Please Continue to Pray for Abby...

It's a simple post - please PRAY for this precious girl Abby and all that their family is going through.

Abby

This Kid Loves to Fly...

To put it mildly, this kid LOVES to fly. We get him ready to throw in the air and he just giggles and kicks his legs with anticipation. I think roller coaster rides are going to be in his future!

When Lowa was a baby (she's getting too big to throw much anymore - sad), she was the exact same way. Whitt was never a huge fan.

Here are some pictures and a video to show you just what I mean!

Abraham "Flying"


He sort of looks like he's laughing and crying at the same time. I promise - he's laughing.


Look at that laugh!


FLYING!


Still looks like he's sort of laughing/crying.


So FUN!

Praying for all of my AGCI friends waiting to hear any news about court and passing through this new "step" in the process of adoption in Ethiopia. LeAnn, Amy and Melissa did a great job of explaining just what this next step is... Michelle, LeAnn, Jana, Melissa, Amy, Autumn and all of the other families waiting - you are in my prayers!! Praying for a miracle for sure!

Happy 1st Birthday Abraham!!

Abraham turned 1! I am still in shock that our baby boy is already 1 (it probably flew by so quickly because we missed the first 7 months of his life :( ). It was a wonderful day celebrating with family and close friends.

Opening gifts - not so sure about how that was all supposed to work.


He enjoyed flapping the paper all over the place - So cute!


Abraham with his Mamaw and Grandma. He loves them both.


Balloons were a big hit!


Look at all of those kids trying to get at the gifts - so funny...


The Birthday Cake Caterpillar (easy - everyone just got a cupcake but it still looks decently cute :) ).

Do you hear that low rumbling he's making. Yes - he does that all of the time (#8 below :) ). He was not so into eating his cake, but instead rubbing it all over the tray. He spent a good 15 minutes working at it :). We all had a good laugh!

Reflecting on his first birthday brings me back to the day we got his referral pictures. I remember sitting in front of our computer and waiting for the first image to pop up. Once we saw his incredible face, we knew IMMEDIATELY that this was our son! He was absolutely perfect. We got two different ages for pictures (ones where he was 2 months and ones where he was 5 months). In his 2 month old pictures he looked so little and frail, but by 5 months he was really starting to fill out. It shows just how loved and taken care of he was at Hannah's Hope.

Abraham when he first arrived at Hannah's Hope at 2 months of age. Can you believe that smile? It's still as precious as ever.


Not so sure in this picture. He was a very uneasy baby. He never felt quite settled. Until the last few months that was our experience with him as well. He is so well adjusted now - Praise God!


Look at my tiny little man? Still has those huge eyes!


I wish I could have held and known him when he was this little. Once again, I'm just so thankful for Hannah's Hope and the staff that love these children so much.


Abraham at 4 months (picture taken by the amazing Traci).


Abraham at 5 months - this is the first picture we saw. How could we NOT have fallen in love. It's like he's looking right into your soul.


This was my favorite referral picture of our Abraham. It's still up all over our house!!

These last five months since having him home have been a roller coaster for sure. Bringing Abraham home was absolutely amazing but ultra challenging as well. He tested, and did not trust us. Through love, affection and lots of confirmation, Abraham KNOWS he is loved and is completely secure. Every day we fall more and more in love with this amazing gift from God - our Abraham. We are constantly blown away by how God would entrust us with this child.

Our little man today.

Some of Abraham's favorite things to do:
1. CRAWL everywhere
2. Pull himself up on furniture
3. Watch, and laugh at Lowa and Whittaker (especially when they do really goofy things to purposely make him laugh)
4. Cuddle with mommy
5. Be held by mommy and daddy
6. Drink bottles
7. Grab things with his hands and contemplate what he has. Then the object usually goes into his mouth :)
8. Make a low rumbling with his voice to keep up with the the noise level from his siblings.
9. Getting tossed around, up in the air, or flipped upside down by daddy
10. Wrestle with daddy (or mommy)
11. Drool!!
12. Play with Lowa and Whittaker's toys rather than all of the fun ones he got for his birthday - figures...
13. Eat most foods
14. Look at pictures (especially of his family and people from Hannah's Hope)
15. Dance (he's so adorable)

There are many other things that he loves to do and I'll have to add them as I remember...

We want to end by saying, "Abraham - you are a blessing from God and we love you with all of our hearts. Happy Birthday son! ~ Love, Mom, Dad, Whittaker and Lowa."

I've Been Tagged!!!

I love my blog friends - how fun is being tagged?!! I've been tagged by Jana, Dawn and Melissa - you girls are awesome - go check out their blogs and their fun little idiosyncrasies!

I'm supposed to tell you 7 things about myself that might be unexpected or exceptionally quirky so here they go...

1. I am a TOTAL ditz when it comes to getting jokes. I'll laugh and act like I get it and then look at Tom with that pleading look in my eyes asking him to explain later. That gets even more of a laugh from him.

2. I love to cook, but it hasn't always been that way. One night when Tom and I were first married (in college - yes we were young) I was boiling a pot of water for a late night scrumptious meal of macaroni and cheese - straight from the box! I got hooked on one of my favorite shows at the time, ER and totally forgot about the pot of boiling water. The water and eventually the pot boiled for an entire hour. So, somehow I managed to burn water (the bot was so destroyed that the Teflon burnt right off). I've gotten progressively better over the 10 years we've been married!

3. I NEVER wanted twins!! Even as a child my sister and I would discuss the possibility. She said she always wanted twins and I DID NOT! I remember saying, "You could just shoot me right then and there if I had twins!" Oops - guess God has a sense of humor! I LOVE my Lowa and Whittaker and could not imagine my life without twins. They are such a blessing from God. Funny and great how he knows so much more than me!

