicken tacos, basketball, trampoline, and so many Ethiopian cuties!!

PLAYDATE

2011-08-17T15:46:00.007-05:00

We spent yesterday afternoon with our Ethiopian friends, the K's. My friend Denise taught Lina in her first grade class last year, and introduced us. Its been several months so we were looking forward to seeing G, L, Y, and N.

G showed me how to make homemade Shiro Wat.

Tomatoes, Onions, Olive Oil, and Spices Cooking

Cooked down and now Shiro Wat

M called the injera "pancakes", but didn't really know what to think. We'll keep trying! I got to smell her homemade Ethiopian butter, and we ate homemade Ethiopian salad dressing on top of a delicious salad. (Spicy, fresh, and delicious!)

I'm glad that while playing, he would come take a break, and listen to the Ethiopian music and try the traditional dances

One of G's beautiful traditional dresses

We have made future plans to join their family at Ethiopian get-togethers and to some time visit the local Ethiopian church with them. I can see M and her little boys being buddies!

SPRINKLER

2011-04-19T00:33:00.006-05:00

Tonight was perfect. Perfectly relaxing. Perfectly entertaining.

After dinner, we headed outside. I thought the warm April weather was perfect for Mekele (Meck-uh-lay) to, for the first time ever... play and splash in the sprinklers. Its the simple things!

Aaron turned the sprinklers on and Mekele just observed at first. Then, we invited him to get closer.

and closer until he finally was a gigglebox...

and truly enjoying the simple joys fun of splashing water.

His neighbor big kid buddy J and his friend C came over and ended up showing Mekele HOW to splash and play in the sprinkler. It was pretty funny to hear "Hey, Mekele, do this...!!" "Oh, come here, come do this...!" We were happy to have their company. We hope their parents were understanding when they returned home in soaked clothes!! :/

Mekele sure looks up to the big kids and wants to do whatever they do.

Allow me to share a sweet story to give a little background... J and another neighbor friend H love to ride their bikes on our street. They love to ride by Mekele, and show their cool new tricks. One evening as the sun was going down, we decided to plop down on our sloped yard, which gave us "stadium seating" to their bike stunt show.

They would pedal out of view, then ride in front of us legs out to the side. Claps!! Disappear.

Then return with both legs on the same side. Applause!! Out of view.

Pedal, pedal and ride across the "stage" standing on their bike seats. Standing ovation!!

I'm sure a finale with trick after trick soon followed...

The next day up in Mekele's playroom, I see Mekele standing with both feet on his bouncing horse toy putting on a show for Mommy. Sweetest thing- he was looking out the window, I think for his big kid buddies to come see his trick show!!

Thanks, J and H for being Mekele's big buddies!

OUR WORD WORLD

2011-03-29T15:57:00.005-05:00

Driving down the road has become quite the learning opportunity! From the back, it is becoming commonplace to hear...

"E!!".
"E!!!".
"Y!!".
"O!!".
"B!!".

He is seeing letters on all the street signs, and wants to let me know about it!! haha

He recently saw our "Brookshires" grocery store sign, and excitedly called out "B.O.O.!!" :) woohoo for some letter recognition!!

and then today he saw also sign, that said "car wash", and I hear "P.O.A" :)

Much love to Sesame Street and Word World! I promise the tv is not on that much, but when it is, its set to one of these. They certainly do make learning fun!

ETHIOPIAN PLAYDATE

2011-03-24T14:05:00.003-05:00

Written on Feb 25...

My sweet friend Denise ("Nini" to Mekele) is a mommy as of yesterday!! We have been praying for Denise and Matt for a few years now, and it blesses us to know they are now Mommy and Daddy!! We have become dear friends over the past few years, meeting in a small group at the church, living nearly in the same neighborhood, having SO much in common, being the exact same height (a lofty 5 feet), workout buddies, and having hubbies who work at the same high school! Denise was induced Thursday night, and had her baby girl Ava Friday afternoon!

When Denise is not having her baby, she is a first grade teacher who loves her job and her class! She told me about one of her first grader girls and her family and how she was convinced they were Ethiopian! As it turns out, the whole family is FROM Ethiopia, and has since been thrilled to introduce us!

Denise wasn't due until March 11, but my tiny friend with a watermelon belly went on bedrest a few weeks ago, and delivered her healthy 7 and 1/2 pound baby girl yesterday... the day we had finally set to meet up with our new Ethiopian friends!

Genet and I met at McD's at 4pm, so the kids could play! Mekele was shy at first with Lina, Yonathan, and Nahum, but before long started chasing them all around, and trying to climb everywhere with them. Several hugs were exchanged! Sweet Genet insisted on buying me a coffee and Mekele chicken nuggets and a drink. I got to hear Genet's beautiful accent for hours as we chatted on everything from our adoption, life for her growing up in Ethiopia, Ethiopian culture, the local Ethiopian church, food, dancing, special holidays, the kids' interests, and our friend in common Denise.

Genet invited me to get together again and she would show me how to cook Ethiopian meals together.

She tried to teach me the basics of the Amharic alphabet on a McD's napkin! She showed me how to write "Mekele" and "Whitney" in Amharic!

We chatted for hours, and I lost track of time, showing up late to our Friday night small group! haha, but it was worth it to spend time with a sweet family.

We tried to get a few photos of all of us together, and of course, my camera battery went dead. :( She took one with her phone, so I hope to upload that soon!

I love the blessings of new friendship!

Looking forward to more playdates with my beautiful new friend Genet and her three adorable kids!

POCKET FULL OF RAMEN

2011-03-22T17:14:00.004-05:00

Aaron came home from his day of teaching this afternoon, and wanted a snack before dinner. He made himself some Ramen, and went to the patio to watch Mekele play on his little slide. He shared some of his noodles with Mekele, then we thought we would go on a little walk in the absolutely beautiful weather. Every walk, Mekele's goal is to make it over to our neighbor's house to see their dogs bark in the front window. (Fortunately, they aren't home to hear all the barking) It was time to continue on, so I reached down to pick up mekele, and his shirt felt... squishy. I looked inside his little front pocket, and yes, he was saving some ramen. a lot of ramen actually. A few times after that, he opened his little pocket and grabbed some noodles to eat, snacking as we walked, saying "noodles out".

It reminds me of a song... "I've got a pocket, got a pocket full of ramen..."

ELMO LIVE

2011-03-03T14:47:00.008-06:00

My boy is a lover of all things Sesame Street. His excitement towards Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Abby, and the rest of the cast is so cute! He dances around, claps, cheers, shouts "woohoo", and giggles when he sees in favorite characters. He freaks out when he sees them around - on sippy cups, placemats, balloons, coloring books, toys, etc.

You could say he is a slightly-crazed fan, much the way I was towards my crushes in NKOTB back in the 5th grade. But believe me, his excitement is WAY cuter!

When we heard that ELMO LIVE was coming to town, my parents eagerly shared that they had each entered to win tickets for 4 through NBC5 for Elmo Live: Elmo's Healthy Heroes! My parents emailed me this morning, excitedly sharing that my dad's entry had won!!! We are buying one more ticket for Saturday night, and Mekele will be joined by his mommy, daddy, Bibi, and Poppy for a fun-filled evening of Sesame Street love!!

I am truly excited!! I am pretty sure, I was made to be a mommy!

We can't wait to see Mekele's face light up when he sees his friends in real life! Stay tuned for fun pics!

21 MONTHS

2011-02-28T08:26:00.004-06:00

LIKES TO:
watch Sesame Street, read books, sing songs, rock fist and clap to music, bounce dance, to be chased around the house, play on slide outside, go on walks in the neighborhood, ride in the bike wagon, take baths, give knuckles, wave "hi" and "bye", be tickled, laugh and be silly, explore how things work.

LIKES TO EAT:
oatmeal, bananas, grapes, strawberries, cheese, crackers, pb & j, mac and cheese. spaghetti, soup, corn, carrots, green beans, biscuits, BBQ sauce, honey, and occasionally a cookie

DOES NOT LIKE TO EAT:
milk

LIKES TO SAY:
more, eat, cup, orange juice, cereal, oatmeal, banana, cheese, cracker, cookie, soup, bath, walk-walk, bike, car, Africa!!

LIKES TO SIGN:
more, eat, water, oatmeal, banana, grapes, cheese, cracker, bean, cookie, bath, play,

LIKES TO HELP:
load/unload the dishwasher, get his bowl and spoon for meals, make his oatmeal, mix and "cook" meals with mommy, wipe up his place at the table after meals, load/unload the washer and dryer.

LIKES TO GO:
play with friends for playdates, to the park, to the preschool open gym, McD and Chick-Fil-A for the playplace, church to see his friends

DOES NOT LIKE TO GO:
to the grocery store

MOMMIES' COFFEE DATE

2011-02-25T08:13:00.007-06:00

Last Monday night I shared a coffee date with two of my local AGCI adoption mommies... Hilary Helms and Courtney Aston!! What a blessing it is to live so close to these ladies, share our hearts for Africa, and talk adoption! I am living vicariously through them and their processes right now, until we get started again!! Looking forward to sweet playdates when everyone is home! These friendships made through the adoption process are true gems, and the support and encouragement from bloggy friends are the whip cream on top of my frappaccino!

KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOR

2011-02-24T12:07:00.001-06:00

This is my HaPpY VaLeNtInEs post!! ...This has been written for a few weeks, but needed to upload the pics. You see, my hubby Aaron has been on a craigslist and ebay kick, selling all of our things we don't really need. He listed our Mac computer "out from under my feet" :) I knew he was doing it, but when it sold, he still had to restore it to manufacturer's quality, with all of our stuff from the past 4 years removed. I was only nervous about my photos and this cookbook I've been typing. I made him promise me we could access all of our photos and that document again!! We have another computer from the house to use for now. Anyways, a lady in South Carolina is now enjoying it, and we have some extra moolah to apply to our next adoption!! :) Love how God funds His callings!! We are not starting just yet, just in the saving mode!

So Happy Valentines Day!! :)

I LOVE my knight in shining armor! 5 and a 1/2 years of marriage, I am blessed to be his wife. God truly blessed me with my best friend Aaron. He works hard to provide for our family, so I can follow my dreams and stay home with Mekele. While he spent the day at work, we looked forward to him coming home after work! My day was filled with fun themed ideas, ways to make the day special for both of my boys. I hope they know how loved they are every day, but it sure is fun to celebrate them this day too!

My little future knight in shining armor and I started the morning with singing in his room while he took nebulizer treatments. The first song that popped in my head was the Barney "I love you" song, so we went with it... Love that when the song was over, Mekele said "I uh you"! His sweet words always send mommy and daddy over the moon!

For breakfast, he got to eat his (current) favorite food: oatmeal! As an aside... I love watching him use the baby sign (that he made up!!) for oatmeal. He clasps his hands together, and ...squeezes them!! That, that is "oatmeal" to him!! :) So funny to me. He's probably like, "you two have been "making up" baby signs and telling me its ...this or that. So this, this is "oatmeal"! Allow me to teach YOU! haha.

