It's been awhile since we've posted! We've had a busy month, which was made a little more complex by the death of our MacBook. We were not able to recover anything off the old hard drive, and are just now getting things functioning again with a new hard drive. But we are alive and well here!

Aubrey has been keeping us busy now that she is walking everywhere! Emily is pleased that her playmate is getting more and more skills, and the two of them seem to really enjoy doing things together.






I believe this is the first time in Aubrey's life that she has gone a full month without being called a boy. With this hairstyle, people seem to finally realize she's a girl. Pink means nothing in the culture here, but it seems hair style does. :) And check out that forehead. She definitely resembles her parents. We're a big-brained clan it seems.



Now that Aubrey has mastered walking and being feminine, she is up for the challenge of learning to read. :) I found these great English board books on the internet for cheap.... and they are delivered to my door for cheap! Hooray for online Asian shopping! (English children's books are just not for sale anywhere here, so this is a welcome discovery!)




There have been some really beautiful days lately, and we've been happy to go out of town for day hikes in this great weather!



Emily's a gigantic 3 year old, but still loves to have Daddy carry her. She now understands what locals say to her, and often uses the local language to ask people not to touch her. It's a survival phrase when mobs of people come at you each time you go outside! :)

We'll try to be more frequent with our blogging now that our computer works again. We did lose all our email addresses, so if you want to shoot us an email we'll get you back on our email list!

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?