Ecclesiastes4:9~10

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help lift him up."

One of the most common questions we received when people learned we were adopting was what was our bio son going to think. He had been the "Baby" of the family for 3 years and was (and is) truly doted on. People were further concerned when they realized one of the boys we were adopting was only 6 months younger than him.

In the "Adoption World" this is called Artifical Twinning. Some agencies and social workers are strongly opposed to this and others allow it. There are success stories and their are some children who really struggle with suddenly becoming a "twin".

This was something we prayed about and over often. We knew and had read of the difficulties that both children could have because of this. Often my prayer would be that our "twins" would have a relationship like David and Jonathan. It is hard to be a Christian in this world and I would love for my boys to have each other to sharpen each other and encourage each other.

I have to say God heard our prayers and answered mightily.

Right away they were fascinated with each other. The language barrier was only a minor inconvenience. The hardest thing was our adopted son did not know how to play. He had no imaginary play and did not even begin to know how to play with toys even when guided (this has since resolved and he has a wonderful imagination and knows exactly how to play).

My solution was to bring the ride on toys inside and let them ride all over the house together. Shocking for a neat-nik like me! But hey, to see my little guys laughing and driving circles around my kitchen was a blessing! Also in the evenings when my dh came home I would put them in our bike trailer and ride them around the neighborhood. They loved this and it was good bonding time for them.

During those early weeks we had MANY Dr.'s appointments which involved a myriad of needles... the cutest thing was after returning from one our adopted 3 yo ran into the house and gave his brother a huge hug. It was as if he was saying "You have NO idea what I just went through. I am so glad to see you buddy!"



It has been such a blessing to see their relationship evolve. It's not perfect theysurely have their bortherly momoents ;o) However, they truly love each other and their personalities mesh so well. One has the heart of a leader the other a heart of a servant. They are very much like the Bible describes David and Jonathan...

Thank you Jesus!

Baby Girl Turns 6~~~

Our youngest daughter turns 6 today. It is so hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday I was having her.

She's a wonderful sweet girl and truly a blessing from the Lord.




I LOVE this picture of her as it captures her personality so well. Also, notice the jewelry.. as a true "Girl Raised In The South" she always has her jewels on..




With her sweet sister. They have the most beautiful relationship.

Things that make me go HMMMM.....

I found a couple of little things around my house today that perplexed me and caused me to ponder exactly what is going through the little brains in this house..

The first was when I walked into the bathroom and discovered the wall was decorated with Band-Aids. I had many thoughts run through my mind. The first was wondering who the little culprit was, the second was thankfulness that we buy Band-Aids in bulk, and the third was that this was like some bizarre abstract art you see in a Gallery that is worth millions.. someone around here MAY have a potential career in art ;o)





The next work of creativity occurred in the kitchen. My eldest dd and I were busy getting dinner ready. She is in charge of the biscuits. I have found with the making of biscuits you either have the "touch" or you don't. Our eldest dd definitely has the "touch".

However, as I passed by the bowl she was using I saw this...



She was making artwork of her own with flour and olive oil. I am just glad she washed her hands before she started baking...

Aren't kids wonderful? I have been thinking of the gift and blessing that children are. We know Psalm 127:3 talks about children being a heritage from the Lord. They are gifts in so many ways. The way that has struck me lately is the JOY they bring into our lives with their spunk and creativity and their soft and tender little hearts. I shudder to think of what a cold hard place this world would be without children.

They see flowers and we see weeds. They get excited over the garbage truck and bubbles and play-doh. We worry that we are going to be late and there may be a mess.

Jesus told us that unless we become like little children we will not see the Kingdom of Heaven. Now I know that doesn't mean we are to shirk off responsibility and Band-Aid the wall just because we want to. It means we are to recieve the Word of God with a child-like faith.

My dh preaches to the children on Sunday mornings at Church. It is such an awesome thing to see how soft and tender and willing their little hearts are to recieve Christ and His Word. It's humbling to see how big their faith is. I pray for my heart to be so tender. For me to have the faith that they do.

I am so thankful for Jesus our Lord who loves little children and calls them blessings and not burdens.

I am so thankful He has entrusted them into our care for this short time. What a beautiful God we serve!

Our Awesome God!

