November 20th and Christmas Music On The Radio?

!PUSH PAUSE ON MY MUSIC ON THE BOTTOM TO HEAR VIDEO!

Let It Snow,Let It Snow,Let it Snow!

"When days or moments get you down,there is always that one glance at a truly happy child have a first time experience that will make you stop,smile, and know in your heart you made the right choice,even though the journey has been a difficult one" - Leah

You know the holiday season is arriving when...you flip through the radio and a Christmas song comes on. Bryce's first Christmas in the USA, so his first time listening to our great Christmas songs. When I glanced in the mirror of the car and saw him jamming out, I had to grab my camera and turn around to capture his reaction while stopped at a stop light..only me right? It was great to see some emotion in him,smiles and stimulation. (he also love Beatles music and had some great laughs and spirit when I play The Beatles for him,interesting what music can "awaken" in you). He is slowly growing,coming in and out of his "coma state". We pray daily that he can grow up and live a regular life, grow to his age and size, and can be a normal child. He has grown 2 inches since he came in August,we have taught him to sit up,crawl,hold things,he now is babbling, and started this past week repeating to the best his speech can pronounce, words you say to him, he is pulling himself up and holding onto things as he walks. Still a tiny little guy,failure to thrive,and sad enough in infant shoes still,not even a size one fits him, too big. BUT we keep trucking along and hope for the best with all the conditions,issues,etc we are dealing with, we keep hoping we will beat the odds and he will be able to be a "real boy" and fit in this crazy world around us. We have hope..faith..and either way, he is our son and we love him no matter what disabilities,problems or what he can or cant do. He is unconditionally loved by us all,and you can see him daily trying so hard to catch up,be like the other kids,you can see it in his eyes,and you cant wonder what is going through that mind of his. He has been through so much,and yes the bone density tests (2) and teeth test show him at almost 4 years old,just so malnourished and starved at the orphanage the doctors say,his growth and development stopped. He is the size and mental state of a 6-9 month old, but we are going to go by the age on his birth certificate which makes him 22 months old. He is too tiny to go by his real age the doctors tests have determined. It is funny in a way, I see him do things, have that look, etc that my 4 year old son has. If you just looked at his head, you can see his age and the mouth full of teeth. Its the tiny body,not walking and some words that are trying to come out it throw people off at first glance. BUT my little man will beat the odds and amaze everyone..I know it! If not, he is stuck hanging on Mama and chilling in a stroller, right? :) Much Love to Everyone that goes through times that were untold,unknown and still push through daily knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you for your love and emails with your adoption shock stories and encouragement to go back to Ethiopia and get Bryce, and keep up spirits and hope during such difficult moments and days. Its nice to know there are people out there that can relate and give me advice. I appreciate you all..keep writing. Much Love,Leah

Thanksgiving with Logan

Thanksgiving lunch with Lo Lo

He took a picture of his shoe, I thought it was too cute

His "decorated out" Thanksgiving feather

Logan's preschool had a nice Thanksgiving lunch prepared outside in the wonderful sunny but breezy weather. We first attended chapel,than stood in line for is big "meal". It was so great to spend time with just Logan and I, I think it meant more to him just to get one on one time than showing me all the great Thanksgiving Day projects he made in class. I am so thankful for my 4 children and Jon, God has blessed me.

Baptismal

"Then Peter said unto them,Repent,and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,and ye shall receive the gift of the

Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38

On November 14th 2009 at CCV, Jon and I attended Nina and Scott's duel Baptismal. It was a very touching ceremony as husband and wife both got baptized together on a very chilly night :) We were very blessed as friends to be invited and enjoyed the evening with them, thank you guys.

ZOO DAY 11/08/09

~ZOO~

When the weather starts to cool down in Arizona,we hit the zoo! We had a great family day walking around the wildlife zoo with the kids and seeing the new exhibits. So much has been going on in our lives that we needed a break, get out of the house and get our minds away from stuff for a few hours. The babies fell asleep by the end of the day, it was a fun walk and nice to see the kids smile and enjoy being outside :)

Halloween 2009 BOO!

Halloween 2009

Sharon and the kids
Paris and Makenzie

The kids and I

Jon and I

Makenzie

Logan

The spooky kids

Dragon! Bryce

She was a witch,but my sister put cat whiskers and a nose on her and Aslynn was a kitty for the night!

The 2 babies first Halloween,and trunk or treat at Church of Joy. We had a great time with the kids as they played games to win candy,people had their cars decorated different themes and then the backs open and the kids got to get candy from the people passing it out. There was rows and rows of cars, and themes like Jackson dancing on stage,scary,friendly,all sorts of different cars with neat people dressed to match. The kids were so worn out by the time we hit the last row of cars, and they crashed to sleep in the car on the way home. It was fun and of course too much candy!

Lunch with Nina

"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch"

Orson Welles

My first time taking the 2 babies to lunch alone without Jon,or at all come to think of it. They were really good, and its nice that Nina doesn't mind that I have 2 small ones :) Bryce and Aslynn had a good time, ate their snacks, Aslynn LOVED the ginger off Nina's Sushi plate, it was too cute. Plus,I have not had a chance to see Nina in along time,so we got to catch up!

MIA

I have not blogged for over a month, so not like me. So much has been going on I don't even know where to begin. Lets just sum it all up and say that we are finally DONE with everything Bryce came home with and spread through the whole family. We are so grateful that we finally got a specialist at Phx Children's Hospital,and we got the right treatment. It has been such a long road,I really don't know how we got through it,but we did and I can say hey we are still here. We moved this last week closer to the kids school so the drive is not so bad for me. The kids are happy,and we are now ready to start living a normal life and be able to leave the house and interact with people more.
We are very blessed to have the support we have,my sister has been such a blessing through all this mess. It amazes me her strength and how she can really boost me after such a hard day. I am mentally and physically drained, but I know we will slowly recoup. Thank you Shawna for everything, even a text, a call,you helping with the kids and school,it never went unnoticed and I am forever appreciative for your love.
Now I need to catch up on my blog. I have pictures here and there when we got to be "free" and get out,and so its here and there. But must post since I am going to do the print book of the blog at the end of the year. I heard those are really neat and it beats scrap booking!

Logan Cole Turned Four

Make a Wish...

On Oct 21st Logan turned 4 years old! WOW times has flown by so fast. We celebrated with family at Build a Bear Workshop and had a great time stuffing and creating our new little friends, even the babies got a cuddly little buddy. Logan had a blast and enjoyed the whole day after waking up to his bed covered in streamers, streamers overhead,balloons all over and his gifts :) He had a very special birthday! Happy Birthday my lamb, we love you so much big boy.

A few pictures

I think its time for a new camera, mine is starting to make the pictures blurry I noticed today. Just some random pictures to try to keep up on the blog :)