ELIJAH'S FIRST CHRISTMAS HOME!

Don and I were just as excited as any little kid this Christmas. We couldn't wait to see Elijah's reaction to everything about the season and to our family traditions.
We spent Christmas Eve as a family and went out to dinner then on to Christmas Eve candlelight service. (One of my favorite services!) Elijah and Emilie stayed in the nursery until communion time and then after our family made it through the line for communion we got Elijah to share in the final candlelight part. WELL...this is a very solemn, quiet time and Elijah decided to make his voice heard! He said "Hi Mama" and I whispered back to him "hi baby"...then louder he said "HI MAMA" and I whispered back "hi baby"...this went on for about 10 times. He really wanted me to say it louder! Then as we made our way around the circle, he saw his Sissy handing out candles to people and very loudly he said "HI SISSY". We attend a very small Church who understand kiddos and afterwards several came up and said...Hi Mama...with smiles! =) A great memory to share in the years to come.
Christmas morning was filled with all of the joys we could have imagined. I think even the older kids were excited to have a little one in the house again. Elijah was thrilled with all of it. He loved his car and basketball goal and opening presents was fun too!
We feel so truly blessed to have him home this year to celebrate these holidays with us. As we drove to my in-laws in the afternoon, I took in the sight in my car. I had all 4 of my kids together with me. WOW~ God has been so good to us. These kids hold my heart and I love them more than I could have ever imagined. Knowing that next year will bring many changes to our house and that we may not all be together for the season next year made this year even more memorable to me. SO...I shed a few tears and thanked God for blessing me with an amazing husband and 4 really great kids!
Here are a few pics from our holidays...
*Santa came and then the older kids decided to play their nintendo!

*Elijah enjoying his car AND his basketball goal

*Weeble treehouse...Loads of fun!

*BIG Hubbard Christmas (12/26) seeing Santa again! He did enjoy them much more this time. Walked right up to them and talked and climbed up on their lap to open his gift!

I hope your Christmas season was filled with lots of love and joy!

Blessings~

Tina

ONE YEAR AGO...(another celebration!)

One year ago today we became the legal parents (In Ethiopia) to this precious boy! We did not hear on Christmas Eve but on Christmas Day we received this wonderful news. I struggled through Christmas Eve and the morning of Christmas until we heard we had passed. It was tough having him so far away from us on his first Christmas.
It still amazes me to walk into his room at night and see him laying in the crib. For so many nights and days I would walk in there and pray for him and wish to see his face or just to know who he was. Now I get to hold him...hear him call me Mommy and watch him learn new things daily. I love watching the wonders of Christmas through his eyes! I love to hear him pray and and say "cank you Jesus!" This boy has opened our eyes to many things in this world.

(If you look close you will see an ornament with his referral pic in it!)

I pray that you all have a wonderful Christmas! We are so excited to share it with ALL 4 of our kiddos this year.

Blessings~

Tina

THE SANTA EXPERIENCE...

I have been anxiously waiting to take Elijah to see Santa. I knew I could not take him alone because someone would have to chase while the other stood in line. Plus, both of us wanted to be a part of the 1st Santa experience.

**Elijah walking into the mall to get in line for Santa! He was on a mission...
**Seeing Santa. He did fine walking up to him and he said "HI Santa...then he babbled something and said "tree" and then said "car and cruck" were things he wanted. THEN Mommy put him on Santa's lap! At first he cried then he just got his serious "I am not comfortable with this" face on. They snapped the pic and he got his candy cane said "cank u" and BYE!

**After all of that he needed a drink and to get out of there! Another mission...

**The Santa experience just took it all out of him! He fell asleep about 2 minutes after we got him in the car!

Praying you are all enjoying your season of CHRISTmas!

Blessings~

Tina

RE-ADOPTION COMPLETE!

YES! I said complete...finally, after having 2 extra home visits AND tons of changes and "stuff" it is final. When we got there last Friday were told the judge may make us wait another 6 months to finalize and that was going to make me MAD! We have already been home 10 months (TODAY!) so I knew there was no need in the wait period again.
It was pretty quick and easy once we got in the courtroom. Elijah ran around the whole time and even took the microphone at the end and sang to them. He is such a ham!!!! Here are a few pics of the event!
***Celebrating after with lunch at Red Robin. The boy loves lemons!!!