4. I got married at 20. If Lowa came up to me at 19 and said, "Mom, Dad I want to marry so and so," I think I'd about have a heart attack. I liked to call myself a "mature" 20 year old. Now that I'm not 20 anymore, "mature" has a lot more meaning and understanding :)!

5. Saying "I love you" is one of my favorite phrases - especially to my family. I'm also a huge hugger. Even if I barely know you - I'll give you a hug!

6. I have webbed toes!! (Does that gross anyone else out as much as me?)! I used to joke as a little girl that I was a super good swimmer because I had webbed toes. If that was true I should have been in the Olympics by now...

7. One of my nicknames as a child was "The Bag Lady." Strange name huh - well not for me! I used to take my wagon around to the alley behind our house and find "treasures." Where would I find these treasures you might be asking? Our neighbors GARBAGE CANS!!! One mans' trash is another man's treasure!!! Can you say DISGUSTING?!! Yeah - love that one.

So there's some little tidbits about myself. I'm tagging some of my other blog friends so go check out their quirks...

Suzi
Shelby
M
Kayli
Naomi
Karen
Toni

Almaz Visits...

I have to start out by saying that having Almaz up here in Bellingham was a complete blessing. Getting to know her on more of a personal level showed me even more how incredible of a person she is. She loves God wholeheartedly and has sacrificed herself (and continues to do so daily) to serve the children of Ethiopia. I am humbled by her service, love and heart for what she does. There's my ode to Almaz :)!

Our church is AMAZING - I attend Cornwall Church in Bellingham. The heart that our staff and leaders have for serving, loving and reaching out is why we attend. We are a Christ-centered church who accept people for who they are and exactly where they are in life. Anyone is welcome, just as anyone is welcome in Christ. Why am I telling you about our church? Well, that is the reason that Almaz came to visit. Our church is in the VERY beginning stages of wanting to be involved in Ethiopia. Our missions pastor visited Ethiopia in July with some of our other friends who adopted. He fell in LOVE with the people and children of Ethiopia. He invited Almaz to come visit our church and inform all of us about what is happening in Ethiopia and where we can help. She had many meetings and that was her purpose in being here, but there was one free morning open and I got the unique opportunity to have her over to my home along with some other friends who have children home from Ethiopia (through AGCI). Almaz desperately wanted to see those babies and we made sure it happened!

While she was here, she melted over each and every child as if they were her own. Her heart for these children is what astounds me the most. She knows SO much about each of them and their story. We were able to find out even more about what is happening in Ethiopia and how we can help! We can continue to sponsor children at Hannah's Hope but also reach out to those who don't have a chance to be at HH. This is the exciting part about our church. We want to be more involved on a personal and ongoing level in Ethiopia. It is exciting to know that God is leading us and we are patiently awaiting where and how that will be. Because we are in the very beginning stages, there is not a lot I can post or know at this point. But, God is working and I'm ready and excited!

It was truly such a special time to have her here and I miss her so much already. She is an incredible woman, but I also consider her a friend. Thank you Almaz for all you do. Thank you for continually allowing God to mold you into His amazing servant. We are all in debt to you!

Loving Abraham


Such a cute picture!


We tried to get all of the babies on her lap at once (6 in all). Uh duh - didn't happen!!


Almaz and Grace


Abraham trying to walk to Almaz...


Givin' Love...


SO CUTE!


Almaz and the Gresham Family - We Love You Almaz!

Family Pictures...

Our best friends and our family had a great idea one day... Tom and I have an old SLR camera which takes regular film. It has a nice zoom lens, but of course it's not digital! So taking pictures with it is expensive becuase you have to develop the film. Well, we thought, "Let's just take 2 rolls of film of each other's families and then see if we get at least one good picture!" So Friday, we all went out and snapped shots of each other. We did it in record time (it took us like 30 minutes). We were running around posing and snapping away. While one family was getting our pictures taken another family was behind the camera making goofy faces and attempting to get the children's attention (our kids didn't do so great at smiling at the camera all at the same time :) ). Having three kids now makes it even harder to get a photo with everyone smiling. I think they turned out pretty good for us joe schmoes :)!!

The Gresham Clan


I wish all of the kids were looking and that Lowa had her beautiful smile, but wattcha gonna do :)!


Me and Tia - Love my girl - I seriously am so thankful for Tia - she is such an incredible blessing to me!


Our goofy and adorable Whitt...


Lowa is looking SO grown up!!


Abraham was not too sure the entire time - but adorable none the less...


All 5 of our kids (can you see Abraham tucked there in between them all)?


You always have to get a goofy one in... (look how Abraham is looking at me - "Mom, you're freaking me out!" )


Me and my man - he is such a hotty (well, at least in my eyes :) )!


Our best friends Thomas, Tia, Briley and Keller - We love you guys!!

A Few Quick Pics

I'm still alive and kickin'!!

As many have heard or seen - it's true - we had the AMAZING opportunity to have Almaz here in our town where I live. I will post pics and details later - it was a wonderful, awesome, yet exhausting week - so I'm still trying to catch my breath. But, I did want to post a few recent pics of my darn cute kids :)!!

I took the kids to the apple orchard one day. We had so much fun!

We got to drive a golf cart all over the orchard. Each of the kids got a "turn" - it was a blast!

Goofy Lowa (not so great about smiling at the camera this day :) )!


My sweet Whittaker - I love this little man!


Look at that sweet, chunky face! I can't get enough kisses...

We went up to Mt. Baker a few weekends ago - it was sunny and gorgeous!

Abraham playing with a cooking spoon - third child syndrome - play with whatever is lying around.


Lowa at the park with that contagious smile!