A Referral

We have some friends from Wake Forest who have been in the adoption process a bit longer than we have. Yesterday they got a referral for their little man! How exciting! It almost makes it seem more real for us being able to see a little guy from Ethiopia. Check out their blog! Isn't he just adorable?!

Amani Today

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Auntie Bethany and Todd! They are getting married October 2! 

Some Favs

I had Salome try a recipe for chocolate pudding yesterday. I don't think I've ever made it from scratch, but boy was it yummy!

Chocolate Pudding

2 c. milk
3/4 c. sugar
4 T. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T. cocoa
1/4 c. cold milk
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T. butter

Scald 2 cups milk in a saucepan. In another bowl, mix sugar, flour, salt, and cocoa. Then add cold milk and egg. Mix and whisk slowly into hot milk; cook until thickened. Remove from heat; add vanilla and butter. Cover with saran wrap. When cooled, you can add mini-marshmellows.

by Angie Neuenschwander      

Another one of our recent favorites is fruit salad. I cut up pineapple, papaya, and banana and stir it all up. It is so delicious and refreshing, and the kids eat it up!

A Give Away

We have been following the Weimer's amazing adoption story via their blog for the past few months. They are doing a give away for some awesome "Africa" t-shirts. Check it out here!

Tuesday Treats

Wow, I've been thinking this morning and man, has my Honey been great this week!

A few weeks ago our kids put rocks in our front drain. This is where all the sinks in the house drain in to. The kitchen sink was starting to get stopped up, so last week Nathan donned some rubber gloves and stuck his hand in the yuck and pulled out a punch of stinky rocks. Our sinks are working much better!!

We had water issues last week and just couldn't figure it out. All our neighbors seemed to have plenty of water and ours was barely trickling in. We finally talked to a friend and he told us that the valves can close up and then the city water doesn't come in. So, Nathan started checking on our valves on Saturday and figured out the problem! Our tanks are now full and we have plenty of filtered water on hand!

Saturday morning I got up early and went with Kurt and Angie over to West Nairobi School to sell our junk at their bazaar. Nathan kept the kiddos, brought them to the sale for a bit, brought them back home, fed them, and put them in bed for naps. What a nice break even if I was working!

Last night, the guy that guards our gate asked Nathan if he could talk to him. That usually means he needs something. Nathan went out to talk to him and found out that he is being evicted from his home in Kibera and is moving a bit further away. He needed a little more money to be able to secure another house. Nathan was very generous and gave him more than he asked. What a tender heart he has!

We didn't do our dishes last night after the kids went to bed because we made popcorn and watched a movie. I was planning on doing them this morning, but when I came down, Nathan had already done them!

I love you, Nathan! You are the best!

She's 4!

Prayer and Praise

Prayer~

We received a letter last week from the USCIS. They have several issues with our homestudy that need to be fixed. I set up a meeting with our social worker here for tomorrow. Please pray it goes well, and we can resolve all the issues.

The final election results in Sudan are due out later today.


Praise~

Our pastor finally made it to the US last week. He had some tests done and it is nothing major. PTL!

Nathan figured out our water problem this weekend! After a week with no water, we are very thankful to have our tanks filled and water to spare!

Dinah had an awesome birthday!

We are moving to a bigger house with a bigger yard! Just got the word this morning. PTL!!

Sunday Cuteness

Silly Boy

Last night we were looking at some old pictures and found this one. I think we forgot to share it with you before! John had just gotten his trains and track for Christmas and apparently didn't know not to put the trains in his hair. Crazy boy!

Last Weekend

If you are interested in seeing what Nathan was up to last weekend, you should check out his work blog. He's done a great job getting pictures on there!

USCIS

Remember a few months ago when we went to the Embassy to apply with the USCIS for approval to bring an orphan to the US? We were supposed to hear back in 3-4 weeks. Well, it took about 6 or 7 weeks, but we finally got a letter from them on Tuesday. The letter pretty much told us what we were expecting to hear. That our homestudy needs work from our social worker here. There are about 5 things we have to discuss with him and get him to change. We were glad to finally hear back and know for sure what we need to do. We will be paying our good friend at Little Angels a visit next week to get this worked out. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in the small things! At least we have a little something to work on while we are in this waiting stage of the adoption.