Back to Valentines... Mekele had a new puppy coloring book, little box of jumbo crayons, and puppy valentine stickers waiting for him at the table. He was in awe.

We stuck some of those puppy stickers to notecards to use for a valentines version of hide and seek.

During his time with Sesame Street, I got to spend some quality time with the One True Love- Jesus, and spent time in the Word in Ephesians. I've been working through the Bible, and I started in Philippians when our pastor was preaching there, and went through Jude. Now he is teaching on Ephesians, so I am rewinding back there. Just love my time in the Word with my Lord.

For lunch, Mekele enjoyed his heart-shaped pb & j, yogurt with red valentines sprinkles, and a few cheetos. Pointing and saying "Heart".

When Meke woke up from nap, we went out for a bike ride since last week's snow is gone, and we are having beautiful Spring-like days. Some friends loaned us their wagon to go behind my bike!! We even made a stop at our neighborhood park for some extra play time!

Mekele colored a pic for Daddy while I made Daddy's favorite meal: spaghetti. Both boys are pretty easy to please.

I gave Aaron the gift of a (somewhat) cleaned out garage. We have been decluttering our home like crazy (to list our home on the market), and have been throwing it all in the garage. So, to regain the usage of our garage is truly a gift! :) Romantic I know! I got 2 hours work in during Meke's nap, but Aaron gets my idea! He brought me home a 4-pack of Starbucks Frappuccinos with a sweet homemade card! the best part is I can have yummy coffee without leaving the house! He's a man after my own heart!

We did take a real date over the weekend! We went to see "Urinetown" at his high school. Yep, Urine for Valentines! :) Then we went to Chilis for dessert!

Hope you enjoyed some sweet time with the ones you love, too!

NOooo?

2011-02-23T14:31:00.003-06:00

a deep conversation with mekele this morning... (note my sarcasm)

Mekele is sitting at the table, finishing up breakfast, and signs "all done" and says "on done" :)

Me: "oh good! You ate all your oatmeal! Ready to clean up and get down?" as I reach to unbuckle him

Mekele: "NOooo?" with a high-pitched ending that sounds like a question, shaking head side to side and smiling

Me: "oh, you're not done??"

Mekele: "NOooo?" again smiling, shaking heading, questioning

Me: "ok, well let me know when you are done then" as I turn to go wash a few dishes

Mekele: "Mommy? on done..", signing "all done" again. :)

Me: "oh, are you all done now?"

Mekele: "yah!" excitedly nodding his head, while holding his chin to help it go up and down!!

This simple little convo can be played out in a number of different situations from finishing play on the slide, bath, bike ride, and more. He is saying "no", but its not quite in the way yet that I expected from my toddler. I am sure the "NOOO!" will come someday, but for now, I am sure enjoying his questioning "NOooo?". We are thrilled that he's learning new words, has such a cute sense of humor, and likes to use inflection when he talks! ...He sounds like his mommy!!

FOR A FRIEND

2011-02-19T07:39:00.002-06:00

I met Carrie while we were in the process of adopting Mekele, and followed her journey to her sweet Mo also from AGCI! She was a few spots in front of us for her boy from Hannah's Hope!! Well, I just received word that she and her family of 4 are back t it, preparing to begin t process again with AGCI for a set of siblings, twins! They are raising funds, and she is trying to surprise her hubby with much of the funds needed ...for his b-day! Here is her blog... http://itsgodsgospel.blogspot.com/ and here is her post about her game!!

Will You Help? & Shhh It's a Surprise!
Family and Friends,

WE ARE ADOPTING FROM ETHIOPIA AGAIN!!!

We are so excited about this and know it is God's will for our family.

This will be my husband and I's 3rd adoption and with every adoption God streches me more and more in a good way, but a scary way!

With that being said, I want you all to know that I am working on taking God out of the "box" I tend to put him in, completely trusting him, and doing what he is commanding my family to do.

The inspiration for this blog that will document our next adoption can be found here. I actually posted this link on our family blog not that long ago and it helped inspire what I am asking for help with. So if you need to be convinced on how important our adoption and any adoption is please go here and listen.

1. I am humbly coming before you to ask for help to fund the first chunk of our adoption that we will need to get started. This is scary for me to put out there but, I know our God is bigger than my fears and he will provide.

2. I would like this to be a surprise for my husband Kent. With our past 2 adoptions his pride has not wanted to ask for help with the funds and I want to bless him with all of you and how you reach out and support those around you not just with dollars, but with true prayer and support.

So WILL YOU HELP ME WITH THIS SURPRISE?

To get the ball rolling I am giving away gift cards to a very wonderful organization called Tom's shoes. With every purchase of shoes Tom's give a pair of shoes to a needy child. This is huge folks. You can read more about thier organization here.

HERE IS HOW THE GIVE A WAY WILL WORK

I am giving away 2 Gift Cards to Tom's Shoes.

Gift Card # 1 in the amount of $25 will be drawn and given to all those who have posted about our adoption and linked to our blog on their blog or through e-mail to friends and family. (Unfortunately I can't do facebook because if you are friends with my hubby he will see!)

Gift Card # 2 in the amount of $50 will be drawn and given to those who post this on their blog and/or e-mail it out and donate to our adoption.

HERE IS HOW TO ENTER

1. Leave a comment on this post stating you have posted this on your blog and/or e-mailed about this to friends for Gift Card #1.

2. Leave a comment on this post stating you have posted this on your blog and/or e-mailed this to friends and made a donation using the chip in meter on the side and you will be entered for Gift Card # 2. Or if you do not want to use the chip in please e-mail me at carriestamm@gmail.com.

Easy Peasy Folks!

I will start this on Tuesday February 22nd and end it on Sunday, March 6, 2011. The hubby's B-day is on March 14th so I would love to surprise him with the whole amount we need to get the ball rolling for our next adoption.

What is that amount you say? It is $16,335.00! I know huge money, but it is huge also because we feel God is possibly calling us to adopt not just one baby, but twins!

We were accepted in the Ethiopia program through our awesome agency All God's Children International on Wed. Feb. 16th, 2011.

Here is a list of our initial expenses that add up to what we need to raise.

Application Fee $300.00
Home Study Service Fees $1,750.00
Agency Service Fee $7,500.00
Program Fee $1,500.00
Eyes Wide Open Workbook $40.00
Adoption Parent Education $170.00
Authentication $300.00
Translation of Dossier $200.00
International Service Fee $5,500.00
County Certification Fee $10.00
State Certification Fee $10.00
U.S. CIS Fee $670.00
U.S. CIS Fingerprinting Fee $160.00 (80 Per Adult)
Misc Birth Certificates & Mailing $200.00

$18,310.00
Waived Fees ($1,800.00)
$16,335.00

A check for $9,290.00 will need to be mailed after our orientation packet is filled out which we received on Friday the 18th. Whooooooweeee!

Are you ready to join us on this exciting ride??? I HOPE SO!

I appreciate you all more than words can say and hope that if God puts it on your heart to help you will and more than that I covet your prayers as we embark on our next adoption.

I have so many things to share with you, and over the course of this adoption I will! God is doing huge things!

I AM NOT MY HAIR

2011-02-18T08:44:00.010-06:00

One of Mekele's new favorite discoveries is the radio. Yes, the radio. We recently had to put his cd-playing radio down in not the most ideal spot, the lowest shelf of his changing table in his room. We recently listed our home for sale, and so we are having to make do with some new room arrangements. so goodbye to a table it once sat on means hello to a radio down at toddler's reach. Its really pretty funny. I don't mind b/c I get to see him rock out to the music of his choosing. He loves to spin the knob and find new music on. As soon as he hears music vs. talking, he looks up at me, with a HUGE smile, and sweet eyes, and pumps the rock fist. So cute. So last night, we discovered... I Am Not My Hair by India Arie. It goes a little somethin' like this... :)

We have a pretty simple hair regime. I am still learning, but this is what is working well for us right now.

WASHING:
We wash his hair two times a week, usually Wednesday night and Saturday nights (to look spiffy for church on Sunday!) We shampoo with the bubbles from his bath as soon as he gets in since they are already watered down. And I like to add a small amount of watered-down conditioner to manage any tangles and to keep heathy and conditioned.

STYLING:
I have a "hair bucket" that I keep all his hair goodies in, and I keep downstairs in the pantry, so I can do his hair while he watches Sesame Street. This does not take long. His hair bucket contains... a water bottle, a wide-toothed comb, a hand towel, a detangler conditioner, and my current favorite hair product... Lustrasilk Right On Curl Activator Moisturizer.

1) In the mornings, I sit him down in front of me, on the steps, in a chair, in lap, etc.
2) I place the towel around his shoulders to protect his clothes and neck from water and product. Later, its used to wipe your hands of the moisturizer before I can get to the sink.
3) I spray his hair down with water.
4) I spray detangler and work through any tangles. There usually aren't many, so this is often a deleted step.
5) Finally, I add the curl activator moisturizer, and rub through his hair!

Before my eyes, his bedhead hair regains his natural beautiful shiny, silky ringlet curly-Q's!! I LOVE this stuff! Its not greasy or sticky, goes to work right away, and dries quickly. Oh, and the coolest part is it is not expensive... probably $4 or $5 at our grocery store in the African hair aisle. woohoo!

I keep a second water bottle, another bottle of this stuff (or any other hair lotions we have tried), and another hand towel in his diaper bag for when we are out and about. I can revitalize his hair any time it needs it, which is usually in the mornings and afternoons.

Oh, and how I LOVE my sweet boy who is the sweetest little thing who has ever happened to us! I do love doing his hair! You might say its a new "hobby". I still have much to learn, but until then, this simple and quick routine works for his ringlet hair beautifully. My sister is a hair stylist, and she understands how much I love his hair- she gave me a bottle for Christmas of a favorite hair oil that we love as well.

Longer ringlet "dred" or shorter, our boy's curls are beautiful and we just want to keep them healthy and conditioned.

What's your favorite hair product for Ethiopian/AA hair?

SUPER SOAKED

2011-02-15T18:57:00.006-06:00

All around us live older kids, 3rd graders and up. They always play outside on our street, but especially today since the weather hit a beautiful 75 degrees. We had just returned home from a few errands, and when we stepped out of the car, my little social butterfly was waving to his big kid friends across the street. By the way, his wave is the cutest! ...Arm straight out in front, rocking only his hand from side to side. One of our little neighbors Halley especially loves him, and she and her friend came right over to see him. We decided to stay outside for a few to enjoy this nice weather before heading in for dinner.

She and her friend were out on bikes. Mekele wanted to sit on their bikes, and then we went to get his little Harley motorcycle three wheeler (the one we bought from Hilary Helms at her adoption garage sale that used to belong to her sweet Jude!).

Then out came more kids, one with a super soaker, chasing all the kids around. Mekele heard all the screaming and laughing, and jumped off his motorcycle as fast as he could, and ran over to join in on all the fun. He stood there waiting for the boy to shoot water at him. The boy was on purpose not shooting water at him. Once he knew it was fine with me, Mekele's face lit up as he was squirted. At first, it was just a little, but Mekele wanted to REALLY be squirted. It was so funny! He had a constant smile! ...and walked away looking like he had taken a bath in all his clothes.He had an absolute ball! Good thing we were eating messy spaghetti tonight since he now really needed a bath right after.