I just had to share what God did from me at last night's service. The Choir and Orchestra did "He's an On Time God!" The song I posted the Chorus to when we got our disapointing news about the court delay! Isn't that so sweet and so special? It was like my Abba Father had a special moment to encourage me. I will never get over the fact that the God of the Universe loves little ole me! He cares so much about me and He encourages me. I am so undeserving of His love, His mercy, and His grace.

Praising the Lord for being an on-time and a personal God!!!!

ATTACKED!

Friday nights are declared "Family Fun Nights" in our house. This means the family does something together like play a game, a craft, or watch a movie. Then the children all sleep out in the family room in sleeping bags for a "Family Sleepover".





Being that our 5 yo will be turning 6 this week we let her plan our night last night. She picked "The Sound of Music" as the movie to watch and requested that I sleep with her... in her sleeping bag.. on the hard floor :o).

The movie was wonderful (It is truly the BEST movie of all time). One by one the little sweeties nodded off. I grabbed my pillow and tried to make myself cozy on the sleeping bag.

Am I the only one who thinks in their mind that they are eternally 18? I am always surprised when things like this reveal to me that I am so NOT. Sleeping on the floor used to be fun, but well... now it just hurts! Oh, that makes me feel old. Like when I look at the new fangled roller coasters that I used to think would be fun but now I just think "Ouch! That looks painful!". However, I digress!

Sometime in the night one of the 3 yos joins me in my sleeping bag and tosses and turns. He is not apprecating the lack of coziness (Did I mention the floor is hard?) so he decides to use me as a mattress.

Then all of a sudden I feel something on me and chewing on my face and I let out a scream... My 11 yo jumps off the couch (he has been sleeping on) and wrestles the beast off of me..

O.K., so it wasn't a beast it was our puppy and he wasn't chewing on my face but he was licking it.




Ferocious Beast Devouring 11 yo ds


You see I was dreaming of wild animals in Africa. A gentleman on the AAI list posted a story that tickled me to no end about a visit they had at a Wild Game Park while in Ethiopia. They were eating their breakfast and his wife left to use the restroom and a baboon came in and took her place at the table and started eating her food. They beat the baboon off with the Lonely Planet Gude to Ethiopia and Eritrea (which I am currently reading). Is this not the funniest thing?

O.K.,I may be out of my mind but what I do know is that my little screaming incident was the talk of the breakfast table. My dear sweet children thought it was hysterical.......Not quite the memory I was going for!

Costco Trip :o)

This is for the week. The banannas will be gone in about 3 days. Our fruit bowl runneth over :o)

He's An On-Time God~

Well, today was supposed to (once again) be our court date but it appears that the third time was not the charm for us. We are rescheduled for Court on April 3rd (we covet your prayers!). This has pushed our travel date back another week.

I won't lie, I cried when I got the e-mail. Then I swept the already swept floor and when I thought I had my composure I called dh at work. As soon as I heard my sweet hubby's voice I started crying again.

He is so wonderful. He called our wonderful agency for the details and our travel agent to reschedule our flight plans. He takes such good care of me. He is truly a blessing from the Lord.

It was such a gray and drizzly day and it was so tempting to just wallow in self-pity... but the Holy Spirit was speaking to me in that still small voice (actually singing) "Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your blessings and see what the Lord has done".

So Here are my blessings from today....

Our 1 yo.. Is this a face to smooch or what? My little Ham-Bone!





Our 3 yo strutting to the Wiggles..He is the cutest thing as he dances with the Wiggles. It will bring a smile to the weariest of hearts!





Our 3 yo helping me make Burritos for dinner. He informed me very matter of factly that burritos start with B just like banannas! O.K., who is homeschooling him behind my back?





Our sweet 5 yo and 7 yo whose smiles and giggles are infectious. They are always looking for ways to bless those around them. Their servant hearts bless me so!





Our 10 yo who made Dabo Kolos (an Ethiopian snack) as a treat for her brothers..






Our 11 yo who is an awesome big brother.. He is the little boys' hero!






I will be blunt honest. I am not one of those wonderful homeschool Moms who rises before daybreak to have my quiet time. We always have a little one in our bed in the wee hours of the morning.. it can be any combination of the 3 yos and 1 yo and sometimes it is all three. They have an amazing capability of being deep in sleep until I get out of the bed and then they pop up raring to go. I wish I did have that hour of uninterrupted time before I start my day . One day I know I will-it's just not my season for that. God says in Isaiah he leads gently those with young. Isn't that beautiful? My best prayer time with the Lord seems to happen while I am working out in the evenings. Tonight as I was laying on the floor in pain I asked God why the delay ( Isn't it awesome that our God is so kind and loving and big He doesn't mind our asking why).. He brought to my remembrance the story fo Lazarus. For all appearances Jesus was too late.. Lazarus had died. God's ways aren't our ways. God used that event to restore Lazarus to life and the glory was all God's.

