So Thankful!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! My parents came into town, from Maine, on Wednesday night. On Thursday my sister and her family came from Ohio to have lunch with us. Monte's dad has been living in Indiana since January. He manages a Golden Corral (buffet restaurant) 45 minutes away from us. He invited all of us. It was great to not have to cook, but still have time with family!

Here are all of the cousins (from my side). It is only my sister and I and together we have NINE kids!

My parents and their grandkids! What a HUGE blessing! They wanted to have more than 2 kids, but instead they have been blessed with lots of grandkids!

I am so thankful for these five children!

I got this idea from DAWN (thank you!)! It is a Thankful Wreath and we had so much fun doing this! We traced everyone's hand (3 times) and cut it out. Then they wrote what they were thankful for (I did Chloe and Hannah's). We could of done a lot more than 3 and next year we might just do that! We also did hand turkeys that I laminated and put around the wreath.

On Thanksgiving day we also had Christmas! Since we won't see my parents for Christmas we decided to open gifts while they were here. The kids thought it was great that they got to open presents early!

Josiah LOVES remote control things and he is loving the tarantula!

Can you tell how excited Hannah was to get dress up clothes? It was the cutest thing ever!

Isaac, of course, got Legos!

John, of course, got a video game!

Chloe checking out the dress up clothes! It's kinda hard to beat Hannah's expression!

After the kids went to bed that night, the REAL fun began (insert sarcastic rolling of the eyes). My mom and I went to Walmart at 11:20pm and waited in line for SEVEN HOURS to get some gifts for my niece and nephews (2 computers, 2 iPods). We also got wireless printers (we have not had a printer at our house for over a year, it was time!). While you wait in line at Walmart you are not allowed to SIT! It is a safety and fire hazard. Ridiculous! I seriously have not been so tired since Ethiopia! But we saved almost $700... not bad, huh?

We got home at 6:30a. A couple of hours later we loaded everyone up and went here...

It is an indoor water park at a local hotel. Again, my sister met us there and the kids had a BLAST!! The boys are old enough now that they can go on their own for some of the time. Bonus for them, but sad for me. Why do kids grow up so fast? I didn't get very many pictures, because I was so tired and not feeling great. I still did managed to have fun with the kids though. Here is my spunky girl, Chloe!

We all slept VERY WELL that night!

Christmas in Oklahoma

Originally we were going to leave for Oklahoma on the morning of Christmas Eve, but when we found out that they were going to be getting blizzard like conditions that day we decided to leave the night before. We stayed for two days and got home Saturday evening. It was a short trip, but since Monte has used up all his vacation time, there was no way around it. It took us 21 hours round trip, not too bad.

Here are some pictures of our time at Monte's Mom and Step Dad's.

Hannah spent her first day with a fever. That was her only symptom and she was fine on Christmas day. Monte and I had to brave the "blizzard" to get her more medicine. We'll venture out in any weather conditions for some alone time.

Playing in the snow. We haven't had this much snow in Indiana yet. The kids had a blast. Well, everyone except John. He likes the snow, but it was very cold and he is not a fan of the cold. He was already inside by the time I started taking pictures.

My Ethiopian princesses LOVE the snow. I couldn't believe they were out there longer than their brothers. It was 20 degrees and windy when I took this picture.

Spending time with cousins (and Papa)...

Monte's BIL is looking at our photo journal of the journey to our girls.

Getting ready to open up presents... can you tell it was during nap time?

My boys and their Legos...

This week is a busy week. I am getting ready to start a new curriculum with the boys. This means... a lot of work for momma. Also, we are having Josiah start his gluten free diet again. This time we are including John. Josiah was on the diet for 18 months (he has been off of it for 18 months) and for a while now we have felt that he needed to be back on it, but honestly I couldn't do it. It is a lot to take on. I feel that I am finally at a point where I can do it and do it well. I know that we'll see improvement from both of them in the coming weeks. Neither boy is allergic to gluten, but it effects Josiah's behavior and I believe it also effects both of their attention spans. We will also be limiting their sugar intake and eliminating red dye. Never a dull moment in the Alexander household!

Have a great week and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Life is never easy...

Last Friday, Monte took the boys to Georgia. He has hunted down there with his Dad for 14 years. This is the last year that they will have the property, so he wanted to bring all three boys with him.

I decided at the last moment to jump on a plane and spend a few days with my parents. I haven't gotten away since Isaac was born and was in need of some rest and relaxation! I missed them like crazy and I never really did get used to not having them there. I still had a great time in Maine! It is so beautiful there this time of year.

Julie, our case manager, called me Monday afternoon and we played phone tag until Tuesday night. I am so thankful for her. She is very open and honest and I really appreciate that. With all that said, she didn't have good news. We are now #13 on the sibling waiting list. We were #12 last month, but a family who had siblings listed on their homestudy were unsure until last month if they wanted to be on the siblings list.

She told me that they are just not getting any sibling referrals and they are unsure why. We are #5 out of 5 families that only want siblings. So, she said we could be waiting for a LONG TIME. Unable to give me any time frames, she encouraged me to really think and pray about getting on the singles list(s).

I truly felt like I had been punched in the face. I couldn't breathe and just wanted to cry. There are many reasons that we choose Ethiopia, but one of the biggest ones is because sibling sets are available for adoption. We have always known we wanted to adopt 2 children and just thought that it would be wonderful to have siblings.

After talking to Monte, we are not going to do anything for 2 months. We are going to see if Julie finds out any reasons why there is has been a decrease in sibling referrals. At that time if there hasn't been a referral we will probably get on the single list(s). We just need lots of prayer. I really know that the Lord had called us to adopt. All we want to do is His will and will be seeking that in prayer.

Corn Maze

When my parents were here, they took all the grandkids and my sister and I to a local corn maze. Even though it was chilly we still had a good time.

Authentic Ethiopian Experience

Last Monday night we took my parents to an authentic Ethiopian restaurant near our house. Monte and I have been wanting to go for a while, but thought it would be fun to bring my parents. Monte and I have done a lot of reading on Ethiopian culture, so we knew what to expect. My parents on the other hand have not. They were such good sports and I think they really enjoyed their time. The boys also went and that may of not been our best move. We plan on going back with just the two of us, so we can thoroughly enjoy it!!