Crazy Busy. Crazy Fun.

I'm afraid I have the glazed over look. This week has been so incredibly busy, but oh how much fun it has been!!

Tuesday morning was Bible Study (hallelujah Christmas break is over!). Noah and Asher came home with us while their mommy and daddy went to see their perfectly healthy, perfectly beautiful, baby on the ultrasound screen. That evening we went to their home and they opened up thee envelope, announcing that sweet baby is a BOY! How awesome is that! I can just imagine the line-up of groomsmen at each other's wedding. And in the meantime, look out for the John brothers. We celebrated, had fun, and went to bed much too late.

Wednesday came, and we got more little guests! Our other cousins Wesley and Linde got to come stay for a couple days because their grandma (where they were originally going to go) broke her hip. How unfortunate is that! But we were happy for ourselves, because we had so much fun! The kids all got along perfectly! We had popcorn and movie night, they played and played and played, we colored, went to MOPS (putting 5 kids age 4 on down in a mini-van took me 30 minutes!! we decided to not leave the house again!), and enjoyed the warmth of our home altogether. It was wonderful. They stayed with us until Friday evening. We all woke up way too early and went to bed, again, much too late.

After dropping Wes and Linde off, we ventured to celebrate again with this cutie patootie, Eli Solomon! We felt so special to spend his first American birthday with him. He is just so happy to be with people who love him, he probably could care less about his birthday. He was thrilled just to have birthday napkins! We watched the video of his home (where he was until 3 years old), an interview with his mother, and his orphanage. I promise you - you can NOT watch that movie and not be moved or changed. Would you believe that his poor mother and brother ate *kernels* of probably half an ear of corn for an entire meal, while sitting on a dirt floor with no shoes on. His birth mom did her very best to care for Eli, his brother, and sister, but could not make ends meet. So, here Eli is in Iowa now. We thank God for him and are so blessed to know him as one of our favorite little friends! Maleah and Eli love each other. It is so sweet. By the time we left Jesup and had the long jaunt home, we all went to bed much too late.

Oofta - busy week for a mommy and kiddos who usually plant most days at home. We are all tired and today is no day for resting as we have another birthday party and Charlie's dedication. In the meantime, Layla and Charlie have developed killer colds (check out Charlie's red nose in the picture above). So, we'll leave the catching up and resting until next week. Until then, we're having too much fun partying!!

*once again, sorry about the photo thing. they are in wrong order, and oh how i wish i can put them throughout the post. i need to speak with my consultant about how to fix this problem.* :)