Thankful tonight for SWEET FRIENDS... big kids who let little Mekele join in the fun. ..AND for my own sweet friend who drove over and surprised me with homemade chocolate-covered strawberries and a question book for couples called All About Us.

Well, the hubs just walked in from coaching, so time for our movie and hopefully getting started on our new Q & A book!

LOTION vs. YOGURT

2011-02-08T13:18:00.005-06:00

Just a quick blurb on the curious, funny, messy, cute new toddler things that Mekele is doing. Oh, how I love being his mommy! He has given me the best belly laughs!

This morning while putting baby lotion on him, he said "yogurt" (the cute way he says this new word). Nice connection- baby lotion and yogurt DO look an awful lot like each other, identical really. He kept saying "MMmmm Mmm" and trying to eat it off his arms. Mommy didn't let him eat his baby lotion, and we chatted about how we don't eat lotion, but we eat yogurt. Then we moved on with our day...

At lunch, he was given a small yogurt along with his lunch. I turned to refill my drink, to turn around and see him joyfully slathering yogurt all over his arms!!

I just hope it provides the right amount of moisture and leaves his skin feeling silky smooth!

SUPERBOWL POTTY

2011-02-06T12:57:00.004-06:00

Yes, you read that correctly... Superbowl and Potty.

Today is the SUPERBOWL- just an hour away from our home at the beautiful new Cowboys Stadium! CeLeBrAtInG tOnIgHt!

AND... this morning, Mekele went POTTY on the toilet for the first time!!! We have been setting him on it for fun, and this time before I could even hand him his book to read, I heard him going!!! CeLeBrAtInG tHiS mOrNiNg!!

He's been showing interest since September when we spent a week in Florida with my best friend Brooke and her kids who are older than him and are potty trained. When we were leaving, they gave him their Sesame Street potty seat, and he's been all about it!! He wants to sit on it every time he sees it. He's been going through the motions of sitting, using toilet paper, flushing, saying "bye, bye, tee tee", and then washing hands. Imitating is such a fun stage. Lots singing his ABC's, reading board books, lots of encouragement and praise for trying, and no pressure at all since he is 20 months. Just last Wednesday, he's been wanting all of his stuffed animals to be diapered. He's been putting his Tickle Me Elmo on the potty seat- we've had a few close calls as I see Elmo nearly going INSIDE the toilet! He likes to "put" baby powder on his Elmo doll and his diapered Africa stuffed animals. All just fun and positive pre-potty training activities. And just for fun, we printed out an Elmo Potty Training Sticker Chart, just as a way to encourage and keep it positive.

My mom is a huge fan of the book "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" by Nathan H. Azrin, PH.D. & Richard M. Foxx, PH.D, and swears by it. She says its methods really work, and gave us a copy recently.

Superbowl Potty!!!

JANUARY'S SNOW DAYS

2011-02-04T06:46:00.009-06:00

All this Ice made me want to flashback to a few weeks ago in January... when we had several snow days in a row. BEAUTIFUL snow, couple of inches thick.

This SAHM mom LOVES snow days!! I mean, really LOVES snow days!! I love having Aaron home, and all the pure joy and excitement from white fluffy stuff covering everything. I want to get bundled up with scarves, hats, and mittens, and head out to play like when I was a kid (or with my brother and dad in college). haha My parents were always so much fun, and my dad is a big kid! So when it snows, there are some other things we HAVE to do- just HAVE to!

1. eat tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
2. drink hot chocolate at some point in the day, or several times as needed.
3. make snow ice cream
4. spend as much time out in our winter wonderland sledding, building a snowman, out discovering how beautiful everything looks covered in snow. then, and only then, when your nose is too frozen to feel it and your mouth cannot move, then you may go rest up inside and...
5. cozy up on the couch for a movie. something classic like Audrey Hepburn, silly and comforting like "I love Lucy" reruns, or something in the way of a movie marathon like Gilmore Girls, Friends, Harry Potter.

As Mekele gets older, I hope he has sweet memories of snow days with the family and the fun and laughter we share. So bundled up, we head out!

Mesmerized...

Huh?...

What is all this stuff?...

Curious...

and "curious-er"...

...Then we take a turn for the worst, he just thinks I am CRAZY and then come the BIG tears... oh no!

After trying to show him the joy of snow in our 3 minute adventure, he just wasn't seeing it, so in we go... WITH promises and ideas in my head for how we can return a little later in the day. :) We were met with much more success and lots of smiles!!

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INDOOR ICE DAY FUN

2011-02-01T12:14:00.014-06:00

Early Tuesday morning, we could hear it raining and sleeting outside. Our winter storm "Snowmageddon" was here, and it was loud!! School was called off early in the morning. There was just a dusting of snow, but underneath was a think layer of ice. This SAHM mom LOVES "Snow Days" from school- Aaron gets to be home from teaching. "iced in" is more like it! Either way all three of us "iced in" = bliss!!

Tuesday morning when I opened his window, Meke excitedly squeals "_noo" (silent S) in delight... Wednesday, when I went in to get him, he pointed to the window, and expectantly says "nindow". Thursday, same thing. Now he just expects it. Thank you, artic blizzard for joining our lives this week!! We sure enjoy having you around!

Outside has been a giant sheet of ice with a thin layer of snow, very slippery. From the window, we have watched neighbor kids play hockey on ice, watched them try to walk down the street but are blown about, kids sledding down their sloped front yards and driveways on blow-up pool floats! We do hot and swimming really well in Texas. Its crazy cold for us with temps like 18 degrees and a windchill of something crazier like 8 degrees. We haven't left the house since Sunday. :) Playdates have been cancelled. Worship Team rescheduled. Plans have changed (even wondering if we are heading out of town today as originally planned.) Our arctic blizzard has not made for the greatest snowman-building, snow angel-making, or the greatest weather for mekele who gets a cold so easily, so inside and cozy we have stayed. Soaking up family time!

Lots of time to play ...INSIDE.

HIDE TICKLE ME ELMO. Meke loves this game, as he hunts around for his laughing favorite red guy. Where are you, Ehmo?", he calls. He looks up and smiles, and jokingly says "Ehmo? ...Noooo." as he looks INSIDE his SHOE. "Ehmo? ...Noooo" as he looks UNDER a TINY CAR. His mouth puckers up in this funny way, mimicking the way we joke. Its the cutest when he hides his musical friend for us to go hunt. Meke laughs so hard when we "don't see" Elmo laying on top of the coffee table, and we are right by it, looking "everywhere"! any musical toy works.

DIAPER DUDES. He realized all his friends (Elephant, Zebra, Lion, and several Giraffe(s) needed to wear diapers. Wednesday before bedtime, he laid each buddy down on the ground, and adjust its legs just right, and twisted and turned that diaper all around and laid it on top of each animal buddy. Then, signed and said "help, help". Of course... he needed another diaper over the top of his jammies.

At bedtime, he laid each one down in a row, and covered them with a blanket. After prayers, he said "Night. Night" and he went to lay down on top of al of them, pulling the blanket to cover him as well. He got up to give my arm a tug, and pushed my back down = he wanted me to lay down on the ground, too, and said "Night. Night" again. He slept the rest of the night in his crib with one of the animals, though he tried to bring all 7 of them with him. :)

FEEDING FRENZY. He is discovered feeding Elmo and his Africa stuffed animals. We have found Elmo's open mouth full of crackers or seen him sitting at Meke's spot at the table. So happy that he is willing to share his love of food with his bestie. He loves to bottle feed his animals, too. He makes the funniest smacking noises for them. At snack he wanted to sit on the floor with a little monkey animal on the ground in front of him, as he took turns sharing his crackers and juice. We have been working on sharing, and getting away from the new word "mine!", so very happy with this progress. :)

THE-PULL-ALL-OF-DADDY'S-TEES-OUT-OF-THE-DRESSER-BECAUSE-IT-MAKES-A-GREAT-PLAYING-PLACE. no directions needed.

Somewhere along the way, he lost his shirt- that's ok, bath time was next!

Each day that Aaron received the afternoon call from his principal that school was cancelled for the next day, you couldn't have heard a louder squeal and a better happy dance!! We were visited my our sweet neighbor friends Matt and Denise, and they brought with them yummy caramel hot chocolate. Matt and Aaron work together at the high school, and received their calls during our visit! We all sat back, and sipped our hot drinks, excited about another day off together... day 4!

I cannot remember a single time in my life that we have been school THIS many days in a row, besides the regular breaks!

We played inside Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday because of the FREEZER they call "outside". But what a different story from what fell FRIDAY ...buckets of SNOW!! {pics coming soon ...once we experience it. The boys are still sleeping, and I cannot wait to take Mekele out in it, at least for some pics!!}

MCBRIDE'S GETAWAY GIVEAWAY

2011-02-01T11:02:00.006-06:00

I was blessed to walk the adoption journey with my friend (and "neighbor") Mitzi! The McBrides were just one month ahead of us in the process, and got to go meet and love on Mekele just one month before we arrived!!

I had to add a photo, so here are our Hannah's Hope cuties once we were home!

Needless to say, the McBrides are a precious family in our lives, and we want to help them out any way we can!!

They are going back to Ethiopia to adopt a daughter!!

Check out what my friends the McBrides are up to!!

They are hosting a "Getaway Giveaway"!!
Funds raised go to funding their adoption!

You can purchase a Ugandan Necklace or Shirt of Hope and get a chance to win a FREE Marriage Conference! (Weekend to Remember)... and some other neat stuff...

You can check it out on their blog: www.growingmcbs.blogspot.com

WHAT'S HE SAYIN'?!!

2011-01-29T21:13:00.010-06:00

We have entered an exciting new territory ...the one where Mekele is communicating with words and signs and attempting bigger words that sound an awful lot like the real words!! He just sounds so stinkin' cute!

Would YOU like to PLAY a THRILLING round of ...WHAT'S HE SAYIN'?!!

...Oh, you DO??!

Ok, then let's get started!!

(cover up the answer below if you are prone to sneaking a peek. :) )

Without further adu...

Q: "o meal"

A: ...oatmeal

Q: "appejoo"

A: ...apple juice

Q: "ong joo"

A: ...orange juice

Q: "oppapo"

A: ...octopus

Q: "hippapo"

A: ...hippopotamus

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE...
Q: "aaica"

...Africa!! ...pointing to my Junk Posse Africa necklace

Thanks for playing WHAT'S HE SAYIN'?!! Round 1

BROTHERLY LOVE

2011-01-27T17:19:00.002-06:00

Every time we run up to our neighborhood grocery store, less than 2 minutes from our house, we are greeted by lots of smiling faces. That's just how they roll- they're friendly in that small-town way. Always sweet, and talking to Mekele and me, always how much he's grown, how cute his curls are, etc.

There is one bagger though that we like ...the most! HENRE, pronounced "On-ray".