When our wee baby boy comes home it will give God all the glory. It won't be because of our wonderful agency, or the Ethiopian government, or because my dh or I did something... It will be because adoption is a miracle. God is at work and without Him and His power, love, and grace it would not happen.

God is a good God and He is wroking this out in ways we can not foresee. It's wonderful to be able to lean on Him and trust in His perfect wisdom and perfect timing...

"He's an on-time God , Oh yes He is."
"He's an on-time God , Oh yes He is."
"He may not come when we want Him but He'll be there right on-time."
"He's an on-time God, Oh yes He is."

Ding~Dong

We start our mornings off hopping. Baby to change, kiddies to dress, breakfast to make, laundry to start, bread to bake and of course the all important homeschool thing. Today amidst the buzzing the doorbell rang...

The ringing of the door bell always has an odd effect on our household. Everything stops and becomes eerily silent as the inhabitants expectantly head towards the door. I don't know who my children think is going to be on the other side...but they act as if it COULD be Ed McMahon with the million dollar prize. Of course, they are too young to even know of Ed Mc Mahon....and I suspect they are hoping it is their best friends the B Family who lives around the bend.

Today however it was none other than the good ole USPS with my dd and my passports! Yippee!!! Since I have talked so poorly of the Immigration Branch of our government let me just cheer the Passport Agency. We have our passports exactly one week and one day from when we applied. Of course, we paid the expedited charges but STILL this is very impressive indeed.

Another Change of Plans~~

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James 4:15


We heard from our agency yesterday that we need to postpone our travel plans for one week. One week, seven days, no big deal... WAAH! I think I am a patient person.. The adoption process reveals to me time and time again that I am *NOT* a patient person. God is still refining me and sometimes it is painful for me.

Yet, I rejoice that my Heavenly Father cares enough about me to mold me so I may be more like His precious Son, Jesus.

Rom 5:3-5 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

We are resting in the fact that God's timing is perfect. He has been so good and faithful to us.

If you feel led please pray for our Court Date on Thurs (March 23rd). It has postponed twice.. the reason was missing paperwork that wasn't done because our wee baby boy wasn't expcected to live. Isn't that just further testimony to the wonder our wee baby boy is? God is truly a miracle working God.


And what a friend we have in Jesus.. I received photos of our wee babe from a traveling Mom (Thanks Randi!) last night. Balm for my soul..My Lord knew just what I needed!

Psalm 122:1~~

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Psalm 122:1

In a few minutes we will begin our Saturday night ritual of bathing the kidddies and making our preparations for Church.

Without fail, every Sunday a.m. someone at Church will ask us "What time do y'all have to get UP to get here on time?" I really think they are expecting us to say 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. They always seem a tad disappointed when we sheepishly reply, "Between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m.".

We have a system. We have everyone's clothes set out (and ironed if need be) the night before. We get everything ready down to the hairbows and tights. The Enemy seems to thrive on throwing Christians off of their schedule on Sunday a.m.'s. A lost shoe in our household could cause serious chaos.

In the morning everyone has a part and they do it well. Dh feeds the kiddies oatmeal while I shower. They love Daddy's oatmeal. Our 5 yo dd sums it us best.. "Mama makes oatmeal so it's healthy. Daddy makes oatmeal with SUGAR (its actually honey and maple syrup)." Guess whose oatmeal wins the taste contest?

While Daddy showers I dress the " little boys". The girls and 11 yo ds clean up the kitchen and then pack the diaper bag. I then fix the girls hair. THEN I get dressed. I learned back about dc #4 to never get dressed until the minute you are about to leave..

While I am dressing dh takes the kiddies to the van and revs the engine until I make my appearance :o).

This is not to say it's always smooth sailing....I'll spare you the details of tears over hairdos, misplaced Bibles, the time our 3 yo dd gave her elder sister's entire savings into the collection without us knowing, the time one of our dc threw up just as we hit the Church parking lot (could he NOT have done this at home before we went through all the trouble to get ready and get there?) and so on... Our Pastor joked one Sunday that he was going to make a new reality show about Christians on their way to Church. I think it would be a hit.