A Package

Yesterday, Nathan brought home a package! Whoohoo! Our first since we've been back. Yum, yum. Lots of sweets. I'm looking forward to having some Swiss Miss for the colder months coming up, and Nathan said we should use the M&M's for cookies. :) The kids will like that. And we'll save the Fun Dips for a special treat. A great big thanks to Aunt Anne and Uncle Derrick who sent the goodies! We will definitely enjoy them!

What a Day!

Dinah's birthday was a big celebration! We had it all planned out and boy was she excited about it! We asked her what she wanted to do and what she wanted to eat and she told us everything. I think we were able to manage all of it! So, here are the pictures from her big day!

Her birthday flowers. We've made a yearly tradition of getting birthday flowers for the birthday girls. Dinah even picked hers out this year. She told me she wanted pink so when she saw the pink roses nothing else would do. She also picked everything else, too. She did a great job! 

I asked her if she would like pancakes for her birthday and she told me she wanted waffles. And waffles she got! 

John enjoying her choice.

And Ruth, too. :)

We asked when she wanted to open her presents and she said after breakfast. So, we got dressed and quickly wrapped the presents, and opened presents.

She went for the smallest one first.

A couple of bracelets from Mimi and Papa.

A new coloring book.

Ruth liked handing her the presents and sneaking a peak at what was in them. :)

A new dress.

        

A view master. I had one of these when I was a kid and really enjoyed it. We found it while we were in the US and brought it back with us. She and John are both enjoying it. 

Mommy showing her how to use it. 

She has to look at it with one eye because it's still too wide for her face.

Aww...how cute. 

Mommy and the Birthday Girl.

A present from Nana and Poppy.

Some new hair clips that she just loves! 

Her big present from Mommy and Daddy.

A Care Bear dress up suit. She loves it!

Daddy helping her get it on.

The happy bear. :)

What a happy baby!

After presents, we got ready to go to a water park. Dinah had asked to go to the one we went to a few weeks ago. We got ready, packed our lunch, and headed to the grocery store since we needed a few things. We got what we needed and headed to Splash. But it was closed! We had some upset kids! We quickly thought of another place to go and headed that direction. It was a bit farther from our house, but what else could we do? We got there right around lunch time so ate right away. 

Look at their hair! I think she's definitely going to have red hair! Look the curls, too. It just gets curlier the longer it gets!

Our picnic.

Nathan made some cookie sandwiches with the leftover icing. They were yummy!

I was trying to get a picture of her eating her cookie, but she kept taking it down before I could get a good picture.

So, here's her cookie.

The water was really cold so they didn't play in it too much. She liked sitting on the edge and putting her legs in.

Sweet sisters.

John really liked going down the big slides with Nathan.

She liked splashing. :) 

My boys. Aren't they cute?!

Ruth really liked going down the slide in the kiddie pool. 

They liked splashing in this water since the sun warmed it up quickly and it was much warmer than the pool. 

What a pretty Birthday Girl!

John and Nathan coming down from the "lazy river." 

She really wasn't very enthusiastic about swimming that day. Not really sure why.

We tried and tried to get her go down one of the slides with Nathan, but she wouldn't. Finally at the end of the day, she agreed. But then said she didn't like it after they were done. 

Her flower cake. I think she's had this cake every year for her birthday. She had the choice between a flower and a monkey this year. You can see she chose the flower again. And even picked the icing colors.

        

She was focused and blew them out on the first try.

We invited Kurt, Angie, and Micah over for pizza and birthday cake. It was a great time!

The best family picture that we got all day.

Her piece was almost gone before I got this picture.

Her birthday card Angie made. How cute!

They brought her a bag of baby toys. She loves it! Thanks guys! 

We had a wonderful day with our sweet 4 year old! We love you, Dinah Belle!