We always go to his lane. Henre is from Nigeria, and I love to hear him speak with his BEAUTIFUL accent! He moved here to our town just months ago when he won an education lotto! He won the prize of coming to America for college! Wow... He will then return to Nigeria, bringing with him new skills and knowledge, and work.

Once while pushing the cart out to our car, he looked at Mekele, and said, in the kindest voice, "You are ...my brother." My eyes teared up. My son who does not understand what a brother is just yet, is considered a ...BROTHER. A brother to a precious young man from Africa.

We haven't seen him the past few grocery trips, and we miss seeing his sweet face and cheerful smile.

**I just know what a GREAT big brother Mekele is going to be some day, and we are looking forward to those sweet days full of brotherly love.

ONE LITTLE ERRAND

2011-01-26T14:50:00.005-06:00

Today we went to our first preschool open gym at a local gymnastics place! I showed Mekele pics online of where we were going before leaving, and his excited response when asked "Do you want to go play here?" was "Yessss!! Yahooo!!" with hands in fists and arms raised in celebration!! So funny.

So we get there, and his mouth dropped open, (more than it usually does), at all the stuff he could jump up and down on, swing forward and backward on, and climb over and through. For 2 hours, we played and played in a blow-up dinosaur, a gigantic blow-up whale, obstacle courses, trampolines, padded mats and wedges, foam cubes, and a dolphin swing hooked up to swinging trapeze bar! Toddlers and mommies were everywhere... we loved it!

It hit me again (like it does every day)... I am living my dream. My dream of being a mommy and playdates and soaking up each minute together has come true.

We live a little out of town. It takes 20 minutes to get to several playdates, fun activities, stores that we like to shop at, etc. and no, that's not crazy, but we would love to be closer to town. But when we go on playdates, we try to run a few other quick errands, to make better use of time and gas.

On the way home, we had enough time to make a stop at Party City before 1pm nap. I'm starting to do a little early birthday party planning for his May birthday. A kind worker named Franklin noticed Mekele, and said he loves his dreadlocks (his sweet curly Q's). Franklin commented on my Junk Posse Africa necklace, and I commented on his beautiful accent. He explained how he is from Nigeria, and moved here 12 years ago. I got to share about Ethiopia in our lives, and he said he could tell Mekele was Ethiopian when we walked in. He was thrilled to hear of our adoption, encouraged us to learn all we can about Ethiopia's beautiful and rich history, and was pleased that we were already incorporating his culture into our own. It was certainly a sweet conversation that started out of a search for Sesame Street b-day ideas, but ended in a conversation that is now the highlight of my day.

So glad we made time for one little errand.

QUICK CHRISTMAS RECAP

2011-01-24T12:05:00.009-06:00

Merry Christmas!! Christmas 2010 was simply the sweetest. This was our 2nd Christmas together!! Our 1st was a bit of a blur. Last year's December was spent packing and preparing for our trip to bring Mekele home, and arrived home just 5 days before Christmas. We were SO tired, and fell asleep opening gifts with both families. :)
We did not make Christmas cards last year. but this year we did!

Our first as a family of 3...

Our big outdoor tree pic...

We got to celebrate Christmas with our local Ethiopia group!!

Look at all those cuties with their brothers and sisters!!

We made goodies for friends! Funny story... We made goodies two days in a row, and he was eager to help. The first day we pushed a chair to the island for him to stand on. The second day, I was gathering all of our ingredients and getting the Christmas music on in another room. I return a minute later to see Mekele had pushed the chair back to the island, was on top, mixing all the sprinkle bowls together, and was already elbow deep in a cooking frenzy. I take it he likes to cook with mommy!

Our worship team at church had a tacky Christmas sweater/white elephant/game night party!! I may have been the only tacky dresser, but that's ok. I made this sweater with gigantic red bow and tinsel and fully expect that it get its annual use :)

We enjoyed several family traditions... our favorite being reading a different children's book about Jesus each day with Mekele, christmas movies, Paper chain countdown, drinking wassle and hot chocolate, and christmas eve service...

Christmas morning with his new elmo chair!! Let me say, it was an "Elmo" christmas!

On Christmas with our best friends/family {Aaron's brother and family}

Praying everyone had a blessed Christmas!

A LITTLE ADOPTION HUMOR

2011-01-23T21:36:00.003-06:00

I can't take credit for this- it was part of a recent email from AGCI. made me giggle. Hang in there, adoption friends!

A Little Adoption Humor

YOU KNOW YOU'RE ADOPTING WHEN...

You keep an extra copy of your dossier in your car just in case the house burns down.
You stalk the mail person on a regular basis.
You feel more connected to other adoption bloggers than you do to some members of your extended family.
You’ve had more yard sales this year than you have had in your entire life.
You are now on a first name basis with the employees at USCIS.
You worry about, dream about, and are completely in love with a child you have never met.
Your heart skips a beat when the phone rings.
You have given your Case Manager a special ringtone on your cell phone.

TOP 5 REASONS YOUR ADOPTION IS TAKING SO LONG...

Every government official in your country program has lost their pen.
A wild yak has eaten your dossier.
The whole world has gone to the Olympics and everything has shut down.
The mail courier carrying your adoption paperwork was attacked by a dog.
You did not print your dossier on bright orange paper and spritz it with perfume. You’ve got to stand out in that stack of dossiers!

WE DARE YOU TO...

Learn 200 words in your child’s birth language.
Check everything off your waiting stage checklist.
Refuse to get updated wait list numbers and let your referral time be a complete surprise.
Learn all of the recommended International Pediatrician on our list and memorize their phone numbers. (You can find this list on AGCI’s website, by the way.)
Get into the best shape of your life while you wait. Boston Marathon, here you come!
Be more aware of your immigration expiration dates than your Case Manager.
Go to every ethnic restaurant within a 50 mile radius of your home.

ENTER TO WIN...

2011-01-18T14:08:00.008-06:00

LEARNING TO BE blogger is holding a giveaway!! go here to Learning to Be blog or post your entries...

Enter to win a super cute personalized blocks!! Seriously cute stuff. Serious.

I am so excited to bring yall this super cute give away... The Sweet Bee has the cutest crafts but one of my favorite is the name blocks!! I found out about this little treasure after Copeland was born so I do not have one for him but I can not wait to get a set for the next baby. Since we are not welcoming number 2 anytime soon I wanted to offer them to you.

To Enter:
1. Follow this blog ----> and comment that you did so in this post.
2. Friend The Sweet Bee on FB and comment that you did so in this post
3. Leave a Comment if you will be using the block for yourself or as a gift, since it is fun to see all the different names out there you can include what name you would put on them if you choose.
4. Post a comment on your FB, twitter or blog about this giveaway and leave a comment for another chance to win.
That's 4 entry's if you do all of the above!

P.S. These don't have to be just for babies, great for any age kid, teacher or for an office desk. You could also do a family name for decor or a season/holiday.

The giveaway will end Wednesday, January 26th and the winner will be announced Thursday, January 27th.

Good LUck!!!!

U.S. CITIZEN IN THE HOUSE

2011-01-11T13:28:00.004-06:00

Amazed at God's perfect timing.... 3 events on consecutive days
Dec 13, 2009- first time to hold in our arms
and 1 day later...
Dec 14, 2009- U.S. Embassy Day

May 20, 2010- 1st birthday
and 1 day later...
May 21, 2010- Texas Re-adoption Court

Dec 13, 2010- 1 year together for Gotcha Day
and 1 day later...
Dec 14, 2010- U.S. Citizenship Day

We had to leave our house SO early to drive across the metroplex in rush hour, and make it to the ceremony by 7:30am. Glad Aaron was able to take the day off work with ease.

At the ceremony, waiting patiently with his bugs!

Aaron and little guy... Fingerprinting time

Parents of little kids were asked to take the oath for them. Our 18-month old "taking the oath" in true toddler style...
playing peekaboo.

snacking on goldfish & raisins.

picking Daddy's nose. Classic.

The large room was filled with a beautiful sea of faces, every shade and color. My favorite part was that each person got to stand and be recognized for their country. Wish I could sit and listen to each person's story.

Ethiopia still considers him a citizen, so in their country, he is a dual citizen!!

Muah, much love to you, Ethiopia!!

We spent the rest of our morning together eating breakfast at Chick-Fil-A and playing at the park.

U.S. Citizen in the House!!

DECEMBER 13

2011-01-11T11:30:00.005-06:00

Dec 13, 2009
the beautiful day we met our sweet boy. We couldn't wait a second longer to finally be at Hannah's Hope and to scoop him up in our arms!

and 1 beautiful year later and filled with indescribably joy, we celebrate our first Gotcha Day....

Dec 13, 2010

We reminisced with photos of our meeting.

We lit a blue candle in his birthmother's and grandfather's honor as a beautiful reminder of them and their gift.

We got down to Ethiopian music all day.

We ate Africa-shaped pb & j's for lunch. Next purchase: Africa cookie cutter. :)

Mekele got to drink "coffee" - water out of a coffee mug. One of his first words was "coffee", and he has been trying for months to drink some. :)

We made Ethioipian Dabo Bread together.

We prayed for Ethiopia. its orphans. its future. We celebrated his home country.

We ate Ethiopian food at home. Three of his young cousins and Aunt Amy came over to eat and celebrate 1 year.

Mekele and his cousins learned some sweet Ethiopian dance moves. (You can skip ahead to 10 seconds and see Mekele getting down and while you're at it, go ahead and ignore my repetitive voice) :)

His Papa and Grandma came over for ice cream and he opened a few gifts. a hat we bought him while in country and an elephant letter M tee I made him.

We celebrated. We thanked God. We praised Him for His gift to our family. We rejoiced. We prayed for the 147 million + children in the world who are still waiting for their forever families.

"Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things. Let this be known to all the world." Isaiah 12:5.

LOVE T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY

2011-01-11T08:15:00.003-06:00

Check out this fun t-shirt giveaway on our travel buddies', the Derloshons, blog!!

We are doing our first ever giveaway!!!! You will win an awesome Love Africa T-shirt designed by my amazing husband, Adam.

You could be the one lucky winner to get a free T-shirt!!!!

We are selling these T's to raise funds for Adam's upcoming mission trip.

Here is what you need to do:

Leave a comment for each thing that you do. You can have up to 4 entries!!!!

1 entry for posting about this giveaway on Facebook -linking people to our blog
1 entry for posting about this giveaway on your blog -linking people to our blog
1 entry if you order a shirt/or Acacia bead necklace (email me to see all of our necklaces $20 plus shipping) (the order for shirt or necklace must be placed during this week - Jan 10 -17th sorry not valid on previous shirt or necklace orders) - you can order a shirt and maybe win one for a loved one :)
1 entry if you become a follower of our blog

This give away will run from today January 10th through January 17th...contest will end at 11:59 EST. We will let you know who the winner is on January 18th!

LIFE'S A PICNIC

2011-01-06T08:43:00.017-06:00

Life is totally a picnic! Spread out a blanket, set out some food, sip some lemonade, laugh and tell stories, play games. These are precious days.