Our Daily Dose~~~

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.. Proverbs 17:22


Our little 1 yo is such a JOY! He has the most amazing smile... I posted on our AAI Yahoo Group when we recived our referral of him.. I posted about how CUTE we all thought he was. Merrily (our agency director) wrote to tell me he had the most amazing smile and does he ever.

He has adjusted to life in our family SO well. He is loved to pieces by one and all. We will be having dinner and without fail he will say or do something that will have us all in stitches. He is either going to be a stand up comic or the next Evil Keneviel.






He is incredibly smart and sooo verbal! He says everything and he doesn't miss a thing. He is a Mama's Boy (o.k. ALL my boys are Mama's boys' :o) yet he is so anxious to keep up with his big brothers. He is either in my arms or attempting his next daredevil feat.






His three older sisters dote on him like crazy and he just eats it up.





We are so thankful that Jesus gave us him and his merry little heart.

Change of Plans...

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


Due to our very troubled Immigration office we have decided that instead of using the escort I (along with my 10 yo dd) will travel to Ethiopia to pick up our wee little baby boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are very excited. If we went with the escort option it would be months and months before wee baby could come home. This way he will be in our arms on April 19th. YIPPEE!!! I can NOT wait!

I am a Homeschool stay at home Mama who is from a small town. The whole idea of me leaving and going to Ethiopia is pretty mind boggling for those who are close to me.

I LOVE being with my dc all the time. I never leave them unless I have to. I was very nervous at the prospect of going eventhough my wonderful dh will be here as well as my In-Laws and our incredible friends and neighbors who are Uncle and Auntie to our dc stepping in to help.

I confess traveling to a foreign country without dh is pretty daunting too... God has given me peace though and confirmed again and again through circumstances and His Word tthat this is His will.


I have had a deep desire to go to Ethiopia since our 3 yo and 1 yo came home. I really missed not seeing where they came from and not meeting their caregivers.

I am so excited because I can do that now. If all is well with wee little boy I can meet his caregivers and see his orphanage as well as the orphanages our other two dear boys came from.

So, big excitement around here!! We covet your prayers. Our God truly is an awesome GOD!!!!

My New Upper Body Workout....

On Monday our cutie pie 3 yo ds sprained his ankle. This has resulted in me carrying his sweet 42 pound self to do tasks he normally does on his own. I now tote him to the potty, to change clothes, to brush teeth, to the table for meals, for bed, and so on. Last night as I was carrying him to get his jammies on he looked at me and asked, "Am I making you stronger Mama?" I thought it was too cute and funny!

Joel 2:25

Our 3 yo's referral picture taken at the orphanage. The look in his eyes breaks my heart.


" I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten..." Joel 2:25











Picture taken of our sweet boy yesterday. He has grown 8 inches and gained 8 lbs since coming home.. His biggest changes haven't been physical though.


After our almost 3 yo was home for a week the grieving process began...

Those unfmailiar with the process of bonding and attachment in adoption may be unaware that children who are adopted usually grieve in one form or another. Even infants and young children can suffer a tremendous surge of emotion and loss. Loss is at the very heart of adoption.

Our little guy was cheerful during the day. He was curious, playful, and busy exploring this new world he found himself in. He would settle in nicely at night. I would rock him to sleep with a bottle of milk. He would nod off easily. However, he began to awake at 3:00 a.m. every night. He would awaken with huge tears and inconsolable sobbing. He was sleeping in our bed with us so I would pick him up and hold him close and he would hold onto me for dear life. It was as if he were drowning and if he let go of me he would be lost forever. This would last about 2 hours...

It was heart breaking and gut wrenching. I felt so helpless. I would hold him close and whisper reassurances to him but nothing seemed to reach him. I would pray for him and over him. I prayed that God would bring healing to his little soul.

It was during those nights that it hit me full force that this wasn't some little 2.75 yo boy who had just dropped into our family. This was a boy with a past and a history. A tragic one. One where he lost his birth family. One where he lost more in his 2.75 years than I had lost in my 34 years. I ached for the 15 months he spent in the orphanage. Even the best oprhanage cannot replace a family. A Mama and a Daddy to call your own.

