Micah's pre-school graduation

June 15, 2011

Micah graduated from his 3x per week pre-school program. Mainly he really learned how to interact with children his age especially sharing and getting along. The teachers loved him. This fall he will attend a 5x per week pre-K program so he will be ready for Kindergarten in 2012.

Micah with teacher Cheri and teacher Brittany

Micah's siblings came and they were so proud of him

Watching Micah on stage

Danica's graduation and glimpses on her future

haha, gotten way behind with all my pics. We have been so busy the last 3 weeks. Danica had her big graduation on 6/11 and last weekend 6/18 was her party at the house. At the graduation 45,000 people watching, 11,000 students graduating, about 5000 walking. It took about close to 4 hours. What a huge university. We are so proud of Danica. I am constantly blown away that God has blessed me with such an amazing easy going kid. She makes me so happy.

Her adventure now continues to Germany and teach English for at least a year. (yes I am absolutely heart broken) She wants to immerse in the language and culture and hopes when she returns to only speak German to me, lol. Yes, really, I never taught Danica how to speak German for specific reasons. She will leave in September and stay with my parents until she finds her own place or stay with them. Her work place will not be further than an hour from all of my family there. That was Danica's decision as she felt she was going to be really home sick already.

So another big chapter of her life has finished and a new one is beginning, really soon.

U WA Seattle 6/11/2011

Danica's out of state guest, uncle Fred, Grandma Hill and Grandma Kurzbach

The little ones wanted a picture with Danica before bedtime

Danica's Department Graduation and 2 surprises for her

One week done, one more week to go. My Danica has graduated from the UWA Seattle over the weekend. The picture below are from the department graduation of her major. Her degree is in environmental studies. We are the proud of her.

The one thing Danica didn't know is that my mom and her uncle were coming. She was so excited.

My mom and Danica. My mom was sneaking upstairs were is was and surprised her.

Danica receiving her degree

Family from left to right. My mom, myself, Kevin, Danica, Uncle Fred, Kevin mom.

My mom with us

Danica and my mom, we call her Omi.

Misrak turns 8

June 6, 2011-8 years old

Misrak had a great birthday. Her and I had a nice breakfast after church at IHop. For dinner she wanted tortellini, baked beans, and chicken. You can tell she has been here over a year now because last year she wanted pizza rolls.

She picked a little kid digital camera as her birthday present and has been taking pics of everything including the wallpaper and jewelry.

Danica treated her to a pedicure to have some quality time with her also. Really nice day.

Kids are growing, all is well

I had Misrak's and Micah's one year appointment the other day. Misrak has grown exactly 4 inches and weighs nearly 50 pounds. Her and Biruk were the same in the beginning but she is taller and heavier than Biruk by a lot. Micah has grown just about 4 inches and weighs 30 pounds.

The endocrinologist is very pleased with Micah's growth. He is actually on a smalls dosage of growth hormones but he still grew more than he expected. He thinks that when he goes to Kindergarten next year he will not look so out of place anymore.

There is so much to say and so little time. I promise one day I will write about the 2 of them and how much they have blessed our family as our last additions to the family. I am in awe with them every single day. I couldn't have been more pleased.

In the mean time, I am trying to find time to breathe. Next week, we have families coming in from out of town for Danica college graduation and the weekend after that we have Danica's graduation party... As excited as I am for her I cannot wait until June 19 until its all over. Alright now, we are going to get through this:)

BTW, Susan if you are reading my post, I still cannot comment on your blog... Ugh, its driving me crazy.

Young Heroes Award (5/7/11)

Last weekend, all four little ones received Young Heroes awards. They were nominated by the nurses and doctors of the hospital they go to every month for their courage and determination. This was a very special military ceremony that they only hold once a year and 17 children received the awards which included our 4. They all got the award for suffering from a chronic illness and other things that requires medications/shots every single day including blood draws.

The one thing we didn't expect was that they each received a giant gift bags loaded with toys. They didn't even get so much for Christmas. So our kids truly had Christmas in May:)

Forever Home - 1 Year (Misrak & Micah)

Today, one year ago, we arrived home from Ethiopia. What a year it has been and how fast it went by. I got them an ice cream cake on their one year anniversary home for a special treat. I have been fighting to put the right words on paper to tell you about their amazing personalities but its not finished yet.. Hopefully one day.

Happy First Gotcha Day Misrak

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy First Gotcha Day Micah!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kids can say the dumbest things..

Today was the first time Misrak was invited to a birthday party. She was pretty excited. It was a miniature golf place. As we were driving up the hill she told me that she had been there before with her friend Cheryl.

So we arrive at the birthday party. Birthday girl's mom ask Misrak, "Have you ever played minituare golf before"? Without even giving Misrak a chance to answer the mom, birthday girl says "No she JUST GOT HERE from Ethiopia and has never played miniature golf before". Wow I felt sick to my stomach because the embarrassment on Misrak's face with evident. I told birthday girl that SHE WAS INCORRECT AND I didn't appreciate what she said. I said first off Misrak didn't just get here and secondly she was here just a month ago playing with her friend Cheryl.

Lately she has been telling me that she was tired of constantly being told in school, oh you are adopted and than this. Of course we never hide her adoption, hello its too obvious but the kids shouldn't constantly being confronted about this if they don't want to talk about it. I hope she will get a fresh start next school year.

Happy Birthday Biruk

Today my Biruki turned 7. We all just had a fantastic day. He wanted to have his special date with Danica and they went to McDonald. For dinner he wanted salad and a white cake with cream cheese frosting. He wanted another:) Nerf gun. My boy is growing up too fast.

Easter 2011-Misrak and Micah's First Easter

Something so much on my Heart

Would you please promise to read this and than click over to the blog? Amy is a very dear friend of mine and she is one of those people you can count on even in the middle of the night. She is not fake and when she says she is going to do something, she will. The passion that she has for orphans I have never seen in anyone else. Her passion is put your money where your mouth is. Guess what, God has called her whole family to go on a long term mission to Guatemala (minus 2 college kids) to work alongside at an orphanage. They have sold their house at being on the market for just about a week (yes, with the way the market is looking) and they are ready to go. Since they are not getting church support like so many missionaries do, they have to raise the monthly support themselves. Even though I am about to ask you for money please still click on the link when you are done reading. If you can spare $25.00 a month that would be such a miracle but if you can't do that they would also appreciate a one time gift. After you see their video, you will understand why I am so passionate about Amy and her family.

Caffeine Withdrawals?

I decided to stop drinking coffee. Yeah, cold turkey. Have I told you that my most favorite drink in the world is coffee??? I love coffee. Little did I know that you have to stop slowly.. Haha, not me. Never in a million years did I think I feel like an addict. I had about 7 cups during the week and at least 10 cups on the weekends. I have been drinking coffee since I was 14. Anyways so last Sunday I stopped and immediately the same day I got migraine headaches that I couldn't even cure with Motrin, fatigue, wanting to sleep all day (actually I did fall asleep minutes at my desk), depression, IRRITABILITY, you name it. Today is Thursday, 5 days later and it is the first day I am feeling normal again. I just can't believe that coffee could have such an affect on a human body. Just blown away by it.

Amira's tooth

Yeahhhh Amira.. After nearly two years of having her 2 front teeth yanked out during oral surgery, Amira finally has her first tooth on the top come in. I cannot describe how proud she was when she first felt it. She is still touching it to make sure its still there. So cute.