We have been having a picnic chasing our toddler! We praise God for our days together, and try to soak up all the sweet family time we can. We love our days together, and we love the evenings and weekends when Aaron is home. Each day is a blessing. Already I think back, how is he already 19 months old?? I'm even starting to make 2 year old b-day plans in my head for May featuring Elmo, Ernie, Abby, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster- I love how much he loves the Sesame Street characters!

Its been a few months since I have posted anything, besides on FB. We have been doing some super fun stuff and watching Mekele grow like a weed and learn more each day. Much of it is quite outdated, but bear with me... I'm going to print the blog some day, and I want him to always know how much we celebrate him, Ethiopia, and play dates with friends who are also from Ethiopia.

In the Fall, I received some new pics from our trip to Nashville that I wanted to include.
We caravanned with our AGCI and fellow Texan friends, the Hulls, to Nashville TN for the AGCI picnic back in August! Little Finn here with us at the rest stop in Memphis.

Meeting the Prusts

Enjoying some friend and family time at the rainy day picnic. Loved watching all the kids splash around the kiddie pools with their friends.

How much fun it was to meet lots of AGCI blog friends in person! How sweet it was to see all our Hannah's Hope cuties playing together again, this time in TN!

We were treated with such warm hospitality by the Peters family as they opened their home up to us all weekend. Precious memories of talking to the whole family, precious pics of our boys all together again since Hannah's Hope. and simply a precious family.

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We caravanned back to Texas again with the Hulls and the Albrights got to join us. 3 cutie patooties enjoying the good life... at Cracker Barrel. :)

PIZZA WITH THE RUSHES

2011-01-06T08:43:00.016-06:00

In November, we got to meet the Rushes in person, in our home!!

This fellow AGCI family was introduced to me by a shared friend early on in our adoption. They were just a few months ahead of us in the process, so I always enjoyed hearing from her. She picked up her daughter in Sept, around the time when new babies were arriving, and she thinks she saw our Mekele then!!

She and her little crew were road tripping it from New Mexico to Florida. Of course, I was so excited that they were coming through North Texas, and thrilled they would be stopping at our house! That Friday night, our two families joined together by a passion for adoption and with two precious additions from Ethiopia, sat and shared a pizza.

Mekele was so giddy and silly as soon he saw Havi, like he knew of our marriage plans for them. haha. It made for a funny photo session with the kids being silly and rocking back on the couch moving... this is what my camera produced...

This is what Leah's camera caught!! Much better!!

PLAYDATE WITH THE LOWES

2010-11-07T23:58:00.011-06:00

We drove to Ft. Worth one day recently to meet up with our friends the Lowes. (...plus Mekele sitting in on the love).
Anna and Chris brought home their boys from Ethiopia before we did, and are returning to Ethiopia within the year to bring home 2 more brothers!! The Lowes moved back to China on Sunday, so we soaked up every minute with them during our visit.

We met at the Botanical Gardens with cameras, diaper bags, blankets, lunches, and boys in tow. The 6 of us enjoyed 2 relaxing hours outside on the lawns. The weather was awesome... first day in Texas to need a light jacket... bliss. We all sat and enjoyed our picnic lunches.

Chris took our 3 toddlers out to run in the field. Loved seeing them play together. Mekele is the youngest, but we couldn't get over how they were all EXACTLY the same height!! Goodness, he has really caught up since our last playdate together in April to the zoo. See that post here to see how much older the boys look. So much has changed!! the walking, running, talking, signing, feeding himself. it's crazy!

Sweet mommy moments for me when I see Mekele walking away to play, but still waving back to me, and I could hear him saying "hi... hi... hi" and smiling.

Running back me! Oh, be still my heart.

What a little stud muffin.

Oh, I know a day will come, when he will not choose me over his friends, so I am soaking up every little bit now with my mama's boy!! This boy's got my heart. Yes, indeed, he does. :) Next to his daddy, of course!

They drummed on benches, the ground, trees, etc and Chris and the boys sang and danced to an African song! Mekele was SO into it! He's been drumming on everything since that day. coffee tables. electrical boxes outside/at the park. on books. whatever he can get his drumming hands on. {looks like we need to give the toy drum from Ethiopia as his Gotcha Day gift coming up in December!}

These cuties wanted to sit on these steps for a snack. Seriously how adorable are these three?!

The hugs!! Don't get me started on the hugs!! The hold position lasted for a crazy long time. I guess they wanted an extra sweet send off for China! Their expressions were priceless. I pray their friendship grows strong through the years. What a blessing they will be to each other.

And what a blessing their mommy Anna was to me in college, and now as we raise our beautiful Ethiopian boys. What a joy it has been to share a passion for orphans and Ethiopia! Love you, Lowes!!!

ADDISABABY ART ON FB

2010-10-29T13:37:00.005-05:00

Hi! I'm spending my beautiful Friday working on orders, and have received a few messages from peeps having trouble finding AddisAbaby Art on FB. My dear friend Rachel designed an adorable logo for me that will be up soon, but for now it is a pink
damask Africa.

Try this...

OR this...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/AddisAbaby-Art/122810307775402?ref=ts

Already, though, we have 129 fans since last Sunday, so we are having fun watching the # grow and the orders coming in! Truly a blessing!!

ADDIS ABABY ART

2010-10-26T15:17:00.007-05:00

Introducing AddisAbaby Art!!

Excited to share that we decided to start a Facebook page for all the things I've been making!
On Facebook, search AddisAbaby Art- you'll see a pink damask Africa.
Then, "like" my page, and become a fan!!
There will be lots of updates and new artwork posted often.

Applique Shirts {Africas, other countries, birdies, cupcakes, trees, ladybugs, rockets, you name it!}
Letter & Number Shirts {M is for Mekele, to celebrate those special b-days}
Painted Canvases {currently two friends have asked to work on tree paintings}
Papered Canvases {made fun with scrapbook paper and a favorite verse or quote}
Tutus {simply too cute!}
and more!!!!

Proceeds go towards my bringing in some moolah as a SAHM and eventually towards our family's future adoption(s). ;)

Thanks!!

ANDERSON FAMILY

2010-10-21T01:48:00.003-05:00

A few Friday nights ago, a new friend Jodi held a benefit night called OnE LoVe AdOpTiOn!!

The Anderson family is in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. Oh the joy of driving to one of our school district's elem. schools (point being that this is REALLY local!!) to support an adopting family! There were praise bands (a good friend Matt was playing!), t-shirt sales (They are still selling shirts if you want one, only $15), raffles, face painting, candy sales, orphan awareness to the public, and more. A moving video was shown explaining how much 147 million orphans in the world truly is. Praying for open and tender hearts as this video was shown...

This adoption-lovin' family already has welcomed two AdOrAbLe girls from China, and are now thrilled to have mailed off their dossier, and waiting for the CALL for their two Ethiopian boys!! {Praying for you, Jodi, as you wait upon the Lord's perfect and precious timing!! Can't wait for our boys to be buddies!!}

JENKINS FAMILY

2010-10-20T12:52:00.007-05:00

On Saturday Mekele and I got to do some shopping at my friend Debi's adoption garage sale!! ...Talk about huge sale! Their church members, family, friends all donated items to the Jenkin's garage sale, enough to fill their front yard, driveway, and around in the back!! Needless to say, we walked away with lots of fun goodies for our home!

Debi and I also did an AdOpTiOn T-sHiRt TrAdE!!! She traded me one her family's "Defending Orphans" tees in exchange for one of my fabric Africa shirts! We are wearing the shirts in the above pic, but here in her blog with more info! She has more shirts and sweatshirts in white, beige, and pink available for men, women, and children.

Love adding another fun adoption tee to my collection! The more we wear, the more awareness we can bring to adoption!

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed." Psalms 82:3

I traded her one of my custom fabric Africa shirts ...she chose a white women's fit tee with this adorable fabric {forgot to take a pic of the finished product}

Debi and I kept having intertwining circles of friends/family... Her younger daughter is coached in soccer by my brother-in-law Brian, her husband is the team dr. for FC Dallas where my husband coaches, and my neighbor friend a few houses down said we had to meet. So we met (at another garage sale!), we have lots in common, and I just love her to pieces! Follow Debi's family's journey to her son in Ethiopia! She doesn't know who he is yet, but God sure does! So excited to celebrate with her when she gets that CALL! Looking forward to our boys being buddies!

PLAYDATE WITH THE "CURLY HEADED BROS."

2010-10-19T15:57:00.013-05:00

Friday morning, Mekele and I drove only 25 minutes up the highway to meet up with these two sweet boys

The last time we saw them was at Hannah's Hope Ethiopia, being sweet and loving to our "Aaronie"

These 4 AGCI cuties + plus 1 little sister + 2 big sisters + 2 Adoption-Lovin' Mommies played cars, talked, ate lunch, and enjoyed the day together.

What a blessing to spend the day together talking about Ethiopia, sharing our hearts for adoption, and watching our gifts from God play together ...again!

COFFEE

2010-10-11T20:30:00.008-05:00

Perhaps I really love my coffee. Just a little.

And someone is noticing.

Perhaps I underestimate the amount of energy it takes to be a toddler. Maybe I misjudged that all that toddler energy was just natural.

Because I have a little man on my hands who now makes personal requests. The little Mr. follows my coffee mug around all day, and every time I take a sip, clear as day, requests "Coffee, Coffee". Mommy didn't take the hint, so he signs "Please". Mommy's not biting, so he makes one more clear request "Coffee", and points to my coffee. almost like... "Hello, mommy, share some of that goodness." ...How fun it will be MANY years from now when we can sit together, talking about life, God, family, and the latest in our lives. But for now, sweet boy... I don't think so.

Yes. I went out by myself, and had a great time at... yes, WalMart. on a Friday night. You get my point. I thoroughly enjoyed browsing the aisles. no rushing. no baby. no husband. just me. it was bliss.

Look what I found at WalMart last Friday night. Ethiopian. Fair Trade.

We recently watched the documentary Black Gold about the coffee business in Ethiopia. It made me definitely more aware of the plight of the Ethiopian coffee farmer. How the family grows this coffee tree for 5 years, depending on it as their source of income. When they take it to sell to the big businesses, they are given $5 for their tree and all that hard work. I know I am just barely skimming the surface of the importance of buying Fair Trade, and I still have much to learn, but for now, here are some ways I can help make a difference in my coffee-loving home.

Sam's Choice Ethiopian Fair Trade
www.justlovecofee.com/HelmsHappenings.com
www.Gobena.org

SHOPPING FOR A CAUSE

2010-10-07T20:21:00.003-05:00

(I SNAGGED THIS POST FROM MEGAN AT DOMESTICATED DIVA

Shopping For A Cause

After a thought-provoking blog post from my sister-in-law Laura about "Buying with a purpose", I began to compile a list of all the families and ministries I knew that were fundraising or selling merchandise to support their calling. Thank you to all the families who shared their blogs with me. Special thanks to Christi who also compiled some names and shared ideas with me! And a HUGE thank you to Laura for inspiring this list and for forwarding even MORE links my way! I hope this helps as you prepare for your holiday shopping this year. Please feel free to share this list on YOUR blogs to help raise awareness to all these great fundraisers and ultimately, God's calling to care for the orphans!