**Checking in and really wanting to push the button on the snowmen (AGAIN!).

Bereket Donald Hubbard is now officially Elijah Simon Bereket Hubbard...WOOHOO!!!!!

Blessings to all~

Tina

SATURDAY FUN...

***We brought Elijah home in a snowstorm but at 9 months old he never really got to experience a snowfall. SO...I took him outside to watch it for a few minutes. You can't see the snowflakes coming down but he thought it was "COOL"...although, very windy and cold!

***Elijah LOVES to drink my peach tea when we eat at Olive Garden so for a treat we got him his own. He was very happy...later we were not! He only drank half of it...but oh my gosh did this guy wet! He peed through his clothes. YIKES...thinking no more peach tea of his own.

***Waiting for the Christmas in Park light show to begin. (This was when we realized he had soaked through his clothes! UUGH~)

***The fuzzy CHOO-CHOO

***My sweet boy all cozy in his bed with blankie and thumb! And to think a year ago I was so sad to see this crib still empty!! SO very thankful for this little guy.

Have a wonderful week!

Tina

FUN IN THE HUBBARD HOUSE!

We have been busy this week with some fun things and some not so fun things. Earlier in the week we were preparing for ANOTHER homevisit (our second) just for the re-adoption. Long story really but made simple by the fact that the adoption judge here in our county is very picky about some things and not so happy about you using a "friend" lawyer. Her clerk is also new so things did not happen as they should have. Quite interesting really! Anyway...with that under our belt we now have a court date for Dec 17 for our re-adoption (it only took about 5 months to get this done!) We are pleased to get it finished and move on to the next round of paperwork for citizenship. Elijah was his cute adorable self during the meeting, of course. We told her he is a huge people person.
We made some Christmas ornaments this week. Heidi was here and I had promised her and Em we would get them done. I wanted to make some with our very cool Africa cookie cutter. My house smelled of cinnamon for awhile but it was fun to see them working hard on them. Elijah made an Africa one with his thumb print in the place of Ethiopia. Something I hope we can treasure for a long time!
Friday we spent the day baking for the Holidays. I usually get this done earlier in Dec but we just did not have any openings PLUS I still have a lot to do. My friend, Debra and I like to get together and get it done. We made banana bread, pumpkin bread, peanut butter balls, haystacks, oreo balls, pressed cookies, and choc covered pretzels. YUMMY!! Tifanie joined in on the fun as did Elijah. I still have some to do but we got a great start to it.
We are enjoying the Christmas season very much here. It is fun to see it through a toddler's eyes again! He loves SANTA but has yet to see him in person. That is coming this week. I am excited to see what his reaction will be.
Hope you are enjoying the season!!
Blessings~
Tina
***Making his ornament

***After enjoying some powdered donuts

***He loves to cover his head with blankets and this time he got my table cloth and was roaring at everyone

***Rolling peanut butter balls with Sissy

***Baking with Mommy

TIME FOR A HAIR CUT...

Since we are a "military" family, we like short clean cut boy hair cuts. I had been debating about keeping Elijah's longer for a little while. I was enjoying being able to rub those soft curls! BUT he hated having it brushed out and it was starting to get a little frizzy on the ends. SO...when Daddy said he may try to shave it himself...Mommy rushed him to get it professionally done. =)
Oh my, does he look so much older! That is always tough for me. They start looking more like little boys and not so much like babies. =( He did a great job getting it cut BUT was very unhappy when she was combing it out to cut it. There was hair everywhere!!!! You don't realize how long it is until those curls are combed out. And of course, I didn't have my camera. When he was all done and had schmoozed all of the ladies there, he got his sucker! He was then a very happy boy.
BEFORE

AFTER

**The kid loves to have his picture taken!

Blessings~

Tina

HUBBARD HAPPENINGS...

*Playing wii*

*Loving the singing snowmen*

*Putting the angel on the tree*

*Having his first Thanksgiving Dinner*

Well...As you see I fell off the wagon once again! I check several blogs almost daily and see no recent bloggings and feel sad and the disconnect I feel and then I remember..."UH...how long has been since I have blogged!?"

