Evangeline The Brainiac and More Thanks

Poppy & Evangeline having a long chat

I absolutely love the stage when babies discover language. It is so fun to watch them learn new words every day and put them into practice. Evangeline's ability to communicate is exploding right now and we are having a ball with it! OK, so verbosity isn't exactly an unusual trait in our family, but my dear little Evangeline is a wunderkind!

Marg was this way too, but because she was our first, and the first grandbaby, no one realized how amazing her verbal skills were! At 18 months she was talking in long sentences and by 2 she was singing songs like the Star Spangled Banner word-for-word beginning to end and telling elaborate jokes. Evangeline is this way, too. It's crazy! At 12 months Evangeline used about 75 understandable words. She could name everyone in our family including Poppy, Nana, Auntie Becky, Uncle Buddy, and most of her cousins. She said small phrases like "brush hair", "eat food", and "uh oh fall down".

Now at 14 months she tries to repeat everything you say and she's venturing into constructing rudimentary sentences like:
"Ricker read book."
"Margie say night night."
"Mama say don't touch."
"Papa please kissy kissy."
"Jackie sing song."

She calls herself "Uh-vange-in" and pretends to breastfeed her beloved Sleepy Bear saying, "Seepy Bear more milk, mm-hmm". She's also getting bossy with her baby sister.
"Ray Ray, say please, K?"
"Ray Ray, look see!"
"Ray Ray, don't touch Seepy!"
"Ray Ray, no cry!"
"Mama, Ray Ray... all done... toy!"

This stage is so fun!

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

- Hebrews 12:28

Adding to my thankful list... Today I praise the Lord for things that are relaxing or comforting to me:

• Worshiping Jesus. There's nothing better in the world!
• Our home. Even though I miss living near the beach, I love love love our house.
• Reading. Some books are like old friends. I know I'm too busy when I don't have time to read at least a little each day.
• Spending time with friends like Mary, Tony, Kim, and Xinia who make me laugh until I ache
• My slippers
• Quiet. I'm sure all you moms can relate to me finding the quiet of all the babies being fast asleep so luxurious.
• Everything about the beach, listening to the waves, smelling the salt air, being out on the water
• A crackling fire (as long as it stays in the fireplace and not raging across California)
• Kapalua, Maui... We skipped our trip this year because our trip to Ethiopia got moved up, which we wouldn't change for the world, but we still missed it so much! We can hardly wait for next year.
• Montecito & Santa Barbara... 'Nuff said!
• Long walks with Michael
• Sunday brunch with our family

Here are a couple more photos from last weekend.

My precious niece, Charlie

Will someone please tell him to ditch the wig?!?

with Mother & Ellie

The whole gang having burgers at Ruby's

"Oh, the great JOY of giving thanks!" - C. S. Lewis

Boo on Halloween & Thinking of Thanks

Halloween around here was sort of a bust. Usually a day or two before Halloween we throw a big party with games, apple bobbing, pumpkin carving and painting, and a costume contest, and then skip trick-or-treating and head to our church's Fall Fun Night. But, because we're still laying a little bit low adjusting to being a family of seven, we put off the party until next year, and then Jackie and Evangeline weren't feeling well on the 31st. BOO!

Marg & Ricker went to church with Uncle Buddy, Auntie Becky, Johnny, and Lincoln, and the rest of us stayed home and answered the door for trick-or-treaters after going to a few houses just so the little kids could wear their costumes for a while. We had fun anyway, but I didn't like not being all together. Boo on that!

Elianna Ray was a little pink octopus. Doesn't she look sweet?

Evangeline was a pretty peacock (or should I say peahen?)

Ricker & Jackie dressed up as gladiators and Margie was a woodland fairy.

Michael enjoyed having hair for an evening!

Anyway, now that we're into Thanksgiving season, my friend Roxie reminded me that it's time to start my thankful list! Yea! I'm going to take time each day to think of a few things that I'm grateful for and thank the Lord for them as the list grows.

OK, here we go.

I'm thankful for:

• Salvation, the Lord's grace for me every day, and God's provision for our family
• 16 years with Michael, his deliciously twisted sense of humor, and that we have so much fun together
• Our most precious babies - Margie, Ricker, Jackie, Evangeline & Elianna Ray
• Our extended family, whom we lean on, learn from, and admire so greatly
• Our church family
• Our dear friends, who "live, laugh, and love" with us
• Homeschooling
• Our new OCEAN (Orange County Ethiopian Adoption Network) group!

What are you thankful for today?

9 Months Old Today!

9 months old and cute as a button!