You can share by grabbing our button {below} or posting a blog about "Shopping For A Cause". Thank you for helping all these amazing families and ministries!

If you would like YOUR fundraiser to be added to this list, please email me at bringourangelhome@gmail.com

Apparel:
147 Gear Store
5 Million Children Looking Tshirt
A Road Home Tshirt
Adoption Rocks Shirts
Adoption Rocks Tshirt
Africa Bound Andrews Etsy Store
Change The World For One Shirts
Compassion Store
Dolka Pots Etsy Store
Each Of Us Matters & Isaiah 1:17 Shirts
Faith Hope Love Family Tshirt
Fatherless Find Compassion Tshirt
Feeding The Orphans Tshirt
From Lost To Found Tshirt
Fulmer Adoption Tshirt
Go-Seek-Love Shirts
Haggerty's Adoption Shirts
Heart of Africa Shirts
HOPE & Love Is Not A Color Shirts
I Need Africa Tshirt
I Will Not Leave You As Orphans Shirts
I'm Adopted, You're Adopted Tshirt
Light Gives Heat Store
Mocha Club Store
Nepal Tshirt
One Family & Chosen Shirts
One Less Tshirt
Only Love Tshirt
Pitter Patter Art - Custom Shirts
Poppy Dip Clothes
Red Yellow Black White Love Tshirt
Show Love Tshirt
Still One Awaits Tshirt
Twinkle & Shine Store
What Can Your Shirt Do? Tshirt
WIPHAN Store
{adoption} Shirts

Cookbooks:
Mulder Adoption Cookbook
WIPHAN Cookbook

Jewelry:
147 Gear - Uganda Necklaces
Adopting Ainsley Etsy Store
Beads of Hope
Chosen Adoption Necklace
Chosen Child Adoption Band
Coffee Bean Bracelets
Fulmer Adoption Bottlecap Necklaces
Jenkin's Journey To Ethiopia Etsy Store
JunkPosse Etsy Store
Kind Hearts & Trees of Glory Bottlecap Necklaces
Life A Bit Sweeter Etsy Store
Light Gives Heat Suubi Shop
Lovin' Much Adoption Bracelet
Mama Sheep Etsy Store
Next To My Heart Etsy Store
Orphaned No More - 3,000 Bracelets Campaign
Paracord Survival Bracelets
Sweet Tea Shoppe Etsy Store
Uganda Necklaces

Bags & Totes:
Craft and Couture Etsy Store
Haggerty's Adoption Bags
Hunt's Adoption Totebags
Light Gives Heat Store
One Family Tote
Pitter Patter Art - Custom Bags
Twinkle Stitch Etsy Store

Hair Accessories:
Africa Bound Andrews Etsy Store
Bring Our Angel Home Fabric Flower Headbands
Dolka Pots Etsy Store
WaxBoyd Etsy Store

Artwork:
Ahni Art
Handcrafted Metal Art Etsy Store
Pitter Patter Art
The Canvas Heart Etsy Store

Christmas:
A Day In The Life Christmas Cards
Embracing The Least Of These Ornaments
Jenkin's Journey To Adoption Etsy Store

Aprons:
Craft and Couture Etsy Store
Dockery Bambino Aprons
Haggerty's Adoption Aprons

Misc:
Africa Vinyl Decals
BabyCouture4aCause Etsy Store - Rhinestone Baby Shoes
Dolka Pots Etsy Store
Galindo's Tagsies, Burpcloths, and Binky Links
Little Wonder's Project Etsy Store
Mama Enat Etsy Store
MathesLindsay Etsy Store
Wine Glass Charms

BABY SIGNS

2010-10-06T11:24:00.005-05:00

I just have to say how much fun it has been teaching Mekele sign language! Its has been the greatest tool we have used as parents- whoever thought of this is a genius!! My parents used to teach sign language, and now after working with Mekele (and also performing a few songs for VBS with signs) I totally understand their passion and interest in the language! How cool is it that before our babies are speaking with words, they are able to express themselves and still get their points across. I believe that using baby signs has eliminated frustrations and tantrums from communication. It so fun to watch him learn new signs and start using them, as his verbal vocabulary grows alongside.

Here are a list of the signs he uses on a regular basis.

GREETINGS in sign... hi. bye.

MANNERS in sign... please. thank you.

BASIC NEEDS in sign... sleep. bath. play. stop. all done. shoes. Daddy.

MEALTIME NEEDS in sign... eat. more. water. cracker. apple. grapes. (cut in half) :)

OTHER RANDOM WORDS in sign... fan. hot. cold. book.

And just this morning he added... airplane. flower.

GIGGLY BOY & A BALL

2010-10-05T21:41:00.007-05:00

Mekele has added the word "ball" to his growing verbal and baby signs vocabulary. ...So in honor of a new word today, enjoy a walk down memory lane with me...

Weeks after coming home in December, rolling around with a ball.

In March, learning how to put the balls into the giraffe.

In April, loving the ball pit!

One of my favorite videos ever- with our little gigglebox and a ball. Pardon my left-footed kick, which might happen to bump off his head! Its a very bouncy ball at least!

AFRICA ONESIES

2010-09-30T00:39:00.005-05:00

fabric africa
machine stitched (may not be shown)
these are made in 6-9 month size
$12 each and $2 to ship

ERGO BABY CARRIER CONTEST

2010-09-29T23:33:00.004-05:00

Check out this great contest! Winner gets an Ergo Baby Carrier!!

www.heavenlyhold.com/pages/contest.htm

Friends loaned us their Ergo baby carrier for our trip to Ethiopia, and it was so comfy and provided great support! Highly recommend it, especially for your toddlers and babies with extra sweet poundage!

1 YEAR AFTER THE CALL

2010-09-24T01:42:00.006-05:00

Sept 10, 2009 was an unforgettable day. Amazing. I will never forget the feeling and emotions of the day. The day we got our Call (ahhh..) and first heard about our son and saw his face for the first time. God carried us through every step of the adoption process, and we were in shock and awe that it was time. It was time to meet the boy that God had planned for our family. Praise Jesus.

If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day. -HABAKKUK 2:3-

Julie's name and # show up on my caller ID, in addition to the special ring I set her to, so I would stop jumping at every phone call. haha She started the amazing call, and tried to conference Aaron in, but of course he wasn't answering b/c he was in class!!
So we hung up, so we could take the call together. So now I had an hour to freshen up, pray, run around the house, scream, and hit the roof on my adrenaline and giddiness levels. It was a fun hour, knowing its just minutes now...

I was shaking. my hands. my voice. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

Aaron was still teaching, so I told him I was on my way to the school in time for his conference to take the call together. In his classroom. We sat in student desks. Funny. Kinda weird. :)

In shock and teary when we heard his name is Aaron... Still just as amazing to us!

We heard all about him, how he is from the town of Mekele (paperwork showed Mekelle, but after researching found several different spellings). During the Call, thought how beautiful the town name is too, and that it would be special to add.
(Meck-uh-lay)

Time to see his photos, but we didn't have much time at all to view them before his next class came in. Serioulsy, we are talking a passing period in high school. It was either then or much later in the evening after he gets home from coaching, so we did the impatient thing. haha Looking back, we probably should have waited until the evening when we could have more time at home, and together sitting on the couch, open the emailed pics together with the video going, but at the time...YEA RIGHT!!! I couldn't wait seven or so more hours to meet our son in photos!! All of my patient waiting for 9 months since we first started the process came to a screeching halt, and we had to see him! :) We opened 3 photos, but I have left one off out of respect for his birthmother since she is pictured.

Our breaths stopped. We oohed, awed, and eyes filled with tears. He is just the most beautiful little mister. 3 months of 17 pound chubby goodness. For a year now, I have been lost in those brown eyes, his beautiful cartoon-esqe perfect kissy lips, and his now luscious curly Q's.

For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I have asked of him. 1 Samuel 1:27

FROM ETHIOPIA TO THE BEACH...

And how did we celebrate our Referral Anniversary?? We were on our way to Florida , and the first stop of the day was Fort Walton Beach, 6 miles from Destin. So we relaxed and played all day at the ocean with our little man! This was Aaron Mekele's first trip to the beach, first time to see that much water, first time to touch sand, first time to feel those crashing waves, first time to taste that salty water, first time to see and hear the seagulls. He LOVED it, and what new precious memories we made to celebrate a forever amazing day in our lives.

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It was a good day. Certainly feeling blessed by the Mighty One.

PARK PLAYDATE

2010-09-22T22:58:00.009-05:00

We just returned from spending a precious week with my best friend Brooke in Florida. When she comes back to Texas, we always make it a priority to meet up for lunch, a playdate, etc. But it does always have to be under a bit of a timeconstraint since they have so much family to see. So we loved every second of our whole week together in Florida. From watching our kids play together to feeding ducks at the pond to Target shopping to making yummy cupcakes to going to church (she even volunteered me to work in the church nursery- haha!) to taking walks in the neighborhood to her daughter's ballet class to naptime. It was a sweet time of doing "real life" together.

The highlight of our week was getting to meet Miss K and her mommy!! I got to love on Miss K at Hannah's Hope, so it was so much fun to see her again in real life. Of course, I loved getting to talk to C in person- all of our chats, had been through blogs and FB. We met at a park for some playtime and all enjoyed some tacos for dinner afterwards!

AUGUST 31, 2009

2010-09-08T00:28:00.007-05:00

A little over a year ago on August 31, a 3-month old baby boy was moved from a government-run orphanage to Hannah's Hope. His most recent home now changing as he is moved to Hannah's Hope, AGCI's orphanage and transitional home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

I try to imagine what this day was like for our sweet boy... He is picked up by Almaz, Woss, Johannes, or the sweet nurse. He is carried to the van, and held in the lap of his caretaker for the bumpy car ride. His curious eyes taking it all in. He hears new sounds of honking car horns and the sound of traffic. He is gently reminded in Amharic that everything is going to be ok, to not be scared. The AGCI van arrives and passes through the infamous red metal gate. He hears the sounds of children playing and laughing. He is greeted by the new faces of kids and special mothers. We sees warm smiles, and is hugged and kissed. He is affectionately nicknamed "Arronie". Does he have any idea how loved he is?

Across the globe, God is preparing two giddy first-time parents (to-be) for the most exciting day of our journey to our little one yet. Since June and through the rainy season, we were excitedly awaiting our monthly # updates, and were thrilled to be moving closer and closer up (or is it down?) the waiting list to #1. All the while, we were praying for, dreaming of our little man and planning to be parents. Do you know just how much Mommy and Daddy love you, sweet boy?

(ALMOST) WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2010-09-01T12:39:00.003-05:00

I. LOVE. THIS. BOY.
(never done a WW before, so this is as wordless as you'll get me- beyond just not posting for months).
Enjoying our rainy Wednesday indoors!! Hope you're having a good one too!

1 Hat, 2 Hat, 3 Hat, 4

2010-08-29T23:15:00.012-05:00

ok, I confess there is one baby wardrobe accessory that makes me go weak in the knees.
HATS!!
I'm a sucker for this cutie and then when you put him in a hat!! goodness...

