well worth your 11 minutes

The Dancer from Kensington on Vimeo.

fun July moments

Fun with Papa & Nana

We have enjoyed having Papa and Nana visit us for a short time! (Too short!) The girls have enjoyed so much being able to play with them and have them here to celebrate their birthdays. These are just a few pics of us out and about while they have been here, visiting local parks and going out to the countryside.

It's Birthday Time Again!

Emily turned 3 on July 20. We had all sorts of fun with birthday cakes all the way from America!


Then she also got to play with some of her new toys.


Aubrey got to have a real cake too, since all she got for her birthday 2 weeks ago was a rice krispy treat she could not even eat.






Aubrey feels robbed that she did not get icing on her cupcake! But she was easier to clean up!


Just Emily sporting the birthday hat.

Aubrey's 1st Birthday

Hard to believe that Aubrey is already 1 year old!


She is trying to contain her excitement about turning one, without showing all of her new teeth!






But, being able to wear the birthday hat finally got a smile out of her!

Just some random pics

How could this possibly be a comfortable sleeping position?

Finding a bakery

We recently found a bakery nearby. The owners gave Emily a free sample of the goodies, but then she had more energy to burn.


You have to love sugar. I mean how can it taste bad, really?




Better to dance the sugar off in the street than on the bus!

Emily practicing the guitar

My parents took this snapshot with their computer during a Skype video call. You can see that we all love Skype!

I just read these statistics over at takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com It's unimaginable.

"According to United Nations Human Development, United Nations International Children’s Emergency and Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, today there are an estimated 5 million orphaned and vulnerable children in Ethiopia; 800,000 of them are AIDS orphans. The country’s cities and villages are overwhelmed; Addis Ababa alone has more than 100,000 orphans. The system is overtaxed, and sadly, new orphanages are not the answer."

Today's post there also says, "Men create orphanages for children, but God created children for families."

A Friday afternoon in the park

We went to "Forest Park" to enjoy an afternoon with friends. It is almost 10,000 acres of nice places to walk, sit, and enjoy some fresh air. We'll be going back soon I'm sure.

We think it's good news...

So, the California Department of Justice mailed our completed background checks back to us... without taking issue that the fingerprints were opened (by them). We are so thankful for that, and especially that we don't have to waste time redoing anything!

The only strange thing is that one of ours is signed by an official, and one is not signed, just a typed in name at the end of the letter. We aren't sure if they just forgot to sign it, or if it doesn't need signed. ?? We'll send it to our adoption agency and see what happens!

Thanks for supporting us along this journey! We'll continue to let you know what we find out.

Lest you entertain the slightest idea that the girls may be suffering here....

Emily obviously loves her bed above all beds. The wall decals are vinyl stickers that both grandmas have sent to decorate her room with. Super fun!

So, do I go forward then?

I think I'll pass this time