OCEAN

What a wonderful time we had with our Ethiopian adoptive families' group last weekend! It was an anointed time together! We had two new families (the Yateses & Paschalls) join us this time -- hooray! It is so enriching for us to be forming relationships with other Christian families who already have kids from or are adopting from Ethiopia. We feel blessed to know each of you. Won't it be great to see all our little babies playing together in the next months and years???

I'm sorry I don't have pictures to share. Neither Michael nor I thought about it until everyone was gone. Phooey! Next time.

Andrew & Amanda, we missed you being there and everyone can hardly wait to get their hands on Mekdes! And, Karen, quit lurking and post already! ;) Where is your blog?

Prayer Chain Request & Plumpynut Video

This prayer request is passed on from Susan, who's a part of the Orange County Ethiopian Adoption Network for her friends in Virginia.

The Dennehy family is in the process of adopting a daughter from Ethiopia who doesn't have arms. This would be a phenomenal family for this little angel because they already have TWO children with the same disability. The adoption is in jeopardy, though, because her birth father is having reservations about her being adopted into a Christian family because he is Muslim. Please pray with us for the Dennehys.

Here's a YouTube video about their extraordinary family.

Also,my friend Emily posted this 60 Minutes video about Plumpynut, which is a vitamin enriched food item made by Doctors without Borders that's treating kids in Niger, Africa with malnutrition with incredible results. Take a minute to watch this very interesting Anderson Cooper report.

SoCal Fires

Check out this NASA satellite picture. It's updated daily.

Garden Ballet to Premier in Florence

My friend Mari Falcone's Garden Ballet is premiering in Florence, Italy today! Mari and her husband Bill Cantos are incredibly gifted musicians whose sole purpose is to glorify God in their art. I had the privilege of singing with Bill & Mari for more than a year, and they are the real deal... wonderful, dear people. If you get a chance to hear either one of them perform, don't miss it! Bill's "New Red Coat" will knock your socks off.

Mari is ridiculously talented, freakishly so. She is a pianist, keyboardist, musical director, composer, and musical arranger. She's toured with the likes of Donna Summer, Amy Grant, Kim Hill, and Deniece Williams. She has written and produced for Debby Boone and other gospel artists. She's appeared on the Grammy Awards twice. Mari has composed for television and film, and served as musical director for Off-Broadway, touring musicals, and many L.A. theatrical productions, including serving as musical director for the Groundlings improv group. Yeah, she rocks.

Mari, I'm so excited for you! Have a GREAT time tonight! I'm doing the "Go Ma-ri, Go Ma-ri" dance for you!

Home with our Ethiopian Princess 2 Months

It hardly seems possible that it's already been 2 months since we brought Elianna Ray home as a Forever Family.

Thank You, Jesus, for our precious littlest one, our special gift. She is such a treasure to us. Thank You, Lord, that she is healthy and gets chubbier every day. Thank You that she's making up for lost time in development and capability. Thank You that she's snuggly and gives kisses and love freely. Thank You that she's an excellent sleeper, too! Thank You for her joyful early morning greeting, and that she anticipates our reading time together with excitement. Thank You for all her milestones of the last two months. Thank You, Lord, that Elianna Ray is our daughter... What a miracle!

Fire Update and Farm Field Trip

Hey all, thanks for keeping us Southern Californians in prayer over the fires raging across our desert landscape. The front page of the Orange County Register today shows a satellite picture from Santa Barbara to Mexico that is shocking because of the multitude of fires in our area and the mass of swirling smoke over our coastline and ocean. Lovely Lake Arrowhead has lost 425 homes and 5,000 acres. San Diego has lost a whopping 1,150 homes, sadly including that of our cousin, Donnie McClure (shown below with Mother), in Rancho Bernardo and 235,000 acres. And Orange County has lost 10 homes and 18,000 acres. We can still see fire on the hills from our home although we are not in the danger zone, but many of our family and friends have had to evacuate with just a few possessions not knowing what they'll find when they return. It's a sobering reminder that truly everything we have is ours on loan from God, not to be held onto too tightly.

More news on the fire to come. Please keep praying for the safety of our firefighters, residents, and wildlife in this area.

To end on a happier note, here are a few shots from our farm field trip last week:

Our sweet pumpkins

Mama

The cutest little piggy

Michael and the kids

OCEAN Gathering

Hey all you local lurkers... If you're adopting, or have adopted, you're invited!

Orange County Ethiopian Adoption Network

Bring the kids for a

Family potluck BBQ

Saturday, October 27^th

5:00

At the Hausams in Orange, CA

Leave a guestbook message with your email contact for further details and to sign-up to bring a dish to share!