FINAL HOME VISIT...

Today is our final post placement visit. It will be nice to have this out of the way, although we are still required to send a notarized report yearly until he is 18. The good thing is we can do that on our own. AND we are happy to do it! I love sharing how much he has grown and all of things he is learning! It amazes us to look at pics we have sent at 3, 6 and now 12 months. He has changed so much. He is becoming a little boy and leaving that baby look far behind. (which makes me sad!)
I love watching his personality shine. He is such a people person. I always say he needs his "peeps". He loves to show off and get people to clap for him. I lvoe watching how quickly he picks up on things. He is working on counting to 15 now. He has to 10 down so we figured we might as well keep going. He can sing most of the abc song and loves his vtech alphabet toy. He LOVES to sing songs and to dance. He got 2 drum sets for Christmas and plays them all the time. We think he will be a drummer. He is putting words together now. I was folding laundry the other day and he climbed up on my bed and pointed to a pair of pants and said "this is Daddy's". My favorite is "cup all gone" it is so much better than him yelling GWINK!
Here are a few pics...

Sharing a chicken salad with Daddy!

Our little drummer

Blessings~

Tina

2011...A NEW YEAR!

It is hard to believe we are already into another year! This year went a little fast having our 4th little one home finally. It will be hard to top 2010 in our minds although we know God has bigger and better plans for our family in the future. We shall just sit and wait upon Him to see what those are. (easy to say...harder to do!)
2011 will bring some changes to our household. Some changes that I am not sure I am ready to face but will do so anyway!
In May, Randy will graduate from High School. (UUGH...how am I old enough o have 2 kids out of HS???) Then on July 31st my baby boy will leave for basic training. I can not imagine not seeing him everyday or just talking to him. That will be a LONG 16 weeks for me. I survived it with my husband but I was 18 and clueless. Now this is my baby and...well...it is going to be tough.
Also, there is a possibility that hubby will be going "somewhere" this year as well. We are still waiting for a confirmation on that one. SO...as I said 2011 may be a year of changes for us.
As usual, our year always begins with a BIGGER celebration than New Years. That is the day we celebrate the arrival of our oldest son, Randall Earl Hubbard. He was born at 1229 am and was the first one born in 1993 at Ft Leonardwood, MO. He weighed 5 lbs 15.1 oz and 20.5 inches long. HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY SON! We are very proud of the man you are becoming. Love you, Mom

*This was one of the newspaper clippings.

*Elijah is helping Bubby blow out the candles

Blessings~

Tina

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