So...to catch you all up: Elijah is now 18 months old. He is amazing! He can count to five very well and we are working on going to 10 now. He sings almost non-stop but you can't always make out what he is singing. He loves quinkle quinkle little tar. =) He weighs 25 lbs and is a big boy for sure! He is finally saying Mommy (the sweetest sound EVER!) Everytime I hear my heart skips a beat. He is ALL BOY! He gets into everything all the time. He loves Mommy's tea (and I normally do not share with anyone (including kiddos or hubby!) because it gags me. A few days ago I put away all of the 12 month clothes as he is now in all 18 months. I was very sad. He came home wearing 6-9 months a little over 9 months ago and has grown by leaps and bounds. He saw his Pedi this week (sinus infection) and she is SO amazed at him and how well he is doing. She kept saying how advanced he is. Funny thing is he kep telling her "all done!" and "BYE" as she was trying to exam him. He does not like going to Dr.

I am so looking forward to the Holidays and the joy of having a little one again. We put the tree up and he was so excited. He loves everything musical so all of those were big hits. He helped Daddy put the angel on the tree and was eager to help with ornaments. Now he tries to take them off the tree and eat them! As I said he is ALL BOY!

The other kiddos are doing good. Randy is almost half way through his SR year! UUGH~ We have had Sr pics taken and family pics taken as I am not sure where he will be next yr. =( Tifanie is doing well and is now going to college and working at QT part time. She is here a lot more now that Elijah is here. He lights up when she walks in and yells SIS SIS or Sissy! Em is doing well in school and getting much better at her flute playing. She seems to be growing way too fast as well!

Well....there's an update on the kiddos. Hope you are having a wonderful start to the Christmas Season!

Blessings to all~

Tina

THANKFUL DAY #13...

I am SOOOOO thankful for my dear husband. He is a wonderful husband, father , and friend. He works very hard to provide for our family so that I can stay home with our kids. There are times when he goes without sleep because he is working which I know I could never do! I love watching him with our kids. He has always been a very hands on Dad, involved in everything the kids are doing. Last night when I left for Bible study he was putting together the outside Christmas decorations with lots of help from Elijah. When I returned from Bible study he was sitting quietly in our living room with Emilie watching and explaining a movie to her. Even our older kids know when they need their Dad, he will be there.
I have been blessed with a man that will love me unconditionally baggage and all. And let me tell you sometimes that baggage can get pretty heavy!
I am amazed that God placed this man in my life! We are pretty opposite on some things...he is more outgoing than I am. (Never knows a stranger!) He LOVES the outdoors and I could care less about the camping and ickiness of the outdoors. But we share so many wonderful things, Our LOVE for Christ and to raise our family in a Christian home. Our love of children and the want to help as many as we can!
Thank you God for giving me the "perfect" husband for me!!

THANKFUL DAYS 11 & 12...

DAY 11: I am thankful for my baby girl Emilie. With Em around there is never a dull moment. She is either telling you a story or reading you something. She is such a joy, even when she is being difficult. I love the quiet serious moments with her. They are few but when we sit and read together or just talk I can see what a brilliant mind God has blessed her with. She was much prayed for and I know God has wonderful things planned for her.

DAY 12: I am VERY thankful for our baby boy, Elijah. I could write a book about how thankful I am but I won't. Over the last 3 Thanksgiving holidays I have begged God that he just be here next year. Well...the year is here. I look so forward to sharing this holiday and many others with him. To see things through a young ones eyes again and watch them experience it all for the first time is amazing. I am so thankful he is ours and God blessed us with such an active healthy baby boy.

Blessings~
Tina

BEING THANKFUL...DAYS 4-10...

I did not forget my thankful post countdown to Thanksgiving. I just got sick with a wonderful bug for a few days and fell behind. (Poor excuse, I know!) I am going to try and catch up...so here it goes!

DAY 4: I am thankful for all of the wonderful people we have met, either in person or via blog, facebook, or yahoo group, that are such wonderful adoption support. I know without a doubt if I have any questions or concerns that these people are there to help and support. What a great gift that is. We have made some tremendous friendships throughout our adoption. Such a wonderful blessing!

DAY 5: I am thankful for my friends. The ones that I can call when I am happy, sad, mad, or just blah! I know these friends will listen without out judging me! They will pray for me when I ask them to and lift me up when I need it. They will laugh with me, cry with me, vent with me and or just be with me. Thank you my wonderful friends!

