Here he is!!!

Is this not a ridiculously delicious little baby boy?
Now that he is officially ours, I can post his pic here.
Yeah! This is starting to feel real!!

We are his!!!

We've been waiting for pics and updates on Eyob for a while now. We still have only one pic of him. Yesterday I was disappointed to receive only measurement updates. Well, today in my inbox was a Congratulations!! from our specialist. Eyob's case passed court and we didn't even know we had a court date!! This is amazing in adoption world!!! He is officially a Geogerian. Everything is falling into place and we are told we should have him home by early-November. Now he has to undergo testing for Tuberculosis and we wait 9 weeks for the results. Please pray the tests come back negative!! We are so humbled that it would happen this way for us when so many people struggle with long setbacks in the process. Here we come baby Eyob!

Please pray...

for our little Eyob. We found out he was in the hospital with pneumonia, but has been discharged and is much better. Strange to not know your child is sick and imagine him in a hospital with no mama! Also, our case has been submitted to the Ethiopian courts and we are waiting for a court date. Please pray that it will be sooner than later!

Ramblings

Don't know how many people actually read this thing, and sometimes I'm not sure why I have it when I don't post much. Today seems like a day I need to write.

So much has been going on lately. I've been busily pulling together our curriculum for next year. Noah has decided he'd like to come home. I'm thrilled but overwhelmed by the thought of it. I'm so excited to be able to have more time with him and to teach him the way I'd like him to be taught. He is an eager learner who seems to me to be stifled by traditional learning. Already, he's been cracking his math book and practicing calligraphy. The kid has AMAZING penmanship. He is really embracing the idea of homeschooling. The other day I asked him to give me 10 reasons why he wants to be homeschooled and he fired off 8 or so very good reasons. Pretty neat.

I've decided to dive into using Sonlight. It is a literature/history based program. He will be studying World History (with American History woven in) in depth for two years. It utilizes great, classic literature with living text to draw the reader in. His writing assignments will be based on what he is reading. I love this comprehensive approach and I have a feeling I'm going to be learning A LOT!!!

Simone and Ahni will also be studying World History so we will combine a lot of the reading. I aspire to have a hands-on approach to learning (we did a lot of that this past year and the girls LOVED it), so I hope I can juggle that with everything else that needs to be done during the day.
The biggest challenge will be handling little Abel. He is non-stop energy. He wants to be right in with the big kids, so I'll need to be creative to keep him occupied. It will be even more challenging when little Eyob joins us. My sling will be getting a lot of use!!! (By the way, no
adoption news...still waiting for his child report.)

Currently Abel is OBSESSED with letters and numbers. It really is uncanny. I walked past a speed limit sign yesterday and he exclaimed, "Five!" I couldn't believe it. His favorite thing to do is to walk around the block and point out the letters/numbers on license plates, house numbers, and real estate signs. The kid knows half the alphabet already. Sometimes I can't believe he's not even two yet. Below is a pic of him enjoying painting. He asks for more and more paint!!!

I'll be running a 5k this Saturday. I'm a little nervous, but it should be pretty easy after some of the longer runs I've been doing lately. Tonight I enjoyed a 5 mile run over the Williamstown bridge.

I'm also considering trying once-a-month cooking. Although I would probably do bi-weekly cooking instead. I'd like to have the freezer stocked for the first month or so of the school year.

Anyone want to join me?

Life is full but so wonderful. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Abel will be a big brother!!

We have been matched with a darling baby boy! He is 5.5 months old.
His name is Eyob which is the Ethiopian version of Job. (pronounced ee yobe) I secretly thought/hoped this child would have an E name and Eyob has been a favorite Ethiopian name of mine since I first heard it!! Amazing! If only we could go scoop him up and bring home right now! Unfortunately, it will be a long haul from here on out.

This is beautiful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIBZ-kJ6XAc

In honor of all the precious lives that have been touched by HIV

See the new AHOPE for Children video here:
http://www.ahopeforchildren.org/index.html