Our 11 yo ds struggled to understand why our little one's heart was so broken. He wondered why he would be so sad when we all loved him so much. The best analogy I could think of was to ask him how he would feel if his Daddy and I died and a wonderful family in China adopted him. Although they loved him and were so kind he would grieve the loss of his family. How overwhelming it would be to be in a culture where everything looked, sounded, tasted, and smelled differently.

After about two weeks the nightime grieving stopped as quickly as it had started. We have been amazed to see how God has healed our little one's heart. He has calmed the storm and said "Peace, be still." to his sweet little soul.

He is a loving, affectionate, and kind little boy who desperately wanted to be a part of our family. His favorite book is the photo album I put together for his flight home. He looks at it every night and sleeps with it. Every night as I rock him to sleep he says every family members' name over and over until he nods off.

Last night as I was rocking him to sleep he put his chubby little arms around my neck pulled me close and whispered "MY Mama!"

To God be the Glory great things He hath done!

Homecoming (Part 3)

After about 2 hours we woke up our boys from their naps. We were afraid that if they slept too long they would be up all night. After an 18 hour flight with an 8 hour time difference they were extremely tired.

After we had changed them and gave them another bottle we decided to head back to Target for some larger diapers for our 3 yo. He was a little bit bigger than we expected.

I had packed toys in a bunch of different ziplock baggies to give to the boys at different intervals on our trip. Our 3 yo wanted nothing to do with the little toys but he LOVED that ziplock bag. He held it for the rest of the day. he carried it all through Target as if it were a piece of gold.



After our Target trip we decided to head to Chili's for dinner. We weren't sure how our boys would handle their first restaraunt experience but we decided to brave it.

They sat us and gave our 3 yo the kiiddie menu and crayons which he immediately took a bite out of the crayon. My dh and I both leapt to retrieve it out of his mouth and he chuckled at us. This was huge. He literally had not said one word to us. He would nod for yes and give us the shoulder for no but he would not speak. Dh decided he must be hungry so he went off in search of crackers and the 3 yo once again brought the crayon to his mouth. This time however he did not take a bite but looked me in the eyes and gave me a full belly laugh. It was AWESOME!!

Our waiter brought our food and we tried to say the blessing but the boys were immeidately in eating mode. Our 3 yo was guarding his food from us as though we would steal it. He ate so fast and so much. This child had experienced true hunger in his life. We have no idea what it means to be truly hungry. if our stomach should growl we act as if we haven't eaten in days. (An excellent Documentary on Hunger in an Ethiopian Village is "Living With Hunger" by the BBC. It will forever change your way of thinking about food and hunger).

Our 1 yo was nestled in my lap eating french fries and having a wonderful time.

We headed back to our room and played and played with our boys. It was so fun to tickle them and hug them. They just ate up the love and attention.

Soon the tell tale signs of sleepy-heads were upon us and we rocked them to sleep. They slept very well. Our 1 yo never woke up and our 3 yo woke up a few times crying . He was in bed with us and I would pull him close and he would quiet right down. They awoke at 4:30 a.m. Which was perfect as we needed to leave for the airport by 6:30 a.m.

We changed them and then fixed some fruit for them. Our 3 yo looked up at us and at last spoke to us.. His first word was "Ababba!" which is Amharic for Daddy. He was all smiles and laughter.




We had an uneventful flight home. Neither one of the boys slept on the planes eventhough they were exhausted. They were so sick with colds (we later found out our 3 yo had pneumonia and our 1 yo had two severe ear infections).

We were so excited to see our children at home and we knew they were bursting at the seams to meet their new brothers.

The minute we put our boys in their car seats for the trip to our house they were sound asleep. We met a dear frined on the way home and he pulled us over in the median so he could see our boys. He looked at them slepeing in our backseats and wept.

We arrived home and were tickled to see the kiddies had decorated the house for the Homecoming.







We carried the boys into the house as all the other children gathered around. Our boys were so frightened not knowing if they were being dropped off yet again. They clung to us. They did eventually relax and the 3 yo fell asleep on the couch

while the one yo admired his admirers.





We were home at last. Words can't express what it was like to go to sleep that night knowing that all of our children were safe and under our roof.

After one week of fun and laughter and tears and illness and Dr.'s visits and more fun and laughter my dh and I looked at each other and said "Let's do this again!"

Psalm 68:6 "God sets the Lonely in Families..."









Which brings us to "Our Wee Baby Boy"....

What's In the Mail Today?