DAY 6: I am thankful for ALL of my parents. This includes the in-laws as well! I know when needed they are all always there. They have helped us through the last few years and longed for our little guy as much we have. They take care of our kiddos when needed and what a blessing that has been. It is tough when they end up sick because you just never think you will be there! Recently my Dad had 2 stints put in and was diagnosed diabetic. It has been tough and they are still working to get things regulated and right through the VA. I remember thinking...I am not ready to be here yet! I felt the same way a few years ago when we were going through all of this with my in laws as well! SO...today I am thankful they are all 4 here and doing pretty well.

DAY 7: I am thankful for my sibling in laws. I have the best! They are all more like my bios than in laws. I love each one of them and am so thankful to be a part of their families!

DAY 8: I am thankful for my sister and brothers. They are a HUGE blessing to me. My sister and I have found a new closeness the last few years and I love that! We have shared SO much together and it so helps when you are just having a moment and she gets it like no one else would. My life is so much more full with her in it. I have one older brother and one younger. They are both good men. They have struggled throughout their lives but they have overcome so much to be who they are now. I love that my kiddos LOVE their Uncle Joe and all of his wacky ideas and jokes. He can make them laugh like no one else. Elijah is still figuring Uncle Joe out but he thinks he is pretty cool.

Day 9: I am thankful for my oldest girl Tifanie. What a blessing she is. She has been so helpful coming and watching the younger two when we need it. It is hard for us because we don't like leaving them with a sitter. I see our relationship shifting some the older she gets. I love talking and visiting with her. I know she is headed for great things. My first born...what a blessing!

Day 10: I am thankful for my oldest son, Randy. Randy is growing up and all too soon it will be his turn to leave the nest. He is such a joy to have around that I know I will struggle when he is gone. I love that he will still come to be and talk and ask my advice. I also love the relationship he has with his older sister now. I see their relationship growing and I love seeing their friendship grow!

SO...now I am caught up. Hopefully, I will get on track since Thanksgiving is THIS week! A few special notes:
1. I turned 40 today!!!!!!! My goodness where did those years go? I remember when I thought 40 was SO old. HA
2. Elijah has been home with us exactly 9 months today. YEAH! That means tomorrow he will have officially been with us longer than he was without us! I LOVE that. He is one of my greatest joys!!

Blessings to all~
Tina

THANKFUL DAY #3

Today I am thankful for the freedom to go to Church and worship God. What a blessing that is. There are times when I just sit and look around the room at our Church family and I am filled with love and peace. God placed us in this small Church about 3 yrs ago and we have been blessed by them every since. It is filled with wonderful loving people.
I love watching Elijah now walk in (as if he owned the place!) and tell everyone hi. He is not shy...young and old get his wonderful smile and a very loud HI! They love us as much as we love them!! They have helped pray our little guy home and so many other thing they have prayed us through.
We are blessed by Clay County Christian.

Blessings~
Tina

BEING THANKFUL...

It is not hard this year to come up with several reasons that I am thankful. We have truly had a blessed 2010. In years past I would choose something I was thankful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving Day. Let me tell you as we journeyed through the last 2 years of our adoption it got a little harder to put on that thankful face! (I know BAD me!) I was and am always and forever thankful for my children, husband, family and many other things. BUT during the last of our wait...I didn't really want to be thankful about anything! I know that sounds bad but it was how I began to feel.
SO...as I start this year's Thankful posts, I will begin with God first! I am thankful He walked with me throughout all of it and continues to walk with me today. I am thankful He never said "well since she is not really being sincere I shall turn my back on her until she comes around." I never doubted His love for me BUT there were times when I was begging him for a reason why!!!??? I have learned a lot in the almost 4 yrs since we decided to adopt. A lot about God and so much more about me!
SO...Thank you God for ALWAYS being there and for carrying us through those dark days!

Blessings~
Tina

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!!