Just as his noggin is covered in hats, his head is covered in even more prayers. So thankful for him!

ETHIOPIAN-TEXANS

2010-08-28T15:11:00.004-05:00

Or "TEX-OPIAN"s haha

In July, we were invited to join SEVERAL other Ethiopia adoptive families in the Fort Worth area for a get-together at the Alexanders' home! The Alexanders' Gotcha Day video was actually our first ever to see, so it was special to meet this precious family and Mr. Abe himself!

During the summer, Abe and his brother Eyasu mailed Mekele a pair of his TOMS!!!! Seriously, how sweet is that?! It was fun for Mekele to get to thank them in person!

There was LOTS of delicious food.

LOTS of great conversations.

LOTS of faces we recognized from blogworld.

LOTS of swimmers and splashers.

LOTS of older kids and siblings playing sports.

And LOTS of cutie-patooties!!

We had a truly wonderful time! It was well-worth the drive across the metroplex in traffic, and getting a little turned around!

Thanks so much for your hospitality, Alexanders!!! It was a blessing to finally meet you and your precious crew in person!!

TODDLER IN THE HOUSE

2010-08-27T00:11:00.002-05:00

Caution: EXTREMELY scary post, enter at your own risk

Toddlerhood is upon us at the Pratt house. (dun, dun, DUN!)

Where on any given day... (pause for emphasis)
you will find Mekele The Toddler... (mysterious music plays)

Recycling our clothes.

Adding chaos to our organized bathroom drawers. (AAHHHHH!!)

Carrying an array of t-shirts for me to wear... THEN all of a sudden deciding they go better in the wet tub.

Trying to give his hair lotions a run-through in the dishwasher. (TELL ME, IT ISN'T SO. IT IS!!)

Putting on a pulse-pounding blanket show.

Ahhh!!! Its the TODDLER!!

What will he do next?
Where will he toddle to?
Nobody or thing is safe b/c a TODDLER (dun, dun, DUN) is on the loose!!
Lock your baby gates.
Cover your electric outlets.
Hide your phone and tv remotes.

He's a ...TODDLER (slow motion)
and he's getting into everything
AND I do mean ...EVERYTHING!!!

A YEAR AFTER THE CALL

2010-08-26T01:23:00.014-05:00

Sept 10, 2009 was an unforgettable day. Amazing. I will never forget the feeling and emotions of the day. The day we got our Call (ahhh..) and first heard about our son and saw his face for the first time. God carried us through every step of the adoption process, and we were in shock and awe that it was time. It was time to meet the boy that God had planned for our family. Praise Jesus.

Julie's name and # show up on my caller ID, in addition to the special ring I set her too, so I would stop jumping at every phone call. haha She started the amazing call, and tried to conference Aaron in, but of course he wasn't answering b/c he was in class!!
So we hung up, so we could take the call together. So now I had an hour to freshen up, pray, run around the house, scream, and hit the roof on my adrenaline and giddiness levels. It was a fun hour, knowing its just minutes now...

I was shaking. my hands. my voice. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

Aaron was still teaching, so I told him I was on my way to the school in time for his conference to take the call together.

In shock and teary when I heard his name is Aaron... Still just as amazing to us!

We heard all about him, how he is from the town of Mekele (paperwork showed Mekelle, but after researching found several different spellings). During the Call, thought how beautiful the town name is too, and that it would be special to add.
(Meck-uh-lay)

Time to see his photos, but we didn't have much time at all to view them before his next class came in. Serioulsy, we are talking a passing period in high school. It was either then or much later in the evening after he gets home from coaching, so we did the impatient thing. haha Looking back, we probably should have waited until the evening when we could have more time at home, and together sitting on the couch, open the emailed pics together with the video going, but at the time...YEA RIGHT!!! I couldn't wait seven or so more hours to meet our son in photos!! All of my patient waiting for 9 months since we first started the process came to a screeching halt, and we had to see him! :) We opened 3 photos, but I have left one off out of respect for his birthmother since she is pictured.

And how did we celebrate our Referral Anniversary?? We were on our way to Florida , and the first stop of the day was Fort Walton Beach, 6 miles from Destin. So we relaxed and played all day at the ocean with our little man! This was Aaron Mekele's first trip to the beach, first time to see that much water, first time to touch sand, first time to feel those crashing waves, first time to taste that salty water, first time to see and hear the seagulls. He LOVED it, and what new precious memories we made to celebrate a forever amazing day in our lives.

href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v5AkIjmw0Rs/TJxF1Y8GO6I/AAAAAAAABjE/qzuIDnxHB9E/s1600/P9101404.JPG">

It was a good day.

AGCI @ NASHVILLE

2010-08-26T01:17:00.016-05:00

Aaron, Mekele, and I met up on the road with Kim Hull and her crew and all caravanned together to Nashville

for our AGCI annual picnic! So much fun meeting so many adoption friends in person at the park, and seeing all of our Hannah's Hope cuties splashing and playing together!

We were blessed to stay with the Peters family for the weekend, and It was fun to reunite with their precious boys that we got to love on at Hannah's Hope! We were treated and blessed by all their hospitality and generosity in opening up their home to a family they met through adoption blogging, sharing meals together, playing in the backyard, talking over coffee, attending their church that sunday!

On the drive home with Kim Hull and Finn, we got to also meet up with Renee Albright and Noah from Maryland, coming to spend some time in Texas.

Goodness (now in 2011), these photos bring back the sweetest of memories!

WE HEART ETHIOPIAN PLAYDATES!!

2010-08-26T01:07:00.019-05:00

How sweet are playdates with little Ethiopia friends! Its been so fun to see Mekele play with friends, and such a joy for me to make friends with their mommies. Blog friends turn real life friends is a blessing I didn't expect!

PLAYDATE IN DALLAS:
Mekele, Finny, and Elijah enjoying some Jason's Deli yumminess. Kim, Mitzi, and I enjoyed the chatting.

Then we let them out to climb around at a park. That is, if you can walk.

And if swings are more your style...

PLAYDATE TO THE FORT WORTH ZOO:
We met several friends from college at the Fort Worth Zoo!

My sweet friend Anna also just arrived home within the year with her precious boys Nehemiah and Ezekiel! Looking forward to our boys being good friends as they grow older! It definitely got off to the right start with the oh so cultural male hand-holding!

There was a roaring lion behind me, and another one roaring in my arms!

My favorite animal pic of all time! kissy-kissy!

Amused, obviously

Anna and me at the end of a long, hot day. Only God knew that we would be friends in college, be in the same bible study, and years later get back in touch during our adoptions from Ethiopia! Praise God for such a beautiful blessing!

PLAYDATE IN OKLAHOMA CITY:
In August, we traveled to OKC for a soccer tournament. The first thing I did was try to set up playdates with blog friends. I looked forward to meeting Rebecca.

What a treat that our hubbies got to be there too since it was a Saturday. We all enjoyed talking adoption over for a delicious lunch, coffee, and dessert.

Elijah showed Mekele his car ramp, and they spent a long time racing their cars!

Then they played with Memory cards. Mekele was interested in transferring one or two cards at a time to the top of a wooden chair in the kitchen.

They had a blast jumping on the trampoline!

Maybe we can plan a playdate with you!!

TX RE-ADOPTION

2010-08-25T23:02:00.014-05:00

Better is one day, Better is one day in your COURTS!

Re-adoption was such an easy process. Too easy, really. We used adoption attorney David Cole. We provided him copies of all the documents he needed, paid our fees, and he handled all the paperwork on his end. He asked us which Friday we could attend the court hearing. On May 21, the day after Mekele turned 1, we went to court. Thought that would be a special way to celebrate him. We got up very early, stopped for coffee (of course), and met David Cole in downtown Dallas at the courts.

We all waited in the hallway while each case was heard. For about an hour we got to chat with other adoptive families, all were domestic. Some flew in from Georgia, another from Houston. Others drove from far West Texas. It was a sweet time. (Would you look at all those tired eyes?!)

About every 10 minutes, David would walk out for another family. Everyone cheered and congratulated the new adoption! For the domestic adoptions, this was their first court appt.

It brought back memories of our Nov 10, 2009 Ethiopian court appt. Remembering that Addis Ababa is 9 hours ahead of Texas, I know I woke in the middle of the night and spent all day praying and waiting to hear if all the details happened to make Aaron a Pratt. We prayed for peace, patience, God's timing, his birthmother and family. 2 days later on Nov 12, we were called with the news of our court appt! I was out with my friend Cynda, who snapped pics of the call. The emotions of that sweet day are still so strong.

phone ringing its special ring for Julie @ AGCI. "Hi, Julie!!" This is it.

Listening, Its sounding good...

Its great news!! We passed the first time!! The song Better is One Day...Better is One Day in Your Courts played in my head. (Please ignore crazy face. I put this one on here to show the emotion. haha) I had to hold my arm b/c my hand was shaking a lot!

We are parents... teary and shocked

We are his parents!!! Praising God for this amazing gift in our lives!! Awkward hold of my pinky to somehow control the shaking. Baby, we'll be there soon!! We're going to Ethiopia!!

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. John 14:18

Now back to May 21, 2010 in TX.
I, state your name, do solemnly swear...

Humbled and excited.

Thanks, your Honor!

We left that day with a TX birth certificate for our Ethiopian son, which is funny to me, but is going to make things easy in the long run. And we changed his name legally. Our Aaron Aaron Pratt became Aaron Gebre Mekele Pratt
Aaron- birthname
Gebre- named after his precious, beautiful mother Gebriela
Mekele- city where he was born
Pratt- yep, he's a Pratt now!

Like the Staples button, "that was easy."

PLAYING CATCH UP

2010-08-23T23:24:00.002-05:00

Alright, I have completely fallen off the blog!! Its ok ...though I do miss connecting with you, reading your posts, praying for you, seeing your adorables, and writing about the newest day to day in our lives. For my b-day back in April, Aaron gave me a certificate to get our adoption blog turned into a book, to document our adoption journey to Mekele and for Mekele to understand how we waited and prayed for him. I want to get that book made, so I have some blogwork to do! We are happy, healthy, and are praising our King for this new chapter in our lives. I have updated FB a lot, with the funny things he does to keep me in stitches and my heart melting...

blowing kisses meant as kisses and also for "thank you"
how he climbs on my back now for rides and silliness
how when we nap together and i need to get up, in his sleep, he pulls me closer, arms around my neck, legs around my waist.
how he claps for himself and has the sweetest laugh
how he loves to "jumpdance" to music
how he likes to help me with laundry, and by helping, I mean putting my clothes into recycling, and loading/unloading
how he helps me with the dishwasher, and by that I mean, taking all the spoons to the coffee table or living room floor.
how he loves his baby signs, and so do we!!
how much he loves his bubbles in the bath!

So where was I? oh yes, I have been good with updating FB with pics of our last 8 months home, but updating the blog with stories - uh, not so much. Blogger fail, i know. I know I only have one baby, but I have yet to find the way to blog anymore. I am way impressed with all you mommies of 2, 3, 4, and more who manage their blog and it all! I am going to really try to make it a priority again, bc I do so enjoy blogworld! Baby steps, pun intended.

