A visit with the Aarseth's!

The other day at 11:15a the Aarseth family pulled into our driveway. I can't even begin to tell you all how excited I was to have them here. I have known DeeDee for two years now. We got our dossiers into our adoption agency around the same time. For those of you who have not adopted, you become VERY close with the families around you while you wait for your referral. There is a strong chance that you will travel with some of them and we were blessed to be able to travel with the Aarseth's! For me and for a lot of adoptive parents, the families that you travel with end up being a part of your family.

We have not seen the Aarseth's since we said good-bye in Ethiopia (15 1/2 months ago). We have tried to get together a couple of times, but plans have fallen through. But yesterday they arrived after driving all night from Texas. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them again and to meet Jackson for the first time!

While Paul, DeeDee and Olivia took a nap, I took the other kids to the park!

Hannah being a drama queen

Sweet Jackson

Chloe showing me her "pumping" skills

Then that night we had a couple of other AGCI families over for dinner. Here are the girls and Zek (Oh how I love them to pieces). There were 20 people in our little house and I loved every minute of it! I am so thankful no one got sick from my cooking! Another answer to prayer. :)

Here are all the kids the next morning before the Aarseth's continued on their journey to Chicago...

and our Ethiopian princesses...

We LOVE you guys and we really want to see you before you move to ETHIOPIA!! That's right, they are moving to Ethiopia to become missionaries in July of next year! We are going to miss them a ton, but we are so excited for what the Lord has in store for them!

You can read more about their coming adventure on their blog HERE!

*UPDATE* I am still collecting money for the Falvo family. We raised over $500 in 4 days! How awesome is that? If you wouldn't mind getting the word out on facebook and the blog world, I would greatly appreciate it!