YES...I am a day late get this done. But none-the-less, I am so very thankful for the many freedoms I take advantage of and many are due to the fact that many veterans were willing to sacrifice for me and everyone else. I am especially proud of my Dad and father-in-law, who both served in Vietnam. Then there is my hubby, who is still serving his country willingly and proudly. And last and certainly not least my son who has just begun his journey of serving his country. He says he is not yet a veteran but I tell him that he will be and that is what matters when I am thanking him.
I went shopping yesterday and as I walked in HyVee and saw so many Veterans (young and old) sharing their breakfast together and sharing their stories together, it brought tears to my eyes. It reminds me of the connection that Don and our Dads share. They just get it with each other, almost without the words but with a look. I know that connection will be shared between him and our son as well.
So...I am going to begin my yearly "THANKFUL" posts with this today. I am VERY thankful to all of the men and women who are willing to go where so many of us are not! May you all be blessed abundantly!

Blessings~
Tina

PARTY AND TRICK OR TREAT...

Emilie had her very first "costume" party on the 30th. We don't do "scary" here so we sent out invitations requesting kids dress as their favorite tv or movie character and in nothing scary. Elijah would have been stressed anyway! I think they all had a good time. They played Fear Factor, which was fun and then played some other games as well. Emilie was a CSI agent and Elijah was the very famous BLUE from Blues Clues! :) Tifanie and Randy were AWESOME to stick around on their Saturday night and help me. They even dressed up for the occasion as well. I have pretty great kids!
We did go trick or treating in our home town. Elijah just went visiting as I did not really want him to have the candy! Em decided this was to be her last year. She was kind of bored by the time we were done. When we got home, Don had to take our little Blue around to show his buddies. Elijah enjoyed the attention and this time he DID get candy. In fact, at one of the houses he thought he would just take their entire candy bowl. He sat his bucket down and picked their bowl full of candy up! It was pretty funny.
It is hard to believe we are already into November. Some days I feel like we just got home from Ethiopia and others it feels like a lifetime ago.
Many changes are headed our way in 2011. Some are good and some not so good so I think I will hold tight to 2010 and try to enjoy every minute of it!
Here are a few pics of our Halloween weekend:

"Here's the mail it never fails it makes me want to wag my tail and when it comes I want to wail MMMAAAIIILLL!" The little guy LOVES when mail comes on Blues Clues. I love how his little hands are crossed here.

This is one of the teams for the games...Randy's team along with Elijah who tried to get involved as much as he could!!

This was the other team...Tifanie's team. They were having fun!!

We only did a little decorating...a spider web with orange and black spiders.

*My thankful posts will follow in a week or so. I really think about blogging everyday...but then I just run out of time! Chasing a toddler keeps me very busy!! BUT I am loving every minute of it!! Hoping our re-adoption will be completed soon. Who knew we lived in such a finicky county in MO!!

Blessing to all~

OUR FIRST BABY BOY!

How quickly time flies when you have children! I was told this several times when I first gave birth to Tifanie but at 19 yrs old...it did not sink in! Now at almost 40, and with Tifanie 20 and Randy almost 18, I am wishing I had listened to them a little more.
When Randy was about 8 yrs old he assured me that one day he WOULD be a soldier like his Daddy! He would protect and serve our country and us just like he watched his Dad doing. He assured me he would be ready to go anywhere when he was told to. He was 8 so I said to him...Ok honey! That would make Daddy and I very proud. Well...as the years have passed my boy turned into a young man and the whole time he never waivered on what it was he was going to do with his life...the only uncertainty was WHAT his job in the Army would be. SO...on Friday Oct 15, 2010 we watched our son make his dream a reality. He was sworn in to serve our Country just as his Dad has done for 22 yrs and his grandpas had done before him. As scared as I was at that moment, this Mom could not have been more proud! The older Randy gets the more I see his Dad in him and that could never be a bad thing!
SO...As Randy counts down the months until he "gets" to leave and start his career, this Mom is going to hold on just a little tighter as she counts down the months until she "has" to let go and let him fly.

Blessings~

Tina

LOVING THE FALL...