MARCH's first trip to the park

APRIL's being a stud muffin

MAY's love for the ball pit

JUNE's picnic with Mommy and Daddy

JULY's giddiness for bubble baths

AUGUST's being a teeny rockstar

I am not going to continue my month wrapup like I had started with January and February b/c the truth is, its August now, and I would be working on March, and thats just crazy. All in all, we love having Aaron Gebre Mekele home! He is now 15 months old. He started walking in June, is working on his 10th tooth, loves to eat EVERYTHING, uses baby signs and his emerging language, and loves BANANAS, BATHS, BOOKS, BRUSHING HIS TEETH, and of course, ELMO!!

See you SOON!! :)

FEBRUARY

2010-07-01T13:41:00.001-05:00

He was well on his way of eating baby foods. I was enjoying making his foods. It is so much easier than I expected!

His cute little sense of humor was out, and he always had us in stitches.

Such a playful boy! Loving our game, and making lots of new sounds!

He started army-crawling, and was done with rolling. Look at the determination!! :) I can hear the Rocky music, can you?

Seeing his first snow!! He had a bad cold, so he didn't get to go outside. He just had to look from the window, poor guy. ...Oh, and his finger is bent here. He has all his fingers. :)

Seriously adorable little face!

Mommy and Mekele all bundled up from the Texas snow!!

Unfortunately in February, my cousin lost her battle with stomach cancer, and we needed to travel for the funeral. This was much sooner than we planned for Mekele to meet the big family. We knew this was earlier than planned to take him on a 5-hour road trip and to meet a bunch of new faces and the extended family. His easy-going little self took it all in stride, and it didn't seem to affect him. :) On the way home, he and cousin Joey (just 2 days older!!) enjoyed brunch. :) Mekele wanted to show him the photo album we sent him while he lived in Ethiopia. heehee

We got out to the park for some outside time. Nice, but chilly.

JANUARY

2010-07-01T13:05:00.002-05:00

This is so behind its embarrassing! January was a lot of staying home, and cocooning! It was nice to be home as a family so much!

We did get out though long enough for two Hannah's Hope boys to reunite!! I wanted to bring him some of his familiar (heehee) We are blessed that the McBrides live in the same town. Mitzi went to Ethiopia just one trip in front of us, and was able to check in on our Aaron Mekele, and tell him that Mommy and Dada are coming soon! So much fun that our boys can be buddies now in Texas!!

sweet boy.

He let us experience his adorable laugh!

chillin' with Dada. Aaron got to be home from work from our school district from Dec 4 - January 25, so we all spent so much time with "Dada"!!

He LOVES the bear AGCI sent!

smiley boy. He is sporting the same outfit here (with room to spare mind you!) that I could not even squeeze him into for the plane ride home. Funny how that works.

getting to know his crib. He slept in our room, but we would go try it out during the day.

HI! MY NAME IS WHITNEY!

2010-06-15T22:27:00.001-05:00

I feel like I need to introduce myself again. Hi, my name is Whitney.

When we met Aaron "Mekele", he was a week shy of 7 months, and now here in June, we have celebrated his 1st b-day, and he is pushing 13 months old. Crazy!!

Can I just say that I love being a mommy!? Sure there are tough days, days where I don't get ready, wear my glasses all day, and haven't fixed my ponytail since sleeping the night before. But I love my life home with Mekele. Loving on, feeding, diapering, wiping hands and his face, playing, reading books together, going for walks, singing, dancing, watching him learn each day, giving baths, praying for and with, keeping the house, etc. But the thing I find that I still do a lot of is stare at him. ...the way I used to just gaze at those referral pics in gratefulness that he is my son. Now I am still speechless that he is right here in front of me. We have been home together since December, and I am still staring and gazing into those big brown smiley eyes. That's when the waterworks start... My heart overflows for my loving, hilarious, beautiful, playful baby boy and praises God, from whom all blessings flow.

Recenty, we went to eat with friends for my friend's 30th b-day, and we brought Mekele with us. I looked down at him laying across our laps, and smiled and kissed him. I looked back up, and was going to continue with the conversation when I felt him still looking at me, staring. I mean, seriously, staring. He had the sweetest little grin. He gave me goosebumps and then my eyes started welling up again. I got to explain to the table why my eyes were all teary, one of the sweetest joys of adoption is... Understanding that you truly belong. Belong in a family. Mekele belongs as our son, and Aaron and I are not complete without our baby boy. Every day I reminded of God's Goodness.

DECEMBER'S FIRSTS

2010-04-28T09:17:00.001-05:00

We arrived home together as a family of 3 on Dec 19, 2009!! Life has been ...wonderful, dreamy, and often I have to pinch myself. It feels simply too good to be true... but YES, God did bless us with a beautiful boy who is more than everything we could have hoped for, prayed for! Our December after ET was about transitions ...us becoming parents, our baby boy transitioning into our lives (and our time zone!), and A & W becoming 3!!

December was a beautiful time that I am so thankful for. ...WE were busy getting to know our precious boy and learning how to take care of a baby around the clock. It was hard work, and we were tired, but in love. ...MEKELE was busy getting to know these two people who have just come into his life and have been hanging around a lot lately, who he traveled a long way with, and letting us know when he needed something taken care of. He was learning to trust.

December flashed by in a blur, though I remember it vividly with all its sights & sounds, and

there were lots of firsts... These are not his firsts necessarily, but our firsts with him.

FIRST-time parents.

FIRST diaper changes. FIRST baby baths. FIRST time to make bottles.

FIRST sleepless nights with a baby.

FIRST ride (home!) in a car seat.

FIRST time for Mommy to carry a car seat. Hello, biceps!

FIRST church service.

(online from home. Our pastor friend announced that we made it home from ET, and shared how Mekele is "half as tall as Whitney!" This was the day after we arrived home, and the mess on the coffee table and chair is so very real. It stayed like that a lot of December.)

FIRST dr. visit- His bad cold was a mild case of RSV.

FIRST breathing treatment- he was not a fan.

FIRST really happy face captured on camera!!!

FIRST rolls around the living room.

FIRST stroller ride- through the house since it was way too cold out.

FIRST peek-a-boos.

Baby's FIRST Christmas!!

FIRST time to meet BFF & cousin Joey- born 2 days ahead of Mekele! Instant friends!

FIRST baby foods. Mmmm.

FIRST time to jump in an exersaucer.

FIRST time to play in his room. "Really?! ...I'm from Africa, TOO!"

FIRST New Year's Eve as a family!

Looking forward to the coming year and our life together, baby boy!!!

You are a dream come true!!!

EXTRA! EXTRA!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

2010-04-19T18:05:00.002-05:00

We were overjoyed to learn that our adoption story made the paper once we were home!! It was on the the front page of our city's newspaper, and two neighboring city's papers. That's a lot of readers who potentially read how God created our family!! Praise God!! Then when Aaron returned to the high school classroom at the end of January, a student on the high school's newspaper interviewed him about our journey to Ethiopia for our baby boy!!

He IS our little miracle from the other side of the world- Glory to God!!

A miracle from the other side of the world

Family finds their love in international adoption

By Marcus Elliott

December 13, 2009 will be a day that will always be etched in the minds of Aaron and Whitney Pratt but it was a decision almost exactly a year earlier that brought them to one of the greatest days of their lives. In Ethiopia, the Pratt family was introduced to the third member of their family, Mekele, on that fateful Sunday. That day marks the beginning of an exciting journey for the Pratt family, but the journey to that day was just as stirring.

Whitney, who was a teacher for McKinney ISD until leaving to take care of Mekele, graduated from Marcus High School in Flower Mound. Aaron graduated from McKinney High School, and has worked for McKinney ISD since 2004.

He currently teaches World Geography and Humanities at McKinney High School, his alma mater and coaches for FC Dallas soccer academy teams.

The two have been married and have resided in Anna for almost five years.

Whitney worked for McKinney ISD from 2003 until this last year. She was first hired as a Elementary Special Education teacher. It was at the school that she met and fell in love with Aaron. Two years later, she accepted the district's preschool director/lead teacher position, and the two talked of kids filling their home. “We were ready to start a family after two years of marriage, and when that didn't happen, we knew God had other big plans for our family,” Whitney said. “After prayer, God opened our hearts to the needs in Ethiopia, Africa where 5 million orphans are living.”

On December 22, 2008 the family decided to adopt internationally and a week later found All God’s Children International and submitted a pre-application. After the beginning of the year they submitted their official application and were approved on January 12.

Adoption has always been near to Whitney's heart as her big sister was adopted domestically as an infant, and they have good friends who have adopted through the foster care system. “Learning that there are 147 million orphans in the world changed our hearts, and we knew God was calling us to build our family through adoption,” Whitney said. “Our passion for loving orphans began a desire in us to provide a loving home and be a child's forever family.”

By the end of February, there had been three home studies and the process seemed to be moving along and as March concluded the fourth home study was complete. April brought an adoption seminar and the completion of all of the required education courses. In June, the two were informed that they were on the waiting list, as number 11 for a boy and 38 for a girl. Just six weeks later, the Pratts found out they were number five on the waiting list. On September 10 they received the phone call that changed their lives and the next day the two were in a complete daze all day with the knowledge that they had a son. In November the Pratts were approved by the Ethiopian courts and were able to start making plans to go meet and bring home their son.

Close family friends generously offered frequent flyer miles to the Pratts to travel to pick up their son. The miles took care of travel to London and the return trip home to Dallas. They also traveled from London to Addis Ababa, with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey, which brought the two to December 13.

“On September 10 we received the call from our agency, with news of our son, born with the birth name of Aaron, just like his Daddy,” Whitney recalls. “We knew he was meant for our family, and by December 13, he was in our arms in Ethiopia! We are now blessed to be first-time parents, and to get to spend each day and our lives with our sweet boy.”

The day that families are officially introduced to their adoptive child is called “Gotcha Day” and Whitney said that on the night before their big day the two didn't sleep much. “We woke up at 10 a.m. to a perfect day – beautiful, sunny and peaceful,” Whitney recalled “I pushed open the window of our third floor hotel room and caught my first glimpses of Ethiopia in daylight.” ...

After spending a week together asa family in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, they arrived home on Saturday, December 19 and had family and church friends waiting at DFW airport to greet the family. The day after they got home, Mekele turned 7 months old.

The Pratt family attends Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship in Anna, a church that has been actively involved in helping children locally and out of the country by supporting missions like Clothe a Child and orphans in Honduras.

We, of course, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE sharing our story, and bringing awareness to the 147,000 orphans in the world! God can use all of us to bring awareness and aid in a call to action in orphan care and adoption. Our prayer all along has been that our story might inspire others to adopt... and guess what?! We found out a few weeks ago that a teacher who works with Aaron is now pursuing an ETHIOPIAN ADOPTION through ...AGCI!!! They have invited us over for dinner this coming Friday to share our experience, and so they can ask tons of Q's... isn't that just SO exciting!!?! I'm thrilled to share our experience!