Baby Shower in Opelika

This last weekend was Addie's baby shower for baby Lily who will be coming in a month and a half or so. I can't wait to be an Aunt again! Tobin and Maggie were all dressed up and got to come to the shower too.

Uncle Tony helped pass the time by blowing bubbles with them.

Opening presents. Maggie sure had fun helping!

Tobin got very tired since the party was during his morning nap.

At dinner that night! It rained the whole weekend, but we still had fun.

Dancing in pjs before bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Doesn't Tobin look so cute in his little rain boots that his Grandma gave him? They came in handy with the rain and mud.

AGCI Picnic and Other Happenings

This weekend our whole little family went to the All God's Children International picnic. I got to meet some great families and the founder spoke really quick as well. Tobin had a blast and never stopped moving. He wanted to feed the ducks almost the whole time. Grandpa followed him around almost the whole time fending off the geese when they got too pushy.


Tobin even played catch for one of the first times with one of the little girls of an amazing family that we met. They have two children already adopted from Ethiopia (one adopted from the foster system and one biological) and use to live over there as missionaries. They are on the list for a boy and are even around the same place as us on the wait list. We were the only families there that were adopting from Ethiopia here in GA. There are a few other families but they didn't make it to the picnic. Oh my gosh was I ever happy to meet them. I was afraid that I might scare them away because I was so happy and eager to talk with anyone that is also adopting from Ethiopia. They are the first people that I have actually met in person that have or are adopting from Ethiopia. Can you believe it! I read a lot of blogs, but have not gotten to actually talk to someone. We are planning to go out to Ethiopian food after church in a month or so with them (they know all of the good places). I can't wait, they were so nice and knew so much about Ethiopia, adoption, and raising kids.

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We got to hang out with Marcus and baby J.J Sunday night as well. Marcus and Clark taught Tobin how to play video games. He loved it. Great, starting them young.


Mom and baby J.J. Tobin was so happy to see J.J. and kept asking for him the rest of the week. I really think that he does want a little sibling because he asks to see pictures of "bebies" on the computer. So we sit together and look at pictures of Ethiopian babies that have been brought home (from other AGCI families' blogs). He loves looking at them, but always says "I want a bebe"with a really sad face, today he almost started crying about it. I keep telling him in six months or so we will be bringing home our own baby.

Just thought I would throw in this picture because it is so cute. Tobin loves to read his bedtime story with Daddy. He new thing is to also look at his own book while I read another one out loud. He is such a multitasker.

Uncle Paul and Baby Buster

We had the wonderful pleasure of getting to spend a whole week with my Uncle Paul. As a kid he was always my hero because he is a Wycliffe Missionary Bible Translator. For years he lived in a little village in Africa learning the local language and creating an alphabet. I wanted to be a missionary because of his example and loved Africa because of his stories. Now we are adopting from Africa!

Uncle Paul and Tobin bonded and had a great time together. Uncle Paul gave him a new nick-name Baby Buster Peanut Parfait or Baby Buster for short. My Grandpa and Uncle are the kings of creating cool nick-names that catch on with the rest of the family.

Anyway the week was great and Uncle Paul and Baby Buster had so much fun.

We took Uncle Paul to our pizza and trivia night. It was a lot of fun even though we lost in the bonus round.

Jared (my youngest brother) and his band played their last gig on Saturday night and we all went. Tobin rocked out and danced. Jared and his band are really good and they could probably become a professional band, but instead they are all going off to college to get good degrees and real jobs. We are very proud of Jared. He says that if he wants to make it big with music he can do it on the side. He would never give up college and a good job for a band and neither would his band mates. Smart boys.

He has a great voice and writes his own songs.

Uncle Paul is thinking really hard about something important I guess.

Tobin and his Daddy.

Cooking (aka making a mess with flour). What a great learning experience.

Baby Buster loves to jump off stuff and was showing off for Uncle Paul.

Paul next to the painting that Clark did for the church. Paul wrote the scripture in the middle in French and one word of it in the African language that he translated. Cool huh.
We miss you already Uncle Paul! It is no fun watching Hogan's Heroes without you.

Quick Grandparents Visit

This last weekend Tobin got a quick visit from his grandparents as well as Aunt Addie, Uncle Tony, and cousin Maggie.


Tobin and Maggie loved getting Grandpa to read to them. But, their favorite game was using him as a slide, that is until Maggie threw up on him. Too much excitement and movement!


On Saturday we went to IKEA (my favorite place ever). I was excited because I got to try out my new double stroller that I bought used for when the new baby comes. It handled great.


The fam! Maggie was asleep in the stroller and Tobin was clinging to my leg as I took this picture. We will see them again in two weeks for Addie's baby shower. Little Lily should be coming into the world in a few months.

Getting Practice

Tobin has been getting practice at being a big brother. A few times a week we watch "baby J.J." while his Dad is at work. T and J are exactly one year apart in age. I have found it hard dealing with two so close in age. T has had to share me which is no fun as well as his toys.


He loves "bebe" as he calls him and always can't wait for him to come over. Nap time is horrible since neither of them want to go to sleep. There is just way too much fun to be had. T is getting better at playing the big brother, but he has a hard time. All good practice though for the near future.


T loves to hug J.J. Baby is not too fond of it, probably because he often gets knocked down by the hug.


Most Wednesday nights we have been playing trivia at the near by pizza place where Jared works. It has been so much fun and we have only lost once. Tobin doesn't do great with sitting through it, but he plays around while we try to answer the questions. It has become a fun family get together.


Daddy was in Auburn the other day and brought home a hat for Tobin that matches his (Clark and his whole family are Auburn grads). I have never seen Tobin so excited about a hat. He doesn't want to wear his unless Clark has his on. He loves the fact that they match and likes to look in the mirror.

No Movement

Well, just got our monthly update on the adoption referral wait list. There has been no movement this month so we are still number 15. It is hard to feel like we have not moved at all. I am ready for a long wait though. The courts in Ethiopia are closed now for this month as well as September, which means that families will not get the okay to travel to get their new children. This will also slow down the referrals a bit on the other end. My current estimation is that we could get a referral in November which would put us traveling in January or February. This would work out great for us because Tobin would be older and better able to handle a new sister and they would probably be further apart in age.

Fingerprints!

Well, we finally got the fingerprint appointments for my parents and brother. Approval from home land security is really the last big paperwork thing that has to be done for the adoption before we can travel. You see, to be able to bring an orphan into the country you have to have approval from CIS (formally known as INS). In order to get approval you have to be fingerprinted by the FBI and send in all of this money and paperwork. I sent in all of the paperwork a long time ago and Clark and I have already been fingerprinted. The problem has been getting fingerprint appointments for the rest of the family who is over 18. They didn't tell me what I needed to send in so that I could get them fingerprinted and my agency didn't know either. I have been sending them stuff and having it sent back for two months. Being a typical government agency, there is no phone number to call and ask such a simple question and so I had make an appointment to talk to someone. In the end what they wanted was so tiny receipt that I would have never guessed that they wanted. Oh well. So thank the Lord that we are finally on our way towards getting approval. That still won't happen for a month or two though.