I LOVE the fall. I like watching the leaves change to beautiful colors and seeing God's wonders unfold in front of my very eyes. This year has been no different other than we are sharing it for the first time with our sweet boy Elijah. He enjoys being outside as much as possible!
We took him, Emilie and his little buddy, Alex to pumpkin patch recently. Elijah loved every minute of it. He is now 17 months and so very independent already. He absolutely LOVES his Daddy. If Daddy is around that is all he wants. He will scream for Daddy if he walks outside to get something only to come right back in. So my plan for another Mama's boy has failed...so far! :)
Our lives have been so very blessed by this precious boy. He is also at such a fun age. He can really make us laugh at some of the things he does. Yesterday we were eating out and Daddy was giving him tastes of his water. Then he told me to give him a taste of my tea...Elijah suck it from the straw and said "Tank You...MMMMMM". We just laughed at him. We were also at Target and Daddy was letting him walk instead of ride. Elijah walked right up to the candy shelf and grabbed a bag then walked to my cart leaned on his tippy toes and threw it in! Now...we do not give him candy especially, snickers! We had to laugh because it was SO cute.
He is learning by leaps and bounds and I love it! He will sing along with me when I sing to him. (it isn't the exact words but I know he is trying) He will climb up on my lap for no reason and say PAY... then fold his hand gibber a little then say AMEN!
We are gearing up for a fun next few months with the Holidays coming. It will be so much fun to watch Elijah through all of it.
Here are a few pics.

Trying to ride the pumpkin at the pumpkin patch!

Making lots of noise and lovin' it!

WEEEEEeeeee! The boy LOVES the slide.

Oh...and this is one of his favorite things to do. He will climb in after I take laundry out and just sit in there and laugh at me. *Thankfully, my dryer is usually never empty!

****I am going to try and post more frequently. I figure people may get tired of reading this but it is my journal of sorts so I need to be better about posting. :)

Blessings to all~

Tina

ONE YEAR AGO

***It is hard to believe it has been a year since we saw this picture of our little guy for the first time. He continues to be such a blessing to us and our family. SO...HAPPY REFERRAL-VERSARY TO OUR SWEET BOY!

BLUES CLUES...

Our boy LOVES Blues Clues. He asked to watch it several times a day. He can even get the remote and point it at the TV to "try" to get his "booz cooz" on. His favorite part is the mail. He can be playing with toys and the mail song will come on...he will drop everything and start dancing. TOO FUNNY! BUT then he must get very close to watch the mail scene. (I know this is not good on his eyes but I had to capture a picture before making him move back.)

***I think the boy does not have enough toys! (Oh, yes...he has many more up in his room!)

SEPT ALREADY...

We have already had a wonderful Sept. We spent Mon and Tues of this week in St Louis, MO. We went to the zoo and the arch and then got to spend some time visiting with Tsegay and his wife Almaz at an Ethiopian Restaurant. This is the Ethiopian Director and his wife. What a blessing it was to be able to see them again and to visit with so many families WHO GET IT! :) Elijah had a great time. He kept trying to get into the kitchen/bar area. Emilie also loved seeing and visiting with everyone. She really enjoyed playing with the littles. She kept saying how cute they all were. She wanted to try lamb so Don ordered lamb to share with her. Then he taught her how to eat it without her fork. She did well trying all of it.

*Elijah eating injera and LOVING it!

Mommy, Daddy and Elijah at the museum in the arch

Mommy chasing Elijah through the tunnel at the zoo

* Emilie and Elijah at the zoo.

Last Sept started out as a very tough month for us. We were so tired of the waiting! We had been on the adoption roller coaster for over 2.5 years. We had been waiting for our little guy from Ethiopia for over 10 months. We were inching closer to the Holidays and the idea of spending another holiday not knowing our little guy was really tearing me up inside. Little did we know, God was getting ready to bless us in a HUGE way...

Have a wonderful week!! And if you think about it please say a little prayer for our family. We recently found out that my Dad is not getting a very good blood flow to his heart. He has been having "minor" attacks for about 3 months and has to take nitro to relieve it. He finally has an appt with the cardiologist on Sept 24th to see what they will do about all of this. Thanks~

Blessings~

Tina

SINCE I LAST POSTED...

