21 August 2009

Two Girls, Two Days, Two Celebrations!

Two years ago on August 19th, 2007 we met our daughter, Elianna Ray, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!



The next day, August 20th, her big sister, Evangeline Ellen, turned 1!



Now, these two beauties



who bring us so much joy



are the best of best friends.



And, we are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for them both!

13 comments:

darci said...

so beautiful! what a gift to have a sister. :) they are too cute. darci

Brian and Autumn said...

love it!

MPHausam said...

Look up "things that bring tears to your eyes" on Wikipedia -- this post is what they have!!!!

FHL said...

I hope that last photo is framed because it is gorgeous!

Our little E is currently sporting the same curly Q mohawk as your first pic! Absolutely love it and only wish he was home so I could snap a thousand photos!

Hope you are looking at a super wonderful weekend Laurie!
Hugs,
M~

The Redman's said...

Sweetest post ever!!!! You are forever blessed with those two. Absolutely precious! :)

Jana said...

So precious!!!!

Jana said...

So precious!!!!

Don and Lisa Osborn said...

I am not sure how I stumbled on your blog but it is beautiful! You have an incredible family.

Many blessings~
Lisa
Mommy to Lindy
Waiting for a sister from Taiwan

Kristi J said...

oh, they have gotten so big..I can't believe it...Her baby pic reminded me of Lucy Lane a little..too precious, kj

FHL said...

Hi Laurie,
You crossed my thoughts tonight and I just wanted to drop by and let you know I was thinking about you. Hope all is well with you and your beautiful family!

Hugs,
M~

Stutzman's Eight By Grace said...

Hi, we are adopting from AGCI and have seen your blog-we have a question if you don't mind answering- :)
We are number 42 on the wait list for a baby girl 0-12 months and we have 5 children already-our oldest is Jacob, who will be 12 by the time we travel-we REALLY want to take him with us and REALLY feel that he needs to go-first to be able to really bond well with his sister-which I think taking him will really help this and second, he will be at such a great and impressionable age that he NEEDS to see Ethiopia-that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence-he will see poverty and hopefully it will change his life for the better and give him compassion for this area more.

Anyhow-we first brought up taking him to our caseworker several months ago and she said that they only allow 2 people to go due to having to travel while there to the embassy and room on the vans.
We waited and just last month, (after really thinking about it and feeling that this is what is best for our family, and praying, decided that he must go), brought it up again to our same caseworker and this time she said that they are really sticking to their policy of only 2 people going so that you can really focus on bonding with your baby. This isn't a worry for us as he will be self-sufficient and 12 years old! He needs this trip and we are pretty determined to try and take him.....

We feel that our options are-to just wait and say nothing and get his passport and immunizations, and at the end when it is time to make travel arrangements, just say he is going
or, tell them now-which I feel would just cause a ripple in how they feel about us....maybe affecting our referral
or tell them that the 2 people going are my son and I and that Adam will be flying over with us on his own-can he get a taxi, etc or transportation on his own if he needs to to get to the embassy? Can our older son sit on his lap in the van if that is their issue?
What if they absolutaly say no? This is really stressing me out and although it seems so simple, this is my biggest worry right now-just wanted to run it by some people that have been to Addis and see what you think.....
So, questions are
1. did you run into this-did you take any of your older kids
2.What would you advise doing from this point on? Thanks so much! I know I am a worry-wart! :)
Amber
Adam & Amber Stutzman
Jacob 11, Cassidy&Zachary 7, Noah 6, Logan 4
& Baby “A” from Ethiopia coming in 2010!!!

Kim said...

Sisterhood at it's finest!
Love & Blessings from Hong Kong,
Kim

Lauren @ mercy(INK) said...

I somehow stumbled across your blog and am so grateful! Your family is BEAUTIFUL! How far apart are the two girlies??? PRECIOUS :)