When you are in the adoption process mail takes on a completely different meaning. There is the all imortant e-mails from your agency and checking e-mail obsessively (umm where's my knitting?) I mean frequently becomes a regular part of your day.

Some things can't come by e-mail and that is where the USPS comes into play. Over the years I have developed a fondness for our mailman. He is the one who delivered our bio dc's birth certificates. He would kindly admire my new babe as I tried sign the certified mail receipt.

With our adoptions though he has become more like my OB. The news he brings me that day gives me a snapshot of where we are in the process. He brings the Homestudy, the Applications, the USCIS approvals, the referral information and medicals on our babies, the first video we see of our child (O.K. now I am welling up~who says Adoptive Moms aren't HORMONAL?). It gives me great joy to see his Burgandy Mini-Van at our box.

Outgoing mail is eqaully important. The Post Office and your Notary become regular stops in your adoption journey.

Today I have outgoing mail. I am packing up our wee little boy's travel bag to send to Ethiopia. Our court date is sent for Friday March 10th. We are getting closer!

Our cutie 3 yo boy! He is growing and changing so quickly. I am sad to say he has lost almost all of his Amharic. He still says Ouha for water except now it's "Ice Ouha, Mama!" He loves ice. He also says Nah for come... "Nah Mama! Jump with me!" he says as he beckons to the trampoline in the backyard. Could you resist this sweet little face? So, off to jumping I go..

He picks up so many of our words and phrases and it's so cute with his little accent "DOOT!" he says for Dude and today when his 3 yo brother told him something he said, "No WAY!" I wonder if one day that cute little accent will be replaced with the Southern one we all have. I hope not... I think I'll take some video tomorrow just in case.

Homecoming (Part 2)

We left the airport on the Hotel Shuttle driven by a very nice man named Juan.

Our 3 yo (then 2)sat with dh and kept glancing at him and giving him shy smiles. He was very taken with dh. While he is definitely Mama's Boy he and his Daddy have a very special bond.



Our 1 yo was snuggled comfortably in my sling. He is so cute! I was just a talkin' to him.. As we neared our hotel we passed by the Target (My favorite store :o) I said, "Look! that's a Target! We spend lots of time at Target.. Can you say Target?" and you know what he did he said "Tar-get!" and then he said, "Tar-get, Tar-get, Target!" Dh and I looked at him in awe and then we looked at each other. Dh finally said, "Do you think you could've taught him a better word for his first American word?" I thought for a moment and couldn't come up with one and said, "Like what?" and he said, " Like Mama or Daddy!" "Oh, I said.. I guess you have a point!



We made our way to our room where we set the boys down on the floor for a moment. Immediately they headed towards the large closet doors which were fully mirrored. They were mesmerized and entranced by their reflections. It was most likely the first time they had seen themsleves.

The first order of business was a bath. I took our 3 yo (who was then 2) and gently undressed him. Poor baby had the worst diaper rash I had ever seen in my life. I just wept as I looked at his skin raw and bleeding and literally coming off with every wipe.

I then set him in the bathtub. It was his first bath and he was none too sure about it. I gave him two plastic cups and showed him how to pour water into each one and he loved it. He spent the remainder of the time doing that as I washed his little body.










Meanwhile dh was in charge of the 1 yo. I can hear a lot of laughing and commotion and I peek out to see the 1 yo crawling at the speed of lightning to the lamp cors to the trash can to anything he can grab. He is giggling all the while and dh is hurriedly trying to babyproof the area. Finally I hear dh exclaim, "DUDE, You are crackalackin'!" (a phrase from the movie Madagascar).

I finished up bathing our 3 yo and dh took him to the kitchen for a snack.

Our 1 yo had a completely different reaction to his bath. He loved it and laughed and giggled the whole way through. He kept dunking his head under the water and I was holding on to him for his dear little life. It was obvious that he is a firecracker and a daredevil.







As I was trying to dry his wiggly little self off dh returned with our 3 yo.. He said with a mixture of awe and concern that he had never seen anyone eat so fast in his enitre life. That is saying something as dh is known in our circles as "The Fastest Eater In the South!".






The boys were clean and dressed so we gave them some medicine (they had horrible colds and fevers) fixed them bottles of milk (with sugar as the Nuns do at KM) and I held both of them and they guzzled thier bottles and quickly went to sleep in my arms. It was absolutely heavenly.