Well, another 2 weeks have passed by very quickly. Why does time seem to get away from me these days?? Maybe it is this active little boy I spend most of day chasing after!??! BUT I so love chasing him. He is such an active little boy and we knew he would be from the minute he was placed in our arms. He was going up the all of the stairs within a month of coming home...big sign! He is already running and trying to hide from everyone. (we can usually still see him...but he "thinks" he is hiding)
School has started so the kids are gone all day. Em had transitioned much easier than we had ever thought. **Thanks so much for all of the prayers**I am certain they have helped. I forgot to turn the alarm on last night so I woke up at 602 this morning and rushed into her room and woke her up. She hopped right up...got dressed...did her hair...and all of the other things she needed to get done and was out the door by 630. She even ate a bowl of cereal. I am SO very proud of her!! Randy has it easier since he can drive himself. He doesn't have to leave the house until about 710. Em is already in her first class at that time...poor girl! Tifanie started her college courses this week. A few days a week I keep another little guy who is a few months older than Elijah. It is good for Elijah to interact with another little one AND he is learning to share his things.
Elijah had his 15 month check up this week and he is growing like a weed! He is already over 24lbs and almost 32 inches long. The pediatrician says he is advanced in his language skills. The funny thing is it came on all at once. The beginning of Aug he still wasn't really saying a whole lot of words but then almost over night I noticed him repeating words more and more. He has recently fallen head over heels in love with Blues Clues. He gets excited when it comes on and will sit for about 10 minutes straight without moving. He can even say Blue. (sounds more like bwoo) He also adores trucks more and more. I took him down the toy aisle at Target a few days ago and he got so excited when he say all of the trucks. He held is hands out and kept saying Uh huh...he wanted them ALL! Christmas should be pretty easy. :)
We are headed out of town this weekend. This will be our first weekend away from him. I have already told hubby if he cries we are just taking him with us! We will see how I do. I am sure he will do much better than Mommy will.
Hope you all have a wonderfully blessed weekend.
Tina

6 MONTHS/15 MONTHS...

On Aug. 14th we celebrated 6 months home with Elijah.
This was taken as soon as Almaz placed him in my arms. There were no tears (from him) and he just checked out my face and and looked like he was trying to figure out what was going on. You can see the startled look in those precious eyes. Poor little guy! And believe me he had no idea what he was in for. :) It is a good thing he fits right in to our crazy household! Don and I were talking yesterday and both of us think it feels like he has been here so much longer than just 6 months. We heard it would feel like this but I guess you just have to experience it to believe it.

AND...now at 15 months old TODAY...this is what our little guy is up to. He has now figured out how to dump everything out of his toy basket and climb in it to play. He is quite inventive at times and truly baffles us with what he can figure out.

This is Elijah's favorite chair. If anyone else is sitting in it he will climb up on a end table/ storage box and act as though he is counting (giving them til the count of 3 to get up) and then he jumps on them. He thinks he owns this place (and I guess he kind of does!)

We took a trip to Chuck E Cheese a few weeks ago. I love the look on his face. Chuck E was standing not far away from him and he is watching him very closely making sure he doesn't get too close to him.

He had a lot of fun riding the rides and playing. His favorite was talking on the phone and going up and down the slide.

At 15 months Elijah is saying about 10-15 words. We have only added one sign that he can do and that is pray. We say pray to him and he folds his hands and will repeat "pay". It is pretty cute. In the last week I hear him repeating more and more words that I say to him. He gives the best hugs and kisses. Last night he climbed up on my lap and laid several kisses on me....I love the MMMWAHH sound he makes with each kiss. Today at lunch he kept grabbing Tifanie and giving her bear squeeze hugs around her neck. I think she said she would forgive him for not saying her name yet after that. "Sissy and Tifanie" are both really hard words to say but we are working on it. He says bubby and Emi and Mama (sometimes Mommy) and Dada but not Sissy yet. He has just started saying OWIE...so he will get hurt and yell it repeatedly and then laugh! Or he will hit you and say it.

We are getting ready to turn in his re-adoption paperwork so we are hoping to have that all out of the way very soon and will legally change his name from Bereket Donald to Elijah Simon Bereket.

We have a busy month coming up. Don and I are going to his Yearly Guard conference in a few weeks and that will be the first time he has stayed over night with Grandparents for the weekend. I hope he does well...and me too! Then the beginning of Sept we are taking a trip to St Louis to see the Ethiopian Director and his wife. I am SO looking forward to seeing them again. Then the end of Sept I am taking my parents back to St Louis to my cousin's wedding.

Busy Busy!!

I am going to try and be a better blogger. :)

Blessings~

Tina